Last Night!

So, Brian's blog below gives you a pretty accurate story on what happened, but I'll throw in some more details.

Last night we went to the hospital to visit our girl. On our way up to the NICU we talked and decided that we would not be disappointed if Reese hadn't stabilized after the changes that were made earlier in the day. We can't let ourselves get upset over small setbacks right now. Anyway, when we got into the NICU Reese's night nurse told us that she was "fabulous." She had stabilized her stats from earlier in the day and was doing very well. She said that they were talking about extubation and we just assumed she meant today. But then she said the Nurse Practitioner was on her way up and we arrived just in time for the extubation. We were shocked that they were doing it, but we were happy that she'd made the progress and that we had arrived in time to be there afterwards.

Brian and I went into the hallway and waited for them extubate. I don't think I've ever prayed so hard in my life as I did for those 5 minutes. When we went back Reese was off of the vent and they said she had done well. To be honest, I was captivated by her beautiful face. I have only seen her once before with nothing on her face (the C-PAP machine and the tape for the vent covered her up), and it was just beautiful. Reese is currently receiving low flow Oxygen through a nasal cannula and is doing all the breathing on her own!!!! The Nurse Practitioner said that she had done a great job and that the next step was to monitor her for an hour, to try not to stimulate her (no touching, just talking) during that period of time, and they would draw her blood gas levels then. She said that if everything looked good, I would be able to hold her!

Brian and I sat there and looked at our daughter for the longest time. After about 2 minutes she opened her little eyes and just stared at us. My heart melted. She is the prettiest, most beautiful little angel I've ever seen in my whole life (of course, I'm biased). I loved sitting there talking to her and watching her discover new things. At that point I remembered that we had left the camera at home because we weren't planning on taking pictures of her. If I was going to hold my baby we needed pictures! Brian volunteered to drive home and get it (well, he wanted to and I still can't drive). I got a whole 45 minutes sitting there talking to my baby girl and I had her undivided attention. She just stared the whole time. I told her how proud we are of her for being so strong and such a little fighter, about her family, about her dog, how cool her room is and just talked forever.

Brian finally got back right before they took her blood gas levels which came back excellent. We waited a few minutes but then we were finally able to hold her! Probably one of the greatest moments of my life! I couldn't stop myself from crying, I've just been waiting a week (well, really 8 months and 1 week since I found out I was pregnant with her) to hold her my arms! She was so precious! Still wide awake and staring up at me. You know how when you hold a baby in the same position for awhile your arm starts to fall asleep? Well my arm fell asleep and it was the best thing in the world because my little girl made it fall asleep! I would have been content to sit there and hold her forever. At first they said it would only be for 15 minutes, but the nurse had to take care of her other baby so it got stretched to 25! We also didn't think that Brian would be able to hold her (but he was more than supportive that I got to...I think he was happy that I finally had the chance), but she let him hold his little girl for 5 minutes too! It was so nice to see my husband with such a huge smile on his face after the stressful week that we've had. It's crazy how before you have kids you could never really imagine your husband holding a little tiny baby and looking completely comfortable, but Brian was in his element holding our baby girl. I love my family so much! This was a one time deal for now, we won't be able to hold her for awhile and unfortunately no one else will be either, but it was such a blessing and it came at the perfect time. The whole night was about perfect timing. When we arrived just in time for the extubation. That Brian was able to get back just in time for the blood gas check. That the nurse practitioner on duty is such an advocate of kangaroo care and letting parents hold their infants. What an absolutely amazing night!

Hi Mommy and Daddy! Look at me all vent free!

Holding my baby girl!

She is beautiful

Yeah, he's in love

Happy in her Daddy's arms

Getting her poopy diaper changed

Changing Reese's diaper for the first time!

Update - Reese Is Off The Ventilator!

Brittney will go more in depth tomorrow (later today...it is currently 1:00am), but here is a quick summary of our surprising evening. We arrived at the hospital around 9:30 tonight. We were immediately told that our little girl was doing "fabulous." Five minutes later, the nurse practitioner decide to "extubate" or remove her breathing tube. We stepped outside for 5 minutes and then they called us back in. Our Reese was free of the ventilator! She is now on low flow oxygen via nasal cannula. But our shocking night had only just begun...they let us hold Reese...FINALLY! Brittney held her for 25 minutes and I held her for 5. Then Brittney got to change her poopy diaper.

