As some of you may remember, right before I got stuck in the hospital, Ben had accepted the job of Application Sales Specialist with Whayne, which means he works selling sprayers and fertilizer application equipment to Ag Retailers in KY, and he gets a company vehicle again, Woo Hoo!
He also can work out of the house and doesn't have to report to Evansville every single day, YEAH!!
But, where as we thought he would be starting that long before now due to several things, like him being basically irreplaceable in his Foreman job, he's finally officially starting his new job on Tuesday June 1!!!
With that comes a different cell phone number, so you can delete out the 812 cell phone number, his new number starting on Tuesday will be:
270-339-9980
So be sure to change your numbers in your phone!!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Happy Memorial Day Weekend and Happy Birthday Memaw!
Sorry for not doing a good job posting this past week, I've been busy spending lotsa time with Bean before I have to go back to work on Tuesday.
I met with a lady on Tuesday who keeps her 1 year old and an 18 month old in her house who was looking to add one more, she used to be an EMT and is a couple years older than me, I like her and she seems to be good with the kids so we are going to do a trial next week and see how it goes. Fingers crossed this works out well! Thankfully her house is only about 3 miles from the office, so I can be there quickly if need be.
Ben left Wednesday and got back Friday afternoon for a work trip, he was down at Lake Cumberland, so Bean and I had our first couple days being home alone...no big deal, everything went just fine!
Ben got back Friday afternoon and the Mike from work was in town, so we had him come by for supper before he headed back to Louisville so he could catch a plane early Saturday morning.
Saturday is Memaw's 81st Birthday, so Happy Birthday Memaw! Mom, Sue, Memaw and Aunt Sharon all went shopping in Nashville to celebrate, I just wasn't quite ready to tackle a day out in Nashville with Mallory yet. In another few months!
Ben needed more pants so we made a trip down to Greenville to go to Uncle Lee's to get this camo diaper bag for Ben that we saw way back when and then headed to Madisonville to go to the Carhart outlet to get more pants, so we had an eventful day with Bean and she did great!
She also slept all night long (from 10 pm to 5 am) Friday night and I thought maybe it was just a fluke, but she slept all night Saturday night too...maybe we are on to something here! If it continues it will be good timing since I go back to work on Tuesday and an entire nights sleep would be nice!
The rest of the weekend we just plan on resting and relaxing and continuing to enjoy just being HOME!!!
Here's a few more pictures from the last week!
I met with a lady on Tuesday who keeps her 1 year old and an 18 month old in her house who was looking to add one more, she used to be an EMT and is a couple years older than me, I like her and she seems to be good with the kids so we are going to do a trial next week and see how it goes. Fingers crossed this works out well! Thankfully her house is only about 3 miles from the office, so I can be there quickly if need be.
Ben left Wednesday and got back Friday afternoon for a work trip, he was down at Lake Cumberland, so Bean and I had our first couple days being home alone...no big deal, everything went just fine!
Ben got back Friday afternoon and the Mike from work was in town, so we had him come by for supper before he headed back to Louisville so he could catch a plane early Saturday morning.
Saturday is Memaw's 81st Birthday, so Happy Birthday Memaw! Mom, Sue, Memaw and Aunt Sharon all went shopping in Nashville to celebrate, I just wasn't quite ready to tackle a day out in Nashville with Mallory yet. In another few months!
Ben needed more pants so we made a trip down to Greenville to go to Uncle Lee's to get this camo diaper bag for Ben that we saw way back when and then headed to Madisonville to go to the Carhart outlet to get more pants, so we had an eventful day with Bean and she did great!
She also slept all night long (from 10 pm to 5 am) Friday night and I thought maybe it was just a fluke, but she slept all night Saturday night too...maybe we are on to something here! If it continues it will be good timing since I go back to work on Tuesday and an entire nights sleep would be nice!
The rest of the weekend we just plan on resting and relaxing and continuing to enjoy just being HOME!!!
Here's a few more pictures from the last week!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Baby Showers and other fun stuff!
Mallory and I have been busy the past several days and we all had a great and eventful weekend...I'm ready to just take it easy this last week before I go back to work next Tuesday!
Thursday I took Bean by the lab (where I used to work) so everyone there could see her and then on Friday we went by Whayne in Evansville where Ben works. I'm still concerned about her being around too many people, but most of these were just looking and not touching, and with it being summer now it's a lot different than if it were winter and cold/flu season. Everyone just thinks she's cute as a button and who am I to tell the different!
Saturday Ben's parents came over and Tiff came down from Ohio and Ben grilled out ribs and salmon for everyone and they got to spend more time with Bean. This was the first time Tiff has gotten to see her!
Everyone was in for the baby shower on Sunday that Tiffany and Susan had for me that's had to be rescheduled about 3 times because of everything but yesterday was a beautiful day and the shower was great! Tiff had several fun games and we got lots of great stuff for Mallory! I love the fact that I probably will not have to buy clothes for her until fall season hits! She has tons of cute stuff!
Here's a few pictures from the shower and we've got one of the 4 generations of us with Memaw, Mom, Me and Mallory (that's a bunch of M's!!) and then one with the quilt Memaw made for Bean. Susan's diaper cake turned out great too, everything was just perfect!
Afterwards we all went back to Mom and Dad's and grilled out on the deck for supper, it was the first time I've been back home since Super Bowl weekend!! I really wanted a dip in the hot tub but someone didn't want to go to bed until about 1am the night before and I was already tired and hot tubbing before the 1 hour 15 minute drive back home would have made for a sleepy trip, so next time we will spend the night and have time for the hot tub!
Here's a few pictures of Bean today, 7 Weeks old!
Thursday I took Bean by the lab (where I used to work) so everyone there could see her and then on Friday we went by Whayne in Evansville where Ben works. I'm still concerned about her being around too many people, but most of these were just looking and not touching, and with it being summer now it's a lot different than if it were winter and cold/flu season. Everyone just thinks she's cute as a button and who am I to tell the different!
