Lots to Talk About

Holy Moly. I am so behind with this blog it's just ridiculous. I'm hoping I can sum up the past few months in a not-too-long-and-borish kind of way.

Let's start for the main reason for my slacking. I found out I was pregnant on August 8th and within two weeks I was completely overcome with morning sickness. And folks, it is just now easing up on me. Whew, it has been a rough few months for this mama. Although being that sick is AWFUL, I can't help but be thankful for it too. I had a miscarriage the month before this pregnancy (which was also the exact thing that happened with Preston).

So while being sick we went to the beach for Labor Day with my family, started fun fall festivities by visiting the pumpkin patch and our church fall festival. We also made Halloween cookies and had fun trick-or-treating at my brother's house for Halloween. Preston was Mickey Mouse this year and was just adorable (as you can see below).  We also took Preston to his first Auburn game and he had a great time. We were able to stay the whole game despite it being a night game. He is a trooper that's for sure. We also took him to Disney on Ice with his cousins. He actually liked it too! Maybe we will try the circus this year...

And in addition to all that I was in full party planning mode. I helped host a baby tea for my sweet friend, Amber over at our house and had Preston's birthday party two weeks later...also at the house. So we have been pretty busy around the Mosley household. Speaking of Preston's birthday though, I will be doing a separate post on his two year stats and party fun. I can't believe our boy is two!

As for our new little one, we were able to hear the heartbeat at 6 weeks and everything looked great, went back at 10 weeks and again had an ultrasound and everything looked wonderful. I went in for my 15 week check-up on Halloween morning. We had opted to have the quad screen test done that screens for chromosomal problems with the baby, including Down's Syndrome. They simply draw some blood to be sent off. I had the same thing done with Preston. It's a completely optional test that I never thought too much about until I got a call this past Tuesday from my doctor herself.

I knew it wasn't a good thing when I heard her voice instead of the nurse. I had just stepped into the elevator at bible study but thankfully I was able to keep enough cell service to hear what she had to say. My quad screen had come back abnormal for Down's. It was such a shock. I never gave the test a second thought once I left her office that day. I guess I naively thought nothing could be wrong with MY baby. After lots of tears of fear, worry and confusion, I took down as much information as I could from the doctor and tried to get a hold of myself. We were to go to UAB two days later for a Level II ultrasound, genetic counseling and a possible amniocentesis. My doctor tried to put me somewhat at ease by informing me that the quad screen is simply that, a screening, not a diagnosis. The "normal" range for someone my age and race gives the chance of Down's Syndrome as 1/900. My screening came back with a 1/160 chance, therefore flagging the doctor's to do further testing.

It's amazing how God can work in you in a situation like this. My first reaction was a bit of the typical freak-out when you first hear scary news. But as the afternoon wore on, I just suddenly started feeling a peace about it all. I knew the false positive rate for these quad screen tests were high, therefore the chances of absolutely nothing being wrong with my baby were good. However, it wasn't just thinking about it that way. It was thinking that no matter what the end result is, this baby would not be loved any less. If God chose Blake and I to parent a special needs child, it to me is a blessing in itself that he believes and trusts in us to raise a child with those needs.

After lots and lots of prayer from us and our wonderful family and friends, we went yesterday for our ultrasound, already deciding that an amniocentesis wasn't going to be an option. This procedure entails extracting amniotic fluid from the baby's sac and sending off to the lab to get a more confirming answer as to whether the baby does in fact have a chromosomal problem. However, there is a risk to the baby during the extraction process including infection and spontaneous miscarriage. It wasn't worth it to us to potentially put our baby in danger just to get a better answer.

The Level II ultrasound is a sharper, clearer picture that gives a better visual of the baby. The doctor himself examined me looking for any physical markers of Down's. He checked everything, all parts of the brain and heart and other organs. All appeared perfectly normal. Although all looked well, our risk was only cut in half, giving us a 1/320 chance of having a child with Down's. Like I said, the amniocentesis could have potentially ruled out more and given us better odds if it looked good, but it just wasn't worth it to us. I can't explain how much better I feel about this whole situation. Yes, there is still a chance of Down's but it's not something I feel stressed or anxious about anymore. I will do some research on it to hopefully educate myself a bit more but we are just excited to be having this sweet baby. I'm so thankful for God's perfect peace!

