Bittersweet

This morning was very bittersweet for me. I learned before going to church that Mike had passed away at 2am this morning. I had asked for prayer yesterday for his wife, Ann. We know he is celebrating Easter with the Lord, but we grieve for his wife, kids, and grandkids who will miss him here on earth. Mike was very loved at church. I believe they've gone to this church for decades. Two of their children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren also go to this church. So many tears were shed today in regards to Mike's passing. As it is, I often find Easter Sunday to be rather emotional. It's a joyous occasion, but it follows such a sad event (the crucifixion of our Savior). Often songs like "Up from the grave he arose" have brought a few tears to my eyes, but today the combination of just finding out Mike had passed, extra hormones of pregnancy, and reflections on what Jesus went through all culminated in me doing a LOT of crying during the worship service. I wasn't the only one by any means. Tissues were needed in every pew I think. He was very loved by many, many people in the church.

After church we met Paul's family and had dinner with them and then spent a few hours at their house celebrating Easter and also Paul's brother's 44th birthday (which was also today). Ian took his nap at the restaurant (first in Paul's arms and then mine) which was perfect timing. They had a blast playing at Paul's parents' house. I'll post more pics tomorrow showing Ian enjoying the Elefun game and such. We had a really nice time. Paul's parents gave Ian 4 new little vehicles and some summer pjs (somehow I didn't get him any in size 2T or 24month), and Nadia got a new puzzle and some princess stamps. The drive from their house to Hershey is about one hour so it broke up our drive a bit.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I unlocked our room at RMH because I discovered we have a SUITE! I didn't know they had any here! I was told it's because we're next to the elevator. What an incredible blessing! There is a door I can close between the little room where Nadia is sleeping (in a twin size bed) and my queen size bed! The bathroom is large enough I could have put Ian's pack 'n play there, but he didn't wake me up much (except for waking up too early) so I left him in my room at least for tonight, but I could always move him. PTL! I am so, so grateful. This was one of the things that made last week so hard. If I get better sleep this week, it will be much easier to deal with feeding Ian 9 times a day and spending 8.5 hours a day in a doctor's office. We met Leah this evening (the girl who will be starting the feeding program tomorrow). She is 2 1/2 years old, and I saw her eating mashed potatoes this evening at the RMH. Hopefully the kids will have fun with her as they sure enjoyed playing with Dylan last week.

P.S. The blue jacket wasn't supposed to be part of Ian's Easter outfit, but the boy is obsessed with jackets lately. For a few weeks now he's been wearing a jacket all day long. The only time he's not wearing a jacket is when he's in the bathtub or when he's in his pjs. He screams if I try to take his jacket off, and there's no harm done, so I let him wear a jacket. Hopefully he'll outgrow this phase before it's say 90 degrees outside, ha ha! I have more pictures to share, but I left the camera in the bedroom, and I'm sitting in the bathroom typing this. This is where I hang out in between the time I put the kids to bed, and I go to bed. I don't have wi-fi access during the day so this is my chance! Now it's time to hit the hay, and hopefully I won't wake up at 4:15am as I have the last couple of days!

Easter Eggs

Although I felt like I was barely hanging on at times this past week, I think adrenaline or something like that was keeping me from crashing as today I have felt like a dishrag (complete with a fever and headache). I wanted to sleep in this morning, but when I get in a habit of not getting much sleep, my body wakes up after the "usual" amount of sleep, which meant I was wide awake at 4:15am. It took me about an hour to fall back asleep, partly because I was concerned about the insurance paperwork that came in the mail this week. Paul got up at 6:45 with the kids, but then at 7:15 he asked me to come down and help feed Ian breakfast. I did take a nap when the kids napped. Paul took Nadia to Walmart for a variety of odds and ends (including a birthday gift for his brother and shoes for Nadia to wear tomorrow). During that time I played with Ian outside, and when Paul came home I burst into tears and ran upstairs. I have been totally overwhelmed with the idea of unpacking and repacking the suitcase this evening and driving back to Hershey tomorrow evening. I feel like I need more time to recooperate from the first week. If you think of us I'd appreciate prayers that #1 Ian will make progress and #2 that I will have enough energy to make it through three more weeks. I'll be teaching my class (online) on Tuesday night. A friend of mine is going to come to the Ronald McD House (with her two school age children) and watch Nadia and Ian while I teach my class.