Saturday Ben's parents came over and Tiff came down from Ohio and Ben grilled out ribs and salmon for everyone and they got to spend more time with Bean. This was the first time Tiff has gotten to see her!
Everyone was in for the baby shower on Sunday that Tiffany and Susan had for me that's had to be rescheduled about 3 times because of everything but yesterday was a beautiful day and the shower was great! Tiff had several fun games and we got lots of great stuff for Mallory! I love the fact that I probably will not have to buy clothes for her until fall season hits! She has tons of cute stuff!
Here's a few pictures from the shower and we've got one of the 4 generations of us with Memaw, Mom, Me and Mallory (that's a bunch of M's!!) and then one with the quilt Memaw made for Bean. Susan's diaper cake turned out great too, everything was just perfect!
Afterwards we all went back to Mom and Dad's and grilled out on the deck for supper, it was the first time I've been back home since Super Bowl weekend!! I really wanted a dip in the hot tub but someone didn't want to go to bed until about 1am the night before and I was already tired and hot tubbing before the 1 hour 15 minute drive back home would have made for a sleepy trip, so next time we will spend the night and have time for the hot tub!
Here's a few pictures of Bean today, 7 Weeks old!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
There's an Animial on the Loose
in my house, and I'm happy! For my Mother's Day/Birthday Present I got a Dyson Animal Vac. We'd talked about getting one forever and just never had, so with Mallory here and dog hair at what seems to be an all time high, it was time. I can deal with hair on me, I don't want it all over her and I've hated that stupid Kenmore canister vac forever, so yes I'm excited about a vacuum!
Everything has been going well this week, Mallory and I ventured out yesterday to run some errands, the first time that she and I have been out other than doctor's appointments. I was a little nervous about trekking through Target by myself with her but we quickly got accustomed to everything and I'm a little terrified at people wanting to touch or get too close to Mallory. As a preemie she's more venerable to germs so I'm not afraid to tell people that I don't know not to get too close. This boy in line at Target was getting to close in my opinion and told him to stay away. Not sure his mother liked that but I don't really care. Perhaps that's mean, but I'll probably never see the kid again and this is my baby, so I WILL tell random people to stay away from my baby if I think they are getting too close.
So on to several other stops and all was well there, no random people trying to get too close to Mallory!
She's sleeping better at night, likes to be fed around midnight and then again around 4:30 am. Some nights it's pretty easy and I'm not too tired the next day and then other day's I don't really want to get up, but once I'm up I'm fine and I just can't sleep during the day, so we are making it.
I'm just about to reclaim my house after being gone for so long! I still need to paint the guest bath, but other than that, things are beginning to look like a house again. I got in the guest bedroom today and there's still tons of stuff in there but at least now you can get to the bed, if you don't trip over the treadmill first, but it's much better than it was!
Here's a few more pictures of Bean that I've taken over the past couple of days!
Everything has been going well this week, Mallory and I ventured out yesterday to run some errands, the first time that she and I have been out other than doctor's appointments. I was a little nervous about trekking through Target by myself with her but we quickly got accustomed to everything and I'm a little terrified at people wanting to touch or get too close to Mallory. As a preemie she's more venerable to germs so I'm not afraid to tell people that I don't know not to get too close. This boy in line at Target was getting to close in my opinion and told him to stay away. Not sure his mother liked that but I don't really care. Perhaps that's mean, but I'll probably never see the kid again and this is my baby, so I WILL tell random people to stay away from my baby if I think they are getting too close.
So on to several other stops and all was well there, no random people trying to get too close to Mallory!
She's sleeping better at night, likes to be fed around midnight and then again around 4:30 am. Some nights it's pretty easy and I'm not too tired the next day and then other day's I don't really want to get up, but once I'm up I'm fine and I just can't sleep during the day, so we are making it.
I'm just about to reclaim my house after being gone for so long! I still need to paint the guest bath, but other than that, things are beginning to look like a house again. I got in the guest bedroom today and there's still tons of stuff in there but at least now you can get to the bed, if you don't trip over the treadmill first, but it's much better than it was!
Here's a few more pictures of Bean that I've taken over the past couple of days!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
First Weekend Home since Feb!!
It's weird to think that it's mid May and we haven't been home together all weekend since early February. Yikes! So we've just kinda bummed around and enjoyed being home!
Mom and Susan came up yesterday to spend some time with Mallory and Susan brought her new pooch Bella up as well. She is so cute! A Cock-a-poo, which is a cocker spaniel/poodle mix. Thankfully it appears as though all Bella got in the poodle gene pool is the no shedding because she looks nothing like a poodle.
Here's a few pictures of Susan with Bella and Mallory with Bella.
Ben and I knew that we would eventually be going back to an SUV, I was hoping to put it off a little longer and just use the Jetta as long as I could, but it became quite evident when we brought her home from the hospital and the front seat had to be pushed all the way forward to even think about getting her car seat in the back that the vehicle purchase would have to come sooner than later. No one could fit in the front passenger seat unless you were like under 5 foot tall, I even tried and couldn't get my legs in and shut the door.
We will miss you Jetta, you've been a good car and I would highly recommend VW's to anyone and if the Tiguron was a little bigger or the Toureg was a little cheaper, we would have bought one of those VW SUV's in a heart beat, but we opted for a Ford Edge instead. It's got good leg room in the front and back, with Bean's seat installed, good cargo room, good gas mileage (which was important to me) and I love all it's safety features.
It has back up sensors, blind spot mirrors and with the Sync system you can talk via your cell phone through the car speakers via blue tooth, so I'm really pretty excited. We didn't get the rear dvd players, but we have a portable dvd player and it has a remote, so I think we can make do without that option.
We made the plunge and I now have an SUV again and Ben should have his company vehicle in a couple weeks or less, so the timing was pretty good, but the Jetta was great for going back and forth from Utica to Evansville every day. We had it for 2 1/2 years and it had 91K miles on it!
