The home stretch...

We are doing well in the Cohen house. Charlie and Alex are both getting a bit of cabin fever. The weather has been cold and windy this week which makes it less than appealing to spend much time outside. I ignored my normal rule of "no throwing anything let alone a ball in the house" on sunday and Charlie and Alex practiced playing catch with the football. Charlie's getting better at catching but usually only if it's thrown directly into his outstretched arms.

Then they added the tackle aspect of football into things. Charlie was heard several times saying, "touchdown, go Phillies!" Poor guy is as confused, bewildered and hopeful about the Philadelphia sports teams as we are!

Very proud of bringing daddy down. I was just grossed out because Alex had just completed an hour of running on the treadmill and was quite sweaty...little kids just don't care!
It was a nice weekend at home...I was very grateful to be home and not in the hospital...but Charlie really gave me a run for my money. He was a nightmare of sorts both days, all day. And it really was only for me! Alex was gone Saturday morning at an FFB (Foundation Fighting Blindness) meeting with my dad...I was supposed to be there but stayed home to take it easy...doctor's orders. He was also gone saturday night because for his birthday, I got him tickets to see Louis C.K. at the Merriam Theatre. I stayed home again to take it easy and he went with his brother, sister-in-law, and friend from highschool. He didn't really get to see much of Charlie's antics and when I reported his behavior, I think Alex really thought I was losing it...mentally. He reminded me that he's a 3 year old...yeah thanks. He also reminded me that he has a cold...again, thanks. But his behavior was above and beyond anything I had seen before. Just downright terrible, mean, and purposeful. Sunday was no better, even worse, but at least Alex was around to witness it...although it was always directed at me and any interaction with Alex was pleasant and sweet. I know Charlie was testing me, he was upset that I was gone all week, and was really showing me that he loved me, but it was horrible! After many pep-talks from my mom, and a few good nights sleep in my own bed, I felt better by monday. Charlie returned to school, and things were better. We also took him to see the wonderful Dr. Banner monday night and discovered that he has ANOTHER terrible ear infection (sunday night he woke up and told me his ears hurt really bad). So this week has been better. Thank goodness!
Here's Charlie and Alex napping on the couch Sunday afternoon. It was so nice and quiet in the house! Charlie doesn't ever nap anymore at home, and only occasionally at school (believe me, we've tried everything to get him to nap at home) but for the past 6+ months, naps just don't exist. This was a nice treat and I'm sure was related to him not feeling well and waking up several times at night with his ears.

I also went to have my non-stress-test (NST) on tuesday and afterwards saw my OB. The NST was fine, baby looks great. I talked my OB into letting me return to work later this week. My argument...if something happens, I will be one floor below the PETU where I need to go for intervention. Because Alex doesn't drive, if I am at home, I have to wait for a cab and wait for someone to come stay with Charlie. This way, I'm already at the hospital. Plus our census has dropped significantly in the unit and we are much less busy. She agreed but I will still go twice weekly for the NST's and if anything happens from 34 weeks on, they will deliver him, similar to what happened with Charlie.

The house is ready, I've been nesting a ton, reorganizing the baby clothes and pretty much everything else. I feel great and I have a ton of energy which is nice, but it makes "taking it easy" pretty difficult! I am going out later today to buy some new nipples for the bottles we had for Charlie (I figure 3 years in storage can't be great or nipples). I will breastfeed but with going back to work right away and my need for someone else to feed the baby too, I plan to pump also, and give him some formula when necessary.

So that's it, we'll keep you posted and I'll let you know how my first night back goes!

There's no palce like home, there's no place like home...

Hooray! I am home and reunited with Charlie. And Alex of course! My husband really is the best ever. He did three loads of laundry and cleaned most of the house, all while caring for a sickly little guy who missed two days of school this week due to high fever and coughing. I came home to a clean house, dishes done, and laundry all folded. How awesome is he! I got home Friday afternoon and Charlie came home from school a couple hours later and I got the biggest hug ever! Alex didn't get to see me much in the hospital because Charlie was sick and we wanted some stability for him while I was gone, so we thought it best that he stay home with daddy. Last night, Charlie had a rough night full of coughing, gagging, restlessness, but it was nice to be home to care for him and sit by his bed till the motrin and albuterol kicked in. Today, he's being a bit of a monster for me. Testing me, saying no, doing all the things I expected him to do...maybe it's punishment for being gone, maybe just trying to see what he can get away with, who knows. But I'll take it. I really missed him so much! So I'm taking it easy, and I will go for twice weekly non-stress tests to look at the baby and make sure I'm not bleeding internally without realizing it. I'm hoping once I get to 34+ weeks with no issues, I'll get to go back to work on a week by week basis. Too much bedrest already, not enough sick time, and Alex being out of a job=bad for the bank account. We'll see. So that's it. Thanks for all the calls and emails and "facebook" support from everyone. My mom has already managed to get me a ton of "super supper" meals already which is awesome...coconut curry shrimp...yummmmy! She also lent me her lap top while I was in the hospital which kept me from going completely nuts! Anyway, all is well, thanks again for the well wishes and I'll keep everyone updated until the little man arrives! Less than 50 days to go at this point! Yikes!

