It's Spring!

...So, where's the nicer weather?! I swear this Winter has seemed to be SO incredibly long!!!

The boys have been itching to go outside and play. Levi will just stand at the door, pointing "Ouside, Ouside". It's quite pitiful! But, I don't blame him. :-) We've had a few nice days...the wind was a bit chilly, but the sun was warm. We bundled the boys up and took them outside to run off some energy!




Over the course of the weekend, the temps got up to nearly 80! Saturday, my friend, Nicole met myself and the boys at the park for some play time. I swear we broke a sweat! Grandma then joined us for ice cream afterwards. I didn't grab my camera on the way out the door, but I'm pretty positive that the boys would have just been a streak, anyway! :-)

Grandpa Sparks came over on Sunday while Luke was napping. Levi quite enjoyed his tractor!

{Hi, Mom!}

I’ve been trying my hand at creative baking here lately. Cakes are fun, and I’ve had plenty of Birthdays to bake for (March is always jam-packed). I thought I’d change things up a bit and give cookies a try. I made these butterflies…Springy, I thought! I’ve never used Royal Icing, but I think it turned out well. I’m still looking for that perfect sugar cookie…I like mine a bit softer. Any suggestions?! This is the recipe I used, and I thought it turned out pretty well. One thing I did notice -- the thinner the cookie, the crispier! :-) I think about 1/4" thick is just perfect (not too crispy)! I also popped the cookie sheet of cookies in the freezer for about 5 minutes before baking them. I think that helps maintain the shape of the cookie while baking.


I'm looking forward to helping with some sweet treats for a bridal shower next week. I'll post more on that later, so stay tuned!

Luke and Levi had their well-kiddo checks a couple of weeks ago. I think the visit went very well.

Luke's stats: 29.5lbs (25%), 37.5" long (50%), 14.75 BMI (12%)

Levi's stats: 22.10 lbs (8%), 32.25" long (50%), and his noodle is 18.5" (25%).

Both long and thin, like their Daddy! :-D

Luke will have his (fingers crossed) last developmental appointment in Indy on July 12th. I'm pretty optimistic that it will go well. I'm excited to see what our plan of attack for his reflux long-term is, though, as it's still giving us grief and the Docs were certain that by the time he started walking it would ease up (yes, I laughed, but no, I didn't tell them I told you so!).

Levi has entered his biting, pinching, hitting phase. I have several bruises on my shoulders from where he snuggles in oh, so sweetly and then goes in for the kill! He clamps and pulls back, so it's more like a bite-pinch. Brad swears I bruise easily...he's never been bitten by our mini-jaws, either!! Tough habit to break, but we're working on it!

Speaking of habits, Luke is nearly potty trained. It's a work in progress, but he's in big-boy pants now, so that's a step in the right direction!

The boys are always doing/saying cute new things, but the camera is always out of reach. By the time I grab it, the moment's gone! I need a solution to this problem (HELP!!).

Some cute things:

• As I was saying, Luke is PT'ing. Well, after he goes in the big boy potty he stands up, lifts one arm up high in the air while putting the other down by his side, and wiggles his hands and fingers while exclaiming "Tah-Daaaaaah". The first time he did this, I about fell over laughing. It was ADORABLE! He also loves to sing...always has. He has now begun putting big finishes on his songs: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Staaaaaaaar!". I MUST get this on video! If I do, I'll certainly share. :-)

• Levi is quite the little gentleman. We're big on manners, and thankfully both of the boys have been very receptive. Levi's "ease" (please) and "taint-choo" (thank-you) melt my heart! He also does this little circular nod with "yeah" that I think is pretty stinkin' cute!

The rest of this month includes a bridal shower (mentioned above), our March of Dimes walk (which, I just got shirts designed for and they're printing NOW!), and Easter (YUMMY food!).

Speaking of March of Dimes, if you'd like to contribute to our team or join us for the walk, it's not too late! You can do so here at our team website!

I'm excited! :-)

{Mmmmm, Bananas!}

{Luke 3, Levi 18 mos}

Our Weekend...

