Big Brother

No, this isn't about that horrible reality show on CBS...Brady's going to be a real big brother! We're expecing a little brother or sister in late February or early March...I secretly think it would be cool if he/she was born on Feb. 29 since next year is a leap year! We found out for sure yesterday afternoon. I love my OB and her office. I called them Thursday morning and said I had had two positive home tests and asked if I could come in for a blood test. They said sure, when do you want to come in? So I went in at 10 a.m. I asked the nurse if it would take a day to get it back and she said most likely, but there was a small chance it would come back that day. At five after five last night my OB called to personally tell me the test came back and it was positive. She doesn't even have office hours on Thursdays! She's awesome. I keep trying to covince my sister Stacey that she needs to switch doctors. It would be worth the drive!

So we don't have an exact due date pinned down yet. I'll find out next Friday when I go to see my doctor for my first official prenatal visit. She said the blood result showed I am about 2 to 3 weeks along. Everything looked great according to the lab which is good because we were a little worried about how my gall bladder surgery might have affected things. Dr. Bavishi says it shouldn't have any impact. I told Jeremiah if we have any more let's try not to have me have surgery while I'm pregnant. This probably isn't the best trend! Oh well, Brady turned out perfectly, so I'm sure this one will too! And for the record, we don't care if it's a boy or a girl, as long as it's healthy. We learned that lesson with the last pregnancy and all the stuff we went through with Betty the Blob. We do, however, have a girl name picked out already since we obviously didn't use it last time. So if it's a girl she'll be named Mackenzie, and if it's a boy we'll have to figure that one out!

Lots of Brady pics

Brady learned to play fetch with the doggies. He can't throw the ball very far, but he gets the job done!

Brady and greatgrandpa Gerry watching Daddy cut the grass! It's way better on the watching end!!!

One cool dude!

Daddy and Brady with matching outfits for father's day! What a bunch of cuties, look at those cheeks! Like father like son!

KITTY! Brady likes to pet, and by pet I mean slap, Jake and pull his hair and try to pick him up by his back half! Jake tolerates him. Secretly I think he likes it.

Brady learned to climb into his toy bin the other day. We couldn't get him to come out he was having so much fun!

Brady got to ride the tram at the Kansas City Zoo with Grandma on Memorial Day.

Don't I feel like this some days! The zoo has a koala exhibit this summer. I think I was a koala in a former life: sit in a tree and sleep all day...my kind of day!

Ok, maybe I could be a sea lion. At least they get a pool!

Robin and budda belly guy at the zoo. Apparently there is some longstanding joke with Robin and her brother and budda guys.

Brady loved looking at the animals!

The black sheep. It wanted to eat Brady's stoller.

Us with Sizzle at the T-bones game. Brady didn't want to look at the camera, there was too much going on and a giant cow distracting him!
Jeremiah and his mommy at Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Brady's first restaurant meal at Cheeseburger in Paradise: a chicken breast and baby carrots smothered in butter, cinnamon and sugar! Even I liked the carrots made that way! (He didn't eat it all...I really don't know how any "kid" could eat all that food.)

We saw these pjs and had to get them. They say "Mr. Monkey likes to hang." Brady's favorite toy, his stuffed monkey he got when he was born is named Mr. Monkey! Remember, he's the one in all the baby pictures of Brady.

Whee! Sliding is fun!

This is the playpen Jeremiah and Robin made for Brady while I was at work one day! It's cool. Brady loves it. He's got his slide and his pool in there and his swingset is nearby. What else could a kid ask for?

Aftermath

Things have been up and down since my surgery. I've been sleeping a lot which is good I guess. Mainly it's because I've been doped up on Benadryl. Tuesday night I noticed some red bumps all over my stomach and it itched really bad. By Wednesday night it was unbearable so I called the doctor on call to see what they thought. Since I was having nasuea and dizzy spells too they thought maybe I was having an allergic reaction to the pain medicine I was taking. So they said to stop taking that and start with some Benadryl. By this morning the bumps were still there and I was still really itchy so I called again. Now they think that maybe I'm having some weird reaction to the iodine rub or the sterristrips they put on. I've had both before with no reaction, but who knows, anything is possible. There really isn't anything else it could be. So now I had to take the sterristrips off, which was quite tramatic not only for the pain, but the sight of gaping holes in my stomach...and put some hydrocortizone cream on. I have to call the doctor's office in a couple of hours and let them know if that is helping or not. I think maybe it is...but it's hard to tell.

