Almost 8 Weeks

Little D will be 8 weeks old on Saturday. The time has flown and I can't believe so much has happened in such a short period of time!!!

About two weeks ago I had my gallbladder removed. Here's a lovely pic. I had two crazy gallbladder attacks within one week and thought I was going to die! I'm very grateful for modern medicine and laparoscopic surgery! I would have recovered very quickly except on the day I had surgery Daylen started feeling hot. His temp slowly climbed from 99.6 to 100.2, where it stayed all night long. I even had my wonderful friend LM come over with her thermometers to make sure we were getting an accurate reading. I called my pediatrician's on call doc to see what we should do, since a reading of 100.4 in a newborn is kind of an emergency. He said to sit tight and if it reached 100.4 to start worrying because then he might be worried about meningitis. Yes, he seriously mentioned meningitis to ME, worrier extraordinaire. So of course I didn't rest or sleep at all that night. Neither did poor Daylen, who was violated by a thermometer about 8 times!!! In the morning I took his temp again and it had reached the magical 100.4 mark. Since I was on strict orders to not lift over 20 pounds and couldn't stay home with Kason I took Daylen to the doctor. My pediatrician is amazing and totally reassured me. (I ran in crying, no appointment and they saw me within about 5 minutes! They rock!). She said Daylen looked healthy and happy so his fever was probably just a cold he caught from Kason, aka Germosaurus. She sent me to get some bloodwork done and told me to give him Tylenol. Sure enough, his fever came down with just a dose of Tylenol and stayed down all night. I was so relieved we didn't need a spinal tap! Since then Daylen caught a cold from me and had another little fever, we all caught the wonderful stomach bug circulating, and I had a phantom gallbladder attack. It never slows down, does it???

Little green monster

Gallstones are no bueno, so my gallbladder is going bye-bye on Tuesday. Do you think removing an organ will help make my tummy a little flatter?

BTW, if your upper abdomen hurts like crazy and the pain radiates into your back, go to the ER. My doc was mad that I endured two such episodes before I called her during normal office hours. I thought it was just bad post-partum gas.....I certainly wasn't going to the ER for that!!!

Daylen Sonne Niko

Meet the latest addition to the Niko Family:

Daylen was a full two pounds lighter than Kason at 7 lbs 11 oz BUT was an inch taller at 22".

The Story:
I had been having contractions off and on for a few days and finally called my doctor on Friday, October 7 around 5 pm. I told her I wanted to go to the hospital but didn't want to be sent home, so she said "Go! Since you're already dilated to a 3 this will just be an augmentation of labor, not an induction." So I went! I took my time, showered, arranged for Unka Bo, Bop, and Onwy (Uncle Mo, Deb and Henry) to come watch Kason for the night and headed off to the hospital. We arrived around 8:30 and I had contractions 4-6 minutes apart until about 10 when they STOPPED. Boo. So they gave me pitocin around 10:45 to get me going again. By this time I was still only dilated to a 3-4. My contractions were not painful but I started to notice them around midnight, so I asked for the epidural since I didn't want to wait too long. At 12:40 I was HATING my nurse and couldn't talk/breathe through my contractions, they were so intense! The anesthesiologist finally came and started my epidural around 1am.... but it only worked for my right half! After I got my epidural I was STILL only dilated to a 5, talk about disappointment!!!
The nurse and doc had me lay on my left side in hopes of spreading the anesthetic. At 1:10 am I made a joke about feeling like something was coming out of me.... Thank goodness I had my wonderful friend Lyndsay M there with me, she is also an L&D nurse! She told me to call my nurse so I could be checked. Sure enough, when the nurse checked me I was already a 10! I went from a 5 to 10 in only ten minutes!!! I had to labor down until my doc arrived, which was about 1:30, then I had to wait for her to get scrubbed, etc. The nurse wanted me to give a practice push while my doc was scrubbing in (even after I warned her that I was a great pusher!) and yelled at me to stop before I even got started. When my doc was finally ready I had him out in 2.5 pushes! The .5 was because I stopped halfway through my second push to try to see what they were all gasping at- apparently the head came out and the gasp was a normal reaction! So other than waiting a little too long for my epidural Daylen's birth experience was way easier than Kason's!!! A full two pounds easier!
Daylen is already a super sweet baby. He definitely knows his mama and cries when anyone (including Daddy) holds him. I have been struggling with breastfeeding, I just don't produce enough milk for my hungry, growing boys. I have had to supplement with formula but am still trying to build my supply so I can breastfeed exclusively. It's not going so well, especially with a 19 month old running around!


