To My Children...

 

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

It's Friday Already!

So if you haven't noticed, I haven't really felt like blogging lately.  The kids, especially Raymond, have all been sick.  Raymond was in the hospital and still felt pretty crumby after they sent him home.  Lily ruptured her eardrum and has been complaining about it pretty consistently.  Isabella still has a terrible cough.  Ugh.  I can't wait to open up the windows and let some fresh air into this house.  On top of all that, I have been trying to get the girls room done.  I'm hoping by next weekend it will be.  When it is, I will post some pictures.  So far, it looks great!

 

With everything else going on, Isabella ripped out some of her dental work and I had to pick her up early from school on Wednesday to have it repaired.  I felt bad getting her because it was the day before Spring Break, and I know they were doing a lot of fun things.  I wanted it to be taken care of before her mouth started to hurt.  She was uncomfortable after everything was reinserted because it felt tight.  After about an hour, she forgot all about it.

 

Lily is officially done with speech therapy.  She is doing so well.  It's fun to hear her talk and ask questions.  Her language is really developing.  For example, she used to say "Raw-Raw" for Raymond and now she calls him "Romey" (pronounced like Mitt Romney without the 'n') or "Ramen", like the noodles.  She says, "please", "thank you" and my favorite, "you're welcome".  It sounds so cute!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday for the baby.  She is doing well.  They said I am measuring perfect and she has a good strong heartbeat : )  I know she has a strong kick too!
I have been having trouble with my sciatic nerve with the pregnancy.  I did when I was pregnant with Isabella too.  It's especially hard on the weekends when I'm at work and am standing/walking on a concrete floor for 8 hours.  My doctor told me she thinks it would be a good idea if I stop working.  She said since I have had so many C-sections that I am at risk for my uterus to rupture just from walking around.  That's a lovely thought, isn't it?  I will not be stopping just yet.  I am going to try to hold out as long as I can.  Sitting here, typing this, makes me wonder how many weeks pregnant I was with Isabella when I had to stop working (and that job I sat at a desk all day)...hmmm. 
I figured it out.  24 weeks.  I am 26 weeks now.  So the timing is about right in terms of when I started to have a lot of discomfort last time.

Easter is basically here already.  I can't believe that.  I guess it doesn't help it's so early this year.  I still have to get the kids baskets together.

The girls and I made cupcakes to celebrate.  I found an idea on Pinterest to make edible glitter.  It wasn't as sparkly as the picture on Pinterest, but it did work well.  I think next time I will use a more coarse sugar.  It would probably work better.  It's as easy as this: 

Take 1/4 cup of sugar and add 1/2 tsp. food coloring.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

I didn't have a lot of food coloring so we made due with what we had.

From Pinterest...

 

Ours...

 

I don't have the best camera in the world.  The sugar was actually much more glittery then it looks in this picture.

 

 

 

We put the cupcakes in liner's that look like flowers.

 

This is what Raymond did while we made the cupcakes...

 

Ran around with no cloths on like a crazy man!

 

 

Isabella and I made lime frosting for them.  Then she went to town decorating.  If you would like a sugar-high, come eat one of these cupcakes.

 

Have a great Easter everyone!

 Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

And then there were 5...

For those of you who may not know, we welcomed the newest addition to out family on February 11. Lily Catherine was born at 9:58am weighing in at 8lbs. 2ozs. and 20 1/2 inches long. She looks just like Isabella when she was a baby! We are all so happy and excited about our growing family.

Thank you to everyone who came to visit us in the hospital. Also, thank you for all the cards, flowers and gifts. It has all been really appreciated. We have such wonderful family and friends!!!

Grammy sent us flowers with a big lily in the center. How pretty!

We've had a lot of company since Lily has arrived. The Friday after she was born, my grandmother, aunt, great-aunt and cousins came to visit and meet Lily. My cousin Ashley brought her daughter Melody. She and Isabella play so nice together. They are good buddies. I think this is such a cute picture of the two of them with Lily. Hopefully they will still be interested in her once Lily starts to get around by herself.

Ashley and my grandmother bought Lily this bouncy seat. She really likes sitting in it. It's very soft and cushy. My Aunt Linda made her the blanket she is covered with.

As you might have guessed, Isabella is crazy about her little sister. She is constantly wanting to hold her and snuggle. She is such a good helper and wants to be involved in everything. Sometimes Chris and I have to tell her to give Lily a little space. She's a love bug!