I've been getting around a little easier. Walking is easier today than yesterday so that's a bonus. I actually drove a little bit today too, although that did cause some pain. I took Brady up to daycare. When we got there I had him flip over to his belly and slink down to the floor of the van. Then I held his hand and he hopped out of the van so we could walk up to the house. The babysitter met us halfway which was nice because Brady was starting to not enjoy the walk and I couldn't pick him up. Last night I thought I was ready to pick him up so I tried for a second. Bad idea. I'm not going to do that again. Jeremiah has to work at the movie theater doing security tonight so my sister Jenn is going to come over and help me get Brady to bed. Then tomorrow morning Mom and Dad are coming over to help me get him up in the morning. We might go over to Aunt Jenn's tomorrow during the afternoon to go swimming at the neighborhood pool. They have a little baby pool. I think Brady would like that. Plus he has a really cute pair of swim trunks with matching terrycloth robe and floppy hat! If we go I'll take lots of pictures. I can't swim yet because I still have holes. I can't be submerged in water until they close up.

In other news, we finally got a new store manager at work, so that's nice because I can finally get back to just doing my job. I'm off work until the 27th b/c of my surgery, but when I get back it will be nice to just do my job. I can't think of anything else going on right now. Next week Brady's greatgrandparents Shirley and Gerald will be in town. We're excited...we're going to play card games and dominoes, and try to get up to Omaha, Nebraska to go to the zoo while they're here. Brady likes the zoo...we went to the KC one a couple weeks ago.

They can't say...

I've got some gall. It's gone. Yesterday I had surgery to remove my gall bladder. I had been having some pain in my chest under my ribs on the right side for a few months and it just kept getting worse, so about a month ago I went to get an ultrasound done and it showed my gall bladder was full of sludge and stones. So they decided to remove it. After they got it out the doctor said it was a good thing they did because it was in pretty bad shape. She could tell I was in some pain for a while. Now I'm in a different kind of pain. But Jeremiah's taking care of me. I pretty much look like I've been shot in the tummy four times. I have sterristrips over the holes, which are located just above my belly button, just below my sternum, and two below my ribs on the right side. I'm pretty sore. I guess they blow a bunch of carbon dioxide gas in there so they can move things around, but now that's all trapped and trying to escape. So that's not really pleasant.

The other thing that stinks is that I can't play with Brady very much. I can't pick him up or hold him because he might kick me or bonk me with his head. So I get to sit back and watch for a while. I'll be off work until the 27th, but I'll still have to take it easy then for a while. I've got to eat a low fat, bland diet for a while too until my liver takes over the functions of the gall bladder.

Brady's doing great. He spent the night at Nana Joyce and Poppy Don's last night. Jeremiah and I were at the hospital until about 7:30 p.m. Since I was feeling ok and passed the four requirements for going home - walking, taking medicine orally, going to the bathroom by myself (I'm a big kid!), and eating without getting sick, I was able to go home last night. They said I could stay if I wanted, but we figured why pay for another day in the hospital if we really don't need too. The only upside to staying would have been someone waking me up in the middle of the night to give me my meds. I didn't take any overnight so I was really sore this morning. The downside to staying, besides the cost, would have been them waking me every couple of hours for vitals. So we made it home and slept pretty good. We picked up Brady this afternoon from Mom and Dads. He slept all the way home...he tired himself out playing the chase me up the stairs game all day!

Well, we're making dinner now....or really Jeremiah is making dinner: Grilled chicken, white rice, corn, grapes and tea. We have pineapple jello for dessert. Yum. I think I'm going to take a nap until the food is ready!

Here he is...

Ok, so his party was a couple weeks ago and I'm just now getting the pictures on here. Oh well. The more he learns to do, the less I have time to do things! He's walking everywhere now. He's totally given up crawling. He drinks from a sippy cup, eats real food and knows how to throw a good old fashioned temper tantrum when things don't go his way. He also has learned how to climb on on things, his toys, the couch, the recliner, you name it, he'll find a way on top of it. Getting down...that's another story. He's also teething again...big time. His gums are really swollen and he's been miserable all week. Hopefully they'll start to come in soon so he'll get some relief. In the meantime we'll slather his gums with baby orajel and hope that works!

Yum. Cake is good.

Has anyone seen my cake?

The downside of a sugar high.

Miss Melea. The party was too exciting for her to believe.

Washing the cake away. It could have made for one good scary movie scene with all that red icing!