No-ey

Millie is quick to come up with nicknames, and her cousin Nora is now exclusively (in our house) referred to as Noey.

We were lucky enough to have the whole Dunnam clan (all three of them!) visit us for about a week.  We stayed busy and did our best to show off our neck of the woods.

We enjoyed "donation" day at the Bronx Zoo:

Our local Children's Museum

Our backyard:

Thank you Lala, for the dresses!

Hugs

And our home.  Thanks Uncle Aaron for building/painting/putting together Millie's learning tower! 

We also took them to Stew Leonards, the beach, the mall, our favorite playground, and of course our urban Target.

The girls had permanent smiles on their faces the whole week.  Watching them look at each other for the first time each morning was priceless.  Sure nap time and bed time were a little more difficult, but completely worth it.  They even shared Millie's toys without fighting.  Of course Nora did show Millie how to get into my makeup...

We're so glad they came to visit.  I still feel pretty guilty for not warning Millie when Nora was leaving.  I just pulled up to the airport and dropped them off, and said my goodbyes.  Only when I got back in the car did I realize Millie was bawling for Noey.  Those cries lasted nearly an hour!  Breaks my heart.  We do a little extra FaceTime here and there to make up for it.

Sweet, sweet cousins.

This Baby is Staying Put

For inquiring minds I thought I'd give you an update on how my "little" surgery went.  First of all I don't think any surgery should be considered little.  Yes, I know I'm a tad wimpy.  The cerclage was first described to me as a quick 30 minute surgery with a one hour recovery done in an outpatient hospital facility.  I'm not sure I would describe it that way.

With that description I was picturing something similar to having my wisdom teeth removed.  That's surgery, right?  Well for me, I'd say the surgery reminded me more of when I gave birth to Millie but a much quicker recovery.  Instead of weeks to recover I feel pretty much fine at 48 hours post operation.  I had Millie in an operating room as well, so I pretty much felt at home.  Just kidding.  Those bright lights and all that white?  No way can you feel comfy there.  Seriously an operating room resembles where you go when you're abducted by aliens in movies.  Am I right?  I know, I have an active imagination.

Anywho, the surgery went well and the whole OR staff claimed I was the best patient of the day.  But seriously there wasn't a single unkind person there.  It was wonderful and thanks to one mean nurse, a stark contrast to my recovery after having Millie in Utah.  The NICU was amazing there, I just somehow got stuck with a really crabby nurse for myself.

I got an epidural for the surgery and as soon as they were done I was able to move my legs and actually got myself into the next bed.  They all thought that was great (should I ask for an extra strong epidural with this next birth?) and had me sent to recovery.  I was quickly moved from one recovery (where mostly still asleep people are) to the next where they finally let you eat.  My whole recovery time took about two to three hours and honestly I thought the recovery nurses were going to faint with how "quick" I recovered.  There was a girl that had the same surgery by my doctor one hour before me that still wasn't moving her legs by the time I was walking and peeing.  Why do they keep spreading this rumor about the one hour recovery time?

Thankfully we had a wonderful friend to take care of Millie.  Even though she has her hands full with her own large family she convinced me she really wanted to watch Millie.  So kind.  It was a relief to have her there with this family knowing that if I took a little extra long to recover it would be okay.  She and her family loved and entertained Millie, and of course Millie wasn't really eager to leave when we went to pick her up.

In speaking with my doctor right after the surgery he informed me that had I opted out of the cerclage (it was totally my choice at this point since my cervix looked good on the ultrasounds) I would have gone into preterm labor again.  I do, officially, have an incompetent cervix.  That means something is wrong with my cervix, and there are like 10 things that can go wrong.  Specifically for me, my cervix is soft.  It is supposed to feel like your nose, slightly firm, but mine is much softer.  Because of that as soon as a baby gets some weight to it, it will come right out.  Hello 1 lb 4 oz Millie!  Of course now that my cervix is sewn shut we shouldn't have to worry about that.  There are still other factors to consider so I'll still be monitored and medicated, but for now I'm pretty happy and feeling secure about our sweet baby boy being full term.