After Ian woke up from his nap, I helped Nadia color eight eggs. I hid the eggs and the kids had fun finding them. Nadia is MUCH better at finding them than she was last year. Ian needs help although he certainly found it to be a fun activity. Nadia hid the eggs a couple of times, and Daddy hid them once also. They colored eggs and had an egg hunt at the Ronald McD house this week, but it took place during the day (while we were at the feeding clinic).

Tomorrow the choir is singing two anthems, one of which will be the Hallelujah Chorus. That brings back memories as we used to sing that on Easter Sunday in Maryland. From church we're driving to a restaurant near Paul's parents' house where we'll be meeting his family for our Easter dinner. Then we'll be hanging out at his parents' house for a few hours before we drive back to Hershey. Nadia can't wait until we get back because she left her beloved "Poland pillow" at the feeding clinic on Friday.

One other prayer request I'd like to share is for my friend, Ann. Her husband was diagnosed with a blood cancer 20 months ago. He's undergone various treatments that they hoped would put it into remission, but the treatments have been unsuccessful and he recently has taken a big turn for the worse. He doesn't want to go back to Philly (where he has undergone most of his treatments) because he wants to be at home when he passes away. I think he's 65 years old. He's a retired elementary public school teacher. His daughter (Sarah) was one of Nadia's first babysitters. I'm praying for Ann, Mike, their three kids (plus their spouses), and their grandkids. One of their grandsons is in my Sunday School class. I'm also still praying for my friend, Donna, and her family as they adjust to life without their beloved husband, father, and grandpa, who passed away last week.

Giving Thanks

1. I am so very glad to be home sweet home. I am eagerly anticipating a good night's sleep tonight.

2. Kathy let us leave at 3:30pm. It felt like I was handed a "get out of jail" pass to be allowed to leave 90 minutes early.

3. I am thankful for the delicious food they served for dinner each night at the Ronald McDonald House such as stuffed chicken breasts, ham, ziti, etc.

4. The Ronald McDonald House is a lovely place to stay. The volunteers and staff are extremely gracious. The one I stayed at when the kids were in the NICU charged $15 a night, which of course is very reasonable, but ths one in Hershey is free (it would have been $300 this month if we had paid $15 a night). As one example, when we checked out today they gave Nadia a huge Easter basket filled with stuffed animals, candy, etc. They would have given one to Ian also, but I told them he didn't eat candy. They gave him two stuffed animals. Nadia gave some of her chocolate to the doctor and Ian's feeding therapist.

5. Ian only had one accident during our 5 days in Hershey (unfortunately it was while I was holding him at the feeding clinic so he not only sabotaged his clothes but also mine).

6. I ordered some maternity clothes from Motherhood this evening. I bought three pairs of capri pants, two skirts, one dress, and one top for $125. This is the first maternity dress I've ever bought so that was my riskiest purchase (considering I couldn't try it on). I bought some in L and some in XL. In the past I only needed XL at the very end of the pregnancy. I got my clothes a lot cheaper the past two pregnancies (mostly on eBay), but I'm grateful that more comfortable clothes are on the way.

7. I *think* the morning sickness phase has passed. I am so, so grateful! I know I said that I'm assuming the baby I'm carrying is a boy (since we only have a girl's name picked out), but if I compare pregnancies (assuming gender plays a role), this pregnancy feels more similar to Nadia's than Ian's. In six more weeks we'll find out!

8. Sweets don't bother me any more! I enjoyed having Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast the past two days. That put a smile on my face! I had zero temptation to eat the brownies (usually my favorite food), but non-chocolate sweets don't bother me any more.

9. I'm glad that 1/4 of the feeding program is behind us. Yesterday I just wanted to throw in the towel. I slept a little bit better last night, which made today more bearable.

