Finally got an appt

I finally have an appt with the Fetal Assessment Unit! I called last week and they didn't have a referral. I was told to call my midwife to have the referral put in and they would give me a call to schedule the appt once it was recieved. Still hadn't heard anything from them today so I called again. I was told that they had gotten the referral but it didn't say why I was being referred so the doctor would need to review my ultrasound. About 1.5 hours later I get a call from the Genetics counselor asking if I was aware that I had been given a referral to see her! Yes I'm the one who called you guys - twice - to see what was going on. So my appt is for March 6th at 9am. I will have a level 2 ultrasound done by the perinatologist, then I will see the genetics counselor, then we will discuss the results of the ultrasound and decide what to do based on the results. So I have the appt scheduled. One step closer.

Pictures!

I got out the camera the other day and took some pictures of Taniyah. I put a few of them on my Flickr account. This one is my favorite out of the bunch though.

I dressed her in pastel colors and loved the way she was looking down. I gave it a soft focus to add to the ambiance of the photo. I submitted it to a photo group to have it critiqued and they all said it needed better focus and color so obviously they didn't like it as much as I did. Of well! I still like it no matter what they say.

20 weeks!!

I've made it to the halfway point! Time has gone by so quickly with this pregnancy. It seems to be just flying by! Technically I'm probably more than halfway since I've never gone to 40 weeks. With Taniyah I made it to 39 weeks and made the doctor nervous so he induced me at 39 weeks. It was probably a good thing that he had scheduled the induction at my 38 week appt for the following week. When I went in for my induction I was 5cm and 80% effaced and not having any contractions. I had gone the night before to pick up Mom and Poppa from the airport and I felt perfectly fine. I think the doctor was concerned that if he let me go any further that I may not make it to the hospital in time.

Ultrasound

I went in for my ultrasound yesterday. My appt was at 7:50 am and I had to drink 34 ounces of water in the two hours prior to the appt so I had to get up early. I also had to get all the kids ready for school and Makkiah his meds before I left.

We headed out and Taniyah stayed at the Children's Waiting Room and played. She really enjoyed it and didn't want to leave when I came to pick her up.

Now on to the ultrasound. We are not going to find out what we are having so we don't know what the gender is. It will be a suprise until the end.

I got some pictures of the baby. One of the "darth vader" face. One of the measurements in the head was on the high limit of normal so I am being referred to the Fetal Assessment Unit. I will see the Genetics counselor, the Perinatologist and have a more detailed ultrasound done.


And one of the spine.



And one of the leg and foot. There is some concern about the baby having club feet. They will be looked at again when I go to my FAU appt. In the picture you can see the kneecap on the left. The leg comes down and you can see the top of the foot with the little toes. You can see how the foot seems to be straight down from the leg and bent in.

Update

I know, I know. I'm WAY behind and I'm not even going to try to go back and catch up.

We are putting in a new fence. In putting in the new fence I think I have an idea on how to fix the front gates. I'm not sure that I want to try to do it myself. We'll see after we get the side fence done.

We wanted to make a play area for Taniyah so she is a little more contained than she has been. So we are putting a fence on the side yard. In the back we are going to fence off the heat/AC unit and the terraces with a gate on the side to go on the pathway.

We are going to go a walkway across the front of the flowerbeds and around to the gate. The gate will be a double gate that will be 5 feet wide so we won't have to worry about access to the backyard for big stuff that has to go back there. Not sure if the walkway will extend through the gate to the other side or just to the gate.

We were not wanting the fortress look so we did the open slatted fence. It's about 4.5 feet tall which is a little taller than I had imagined but Rod thought it was a good height so that what we went with. I think once it's painted it will look much better.

I will update again on Wed after my big ultrasound. Rod has duty so he won't get to go but I will scan pictures and post them for everyone. Can't believe how quickly time is passing.

News!!

Bliss
By: Jolina Cura
Tiny movements like tiny kicks
Tiny baby, a mother’s bliss
Can’t wait to give the tiny you
Huge hugs and lots of kisses too

What tiny dreams you might have now?
I would understand someday, somehow
I dreamed last night, your tiny face
An angel indeed, made from God’s sweet embrace

How else would mommy know?
How much her tiny little angel has grown?
How else would mommy guess?
If her little angel have some requests?

I know that somehow you could now hear
Oh, what a thrill you will bring us here!
Now hush my baby, it’s time to rest
Inside my womb, your own calm nest

May God help me to keep you safe
And always keep you strong, I pray
I love you right before I planned you
And I love you more now that I have you

Baby #8 is on the way!!

Back to normal

The kids are all back in school and Rod is back off to work. It leaves just me and Tete to hang out together.

