Cool guy!

On Sunday we went to Huntington Gardens with Auntie Charmy. It was alternately sunny and bright and dark and cloudy - we couldn't figure out if we were hot or cold!

We had a very nice time visiting the "The Color Explosion" exhibit in the Huntington Library. It was very cool!

When we came out of the exhibit the boys tried on my sunglasses - and Nicie even posed for a picture!

"Momma"

Nic has started calling me Momma - sort of! Over the last few days he has finally! started saying Momma - but not all of the time - and it still doesn't really feel like it is directed at me! But I will take it! Except when he is crying about his diaper change and crying, "Momma, momma" - I think I preferred it when that was "Dadda!"

"What are you doing?"

Tonight I went out to a movie, "Sherlock Holmes," which was good by the way! Before when I have left to go out without the boys, and left them with Daddy, I have slipped out without saying goodbye. The cowards way out. I didn't want to upset the boys by saying goodbye to them. Tonight I decided that I need to face going out without them to have "Mommy Time" head on.

Two minutes before I left I told them that I was going. Jac understood and immediately climbed into my arms and asked to carried so that he could come with me. He was panicked that I was going to go without him. It felt awful. I told him that Mommy was going to go watch a movie and have some "Mommy Time" so I could come back a happier Mommy. For some reason this did not persuade him that my going was a good thing ;)

I told him that he could watch a movie while I was gone and turned on "Bolt" from Netflix on the TiVo. He has never seen a movie like this and I thought it might engage him after I left. As I told him again that I was going and that I would be back he clung to me, wrapped his arms around my neck, and his legs around my waist and cried, "What are you doing?" I asked him to stay with Daddy and watch his movie and took him off me and handed him to Daddy and grabbed my stuff and rushed out the door and out of earshot. It felt so awful but I felt that once I told him I was going I needed to do it.

"What are you doing?" rang through my head throughout the entire movie. Augh! When I got home all three of my boys were in bed, but not asleep. Jac was very happy to see me. He didn't seem upset at that point but Daddy told me he cried hard for 25 minutes after I left and periodically the entire time I was gone.

I don't know how long it is going to take me to build up the wherewithal to go out again!

Evernote

Evernote, originally uploaded by CallingAllGeeks.

Evernote is my new second brain! Check it out! http://www.evernote.com

Here are some comments I posted on the Evernote blog - http://blog.evernote.com/

I love Evernote! I already have 817 notes and I only have been using it for three months. I use it to keep track of all of my bills, recipes for my kids, medical bills, receipts (scanned from JotNot on the iPhone). I scan everything with my Fujitsu ScanSnap S300m on my MacBook Pro. I am super excited about the iPad and I was imagining how I was going to use it I imagined a beautiful implementation of Evernote!

A few requests:

1. Like the previous comment - some sort of inking for the iPad would be awesome!

2. Make it easier to use/scroll/specify with auto completion tags on the iPhone/iPad.

3. I would love to have the ability to read a PDF in evernote on the iPad and at the same time takes notess, two panes UI. I can’t wait to order my iPad (copied from a previous poster! - He already said it!)

4. On the Mac app, please make it possible to scan directly from the ScanSnap - perhaps folder monitoring like on the Windows version. Right now I scan into Adobe Reader and then drag onto the dock icon of Evernote - but I forget to close the Adobe Reader version of the scan sometimes which leaves me not sure if I have processed something into Evernote yet.

5. Allow a way to tag a note when it is emailed in. I use the email feature all of the time (from my Mac and mostly from my iPhone) but then I have to go back and find those notes and tag them after the fact.

6. I love reading books on Kindle for iPhone. Currently to take notes on what I am reading I take screen shots of the page and then import them into Evernote. This is slow and cumberson. Any improvement in this sort of screen shot to Evernote process would be great!

7. Voice recognition for audio notes would be great!

Milestone: Getting down from the couch

So... it turns out that Jac knows how to get down from couch and I didn't know it! I thought he was still learning! It turns out that he had been doing it with his Daddy for a week or so - and is his more careful Momma thought he was still learning. It is good the boys have a Mom and Dad - for a little balance!

The way I discovered that Jac knew how to do this was when I had my MacBook down at Jac level and I was trying to do a disk repair and he rapidly got down off the couch and came and got my computer.

Mommy's blood pressure is down but the headaches are still there

I went to see Dr. P today and my blood pressure is down some (144/82). Now that my diastolic is in the 80's Dr. P is halving my Labetalol to 50 mg twice a day (I was on 100 mg twice a day since I left the hospital). He wants to make sure that my blood pressure doesn't get too low (I could faint!). I still have quite significant headaches though - but at this point it is not clear what is causing them.

