The Fuzzball Chronicles: the Life and Times of Curly Mommy

Of course, for the first several months the new baby will sleep in the bedroom with Yardboy and me. When she outgrows the cradle we don't know where she will go. Staying in our room for years is out of the question. Co-sleeping with an older infant or toddler means nursing all night long. Been there. Done that. I don't want to do it again. I would love for her to have her own bedroom, but we have a three bedroom house. The most obvious solution would be to let her share a room with Tater or Little Man. Siblings share rooms all of the time, right? Yardboy shared a room with one of his sisters for several years. I roomed with my brother for a very short time too. Do we let the girls share a room. Tater will be 6 1/2 years older than the baby. Where will we put all of Tater's choking hazards--ummm, I mean toys? Where will Tater go when she needs some time to herself? Do we let her room with Little Man? He will be 3 1/2 years older than his little sister. How long is is okay to...

Mom, Dad, and Cabbagehead came over to our house for Father's Day lunch. We had Greek dip, salad, steak, potatoes, bread, fruit salad, Jell-O, and of course, sweet tea. Lunch was great, even if I do say so myself. Little Man was the potato washer and maker of strawberry Jell-O. Tater was the strawberry slicer and maker of cherry Jell-O. Daddy (my Yardboy) Papa (my Dad) I gave Yardboy this book. Remember Kevin Nealon from Saturday Night Live ? It's never a good idea to ask a woman if she's pregnant. If she's not, you're in huge trouble. I don't care if she's in the delivery room and the baby is halfway out. I would just play it safe and say, 'Excuse me, you got a little something on your leg, there.'" --Kevin Nealon

GIRL! Yardboy took me to the imaging center today for my "official" 20 week ultrasound. The baby was very cooperative. SHE showed us everything we needed to see. Tonight at dinner we were talking with Little Man and Tater about the baby. Tater is excited about having a little sister. Little Man's eyes welled up as he cried, " Nooooo , I wanted a boy!" He lightened up a little when I told him that he would be the ONLY brother. Little Man has insisted all along that the baby is going to be named "Suzie," because, "Suzie is a boy name." He still likes the name the name for a girl. Tater has insisted all along that the baby is going to be a girl. A few weeks ago she decided that she wanted to name the baby "Mot," because, "M-O-T spells Mot." She has also suggested "Kayla" and "Cindy." I informed the kids that they will not be naming the baby sister, Yardboy and I will. I guess we have to start thinking ab...

Little Man had an appointment with the endocrinologist this week. Before the appointment, LM repeatedly asked if the doctor was going to stick him with a " meedle ." I honestly didn't know if he had to do blood work, so I tried to be positive as I said, " Hmm , I don't know sweetie." The appointment went well and no blood draw was needed. Little Man gained two pounds and grew one inch in the last visit three months. Hooray! He is now 33 inches tall and weighs 25 pounds. That still leaves him at the zero percentile, but hey, he grew! Now we up his Increlex to 14 units twice daily, and go back for measurement in three months.

Tater went on her first date last night. A little young? Nah, I think her date is an honorable guy. He treated her like a princess. Yardboy took Tater to the Daddy Daughter Dance at church. I don't know which one of them was more excited. They had a great time! Little Man and I went out on a date too. We went out to a very special restaurant. Well, he thought McDonald's was special. After "dinner" we went went to the cheap theatre and saw "Horton Hears a Who." My date was ready to leave half way through the movie, but I managed to convince him to stay until the end. After all, I did pay $3.50 for us to get in!

Well, I'm at 17 weeks now, but I said I would give an update on my 16 week checkup. Everything looked fine. The baby's heart rate was in the 140's and 150's. I did go up a couple of pounds, but the midwife still commented on my meager weight gain. The nurse drew more routine blood work . I got the results today, and everything was "within normal limits." She also scheduled me for an official ultrasound at a local imaging center. We should be able to determine the sex of the baby then. I hope the baby takes lessons from his/her big brother. Little Man let us see EVERYTHING in his 20 week ultrasound. I hope the baby doesn't take a cue from his/her big sister. Tater was a very modest fetus. She kept her back to the probe with her legs tightly crossed. The sonographer thought she was a girl but was very uncertain. We had lots of yellow and green for her.