Other than taking full advantage of being naughty when I'm feeding Daylen, Kason has been adjusting very well! He LOVES Daylen and always wants to hold him. When he wakes up he wants to say Hi to Day-Day and give him a kiss- it is super sweet.

I love our two boys!!!

18 Months Old

My baby boy is 18 months old already! Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday we brought this monster home from the hospital. I'm really excited I WILL be bringing another little man home from the hospital soon- I miss the baby stage! (I totally get the Duggars.... that baby fever is hard to resist!)

As always, everyone was very impressed with my large toddler. Here are his stats:

Height: 36 5/8 inches tall (Well above 95%)
Weight: 33 pounds (Well above 95%)

Kason impressed Dr. M with all his verbal and motor skills, too! He obeyed when she asked him to open his mouth, point at the koala bear, follow the light, etc. She said she's NEVER had an 18 month old follow directions so well. (He certainly doesn't follow instructions for his mama so I was happy he did it for her!) Kason is already saying two word sentences and follows two part directions. Dr. M was also impressed with him showing off how he could jump, kick and yell "Touchdown!".
When it was time for Kason to get his shots, he shmoozed the nurses, too! After each shot (only 2 this time- he's done until he's 4!), he would cry for about 3 seconds and then tell the nurse, "thank you". Isn't that precious?!? And sad?!?!?

Good thing Kason is officially "advanced" (Dr. M's exact description!), because otherwise everyone would think he is a pretty slow 3 year old!

I love this little man- he brings such joy to our lives. He loves playing with others and I can't wait for him to have a little brother! I know it will be a challenge, but I think Kason will love Daylen and be a great help.

Hmmmph

So I guess my body is getting even with me for having two uneventful pregnancies.... Last Friday I was having tons of Braxton-Hicks contractions, so many that I was tempted to go to the ER. After drinking a TON of water, they eventually started slowing down, but still ruined my night's sleep since I was a little anxious. Then Saturday and Sunday night I couldn't sleep at all because my heart was racing and freaking me out. I felt like it was going to explode out of my chest! So on Monday I went in to see my doctor, who checked my blood pressure and heart rate and immediately sent me to the ER. My heart rate was 135 bpm, which is a good deal higher than the typical 80-100 bpm. I was also shaking and the more questions they asked the more freaked out I became. In case you don't know me too well, I LOVE stressing over things. I just can't help myself!

In the ER they gave me an EKG and did a ton of blood work. The verdict? Um, pregnancy. That's right, I'm perfectly healthy. The ER doc said that pregnancy does weird stuff and from what he could tell I was a perfectly healthy adult. My OB didn't like that answer and admitted me to L&D for a few hours of observation. So I got settled with fluids and monitors. Almost immediately my heart rate started slowing down. It was a relief to know that baby was pretty much unaffected by everything (and my cervix was still closed so I didn't have to worry about those contractions!). After a couple hours of monitoring my doc sent me home with Ambien. She thinks it was a combination of anxiety and dehydration that sent my heart rate so high.