Reese still has a lot of challenges ahead of her, and maybe even a few backward steps (hopefully not), but she made HUGE progress today and we are very proud of her. You can't imagine the joy we felt tonight. We went to the hospital hoping that she had just maintained her numbers from this morning. We got more than we ever dreamed of.

Brittney will give a better version of this story later and post some pictures. We have been overwhelmed by the support we have been receiving. Thank you to everyone. Please keep Reese in your prayers.

- Brian

Another Day...

Brian and I have been to the NICU to visit Reese twice so far today. We'll probably be leaving within the next hour for our last trip for the day. Reese has been doing well. When we were last there they had lowered her dependency on the vent so that she's breathing more on her own and they've also lowered her Oxygen to 23%. We were very happy when we got there and saw those changes. We had to make a tough call earlier and ask everyone else not to visit her today. She just gets a little worked up when she has visitors and we really need her to get over her humps on the vent so that she can go back to C-PAP. It's looking like it might have been a good call, but I'm still sorry that no one else got to visit her.

There were rumblings when we were there earlier today about letting her stabilize where she is on the vent and putting her back on C-PAP tomorrow. We're not getting our hopes up, but we are cautiously optimistic that it might happen. We would love for it to happen, but we want to be sure that it's the right thing! Please continue to keep our Baby Girl in your prayers!

The following pictures will catch you up on our Reese pictures. We don't like to over stimulate her, so we haven't been able to take many. Obviously I'm just posting good pictures, we've taken many more, but the ones below are the most current. Our goal was always to make sure that we had equal numbers of pictures for both our kids, so we have a lot to catch up to when she comes home!

Here's the view of her little isolette. We have a few things there to decorate it for her. At this point the picture of Mommy, Daddy and Wyatt was being printed (it's there now), but there's a picture of Noelle and a toy that Anna gave Reese.

Here she is hooked up to the vent

Reese again! Her eyes are covered to keep her stimulation to a minimum.

Her little hand during her blood transfusion yesterday (mainly precautionary)

Reese and Mommy (and a picture of Noelle)

Daddy's Girl and Daddy (and Daddy's other girl Noelle)

Family Update

Brian and I made it to the hospital to visit Reese twice today. Thanks to our mothers we will make it back definitely twice tomorrow, and seeing as how we both have family coming up this weekend I might make it back a little more tomorrow and Sunday. When we left the hospital tonight Reese's Oxygen level was at 23% (the goal is 21%), the nurse told us that she fluctuated between 23% and 27% all day. She increased a few times, mainly because whenever they mess with her she gets rambunctious and starts breathing fast so they raise her O2 level. The goal is still for her to stabilize while on the vent before placing her back on C-PAP. We're praying that over the next few days she stabilizes and we begin to see a clear picture of where our Baby Girl's treatment is headed. When we got there tonight she had her little eyes opened and she was just looking at us while she was laying down, but you could tell she was sleepy because her eyes would drift closed and then open back up, like "Mommy and Daddy are here, I want to see them."

Wyatt is back home tonight after spending the last few days with my parents. He fell back into his routine nicely, although he and Brian got a little rowdy tonight. Further proof that I'll need help though because Wyatt nailed me in the area of my incision about twice and it hurt. Fortunately our parents will be able to help us out with this stuff. Unfortunately, my Dad is being sent to Houston to wait for Hurricane Gustav to roll in, so I know Wyatt will really miss him and I know my Dad will miss being able to visit Reese and get regular updates.

Brian and I quickly learned that Wyatt is picking up words after hearing them for the first time. Specifically I think Wyatt overheard the word "Boobies" (we're very mature about the breastfeeding around here) and Wyatt said "Boo boo, boo boo" a few times. There really are a lot of words that you don't think of as "bad" but you also don't want to hear your 17 month old walking around repeating!

Tomorrow Brian's mom is coming over first thing so that Brian and I can get to the NICU by 9. He's going to go into work for a few hours, but not spending the whole day there. Like I said before I'm hoping to escort a few more people in so I might get to see her more. Only our parents can get into the NICU without one of us. If we have any updates to share I'll be sure to pass them along, please just continue to keep Reese in your prayers!

Kisses like this one got me through some rough patches (although Wyatt constantly reminding himself "No Kick Mommy" was pretty funny too).

