Daddy’s Traveling Companions

     As part of Jason’s new position, he has to travel to all the stores in his district at least once a month.  This means that twice a month he has to go out of town, once to Tallahassee, and once to the Daytona/Melbourne area.

   Even though he is only gone for one night at a time, we miss him terribly!  Jake and the little bits don’t notice too much, but Emma and I have created our own ways of dealing with his absence.  I have him give me a blessing of comfort and strength the night before he leaves, and I try to go out to dinner with a friend and her kiddos the night he is gone.  Emma sends friends to travel with Daddy.

  Emma is the sweetest little girl.  She is always bringing me her toys to cheer me up when I am feeling down, and when he first started going out of town she would send some of her stuffed animals to keep him company, and to remember her by.  This evolved into her sending Pet Shops.

  She has about a thousand (it seems) of these things, and the night before he goes, he asks her to pick out some new friends.  She is always very careful about her choices, and then sits down with Jason and gives him detailed care instructions.   This week he has the mouse, who is a baby.  Because she is a baby, she needs to be bathed three times a day (the zebra can help with this task).  Zebra, who is a frequent traveler, has a hurt hoof, and will probably sleep most of the time.  She also makes sure that they have everything he needs to properly care for them.

   They each have their own bed, food, and yes, that is a litter box.  The baby mouse has her lovey, and in case they get bored Emma sends something for them to play with.

               

The first few times he went, the pets had to survive at the bottom of Jason’s suitcase, but now they have their own method of conveyance.  Emma picked this out for her Daddy for Christmas.  Now they travel in style!

    I love how serious Jason is about his traveling friends.  He always he makes sure that he gets new ones before he leaves, and he makes sure that he has their care instructions correct.  

   I am glad that Emma has this way to help her not miss her Daddy so much in the short time he is away from us, and I am really glad to know that Jason isn’t lonely on the road!

Priceless

  I am sure that by now you might have noticed that I have a new picture of my babies to head the blog.  Eternal gratitude to my very talented friend Katheryn for taking it, which brings me to the subject of this post.

  When the cousins arrived in town, Kendra and I didn’t want to miss the chance to get a picture of all of them together.  We should have known that the photo shoot was not going to go well after the shopping trip to pick out the wardrobe.  (Kendra and I had taken Jake, Owen, Grady and Gretchen to Target.  We were chasing at least one boy through the store at all times.  Kendra called it a success because the authorities were not called in.)

  Even though we have identical cameras, Katheryn is a master behind the lens.  She manages to capture personalities as well as great smiles.  If  Mandi (another talented friend) ever opens her wedding planning business, Katheryn needs to take the pictures.

  The girls were perfect subjects:

                               

The boys, not so much:

                      

    Then we tried to take them outside and get a group shot.  Either Grady was whining, Owen crying, or Jake refusing to look at the camera.  I actually love the shots that she got, because I laugh every time I look at them.  This is one of my favorites – just look at Jake’s frown!

             

Then he decided he didn’t want anyone to see him, but just look at him peeking out to make sure we were all still paying attention…

              

Once it became obvious that the boys had had enough, Katheryn started taking individual portraits.  Once again, the girls were ready to go, but our sons just wanted to play.  No matter – she captured all of them perfectly!

  

  

 

But out of all of them, this is my very favorite:

               

The sweetest part?  Emma wasn’t posing.  This is a cropped portion of one of the pictures where none of the kids were paying attention…

One dress, five shirts, and three headbands: $50.

Photographer: $4 (payment in the form of homemade baked goods)

Capturing all the smiles, frowns,  love and beauty of family:  Priceless.

(Thanks Katheryn.)

Homecoming

 

   As for the last 8 weeks, all I’ll say is 4 kids + no sleep = no blog.

    After 17 of the longest days of my life, we were finally able to bring Gretchen home from the NICU.  It was a a different kind of celebration than when we brought Jakers home.  Back then, we realized that we had only completed the first of what we thought were going to be many hospital stays.  Thankfully, he has proved to be a healthy little guy!  With Gretchen, we know there will be more doctors visits than with a full term baby, but hopefully the worst is over!

    We didn’t know we were going to be able to bring her home until that morning.  Her nurse called to tell us she had passed her car seat test, hearing test, and had finally taken all her feedings.  I quickly called Jason to get him home, Misty to pick Emma up at school, and my mom to come babysit.

   Once we arrived in the NICU, one of the other moms spotted me and asked if she could come see Gretchen.  Her son’s  isolette  was right in front of the nurse’s station, and she said that all the nurses always talked about how beautiful Gretchen is and they all fought over who got assigned to be her nurse for the day!

    It was finally time to get her dressed and ready to go.  I had ordered some preemie tights, but they proved to be way too big.