10. I read a couple of good books lately - Directed Verdict by Randy Singer and The Ambition by Lee Strobel. One I got through interlibrary loan, and the other I got for free through Amazon (for Kindle although I don't have a Kindle so I just read it on my laptop). I actually was wishing I had a Kindle this week because we don't have wi-fi access at the feeding clinic so a Kindle would be much easier than a laptop to lug around, but in general I don't prefer to read a book on a screen so it seems foolish to buy something I'd likely only use for 3 weeks.

11. I did pretty well with packing for our trip. The only thing I forgot was underwear for myself, and that was remedied by a quick trip to Kmart. I am going to take a little less stuff with us this Sunday because the kids enjoyed the toys at the feeding clinic (primarily the fire truck).

Paul needs to be tested

I called the OB office today because I hadn't heard from them in 8 days about the bloodwork that was done 15 days ago. They called me back and said that the OB wants my husband to be tested. I asked if that meant my titer levels were high (because the OB said that if they were low there was no need to test Paul). The nurse said she had no idea what my titer levels were, but that she taked to a MFM specialist today, who said Paul should be tested. I came to the conclusion 20 days ago that Paul needed to be tested. This clinic wins the prize in my opinion for giving the least information possible to a patient. For all I know, they never really did find my vials of blood. At my next OB appointment I plan to ask again what my titer levels were. In my opinion, they should have done the testing on Paul before doing my titer levels because if Paul doesn't have those blood types (example if he's Kell negative like I am), then it matters not a whit how high my titer levels are because the baby I am carrying would have to be Kell negative, and the antibodies wouldn't hurt the baby in that scenario. This would prove the antibodies were from the transfusion. Paul is going to try to have the bloodwork done at PSU next week. Hopefully he doesn't have to wait 15 days to get the results. Well technically I'm still waiting, but I've given up on receiving that information over the phone from this clinic.

Nadia slept only 6 hours last night. This meant I got less than 6 hours of sleep. I can't wait to sleep in my own bedroom tomorrow night. Both kids were having a major tantrum as we left the Ronald McDonald House. What a sight that must have been. They both screamed during the entire (short) trip to the feeding clinic. I was ready for the day to be over at 8:30am. All day I kept thinking I would pay a large amount of money to someone if they would let me go take a nap. I am hoping for more sleep tonight. At 5pm we left the clinic for a consignment shop. I had emailed them last weekend asking if they carried maternity clothing at both locations (they have two stores). She wrote me back yesterday saying yes. I was sorely disappointed as when I inquired at the Hershey location where their maternity clothes were, I was taken to one very small rack with only tops (mostly long sleeve). I think I'm going to have to bite the dust and place an order on Motherhood maternity's website. We used to have a store in our area, but they closed a few months ago. I'll have to pay their $6 shipping fee. I'm still going to the sale next week, but my hopes of finding reasonably priced maternity clothes are fading fast. At this point I just want to be comfortable. My non-maternity capri pants technically fit, but they are uncomfortable in the waist. If I'm going to be spending another three weeks in a doctor's office, I at least don't want my pants to be bothering me.

Thus far the only skill that Ian has learned is to drink from a tiny cup if someone pours very tiny amounts of EleCare under his tongue. As for eating food, in my opinion he hasn't made any progress. I am trying to remind myself we have 16 days left to make progress, but I admit right now my hopes are dashed. When I feed him at the Ronald McD House, it feels no different than it did for the past year with the exception that he's not drinking much. I am very curious to see how much he'll weigh tomorrow. My assumption is that he's losing weight. I actually am able to get more food in him in a feeding session than either of the feeding therapists. They get excited about 3 ounces, and I can easily get him to eat 6 ounces of yogurt or fruit. He is more apt to behave for them than he is for me though. Some meals he eats very calmly and others he throws huge tantrums, gags, throws up, etc. I really don't want this all to be for naught. I hope I feel very differently about the success of the program 3 weeks from now.