Smiling at Daddy

Reese grasping Brian's finger (she's on C-PAP still here)

Reese intubated and on the vent

Me seeing her on the vent for the first time

View from the top

Reese curled up with her frog (the multicolored thing on her chest). This serves two purposes. It simulates the womb environment because she weighed down and can't move as much, but because it's weighed down and can't move as much it helps keep her from pulling on the tubes. With preemies interest in the tubes isn't a problem because they're so small, but with full term babies like our girl, those tubes are likely to get yanked out...and they almost have been. The washcloth over her forehead helps block out the light to keep her stimulation to a minimum.

Me kissing Reesie on her forehead

Daddy is seriously in love with his little girl! When I was recovering and couldn't make it down he would just sit and stare at her for hours...sometimes leaving me waiting in the room to find out how she was doing! But it's the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my life. What a great husband and Daddy!

Update and Pictures of Our Reese

Sorry for the lack of an update since yesterday, but as I'm sure you could tell from the terrible spelling and grammar in the last post (which I just corrected) - the hospital computer and Internet is terrible. You basically have to lay in bed and type while looking at a computer screen that is on the wall 7 feet away! I was discharged at 7 PM tonight, so I figured I'd update now.

After looking at X Rays and everything, they think that Reese's condition isn't at all due to the C Section delivery (a vaginal delivery usually "squeezes" the baby on its way out, and when the baby gets squeezed the amniotic fluid comes out of the lungs). Instead, they think its due to underdeveloped lungs, which there is no explanation for. Reese is responding well to the intubation and the Surfactin. The goal on this machine is to eventually have Reese able to breathe on her own, and we need her breathing 21% Oxygen (which is what you and I breathe in from the air around us), and staying stable while doing it (her respiratory rate, blood gas, blood pressure, pulse Ox, etc).

Today we were told that they hope to extubate her at some point over the next few days, but we want to hold off on that until we're sure she'll be okay without it, because intubating her again would be awful. She does need to be sedated while she's hooked up to all the machines. We were told that when preemies go through this they're still pretty stationary, but with Reese being full term she's strong and squirmy. She'll reach right up and yank her tubes off if she's not under sedation. After she's extubated she'll need to go back on C-PAP for a few days and then she'll start the step down process. She's still on feeding tubes and everything, so the good news is that the NICU has a really great occupational therapist who can help me with the breastfeeding process once Reese is able to eat. Her nurse has said she has a great sucking reflex, so hopefully that's a good sign. My milk came in yesterday and I'm starting to get more and more milk that we're freezing for her. In either case, the hospital also has a "Courtesy Stay" program so Brian and I can stay there for a night of two before she comes home so we can get used to her schedule and everything so we'll all be more comfortable.

At this point it's a wait and see kind of thing. We don't know when she'll be home (today they mentioned two weeks, which I don't even want to think about), and while Brian and I are having a really difficult time not having her home and watching her hooked up to everything, we know that it's for the best. My philosophy is that I clearly have a very strong little girl and I need to be strong for her. Reese really responds to what's around her, if someone is stressed out while they're with her, she can tell. If I stand next to her and break down, she'll respond to it. Her nurse even had a baby moved because he was a cryer and every time he cried her blood pressure would rise. This isn't something that will continue, but it's something that needs to be monitored while she's getting healthy. We are confident that her Doctor's and nurses know what they're doing and that they're doing what's best for her right now so that we can bring her home soon. They keep telling us that this is just a "newborn thing" that she'll get over and have no real side effects from in the future. So from this point on we're going to be making lots of visits to the hospital to see our little baby girl as many times a day as we can. Fortunately the summer is winding down for Brian so we have nothing but time and a lot of volunteers to watch our little guy so that we can spend time with his "sissy."

Me before we left for the hospital on Monday

Family shot before we left

Brian's self portrait in his surgical garb

Brian insists I put the picture of Dr. George holding her up. I say a girl deserves some privacy...

Meeting our Baby Girl for the first time (yes, I am still being operated on).

This was taken by a NICU nurse for us to keep in our room. This picture got us through a lot of nights, a lot of tears, and has served as my main "motivation" while pumping all this milk for her.

The Reese's Pieces that we handed out to visitors at the hospital

Wyatt's first visit to the hospital

I asked Wyatt who it was in the picture I'm holding and he said "It's Sissy." He was mesmerized by her picture for a few seconds. I can't wait until he can meet her.

