The A-Team

Over the past few weeks I have done extensive self-reflection. I have been doing this for a myriad of reasons but I am glad I have done this. One major revelation came to me…I am a FIGHTER. I am not the stereo-typical woman who will ball up and let whatever is coming happen. I will fight back. I don’t know where this instinct has come from. I wasn’t like this when I was younger but something changed in me several years ago and I have been fighting ever since. I take on every challenge that comes my way and I don’t back down. I am not talking about challenges that require compromise. I mean big challenges, like life-threatening challenges. Will I let a man rape me? Will I let a stranger get my child? Will I cower in the corner while a store is being robbed? These are the kind of situations/challenges I am referring to. I have made a promise to myself and my family that I will NOT be afraid. I will NOT allow the “bad” people to win. If they come knocking at my door (wherever that is) they will have one serious fight on their hands. Hopefully my growl and scowl will be enough to have them think twice realizing I am NOT weak or afraid but if not, I have other means of protecting my family and I am NOT afraid to use them. Something else that adds to intimidation of a bad guy is eye contact. If they see that fighter in you, they will most likely look elsewhere for a less formidable opponent.

The reason I write about this tonight is that I saw the worst statistics of my life. We women have a nearly 100% chance of being victimized in some violent crime or another (85% sexual crimes). That is horrible. This needs to end. We must speak out and not sit in silence. We must make it known that we are NOT weak or unwilling to help ourselves. We WILL fight back! You must be prepared and you must make a commitment to yourself to fight. You don’t have to be some black belt karate master, but you must know your surroundings at all times and BE PREPARED. I carry a concealed weapon at all times. But that isn’t everything. My attitude will carry me MUCH further especially if I don’t appear to be weak. I also pick and choose my surroundings. I don’t put myself in “typical” danger situations. I stay away from certain parts of town; I avoid shopping alone after dark; I frequent familiar areas; I typically park with a cart corral blocking one side of my vehicle (especially with children); I survey EVERYTHING constantly; I make eye contact with anyone nearby to assure them that I know they are there; I have my cell phone in my pocket; I always lock the car doors when we are in the car and once we leave the car; I never answer the door (if we aren’t expecting company, I don’t answer the door but do look out a window to check out what is going on). These are just a few things that you can do to be prepared and to avoid a situation.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. For the few of you who read this, I hope you will have a conversation with someone else and mention this to them. I believe the only way to stop victimization of women is to get the word out that it is OKAY to protect yourself. Be a FIGHTER!

Abraham is just perfect! The doctor said he couldn’t find anything wrong with our perfect little man. Abraham is 32 3/4 inches in height (85%) and 26.2 pounds (50%). I was happy to see that his weight is continually on a curve of normalcy. I really didn’t want to Abraham to have fight his weight as a child. The doctor also did a followup on his ears and his recent infection and all looks normal! That is wonderful news for us! Lastly, we think Abraham must be starting to work on his incisors – he is starting to CHEW EVERYTHING!!! Plus he is getting grumpy fast at unusual times. I believe he is in pain. Poor little guy.

We were able to take Abraham to Olan Mills today to get his 18-month pictures done. He is such a cutie! We were able to get some really cute shots today. I can’t believe how quickly he is growing up. He doesn’t look like the same little boy in his 12-month pictures (completely). It is unreal how much he has changed. I love our little boy.

On another note, I called my OB today to check on my glucose test because I really didn’t want to WAIT to hear from them. So I called and all is just fine! Abel and I passed the glucose test with flying colors and my iron is just fine too! 11 weeks from today and we will have Abel Thomas in our arms. I am looking so forward to that day!

Abel and I are doing just fine! We had our 28-week appointment this morning and we had to take the nasty glucose test. It actually didn’t taste all that bad it just really made me pretty sick most of the day. I don’t drink sugary drinks but every once in a great while and this was like drinking 10 in about 30 seconds. We will get to hear the results on Thursday. Basically if there is no call from the doc, we have no gestational diabetes. I most likely do not have GD since I didn’t have it with Abraham. And of course they will be also checking for iron.

We now start appointments every 2 weeks! We are getting closer to Abel’s arrival!

