Updates

We haven't had a whole lot going on which is nice. I am trying desperately to stay in work and keep at it. It's hard...harder than I imagined. When I was pregnant with Charlie, I worked as many day shifts as possible and at 29 3/7, I was on bedrest for the remaining 5 weeks until he was born. The belly was big at that point but it never got in the way like this one is. It is very tiring to be up all night and we are soooooooo busy it's insane....so there's very little resting with your feet up. I also feel like this baby, although measuring smaller, is more concentrated in my belly only. I'm not as "filled out" everywhere like I was with Charlie...so bending and moving in general is a bit tougher...but I'm trying to keep at it and am just really grateful to have a really stable job right now, let alone one that I genuinely LOVE! How awesome and lucky is that!

I took Charlie to the Please Touch Museum on friday because we both really needed to have a fun day together. He's feeling cooped up and getting some cabin fever and I'm tired of asking him to calm down. So we went and we seriously had the best time ever! He was so well behaved (and has been recently which is nice), and he really had fun and we had a nice lunch and it was just a wonderful time!
While we were there, they had this new giant magnetic wall with all kinds of shapes and designs to let the kids make pictures with. Above is part of a picture Charlie was working on. He picked up the red shape to the right and said, look mommy, it's a W. I almost fell over! I have not been teaching him his letters...I'm sure it's all credited to his wonderful daycare, but still, I can't even imagine what he knows, and I'm ignorant to it all!

Another shape he picked up is the small green one to the far left (in the above picture) and he said, mommy this is an O. Yup, looks like an abstract O to me! Being the super dork that I am, I had to take pictures of the first letters he's recognized for me!

The picture above he was making me dinner...such a thoughtful boy! His favorite time is spent in the grocery store/kitchen area of the museum. I don't mind so much if he grows up to be domestic! He'll make someone very happy and can take care of me when I get old!

Pretending to talk to "Gampa" on the phone. He still likes talking on the phone to real people but is very particular about who and when.

Aaron is hanging in there. I went on wednesday for my scheduled OB visit and was a bit disappointed to find out that I had alot of protein in my urine and my blood pressure was pretty high. My lab work also showed low platelets. All early signs of preeclampsia. It may turn into nothing but it's something to watch. So while at work friday night I contracted a headache that would not go away despite my best efforts, and had me cross eyed and seeing spots. I went to the PETU around 4am and after laying down on my left side for a while, my BP returned to a more normal reading and some pain medicine helped the headache subside. I got home this morning around 11am and slept the day away. I had to miss work tonight which is not good, but am not on bedrest which is awesome. One week at a time is how we're taking it. I had a few contractions while they monitored me but nothing crazy...the woman in the bed nest to me, however, was laboring hard for hours which was terrible to listen to...this will all be over in a couple of months! I am 30+ weeks now and the baby is doing well.

Alex is still in search of a job and we are really hoping for something soon...it's getting down to the wire! Thoughts and prayers and voodoo would be greatly appreciated!

Jumping Charlie

http://

Cute video taken sidways...he has a cold, thus the nasal voice!

http://

What a day!

Sunday will officially go down as one of the more stressful days in my life...and it's all for really stupid, meaningless reasons. Here's how it went. Christy, Mike, and Bode slept over from saturday which was lovely. We awoke and had a great breakfast. Mike, being the fantastic brother-in-law that he is, agreed to install a new ceiling fan in our bedroom as the one we had no longer put out sufficient light for Alex to see with. Being able to see in your own bedroom is pretty important so I bought a new one at Home Depot thanks to x-mas gift certificates from my mom and dad, and Mike installed it. It was harder than it should have been because the builder was inept, but he did it. Only problem, the fan wouldn't work. So all that time and now the fan would have to come down and be taken back...arggggggg! We decided to leave it up for the time being so we would have light but I kept thinking about that damn fan! IN the meantime, I was busily preparing to host a big Eagles game party...doing alot more work than I should have, but I wanted it to all be done, and the house set up just so, so that people could really enjoy the game and the food!

Whilst cutting onions to make fried onions for the homemade cheesesteaks I was preparing, I sliced the tip of my finger, almost completey off. No bone involved but alot of flesh. Being on Lovenox for the pregnancy, I bled like a stuck pig. It would not stop bleeding! Another stress to add to my growing list! Then, about 45 minutes before game time, we noticed that our phone didn't work. Since our phone and cable are both through Comcast...we turned the TV on to find that the cable was totally out. Oh my GOD! Again, something so dumb to be freaked over but I had a spread of all spreads layed out on the table and about 20 people coming over.