Bean continues to do great. She was a trooper at the car dealership, it always takes time there and she hardly uttered a sound, just slept in the stroller. She's done well the past two nights, no more crying for a couple hours, I'm sure we will have more episodes of that from time to time, but overall you couldn't ask for a better baby.
Today is Susan W's birthday, so we put together the little video in the post below for "Grammy's" Birthday. I just love iMovie on my mac....so simple to use and make cute videos.
Tucker continues to do well...if it wasn't for his barking, which isn't that often, but annoying when it happens, he would be home free but keeping him from barking has and will contiue to be a challenge.
It's so hard being a baby....
Here's a few more pictures we took this weekend.
Mom and Susan came up yesterday to spend some time with Mallory and Susan brought her new pooch Bella up as well. She is so cute! A Cock-a-poo, which is a cocker spaniel/poodle mix. Thankfully it appears as though all Bella got in the poodle gene pool is the no shedding because she looks nothing like a poodle.
Here's a few pictures of Susan with Bella and Mallory with Bella.
Ben and I knew that we would eventually be going back to an SUV, I was hoping to put it off a little longer and just use the Jetta as long as I could, but it became quite evident when we brought her home from the hospital and the front seat had to be pushed all the way forward to even think about getting her car seat in the back that the vehicle purchase would have to come sooner than later. No one could fit in the front passenger seat unless you were like under 5 foot tall, I even tried and couldn't get my legs in and shut the door.
We will miss you Jetta, you've been a good car and I would highly recommend VW's to anyone and if the Tiguron was a little bigger or the Toureg was a little cheaper, we would have bought one of those VW SUV's in a heart beat, but we opted for a Ford Edge instead. It's got good leg room in the front and back, with Bean's seat installed, good cargo room, good gas mileage (which was important to me) and I love all it's safety features.
It has back up sensors, blind spot mirrors and with the Sync system you can talk via your cell phone through the car speakers via blue tooth, so I'm really pretty excited. We didn't get the rear dvd players, but we have a portable dvd player and it has a remote, so I think we can make do without that option.
We made the plunge and I now have an SUV again and Ben should have his company vehicle in a couple weeks or less, so the timing was pretty good, but the Jetta was great for going back and forth from Utica to Evansville every day. We had it for 2 1/2 years and it had 91K miles on it!
Bean continues to do great. She was a trooper at the car dealership, it always takes time there and she hardly uttered a sound, just slept in the stroller. She's done well the past two nights, no more crying for a couple hours, I'm sure we will have more episodes of that from time to time, but overall you couldn't ask for a better baby.
Today is Susan W's birthday, so we put together the little video in the post below for "Grammy's" Birthday. I just love iMovie on my mac....so simple to use and make cute videos.
Tucker continues to do well...if it wasn't for his barking, which isn't that often, but annoying when it happens, he would be home free but keeping him from barking has and will contiue to be a challenge.
It's so hard being a baby....
Here's a few more pictures we took this weekend.
Happy Birthday Grammy!
Here's a little something that Mallory thought Grammy W would like on her birthday today, so Happy Birthday Susan and everyone else can enjoy the video as well!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Photo Ordering
Greetings!
I set up a website where you can order pictures that I take and typically put on the blog from shutterfly.com.
You can get to the link here, or at www.mallorywernerphotosforsharing.shutterfly.com. There you can order any of the pictures on there and if you see one that you want that I missed in uploading to the site, just let me know.
This should make life easier for everyone and you can get a good quality picture sent to your house or local Target if they have a photo shop.
Enjoy!!
I set up a website where you can order pictures that I take and typically put on the blog from shutterfly.com.
You can get to the link here, or at www.mallorywernerphotosforsharing.shutterfly.com. There you can order any of the pictures on there and if you see one that you want that I missed in uploading to the site, just let me know.
This should make life easier for everyone and you can get a good quality picture sent to your house or local Target if they have a photo shop.
Enjoy!!
Tucker, Insurance & Eye Doctor
It's been a great few days, we are all getting better adjusted to having Mallory in the house including Tucker.
We've been working with him slowly and we've made some good progress which makes us happy as well as him! We had been keeping him in the bathroom at night and I thought last night we would all sit in the bedroom together and see how he did and hopefully then just let him sleep in the room again in his bed....and I can have my closet back!
So after dinner we all transitioned into the bedroom and I sat on the bed to feed Mallory. Tucker just likes to sniff her head then he goes about his way and basically seems to care less that she's there, until her monitor goes off, then he likes to bark at that....
So I sat on the bed and fed Mallory, and Tucker laid right by me and then Ben on his side of the bed, one happy family!
Mallory has taken to crying pretty much nonstop from about 10:30 pm until 12:30 am for some reason the past 2 nights. Of course she stops when you pick her up, so I'm not sure what's going on. She shouldn't be hungry because she eats at 9:30 pm or so but once I give her the next bottle at 12:30 she goes right to sleep and sleeps until around 5:30 or so. Who knows, but Tucker didn't seem too distraught at her crying, just more curious.
Ben is doing much better with her as well. I tried rocking her some last night and she wouldn't go to sleep so then Ben got up and got her out of her bed to rock her for a while, so he's getting more sure of himself as well with her and Tucker didn't seem to mind that Ben was holding her, so I think we are making real progress!
So Tucker was happy he wasn't banished to the bathroom last night...we literally had to drag him in there the past several nights.
Today was our eye doctors appointment with a doctor in the same practice that my eye doctor is in. I didn't know what to expect other than I knew they would check her for ROP, which you can find out more here if you like, but from what I understand it's where in some preemies, typically those less than 2 pounds at birth, their retinas do not have time to attach themselves, so they check all babies born before 37 weeks no matter their weight.
Mallory did great. They had to put 3 kinds of drops in her eyes, numbing ones first then 2 others to dilate her eyes. She didn't even cry! The doctor took a look and said everything looks fine so we should be good to go in regards to ROP. We scheduled a 1 year checkup and then again at 4 years or so to really check her vision, but for now, she's great!