Today Abraham turned 18 months! I really can’t believe how quickly time has passed. I have a hard time remembering life without him. He is such a wonderful little boy and I look forward to watching him grow day by day.

I will post his “stats” later this week. His appointment isn’t until Thursday. But I can let you know what kind of a little boy he is!

He is extremely sweet and loving and yet easily frustrates. Whether he is not getting his way or a toy isn’t behaving the way he wants it to, he gets angry quickly. We are working on this but I know it is normal. Patience will come in time.

He is a definite explorer. Every nook and cranny of the house is fair game. Of course he knows that many of those nooks and crannies are off limits. He has mastered getting off of furniture and he can back down the stairs. We haven’t done a full staircase back down but he does navigate the bottom few steps. He has become quite stubborn about going UP the stairs but that’s okay.

Abraham has become fascinated with the dogs. Whenever they are together he will chase them with glee and try to get their tails! It is really cute. I wasn’t paying the closest attention earlier tonight as I was trying to corral everyone to go up the stairs and then noticed Abraham had 2 fists full of Ark’s fur and skin! I quickly resolved that issue but I was so proud that Ark didn’t even seem to notice! They love him very much especially since he has been named “biscuit giver.” Whenever he sees their jar of biscuits, he wants to go pass some out. The dogs love him for it:)

Abraham also loves A. Minnow III. He always smiles and waves at the sweet little fish and is very concerned at water changing time. He wants to be sure everything is fine with his fish. It is rather sweet. He also loves his grandparents animals (grandma Jean has cats and Grammy and Grampy have a big white dog/horse). I am so glad he has a love for other lives just as we do.

Abraham has really gotten into music lately. He could care less about my preferred music selection; he much prefers HIS music. He will dance and dance and look at the book that came with the music CD (thanks Angie!). He also LOVES Star Trek: The Next Generation. He doesn’t care about the show much until the music plays. He will dance and dance! He is such a cutie!

Abraham has been eating wonderfully again. He only goes through periods of not eating when he doesn’t feel well. I can deal with that! He will eat just about anything. He always wants to sample whatever you have. It is sweet and yet sometimes annoying. I have learned that if I am not in the mood to share, don’t eat in front of Abraham:) But I do love having him try new things so sharing is actually quite fun!

He has recently decided to start taking 2 naps a day again. I most certainly am not complaining! This isn’t completely routine right now, I think he is just going through a growth spurt and recovering from his sickness. I am sure we will be back to 1 nap again very soon (bummer). But he does sleep wonderfully at night! He goes to bed around 8 pm and doesn’t get up until 8:45-9 am. He is a great sleeper:) I hope Abel is similar!

Abraham has also taken a keen interest in the belly button. It is too funny! I happened to have worn a sweater the other day that was just a bit too short and I didn’t have a belly band on and he kept seeing my belly button. He would screech, giggle and point. Then Daddy let him see his belly button and lastly Abraham started showing us his belly button. Now he goes around trying to expose my belly button and baby Abel. It is rather cute but I have to be sure that only happens at home!

Abraham has started blowing kisses and will mimic just about anything you do. Just tonight, I took a bite of our dinner and it was a bit too hot. I immediately opened my mouth and start waving my hand at my mouth to cool it off (like that really works). Abraham erupted in laughter and started doing the same thing ALL DINNER LONG! It was so funny!

Abraham is very smart. I am very proud of my little boy. He knows the letters A-H and we are about to introduce some new ones later this week. I have started him on 1,2 and 3. He also knows his colors – although he will test YOU to make sure you know which  is color is which. He is pretty good with shapes too:) He knows lots of animals and their sounds. He will also say lots of words – sometimes though, you don’t know WHAT word he is saying. He did use his first compound word today – banana cookie! We were so proud of him!

Just in case you can’t tell, I love my little boy. He is the light of our lives and he means everything to me. I can’t wait to see what a great big brother he is going to be!

Today hasn’t been terrible but not great either. I have just about had it though. I am ready for a vacation!