  So we just went with her booties instead and made sure she was well snuggled in her car seat before we made the momentous journey to the outside world.

  The most fun about bringing her home was that we didn’t tell Emma – just walked in the door with her little sister and surprised her!

Do you see the tears in her eyes? I think she was a little excited.  Gretchen big brothers were just as happy.  Emma had met her though the window at the NICU, but the boys had never even seen her except in pictures.  We were giving Emma and Jake turns to hold her when Grady held his arms to hold her.  He had never asked to hold anything before! (Except grunting and pointing, which I don’t count.)

  I think it is safe to say that she is a well-loved little girl!  Emma has been a phenomenal big sister, feeding, loving, rocking, holding, and even changing her baby.  Jake has even done his share of carrying and holding – more than I would like!  Grady just asks to see her and then pats her little head.  I personally think that he remembers her from their time together before, and is periodically making sure she is really here on this side of the veil.

   We are all so glad this little spirit chose us to be her family, and that now the Howle family is complete! 

Twas the night before Christmas

 

Twas the night before Christmas, and in each isolette
Little creatures were squirming and getting all set;
Machinery sat by their bedsides with care,
In hopes that good breathing skills soon would be there.
Day shifters were home all snug in their beds,
As visions of overtime danced in their heads;
While preemies on ventilators, and some on CPAP,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap...
When out in the hall there arose such a clatter,
The residents woke up to see what was the matter.
Away from the sink I flew like a jet
To make sure all was well at my baby's isolette.
Some bilirubin lights with their powerful glow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to babies below,
When, there before my wondering eyes, it would seem,
Was an oversized stroller and a medical team.
With a handful of needles with which they could stick you,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nicu.
More rapid than eagles his specialists came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now, Nurses! Now, Residents! Now, Neonatologists!
On, Social Workers! On, Respiratory and Occupational Therapists!
From the front of the unit! To the end of the hall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
Up to each baby's cribside they flew,
With the stroller full of toys, and St. Nicu too.
And then, in a twinkling, they stopped at each bed
And tucked in the babies and got them all fed.
As I looked at my baby, and was turning around,
Down our aisle St. Nicu came with a bound.
He was dressed in red scrubs, and I could instantly tell
That his clothes had an obvious hospital smell;
A bag of stuffed animals was flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
A little red pen he held tight in his teeth,
And a stethoscope encircled his neck like a wreath.
He was chubby and plump, with a few extra pounds,
And I laughed when I saw him there doing his rounds.
A turn of his clipboard and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke few words, but came straight to my side,
And running down his face was a tear he had cried.
And laying his hand on the back of my head,
He gave me a nod, and slowly he said:
"Each night you come here you're aware of the danger,
But your baby is loved by the One in the manger."
Then the medical team gave a thumbs-up and smiled
And St. Nicu placed an animal next to my child.
But I heard him exclaim, as they rolled out of sight,
"Merry Christmas, tiny baby, and have a wonderful night!

 

    I have so many other pictures of Jake, Emma, and Grady hanging stockings and getting ready for Santa, but I really wanted to share this poem I found.  I guess the Christmas post will have to do double duty.

   Gretchen is holding her own, we will get an update posted soon.  Keep praying for us, and hopefully she’ll be home by New Years.

Sweet Sunday Surprise

 

    My day did not start our well at all, but it sure finished sweet.  About 4 AM, my sleep deprived mind snapped and I had a little bit of a breakdown.  Being pregnant, pumped full of IV fluids, fetal monitors strapped to my tummy and trying to sleep in an unfamiliar bed finally took its toll.  Thankfully my wonderful doctor decided that I needed rest more than anything and disconnected all the monitors and IV fluids and I was able to sleep for a couple of hours.

  I was awoken to the news that my lab work was improving, and if the numbers were the same on Monday the decision to induce labor was even less clear.  The question of sending me home came up, but they still couldn’t guarantee that I would be home for Christmas.   So once again, my condition was “clear as mud” – but getting murkier.

   I got up to use the potty and everything changed.  I won’t go into details for the fainter of tummy, but let’s just say it was obvious something was wrong.  My nurse checked me and I had gone to 4 cm, so she called in Dr. Greenhaw.  The pitocin was started and epidural ordered….things progressed quickly.  I went from 4cm to  7cm in 45 minutes.  All that time I was frantically calling Jason, who had taken the kids to church.   I finally got a hold of  Brother Jackson on the church phone line, who had the fun job of finding Jason and telling him the news.

   After a very easy (and short!) labor, Gretchen made her way into this world screaming like a banshee at 3:05 PM.  She is 6 lbs, 2oz, and 19.5 inches long.  Quite the big girl for 34 weeks and 6 days – I shudder to think how big she would have been if I went full term!   She is breathing on her own, and has some minor preemie issues so she is in the NICU, we hope not for too long.  The neonatologist said maybe by Christmas.