So tired! This is what the C-PAP machine look like.

First picture of Reese Lynn with her eyes open

Reese Lynn is Here!

Our precious little angel Reese Lynn was born on Monday morning at 10:07 am. She weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and is 20 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and she looks like her big brother!

So, that's all the good news. Reese was doing some grunting as soon as she was born and once she was taken to the nursery it was decided that she has some breathing problems and needed to go to the NICU. At that point they decided her breathing problems were due to either an infection (less likely) or the fact that since she was born via C Section, that she hadn't had the opportunity to squeeze all the amniotic fluid out while traveling down the birth canal. This isn't uncommon in C Section babies.

She's been in the NICU since Monday. At first they treated her with "blow by" Oxygen, where they set up a bag valve mask in her bassinet so she could breathe in more Oxygen. Then she was placed in an Oxygen hood that allowed her to breathe in pure Oxygen. That didn't work, so she was placed on C-PAP which basically means that they hooked her up to a machine that would blow air into her lungs in an attempt to let the fluids out and to let the avioli in the lungs start doing their job. She seemed to be responding to the C-PAP well, but this morning they told us that they needed to intubate her and give her Surfactin, which will hopefully rid her of this and have her breathing on her own in the next few days. The reason that they held off on this is because they didn't want to intubate if they didn't have to.

It's mostly been a waiting game for us. I'm recovering OK, and I'm still waiting to see my doctor this morning to find out if I can stay on more night or if I have to leave her today. Brian briefly held her after she was born, but I haven't been able to. I've been pumping a lot to get her some colostrum and to get my milk in. Reese is on a feeding tube so she hasn't had any milk yet. It's also a struggle for me to get down to the NICU because of the C Section so I've been down about twice a day for 45 minutes each.

The whole process has been overwhelming for all of us. It's definitely not what we were expecting and the detachment from our Baby girl has been hard, especially not being able to even hold her. We would appreciate if you kept us all in your thoughts and prayers, but especially Reese. Just pray for her to be able to breathe on her own and to be able to come off all the machines,for her to pick up eating on her own quickly (hopefully via breast) and for her to be released from the hospital and sent home early next week.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I can't post them from the computer in my room. If we go home today I might post some, but in all honesty, I'm really hoping that we don't go home yet.

Last Night as an Only Child

Tonight Brian and I took Wyatt out for ice cream at Handel's. He actually did a great job (and enjoyed) the ice cream a lot. He even took a bite of the cone!

On the way home, we decided to go to a spot by the Home Depot where we recently spotted a pond with a ton of ducks. Wyatt was mesmerized by the ducks. He got out of the car and said "Whoa, ducks." Then he just stared at them. He had fun watching them for a bit before we came home. Once we were home we played for a bit and then put him to bed for the last time as our only baby. He was so sweet. He gave everyone, even his sister in my belly, a kiss and said "Night, night." It was harder than I thought it was going to be to get him all tucked in the night before he becomes a big brother. His whole world is about to change and he doesn't even know it. I'm pretty sure he'll recover though...Brian and I both did when we were babies and our siblings were born! Although, Brian did tell him about the responsibility of being a big brother to a girl...it sure sounds tough!

My Little Guy

Wyatt learned the word "No" a few weeks ago. At that point, it was something that he knew because it meant he shouldn't be doing something. So, he would do something he wasn't supposed to, put his finger in the air and say "No!" and then do it anyway. If you need some imagery, picture a little boy looking at you, holding his bowl of bananas up in the air, pointing his finger and saying no, and then tossing the bowl on the floor. And then he smiles.

Wyatt now also recognizes that no is a response to a question. Sometimes he gets it right (I think). Like, "Wyatt, do you want to go take a nap?" "Noooo." And he says it very sweetly. It almost sounds like he's questioning you back. But sometimes, I wonder. I've asked him today if he wanted a snack, if he wanted to read a book, if he wanted to play basketball....and I've gotten a no all three times....and then Wyatt wanted to do all three of those things. Brian said that he's going to teach him "yes" tonight by asking if he wants to play T Ball and when Wyatt says no he'll just put the T away. We'll have to see if that works....

Stressed Out!