This weekend, to celebrate Luke’s 3rd and Levi’s 18-month Birthdays, we took a train ride to Chicago to the Shedd Aquarium! (and no, we don’t typically celebrate ½ Birthdays, but since Levi turned 18 months on the day we went, we figured, why not?!) Overall, we had a really great time and everything seemed to go as planned! One thing I forgot to pack…an extra camera battery. Unfortunately, most of the pics I took were with my camera phone, so excuse the blurriness/poor quality! To prevent this blog from being pages, and pages, and pages long, I tried to collage the pics, too.

So, our groupies included: Me, Brad, Luke, Levi, my Mom & Dad, my Grandma, Shelly, Shae, and Levi (Shelly’s son). Out of all of those people, I’m pretty sure the majority were first-time train riders! I pretty much loathe driving in Chicago, so taking the train was an inexpensive alternative to driving (and maintaining my sanity!).

{I just love the pic of Shae with her arm around Luke!}

Our first stop was to the Caribbean Reef, Local Waters, Islands and Lakes, Rivers, and Oceans. This area was HUGE, and there was no way I could capture everything. Luke particularly liked the turtles. I thought the giant catfish was pretty neat, although you see a better picture of the reflection of Grandma in the glass than the actual fish! :-) The cobra seriously freaked me out. It had a giant bulge in its side…more than likely it had just eaten its dinner!


The Wild Reef was our next visit. I’m pretty certain we did not see all of the exhibits there, because the map looks ginormous compared to the area we covered. Anyway, this was one of my favorites, although I got a big fat 0 pictures of the sharks. They were just too fast, and I was too busy looking for them. In real life I’m terrified of sharks, but as long as there’s a thick sheet of glass between us, they fascinate me! We saw a giant saw shark, which was their biggest fish at the aquarium. So neat! I also thought the Garden Eels (I *think* that’s what they were called) were pretty interesting. They planted themselves in the sand, and just waved back and forth with the water. The boys both loved the Sea Horses, and who doesn’t like an electric blue jellyfish?!


Here are some random pics I took of neat looking fish. In the bottom left pic, there's an itty bitty blue fish. He was swimming with the sharks. I wonder how long he’ll last! Of course, I had to take a pic of “Nemo”, and at the end of the Wild Reef exhibit (or what I thought was the end?!) they had a grouping of sea coral that they were growing. I thought the Cats Paw was the prettiest!


We took a break for lunch, and then went to the Oceanarium and Polar Play Zone. The Oceanarium had the Beluga Whales, Sea Lions, Dolphins, etc. When we got there, they were actually feeding the Sea Lion and the trainer did a little “show” for us. To say Levi was petrified would be an understatement! We were right up against the chain link fence…I think a little too close for his comfort. The Beluga Whale trainers also did some tricks for us.

Here are some random pictures of Luke that I took throughout the day. The top right picture cracks me up…Luke and Levi sure are lucky to have such a tall Daddy! We never lost Brad, that’s for sure!

Levi did well until we went to the Oceanarium and Polar Play zone. In the Polar Play zone, you were actually underneath the whales and could see them and the dolphins diving down under. The dolphins swam very fast, and as they came close to the glass, Levi squeezed me with a death grip! Poor kiddo! He did enjoy the Penguins, and loved his Penguin stuffy! :-)

{Breakfast anyone?! Levi LOVES to pretend cook! Our future chef. :-)}

I know most of my readers are in this area, so a few tips for a Shedd Trip:

1. DEF take the train! It really does take the stress out of driving…especially if you hate driving in busy cities as much as I do!
2. Buy your tickets online. We got ours through the website. Having our tickets beforehand allowed us to go straight to customer service and get right in. We only had to wait on 1 group, versus 106,513,210!!
3. Go early. We left the aquarium around 1p-ish…the line to get inside wrapped all the way around from the side of the building, into the vending area and all of the way around it, and then up the stairs. Insane!!
   
4. I recommend going in late Spring or early Fall…when it’s not too hot. I don’t mind to walk, but I don’t enjoy walking in extreme weather! It was about 60 outside, so not too bad.
   