Chuck E Cheese

Nadia has been to Chuck E Cheese twice in her life. Once we went in Maryland to celebrate our niece's birthday, and Grandma and PopPop took her there once last year (on a day I was taking Ian to a doctor appointment of some sort). She had her third experience today, and Ian had his first. Nadia was too young to remember her first trip; in her mind today was her second trip. I wish I had planned this trip for Monday or Tuesday because the weather was GORGEOUS today (75 degrees at 5pm).

It would have been better to be enjoying the fresh air today, but I knew I couldn't go back on my word as Nadia had been counting down the hours until Chuck E Cheese all day long. This restaurant was about 15 minutes from Hershey. The kids had a blast. I was again feeling the panic of being in a crowded public place with two little ones running in opposite directions. It's much easier when Paul is there! Ian wouldn't eat ANY dinner for me there. He's going to be waking up hungry tomorrow! He refused to eat breakfast for me this morning at the Ronald McD House, but then about 2 hours later I fed him at the feeding clinic. Hopefully he'll eat breakfast for me tomorrow morning. I expected a huge battle over the sippy cups, but he seems to have accepted the concept that he only drinks EleCare from a medicine cup now. He's drinking FAR less than usual, which means he's peeing FAR less than usual. Road trips should be easier, lol!

I am certain he's losing weight. I said something today so they weighed him and will weigh him again on Friday. They didn't weigh him when we arrived on Monday morning so we'll never know exactly how much he lost. Sometimes I feel discouraged because aside from him learning to drink from a medicine cup (when tiny amounts are poured under his tongue), I haven't seen him make any progress yet. For his last meal today at the feeding clinic it took two of us to hold him down and feed him. He was screaming and writhing away. I keep reminding myself it's only day 3. We have 17 days left to go. Dylan's last day is tomorrow. It will be his 13th day, and he's done. To be honest, I am not sure why he has been there this week. I think they could have discharged him last week! The child is eating everything and anything they serve him! He's 3 months younger than Nadia.

This evening Nadia asked me how long it will be until we see Daddy. I told her two days. She said, "I can't wait that long." She's really missing her Daddy. The kids allowed me to sleep last night. That was so very helpful. Nadia asked me for a tissue at 5:30am, but that was the first peep out of them, and I had gone to bed at 9pm. They both got up around 6:30am. Ian screamed at first when I put him down for his nap (alone) but then he slept. I went and got him when he woke up, and he proceeded to fall right back asleep in my arms. Nadia didn't sleep on the day bed, but she fell asleep in the car on the way to Chuck E Cheese. The kids both had a blast at Chuck E Cheese.

Tomorrow I'm going to visit a consignment shop in Hershey that according to their website carries maternity clothes. Next week is the big sale (not at a shop). I'm hoping to buy some skirts or capri pants tomorrow (and/or next week). I'm ready to look pregnant! I'm also going to give the OB office a call tomorrow to see what is up with those bloodwork results. I haven't heard from them for a week now.

Bye, Bye Sippy Cup

Last night Ian drank house and home when we got "home" from the feeding program. This morning I cut him off after 24 ounces of EleCare. Well it turns out that was his last time using the sippy cup. This evening I only gave him EleCare via the medicine cup (I'd guess he had 3-4 ounces). That went better than I expected, in part because we watched part of the Little Mermaid (which they'd never seen before) after dinner. We shall see how it goes tomorrow morning when he finds out he's not getting a sippy cup. She's still working on teaching him to drink from a cup. He ate a little Gerber bananas, coconut milk yogurt, and rice cereal today. Some meals he ate peacefully, and others he screamed and kicked Kathy.