So I'm starting to think that knowing when the baby is coming is worse than not knowing. If I didn't know when she was coming then it would be a surprise and we could just leave. The house could be in disarray, Wyatt might not be packed, the bathrooms might be messy. But knowing? Ugh. Especially with the C Section. I know that when I get home I'll be essentially useless. That means that when I leave this house Monday morning, I can't leave anything out of place. No specks of dust, no dirty dishes (or even clean ones in the dishwasher), no dirty laundry (even clean laundry left in the dryer), and the carpet vacuumed with the lines in it.

I don't know what I'll do for two weeks with no vacuuming, especially with a toddler and a black lab. Vacuuming isn't just something that someone else (even Brian) could do for me. I'm very specific. There's a pattern to my vacuuming. The lines have to be visible...where the vacuum goes up and comes back down. I'd like to thank my mother who made me vacuum every day of my life from the time I was like 10 until I moved out of the house for instilling this compulsion in me. Vacuuming was so important that it had to be done before my homework. Seriously. It's a good thing she lives so close. She's probably my best option to vacuum for me.

Anyway, I re cleaned the fridge and pantry yesterday after I got all the groceries we'll need through next week. I cleaned the bathrooms today. Almost all the laundry is done so that we'll all be packed (hopefully tonight). I dusted yesterday, but I'll probably dust again tomorrow. I used my Deceptively Delicious cookbook today to make some purees and some more meals to freeze when we come home. Tomorrow I'm going to make sure all the baby gear is put together and has batteries in it, put together the pack and play for the changing station downstairs, and Brian will hopefully hang stuff on the walls if he gets home early enough. At the same time we want to spend as much time as possible with Wyatt, so we'll see what happens. In either case I'm going to do some packing over the next hour and then take my Ambien. And hopefully get some sleep.

Crunch Time!

I feel like I've been running around like chicken with its head cut off all day...but I'm trying to get so much done! This morning I went to the hospital for my anesthesia consult thingy, which consisted of surgically registering at the hospital (apparently you can't just register with OB), talking to a nurse about whether I'm allergic to anything and what medicines I'm currently taking, and then having blood drawn. I did all this, impressively in my opinion, with an (almost) seventeen month old in tow! We left as soon as we woke up, so I brought his breakfast for him to eat in his stroller...good call on my part. It kept him entertained for about 10 minutes.

After the hospital, Shannon and I wanted to have one last "playdate" for the boys before the little one comes. The boys got some quality time in playing with toys and Shannon and I got to sit on our butts and occasionally intervene in toy fights.

I then went to Bed Bath & Beyond for a shower gift for a friend and Kohl's for a birthday present for my sister. As usual, Brian needs a new Yankees hat (it needs to be replaced every few months), so I went to the mall to get him one. They had a buy 1 get 1 half off sale, which usually means I would buy Brian 2, but they had toddler hats so Wyatt got his own "big boy" Yankees hat. I also got the little fella's hair cut while we were at the mall. It's still a little long, but it's been cleaned up a lot. Fortunately, my parents were headed to the mall at the same time I was, so I had an extra set of hands distracting Wyatt while the (very unfriendly) girl cut his hair.

We dropped some stuff off at the waterpark for Brian, Wyatt showed off his hitting skills to the rest of the staff and then we came home for naps. Now we have to go to my parents house for my sister's birthday. She's been at camp all week and my parents completely redecorated her room while she was gone, so she should be surprised. Now she has a fancy room to start high school with....holy crap, my baby sister is starting high school! I can't believe she's 14 years old today!

Brian just called to tell me that he's going to pick Noelle up from her special Vet appointment with the second opinion Vet. This morning he mentioned that the kidney levels and everything that we've been told are so far out of whack weren't really that bad, but Brian hasn't had any updates since then. I know he just wants to get his dog back and make sure she's healthy...I'm sure he's had a crappy day without her!

Baby Girl Update!

Today was my last Doctor's Appointment for Baby Girl! Unfortunately, I have now surpassed my weight gain goal by a stinking pound! I've gained 31 pounds...but I guess that better than 60! My blood pressure was low, Baby's heartbeat was in the 130's and I'm measuring at 38 weeks. I have a few last minute things I have to do at the hospital tomorrow (like have an anaesthesia screening and lab work done) but I can do it first thing, so I'll hopefully be done by 8:30 am. The doctor also gave me a prescription for some Ambien so I can get some sleep over the next few days....I'm stoked about that! I feel like I've gotten a total of three hours of sleep every night this week. Between waking up to pee, feeling thirsty when I was up to pee and having some water (which causes me to have to pee again in an hour), and taking forever to get comfortable I've been getting no rest!