Raymond is very curious about Lily. I think at first he wasn't sure if she was real or a doll. He likes to peek at her when she's sitting in her bouncy seat. He's a little rough so we have to keep a close watch on him. We are working on being "gentle" with the "baby". He seems to be getting a little better with it every day. Isabella and I call him the little-big brother.

Lily's first church breakfast.

Raymond or Elton John???

Buddy, do you have to lay on the hairy dog bed???

I took Lily for her first doctor's appointment and when I got home Raymond was in a purple skirt. Isabella told me that he couldn't go to her tea party without a skirt.

On February 15, Raymond turned two!!! What a milestone for him! We were told he would never come home from the hospital. When he came home from the hospital, we were told he wouldn't live past a year. When he hit a year, we were told that getting to his second birthday would be nearly impossible. Now here we are...two! Raymond is the toughest and most brave little guy I know. I'm honored that I was chosen to be his mother. Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

Chris and I ordered Raymond a puzzle stool with his name on it. Isabella has one and he loves playing with it and taking the letters in and out. It came just the other day and when I put it down in front of Raymond, he was so excited! He immediately knew this was his stool. I guess we'll have to order one for Lily too!

My grandmother and cousin Ashley bought Raymond a singing and talking puppy for his birthday. He just loves it! There is one song in particular that he just can't get enough of. Check out his moves!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

That Long???

Has it really been that long since I posted something? Wow! Time flies! So where do I start? Oh boy...lets see...

Isabella, Raymond and I ended up not going to Philadelphia on the 12th. Raymond's oncology office called Tuesday morning to reschedule his appointment because of the impending snow. So I called the ENT and surgical office and rescheduled those appointments as well. Both of those offices were in the process of calling to reschedule also. I just happen to beat them to the punch. I didn't want to get stuck at the Ronald McDonald House and not have any appointments to go to. Isabella was very disappointed. I told her not to worry that we will be going down soon. Philadelphia did get a fair amount of snow so I'm glad we rescheduled.

On the way home from work on Tuesday night Chris was rear-ended. It was snowy and a car had broken down in the middle of the road. The car in front of Chris stopped but the car behind did not. Luckily Chris wasn't hurt. When he got home I looked at the incident report and asked Chris if he noticed the lady's name who he was pushed into. He said he hadn't taken notice. It was Jennifer Lopez. It cracked me up. There are probably 30 Jennifer Lopez's who live in the Reading area but we still got a kick out of it. On a bright note, Chris was glad not to come home to an empty house like he originally thought he was going to.

I had cancelled Raymond's therapy on the Wednesday I'd thought we be in Philadelphia. Tuesday night into Wednesday I was having some trouble with my asthma. I normally have no trouble with my asthma but for some reason I couldn't quite catch my breath. On Wednesday morning around 8:30 I decided to call my doctor. I just didn't feel like I was in control of my own body at that point. I was told to head over to the hospital to be on the safe side. I called Chris, who had only been at work for about 40 minutes, and asked him to come home. Once he got home I headed over and the emergency room doctor was waiting for me. I was taken back and given a strong dose of steroids to help get my breathing under control. Well, it ended up turning into a bigger deal then I thought. After the doctors read the blood work it turns out that I had a mild heart attack. Yes, they were able to figure out why.

I've been having a lot of trouble with acid reflux. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! I feel so bad for people who suffer with this on a regular basis because it is not fun. My acid reflux is totally pregnancy related. The acid reflux directly effects my asthma. The asthma and breathing trouble directly effected my heart murmur - again, totally pregnancy related. I developed a heart murmur at the beginning of this pregnancy and it's really no big deal. It happens to a lot of woman because of the extra fluid our bodies are retaining. Again, very common and nothing to be concerned with. Unfortunately, all of these things combined just took my body into overload. I ended up being in the hospital from Wednesday to Saturday afternoon. The doctor's gave me more steroids to help control everything which made my blood sugar go crazy! I have gestational diabetes which I also had with Isabella and Raymond. It's something I control extremely easily with diet. Now I have to give myself insulin to counteract the steroids. The baby is doing just fine. All the nurses kept telling me, "You have an extremely happy baby in there!" I was nervous about the steroids but they kept reassuring me that the steroids are actually helping her lung development not hurting her in any way. I was sent home on bed rest with eight prescriptions. Why did I need eight prescriptions at the beginning of the year when we still needed to meet our prescription deductible? Ugh! Not a pretty bill. I have not been in bed but I have been taking it easy. I get tired pretty quickly. So I do this and that and rest a little. Luckily both Isabella and Raymond can easily entertain themselves if I lay on the couch. Thank you very much to everyone who sent me cards and flowers while I was in the hospital. It was so thoughtful of you!