We called comcast from our cell phones and frantically tried to reestablish our cable connection (read: I did this because Alex really can't even come close to seeing what's going on behind all of the electronics). After giving up we brought our other cable box down to try that...it worked! We had to bypass the surround sound and not see it on HD, but hey we had cable. So as we were connecting it, Charlie was having a meltdown (he's sick of course), the doorbell was ringing and the dog was barking uncontrollably. But we had cable. Ten minutes later (kickoff time) the cable was out and everyone was literally getting their coats and ready to leave to go watch it elsewhere. I started crying...blame it on the pregnancy, the throbbing finger, who cares, I actually cried over all of this.

I was about ready to just go to bed. long story made not much shorter...the cable corrected itself, the cheesesteaks were a hit and thank goodness my mom was there to help with everything from serving food to cleaning up to moral support. Then the Eagles lost. If they had won, I really feel like it would have been worth all the stress. But everyone left all bummed out and gloomy, thanking me for the yummy food, but bummed nonetheless. I went to bed feeling broken. Tired and sore and aching back but just mentally broken! I cried over cable and people wanting to leave and who knows what else...it's a new low for me.

SO I woke up this morning determined to make it a better day, relax and cuddle with my sick boy. I hit the wrong button on the fan remote and rather than turning the light on, the fan started to go around. I almost cried again. The curse has been broken! Yesterday was just a BAD day!

In other, even less interesting news, above is the project I worked on while on bedrest over the holidays. It's Aaron's stocking, cross stitched like Alex and Charlie's. Mine is next, but we'll see how long that takes to get completed. Charlie calls then Stocking boots...very cute name I think!
This is my adorable nephew while he was at our house saturday and sunday. He's a real walker now at 10 months old!

Sooooo big!

The boys...I love them both so much!

Hello faithful blog readers. Sorry for my delay in posting new pictures or updates...I know you were all on the edge of your seats wondering what was going on with the Cohen family! Well, not much. That's always good news! Last Sunday our beloved Eagles won their game over the Giants and are headed to NFC championship game this weekend. We watched last week's game at my brother-in-law's house and we had a great time. My dad came with us since my mom was out of town for the weekend. We are convinced that he was our good luck charm so we insisted that he join us again when we host the game this weekend! Below is my dad and Charlie when we went out to dinner after the game. Charlie got pizza and french fries...dinner of champions!

Charlie had a lot of fun playing on Ethan's drum set. Luckily we were all making as much noise cheering for Donovan and his buddies that no one seemed to mind!
My dad found a friend, little Quincy Brown.

In my previous post, you may remember that Charlie and Alex were running around the house in towels or blankets, being super heroes...well, I decided that they needed real capes for their alter-egos. I was also tired of washing Charlie's towels as he kept using them as a cape and dragging it all over the house...we're clean, but it's bound to pick up dirt and grime after a while! The towel option was also too long for his mighty frame and I stressed that it would result in an ER trip at some point. Needless to say, I bought fabric (my first day off bedrest) and brought out my trusty sewing machine (with which I make my fabulous Keiki Cloths) and went to work. Below is the finished product...

Notice Charlie's face...he thinks superheros need to look "serious"...too funny!

Here I got him to smile
And here he is wearing Alex's dad's hat last night...the ultimate super hero costume...footy PJ's are just the icing on the cake!

In other news...I am 28 weeks pregnant which is so super exciting! I go next week for my gestational diabetes testing and things are going well. This was my first full week back to work and it went really well. We are so incredibly busy but everyone is really good about reminding me to get off my feet at times and helping me push beds around and things of that nature. I'm lucky to work with such wonderful people and in a job that I LOVE!

Alex is still searching for a job. We are really hopeful that something comes up soon...not really for financial reasons (although that is a large part of it) but more for his mental/emotional state. 6 months is a long time to be unemployed...the economy sucks, and hotels just aren't looking to add to their payroll right now. He's putting on a brave face and staying strong, but it's really starting to eat at him and I feel so badly for him. Keep him in your thoughts and let's hope for some job news soon!

