The kids

A house of five makes for some fun and crazy times! Oh how I love this life that God has blessed me with! Jon will be 5 tomorrow, I can't even believe it. He has come so far from when he was born even last year. He is so happy and loves his sister and little brother. He absolutely adores Leah right now. She reads to him, plays with him, tries to give him drinks from her cup, kisses him and sings and dances for him. She is very protective of him too. Always telling people to be careful with him and lets people know that it is her brother. She loves him so much! Jon tolerates James but James likes to crawl on him and Jon doesn't care for that too much. But when James is cruising around in his walker he thinks that's hilarious. Jon is doing better with trying more food of a liquid constancy. He takes spoonfuls of milk, soup, ice cream and gravy. He enjoys chocolate the best!! He is still very skinny and trying to get weight on him is a constant struggle as he can only consume so much before he vomits. He loves watching Leah eat and I think that is his motivation. He just finished another 40 dives of hbot and we seen some results of spasticity reduction but the best thing was overall health! He came down with the flu and we didn't end up in the hospital!! He went everyday in the chamber and his cough would disappear until he came out. I believe it opened his longs making him able to breathe easier. So a total of 160 dives we have done. We think we are going to try another 40 then step back and evaluate. It's out of pocket and it has reduced spasticity and has helped his speech and overall health those are all huge advantages! His developmental specialist is totally on board and she said that she now recommends hbot since she has seen before and after with Jon and that it obviously works! We still would like to do stem cell with him but are trying to find a trial so he can use either Leah or James's stem cells. I would like to do this soon as possible because the younger the better! Jon has been using his power wheelchair and has been sitting it longer. I still want him up for the fear he will one day not want to get up and try to walk. He walks in his kid walk and uses the pony more for standing than walking. We are in the process AGAIN for getting the eye gaze there was a big mishap and paperwork was lost and not completely filled out so we have to start over. He has been playing on his iPad and loves that. He is getting stronger and says ya and loves watching th three stooges. He is really com unit caring with his eyes to say where he wants to go or do. There was a day we went to therapy, hbot, and as we walked in he started to cry. I wasn't sure why but said let's go pick out a movie to which he smiled. Then we walked over to the chamber and he cried again, that's not usual. So I asked him what do you want to do he looked at the door I wasn't sure what he was trying to tell me or I was just in awe. So I laid him on grandma to go into the chamber where he really started crying so I picked him up and said what do you want and he looked at the door. I said do you want to leave and he smiled. I was a little worried but incredibly proud that he was able to communicate that to me!! Once we got home I thought about why he would have been upset and come to find out I think it was his ears. He was sick and the pressure probably was to much for his ears. We went on vacation the next day and we were gone for about 12 days so when we came back to hbot we walked in and he was his happy, smiling self! Leah just turned 3. Wow she is so awesome, sassy but awesome. She is the greatest big sister and so great with her brothers. She is definitely a little momma. Like I said she is very protective of Jon and with James she just loves to smother him With kisses. I can tell we will have problems with the sharing when he gets a little older because she takes everything away from him. Throughout the day I hear no James that's mine you can't have it! She tries to fee'd him and wants to hold him all the time. She started dance class and loves it. Her new made up song right now is shake your booty shake your booty, not really sure where she picks this stuff up. She tells us to chillax and likes to be the boss. She is very independent and usually dresses herself and picks her clothes out, I give her a choice of two outfits. She is very into fashion and loves her hair done. She is getting a longer better with her peers but the sharing is so hard for her. She loves being the leader and is always helping her teachers (Sunday school). She counts to 14. Knows her colors, working on numbers and spelling her name. She gets the L A H but forgets the e. Her vocabulary is astonishing! We get complimented all the time on how well she talks. She can hold a conversation with anyone. We often need to tell her o.k it's time to go. She is not too shy and once she is comfortable in the situation watch out she will tell you about everything. Her imagination is so fun. I love listening to her stories of castles and princesses. She sings so many songs and has an excellent memory sometimes too excellent. We hope to have her in Montessori next year. She is 37 inches and 28 lbs a petite girl but she holds her own! James is the sweetest, happiest easiest baby around! He is 8 months old now. He says momma, dada and waves bye. He crawls everywhere and it seems he is right on track. He is still nursing and eats oatmeal occasionally and some veggies here and there but 90% of his nutrion comes from nursing! I'm So proud that he is chunky(18 lbs) and its all from me!! He loves cruising in his walker and is very curious watching people and taking it all in. He is a tough cookie too. Likes to be thrown in the air and pull things apart. He sleeps well at night getting up once for a feeding but usually goes back to bed. Still no teeth so he has the cutest gummy smile. So I hope to start blogging regularly again however with 3 kids always needing momma it's hard.