We still haven't gotten the shed finished. The floor needs to be put in. It's 6 sheets of plywood that are heavy so not something I can complete by myself.

I'm waiting for Rod to help finish so that I can get the Christmas decorations put away in to the shed. I have about 5 boxes to go through that I haven't looked in since we moved. I know what's in them just need to go through them.

Hopefully we can get the shed finished this week so that I can start moving stuff into it!

Off to build a shed

We bought a 10 foot by 14 foot shed that we are building upstairs on the deck. I will fit perfectly into the corner and we will be able to put all of our stuff away into it. We don't have any room to really store stuff that isn't accessible to little hands. This will solve that issue. So off to build!! Will come back and post pictures when I am done!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2006!!!!!!!

In Elmore tradition all the kids got new pj's for Christmas and then headed off to bed to await Christmas morning. Rod had duty the night before so once they got up we waited for him to get home. This is the whole family on Christmas morning.

I think the kids were excited about what they got.

Taniyah liked her new baby. She layed there with her arm over the box for quite a while because Rod wouldn't open it for her.

The last picture is one of my favorite pictures.

Happy Birthday Taniyah!!

Today my baby turned TWO!! Two years ago today I was in the hospital having her, Ahma & Poppa had arrived late the night before and the kids were all home with them. I was SO ready to have her after making it all the way to 39 weeks! The longest I had made it up to that point! Here she is at two hours and 4 minutes old.Boy has she grown in the last two years! She may never be a towering giant but.......she's still cute and such a blessing to us! She's funny, smart, loving, kind and is very much a Momma's girl! Here she is with her present from Destini!

She has really gotten into role playing. She loves to play with babies and kitchen stuff so for her birthday we got her a Dora kitchen. She loved it.

And last but certainly not least. She is such a girly girl! She LOVES the color pink, dress up shoes, purses, necklaces and frilly dresses that she can spin in. It's no suprise then that she LOVED the new blanket set that Ahma and Poppa got her for her birthday! She promptly took it out of the package and needed her picture with it! She kept posing in front of it and then running to look at the picture, before running back to pose again!

Makkiah's Awards Assembly

Today Makkiah got an Academic Award at the awards ceremony. He got it because he is reading at the level that he should be at when he leaves kindergarten. I am so proud of him. Before the assembly started he wasn't so sure why he was sitting up on the stage, he looks kind of scared!

I had to go up on the stage with him when he recieved his award so I didn't get any pictures of him getting his award. I had to take it when we got home this evening.

GO MAKKIAH!!

Kindergarten Christmas Program

The two kindergarten classes (both am and pm) did a little Christmas program for all the parents tonight.

They sang a variety of songs and said several cute little poems. It was really nice.
Made me think about the Christmas programs I did when I was in school!

Afterwards Rod took pictures of Makkiah in his hat outside of the school.

And Taniyah in Makkiah's elf hat.

Angie's Memorial Service

Angie's service last night was beautiful. When you first walked in the door there was a beautiful collage of pictures that showed her at different stages in her life.

As I walked down the hallway Angie's birthmom came out and hugged me. We stood for several minutes, two mothers feeling each others pain at the loss of this innocent life. No words needed to be exchanged as the message between us was clear.

She introduced me to more of the family and to her friends. I was so glad to see so many people there. Angie's teachers from Headstart, people from our church who had been a part of her life, her family, people who loved her, even the detective who sat by her bedside the day that she was in the hospital. I would say that there was at least 80 people there. The seats were filled, the back of the room was filled and there were people standing out in the hallway and foyer. She was defiently a very loved little girl!

Rod did the opening prayer and the first words to the family. I also got up and spoke about Angie. It was not easy but I had prayed all the way there that God would give me the strength and He is ever faithful. I went up to speak and her birthmother joined me at the podium. I let everyone there know how special she was and told them not to let her memories fade. She touched each person in the room with her life, although short, she had an impact on them. Her birthmom spoke after me and even introduced me to everyone as Angie's other Mom.

I am so very thankful that God gave our family the opportunity to share in her life. I am blessed that He allowed her to stop bu our house, to touch us, to impact us, to be a part of who we are. I am thankful that Our Father in heaven chose our family to care for one of His special angels. We love you Angie. You will live on in our hearts, our minds and our lives forever.

Funeral services have finally been scheduled

Featheringill Mortuary

6322 El Cajon Blvd. 92115

December 11, 2006

6pm

Some only Dream of Angels, I held one in my arms!

Fly Free Sweet Angel!!