I am going to attempt to add a group picture to this post soon! I'll have to scan it since it's a hard copy, so hopefully I'll get a chance to do that this weekend. I think overall, everyone had a really great time!

Luke's Birth Story -- yes, I'm a bit late!

This month is going to be very busy…next week, especially. We will be celebrating Luke’s Birthday on the 13th, so I have a lot of prep work to do for that. We also have his Birthday on the 15th, and the boys’ pictures, and a Chicago trip on the 19th(and toss in a bridal shower for my sister-in-law, too!). Anyway, throughout all of the craziness, that one unexplainable feeling always comes back to me this time of year. I can’t really put it into words…but memories of Luke’s birth always flood me. They should…I think that’s normal…I think most moms think of their child’s birth when their child’s Birthday nears.

When I was winding down for bed last night, and of course, thinking about those feelings/memories, I realized that I never sat down and typed out Luke’s birth story. I know I did for Levi, but even in Luke’s scrapbooks, I still have not put together something in writing for him regarding his physical birth. Since I’ll be binding these blog entries into a book, and my blog is also a medium in which I can write out whatever I want, I think I’ll put it here, now. If you've heard Luke's birth story, don't feel bad about skipping this post. It's a long 'un!

Monday, February 25th, 2008
I had just gotten back from a business trip to San Diego. I remember my Doctor being reluctant to let me go, because I was nearing my 3rd trimester and my BP had not been cooperating. I had an appointment that morning and an u/s. Before my appointment, Brad had left for work like he typically did, but only made it down the drive before he turned around and came back. With him, in the back of his truck, he had our favorite grey cat, “Little Cat”. He had been hit by a car and killed. I knew then that my appointment wasn’t going to go well, and that I should take Brad with me. But I didn’t. Needless to say, my BP was 160/100 and I was placed on bedrest. I attributed the high BP to my emotional distress over the cat, but the Doc sat me down and explained that it was high before that appointment, too, and it wasn’t going to get any lower. So I went to work and debriefed my coworkers, and then went back home to lie on my left side. Throughout that next two weeks, I took my BP several times each day. At one point, it was so high that my cuff didn’t even register. I had my Mom come over and take it manually. It was high. Thankfully that was on the weekend, and I had an appointment the next day, so we waited until then.

{My last preggo picture taken Feb 23rd at my Baby Shower -- 6 months Pregnant}

Monday, March 10th
I had an appointment with my OB. Despite every imaginable attempt, they could not get my BP to come down, so I was admitted to St Joseph Hospital in Kokomo. I was administered two rounds of steroid shots for Luke’s lung development. Over the course of the week, when my BP would spike I was given a shot of something (???) through my IV. It dropped my BP in 3 seconds flat. No joke. It also made me feel like crap. I also started noticing swelling...lots of swelling. Towards the end of the week, when I'd get up in the middle of the night to go pee, whichever side of my face that I was lying on would be H-U-G-E. I was retaining so much fluid that it was pooling. And my kneecaps...what kneecaps?! They were in one word, gone! My urine was very dark and bubbly, and it looked like coke.

Friday, March 14th
I remember having my Mother-in-Law and her husband visiting in the evening. My father-in-law and parents had just left. Mom, to this day, said that she felt like something wasn't right and that she shouldn't have left the hospital that night. Anyway, back to that evening, the nurse came in, asked my visitors to leave, turned off all of the lights, and told me that my BP was dangerously high. Having my visitors leave upset me, but whatever we needed to do for the baby, we did. Brad decided to go home so that I could get some rest…I had just gotten another shot and felt like crap. After that, I remember the nurses buzzing my stomach several times with the buzzer, and I was given orange juice to drink. Luke's heart rate wasn’t accelerating like it should have been. The on-call Doc came in to perform a Biophysical Profile. That’s when they decided I needed to go via ambulance to Indy. Luke scored an 8 (which was okay), but the flow to him through the umbilical cord wasn’t good. That meant that he wasn’t getting what he needed, and we needed better monitoring.