Happy 150th post?  I should be on my 200th by now!

It's a Boy!

Millie is so excited!

We put together a cute video, just in case you missed it via email and Facebook:

Truthfully Millie was excited about the balloons and has no idea we're having a baby.  Oh well, we've got plenty of time.

We found out on Tuesday and it's taken a while for "boy" to sink in.  I'm in girl mode and never really anticipated that answer!  Crazy, right?  I mean the odds are equal.  To be honest I was a bit scared at first but thanks to all of the supportive feedback from family and friends I'm feeling pretty confident and excited.

I've always thought dressing a little boy to my taste would be a fun challenge, and I'm pretty excited to put a hurting on classic boy clothes with knee socks, Baby Gap, and Janie and Jack.  I'm not sure where to begin with the nursery, but thankfully I have Pinterest.

I've been asked several times if we will be naming him after Buck.  His full name is Landrum Earle Bagwell IV, so this boy could be the 5th.  I'm leaving that decision completely up to Buck since he is the only one that knows what it's like to have that name yet go by something else completely unrelated. Buck's Dad goes by Landrum, and we aren't the biggest fans of Earle for a little baby so a nickname would be necessary.  Right now Buck is leaning towards giving him a new name.

Tomorrow I go in for my little surgery (cerclage).  I'm mostly nervous about not eating for that long, but  I'm not sure what to expect for recovery.  My heart cath was supposed to be no big deal but knocked me out for days.

There you have it...we're having a baby boy!

Avoid Chuck E. Cheese

Consider yourself warned.  At least around our neck of the woods the Chuck E. Cheese you might remember from a few years ago is a far cry from the Chuck E. Cheese of today.

I expected loud.  I expected overpriced pizza.  I expected it to be crowded.  I expected birthday parties.  I expected really cheap prizes.  In all of that, I was not disappointed.

Unfortunately I also expected a show.  You know, where the curtain draws back and you watch the whole band perform?  Instead we got one stuffed Chuck and a few TV screens showing something constantly.  I never even watched them because it was so loud from the parties and Millie wasn't into it.

I expected a little toddler area, kind of off to the side full of the ride on toys and other "lame" things big kids weren't in to.  Not the case here.  That stuff was just mixed in with all of the racing games.

Case and point:

I was also expecting the playground area to be half decent and with a ball pit.  Didn't their commercials used to center around the ball pit?  Am I the only kid that watched that much TV?  I recall a lot of commercials from my childhood.  I know ball pits aren't as easy to find as they once were for safety reasons, but I had hopes.  Millie has been watching kids play in ball pits for weeks on Youtube.  How does she find these videos?  I'm just not excited to fork out $12 for pump it up (or the like) when she'll play for 15 minutes and be ready to go.

Overall, I'd say if you've got a 10 year old then Chuck E. Cheese is for you.  I'll probably try and avoid it for the next 8 years or so.  By the way if you feel the need to go, it will be worth your time to sign up for the emails for the coupons.  We easily saved $10 on our pizza/drink/token package that way.

For inquiring minds, my pregnancy (12 weeks 1 day today!) is still scooting along.  I feel fine some hours, and horrible others.  When I feel horrible, especially when I'm trying to fall asleep, I find myself deep in though.  My appreciation for women that carry children without the loving support of a husband and women that carry children knowing they will give the child up for adoption has grown this week.  I could write and write my feelings on this, and I do have a deep appreciation for adoption since my family consists of an aunt and four adopted cousins, but I will leave you with a summary.  Basically I feel like these women individually deserve a parade.  Or something huge.  Whatever they would want, but it needs to be big.  Their situations aren't ideal, but the sacrifice and love they show to these babies is about as Christ-like as it gets.