Insurance is one of those things most of us have a love/hate relationship with but I am oh so thankful that we have health insurance. I thought I had a hospital bill, outside of the deductible, that we were going to have to owe but when I called to talk to them about what the insurance didn't cover they said that bill was wrong and we have a $0 balance. Woo Hoo!
So, I took it upon myself to add up the cost of the hospital, doctors and ambulance ride and got a grand total of around $82K!! $82K for 7 weeks in the hospital...I was actually expecting over $100K, but wow! And all we owed was our deductible, thank goodness! I'm anxious to see how much Mallory's grand total will be, but again, we shouldn't owe more than just the deductible.
And of course she's worth every penny that we did and did not have to pay!
I am so enjoying just being in my house and getting some things straightened up. 3 months of mail piled up, the bills were removed, but you just don't realize how much crap you get in the mail in 3 months time. I'm actually beginning to see the top of my dining room table and counter top in the kitchen! Hopefully I will have taken control of my house once again prior to going back to work....maybe even the guest bedroom if I'm lucky!
The gang at work sent me the cutest diaper cake today, love love love it! Mark's wife Jodi made it and it is all decked out in pink camo ribbon, how freaking cute is that! Here's a picture of it, I just had to share. And unlike most diaper cakes I've seen, this one is actually made with disposable diapers instead of cloth diapers, so very useful as we "eat" our way through the cake! Ben will appreciate the camo....still gotta get him that camo diaper bag with "daddy's little girl" on it that we saw at Uncle Lees....
Ben and I are looking VERY forward to our first weekend at home since, oh, early February!! I hope all understand that our traveling will not just be slightly limited by Mallory but due to the fact that we haven't been home in FOREVER! I like my house and would like to enjoy being at HOME!!
Also, a friend of mine from High School made this for Mallory, so cute, will go well in her nursery. I believe she does this on the side, so cute, and I'm sure if you would like one, Terri would be more than happy to make one for you!
Here's a few more pictures from the past couple days.
Have a good weekend everyone!
We've been working with him slowly and we've made some good progress which makes us happy as well as him! We had been keeping him in the bathroom at night and I thought last night we would all sit in the bedroom together and see how he did and hopefully then just let him sleep in the room again in his bed....and I can have my closet back!
So after dinner we all transitioned into the bedroom and I sat on the bed to feed Mallory. Tucker just likes to sniff her head then he goes about his way and basically seems to care less that she's there, until her monitor goes off, then he likes to bark at that....
So I sat on the bed and fed Mallory, and Tucker laid right by me and then Ben on his side of the bed, one happy family!
Mallory has taken to crying pretty much nonstop from about 10:30 pm until 12:30 am for some reason the past 2 nights. Of course she stops when you pick her up, so I'm not sure what's going on. She shouldn't be hungry because she eats at 9:30 pm or so but once I give her the next bottle at 12:30 she goes right to sleep and sleeps until around 5:30 or so. Who knows, but Tucker didn't seem too distraught at her crying, just more curious.
Ben is doing much better with her as well. I tried rocking her some last night and she wouldn't go to sleep so then Ben got up and got her out of her bed to rock her for a while, so he's getting more sure of himself as well with her and Tucker didn't seem to mind that Ben was holding her, so I think we are making real progress!
So Tucker was happy he wasn't banished to the bathroom last night...we literally had to drag him in there the past several nights.
Today was our eye doctors appointment with a doctor in the same practice that my eye doctor is in. I didn't know what to expect other than I knew they would check her for ROP, which you can find out more here if you like, but from what I understand it's where in some preemies, typically those less than 2 pounds at birth, their retinas do not have time to attach themselves, so they check all babies born before 37 weeks no matter their weight.
Mallory did great. They had to put 3 kinds of drops in her eyes, numbing ones first then 2 others to dilate her eyes. She didn't even cry! The doctor took a look and said everything looks fine so we should be good to go in regards to ROP. We scheduled a 1 year checkup and then again at 4 years or so to really check her vision, but for now, she's great!
Insurance is one of those things most of us have a love/hate relationship with but I am oh so thankful that we have health insurance. I thought I had a hospital bill, outside of the deductible, that we were going to have to owe but when I called to talk to them about what the insurance didn't cover they said that bill was wrong and we have a $0 balance. Woo Hoo!
So, I took it upon myself to add up the cost of the hospital, doctors and ambulance ride and got a grand total of around $82K!! $82K for 7 weeks in the hospital...I was actually expecting over $100K, but wow! And all we owed was our deductible, thank goodness! I'm anxious to see how much Mallory's grand total will be, but again, we shouldn't owe more than just the deductible.
And of course she's worth every penny that we did and did not have to pay!
I am so enjoying just being in my house and getting some things straightened up. 3 months of mail piled up, the bills were removed, but you just don't realize how much crap you get in the mail in 3 months time. I'm actually beginning to see the top of my dining room table and counter top in the kitchen! Hopefully I will have taken control of my house once again prior to going back to work....maybe even the guest bedroom if I'm lucky!
The gang at work sent me the cutest diaper cake today, love love love it! Mark's wife Jodi made it and it is all decked out in pink camo ribbon, how freaking cute is that! Here's a picture of it, I just had to share. And unlike most diaper cakes I've seen, this one is actually made with disposable diapers instead of cloth diapers, so very useful as we "eat" our way through the cake! Ben will appreciate the camo....still gotta get him that camo diaper bag with "daddy's little girl" on it that we saw at Uncle Lees....
Ben and I are looking VERY forward to our first weekend at home since, oh, early February!! I hope all understand that our traveling will not just be slightly limited by Mallory but due to the fact that we haven't been home in FOREVER! I like my house and would like to enjoy being at HOME!!
Also, a friend of mine from High School made this for Mallory, so cute, will go well in her nursery. I believe she does this on the side, so cute, and I'm sure if you would like one, Terri would be more than happy to make one for you!