Quick update

I am in the hospital...baby's fine, I'm fine...the doctors are calling it a chronic abruption. My mom was nice enough to bring me her laptop so I could cathc up while rotting away in the hospital. So monday night, as I was coming downstairs from putting Charlie to bed, something didn't quite feel right. Alex, of course, was out with a friend having drinks...when I realized I was bleeding, I called him to come home and called some friends and my mom over to stay with Charlie and we went to the hospital. Everything looks good with the baby...I was NPO for a while and had IV fluids and continuous monitors...and was hoping to go home tuesday night after my second shot of steroids (for the baby's lung maturity), but started bleeding again. I was totally freaked, and at the same time, there were two emergencies on the labor side of the floor so docs and nurses were busy there. Last night was a better night sleep wise. I am off the IV fluids and have been bleeding and contraction free all day so far. I am hopeful to go home tomorrow morning. I miss Charlie so much. He actually got sent home from school today for a high fever. Alex had just got here to visit me and the school called him. So I want to be home with him, taking care of him. The baby looks good though. He has lots of hair on ultrasound. He's measuring around 5 pounds and has a giant head! Taking after his brother already! Keep us in your thoughts...I'll be hoping to wait another few weeks till this little guy comes, but I'll be on bedrest till then..and we all know how much I LOVE bedrest! Anyway, I'll keep everyone posted!

Pictures from this weekend

Here's a quick post before i dash off to work again. I am feeling great, but ask me tomorrow morning and I may not be so bright and chipper! Work is going well but again, we are very busy and it takes its toll! I remember avoiding night shift while pregnant with Charlie and here i am, a night shift worker...I do love the pace of nights, the freedom, and the lack of offical personnel breathing down you neck...but it takes its toll. Anyway...following and above are some pics I took this weekend. My parents (Charlie's Gampa and Tutu) watched Charlie and Bode for us while we went out to dinner and a free movie (we had passes from a time earlier when the sound was all screwey) for early V-day celebration. Christy and Mike were "snowboarding" (read: falling, concussing, crying, bruising...) for the weekend. SO I got some cute shots of my favorite men...
Charlie and daddy...Charlie got his hair cut at a place near my parents'. I took him and he was a dream! As he gets older, he's easier to "reason" with. As evident by our smoothe tests at CHOP last week and easier times at the docs getting his ears looked at and his easy breezy haircuts...love it! Anyway, she did a great job and he thinks he looks "so awesome"! I agree.

Charlie halping Bode with a toy. They are playing really well together although Charlie can still be heard yelling, "no Bole, stop it Bole, get away Bole"....oh well!

Bode being super cute...as always!

Us dressed and ready for our date night. I saw this pic (my mom took it) and about cried...I feel this big, but couldn't imagine that I really look this big! It's funny though because i am taking care of babies at work now that are due a month or two after I am due with Aaron. Bring on the biggness, just let him be born healthy!

And I leave you with my obsession, taking cute baby pics. I gave Bode a bath and took a few million pics as well. What am I going to do once Aaron is here and I have a good camera. When Charlie was a baby, my camera was a bit outdated and I still took a million pics. Now I have two really great cameras (thanks again mom and dad!) and I am going to be a woman posessed!

Tushy!

Look at the giant feet!

He's mad that I covered up his new plaything with the diaper!

Couldn't you just eat him!

Quick update, no pictures...sorry!

We are all doing well here. We found out that Charlie does not have the genetic thing I do (pseudocholinestarase deficiency) which is nice to know. So his surgery is scheduled for St. Patty's day...I guess we won't be out drinking our faces off...haha, haven't done that since college. So, March 17th is the date. We won't know the time until the night before. I'll be 36+ weeks at that point so we hope that Aaron stays put until at least a week after that. The ENT said he'll feel a little crummy for 7-10 days afterwards due to the adenoidectomy. So we'll keep him home from school for at least the week.