Well, Monday night I slept great but yesterday I felt my heart racing again. Today Damien and I had to do a health screen at his work for our insurance and my heart rate was 116. Not as scary as Monday, but still high. Seriously, what is going on???? I'm so frustrated and anxious I can't seem to calm down. I guess I'll call my doc again tomorrow if nothing changes. I'm hoping that I'm still just a little freaked because of my whole ER experience and my heart will eventually go back to normal. But I still like to worry that I'm shaving years off my heart's life with every extra beat!

Mortified

Today I forgot that my VTers were coming, so when they arrived at 6 the house was a mess, Kason had his dinner all over his face and shirt... And I had to run and put on pants (that's surprisingly not the mortifying part!).  Nevertheless, we enjoyed their visit!  Kason gave tons of hugs and kisses (followed by an overzealous high five to Sis. Gillespie's face!) And was having such a good time he hardly noticed when his daddy got home.  As soon as D was home though, Kason seemed to remember his mission in life: don't let mama rest for even one minute!!!  My VTers were just wrapping up their lesson when Kason tore through the living room HOLDING A STEAK KNIFE HE HAD FISHED OUT OF OUR SINK and promptly started stabbing a stuffed shark.  Seriously.  Of course it had to happen when we had company!  And not just ANY company, but the bishop's wife!!! 

Last week he couldn't reach the sink, I swear!!! 

I feel like the best parent ever....

Bad day

So last night when I went to bed I was a little nervous b/c I hadn't felt baby move in a few hours. Usually he tumbles through the day and keeps me awake at night. So I slept half awake trying to feel him move. Well at 3:00 am I woke up and realized I STILL hadn't felt him move. Even stranger, I was boiling up! I'm sorry to say that my concerns for baby #2 were tossed aside when I realized the house was HOT! I ran to our thermostat- it was a balmy 81 degrees in the house!!! :( So I graciously woke Damien up and started complaining about how hot and pregnant I was. Let me just say that Damien is a superstar! He went to Wal-Mart right then and bought a window A/C unit for our room. This thing was killer. Got the room from 83 to 72 in about 45 minutes. Aaaaaahhhhh. Once I was comfy again little baby #2 started bouncing away, which made me feel tons better, too. While Damien was gone, I started calling A/C companies to see who would come out on the Sunday before the Fourth of July. The only company answering was ARS.... They told us we were on the schedule but they couldn't give us a window. A tech would just call about 30 minutes before they got here. :( Of course we couldn't go back to sleep.... and I certainly wasn't going to take a shower or blow dry my hair with no A/C, so we decided Damien would stay home with Kason and wait for ARS while I took care of my duties at Primary. (Sacrament meeting just wasn't happening on account of my EXTREME lethargy in the absence of A/C). Well I started texting anyone who would sympathize with me and got a great referral to an HVAC guy in Sugar Land. I called him and he said he would be out within an hour or two. Woohoo! I quickly canceled my ARS appt. and headed off to church. When I got home our A/C was churning away and the house felt much better. I was still a little bitter about the over-time repair bill, but considered it a blessing there wasn't anything worse wrong with our unit. I was extra bitter about the bill since we had just spent a good chunk of money installing this yesterday:

So my kitchen and patio are nicely shaded... but that doesn't matter if you don't have A/C!!!!Once the house FINALLY cooled down to a reasonable level and we got Kason down for a nap, all of our smoke/carbon monoxide detectors suddenly started chirping. Four chirps, pause, four chirps. So we replaced the batteries... and still they chirped. So I called my stepdad who is a fire chief in CA. He told me to take down a detector and find out what all that chirping meant (Yes I am stupid and needed the expert opinion of a fire chief to do that!). Apparently those particular chirps mean there are toxic levels of carbon monoxide in the house so get out and call 911!!!!! Ugh. My stepdad MADE me call 911 instead of searching for a non-emergency number online, so Richmond Fire Department (bless them) came roaring through our neighborhood with sirens blaring and lights ablaze. Not embarrassing at all. Even more humiliating was the fact that we had no carbon monoxide in the house. Just a defective detector. Sorry about your tax dollars everyone! We are the jerks who make false calls to the fire department!!!