We started out this month with Tater's gymnastics-themed sixth birthday party. The kids had a blast. Here is Tater blowing out the candles on the star-shaped cupcake cake that I made for her. Cupcake cakes are great! No knife needed for serving. The next weekend was packed with activity! Here is Tater and Little Man before the ballet recital. This picture captures their personalities perfectly. Oh, Tater LOVES her parasol. My parents (Grammy and Papa) were gracious enough to host a Mother's Day/third birthday party at their house. Little Man loved his Mickey Mouse party! Big sister really wanted to "help" blow out the candles. Yea, the cupcake cake looks great! I didn't make it. Making Taters cupcakes wore me out, so I ordered Little Man's cake from Wal -Mart. Yardboy's mom (Grandma) gave Tater and Little Man a very unusual gift--traffic cones. It seemed really strange at first, but the kids really love them. I never imaged that they could have so much ...

I saw my midwife, Jane, today for my 12 week checkup. I lost one pound, all of my lab work came back fine, and the baby's heart rate was 155 beats per minute. Jane was pleased. Jane said that the nausea and vomiting should stop soon. Then she told me to try to gain weight. Ha! I told her that I am trying. Pregnancy is the only time in my life that I am told to try to gain weight. Any other time pounds jump on me uninvited. I go back again in one month.

I went to the OB office this morning. They drew blood for the third time in a week. I had my second ultrasound in a week too. There IS a baby with a heartbeat! What a beautiful heartbeat! The baby (only one) measured to be 7 weeks, 0 days. That makes the due date 11-3-08. I left the office with three ultrasound pictures of my baby, an appointment for next week, and two more prescriptions for nausea. Thank You, God!

LMP: 1-21-08 That would make conception somewhere around 1-4-08, but that isn't possible. Conception happened on 2-10-08, or a few days later. By LMP , I am at 7 weeks, 5 days, but I know that date is screwy. Remember, I have crazy cycles. By the date that I believe I conceived, I am at 6 weeks, 6 days. Nausea and vomiting has been miserable this week. I've spent most of my time in bed (except when removing Silly Putty from hair and other essential tasks of motherhood). I have done a pretty fine job of shutting others out. I am supremely grouchy. My motto this week has been: Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the heck alone! Tuesday morning I was feeling a little less than terrible, so Little Man and I went into the pregnancy center where I volunteer. I had my friend and nurse manager do an ultrasound on me. We saw a great gestational sac and a pretty little round ...

I learn something new every day. Today I learned that certain toys should not be played with in bed. Apparently, Tater was playing with Silly Putty last night when she fell asleep. She woke up with it on her squishy blue pillow, sheets, shirt, and in her hair. What a mess! I found a great website that gives suggestions for removing Silly Putty, just in case you ever need to get it. At least it wasn't chewing gum! Update: Drason, I couldn't bear the thought of smelling peanut butter for that long, so I got creative. I used Queen Helene Cholesterol Hair Conditioning Cream. Yes, I know the name is disgusting! I bought the jar a few years ago hoping it would help my frizz problem. It didn't help the frizz issue, but it really worked on Silly Putty.

I've been putting off writing this post. Is it codependency or just being sensitive to the feelings of others? I don't know. That fine line still confuses me. I am surrounded by friends that want to have babies, but for some reason or another, haven't been able to do so. It breaks my heart. I don't understand why it happens so easily for some, and not for others. We had a small taste of the bitterness of infertility when we worked to get pregnant with our daughter, Tater. When we began trying to have a second child, we had a miscarriage. Immediately after the miscarriage, we conceived our son, Little Man. We don't take the fact that we have two great kids for granted. We are truly grateful that our struggle was so short-lived, and that we didn't lose more pregnancies. Now for the big news: I am pregnant again, about six weeks along. Did we plan to get pregnant? Nope, but we are excited. I did four pregnancy tests, expecting each to be negative, but hoping for po...