Speaking of school, Charlie moved up to the next classroom at school. This one is more pre-school oriented. I was a mess on his first day, and a little tearful on his second day. I am realizing that there is nothing left of him that makes him a baby. He's 3, he's potty trained, in a pre-school class, doing jigsaw puzzles...I could go on forever. He seems to like his class. His teacher is very nice and has already made several observations that leads me to believe that she's really getting a good picture of him. He's a little intimidated by the older children and tends to hang back a bit and play by himself, but he'll get acquainted. He did the same thing when he first started in the 2 year old class. He's also doing great on the potty, but I won't say anymore for fear of jinxing us! We're having some language issues (stuttering, hesitation to speak, etc...) and he's been pointing and grunting alot this week to avoid talking. I am trying to keep a level head about it, not make a big deal of it, and am waiting till after the surgery before we address it with any professionals. He can be seen at school by early intervention speech people but I think it's fair to get his ears fixed and see if that helps even a little!

Alex is still looking for a job and we're hopeful that a few new prospects turn into something real. This has been a long haul for him and with the baby coming sooner than later, we'd all love for the income to be more secure!

Speaking of baby, I am 32 weeks and counting. Feeling great...big but great! He's active and likes to place his feet right under my ribs and kick very hard...thanks buddy! Everyone here is getting geared up for his arrival. We have washed and put away our newborn boy clothes, washed the bottles, and brought the swing and a few other baby things out of my parent's attic. I'm still working which is fabulous and hard (we're still sooooo busy!) but mostly fabulous! I'll have another ultrasound next Thursday! Look for the picture sometime that day!

Busy busy busy!

We've been a busy little family the past few days! The above pic is of Charlie's face after we made brownies on friday evening...he got to lick the spatula at the end and was in piggie heaven! Friday was a busy day...he had an opthamologist appointment at CHOP to check his retinas and make sure they don't see any early signs of RP (the condition Alex has). He goes annually and his eyes looked so good that he won't go back till he's 5...just when Aaron will start getting his eyes checked. He was a trooper and tolerated all the tests, was very cooperative with the Doctor, and even "allowed" them to dilate his eyes with drops. Afterwards, he kept rubbing his eyes and asking me to fix his eyes. Poor guy! After the eye doctor, he got an Xray of this neck for his upcoming adenoid surgery. Alex came with us so he could do the xray with him and he was totally cool through the whole thing and loved the stickers he got afterwards.

Funny side note, I ran into an old friend in the xray department. I met her while caring for her infant daughter for most of her first year of life when I worked in the Pediatric ICU at CHOP. Her daughter was a flower girl in my wedding and she recently lost her husband to cancer last May. I haven't seen her since the funeral, and here I go running into her at CHOP where we first met. It was great to see her!

After the xray (we saved the worst for last), Charlie had bloodwork done. He had to be checked for a genetic condition (that I have) that prevents him from breaking down succinylcholine (the anaesthesia used in the tube/adenoid surgery) and would cause issues with him coming out of surgery. His first tube surgery was just tubes, and he was never intubated, therefor never needed this type of anaesthesia. Alex took him for this as well and both did really well. Charlie kept his band-aid on for three days before it finally fell off. Then his "boo boo" was magically healed and he was done with it. Overall, he was a dream for all of it and I was so grateful for his behavior. I had worked the night before (my second in a row) and didn't get to sleep until noon. I was soooo tired!

Friday night we had our great friends Dave and Mike over for dinner. Mike cooked some yummy tuna for us and mushroom risotto. So good! Charlie and I made brownies and then we played cards till way too late!

Charlies newest talent (which came out of nowhere) is his ability to put puzzles together. Until this weekend, the ones in the pic above were the only jigsaw type we had. All the pieces were jumbled up and in a pile and he sorted through them and this was the outcome. The first few times he worked on them for close to an hour, concentrating on each piece, matching the colors, etc. Now, he "throws" them together. I bought several more of the 24 pieces ones like the one on the far right. I am very impressed with his concentration and ability to discern the pictures. The ages are 3 and up, so again, age appropriate behavior, but it continues to amaze me how last week, he couldn't, or wouldn't do this...now he does!


We went to my parent's saturday afternoon where Charlie had a new babysitter stay with him while we attended my sister and Mike's bar-opening party at their house. Their house looks great and they put alot of hard work into getting it into living shape! When we came home, the babysitter (who did a great job with him!) left and I went down to the basement to check on my little man (our bedrooms are down there right next to the playroom) and this is what I found...he was passed out! It was the funniest thing I've seen in a while! I have no idea how long he was there or why he didn't go upstairs or call her on the monitor. My parents used to find my sister asleep on the stairs all the time they said...hmmmm.