Raymond's physical therapist brought a walker for him to start to use to try and help him walk. Raymond enjoys pulling himself up on anything but isn't a huge fan of the walker. It takes a lot of effort for him to pull himself up, balance, keep his head forward and move his feet. He definitely associates it with work. I try and get him to at least stand up with it everyday but as soon as he sees it coming he makes a sour face. As Raymond's legs and hips get stronger he'll enjoy it. He wants so desperately to run after his big sister!!!

Last Wednesday Raymond had his MRI. I was originally planning to go but I had a follow-up doctor's appointment that ran over by almost 2 hours. So Chris ended up taking him down to Hershey by himself. We were a little nervous because Raymond had such a hard time under anesthesia last time. Raymond's MRI was scheduled at 1:00 and they didn't take him back until 3:30. The poor little guy was starving because he hadn't been able to eat anything since 7:00 that morning. Chris said he finally just cried himself to sleep. Other then that, everything went very well. Chris headed home with Raymond around 5:30. We should hear the results of that by tomorrow. Hopefully they didn't find anything. Brain surgery is not on my to-do list!!!

Tomorrow I have a long doctor's appointment. We will be there from 1:30 until about 4:00. The weather isn't slotted to be very nice so I'm not sure if they will call to reschedule or not. Since it's such a long appointment, it's hard for me to reschedule it. Isabella has no problem at these appointments but it's hard for Raymond because he has to be in his car seat 90% of it. How boring for him! I always bring lots of things for both of them but when you're strapped in for hours, it's rough.

Today after I picked Isabella up from school we went to the library. We had a few things to return and she wanted to pick out some new books and a DVD. She choose a Nick Jr. DVD which we've seen before. The first episode is Blues Clues. Isabella will watch Blues Clues but it's by no means a favorite show of hers. But, apparently, Raymond really enjoys Blues Clues. He sat and stared at the television for quite some time, giggling and laughing. It was so cute! He never watches television but for some reason he really likes Blues Clues. I'm having deja vu from when Isabella was little. We bought her a VHS tape of Bear in the Big Blue House at the library book sale and she ended up loving it. We wound up searching high and low for anything Bear in the Big Blue House since it wasn't being made anymore. We found most items at garage sales. If Raymond continues to like Blues Clues, we might have to do the same thing. I don't want him to get caught up watching TV but maybe I can find some educational toys or figures since it held his interest for so long. We also ran into Kmart to buy Valentines for Isabella's school party. Her teachers sent a note home today instructing parents on how to label the Valentines. I didn't know we were to buy them so I was happy to see the note. I would have felt really bad if she was the only kid who didn't bring any. I was actually going to ask her teachers if they planned on exchanging Valentines but I forgot. Most things like this are optional. Buying a $3 box of Valentines is no big deal. I was happy that Isabella picked a box with puppies and kittens. They work great for boys and girls. Now she has to sign her name 16 times! Good practice!

Raymond's appointments with the oncologist, ENT and surgeon are rescheduled for Feb. 2 (next Wednesday). Hopefully the weather is okay so we can finally make it down there. I don't want to have to reschedule for the beginning of March and have to take the new baby along. Since we are spending the night at the Ronald McDonald House, it will be a lot more to drag along. If I have to I will but I'd like to get these appointments in now. It's a bad time of the year for all these appointments. The weather has not been our friend. The following Tuesday Raymond and Isabella have appointments at the Pulmonologist. I think Isabella has asthma. When she gets a cold it always seems to be accompanied by a cough that doesn't go away and I hear her wheeze. Maybe Raymond will be able to come off oxygen. I'm really not sure though. He's still struggling with it more then he should be.