Recently I completed training in limited obstetrical ultrasound at a local crisis pregnancy center. I volunteer on Monday mornings when my kids are in school. Scanning pregnant bellies is awesome! There aren't many things more amazing to see than the first flicker of a heartbeat or tiny hands and feet. I find it hilarious that almost every client comments on how big the baby's head is. Then, they blame the the baby's father, "He's got a big head, just like his daddy." Ha! However, things aren't always cheerful in the ultrasound room. I know from personal experience that it really sucks to be the woman on the table when the person performing an ultrasound says, "That's an empty uterus." It really, really sucks! Now I also know that it really, really sucks to be the person performing an ultrasound when an unborn baby's heartbeat can't be found. I realize long before the mother that the baby is not alive, but I have to keep silent until ...

I've been tagged by Cheri from Northwoods Ramblings ! I have been given the task of listing seven random facts about myself. Here goes: 1. I spent a month of the summer after my high school graduation on a Teen Mania Ministries mission trip to Atlanta, Georgia. 2. I am currently training to do limited obstetrical ultrasounds at a crisis pregnancy center. I did an ultrasound on twins today. Wow! 3. I ruined my family vacation to Disney World when I was 15 years old. Much of our trip was spent in the hospital because I had encephalitis. The roller coasters didn't make me vomit, but the brain swelling sure did. Ugh! 4. I think lipgloss is much better than lipstick. 5. I don't like Jazz. It makes me have panic attacks. 6. I had LASIK surgery in 1999. Now I need glasses again. 7. I think Facebook is annoying. Don't poke me! Game of Blog Tag Rules: *Link to the person that tagged you. *Post the rules on your blog. *Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blo...

Tercicare sent us one month's worth of Increlex , bandages, syringes, alcohol pads, a sharps container, and a travel kit. It was all FREE! We watched a video on the medication administration as a family. Yardboy practiced giving injectionx to an orange before giving an actual shot to Little Man. The kids gave their dolls shots with needle less syringes. Then, they pretended to give shots to each other. Smiley is sill smiling. We have been giving the injections to Little Man twice daily since Sunday evening. In spite of the preparations we made, he runs and screams when it is time to get the shot. However, he stops crying the instant the needle is withdrawn. He always asks for a bandage (although it really isn't necessary). It seems that the dread of the shot is worse than the shot itself. Tater was very worried about her little brother at first. She screamed and ran out of the room when we gave Little Man his first shot. Now she isn't afraid and had become quite the expe...

These are the cakes I made for our Celebrate Recovery New Year's Eve Party. I couldn't find my camera, so I took these pics with my phone. This one was a butter cake with vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream frosting. Mmmmm . Butter is goooood . This one is chocolate with chocolate ganache filling. I had to cover it with vanilla buttercream because it was so chocolaty ! The friends, food, music, and dancing were great. We had a blast ringing in the new year!

At the beginning of 2007, the doctors said that I wasn't feeding my son enough. Then, they changed their minds and started looking for the true cause of his slow growth. I've lost count of the tests they have done: x-rays, growth hormone stimulation test, DNA tests, and so many other blood tests. Little Man has become a pin cushion. We went to see the pediatric endocrinologist again today. He diagnosed Little Man with Severe Primary Insulin-like Growth Factor Deficiency (Primary IGFD ). It really is a relief to finally have a diagnosis. To get information about Primary IGFD , check out The Magic Foundation and their video on IGFD . In the next few weeks we will begin giving Little Man twice daily injections of Increlex . Our hope is that his rate of growth will be three times faster than it currently is. Here we go...

Happy New Year!

Okay, I finally did it. I caved to the pressure. Cabbagehead will be so ashamed! I now have a myspace account. My thirteen year-old niece helped me start. Here is my url: www.myspace.com/curlymommy .

Little Man and Tater started school this fall. Tater does kindergarten five mornings and Little Man does preschool three mornings each week. They love school! I'm glad I gave homeschooling a shot, but we are all so much happier with away from home schooling. Tater has lots of homework. Every evening we work on spelling, reading, and memory verses. Each weekend one of Tater's classmates gets to take home Prayer Puppy. The lucky parents get to keep a journal of everything the dog does. Here the kids and Prayer Puppy are helping grind wheat to make bread. This fall we went to two weddings and missed several more. This bouquet was from my cousin's wedding. It was beautiful. Each fall our family goes to this pumpkin patch at a nearby church. We always buy at least one over-priced pumpkin. Tater in the school Halloween parade as "Pumpkin Girl." Little Man as "Pumpkin Boy." We went to a fall festival where Little Man got his face painted. This was supposed to b...