Here's a few more pictures from the past couple days.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
First Few Days and First Dr's Appointment
Things are going well here on the home front. Mallory had no trouble making herself right at home and we are all adjusting, but it hasn't been too bad. Tucker is having the biggest adjustment, we are taking it slow with him, but he's doing ok.
We moved up to letting him wander freely in the living room last night when I was either holding her or she was in her stroller, and he did fine. Just likes to sniff her a lot. He seems to be more jealous of Ben being around her than me!!
I don't trust him just yet of him being around her in her swing since that's right at his height, but we are making progress.
At night she is sleeping in the pack and play infant sleeper by the bed, so we've put Tucker's bed in the master bathroom and put up the baby gate so he doesn't have free reign of the bedroom with her in there but I think in the next night or too he will be ok. I just wanted him to be able to hear her but not get too close at first.
I think he will be fine, and I'm probably being too cautious, but then again, you can never be too cautious!
Mom left yesterday afteroon and it was great having her here just to keep an eye on Mallory while I did some things around the house, run into town, and just get some rest for me. And of course she loved the opportunity to just sit and hold Mallory!
Today was our first trip out in the car just her and I, we had her first Doctors Appointment. Tiff had gotten me the car seat/head rest mirror, which is great, so I put that up so I could keep an eye on her in the rear view mirror. She loves to ride, so there were no issues. So I figured out how to pack everything up, the monitor fit in her diaper bag and then her in her carseat...it all worked out pretty well that way.
Our appointmet was at 9:15 and I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to find it, drive slower than normal, get there early to fill out the paperwork, etc. I got there at 8:30 which was great exept I didn't know the office didn't even open until 9 am. So we sat in the foryer area until they finally opened the office...coulda fixed my hair other than a pony tail if I'd known that, oh well.
We saw Dr. Phillips for our weigh in. I really like him, he was referred by a friend and he's a younger doctor and seems to do well, make sure I had time to ask questions, etc.
Little Bean is up to 6 pounds even and 19 inches long! She's doing great. As Dr. Phillips said, if you didn't know, you wouldn't think she was a preemie to see her. She's growing like a little weed. And although we made sure her diaper was clean when we left home, she made sure to give Dr Phillips a little surprise for the appointment!
So it's just her and I at home today. So far so good.
Here's a few pictures from the past couple days and one of her right after her first bath, which she wasn't too thrilled with!
We moved up to letting him wander freely in the living room last night when I was either holding her or she was in her stroller, and he did fine. Just likes to sniff her a lot. He seems to be more jealous of Ben being around her than me!!
I don't trust him just yet of him being around her in her swing since that's right at his height, but we are making progress.
At night she is sleeping in the pack and play infant sleeper by the bed, so we've put Tucker's bed in the master bathroom and put up the baby gate so he doesn't have free reign of the bedroom with her in there but I think in the next night or too he will be ok. I just wanted him to be able to hear her but not get too close at first.
I think he will be fine, and I'm probably being too cautious, but then again, you can never be too cautious!
Mom left yesterday afteroon and it was great having her here just to keep an eye on Mallory while I did some things around the house, run into town, and just get some rest for me. And of course she loved the opportunity to just sit and hold Mallory!
Today was our first trip out in the car just her and I, we had her first Doctors Appointment. Tiff had gotten me the car seat/head rest mirror, which is great, so I put that up so I could keep an eye on her in the rear view mirror. She loves to ride, so there were no issues. So I figured out how to pack everything up, the monitor fit in her diaper bag and then her in her carseat...it all worked out pretty well that way.
Our appointmet was at 9:15 and I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to find it, drive slower than normal, get there early to fill out the paperwork, etc. I got there at 8:30 which was great exept I didn't know the office didn't even open until 9 am. So we sat in the foryer area until they finally opened the office...coulda fixed my hair other than a pony tail if I'd known that, oh well.
We saw Dr. Phillips for our weigh in. I really like him, he was referred by a friend and he's a younger doctor and seems to do well, make sure I had time to ask questions, etc.
Little Bean is up to 6 pounds even and 19 inches long! She's doing great. As Dr. Phillips said, if you didn't know, you wouldn't think she was a preemie to see her. She's growing like a little weed. And although we made sure her diaper was clean when we left home, she made sure to give Dr Phillips a little surprise for the appointment!
So it's just her and I at home today. So far so good.
Here's a few pictures from the past couple days and one of her right after her first bath, which she wasn't too thrilled with!
Monday, May 10, 2010
First 24 Hours at Home
We have made it 24 hours at home now and overall, it's been pretty good!
The biggest thing for me to juggle at the moment is at night. We aren't yet to the point where she gets all she needs just from breast feeding so there's feeding her via bottle with breast milk and then still having to pump a time or two during the night, so I was up several times, none very long, but still several more times. But other than that, it's been pretty good.
Mallory's been excellent, she eats and sleeps and typically goes right back to sleep after she eats, although at the moment she's sitting in her swing wide awake!
So far the only time she's cried is when she's hungry, getting her diaper changed or getting a bath.
We gave her her first bath at home today. Didn't go to bad, she just didn't like it much, but overall we fared pretty well with the bath.
Mom watched Mallory while I ran to the grocery store this afternoon. After not really having been grocery shopping for the past 3 months other than the few odds and ends Ben would buy to eat, the fridge needed cleaning out and lots of stuff needed to be bought. Lots of things in the fridge that I found expired in Feb....big surprise!
So overall, things are good, she's doing great and we've got our first doctor's appointment on Wednesday, a weigh in with the pediatrician and then a visit to the eye doctor on Friday, which is something they require of all preemies.
Mom will be here until sometime tomorrow, so hopefully I can get some more things done around the house that I need to do since I haven't been home in so long!
We've been figuring out how to best move her around with the monitor as well. Thankfully it comes in a bag with a shoulder strap and has a battery that lasts about 6-8 hours. It really hasn't been too bad because the cords are so long, we can move her around the living room without too much trouble, just have to pack it and her if we go to the back of the house. It's gone off a couple times, but all just false alarms, she's done great so far, but I still like having it right now, it's more of a piece of mine for me that she's breathing and her hearts beating!