This week I go in for a hefty 2-3 hour appointment where my baby is screened for diseases like Down Syndrome.  It is routine here, and I am not nervous.  While I hope for a healthy, normal baby I would feel incredibly honored to take care of one of Heavenly Father's special children.  I feel honored to take care of any of his children, actually.

One last thing to keep in your back pocket.  If you find yourself pregnant and thinking that the smells from a dirty diaper or dinner cooking will be the death of you, go buy febreze air effects.  I wish I had thought of this sooner.  I've been going to great lengths squeezing my nose into a clothes pin (ouch!), changing Millie by the front door, and hiding in my room while Buck cooks dinner to avoid these smells.  One little spray and I can breathe again!  Unfortunately it doesn't work on your now-smelly-to-you husband.  He used to smell so good, too.

Brush With Death

It melts my heart when I find Millie in her crib looking like this:

You'll be glad I don't have actual pictures that go with the meat of this post.  I've been saving those gems for a good time to share, and now seemed as good as any.

So I'm 10 weeks at 2 days pregnant now.  Feel free to shout hooray.  Week 8 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but week 9 was quite possibly the worst week of my life.  At least I hope I never go through that again.

Let me start by saying Nursery at church is awesome.  I love everything about it, except the occasional germs Millie brings home to share.  I mean let's be honest.  My child definitely puts the fake baby bottles in her mouth in Nursery, and I'm betting she's not the only one.  Germ swapping is inevitable.

Millie came down with a nasty bug in the middle of the night.  Luckily Buck checked on her (I'm so adamant about her crying it out for a while, but he has a soft heart and decided to get up) and found her in throw up again.  I stayed up with her all night long watching TV and cleaning up her throwing up about seven more times.  Eventually she stopped and slept, but the next day she was so weak she just laid around and slept.  It never even dawned on me that I could catch what she had.  I just held her and tried to help her in any way.

Well I got it and it was horrible.  I don't know if it was so bad because of the morning sickness as well, but I literally couldn't get off the couch (except to run to throw up).  Needless to say Millie ate lightly that day and watched anything she wanted...even Caillou which I strongly dislike.  That night Buck caught it, and had pretty much the same story as me.  In the more than 10 years I've known him I've never known him to throw up.  He definitely did, poor guy.  I mean I'm at least used to it.

So the point of this story isn't to gross you out, though I'm sure I have.  The point is to say Buck's Mom has certainly earned her spot in Heaven.  She was planning on coming to help me (over her birthday, I might add) and showed up right in the thick of our stomach bug.  She nursed us back to health, took care of Millie (we really couldn't have done that ourselves) and scrubbed our bathroom!  I had to share the details of our sickness to really drive home the magnitude of cleaning our bathroom.  We eventually got better but she still let me rest while she cleaned, cooked, grocery shopped, and entertained Millie.  I really think being pregnant with a full-time housekeeper is where it's at.

One last thing about the sickness, I promise.  Laying around thinking about the pain I was in gave me time to ponder a little bit.  I really felt like being on the verge of death couldn't feel much worse.  I've been blessed to be surrounded by long-living family members, so I have not seen a lot of death or suffering.  My Dad's Mom passed away a few years ago somewhat slowly.  She kept coming to mind as I tried to convince myself I would eventually feel better.  It must have been so hard for her to smile and even talk with each family member that wanted to see her.  Actually when you feel that crummy, smiling and talking is downright heroic.

Enough of the heavy stuff.  I'm feeling so good today I think I might actually do an activity with Millie. I've got another ultrasound this week and I'm meeting with a genetic counselor in a few weeks.  My doctor has everyone do it as well as some tests for the baby I didn't have in Utah.  I can definitely tell I live in a more liberal state.  I'll save my pro-life post for another day.

Millie's New Shirt

Isn't she the cutest?  She was pretty excited to hold this special piece of paper, and luckily we snapped a picture just before she crumpled it.  Fear not, we will get plenty more.