Sunday was so beautiful that we walked to the playground in my parent's development where Charlie proceeded to get a ton of energy out of his system, running laps, climbing the equipment and swinging. We all are so sick of being cooped up in the house. We spent 2 hours there and only came home because I was starving and had to pee...happens alot when your baby head butts your bladder every few minutes!

We also played golf for a while on the grass...

Alex needs a longer club!

Then Christy and Mike and Bode came over sunday evening and my mom made a yummy New Orleans style dinner for Alex for his birthday. The celebration was complete with mardi-gras beads, music and hurricane drinks (I hear they were great but I abstained!). Above and following are some cute shots of Bode who turns one years old soon!

The above is of him getting ready to give his mommy kisses! What a little cutie!

31 weeks and counting!

Charlie helping daddy shovel snow...

Sing sing a song!

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This one's for you Tammy!

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Long day, bummer news

Alright, my fourth post of the day, has to be a record of some sort! This one is not as interesting, and has no pics, but sums up most of our day and what Charlie and I did...although it was daddy's birthday, we had two big Dr. appointments that fell on this day, and so we spent the better part of the day doing that. The first was allergy...just our annual follow-up to make sure that all was right with the world and with Charlie's allergies. Dr. Banner was hoping to get him off singulair this year but I was not thrilled with the idea and neither was the allergist. He wants him to have one really healthy year before we start backing off on meds. I agreed and was happy with that plan. We came home, played for a bit and then back to CHOP to the ENT. Not only did we spend over three hours there, but the news wasn't great. He'll need another set of tubes...I was expecting this and not surprised, but still bummed that he's going back to the OR. The Dr. also would like to remove his adenoids and give him a chance to breathe better and help keep his ears clear of fluid. That's okay as well, but requires intubation, different anesthesia, and probably more pain after surgery. It also requires that he get blood work done to test him for a genetic condition (which I have) that prevents him from breaking down a certain type of anesthesia (of course the one they use for this surgery). So Friday, we are back at CHOP for his annual eye Dr. appointment (monitoring his retinas for his daddy's condition), and Xray to look at his adenoids, and blood work. Poor kiddo! Luckily, Alex will be coming with me to be in the Xray with Charlie and help hold him for the blood work. We'll take him out to eat afterwards and get him some sort of fun treat. I just feel bad for him! They did say that because it's a longer procedure with a different anesthesia, we shouldn't have the emergence issue we had with the last ear tubes...thank goodness!

Charlie's newest artwork

It continues to amaze me when Charlie advances to a new level of understanding, drawing, speaking, etc. One day he's speaking sporadically, the next he's telling whole stories of things that happened months ago. One day he's scribbling, the next he's coloring in the lines. One day he can't decipher more than 3 colors, the next he's distinguishing between them all. Yesterday was another example of such advancements. He normally draws pictures that are either a bunch of lines (that's his "writing" letters) or a bunch of scribbles that represent whatever he tells me it is. Yesterday while working on daddy's birthday card, I looked over and saw this:

He told me he was drawing cheeri-eeri-o's (what he calles cheerios) and eggs. Still looks like nothing much but it's a huge difference in his control over the marker. Normal development, I know, but how does it literally happen overnight?! Amazes me. That's all!

Celebrating daddy's birthday, part 1

We celebrated Alex's birthday on sunday because I am working on his actual birthday (tonight). Charlie and I got up early, not really, but we started working on daddy's cake as soon as we got up. We made him a carrot cake, complete with a carrot iced on top. It was yummy delicious! Alex loves carrot cake so this was a fun surprise to make him.
We had Alex's dad and brother's family over. I made ribs and baked potatoes and cheesy broccoli and we watched the superbowl and pigged out. It was lots of fun.

Here's daddy and his boy...Mommy and Charlie making funny faces...

Ethan and Charlie helping Alex blow his candles out...

The boys after their bath...they love taking a bath together and had lots of fun racing matchbox cars back and forth across the floor. As Charlie gets a bit older, their age difference becomes less noticeable and they play together much better...Ethan is 10 months older than Charlie.

Happy Birthday Alex

My hubby turns 33 today! He's just as cute a s ever, except he's potty trained now! I hope you have a great 33rd year babe, you are the best thing that ever happened to me!