Loving having little Bean home!!!
The biggest thing for me to juggle at the moment is at night. We aren't yet to the point where she gets all she needs just from breast feeding so there's feeding her via bottle with breast milk and then still having to pump a time or two during the night, so I was up several times, none very long, but still several more times. But other than that, it's been pretty good.
Mallory's been excellent, she eats and sleeps and typically goes right back to sleep after she eats, although at the moment she's sitting in her swing wide awake!
So far the only time she's cried is when she's hungry, getting her diaper changed or getting a bath.
We gave her her first bath at home today. Didn't go to bad, she just didn't like it much, but overall we fared pretty well with the bath.
Mom watched Mallory while I ran to the grocery store this afternoon. After not really having been grocery shopping for the past 3 months other than the few odds and ends Ben would buy to eat, the fridge needed cleaning out and lots of stuff needed to be bought. Lots of things in the fridge that I found expired in Feb....big surprise!
So overall, things are good, she's doing great and we've got our first doctor's appointment on Wednesday, a weigh in with the pediatrician and then a visit to the eye doctor on Friday, which is something they require of all preemies.
Mom will be here until sometime tomorrow, so hopefully I can get some more things done around the house that I need to do since I haven't been home in so long!
We've been figuring out how to best move her around with the monitor as well. Thankfully it comes in a bag with a shoulder strap and has a battery that lasts about 6-8 hours. It really hasn't been too bad because the cords are so long, we can move her around the living room without too much trouble, just have to pack it and her if we go to the back of the house. It's gone off a couple times, but all just false alarms, she's done great so far, but I still like having it right now, it's more of a piece of mine for me that she's breathing and her hearts beating!
Loving having little Bean home!!!
Videos I've been trying to post for a while
Here's a couple videos of me holding her and Ben holding her that I've been trying to post but couldn't because of the crummy internet at the campground.
I believe the video of me and Mallory is on April 6th and the one of her and Ben is the first time he held her a couple days later.
I believe the video of me and Mallory is on April 6th and the one of her and Ben is the first time he held her a couple days later.
Day 34 and Day 35: We are Home!!!
I couldn't bring myself to write a blog on Saturday...I was just to anxious because I knew if we could get through Saturday we could come home on Sunday...and I just couldn't write about it, but I'll do it now since we are home!
Ben and his parents came up on Saturday and Aunt Sharon, Mike and Memaw also dropped by after Matt's Graduation from UK with his Masters in Architecture, so Mallory got quite the number of visitors on Saturday.
I also went out and got the nurses of the 3N Nursery cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory like we did for our nurses on 3C, it just coincided with Nurses Appreciation week, but they deserve it, they've been great!
We went down to J Gumbo's for dinner Saturday night and then back to the camper to anxiously await for Sunday morning where I could call into Mary Jo and see if Mallory "passed". It was the longest few hours....
But, Sunday morning came and I called into Mary Jo around 7:30 and got the official word, she passed and as long as nothing major happened between now and when we got her packed up, we were going home!
Taking Mallory home on Mother's Day, how awesome is that!!
So, I prodded everyone up and going and we got to the hospital a little after 10 to get the paperwork up and going so we could get home!
I was glad Paula was our nurse this morning, she has had Mallory so much over the past month so it was good that she was the one to discharge us.
We went through all the do's and don'ts and appointments, etc. Waited for the Dr to come around and see her, fed her at noon, got her take home monitor going and then Barb helped us get her all hooked into the car.
Here's a couple pictures of Mallory sitting in her car seat in the hospital, her modeling her going home outfit and then her sleeping soundly (albeit very uncomfortable looking) on the ride home!
Susan drove the Jetta and Mallory and I rode in the back while Ben and his Dad went back and hooked up to the camper and brought it home. Have no intentions of camping anytime soon after living in it for a month!
The ride home was fine, she slept the whole time, hardly uttered a peep. We got her home and settled in and fed and she's just done great!
Mom's coming in tomorrow and we will see how the first night goes!
SO HAPPY TO FINALLY BE HOME!!!!
Oh yeah, forgot to mention, Mallo Bean weighed 5 pounds 10 oz when we left the hospital!!
Ben and his parents came up on Saturday and Aunt Sharon, Mike and Memaw also dropped by after Matt's Graduation from UK with his Masters in Architecture, so Mallory got quite the number of visitors on Saturday.
I also went out and got the nurses of the 3N Nursery cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory like we did for our nurses on 3C, it just coincided with Nurses Appreciation week, but they deserve it, they've been great!
We went down to J Gumbo's for dinner Saturday night and then back to the camper to anxiously await for Sunday morning where I could call into Mary Jo and see if Mallory "passed". It was the longest few hours....
But, Sunday morning came and I called into Mary Jo around 7:30 and got the official word, she passed and as long as nothing major happened between now and when we got her packed up, we were going home!
Taking Mallory home on Mother's Day, how awesome is that!!
So, I prodded everyone up and going and we got to the hospital a little after 10 to get the paperwork up and going so we could get home!
I was glad Paula was our nurse this morning, she has had Mallory so much over the past month so it was good that she was the one to discharge us.
We went through all the do's and don'ts and appointments, etc. Waited for the Dr to come around and see her, fed her at noon, got her take home monitor going and then Barb helped us get her all hooked into the car.
Here's a couple pictures of Mallory sitting in her car seat in the hospital, her modeling her going home outfit and then her sleeping soundly (albeit very uncomfortable looking) on the ride home!
Susan drove the Jetta and Mallory and I rode in the back while Ben and his Dad went back and hooked up to the camper and brought it home. Have no intentions of camping anytime soon after living in it for a month!
The ride home was fine, she slept the whole time, hardly uttered a peep. We got her home and settled in and fed and she's just done great!
Mom's coming in tomorrow and we will see how the first night goes!