Nadia told me this morning she likes the Ronald McDonald House better than our house because I am sleeping in the same room as her. I like our house better for the opposite reason. I don't get much sleep when sharing a room with those two sweet muchkins. Nadia had me up from 1:30-2:30am as an example. She's having a blast I think as she has fun playing with various different kids throughout the day at the feeding clinic. It's not so much fun for Ian or I. I did figure out a way to ensure my kids won't be abducted from the feeding clinic. That was my #1 fear yesterday. I can't see both of them all the time, but they can't exit without my knowledge. Did I mention it's really hard to be a single parent of two mobile little ones when you're staying in public places 24 hours a day? If I realize I need something from upstairs or the car while we're in the kitchen (on the first floor), I have to haul both kids with me to retrieve said item. I can't ever just go run and get something myself. It's exhausting! I'm often laden down with such a wide variety of objects in my hands - a froggy potty, the kids' pillows, animals, blankets, etc. (because they need them for naps at the feeding clinic and at bedtime at the Ronald McDonald House).

Nap times have been a disaster the past two days because they have them in pack and plays in the same room. After 30 minutes of a failed attempt today, I took Ian into my arms and rocked him to sleep. He slept in my arms for 45 minutes. I don't want that to be a pattern for 4 weeks so tomorrow I'm only going to put Ian in the pack n play room, and I'm going to put Nadia in another room (on a day bed) in the feeding clinic. I know she's tired as she fell asleep at 5pm on our way to the Cocoa Castle playground, but it's more important that Ian naps as the feeding program is exhausting for him (in part because he spends so much time crying). Hopefully my new plan will work. Who knows, maybe this will also help Nadia nap, but if at least Ian naps somewhere other than in my arms, I'll deem the new plan a success.

The OB still hasn't called with the results of the bloodwork that was drawn 2 weeks (+ 12 hours) ago. Maybe I should make a poll as to when people think I might finally get those results? It's ridiculous considering the test takes two hours to run. Oi vey. I've noticed quite a few moms here at the Ronald McDonald House are pregnant. I'm sure none of them have guessed I'm pregnant even though I'll be 14 weeks tomorrow.

He woke up dry!

This morning Ian woke up early (5:35 to be exact). I had gone to bed at 10pm, but I had trouble falling asleep at first (always an adjustment to a new bed). I couldn't let him cry (what I would have done at home) so I picked him up and tried to get him to fall back asleep in my arms in my bed. He slept on me until 6:30, but I didn't sleep a wink during that time. So I was rather tired when I got up at 6:30 because I had slept at most 6 hours total, and lately (while pregnant) I seem to need 9 hours on a typical night (sometimes more than that). I'm planning on hitting the hay by 8:30 tonight. When I got him undressed at 6:30, I was stunned to see his diaper was dry. I had noticed the day before it wasn't nearly as wet as usual, but this was the first time EVER he had stayed dry all night (10.5 hours). I immediately put him on the froggy potty, and he peed. Normally he is up for at least 90 minutes before he goes for the first time. This was significant progress in my mind! He didn't have any accidents today. I can't say the same about his sister who went #2 in her pants while we were at the playground this evening. I wasn't pleased about that, and it totally shocked me as it's been far more than a year since she did that!

We had no trouble making it to the feeding clinic by 8:30 since we had an early start. The kids were bummed that the playroom here at the Ronald McDonald House is locked at that time of day in the morning, and the tv in our bedroom doesn't get any kid friendly channels. We did watch a little on one of the tvs downstairs. They had me do Ian's first feeding. They videotaped it. He SCREAMED the whole time and tried to bat the spoon away with his hands etc. because they gave me rather thick baby (rice) cereal to feed him. Kathy (therapist) said I did a good job. If you say so. It felt like a disaster although I did get him to take quite a few bites in between drinking from his sippy. Kathy did the other five feedings today. He was going to be fed a sixth time, but he fell asleep in his highchair at the end of the 5th feeding (at 4:00pm). They decided he had been through enough for one day. Each of their feeding sessions lasts 15 minutes. Ian presses the timer at the start and end of the session. She was giving him about 20 bites per session. The first feeding session with Kathy he screamed for her also, but then he did pretty well during the last four feeding sessions, in part because I brought back some coconut milk yogurt during lunch, and she switched to feeding him that instead of more rice cereal. The big thing she worked on today was teaching him to drink from a regular cup. She had him drinking from a medicine cup today. At first most was running out of his mouth, but by the end of the day he was starting to figure out what to do with his tongue. She said learning these oral motor skills will help with his feeding, and it also will make it much easier to drastically cut back on how much he drinks at each meal because he can suck the milk down VERY quickly in the sippy cup. Tomorrow she'll start working on more texture and a wider variety of foods. I asked her if it was possible that Ian would make as much progress as the other little boy who is here this week (it's his last, a girl will be starting next Monday). Kathy said there was no way Ian would be to that point in four weeks. Bummer.