I'm over today. I hope it ends well and tomorrow is excellent and not stressful. I know I am super blessed because we had the A/C fixed, we can afford it, and we didn't die from carbon monoxide poisoning, but I still need a little pity party time before I look for the positive!!!

On a slightly positive note, here's my baby bump! I think I look even a little smaller than when I was 25 weeks pregnant with Kason (at Christmas-time)! Woohooooooo!

Now Then

15 Months

I took Kason to a new pediatrician yesterday for his 15 month shots and checkup. Everyone is VERY impressed with his size- at 15 months Kason is the size of an average 2 year old! Here are his stats:

Height: 34.5" tall (>95%)

Weight: 31 pounds (>95%) -BTW, the nurse called him chubby, which I totally stressed over! :(

Head: 19.5" round (>95%)

The doc was also impressed with his vocabulary, which he was only too happy to demonstrate! At 15 months he should be saying 5-10 words. Kason says over 35:

up

turtle "urdle"

puppy

ball

yogurt "gogur"

dada

mama "bamba"

Tallulah "allulah"

door "doe"

baby

bath

duck

oatmeal "oh-mee"

snack

pool

water "wa-wa"

baba (he thinks a sippy of milk is a baba!)

hi

bye bye

this

that

there

Toby

kitty "kiggy"

cheese

banana

thank you

feet

keys

popsicle "hopsicle"

uh-oh

no

yeah (dah!)

etc. etc!

Kason is a happy, healthy little guy! Here's what he's up to these days:

• He loves talking on the "phone". He'll use anything to pretend talk- remotes, toys, sticks... anything! Just hold it to your ear and BAM, it's a phone! He even can recognize when I'm about to get off the phone and will yell "Bye bye" at whoever I'm talking to, usually right before I say it!!



• He loves animals! He points out "puppies" to me all day long- on the TV, in books, outside. He even knows the difference between Toby and Tallulah and will point to one or the other and tell me which is which. He met a cat at Auntie Deb's house the other day and was overjoyed that something would sit still long enough for him to pat it! He saw a painting of a lion at the pediatricians and pointed and asked "kiggy"? I'm amazed he is able to connect kitties to lions!!!



• He is FINALLY obeying a little when I tell him "No"! And if I get a little cranky when I say it he will break down in tears and throw a little tantrum. You might think that would be annoying, BUT, he stops what he's doing so I think it is definitely progress!!



• He loves going to the pool and is way too confident in the water. He can blow bubbles and is learning how to paddle in his little lifesuit.



• He is tall enough to open my kitchen drawers and is constantly bringing me gadgets. I put up all the glass and sharp objects and just let him go to town. I had a hard enough time installing child locks on our ONE chemical cabinet, no way I'm doing it on 20 drawers!!! So I put up with finding kitchen items all over the house. The other day AO asked me what an ice cream scoop was doing in my bathroom... :)

• Kason loves to help me do anything! If I need him to follow me, I just ask for help and he will come running! One of the cutest things he does is help me put clothes in the dryer. I hand him things one at a time and he will throw them in the dryer and yell "there!" each time. He yells "there!" any time he finishes anything, which is super funny- after he gets his arm through a shirt, pulling off a sock, throwing anything anywhere, pushing his highchair across the kitchen. I love that he can complete tasks with finesse! :) He also says "thank you" when handing things over. He kills me!

Kason is such a funny little guy! He loves making us laugh and is always ready to give kisses and snuggles. He truly lights up our lives!!!

22 weeks and going strong!

This is my post-lunch baby bump! I think I'm much bigger this time around, but see for yourself Here.

Pregnant with Kason

Pregnant NOW

BTW, sorry the pic sucks... obviously took it with my phone!

Big Boy

This is how my big boy got to my burrito. He is so proud of himself once he gets up there he just sits and kicks his legs for a long time. Little stinker is too cute!!!