SO HAPPY TO FINALLY BE HOME!!!!
Oh yeah, forgot to mention, Mallo Bean weighed 5 pounds 10 oz when we left the hospital!!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Day 33: Our Little Chunky Monkey
I made my way back to Louisville today feeling better about everything.
I got to the hospital around 1:30 pm, so I didn't get there in time for her noon feeding, but speech therapy did that one and she did great, took 75 cc and for the nurse at the 8 am feeding, she took 80 cc!
Her weight now, 5 pounds 7 ounces!! She's gained 4 ounces since I left her Wednesday afternoon! Good grief, she's growing like a weed! She even looks bigger to me! She's our little chunky monkey, which is great since she was so small when she was born. Can't wait to see what she weighs tomorrow!
I feed her at 4 pm and I can tell in just a couple days that she's really doing much better and really taking it better than I've ever seen her take it before, so I'm thinking maybe stuff has really finally clicked with her! Fingers crossed, we will see. I keep telling myself, she will let us know when she's ready!
I have to say that I love my iPhone, for some who was so skeptical to move to it from the black berry, it's the greatest thing ever! When our ancient gps (think 2005 gps....ancient for gps's!) died back in December I was really dreading having to buy a new one and put it off and put it off and before I ended up in the hospital I read about the iPhone app Motion X GPS Drive. Tom Tom and various other traditional named gps' have apps, some cost almost $100, but this one, Motion X GPS Drive, had great reviews and cost.....99 cents! So, I figured it can't hurt! So I downloaded it and LOVE IT! It's as good or better than the Magellan that we had earlier and you can still get calls, texts and use the ipod function of your iphone while using it. 99 cents doesn't get you voice turn by turn directions but for either $3 a month or $24 a year you can get turn by turn directions and automatic updates. Hmm...no brainer, $24.99 or over $100 for a gps that just uses another cig lighter hole! I love it, it's great, beyond worth the $24.99!
Ben's parents have arrived to Utica this evening and they along with Ben will be heading over here tomorrow. We got the campground to extend our site for another day, our month was up tomorrow but they have given us through tomorrow. So, regardless, if Mallory comes home Sunday or not, the camper will come home. We are so close and to add another week at the campground it's going to be like $275, which is funny since a month is only $400, and I saw a weekly hotel by Clarksville, IN for $175 a week, so I'll either do that or just go back and forth to home every other day and make use of the Ronald McDonald house for a couple nights, but no more camper after tomorrow night.
I'll call in and check to see how her evening feedings went later tonight and head back to the hospital in the morning.
Here's some more super cute pictures from today of Bean!
I got to the hospital around 1:30 pm, so I didn't get there in time for her noon feeding, but speech therapy did that one and she did great, took 75 cc and for the nurse at the 8 am feeding, she took 80 cc!
Her weight now, 5 pounds 7 ounces!! She's gained 4 ounces since I left her Wednesday afternoon! Good grief, she's growing like a weed! She even looks bigger to me! She's our little chunky monkey, which is great since she was so small when she was born. Can't wait to see what she weighs tomorrow!
I feed her at 4 pm and I can tell in just a couple days that she's really doing much better and really taking it better than I've ever seen her take it before, so I'm thinking maybe stuff has really finally clicked with her! Fingers crossed, we will see. I keep telling myself, she will let us know when she's ready!
I have to say that I love my iPhone, for some who was so skeptical to move to it from the black berry, it's the greatest thing ever! When our ancient gps (think 2005 gps....ancient for gps's!) died back in December I was really dreading having to buy a new one and put it off and put it off and before I ended up in the hospital I read about the iPhone app Motion X GPS Drive. Tom Tom and various other traditional named gps' have apps, some cost almost $100, but this one, Motion X GPS Drive, had great reviews and cost.....99 cents! So, I figured it can't hurt! So I downloaded it and LOVE IT! It's as good or better than the Magellan that we had earlier and you can still get calls, texts and use the ipod function of your iphone while using it. 99 cents doesn't get you voice turn by turn directions but for either $3 a month or $24 a year you can get turn by turn directions and automatic updates. Hmm...no brainer, $24.99 or over $100 for a gps that just uses another cig lighter hole! I love it, it's great, beyond worth the $24.99!
Ben's parents have arrived to Utica this evening and they along with Ben will be heading over here tomorrow. We got the campground to extend our site for another day, our month was up tomorrow but they have given us through tomorrow. So, regardless, if Mallory comes home Sunday or not, the camper will come home. We are so close and to add another week at the campground it's going to be like $275, which is funny since a month is only $400, and I saw a weekly hotel by Clarksville, IN for $175 a week, so I'll either do that or just go back and forth to home every other day and make use of the Ronald McDonald house for a couple nights, but no more camper after tomorrow night.
I'll call in and check to see how her evening feedings went later tonight and head back to the hospital in the morning.
Here's some more super cute pictures from today of Bean!
Susan's Invitations
Susan made these great invitations for one of our upcoming baby showers, since they all got postponed....she's available for hire as well on invitations!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Day 32: Not Today....
Obviously Mallory isn't quite ready to come home yet, she had another dsat sometime last night which started her "go home" clock again, 72 more hours. We were so close, I really thought today was the day.
So, after a 2 1/2 hour total meltdown this morning, I've composed myself and have had a fairly productive day. Ben told me during the meltdown that I needed a break and was not going back to Louisville today, I needed time at home, which is what I've done.
I'm really not sure Ben knew what to do with me this morning, I'm not one to cry often, and meltdowns I've had I'm sure I could count on one had, so he decided to stay home with me and let me do what he thought might make me happy "out to lunch and shopping." Love my poo!
So, I wallowed in my own self pitty until about 9:30 and then finally got up and got a shower.
Mom had already planned to come and clean the house today anyway, so she came on up and helped a ton and now I feel better about Mallory coming home when she does because at least the house is pretty much clean now. Thanks Mom, you are great!