Did you know it's exhausting to spend 8.5 hours in a doctor's office? Well it was only 7.5 hours today since they let us out early, and that was already totally exhausting. I was almost in tears part way through the day as I couldn't picture doing this for 19 more days. The biggest problem is the way they have the clinic set up. It's too hard to explain right now as I want to go to bed in a few minutes, but basically they don't have doors in the areas where they have toys for the kids to play, and one of my kids can run to another play area, and then I can't see them both. I was in a panic most of the day of losing one of my kids. There are a lot of staff working in the feeding clinic, which is a help, but there are other people coming and going. It's NOT a secured room. I was sharing this concern of mine with Gwen at dinner, and she told me that I was right to be worried  because two weeks ago the staff said they'd watch a boy while the mom ran downstairs for an errand, and they didn't keep a good watch and the boy managed to leave the clinic and go down the elevator by himself. They found him because he set off the alarm in the elevator. Now I'm even more worried after hearing that story. There were many times in the day I was asking perfect strangers (people there for a one hour outpatient appointment) if they had seen a little girl with blonde hair. At this rate I am going to age several years in the next few weeks.

It's also very difficult here at the Ronald McDonald House in this regard. For example, there is no way to lock the bedroom door from the inside in such a way that the kids can't open it. Both kids can easily open the handle to the door to leave our room, and turning the handle unlocks the door. We need a chain across it or something like many hotel rooms have. I put a large chair in front of the door before putting the kids to bed tonight. Hopefully that will work. It's just tiring to be a single parent the whole day for 5 days straight. I've only done it one day, and I'm pooped. It's much harder to do it in a foreign environment, especially with Ian's propensity to just dart away from me. I'm in the kitchen trying to pour Nadia a glass of milk, and Ian runs off and I'm trying to chase him down before he gets too far away (once he was removing cones from an area where they had just laid new tile). I can't wait to be home, but hopefully he's going to make LOTS of progress this week, and I'll be so glad we went through this experience. I'd ask that in addition to praying for his progress, you pray for their safety and my sanity as I feel like a wreck after day one. Time to go to bed. I'm hoping that more sleep tonight will make the next 19 days seem more feasible. Right now I think I'm in over my head.

Ronald McDonald House

I called the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey this afternoon to ask if they had a room available because I thought it would be better to drive down this evening rather than really early tomorrow morning. This is a very nice Ronald McDonald House. I'm not complaining about the one we stayed at in 2008 and 2009 during our NICU stays, but this one is much larger and fancier (as to be expected since it's in a larger city and closer to a larger hospital). Our room is quite spacious. There are two queen size beds in the room plus a pack n play for Ian. The bathroom only has a shower, but down the hall there is a communal bathroom with a tub (for kids). We had already eaten dinner when we arrived, but they had lasagna tonight, and it looked delicious! It's going to be harder to keep my weight in check with a such an undending supply of yummy (free) food. They had all sorts of homemade and store bought baked goods sitting on the counters. We won't starve; that's for sure! They said most people in the feeding program check in on Sunday night and check-out on Friday morning. That's what we'll plan on doing. We met the mom and the other boy who will be in the feeding program with Ian this week. Dylan is 3 years old, and this will be his third (and last) week in the feeding program. I was shocked to see what he was eating for dinner (a variety of table foods). I had been trying to keep my hopes in check, but I admit right now my hopes are soaring sky high if her son could go from only drinking from a bottle to eating all that "regular" food in 2 weeks. She said in just the first week they had him eating 38 different foods. Wow. She said the first few hours he screamed almost the entire time, but by the afternoon of the first day he was making progress. Now his situation isn't totally the same as Ian's as there were two foods he had eaten in the past (although not recently) - Spaghettios and french fries. So he had already chewed something prior to coming here although lately had been living only on a bottle (even being fed throughout the night at the age of 3!).