  I forgot to put the memory card back into the camera after downloading pictures last night, so all the great shots Jason took of her being cleaned up, weighed, and measured don’t exist.  Thankfully they let him follow them to the NICU and he was able to get some there.

  We both thank all of you for your prayers, well wishes, offers of meals once we get home, and babysitting!  Without our extended family this would have been so much harder.  We can’t wait to get her home so we can share this tiny Christmas miracle with all of you.

Family Field Trip

 

     Since I have some catching up to do, I figure I might as well start with the more recent events, since they are still “fresh” in my mind…

  Last weekend we took the kids on a surprise trip to Gainesville.  We didn’t tell them where or why we were going, just piled them in the car.  Why Gainesville, you might ask?  Because that’s the nearest Macy’s.

  It all started when Emma wrote her letter to Santa.  She mentioned how neat it would be to drop it in the big red mailbox at Macy’s just like in the commercial.  I thought the closest one was Orlando, but thankfully I was wrong!  I told Jason (World’s Greatest Daddy) about Emma’s wish and he was all for it.

  So Saturday morning we loaded up and drove down to Macy’s. We had to make one stop to photocopy Emma’s letter – thankfully Jason knew a place ; )  We pulled into the parking lot and I asked Emma if she knew where she was…I told her “ ‘Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus’ ”.  She said “Moooom, that’s from the Macy’s commercial with the Santa mailbox.”  Then she yelled, “We’re at Macy’s! The big red mailbox!”  It was all we could do to get keep her buckled in until we got the car parked.  Thankfully the mailbox was right inside the door, so they didn’t have to wait long to mail their letters to Santa.

  After we mailed our letters we had some lunch at the food court…It was so crazy busy!  I remarked to Jason that I couldn’t remember the last time I had been at a mall on a Saturday…he responded with “let alone in December!”  After lunch we took the kids to play on the playground – they had such a great time running, squealing, climbing, and carrying on that Jason and I were happy to just sit back and watch them play.

   The kids hated to leave the mall, but we had one more surprise for them…but that will just have to wait until next time!

Slacker

Yep, that’s me. I could use the excuse that I have been really busy, but I know all my other mommy friends have been just as (if not) busier than me.  I could use the excuse that I haven’t been feeling up to par, but since the whole swine flu thing I’ve been off my game and still managed to post a couple of times.  The only excuse I have this time is I’m lazy, and forgetful. Every time I powered up the computer to start blogging I would think of another website I needed to check, or an email I needed to return, or some other thing and before I knew it the laptop was turned off and I had (again) forgotten to post anything.

  Well, no excuses this time.  I am currently attached to a hospital bed by no less than 4 tethers (fetal heart monitor, contraction monitor, BP cuff, and IV)…and I will be until they decide to deliver this baby.  I have been given a chance to catch up.

   I am currently 34 weeks and 5 days pregnant.  I am also having runs of high blood pressure that is breaking through the medication, and labs that slightly indicate pre-eclampsia.  It is too dangerous to send me home – the condition could worsen to a coma stage in less than an hour without constant monitoring and medications.  My doctor consulted with my high risk doctor last night and agreed that my course of treatment was “clear as mud”.  If I were 36 weeks, they would have already delivered Gretchen, but only being 34.5…they need to wait.  If my blood pressure continues to rise, or if the protein markers in my lab work  increase, or if I go into labor naturally (which could happen, I am 3cm dilated)  they will deliver.  If not, they will consider delivering Monday, when I roll over to 35 weeks. 

   I can understand the caution, but if they don’t induce Monday, I will probably be here for Christmas.  This especially upsets me because of the visitation rules – due to flu risks, no children under five are allowed to visit.  We could bring Christmas here, but not without my whole family.  It has barely been 24 hours, and already I am missing them like crazy.

  At least I get to see Emma.  She prepared for her visit! She made me a craft (with a little help) and picked out flowers:

And she brought me friends to keep me company:

I love the beds she created for them in my bedside table.

     I am trying to be a trooper through all of this, but I miss my family and I hate all the Christmas things I am missing like the ward party,  “Christmas” sacrament meeting, baking cookies with the kids, Christmas lights, and all that fun stuff.   I keep telling myself that this is all happening for a reason, and it is all the will of Heavenly Father.  I am just not good at accepting trials with grace! I have been shown many times though…

  Ye can not behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.  For after much tribulation come the blessings.   (Doctrine & Covenants 58: 3&4)

   This is but a small bit of tribulation in the grand scheme of eternity, and enough of me complaining.  Just say a prayer for us and hopefully I’ll (and Gretchen) be home for Christmas.

   In the meantime, check back often.  I just might go backwards and catch up on all the year’s excitement I never posted!