Abraham: Poor Abraham. I know he still isn’t 100% but he is feeling better enough to test mommy at every turn. Plus if mommy isn’t paying complete attention to him he absolutely melts down. It is very bizarre because he has NEVER been like this. The testing thing, I understand. But wanting me as his play buddy, well, that is new to me! I have been a bit busy this week with just stuff and I will be sure to start clearing my schedule to allow for some more one-on-one Hammy time.

Oh and to make matters worse, Abraham has become EXTREMELY stubborn about going up the stairs. So mommy has to carry him. Typically I already have an armload and have to come back down to get him. Fine. Well, tonight I was so tired and hurting pretty bad from mopping (won’t be doing that again until after Abel is born) and just plain frustrated. I scold him about being stubborn and carry him up the stairs. He is trying to free himself from me because he doesn’t like being scolded. We get to the top of the stairs and I set him on his feet and he is practically in mid run as I set him down. His momentum got the better of him and he fell and smacked his head right into the vacuum cleaner. Ours is metal and the handle didn’t give. He screamed, I screamed and he has a NASTY goose egg/bruise on his head. It must have hurt pretty bad because he let me put an ice pack on it. But I felt horrible. Here I was scolding my child and he goes and  gets hurt. I am sure this was part of his plan all along so mommy won’t scold again. Oh well. He and I will live.

Shopping: I have completed most of the grocery/stuff shopping I have needed to do. Thankfully Aaron has been watching Abraham during most of those trips which has been great. Not only can I move faster but with Abraham’s sickness, he has been able to heal faster. But I am SO SICK OF GOING OUT. I just want to stay home for awhile. Next week isn’t any prettier. We have 2 doctor’s appts, a funeral and 18-month pictures to deal with. Yuck. I am just wanting to hibernate for awhile!

Cleaning the house/laundry: Does this ever end? Seriously? I don’t think it is possible to be a clean freak with 2 dogs, soon to be 2 kids, 2 adults and the elements of outside…well, it is possible but not without expecting a nervous breakdown! Plus on days like today, I wish I lived in a 1 bedroom apt with 1 bathroom!

A. Minnow III: I love our little fish. He is the only living creature in this house that doesn’t DEMAND my attention. He just patiently waits for me to feed him or change his water. I rather enjoy watching him in his little bowl. Well, I went to change his water tonight and as I was trying to put him back into his bowl, he jumped OUT of the net! Thank God he landed in the sink! I quickly scooped him up and got him back to his water but geez o’ pete. I about lost A. Minnow III! I would not have liked that one bit.

Dogs: Love my dogs. We have finally come to a pretty decent understanding and they have adjusted. Yes this only took 18 months! But we are finally there. I am happy and they are content. Well, the birds have decided to actually visit our bird feeder  in our back yard and our back deck. Well, they are leaving droppings and smells. Not a good combination with Basset hounds. The dogs become completely entranced with tracking the birds they ignore everything else, including me screaming, yelling and even me waddling out after them in the yard. They don’t even realize I am near until they feel my hand on their fur. It is insane. So, no more bird feeders or bird houses or anything else. I can’t wait to see what is going to happen when we put in our garden this year. I am sure it will attract all kinds of critters and I guess I will be ordering shock collars to go with my garden dirt!

Anyway, Ark nearly gave me a heart attack tonight. She was upstairs sleeping when I left to go take care of the never-ending laundry. Abraham had just been put to bed without a fight and so I knew all would be fine for me to go about the remaining chores of the day. I am engrossed in my head about what I need to accomplish since I will be gone most of the day tomorrow at a First Aid Class. All of a sudden, I hear this weird thumping noise and think either a bad guy is in the house (yes I am very paranoid these days) or Abraham is kicking the wall. It is most likely Abraham kicking the wall. Ok, calm down. Then Ark shows up and scares the living crap out of me! I literally yelled and nearly made her pee on the floor from my scream! I was so mad especially when I realized it was my own dog scaring me but feeling foolish for being scared in the first place! Good Lord. Figures. The thumping had been Ark cautiously coming down the stairs. Should have known.