Worth it in the end...

Here's my handsome boy! He's doing great and I am OFF BEDREST! I saw Dr. Debbs today and the tear is completely healed, my cervix is long and strong, and baby Aaron is practicing breathing and is head down and is adorable! His lips are my favorite! I never had a 4D picture with Charlie but this baby looks so much like he did as a newborn!
My belly last night. I was really hopeful that I would be released to go back to work but not counting on it. As long as everything continues to look good, I won't go back to my MFM docs until 32 weeks!

We celebrated by going out to eat (at Champs, not a great place, but it'll do in a pinch...and they have grilled cheese and french fries which is Charlie's favorite!). We haven't been out to eat in a while! Above and below you will see the newest characters in our house, created by daddy. It's my superhero men. Charlie's cape is really his towel but it goes with him everywhere (of course to bed too). He is Mr. Alligator Man (self named) and I named Alex Mr. Burp Man but Charlie likes that name alot and takes it as his own occasionally. Today they practiced superhero leaps off Charlie's plastic stool. They also run around the main floor of the house yelling, "bad guys beware". I am so glad we have Charlie around to amuse Alex!

Charlie has been doing so well on the potty training front. He is 99.5% pee potty trained and 75% poop trained. He often tells us about #2 when it's too late to do anything about it, other times, he just doesn't want to tell us. But the past 4 days, we've had 100% success rate on both sides of it, so we are very proud. He also has a fascination with the movie Horton Hears a Who (Aunt Christy and Uncle Mike bought it for him for Christmas). He loves the movie and acts out most of it in action and words. He's quite a performer! That's it!

Big update, I am so excited that I feel lighter, less burdened, and so much more in love with my unborn baby. I really was worried that I wasn't bonding with him, I was afraid of anything happening, but seeing him today, for the first time, I felt alot of love and relief, and felt like I'll be holding him in my arms after all of this. It will be worth the stress and worry, definitely worth it in the end...

Lately

We haven't been up to much of anything lately...laying low, sitting on the couch, coloring, watching TV...that's by Doctors' orders, not by choice. But I am 26 plus weeks and hoping to get the all clear to go back to work this Thursday. So our New Year was quiet. Alex had a job interview New Year's Eve-evening which was a 3 hour interview and he's now meeting with the owners this coming Friday. It's for a general manager position with a new hotel here in the city...please pray, keep your fingers crossed, eyes crossed, everything crossed that he gets this job. It would be amazing for us and would take alot of pressure off me going back to work right away! We spent New Years at home, watched a movie, watched the ball drop, kissed our little sleeping man, and went to bed ourselves. Alex traveled with his brother to Waterloo NY where his mother's side of the family is from. He visited with everyone and had a second Christmas up there. I sent the gifts and my homemade meatballs up with him so I was there in spirit.

Charlie and I spent the weekend at my parents' house so they could help me with Charlie and force me to sit on my butt. They were so amazing all weekend. First, my mom took Charlie to get his hairs cute...he needed one badly! Below is a before picture...

Shaggy boy coloring his Thomas pictures...

Here's his serious face...his new haircut is so handsome and he was an "ANGEL"...that's because my mom took him...but I'm glad he was so good for her.

We spent the weekend relaxing, Charlie colored alot and is getting really good at staying in the lines. He has the best playroom there so he spent lots of time down there having a great time. My mom worked her butt off all weekend. She cooked a ton of meals for us to freeze and heat later...and her cooking if the BEST EVER! No kidding, she is incredible. So Alex is very excited to start dipping into our stash of yummy meals. She then went grocery shopping for us and bought us bags of stuff that we were running low on, fresh fruit, milk, juice, cheese, etc. Thank you mom, I could not do this without you!

When Alex came home, so did we. We watched the Eagles "fly" to victory over the Vikings, and are super excited for next weekend's game.

Alex brought home a stash of gifts for Charlie so he had yet another present opening extravaganza. He got alot of cool things. Below, you'll see his new REAL firehat that talks and is super cool. Thanks Brand family! He loves it!

Alex tried it on too...

He also got a noisy but very cool truck that "sings" hot hot hot, and moves and "dances". There is a mute button for which I am grateful! Thank you Aunt Hilda!

Charlie racing around the kitchen to put out a fire...

That is all, I'll update more on Thursday after my doctor's appointment!