It's a BOY!!!!

This boy is NOT measuring big like Kason did. I compared ultrasounds:

Kason at 19w1d measured 22w1d

Baby #2 at 18w5d measured 18w6d!!

Maybe I won't have another 10 pounder!!! Also no choroid plexus cysts in this baby's brain. Kason's turned out to be nothing, but still scared us first-time parents.

We can't wait to fill this house with all things boy!!! Again. :)

On a Roll.....

The origin:

Around the corner:

...and into the living room. (BTW- my new couch in the background...
kind of 80's bachelor pad-ish, no?)

This all took place literally 15 seconds after I moved the baby gate from the hallway to the office in order to protect the outlet my vacuum cord was plugged into. He had JUST pulled the cord out while I was vacuumming and scared the poo out of me!

I'm about to lose it.

TMI

The Grilled Stuft Burrito poop this morning was not pretty. I'll spare you the picture.

Ugh.

Today

First my precious, adorable, sweet little boy took off his diaper and peed on the floor. Twice.

THEN, since mama had given in to a pregnancy craving (not like I don't eat Taco Bell regularly when I'm not expecting!), she left half a burrito on the kitchen table -IN THE MIDDLE, where greedy little paws can't reach. Note that it is a huge burrito, not a little bean and cheeser!

While mama was folding laundry she noticed Kason was unusually quiet. Hmmmmm.

THIS little stinker:

Found my burrito, CLIMBED onto the chair and pulled it off the table (where presumably it landed on my gross floor), then carried the burrito (dripping with HOT sauce that gave him a rash) all through my living room and ate it on my new couch where I found him and my naughty dog Toby. Both covered in red rice and cheese. Unfortunately my state of shock prevented me from grabbing my camera. I'm still pretty bitter, but I'm sure you can imagine the pure delight that both dog and child were experiencing.

How am I going to handle two?!?!?

Blessed

Today I was able to visit the temple with some amazing ladies. I am so blessed to have wonderful and uplifting friends. I am also VERY blessed to have friends who are willing to watch a naughty little boy for over 6 hours!!!

Love ya'll!!!!!!

Brenham

Damien, Kason and I drove up to Brenham for the first time to see the famous Texas Bluebonnets. We were a little disappointed- we only found ONE open field with any flowers worth stopping for. Even so- we had a great time!

(seriously- how fat can I be? I am so ready to look pregnant and have an excuse for all this extra weight!)

Kason had a blast picking EVERY bluebonnet and trying to stuff it in his mouth before mama or dada could get to him. Such fun!

He also LOVED running wild outside. We couldn't get him to look at either of us- he just ran around GRINNING like it was the best day of his life. Hilarious!

Have you ever seen a cheesier grin???

Big

Well we all know that Kason is a BIG boy, but did everyone know just how big he is?

He's BIG enough to be a BIG brother!!!!

Kason better enjoy this time with mama because around October 12th things will change!

:)

Par-Tay

This weekend we had a little party for our big one-year old. Kason's grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousins all drove down from Oklahoma to help us celebrate- we had a blast!

We decorated with a few tablecloths and balloons, barbecued some tri-tip and ate a ton of cupcakes:

Birthday boy and "dada":

Cake time!

The aftermath:

Kason scored a ton of great gifts and he loved hanging around all his cousins and friends.

All in all, Kason was VERY satisfied with his first birthday party!

One Year Old

I can't believe my "little" man is one year old today! I remember how small (to us at least!) and sweet he was when we first met him:

And now he terrorizes the dogs, puts EVERYTHING in his mouth (he's even gone after the toilet brush.... I caught him JUST in time!), and snuggles every blonde in sight!

He is still a beast- 33.5" tall and 27 pounds 13 ounces at his one year visit today. WAY taller than the 95th percentile for height, BUT he made it back on the chart (95 percentile) for weight.

Don't know what I would do without my favorite little boy!