And a little something else we got to find out...IT'S  GIRL!!!!! I have had a feeling all along it was a girl but it was still a big surprise to actually hear and see it! Oh my heart is so full. We have our precious boy and now a girl. I keep picturing a little Preston with long hair and a bow, ha ha. It's hard to believe we will be buying PINK stuff. We had a fun gender reveal at our house last night and enjoyed sharing the news about our sweet girl. I made cupcakes with strawberry frosting as a filling for the "gender reveal surprise". Here are a few pictures from our night. And I might add, we are officially partied out now. Whew! I am done for a while...maybe :)

Enjoy!

First Haircut...sort of

Blake and I contemplated cutting Preston's hair for months and we finally decided to bite the bullet when the front of his hair had begun to touch his nose. Obviously I knew it was getting long but we were afraid cutting the front and leaving his sweet little curls in the back would end up looking mullet-ish. And since we cannot part with his curls just yet, we put off the haircut as long as possible. But...when the thought crossed my mind to bobby pin his hair to keep it out of his eyes, I knew we could put it off no longer.

My childhood best friend and hairstylist gave him a once-over and said trimming the top and snipping just a little bit in the back should look just fine. So that's what we did! There was literally only a tiny cupful of hair that I kept because there just wasn't that much cut off. I'll be sure to save more when he has a big boy haircut.

As for the haircut process, it was totally chaotic slightly stressful.

Things started out good since he was hanging out in my lap with a sucker.

He wasn't crazy about Erin messing with his hair while he was trying to eat his sucker but we managed to hold him still long enough to get the front snipped.

Then I had to break out my phone to try and use as distraction since he wanted down.

Then he was thankfully tired of his sucker...sticky sucker + loose falling hairs = gross mess all over us both.

Up next came the oatmeal cream pie, lasting a minute or two before the rest was shoved in my mouth.

And the final result!

Ready for nap time :)

Oh well, we made it through in one piece and our boy isn't blinded by a mop of hair anymore. Success!

18 Month Photos!

Here are a few of our new photos taken by Ann Wade Parrish. She is so awesome and we LOVE her! She always gets some great shots of our sweet P and the whole family too. Preston's first year we had them taken every 3 months and once he turned a year old, we changed to every six months.

We headed up to Oak Mountain at 8:00 one morning and it was absolutely perfect outside. Not too hot yet and the sun was still hiding behind the clouds. I would totally recommend an early morning outdoor photo shoot if you have a little one, especially in these 95 degree temps we have in the summer, bleh!

Preston really enjoyed himself out there so we will definitely be going back to visit and play.

I have a TON of favorites but I narrowed it down to 18 for the blog. Appropriate for 18 months :)

Recharging the Batteries

O boy, what a nice day it has been.

Because the past two days were not so nice.

Baby boy has decided to bypass the remaining front teeth for now and cut in his molars. Yikes. What a vacation that's been over the last two weeks. And did I mention we didn't even notice they were cutting in until one was all the way in and another was halfway in?  I was on the verge of calling my child a B.R.A.T. when the tooth discovery was made by the Hubs. Then I felt HORRIBLE. I'll take that Mom of the Year award now.

So anyway, this past weekend he ran a fever for a few days and started the fussing so I'm pretty sure another tooth will be pushing it's way through any day now.

Then on Monday, Memorial Day, Hubby started running a high fever and complaining of a sore throat. Oh man. So all day Monday and Tuesday, I have been taking care of my two guys, one whiny and clingy and one not feeling well. Come to think of it that fits both of them :)

The point of this is not to complain because I love caring for my boys. But sometimes a wife/mom has to recharge the batteries to keep sanity calm and carry on. And that's exactly what I prayed for this morning, a little time to get myself regrouped.