(To view slideshow click on picture)

My beautiful Angie

We received the most horrifying news last night while watching the local news. Our beautiful, happy, healthy Angie was murdered. She was taken from our home and placed into a forever family that was supposed to love her, cherish her and protect her. That did not happen. Our little girl died by herself on Sunday and nobody found out anything until Tuesday by watching the news. My baby is in a better place where no one can hurt her anymore. I don't pretend to know why this happened but I will make sure that she gets justice and is not forgotten.

To my beautiful little girl,

You were loved by us with all of our hearts. You were rocked, held, loved and we are blessed to have had you touch our lives. You will live on in our hearts and memories forever. We love you baby girl!!!

GiftTRAP

I got an e-mail on my FLickr account from a company that wanted permission to use one of my photos in a game.

The website to the game is:GiftTRAP

The photo that they want to use is this one:



If they decide to use it they will give me credit for the picture in the game and I will get a free copy of the game. How exciting!!

New Stools!

The stools that we had started to make marks in our new vinyl.

I tried putting the felt pieces on the bottom of them but it didn't work.

At Big Lots the other day I found some nice stools on clearance for $20 marked down from $70.

I bought three of them and brought them home.

I put the first one together and it was perfect!

Put the next one together and it was 5 inches higher than the first one!

Looked at the box of the third one and it was 5 inches higher as well. So I had one 24" and two 29". The 29" ones were too high SO I loaded the two stools that were to high in the van along with Taniyah and Makkiah.

Went back to Big Lots and discovered that they had no more of the 24" stools in the style that I had bought SO I traded the two 29" stools for two 24" stools of a different style.

Came home and they were totally different! Two different colors, backs, and seats.

SO I loaded the first stool that I had put together in the van and took it back to Big Lots and traded it in SO in the end I have three matching stools!

Someday I will get motivated and restain them to match the cabinets BUT that won't be soon! I have to say that they aren't bad for less than $100 including stools and the cushions that I bought!

Noah's Ark

The underwater room is completed so we have moved on to our next project - the nursery.

We are doing the nursery at the church in a Noah's Ark theme.

We took out a door and sink and drywalled over the openings so that there is more space in the room. Now the room has one door and one sink!

Then we painted the grass and sky.

Now we are painting the animals and the ark.

So far I the elephants


Kangaroos


Tigers


Giraffes


Are done!

The ark and bears are almost done:


When we get more done I will update about it again!

Trip to the ER

Sat and Sunday Taniyah was acting like her neck hurt. She wasn't wanting to move it from side to side and occassionally didn't want to move it up and down. We gave her motrin and it seemed to help.

I figured that if she wasn't better by Monday I would make an appt at the clinic for her.

Monday morning she woke up and would not put her head down. I called the appt line and they had no appts but recommended that I take her to the ER as it had progressed to the point of not moving her head at all. They said that if she injured her neck they would not be able to facilitate treating her.

So off to the ER we headed, I called Rod, Marsha and Mom to let them know that I was taking her in. Rod told me that he was transferring peirs and would not be able to come up until after he moored at the new pier. Marsha told me to let her know what was going on as she was stuck at work but would get Will if need be. Mom talked to me the rest of the way to downtown and reminded me to take a picture. Luckily I had a camera in the glovebox so I got one before heading inside.



This is how she rode all the way to the ER. Shw would not put her head down. We got there and it was empty. They took us right back and assured me that it probably was just a muscle spasm.

They asked lots of questions, looked her over from head to toe, back and front, asked more questions, looked her over again and then decided to get some x-rays of her neck. Their two main concerns were the nasal discharge from her nose as they said it could be the sign of an abcess in her neck. The other concern was a fracture of her vertebra.

Had the xrays done and waited. The best part of being in the ER - NOT! After waiting I was told that the xrays looked normal and we were waiting for a final read. After another wait they changed their minds. The radiologist thought he saw something suspicious looking on her C1 and C2. He wanted a CT scan done so they put in an IV and she fell asleep. While sleeping they taped a rolled up towel around her neck so that she couldn't move it. They decided that she did so well getting the iv in (it was solely for the sedation to do the CT scan) and the fact that she was asleep that we would try to do the scan without sedation. If we could do it without sedation then we wouldn't have to wait the 7 hours since she last ate.

So we headed up and did the CT scan. Taniyah did awesome! She laid on the table and did not move! She didn't budge. They did the scan and within 15 minutes of getting there we were headed back out again. Back to the ER anyway.

When we got back from CT will was there. Marsha had called him and he left the class that he was in to come up and sit with me. About 30 minutes later, Rod showed up. Then they moved us to a different room. After 8 hours in the ER Taniyah was declared to have a MUSCLE SPASM! They said to give her motrin and follow up with her ped. if she wasn't better in a day or two.