I was 3 cm dilated today and 75% effaced, so hopefully baby girl will hold off for me until Monday! If she won't...at least I'm packed and ready to go!

Zoo Pictures

It's a lot of pictures.....but Wyatt was very cute yesterday!

Staring at the Red Hoofed Hogs - or something like that
Giraffes!
Brian pointing out the giraffes sitting down
This guy looked pretty cool
Staring at the elephants

Watching elephants poop - it's a boy thing

Cute little meerkat

Visiting the Prairie Dogs

Playing in the water

Kicking the water

Dragging Daddy to a new fountain

Last Day as a Family of 3 (People)...Kind of

Today was our last full day together as a family of three (people). I know that there's a week until Baby Girl gets here, but Brian has to work every day. Especially since he'll be missing a few days once she's here, and it's not exactly the best time of year for that.

We decided that it would be fun to spend today going to the zoo and doing other things that we enjoy. This morning we woke up and did our best to get going early so we could get to the zoo before it got too hot....we were unsuccessful. Brian left his flip flops at the park so we had to go get those, and Wyatt fell asleep in the car, so Brian decided to treat me to some Doumar's. Cheeseburgers, french fries, limeade and a Ringo. Delicious!

Once we got to the zoo we realized that we didn't have a stroller! We had to take it out on Saturday when we went to Nags Head for Colin's birthday to accommodate Noelle, and we forgot to put it back in. We rented a stroller instead, and Wyatt actually enjoyed his trip in his little safari stroller. I was stopping the boys practically every time we passed a bench so that I could sit....I was burning up today! I don't think that I have any lung capacity left either, I could barely breathe. We made it through the Africa exhibit and that was about it. Of course, it took an hour and a half to walk through so we were there for awhile. Wyatt had a great time staring at the Giraffes (he calls them "Daffs") and the elephants. He had the most fun playing with Daddy in the water though. I turned my back for two second and he was SOAKED. But he was laughing and playing and pulling Brian back and forth between the water fountains.

We left the zoo and went to Babies R Us for the double stroller and the mattress. Wyatt pointed out the babies to us every time we passed one. By the time we got home Wyatt had fallen asleep again (he only slept for 45 minutes when we were on our way to the zoo). Once we were inside Brian fell asleep too and I did some chores. The boys didn't nap for long though, they went on a bike ride for awhile, which gave me more time to do chores...they just never stop!

All in all we had a really fun day playing and everything...it's just hard to believe that in one week we'll have another baby! I'm still not sure how it's all going to work! Brian will be with me in the hospital while Wyatt stays with our parents, but he still has to go back to work for a little while. I don't even want to think about the nights we won't be there to tuck Wyatt in and get him ready for bed while we're in the hospital, we're really gonna miss our little fella!

Anyway, we still have a list of things to do before she comes next Monday, and I still have to go to work this week, so it will be a pretty busy week! I have my pre-op appointment with Dr. George on Thursday so we'll find out how she's progressing. If this killer contractions are any sign, I'm like 4 cm by now :). I'll post some pictures of Wyatt at the zoo tomorrow...I'm too tired now!

"Bye Bye Daddy"

This is a quick post. Brian and Wyatt were playing on the floor right before bed time. Brian was laying down and Wyatt walked away and picked up his shoe. He took the shoe over to Brian's foot, said "Bye bye Daddy," and then proceeded to try and shove the shoe onto Brian's foot. I guess he realized that his dad only wears shoes if he's leaving the house....but I still don't know why he thought Brian was going bye bye.

Random Places to Shoot Hoops

Wyatt's been pretty obsessed with playing "Bakaball" recently. He goes in his play room to shoot hoops about once an hour when we're home. He will now stand in front of the hoop and say "shoot. shoot." But, my little daredevil has also discovered more interesting ways to play the game. He will bring toys over to the hoop and stand on them so that he can try and balance and shoot (he's done this with his Rocking Puppy as well as his drum), he will climb up on the Papasan chair and stand on it to try and make a shot from far away, and he's also gotten pretty good at throwing the ball to Brian so that Brian can "dunk" the ball. At least he's learning about team work.