It was a little adjustment for the kids to fall asleep in the same room. Ian normally falls asleep within one minute of being put down, but having a sister to talk to in the bedroom definitely changed the dynamics. Thankfully he was out by 8:40pm. I was beginning to wonder how long it would take. I'm sitting in the hallway outside our room typing this. I'm going to go to bed early, but I didn't want to go to bed at 8:05pm. They gave each of the kids a coupon to pick one free toy, book, puzzle, blanket, or stuffed animal, etc. I picked a little fire truck that you build with blocks for Ian, and Nadia picked a Peter Pan book. I told her NO stuffed animals. I suggested she pick either a game, puzzle, or book. I thought she'd pick a Tinker Bell puzzle, but she picked the book.

I mentioned my friend, Donna, a few days ago. Well her husband passed away yesterday. I'm thinking they were married for about 40 years. I had their youngest daughter as a student in a couple of my classes at the university (she's now a teacher). This must be a big shock to the family as 9 days ago I don't think they had any clue that his life was coming to an end in the near future. He was busy at the hospital (a doctor), a tour guide at Gettysburg, father, husband, grandpa, member of a choir, etc. My heart is breaking for Donna, their three kids, and their 3 granddaughters (grandchild #4 is due in August). I was struck by the reminder that we shouldn't take life for granted. We just never know when the Lord is going to call one of us or our family members home. I'd appreciate prayers on their behalf. I wish I could attend the viewing or funeral, but it's taking place while I'll be down here in Hershey.

Hello, 2nd Trimester!

There are three methods of calcuating the trimesters. One is by development. By that method I hit the second trimester more than a week ago. The gestation method divides the 40 weeks into three equal time periods. By that method, today is my first day in the 2nd trimester. The pregnancy is 1/3 done, and actually since the c-section has been scheduled about 10 days before my EDD, I'm a little more than 1/3 done. The conception method considers pregnancy to be 38 weeks long - starting at conception rather than 2 weeks before that point. I haven't hit the 2nd trimester yet by that method, but most doctors use the gestation method; so I'm considering yesterday to have been my last day in the first trimester. Now if this "morning" sickness would subside, I would feel like I'm in the 2nd trimester. As far as cravings go, one of the most prominent ones lately is that I am constantly in the mood for an egg McMuffin. It's a good thing I don't pass a McD's more often than I do, lol! I've been eating a lot more toast (or English muffins) lately. The other thing I have been craving lately is a pineapple milk shake or sundae or something like that. I think it's in part because I've learned I can eat ice cream again, but I can't have the usual flavors that I like due to the fact that things like chocolate, peanut butter, nuts, etc. give me heartburn. We shall see if I can locate some pineapple ice cream treat, ha ha! The pecan bars are yummy, but I will be staying away from nuts the rest of the pregnancy as they definitely give me heartburn.

My clothes are getting more and more uncomfortable on me. I should say my bottoms (pants, skirts). My tops still fit perfectly fine. I took Nadia to another yard sale this morning (really close to our house). It was for a Christian school. What a difference compared to the one we went to yesterday (although both were held in churches). The prices at this one were SO reasonable. Unfortunately they didn't have any maternity clothing. They had quite a few car seats, and I was looking for an infant one. Well it turns out I didn't notice one that was there as an Amish woman who came in after us found it, and when she took it to the register, they said it was $5. Wow. I had seen one at a yard sale earlier this month for $50. I didn't buy that one because of the price. Hopefully I'll be able to find another reasonably priced one in the coming months. I bought a few things for the kids - a puzzle for Nadia, a couple of books, a pirate hat, and a Mickey Mouse raincoat for Ian. My grand total was $2.