So there is our big news.  We are thrilled for Millie to have a playmate, and are crossing our fingers for another girl (Millie has enough clothes for twin girls actually!) for practical reasons but would not be disappointed with a little boy.

I'm only a wimpy 7 1/2 weeks along (due date of September 2nd) but feel it so much already.  I have to say 7 1/2 instead of just 7 because I literally feel the pain of pregnancy (nausea) all day every day so I have to give myself credit for surviving half the week.

By surviving I mean laying on the couch while Millie watches Dora, Sesame Street, Arthur, Angelina Ballerina, Curious George, and anything else she wants.  I did figure out that if I put something on for me to watch then she forgets the TV and plays with her toys.  That's been my big accomplishment so far.  We occasionally do puzzles or color, too.  She eats a steady stream of whatever I can grab in the kitchen that doesn't make me gag and I can get while holding my breath.  Believe me, that really limits our choices.  Thankfully Buck handles dinner so she isn't completely deprived of decent food.

It's already so easy to feel like a bad Mom, but I find it especially easy these days.  I'm not too hard on myself since Buck has done a good job of picking up much of my slack, and I am thrilled Buck's Mom is coming to visit for her birthday to help my poor Millie.  It helps me get through those really hard things I have to do like cook her eggs.  I just think "I can cook her an egg this once, even though it might make me throw up.  Angie will do it when she gets here."  Kind of a light at the end of the tunnel I guess.  She's only here for a few days but I'm pretending it is a month.  I feel even more wimpy recruiting help, but I just feel so bad for Millie it helps me get over my pride.

Ok enough complaining.  I'm sure you're dying to know about my doctor.  I've been seeing a specialist in Stamford that has an entire wall (floor to ceiling) in his office covered with awards, plaques, certificates and diplomas all from Yale.  Now I know that doesn't automatically make him the greatest, but it sure eases my mind a bit.  I've already been to the doctor 3 times (and had two ultrasounds with another one scheduled for next week) and had ton of blood work done.  They started testing me a few months ago for diseases (in the hopes of finding an explanation for Millie's prematurity) but I've got a squeaky clean bill of health.  Hooray and boo all at once I guess.

I had a big sit down with my doctor (there is only one at this practice) and went over these results in detail as well as my medical history.  I loved it.  Anything I said he took as a valid concern and didn't dismiss anything.  I forgot to mention a couple of things but plan on it next week, especially since he is so open to my ideas and concerns.  He basically doesn't think I have an incompetent cervix (which is also what my Utah doctors said) but there are so many reasons a cervix can be incompetent that it is still possible...though we've ruled out 90% of those reasons.  He would still like for me to consider getting a cerclage (not a McDonald, but I can't remember the name of the one).  He would also like for me to take weekly progesterone shots.  On top of everything I just said, he would like for me to come in weekly (probably starting at 20ish weeks) so they can monitor me for signs of preterm labor.  So basically I'm pretty sure I'll have a full term baby though we don't know the reason still for Millie's premature birth.  I've got a little while to research it all and determine what we should do.

There's the nitty-gritty.  Buck's job ends in June so at the very least we'll be switching insurances, but at most we'll be moving somewhere else.  Also since I'll be visiting my doctor every week (not to mention it might be risky) we won't be leaving for a summer vacation.  There, that's everything.  We are really excited even though September is so far away.  Oh I've decided I won't be sick past 12 weeks.  It's decided so it will happen.  Power of positive thinking, right?  I was sick until 20 or 21 weeks with Millie, but not this time.

We Love Christmas

But then again, who doesn't?

Since we were missing all the lights at Temple Square this Christmas season, we decided to find out where the awesome lights are in our new neck of the woods.

We were lucky enough to find (through a very quick google search) The Setti Christmas Village just down the street from us!

Seriously this is at a house in a neighborhood:

You park on the street, get out, and roam around the elf village.

Someone was obsessed with all the little chairs.