While I was in the hospital, Chris got a postcard out of the mailbox that we had a certified letter waiting for us at the post office - for Raymond Burch! Why in the world is someone sending Raymond a certified letter?!? This was Saturday and the post office was closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day so we had to wait until Tuesday to see what it was. I stopped and picked it up on the way to the doctors. It was from Praxair, the company that supplies Raymond with his oxygen supplies and other medical equipment. I opened the letter and it was to inform us that one of Raymond's pieces of equipment was recalled due to it causing serious injuries and death!!!!!!!!! Are we the only ones who think this warrants a phone call? The recalled equipment is a pulse oximetry machine which measures the concentration of oxygen in Raymond's blood. This tells us whether or not we need to adjust his oxygen level. According to the letter there is fluid which leaks out of the machine causing third degree burns and it also sends electronic impulses to the patients heart which has caused several deaths in people with existing heart conditions. Hello!!! Raymond has a hole in his heart!!! Chris and I were so mad that we didn't get a phone call about it. We were also mad at our incredibly lazy mailman who didn't bother to come to the door to see if someone was home to sign for the letter. I guess the car in the driveway wasn't enough of a hint for him. Chris was home the entire day with both kids. So not only did we have to go to the post office to pick this letter up but we had to wait two extra days because it was a weekend and holiday. This isn't the first time we've had trouble with the mailman. He is such a bonehead. Really. Chris and I have decided we are going to file a formal complaint about him to the post master. This was the last straw.

The baby is due in 4 weeks! Wow! I'm going to blink and be holding a new baby. I do have a C-section scheduled, but again, we aren't telling anyone when that is. This is my third C-section and it still makes me squeamish to think of them putting that needle in my back! It only takes a second and it honestly only hurts for about 5 seconds total but it still gives me anxiety! It's very worth it and we're ready! Especially Isabella!

Some of you have told me you're having trouble looking at the blog and commenting. Other's say they haven't had any trouble. I'm not sure what to tell you. If I look at the blog while not signed in, it comes up just fine. When I'm signed in it looks and runs fine too. Try typing the blog address in instead of retrieving it from your favorites. Maybe that would help? I'm honestly not sure what to suggest. If you continue having trouble send me an email and I will contact Blogger to see if they have any suggestions.

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Here I Am!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year! We stayed home and had a party according to Isabella. I made yummy lobster club sandwiches for dinner. We played games and had lots of fun. Isabella made it to around 10:00 but just couldn't stay awake any longer.

We've been getting things in order for the new baby. My due date is only 7 weeks away! We ordered a crib for her and as you can see, everyone helped put it together.

Yes, Raymond ripped his oxygen off!

Afterwards, Raymond got a haircut.

I'm sure there are lots of other things I should tell you, but I can't think of anything right now. So check back for another update soon!

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! Isabella and I made a few more goodies before Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve we waited for Grammy to come. We went out to lunch and came home to open our presents. In years past we had Isabella open all gifts on Christmas Day and it was too overwhelming. She was actually tired of opening gifts. So this year we split it up a bit. She and Raymond had fun tearing into Grammy's presents!

When it was time for bed, Isabella had a very hard time falling asleep. She was so excited for Santa....and he came!

We had a gate up around the tree so Raymond wouldn't bother it. on Christmas we took it down. He actually seemed more interested in the tree with the gate up rather then down. We haven't put it back up since and he's been fine. Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself! : )

Lets get this show on the road!

Even Sadie got a present from Santa.

Raymond wasn't sure why all the sudden he was allowed to rip things apart but he decided not to ask any questions and go for it!!!

We got everything pretty much cleaned up from Christmas morning just in time for Grandma and Grandpa to come with more gifts.

Yes, Isabella wore her pajamas all day! Why not!

The day after Christmas we went to Lancaster for a gift exchange with my family. I had my camera with me but ended up not taking any pictures. By the time I realized that I didn't get the camera out everyone was leaving. My cousin Ashley had a baby, Paige, on Nov. 7 and this was the first time we got to meet her. She is very cute. I was holding her and decided to pick up Raymond to see what he would do. He was surprised when he saw her and then got a very big smile on his face. Raymond touched her face and rubbed her cheek so gently. I think he was curious about a person smaller then him! I can't remember Raymond interacting with a baby smaller then him before. Normally babies younger then Raymond are still physically bigger. It was unbelievably sweet and Chris, my cousin and I were all making a big of fuss over them! This interaction makes me wonder what Raymond will think when he has a little baby to look at all day long. It will be cute for sure. Hopefully he doesn't think his new sister is a special toy for him. Even though, sometimes, I think Isabella considers Raymond her personal toy. He's always here for her enjoyment! See...

Until Next Time,

Lots of Love,

Erica