And to top the night off: My mom calls me about 5 minutes before bath time for Abraham. I can totally tell something is wrong immediately and I go on high alert AGAIN. My emotions really can’t take this much more. Thank goodness the night is nearly over. Anyway, I am asking “what’s wrong” over and over. Finally mom tells me she has bad news. Yep. Kinda guessed that. What is it!!!????!!! My Uncle Mike passed away tonight. Very sudden and unexpected. This floors me. I was completely expecting her to tell me my Great Grandpa had passed or something. Not Uncle Mike! Now, a quick family tree explanation…I have 2 Uncle Mikes. One is my mom’s blood brother and the other is her step-brother. I have known both all of my life. My mom’s stepbrother is the one who passed today. I don’t have all the details other than he was at the doctor’s office, passed out, was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead of a pulmonary embolism (possibly aneurysm). Like I said no real details. I guess an autopsy is being performed. This is crazy. He is not that old and seemed in relatively decent health. He just went through 2 hip replacements in the past couple years and did fine. Then this? He wasn’t married and didn’t have children but he was the coolest. He was kinda scary sometimes (big guy with a big voice) and his sarcasm was hilarious! The older I got the more I appreciated his humor. Abraham actually warmed up to him at Christmas. He was a very sweet man and loved us all very much. He came to our Thanksgiving dinner that we held at my mom’s house and he was always one of us. There was never the thought that he was “Grandpa’s” son and not part of the family. I will miss him very much. He was very down to earth and about as real as it gets. I take comfort knowing he is in Heaven with his Dad and they are enjoying their reunion. I am not looking forward to seeing the pain on my family’s face as we all say good-bye to a man we loved dearly.

It’s ironic, Uncle Mike and I are very much alike in many ways. He will be cremated as were his wishes. Those are mine too! I have never liked the idea of being put in a coffin and buried in the ground. I despise cemeteries. I would much rather have my ashes spread and be done with it. This is just one of our many likenesses. Anyway, I loved my Uncle Mike and will miss him being a part of our lives.

In closing, here is to a better tomorrow without drama. I really don’t need any more drama for the rest of 2010!

In just 12 short weeks from today we will be holding our new baby boy. I am so excited and overwhelmed all at the same time! Truly, I am looking so forward to meeting Abel. He has been a joy to carry this far and hopefully he will continue to be. I am feeling pretty good about our “supplies” and what not needed for him…just a few things left and of course the double stroller. But all of that will come in due time!

We are still SLOWLY moving along with Abraham’s new room. The room is done but getting the time to move Daddy the rest of the way out has been a bit challenging especially with Abraham getting sick and Aaron and I fighting off the same sickness. Plus Mommy has to have nap time (best that I can) or I don’t make it for the day. This all cuts down on our time to work in the room. That’s okay. Tomorrow we will hopefully get some actual progress completed and I can get on to painting the dresser. My belly is getting bigger by the minute and I can’t bend and maneuver quite like I used to, so getting this done soon will be great! Plus I will have the peace of mind that Abraham has transitioned to his new room and bed well before Abel shows up and he won’t feel ousted by his baby brother.

On some other notes…Abraham got to hang out in his rocking chair and loved it! So much in fact Mommy and Daddy had to take it away because Mommy caught him STANDING in the chair!!!

And he loves to empty his new bookcase of books…

And he has now started to “say” cheese when the camera comes out:)

and more…

Lastly, I managed to sew my new nursing cover just in time for Abel’s arrival. I am very proud…I am no seamstress but I didn’t have to spend $35 for a cover…this cost me about $9 and an hour of time!

Forgive the not so great photos…it was late at night and I was pretty tired but happy to have finished my project!

After a most exhausting night (the twin mattress is NO match for the big people bed) I called the doctor first thing this morning to get an appointment for Abraham. 3:15 pm was the only time left. I didn’t care as long as I got in.

Abraham woke up around 9:30 am this morning and wasn’t in a terrible mood but wasn’t exactly happy. That confirmed my belief that a doctor visit was in order. Abraham NEVER wakes up in a grumpy mood unless he is really sick. The rest of the day wore on and I was beat. I hardly slept a wink last night even though I was able to crawl into the big people bed around 1 am and “sleep” until 9 am. Being pregnant does not allow for much sleep these days. I got the best 2 hours straight when I finally gave up and propped myself to nearly sitting in bed (my sides needed a break I guess).