Ben and I ran some errands, which included two of my favorite places, Target and TJ Maxx of course, and lunch at O'Charlies and after this am, a Margarita was due for and it was good. If I wasn't still pumping I think I could have had two or three....
Either way, doing better now, coming to terms that she will come home when she's ready. The next earliest now would be Sunday, which would be a great Mother's Day present, but I'm going to try not to get my hopes up...
Ben is now mowing our hay field, er yard, and I'm trying to get a few more baby things put away, so perhaps it was good she put herself off a few more days, I feel like the house is much more ready for her now.
I've called once today to check in on her and she's doing good and I'll check on her again at the nurses change at 7 pm and will go back again tomorrow.
So, keep your thoughts and prayers coming our way and hopefully we will have our baby home with us soon!
So, after a 2 1/2 hour total meltdown this morning, I've composed myself and have had a fairly productive day. Ben told me during the meltdown that I needed a break and was not going back to Louisville today, I needed time at home, which is what I've done.
I'm really not sure Ben knew what to do with me this morning, I'm not one to cry often, and meltdowns I've had I'm sure I could count on one had, so he decided to stay home with me and let me do what he thought might make me happy "out to lunch and shopping." Love my poo!
So, I wallowed in my own self pitty until about 9:30 and then finally got up and got a shower.
Mom had already planned to come and clean the house today anyway, so she came on up and helped a ton and now I feel better about Mallory coming home when she does because at least the house is pretty much clean now. Thanks Mom, you are great!
Ben and I ran some errands, which included two of my favorite places, Target and TJ Maxx of course, and lunch at O'Charlies and after this am, a Margarita was due for and it was good. If I wasn't still pumping I think I could have had two or three....
Either way, doing better now, coming to terms that she will come home when she's ready. The next earliest now would be Sunday, which would be a great Mother's Day present, but I'm going to try not to get my hopes up...
Ben is now mowing our hay field, er yard, and I'm trying to get a few more baby things put away, so perhaps it was good she put herself off a few more days, I feel like the house is much more ready for her now.
I've called once today to check in on her and she's doing good and I'll check on her again at the nurses change at 7 pm and will go back again tomorrow.
So, keep your thoughts and prayers coming our way and hopefully we will have our baby home with us soon!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Day 31: 1 Month old today
Mallo Bean is 1 month old today and I'm too anxious at this point to write much....
If she can get through 4am this am with no episodes we bring her home tomorrow!!
Ben and I came back to Utica this afternoon late, packed up most of the stuff from the camper and my fingers, toes, arms, and legs are crossed that she makes it through a-ok and we come home tomorrow....finally!
I will know first thing tomorrow morning and then Ben and I will head to Louisville to go bring her home!
So, keep those prayers coming, I'm super excited and anxious all rolled into one!!
If she can get through 4am this am with no episodes we bring her home tomorrow!!
Ben and I came back to Utica this afternoon late, packed up most of the stuff from the camper and my fingers, toes, arms, and legs are crossed that she makes it through a-ok and we come home tomorrow....finally!
I will know first thing tomorrow morning and then Ben and I will head to Louisville to go bring her home!
So, keep those prayers coming, I'm super excited and anxious all rolled into one!!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Day 30: Outfit Modeling
Today was another good day. I got to the hospital around 11 this morning ready to see how she idid overnight. No apnea's/desats overnight!! Hopefully the simply thick stuff they are putting in her milk now is helping!
So I fed her again today at nood, 4 and 8 pm. We did change the nipple on her bottle at the 8 pm feeding because she was using one that had the slowest flow and with the added thickener its like she was trying to suck a milk shake through a small straw, lots of sucking and not much going in. So we went to the next nipple up at 8pm and it really seemed to help. She didn't have any problems with it going too fast and it didn't seem like it was taking forever for her to get her milk.
The monitor company is going to come by the hospital tomorrow morning and do my "class" on the monitor, so that should be good, will take notes!
We weighed her again tonight before I left, she was up to 2.345 kg, not quite 5 lb 3 oz, so she just keeps gaining!
Ben and Tucker are on their way here as we speak. Ben's got to be in Lexington tomorrow for work, so they are coming over tonight so he can go over there in the am, see Mallory tomorrow afternoon late and then head back tomorrow night with Tucker.
I believe her last recordable episode was 4 am Monday morning, so she has to get to 4 am Thursday morning for us to go home on Thursday, so if it's looking like it's a possibility of Thursday I may go home with him so we can come back in 1 vehicle and then he can come back this weekend to get the camper. I'm trying not to get my hopes up that it could be Thursday, but who knows....it would be awesome if it was that soon!
Here's a few photos of 2 of her cute outfits she had on today....so many cute things she has already!!
So I fed her again today at nood, 4 and 8 pm. We did change the nipple on her bottle at the 8 pm feeding because she was using one that had the slowest flow and with the added thickener its like she was trying to suck a milk shake through a small straw, lots of sucking and not much going in. So we went to the next nipple up at 8pm and it really seemed to help. She didn't have any problems with it going too fast and it didn't seem like it was taking forever for her to get her milk.
The monitor company is going to come by the hospital tomorrow morning and do my "class" on the monitor, so that should be good, will take notes!
We weighed her again tonight before I left, she was up to 2.345 kg, not quite 5 lb 3 oz, so she just keeps gaining!
Ben and Tucker are on their way here as we speak. Ben's got to be in Lexington tomorrow for work, so they are coming over tonight so he can go over there in the am, see Mallory tomorrow afternoon late and then head back tomorrow night with Tucker.
I believe her last recordable episode was 4 am Monday morning, so she has to get to 4 am Thursday morning for us to go home on Thursday, so if it's looking like it's a possibility of Thursday I may go home with him so we can come back in 1 vehicle and then he can come back this weekend to get the camper. I'm trying not to get my hopes up that it could be Thursday, but who knows....it would be awesome if it was that soon!
Here's a few photos of 2 of her cute outfits she had on today....so many cute things she has already!!
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