Introducing James Landon

I really can't believe I haven't updated the blog since I was 35 weeks pregnant:-/ James Landon was born (38 weeks) on March 9th 2012. He weighed 6 lbs 15 Oz, he was 20 3/4 inches! He had a little fluid on his lungs and was taken to the nesting room to be monitored. He was then given to me and I started nursing him! He was perfect and big, big to us! Jon and Leah came to see him and Jon was reluctant and Leah wanted to hold him! We went home after 2 days. When we got home Leah was calling him "baby duck" we are not sure where she got that from but she was not to happy mommys time was consumed fully by James! I put James next to Jon on the floor and Jon tried to get his arm around James and move him closer! Leah came over to them and took Jon's arm and said to me "Jon don't like baby duck either!" That night Leah made herself throw up and didn't sleep that good. I was so sad and made it a mission that the next day I would involve her as much as possible. The next morning I had Leah help get diapers and change James, she held him and read a book to him! By the evening Leah was kissing James and saying she loves him! We seen the dr. On day 3 and everything was great he was gaining very slowly so they wanted us to come back in a couple days just to make sure he was gaining. We went back and he was still gaining slow and they wanted to check his jaundice level since he was a little yellow. We were sent home and it was terrible weather we were under a tornado warning. About 4 hours later we got a phone call to take James to the hospital because his bilirubin was high! We drove in the midst od the tornado, the hospital was on watch and everyone was in the hallway since every room had a window and the tornado was seen in Ann Arbor. I was crying and told them they had to figure out how to get James under the lights as soon as possible! They were awesome and had the dr come talk to me and tell me it was not serious but elevated and they just want to get the levels down as fast as possible! We were there at 7pm and lights were started around 8:20p. His level was 21 and by the next morning he was down to 14! We were able to go home! The first two weeks were hard! Nursing was demanding he was a snacker. He was always nursing and he wasn't really gaining fast. By week 2 he was back to his birth weight. He was nursing all. the. time. every where we went he was attached. My friends and family said "wow he is always eating"! By week 8 he finally slowed down and was sleeping more at night and his weight was WAY up! At 2 months he weighed 11 lbs!!!! He is now 12 weeks old and is the happiest baby I have ever met! If he isn't smiling he is nursing! Both Jon and Leah love him so much! He is a perfect addition to our house!

THis pregnancy...

I am almost 35 weeks. This pregnancy is the easiest of all the pregnancies. The time has flown by except now it seems everyday is in slooooow motion.

I never really told the story of how I became pregnant, well I guess we all know "how" it happened but I had the statistic since I was 20yrs old that I could not have children without help. The boys were assisted and Leah was from our stored frozen embryo's.

It was at the end July beginning of August we went to Michigan's adventure with my family and in laws. It was a fun vacation and on our way home we stopped at burger king. We went inside and I had this really funny feeling, like nausea. Justin looked at me and asked if I was o.k. I told him with a smirk it's weird I feel like when I was pregnant with nausea. He laughed and said "well we know that can't happen!" I laughed it off. As we drove home I just couldn't eat the sandwich I felt really sick. We got home and my parents were with us so I took Justin to the bedroom and said " I think we need to get a pregnancy test" I will never forget the look on his face, a look of are you serious?

Well Justin went up to the store and bought a regular test and I took it and it had one really strong line and another line but it was faint. I called my friend and said I don't know what to think! I told her and of course she was so happy. She said two lines no matter how faint meant I was pregnant. WHAT? HOW? Will the baby be o.k? Is this going to be an atopic pregnancy since the reason behind my infertility is blocked tubes?

7 tests later and all positive! I bought the ones that actually read "pregnant" "not pregnant" I made an appointment with the high risk team at u of m. They had me come in and I was about 6 weeks along and we got to hear the heartbeat, a beautiful strong heartbeat! The baby was in the right area.

I had such emotions. I didn't know if I could do this again what about Jonathan and Leah how would they do with another sibling. How will I handle Jonathans therapies and make sure he gets the time he needs and help he needs. I was feeling completely overwhelmed. Justin was so happy. The friend that I called about the test I called again and told her how I was feeling and she was such a great support person and still is! The week before we went on vacation I went clothes shopping with my friend for our kids and as I looked at the baby boy clothes I said " I would some day maybe like another little boy but just not right now" I always think of that and how God works in such mysterious ways!! We still laugh about that today!

I developed gestational diabetes again, got a cerclage which will be coming out next week and did the progesterone shots.

This pregnancy has been completely different than the other two too. Even with Leah there were similarities with the boys pregnancy. I had heartburn with this pregnancy but also threw up a lot. It stopped around 13 weeks and got a huge burst of energy. I never had any restrictions and have lifted Jon and Leah with no problems. I felt flutters around 17 weeks and at 19 weeks we found out we were having a perfect little boy!! With the other two pregnancies the placenta grew anterior so the kicks were felt but from the sides. This pregnancy the placenta grew posterior and have felt everything, from kicks to stretches and couple punches here and there. He is so active and I love it I loved this whole pregnancy. AT about 32 weeks I noticed I was slowing down and up until about 33 weeks we were going on mini trips with the kids to the hotel/waterpark. This weekend we are going again to a hotel for a get away and to get my maternity photos!

I am now 34.4 and getting daily NST and signed consent forms today for a vbac birth. I am also having a midwife and going to start in a birthing tub and then try for the vbac. Of course things can change and if baby needs out I will get another csection and I am o.k with that too. Whatever gives us another healthy baby!