Abraham did go down for a nap around 11:30 am and was out by 11:45. I went to lay down as well but for some reason I can’t sleep during the day. I rest just fine and maybe get 15 minutes of actual sleep but nothing like I get at night. It is rather annoying especially when I am this exhausted. But I continued to lay in bed until 1:30 pm when Abraham got up. We ate lunch and piddled around until the doctor’s appointment. I was glad to see he ate pretty well today. He ate 1/2 a waffle for breakfast and an ENTIRE grilled cheese sandwich (sans the crust) for lunch! He hasn’t been drinking much milk but at least will drink his juice.

So we get to the doctor’s office and wait forever. Abraham was having fun with a young teenage girl who decided to play with him on the floor. It was really sweet:) We finally get called back. Abraham weighs in at 27.2 pounds! Not too bad and not much of a change from last time. The nurse practitioner comes to see us (finally) since our doc is not in the office today and sure enough Abraham has a double ear infection. His right ear is much worse than his left as we suspected last night. We were given an antibiotic prescription and a prescription for numbing drops to help him sleep (especially since mommy is only 12 weeks away from delivery of the new baby). We get to leave the doc’s office and head over to Meijer to fill the prescriptions.

At Meijer I ask for them to project the cost of the numbing drops because I know those aren’t free like the antibiotics. I was told $21 for the drops. Gulp. Ok. I guess it will be worth it. We had about a 20-minute wait and we milled around the store picking up impulse purchases we didn’t REALLY need but would be nice and I was so tired and getting hungry because it was now close to 6 pm. We get the prescriptions and the clerk asked me about our insurance and I gave him the card because I wanted to be sure this would go toward my deductible. We were pleasantly surprised with a substantial discount! The drops only cost me $11.55!!!!! That was much easier to handle! God is so awesome!

And to fully complete that thought, God is awesome all the time. Right now as I write this blog post, Abraham is playing sweetly in his bed waiting for sleep to overtake him and he is NOT screaming. The drops really are working and his antibiotics will start to kick in soon (about 48 hours). Even though we dislike taking our son to the doctor, we know there are times that you must. This was one of those times and even though it is “expensive” and not a planned event, I am so thankful that God always provides for us. We never have to sit and suffer. We have the ability to call the doctor and get an appointment. We have the means to fill any prescription (within reason) and get the help we need. God most certainly is awesome. God also provided me with an amazing husband who had the ability to take time out from work to help me with Abraham and help take care of me since I am not feeling the greatest. God is so amazing and I thank him even in trials. I thank you for all of your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for quick healing for Abraham (for all of our sakes).

Please pray for little Abraham as he is having quite a tough time right now. He really started feeling better this morning on the upswing from this nasty chest cold he received as a gift last week. However, following in his father’s footsteps, he is closing up this cold with his first ear infection. We first noticed it with him lightly cupping his ears but his demeanor was good so I simply prayed that he was just horsing around and it wasn’t an ear infection. My parents dealt with my chronic ear infections from hell from God knows when until I was about 7yo, and I would not wish what I went through upon my worst enemy.

Fast forward to bed time tonight and he won’t stay in the prone or supine position for longer than 5-8 minutes without kicking and this uncharacteristic-for-him crying moan (which sounds even more pathetic with the healing chest cold). After his mama attempted to sooth him for over 2 hours (fortunately I was working from home to help out) I walked in and found my 6mo+ pregnant wife in a heap trying to sleep on the floor next to his crib. The things we do for our kids, right? Well, I went downstairs and cut the wrapping off of the new mattress Anna gloated about the other day and, sorry Abraham, put it on the floor of the nursery, and we laid down some blankets and made it into our temporary “Infirmary Fire-watch Bed.” Anna took first watch while I finish work for the night (and stealthily peck out this b-log entry). Later sometime we’ll swap duties and she can hit the sack in the big people bed.

So, in closing, as I meant this to be less verbose, please pray that the Lord will make ear infections less of a chronic problem for little Hammy than it was for his dad. I realize that ear infections are one of the most common ailments for kids, but they sure aren’t fun if you’ve never had the “blessing” of having them.

Today we enter into the beginning of the end! We begin the 3rd trimester! It is so exciting and yet a bit scary. Soon we will be a family of 4!