Since I know exactly what style and size of maternity clothing I prefer (in terms of pants, shorts, and skirts), I decided to "splurge" and place some bids on eBay. I say "splurge" because the prices on eBay have gone up a LOT. So far I bought two pairs of shorts, and I'm bidding on two pairs of capris. I'm hoping to get some tops at the consignment sale I'm going to in Hershey in a couple of weeks. I also need to get some skirts and at least two more pairs of shorts. I'm so bummed that I sold my maternity skirts because I loved them, and now I'll have to pay 4 times as much as I paid to replace them. I'm also keeping my eye out for a maternity bathing suit. I'll need that in May for our vacation and then in June - August here at home.

I took Nadia to an egg hunt really close to our house at noon. The weather wasn't exactly ideal, but at least it had stopped raining. Nadia picked up 3 hardboiled eggs and several plastic eggs. Some of the plastic eggs were filled with candy, and two of the plastic eggs she put in her princess pail had numbers inside, which she was able to redeem for two prizes. One prize was a little ball, but the other prize was a basket that contained many goodies including Reese's eggs, a large chocolate bunny (her first), a stuffed animal, pencils, erasers, etc. I didn't bother taking Ian since he hated the egg hunt yesterday at the library. Sometime in the next week we need to color some eggs.

Big Girl Bike

Nadia had her first experience riding a two-wheeled bike (with training wheels) at my parents' house this week. My mom worked with her on Wednesday and Thursday, and she improved a LOT in her steering skills over those two days. My mom was setting up obstacles and such to help her work on her skills. Nadia was very proud of her ability to ride a "big girl bike." She rode that bike for quite a few hours!

Part of the reason I decided to leave a bit later yesterday was so the kids could have their naps before we left since Ian didn't nap in the car on the way down on Tuesday. They did nap at my mom's house (Ian slept about 45 minutes, and I woke Nadia up after she had slept for 2 hours). The irony was that Ian did nap on the way home in the car as well. Go figure. Today he slept for 90 minutes while Grandma and PopPop were babysitting. Amazing! So it seems it only took 27 months for him to learn to nap more than 20-30 minutes. We shall see what he does at the feeding clinic during the month of April.

This morning we went to a "Kid's Market" consignment sale. We showed up 30 minutes after it opened, and I could tell a lot of stuff had already been purchased. The place was swamped! Unfortunately almost all the maternity clothing was size medium OR was for fall/winter. I only bought one shirt. Although I wear medium or large when I'm not pregnant (I'm usually a size 10 or 12), the last two pregnancies I wore large or x-large when pregnant, even though supposedly you're supposed to wear your pre-pregnancy size. The prices at this sale were all over the map. Some stuff was WAY overpriced - as in I could buy that stuff in brand new condition for less! I did buy 3 little cars for Ian, 1 puzzle for Ian, and 1 book for Nadia (those 5 items were $1 total).

Then we went to our local library (not the one we usually go to). The librarian actually read three books! This was a big improvement as sometimes she only reads one book, and she was able to manage the group even though there were a lot more kids than usual - another improvement. Then the kids went outside for an egg hunt. Last year the eggs were filled with candy, stickers. etc. This year the eggs were empty, but when they came in they were able to redeem their eggs for one piece of candy and one book. Surprise, surprise, Nadia picked a princess book. I was hoping to take pictures of the egg hunt, but Ian started screaming. Evidently he wasn't in the mood for picking up plastic eggs! So I had to hold him and couldn't take pictures of Nadia. If the weather cooperates, we'll take the kids to another egg hunt (less than 1 mile from our house) at noon tomorrow. If that happens, hopefully I'll get some pictures. I forgot to take my camera to Maryland, which is why I don't have any pictures of Nadia riding the Dora bike.

I arrived home from work around 8:15pm this evening.  I met with 4 advisees from 2-3pm and then participated in a promotion committee meeting from 3:00-7:15pm. I don't plan on returning to campus until the first week of May due to Ian's stay at Hershey Medical. I didn't hear anything from the OB about my bloodwork. Hopefully I'll hear something next week. Considering I'm accustomed to getting my results the same day the blood is drawn, it feels ridiculous to need to wait 2 weeks.