Last week I had some dental work done (Old fillings in two teeth that were starting to cause problems) and my mouth has been hurting ever since. So.... It is hard to know. I am going to let things settle out a bit and see what effect the change in dosage of the Labetalol does. I have taking Tylenol pretty much all of the time for the headache! Let's hope it all just works itself out.

On the positive side my blood tests for Thyroid levels and Zinc level all came back in a normal range!

It is not clear how long I am going to have to be on Labetalol. I have my six week post-birth check in a few weeks and Dr. P will reevaluate at that time.

Mommy is going home

I have been in the hospital since Friday morning - and it is now Monday morning. Prior to this the only time I had been in the hospital was after each of my C-Sections. It has been far more disturbing to be in the hospital with an illness, not knowing what is going on and when I am going to get to go home and be with all of my boys!

Dr. P. did not release me on Sunday because my blood pressure spiked back up to 140/102 during the night and at 4:30 am the nurse had to give me an extra medication to bring my blood pressure down.

Dr. P. thinks I have Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) which is just really showing its ugly face now. Four days before I had Nic my blod pressure was really getting pretty high (140/100) but it came down while I was being monitored.

But, I am acting a bit weird in how the PIH is showing up which makes Dr. P. think that I may have some underlying disease process going on. I have a lot more investigation to do to try to figure out what is going on.

The end result is that I am going home on Labetalol. It is a beta blocker which is helping to lower my blood pressure. I am taking 100 mg twice a day. Dr. W. came in this morning and told me I could go home and that she thought that I would probably need to be on Labetalol for six weeks or so.

Nic has gotten more Mommy booby time in the last 3 days! He has been eating, and eating and eating! And not sleeping as much as I would like! I think he actually likes it a lot more noisy and he sleeps the best during the day at home when there are all sorts of things going on! You can start the dryer right outside the room he is sleeping in, with the door open, and he sleeps like a baby ;) But here in the hospital where it is very quiet it is really hard to get him to go to sleep. He likes his swing at home and the swing that we borrowed from the NICU here he doesn't seem to like - I was never able to get him to fall asleep in it.

I have really missed Joseph and Jac. I have had visits but it is not the same and I can't wait to get home and get back to figuring out how to take care of two boys. Fortunately Ama (my Mother-in-Law) is here to help!

(P.S. - I accidentally posted this as Joseph - this is of course Taj!)

Mommy is in the hospital

In the middle of the night on Thursday night/Friday morning, when I woke up to feed Nic, I woke up to a blinding headache. I think it is the worst headache I have had in my life. After an hour and a half of feeding Nic and trying to get him back to sleep I finally had to go wake Joseph up - my brain hurt so much I could barely function. Fortunately Nic went back to sleep after some rocking by Daddy and I was finally able to get a little bit if sleep.

We went in at 8:30 am (Friday) to see Dr. P (my OB) and finally saw him at 9:30 am. When I arrived at his office my blood pressure was in the 140/100 range - I started my pregnancy at 98/65 - so this is very high for me. My blood pressure had been creeping up during the end of my pregnancy with Nic and I had a pre-eclampsia scare four days before Nic was born. Fortunately I was fine at this time and we were able to make it to Nic's planned C-Section day. While I was in the hospital recovering from the C-Section my blood pressure crept up a little more but was still not in a dangerous range. I had it checked twice since I left the hospital and it had still been high for me but still not dangerous.

Dr. P. did not think that my blood pressure should be causing me such a bad headache so he admitted me to the hospital (back in the same room as I was in after I had Jac) and had me monitored and given pain meds. I also had an MRI. The MRI showed a perhaps, diffuse bleed in my pituitary gland but the neurologist that came to see me said he did not think if I had the bleed (which is debatable) that it should not be causing me such a headache and he also did not think my blood pressure was high enough to cause me such a headache.

Well, after a day of pain meds that did not help and just made me feel foggy and miserable, I finally got Labetalol (a beta blocker that helps to reduce blood pressure) and I felt better in a couple of hours. I took my last pain meds at 8 pm last night and my headache has been better since then (not gone but much better.)

My nurse last night thought that I would be discharged today but I had a feeling Dr. P would ask me to stay another night to monitor me and make sure the blood pressure meds don't "bottom me out." (Meaning that they lower my blood pressure too far to the point that I could pass out)

So, here I am in the hospital (Saturday afternoon). Nic is sleeping (he let me sleep for several, several hour stretches last night, and then was awake and eating all morning (literally from 8 am to 2 pm!)