The other day, I was sitting on the couch and Wyatt came and grabbed my hand and said "Bakaball." That means he wants me to play with him. We went into the playroom to play basketball...and there were no basketballs to be found. I was looking all over the place for them and then Wyatt asked for "Duice, teeeeeeeeease." (Juice please). So I walked over to the cabinet to get a sippy cup...and I found the basketballs. Apparently, Wyatt had decided he was over playing with the basketball hoop and instead wanted to start shooting for the sink.

Yesterday, Wyatt even found himself entertained for about 15 minutes watching the Team USA basketball team play Spain in the Olympics. He kept watching saying "Shoot, shoot." I just wonder where the interest in basketball is going to go from here. Brian really enjoys college basketball, but can not stand the NBA, so I guess we'll see...

First Bike Ride

Wyatt's new bike seat was finally delivered about a week and a half ago, and Brian got it hooked up to his mountain bike pretty quickly. It took us a night and three stores to find the bike helmet for Wyatt, and then it took some time for Brian to get home before it was dark and have enough time to get the seat installed, but we finally got Wyatt out for his first bike ride on Sunday night. He had a blast! He has such a huge smile on his face while he's riding on the bike and he loves that he gets to spend time with Daddy while he does it!

The boys went off and road around the neighborhood for awhile, and Brian said Wyatt was talking to him about stuff the whole time. They've gone on another ride since these were taken, and apparently on the second ride Wyatt made Brian join him in one of his new hobbies.... beat boxing. Wyatt can't get enough of it. It's pretty funny, I'll have to get some clips of him beat boxing soon.

Brian said he and Wyatt got a lot of weird looks because of the way the bike is positioned, but that he really enjoys being able to communicate with Wyatt while they ride. Either way, they both had a great time

My Sweet Husband

There haven't been a ton of pictures taken of me lately around here. This picture was taken about two weeks ago. I've gotten bigger and the baby's "dropped" since then, so my stomach is looking even bigger. Actually, it's just bigger. I can't even bathe Wyatt anymore because I can't reach him and it's just not safe. So, that falls on Brian :).

Anyway, the reason that my size comes up is because of something my darling husband did the other night. We were on the couch watching TV and I was laying down. I rolled over to get up off the couch and I rolled over his phone. The way my husband reacted you would have thought that Shamu just rolled over the phone though. He actually tried to revive his phone with some CPR.  Don't be jealous ladies. Seriously, don't be jealous :).

Wyatt's First Trip to the Emergency Room

Yikes. Last night (early evening) Wyatt and I were playing in the den. He climbed up on the couch and was playing on the edge and I told him "No." He smiled back at me and went on to try and climb anyway. I saw him fall and tried to jump up to get him....but I'm huge and I was too late. He fell over the ledge and landed on his head and then did a forward roll.

He screamed, but he seemed okay. I couldn't help it, my first instinct was to look at his eyes and make sure his pupils were okay and grab him and hold him. Then, while holding him as tight as I could, I grabbed my purse, his diaper bad and a sippy cup and was out the door. I called Brian to tell him I was going to the ER and to meet me there, which he responded well to (no flip outs or anything). A new hospital/ health complex was just built right down the street from our house so it usually takes about 5 minutes to get there. However, they built the new health complex right next to the amphitheater. So of course, last night when I'm freaking out about Wyatt and trying to get him to a doctor, there's a Journey and Heart concert. The only traffic I really hit was the road leading up to the turn to get the hospital. A few people tried to cut me off, but I don't think I necessarily displayed any polite actions to indicate that they could get in. And then I off roaded it. I drove the RAV 4 up on the sidewalk to get to street to turn on.

Once we got to the ER he was perfectly fine. He was laughing and talking and drinking his juice. And we only waited for 3 minutes to see the triage nurse. The doctor saw us within 45 minutes, and he said Wyatt seemed perfectly fine, that we could monitor him overnight, but that there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. So we left after spending only one hour in the ER. Amazing. We got home and Wyatt was his old self, running around and laughing at Daddy. He was perfectly fine, but Brian and I still went in to check on him every hour!

Riding his ATV after the trip to the ER. He still has his wristband on.

Still playing

As you can see, falling off the couch (twice yesterday, he'd fallen off once while I was at work) and having to go to the ER really affected him. I'm sitting to his right and he's explaining to Brian and I that the pitcher is throwing the ball.