The birthing dreams have started. I have yet to “see” Abel in any of the dreams and I have NO recollection of the delivery at all. I just “wake up” in the dream and realize it is all over and Abel is out. I was told in one dream he weighed 34 pounds at birth! Yikes!!! Then the next dream, he weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce and was only 16 inches long so they had to keep him in the NICU until he was bigger. I was completely perplexed in that dream. Last night’s dream was very frustrating. I was fighting with the hospital staff to hurry up and get the delivery over with. We had arrived way early to our appointment time and yet they were 2 hours late in starting my surgery! Good old pregnancy dreams. They sure do have their place. I am glad to at least dream this stuff and get out my anxiety that way even though I don’t realize have I any anxiety. Funny how the subconscious works.

Anyway, along with starting the 3rd trimester we are also battling a pretty nasty cold with Abraham. Aaron and I hope we don’t get it. We are pretty sure this was courtesy of Abraham’s cousin. Last Saturday night my mom had Abraham, and 2 of my brother’s kids for a few hours and Abraham was fortunate to bring home a present. Yippee. His cough is REALLY bad. It makes him even gag. We have now given him a pillow to try and prop him up to sleep but he moves so much that it will probably have little effect. We are using Vicks and we even have a plug-in vapor thing to help him but we shall see. We have his 18-month appointment on the 4th of March but we certainly won’t wait that long if he gets any worse or doesn’t start to get better. This cold is completely wrecking his sleep. Naptime is consisting of maybe 30 minutes at a time. He then goes into a coughing fit and is up for another couple hours and then gets cranky and needs to rest a bit again. Doesn’t make for easy napping for mommy, that’s for sure! But getting Hammy healthy (and me staying that way) is all I care about:)

Other than that, nothing much happening in the A-Team household. We are just taking it one day at a time and enjoying each other as much as possible! We hope you are able to do the same with your family. I will leave you with this cute little video of Hammy with his musical Elmo book:)

Who would have thought that buying a mattress for a little boy would be so hard? I sure didn’t. I thought for sure we could get a great mattress just about anywhere and it would be cheap. Boy was I wrong.

I began the search and looked and looked. I was NOT going to pay over $300 for a mattress for a little boy! Are you nuts? He will jump on it, play on it, probably have “accidents” on it and everything. I was beginning to get very discouraged.

Ah, but a shining beacon of light broke through this seemingly impossible task. Of all places, Sam’s Club had a Serta mattress that seemed decent (not foam) and was VERY reasonable. I thought it was probably too good to be true but we made the trip to check it out. It is PERFECT!!! It is just what I was looking for (very similar to the mattresses both Aaron and I grew up with and they lasted for YEARS)! I was so excited and like I said…VERY reasonable:) I actually came in UNDER budget with this mattress! Now the only issue would be getting it home. We don’t exactly have a vehicle that can carry home a mattress.

I called my Mom tonight to ask for her help. She lives 5 minutes away and has a vehicle that is MUCH more capable to carry home a mattress. I was planning on getting this some time next week when she had the time and the weather wasn’t nasty. She promptly said “well, what are you doing now?” Well, we were watching a Cookie Monster video and about to begin the evening activities. She said, “I am on my way home and could meet you in Greenwood and just bring it to your house.” I was FLOORED! Really? Seriously? Tonight? Excitement was totally brimming within me! I jumped at the chance and off Abraham and I went!

We are now the proud owners of this new mattress that didn’t break the bank and I think will suit our needs just fine. And you know what, this couldn’t have been a moment too soon. God always has perfect timing. Just tonight after I put Abraham to bed, I heard this weird scratching sound that he was making against his bedroom wall. I wouldn’t have thought much of it until he started coughing pretty bad so I went to check and that little bugger is now tall enough (even with the crib mattress at the bottom level) to reach some hanging pictures! He was swinging one of them against the wall while saying “wee-wee-wee” and then went into his coughing spell. That little turkey. I had to take the picture away and of course that broke his heart. He burst into tears and waved at the empty spot on the wall. Traumatizing, I know. At least it won’t be for long. I will be moving him to his new room not a moment too soon!