The night before we headed south I remembered we never got a picture of our Christmas tree this year. Millie tried her best to hold still for a picture.

Take a good luck at those P-jams.  We woke up extra early to drive to South Carolina on Friday.  We loaded the last few things in the car, turned it on to warm up,waiting to grab Millie very last to hopefully keep her asleep.  Well would you believe that poor girl got sick sometime during the night?  We found her covered in throw up.  That always makes you feel like a good Mom.  So with that we started a load of laundry and warm bath for our sweet girl.  We were knocked off schedule a little bit, but no big deal.  She did great for most of the drive, only throwing up once.  It turns out the disposable container you get from lunch meat is perfect for toddler throw up.  She such a trooper, and other than throwing up once never even acted sick.

On Christmas Eve we quickly visited my Grandparents in Columbia (just quick enough to exchange gifts-we're so greedy!) then went to Buck's family Christmas party in Camden.  We ate yummy food and enjoyed all the fun company.  Why didn't I get any pictures?

Christmas morning we spent with my Dad and Step-Mom in Summerville.  The girls had a blast playing together and ganging up on the dogs.

Showing off her chocolate and jewelry Santa brought her.

Loving Grandpa.

Where are my child's pants?

I'm not sure we could have survived the trip without our favorite apple products.

Nora's so sweet.

After Christmas morning (and a yummy Christmas lunch) at my Dad's we headed back to Fort Mill for Christmas Dinner with Buck's family.  Somehow Santa found us again there.  We opened up oodles of gifts.  In fact my hands were so busy opening I didn't get any pictures!  Millie loved all her gifts, but on this particular night she refused to take off the dress-up shoes her cousin Jocie got her.

The next day we woke up early to head over to my Mom's house for our third Christmas!  I know you won't believe me, but Santa found us again.  I mean that literally.  We literally opened three stockings over the course of two days--each!  That's just the stockings.  We opened crazy amounts of presents, too.  Millie got a few more pairs of dress-up shoes from my Mom, which have been lovingly worn every day since then.

Nora is insanely good at running in high heels.  It is incredible.  If you can't tell from the poor pictures, these girls move fast once the fancy shoes go on.  Its hilarious, especially when they are pushing the baby stroller around.

As if this post wasn't already long enough, I might as well share with you (ok, brag) some of the gifts we got:

For me, this was the year of appliances and bags.  I got an ice cream maker, food processor, wireless printer, and a bunch of various cute bags (purses, totes, etc).  I also finally got a copy of South Pacific and can hardly wait to teach Millie how to "wash that man right out of her hair."  My most un-expected, yet very exciting gifts I got was a bungee for Millie's kid-sized trampoline I got off of Freecycle.  The bungee was no good, so I've been wanting one.  I'm thrilled to have it, and expect Millie to take out her wiggles on it this winter.

Buck's Christmas is going to sound kind of boring, but he is a very piratical guy and loved it all.  He got black dress shoes (did you know Nike bought Cole Haan so now their shoes have "air max technology?), a suit, dress shirts, an electric razor and a new-to-him Driver.  We both also got some things for our ipads and computer.  Most notable was the ipad head-rest car mount.  Buck says that was something "we didn't know we wanted" but love.

Millie ended up with a baby doll, her first Vera Bradley purse (that we call her diaper bag since it holds her doll accessories currently), a princess scooter, a princess pop-up tent, a new winter wardrobe, a sushi, cookie, and sandwich play food set for her kitchen, a tea set, a kid-sized stand mixer for her kitchen, little plates, mixing bowls, and other kitchen goodies.

Guess what?  That wasn't even everything.  I bet you're wondering right about now how we fit it all in our car.  Well, we barely did.  And yes, we're having to go through all of our stuff to make a Goodwill sweep to fit it all in our house.  Out with the old, in with the new.

Overall our Christmas was busy, fun, full of food, gifts and family, and we loved it.  We hope you loved yours, too.