Saturday, March 15th
In the wee hours of the morning, I called Brad to let him know that I was being transported to Indy, and that he needed to come back to the hospital. He had *just* walked in the door of our home. He rushed back to Kokomo, and then he followed the ambulance all of the way to Indy. We settled into our room on the high risk floor around 2am. We were visited frequently by Residents, and Nurses. Finally, at about 10am, we saw Dr. Sumners. He was very nice. Really, everyone was very nice. He did another BPP, and was eerily quiet the entire time. After the 20 minutes were up, he said he’d be back soon. He returned with an ultrasound tech, who had with her a pretty fancy ultrasound machine. He explained that he wanted to measure the blood flow through the umbilical cord. The tech did her work, was also very quiet, and then when she was done she said she’d review the results with Dr. Sumners, and that he would be back in. I knew that things weren’t super great at this point.

The Dr. came back in after about 20 minutes, and he was very uneasy. Luke scored a 6 on his BPP, and the umbilical flow was beginning to reverse. In addition to that, they had ran my 24-hour urine test that morning, and the results were so unbelievable that the Doc had them re-run the test. The results were actually correct, and the protein in my urine was 5000 grams. For reference, 300 is diagnostic for Preeclampsia, so I was well above the threshold. Not to mention, I was swelling up like a giant water balloon since my kidneys were not doing their job.

1:00pm Dr. Sumners made the decision to deliver Luke. The NICU Doctors came and spoke with Brad and I about what to expect, statistics, what their first steps would be after Luke’s birth, etc. All I could do was cry. I was so scared, unprepared, guilt-stricken...I had no idea what to expect even after meeting with the Doctors. No one in my family or close circle of friends had ever gone through this. After the NICU Docs left, my family/friends were asked to leave because they were going to begin giving me Magnesium Sulfate. Magnesium is used to stop pre-term labor, but also to prevent strokes with preeclamptic patients. It’s an awful drug, but a wonderful drug at the same time. I felt like I was burning from the inside out, and I could not focus on anything. The nurses gave me a cool washcloth for my forehead, and turned the lights out.

{My Mother-In-Law and I directly before Luke was born}

4:00pm-ish I was taken to the OR. My Nurse was super sweet, and about 32 weeks pregnant. I remember the Doctor asking if there was “enough room on that table for both of those babies.” The Nurse helped hold my shoulders when I got my spinal, and it didn’t hurt at all. There was a lot of commotion over the BP cuff. They couldn’t get one small enough to fit my arm, while large enough to read my BP at the same time. Brad said he stopped looking at the numbers after they reached 200/120. They strapped me down to the table, pulled up the drop cloth, and explained what was going to happen. We would not see Luke when he was pulled out. He would go straight to the NICU team, and once he was stable, Brad could go see him. After a lot of tugging and pushing (he was up very high), I heard what sounded like the tiniest kitty cat meow I had ever heard. I asked, “is that my baby?”. The Resident looked over the curtain (and I’ll never forget her kind eyes), and she said, “yes, that’s your boy!”. I was so, so, SO glad to hear him cry. After a little while (by this point, my judgment for time is out the window!), one of the Neos came and told us that Luke weighed 900 grams (just about 2lbs) and he asked Brad if he’d like to come see his son. Brad went to meet Luke, and when he got back to me he had tears in his eyes. He told me that Luke grasped his thumb, and that his hand was “this big” as he held the tip of his thumb up. He said Luke looked like he was wrapped in aluminum foil (I'm still to this day not sure what that was, or what it was for?). He had a lot of dark hair that was sticking up in every imaginable direction, and Brad said that he was a little clone of himself! :-) He was so proud of his Son.

Luke was born at 4:42pm, Saturday March 15th, 2008. He weighed 1lb 15oz, and was 14 inches long.