Dr. P said if I feel okay tomorrow I can go home!

I miss Joseph and Jac, who have been out and about with Akon and Ama. They came to see me this afternoon and Jac slept most of the time, and then was fussy when he woke up. D'oh! Hopefully I will get to go home tomorrow and see my happy baby!

Jac and Mommy ate lunch together

Jac and I had a new experience together today. We ate lunch. Jac sat in his Svan chair and ate Crunchies and I sat in my chair and ate a Lean Cuisine. Amazing. This has never happened before. I know that may seem very strange but it is true!

He sat in the chair for about 12 minutes total and ate Crunchies and I was able to take my Lean Cuisine out of the microwave and eat it, with no baby in my arms. Amazing!

He is now taking the Crunchies out of the packages himself. We offer him the different cans and he takes what he wants. Well, he takes some. Most of them end up on the floor or left in his seat, and end up in Knutson's mouth, but some of them end up in his mouth and eventually in his stomach. Cool! It is funny to think how exciting a seemingly simple thing like eating can be when your child has never done it. Man, every time he eats something new I am a little giddy!

Family photos from Charmy's wedding

Our friend Nate took some gorgeous photos at Wayne and Charmy's wedding. He got some great photos of Jac which we haven't gotten our hands on yet but we have a couple of family shots that are very nice. I particularly like the shot where Joseph looks like a politician that is running for office!

Mommy is so tired

Oh man, am I tired. I am not sleeping well even though Joseph is sleeping with Jac and waking up to feed him during the night. I am dreaming a ton, which I am not normally aware of and I am sleeping so restlessly that when I wake up I feel as if I have not been sleep. This is not making for a very happy Mommy! No. 2 kicks me all of the time, especially when I lay down. I never realized how little Jac really kicked me. No. 2 is now almost twice the size Jac was when he was born. It is hard for me to understand and to think about. I am now 28 weeks - only about a week and a few days until Jac was born - from a gestational standpoint. Oh man! I am so much bigger this time, as we would hope and expect. I am not sure I was prepared for all of the changes in my body, especially the fact that my stomach seems to be about the size of a pea and it feels like there is a large rock sitting on top of my bladder at all times!

Pulling to standing

I am just putting this up now (July 20) but here is a video of Jac from July 5 when he had really just started to pull to standing on his own more easily. He is playing on the bed with me and using me as his standing platform.

Family picture

We asked a friend of ours to take a family picture today. We only have one family picture prior to these - on the day Jac was born - and I am in a stretcher and Jac is in an isolette. Hmm... But now we have some nice ones!

Mommy's new haircut

My hair has been getting longer and longer sine Jac was born - I had only had it trimmed once. My hair is not falling out as quickly now and some of it has started to grow back. I decided to have it cut and here are the results!

It will probably never be styled this cleanly again!

A long chat

Jac had a long chat with me this evening while he sat on Daddy's lap. He had been eating and had taken a break. It turned out that he was "explaining" that he was still hungry and would like some more milk!

Mommy plays soccer!

Today, I played soccer for the first time since shortly before I got pregnant with Jac. It is co-ed indoor soccer at Boulder Indoor Soccer. So much fun. The field is an actual indoor soccer field! With proper walls and nets etc! I am used to playing in a modified gym with brick walls. I still have a scar on my forehead from where I was sent into the wall by another player at the gym!

Jac and Daddy came along to cheer me on. It was great to have them there! It is 6 on 6 on a much bigger field than we played 5-on-5 on in LA. Fortunately there were four women and only two on the field at a time. The halves are 22 minutes long and we sub in and out every 5 or 6 minutes. It is a god thing I only had to play 5 minutes at a time since I was sucking wind big time. I am used to being able to run for 25 minutes without stopping - but 13 months, a baby, and 5300 feet of elevation and I was in a world of hurt. Hopefully I can get on at least one more team that plays during the week so I will get in shape a little more quickly. The season lasts 10 weeks and there are 6 co-ed teams in the league.

I am very excited to be playing again. My soccer skills themselves seemed to be intact but my quickness and willingness to run anything down is somewhat diminished for now! Thanks Daddy for supporting me!

The Bottle Dance

Jac has taken to playing with his bottle when he is eating. He is trying to hold the bottle with both of his hands while he is eating. He also pushes the bottle with his tongue and moves it all around. This has increased a lot in the last 2 days. At 5 am this dance makes it challenging for a bleary eyed Mommy to feed him!