Blake went back to work this morning, against my wishes I might add since he still wasn't feeling well (fever was gone though). Preston was up at the crack of dawn, probably b/c of teeth and was already in fussy mode. Our playgroup had planned an outing at the pool at 10:00 a.m. but Preston was so cranky by 8:15 that I put him down for a nap, thinking playgroup was a lost cause. I was really looking forward to it since we had been cooped up for a couple of days.

I went ahead with my bible study (which is Beth Moore's study on Daniel and let me tell you, it is A.W.E.S.O.M.E, totally a must for anyone looking for a new study. It's definitely some food for the soul). So anyway, I was feeling a little down because I had a notion P's fussiness might continue the remainder of the day and I was just weary. So, what to do but hand it off to Jesus. It's amazing what the power of prayer can do to your spirit.

I finish my study, take the dog out and lo and behold Preston wakes up at 9:30. I thought to myself - we are getting out of this house and going to the pool! So I rush like a mad woman slapping some pb & j's together, loading up the beach bag and slathering on the sunscreen. We were of course still late but we made it! And it was so worth it. Preston had fun playing in the water with me and the others and it was nice to have some girl time chat for Mommy.

After lunch and more pool time play, we loaded up and headed home, Preston falling asleep on the way. That was about 12:45 ish and he is still asleep in his bed as I type at 3:44 p.m.

Today was just what I needed to freshen up my outlook and fuel me with a positive attitude. Now I'm going to have a glass of pink lemonade and wait for my little guy to wake up and my big guy to come home from work :)

Our big boy is 18 Months!

Once again I have failed to update the blog consistently so this post will probably be a little long.

We went for Preston's 18 month check up yesterday. Compared to our last few appointments where he totally flipped out, this one was slightly better...in that he only screamed most of the appointment instead of the entire appointment. Progress, yes!

I managed to peel him off of me long enough to set him on the scales, giving us a whopper of 29 pounds. And apparently he was measured wrong at his 15 month check up since he was an inch shorter this time (33 1/2 then and 32 1/2 now). He is in the 95% for weight and 50% for height. Shrinking Growing great!

He passed his 18 month evaluation with flying colors and gave a few struts in the room to prove his awesome WALKING abilities. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Our boy started walking 2 days after he turned 17 months. So so so so so so so so proud!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a short little iphone video of the day he started walking. We weren't at home so I didn't have my videocamera so I apologize for the poor quality. This is probably the 3rd time he walked across to me in those first few minutes so please excuse my annoying voice...

Once he started walking that day, he progressed rapidly and within a few days he was a pro! What a relief! I can tell he is much happier now that he knows he can get around without crawling or "crab-walking" everywhere. Not to mention I can actually set him down in a store/sidewalk etc. to let him walk around...which he prefers...and so do my arms. 

He is saying more words now although he can't say some of them very well. He's giving it his best shot though and I'm sure his pronunciations will continue to progress over time. Let's see, of course we still have Lola, kitty, ball and juice which are probably his favorite words. He can also say book, stinky, hey,  Daddy, block, bird, Moose (referring to Moose A. Moose on Nick Jr), banana (sounds more like ba-na), dog-dog for dog. I'm not sure why he doubles it because we never said it that way to him. He also says baby. He loves to point out the babies when we are out in public. Although most of the "babies" are about his age, lol.

He is still obsessed with pulling objects out of containers and putting them back in. This includes but is not limited to snacks in a cup, toys in a basket, books on the bookshelf and his new favorite, laundry. When I transfer washed clothes to the dryer, I now have to put them in the floor and let him do it. Otherwise he will start pulling the wet clothes back out of the dryer just so he can be the one to put them in there. He's my big helper :)

He still loves his books. He carries them around and will hand me one to read that he picked out. He turns the pages for me, usually trying to skip over a few and then ends up handing me another book before I'm finished reading the current one. And often I am left all alone reading aloud since he tends to wander. His favorite book is not even a real book. It's his hardback photo book containing pictures from when he was born. He carefully turns the pages (he must realize it's a special book because this usually isn't the case) and points to the "baby" in every picture. It's so cute. 