{Luke's first picture...taken by his NICU Nurses.}

I didn't know this at the time, but when Luke was born the hospital played Brahm's Lullaby (which is standard to play each time a baby is born there) over the intercom. Our family and close friends were waiting in the lobby to hear word of Luke's birth. Mom said that she heard the Lullaby go off overhead, and thought that meant Luke had arrived. After I was stitched up, I was taken to another room to recover. I don't remember much, but I do remember that my floor Nurse came in and asked Brad to go to the waiting room and let everyone know the details. Brad didn't want to leave me, but the Nurse said that my Mom was "chomping at the bit to hear something!". Brad obliged, and shared minimal detail (as always!) with our group. :-)

{Some of our visitors!}

Sunday morning, several family members came by to see Luke. No one had seen him yet (excluding Brad), except through pictures that the NICU Nurses were so nice to take for us. Everyone was waiting for me to see my Son first, but my Nurses explained that I wouldn't be seeing him until I was stable, and that point didn't look like it was going to be coming any time soon (I was still on Magnesium at this point, and I couldn't see him while I was on it). I felt bad that everyone had come so far (1 1/2 hour drive) to see Luke, so I agreed that our visitors should go ahead and see him before me. One-by-one, Brad took each person back to meet Luke. And one-by-one, they came back to see me and to share with me how beautiful he was. Every.single.person had tears in their eyes. For someone so tiny, Luke sure did move a lot of people that day!

Sunday afternoon, my Nurses stopped the Magnesium. I was pretty much out of it, but I do distinctly remember calling them several times that day begging to see Luke. Finally, around 9pm, the Nurse said that if I could give myself a sponge bath and clean up, then she would let me see Luke. That was my “test”. Let me just tell you, that was the hardest test I’ve ever taken but I was determined to pass!! So, I scrubbed up, and Brad wheeled me to the NICU.

The NICU runs a tight ship (as they should!). Before entering, you have to wash your hands. Also, each parent is given a name badge. Only two people can visit the baby at a time, and one of those persons must be the parent. When you walk inside the double-doors, you instantly hear beeps all around you. It's the sound of all of the babies' machines. The babies are grouped in pods. Luke was in pod 15. There are 4 pods to a group, and the pods are all back-to-back. The Nurses are very good about maintaining patient privacy. Visitors were only allowed to go to their baby's pod. Up above the pods, there was a cylindrical light that hung down from the ceiling. It had a green and red light. If the light was green, the noise level was appropriate. If it was red, the noise level was too high. It is important to maintain noise level because most of these babies' nervous systems are not developed, and any extra noise sends them into sensory overload.

Luke's admitting Nurse was Ruby. When I met Luke, his isolette was covered to keep things nice and dark for him. He was snuggled inside of a little nest. I'm not sure what it's called, but it provided him with a sense that he was still inside Mommy. He was also on CPAP, which is a machine that helps him breathe. I must say, the pictures that the Nurses took for me did not prepare me well enough for our first meeting. He looked giant in the pictures compared to his actual size! I remember placing my index finger in the palm of his hand, and telling him hello. When I met Luke for the first time, I was overwhelmed with the amount of love I felt for him.

{Luke's home away from home. Picture not taken on his birthday.}

Luke's stay in the hospital lasted 72 days. It was 72 days of constant ups and downs. Overall, Luke overcame very typical preemie setbacks. We are very fortunate. I won't go through details of those 72 days, because this post is about his birth. :-) BUT, I do have a couple of pictures that I'd like to share. These are of Brad and I's first time holding Luke. For me, that was when Luke was 1 week old (and that just happened to fall on Easter day!), and Brad first held Luke on April 20th (Luke was almost 5 weeks old).


Luke came home on May 26, 2008, which was also Memorial Day. Grandpa Sparks put a sign in our front yard to welcome him home. :-)

I wish we would have taken more pictures of that day, but here is a picture of Luke taken the day before his discharge. The Hospital has a photography studio right outside of the NICU, and they did a great job! This was his first trip outside of the NICU doors!

And below is a picture of Luke before being discharged. Nurse Dian, who also became one of Luke's primary Nurses, gave Luke some snuggles before he left to go home. :-)

I guess this ended up being much longer than I intended, but I wanted to capture the details as I remember them...not that I could ever forget! However long it is, this is Luke's birth story. We are so proud of him...he is such a strong boy!