Meghan and her love for dogs

As many of you may know, Meghan has a huge heart and lots of love for most any furry, four-legged creature, but especially for dogs. I swear that child has a dog radar that covers at least one city block. She always knows where the dogs are and always wants to stop and pet them. Most of the dogs in our neighborhood are friendly and the owners are very cautious if their dog doesn't like kids (they always cross the street before passing us).

Jase's best friend has a golden retriever, Clara, whom Meghan adores and loves to walk on the leash (whether in their fenced in backyard or in the house).

Meghan also loves going to Gramma Fick's house, because there she has 3 doggies to play with (actually just 2, Mitzi and Molly, as Sam is more stand-off-ish). Here are some pictures I took this summer when on vacation. Meghan was in heaven having Molly on the leash and running with her all over the large front and backyard.

This first one is my favorite!

Here Meghan is singing (her second favorite thing).

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has been a long time coming in our house this year. We decorated the house towards the end of September, before I was scheduled to have my ankle surgery. Then the surgery got canceled. So we made some crafts, made some yummy food, including sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins, bats, and leaves. The kids also frosted the cookies and Jase discovered that green and orange make brown (kinda - I think it was more of a puke green and I couldn't eat any of those cookies :)).

Then we had our annual trunk or treat at church and we all had fun. Jase had his school Halloween parade and party. And now finally tonight, trick or treating around our block. It is a cold one out, but I am glad it stopped raining.

We have one pretty sweet and adorable puppy dog, and one protective turtle named Leonardo. Thankfully with him around we stay safe!

Ice Skating lessons

Jase and Meghan started ice skating lessons this last week.

They are in different classes due to their ages, but both are in beginner lessons.

Joe took them and said they did pretty well, since they have have never had ice skates on their feet before.

Jase fell some and Meghan fell alot.

They were very excited to come back home and tell me all about it.

They can't wait for next week!

I am grateful that Joe remembered the camera and took these pictures for me to see them in "action". Thanks Love!

The one with a pinched nerve...

Today marks the 9th day of being in bed since I pinched a nerve in my lower back. On the Friday morning of incident I was getting out of the shower and lifted my left leg up on the side of the tub and bent forward to dry my foot. My right leg went instantly numb, I became very dizzy and nauseous (almost ready to faint) and Joe had to help me back to bed.

In bed was where I stayed all day (hating the times I had to get up and use the bathroom). Lying flat was the only way I could get any relief from the sharp and stabbing nerve pain and to get at least partial feeling back in my leg. Saturday I saw a chiropractor and I felt quite a bit better afterwards and actually walked around for about an hour at a park. Sunday morning I woke up and my entire right leg was cramping for hours. Into the ER we go. The hard part is trying to get any pain relief while sitting or standing (there is none). All the good meds are not for use with while pregnant.

Fast forward to Tuesday when I talked with my OB to get referrals to Ortho (spine Dr) and Physical Therapy. Sadly these referrals will take a week or so to get scheduled... Wednesday to the Chiropractor and felt better afterwards. Thursday back to the chiropractor and feel even better afterwards, as we found a position for me to lay on my stomach (thankfully I'm still in the 1st trimester) and to stretch my legs down at an angle (the futon works well). This allows the "probable slipped disk" to fall back into place, relieving the pressure on the nerve in the back.

Each morning is getting somewhat easier to do gentle stretching and then getting out of bed. However, the more I am up, the more it hurts. And being up for more than 5 minutes at a time is difficult. The sciatica is still there and my glute and hamstring muscles are so tight that they pinch the nerve as soon as they are engaged. Stretching them just makes the back hurt worse, so we are working from the top down; back first then the muscles.

I see the Chiropractor on Monday again and then the Ortho on Tuesday. I really hope that I can get back to work later this week, as I'm burning through all my sick days and vacation days. If I'm off much longer, then there will be little traveling for us over the holidays this winter...

Surgery, No Surgery

This week has been truly interesting and exciting. Most of the excitement happened on Tuesday. It began with needing to be to the hospital by 6:15a and it is a 45 min drive depending on traffic. I was needing surgery on my ankle that I broke back in February as I have a bone chip interfering with my joint. So, our good friend Carrie was going to come and watch the kids until 7a when they get up and then transfer over to her house to get ready for school and the day.

I was planning on getting up at 5a, but the day before Meghan got her Kindergarten shots (4 of them) and already had a cold, which put her poor little immune system into overdrive. She woke up with a fever at 4a and wouldn't go back to sleep. Jase was up at that time too, so we got up super early that morning.

Since the kids were wired and ready to go to their friend's house, we just dropped them off at Carrie's house at 5:30a and headed to the hospital. Even at 5:30a the traffic on the expressway was nuts in places. I'm really glad I don't have to drive on the expressways to get to work each day - I think I would go nuts...

We get to the hospital a little after 6a and I get called back to get prepped for surgery. I've had several surgeries, so none of this new to me really. Part of getting prepped included a urine sample. The nurse comes back and gets ready to start the IV. Just then an older nurse walks past and calls my nurse out of the room.

Then, I see my Dr walk in the prep area and a couple minutes later he walks into my room. He says that we are going to have to cancel the surgery today and I ask why.

He says "You're pregnant" and pats my leg.

I am surprised to say the least. We have been trying since January and I've been very irregular, so every pregnancy test has come back negative that I've taken and yes I've taken several. I tell him this and he is excited for us. He goes out and gets Joe in the waiting room and leaves us alone for a couple minutes so I can tell him. He is excited too. So, I get unprepped and we even get our co-pay back (that was unexpected too) and go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast since I'm starving. Then we head back home to get Meghan and enjoy my one day off (not 5-10 like I had planned for after surgery). I mentioned to Joe that this baby is already making me pay by having ankle pain for another year before I can have surgery.

Now I need to schedule an OB appt soon, since I have no idea how far along I am. I could be 4 weeks or 12 weeks. Wednesday morning I go in and spend 1.5 hours with a very talkative (and nice) nurse practitioner. She thinks I could be as far along as 13 weeks, but I don't really think that is possible for a couple reasons. I have always know when I was pregnant by week 4-5, and with my pregnancy with Meghan, my pants were getting snug by week 6. We schedule all my lab work (they are very pro-active here with labs) and ultrasound for Friday afternoon, to set my due date officially.

Thursday I spend an hour in the lab and the tech loves hearing about how I found out about #3. It truly is a funny story.

I wonder how many times my Podiatrist has told his patients that they are pregnant!

Meghan and Jase are both excited and they each want a sister/brother (Meghan - sister, Jase - brother). Meghan has been singing nonstop "We're going to have a baby" and repeat 20 million times. Jase is hugging and kissing my belly. It will be fabulous fun this time with them both being older. With my pregnancy with Meghan, Jase was 20-28 months old, so most of it over him. Not this time though. I've also always wanted 4 kids, but I was hoping that I wouldn't have twins (can you say super exhausting!).

Now on to Friday and the ultrasound. About half way through I asked if there was just one and she yes. She also said I measured at 5 weeks 6 days and my due date is May 26, 2012.

So there you have it - Holdaway baby #3 coming May 2012!

A Kindergarten picture

I think Jase's first official school pictures turned out quite well. He doesn't like to give his true smile most of the time, just a grin. He was happy with the background color of choice too - blue is his favorite.

Blog updating...

Blog updating is in progress and will be getting worked on for the next week or so as I find some time.

Enjoy the new format...