He loves his cars and balls. Those are his first toys of choice over anything else. He "vroom vrooms" all over the house pushing his little trucks. He loves to see the big trucks outside too. The garbage truck is always a favorite to watch coming down the street. He also loves to point out the birds and airplanes in the sky. He's very intrigued by them.  

And to end the post, here's a sweet picture of our little guy. 

Little P

I feel so bad for not updating this blog like I want too. A lot of my attention has gone to my new DIY blog but it's time for an update on my sweet boy.

He is doing so much better with his walking. He has taken several steps at different points in time over the last month. And he is finally letting me "assist" him in walking by holding onto my hand or sometimes just a finger! I'm so proud! He used to get mad every time we tried it but now he seems to enjoy it! Unless he's in a bad mood... Now we just take walks through house and it's so cute. He's still a little wobbly but I really think with a lot of practice he will get the confidence to finally let go on his own.  He's even pushing more toys around and walking behind them. He has been able to push heavier toys around pretty easily, like his riding car and wagon. But now he's strolling his little lightweight shopping cart around. It's so light that if he puts his weight on it, it will tip over. So he's learning to rely only on his walking skills to push it around.

He will be 17 months old on April 4th and the doctor said if he is not walking by 18 months we may have to start physical therapy. I really think we're getting closer but please pray for Preston to continually improve and to gain the courage and confidence to step out on his own, literally :)

In other news, we experienced our first busted lip. He stood up against the side of our bed and either tripped or lost his balance and fell, banging his mouth and biting into his lip. He had two little teeth mark impressions in his bottom lip :( After a little clean up and some milk, we were feeling much better.

Here's a cute picture of him where you can still see some of the battle wound. I know this is probably the first of many injuries but it still hurts a Momma's heart to see him in pain :(

I know his hair is a mess. I just can't part with those curls yet!

And this one makes me laugh.

Lola and Kitty are still his favorite words. Although he insists on yelling Lola's name every time he says it. I guess it's because Lola has some ear problems and can't hear very well, so when we call her name, it's a little louder than normal talking. But we don't actually yell it...every time he wakes up from a nap I come in to his room greeted by "Lola!" And here she comes right behind me. Soon after that, "Keeteeeee" (Kitty). It cracks us up how he calls them so differently.

And ball is still a big word around here. Although it sounds more like "bull." He can also say juice. Everything is juice, including milk or water. It's kind of odd though because he only has juice maybe every other day. We drink a lot of milk around here. He knows what milk is when I say it so maybe milk is much harder for him to pronounce. Oh well, we'll work on it. He also says book and even threw out MaMa a few times. Although when asked to repeat it he says DaDa. Stinker. But on the subject of DaDa, he now calls him Ded-eee. It's so cute. I'm jealous. He loves when Ded-eee comes home from work. So does Mommy. He takes off full force to get to him. So does Mommy. Ha, just kidding on that one. 

Another thing he does now is when he sees food he wants, it's "Mhmmmm." Just a warning, if you are at our house eating a snack and you hear a little voice behind you "Mhmmmm," be prepared to share. I learned that the hard way with an oatmeal cream pie...

This is one morning after breakfast. Cracks me up. Totally kicked back. He's so funny.

And here he is "helping" with the dishes. He loves the dishwasher. If I don't want him to climb in it, I literally have to get all my stuff together that's going in there, open it really quick and throw in the dishes. Otherwise it's battle. I usually don't mind though. He likes to pull his sippy cups out and attempts to put the tops back on the cups. And you may notice the utensil basket is missing. That goes up on the counter immediately. The first thing he would go for is a knife. Nice.

And here he is on St. Patrick's Day. This day is really special to me just because St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) was the day I found out I was pregnant with Preston, two years ago. I wrote up a post about it last year. 

And we can end with one of him watching cartoons. He looks like a big boy (tear). I really can't believe how fast he is growing up!