embarassed!

Picture this scene. Violet isn't wearing any underwear or diapers because I'm getting her to pee on the toilet. I'm holding Calvin and nursing him standing up. We are both standing by the sliding glass patio doors watching the snow fall. The UPS guy walks up to deliver a package and sees me nursing Calvin and then sees Violet with just a t-shirt on. He quickly dropped the package by the door and walked away quickly. I wonder who was more embarassed!!!!???? Aghhh!!!

Violet's latest

I love how she says this: "Where is it? Oh, oh, here it is!" when she's looking for something. "Where is it ball? Oh, oh, here it is ball!" She's also got "me" and "you" mixed up. She says "hold you!" if she wants us to hold her and "help me" if she wants you to help her. :) Wonder when that will get straightened out?

She's doing quite well in her big girl bed!

She's officially out of her crib and into the queen size bed in her room. She's been sleeping great! Only the first few times did she get up and try get out of naptime, but we put her right back and she stays. She's sleeping well from 8 pm to 8 am (a general guideline...). Sometimes she'll sleep even longer.

She still sleeps with her little yellow pillow, the pink and purple blankets, another flowery blanket, green monkey, buddy bear (ba-bil-ow), and Elmo. The other day we caught her sleeping in her bed smashed in the corner against the wall.

At her 2 year checkup, she was 35" tall and 29 lbs.

Calvin's first smiles

Calvin is starting to smile now! He's 6 weeks old. I've been too busy to sit down and type anything. He's gaining weight fast and is sleepin *decent* at night. He'll go for a 4-5 (sometimes even a 6) hour stretch, feed, and sometimes go right back to sleep. He's a lot more gassy of a baby than Violet was! He burps and farts so much more. He also takes a paci - he loves to suck!

We finally got the kid's bedroom switched. Since Dave moved his office to the basement, we painted that room and made it Violet's. She's sleeping in the queen size bed. Calvin has new bedding and moved into her old room with the crib and the changing table.

Dave has a funny story from this morning that he told me about. Last night was Violet's first whole night sleeping in her big queen bed. I think she slept in it the whole night, I'm not sure. Dave came back in the house after having coffee with Eric this morning, and he walked into find Violet standing in the middle of the living room, clutching her blankets. She had woken up on her own, pulled the towel off the window in her room (don't have window coverings up yet!), and walked out into the house by herself. I was still sleeping through this! How funny. We're onto the next stage in her life when she can do almost everything by herself. Next stage of life is potty-training....oh my!

Hospital pictures of Calvin's birth (and my 41 week belly pic)

Calvin David LaMarche was born 12-28-07!

My blog to my friends/family - c/p'ed here so I could record it: Written on 12/28/07: Right now I'm sittin' in the hospital bed. I am incredibly tired - and very drugged. I feel like at any moment my head could fall over and I'd be drooling dead asleep. Ok...first of all....I'm so thankful for this c-section. This baby would NOT have fit if I did end up going into labor and attempting a VBAC. The midwife and doctors both said they're glad I didn't have to find out what would have happened. (9 lbs 13.6 oz). Calvin was not quite as big as Violet, but his head measured around even bigger than hers did at birth. Wowza! So we woke up this morning at 4 am. I didn't sleep much.....maybe 2 hours of good sleep, the rest I attempted was pretty much tossing and turning. We got to our room, I got the IV and catheter put in, and then just waited. When the time came, I walked down to the surgery room and they got my spinal put in. The anesthesiologist did a GREAT job. I felt a couple minor pinches than was completely warm and numb. They did the incision at 7:33 and got Calvin out by 7:44 am. I was out of the surgery room around 8:30. I nursed him as soon as he got to the room. He opened up wide and latched on like a pro. He nursed for a good 15 minutes and switched sides, and nursed for 15 min on the other side. What a great start!!! He's SO cute!! He looks so much like Violet when she was a newborn. So today, I've been resting a lot. I walked up and down the hall for about 10 minutes already. Lots of pressure and pain at the incision site as I expected. My sister brought Violet to see us after she ate breakfast. She did SOOOOO good!! She immediately said "baby! baby! baby!" when she first saw Calvin. She got to "hold" him and she kissed him, pointing out his eyes, his lips, his hat, etc. We were both enamored to tears.

random antics...

Violet is such a goon lately. She is starting to talk SO much more. Lately she has been going on and on on these random tangents of talking. She'll blab and blab as if she's telling a story with her arms waving, hands pointing, and facial expressions.

Today's the due date

No progress. I'm pretty disappointed. After last week's false labor episode on Sunday morning I had a little hope that maybe it would start up again. But today I'm due and nothing. The midwife said I am not dilated at all.

Cervical pain

I have been feeling so much pain in/on/near my cervix this pregnancy. I never experienced this when I was pregnant with Violet. I am HOPING that is it is a good sign that I'll efface and dilate - since I've been going to the chiropractor this pregnancy, maybe my muscles are looser? I don't know. Just wanted to document that. :) I'm 4 weeks away from meeting our next baby!!!

fush! fush! fush!

Violet is obsessed with flushing the toilet. When she poos on the potty - or if I go, or if Dave goes, or for that matter, if ANYBODY goes on the potty, she notices and insists on flushing. The first time she got to do it, she would have a royal meltdown with screaming and crying if she was unable to flush - but after a few days, she realized she wasn't going to be allowed to flush for every single person in the house. We're at Grandma Martha's house for Thanksgiving this year in Chicago. The big meal is at Uncle Roger and Aunt Mary's in Naperville tomorrow.

Hep mama! Hep mama!

Violet has really been obsessed with helping lately. She says "hep mama! Hep mama! Hep mama!" if I'm doing something in the kitchen...so we pull up a chair, she stands on it, and "helps" me measure out things, pour stuff into bowls, and basically plays in the drawer that has all the measuring cups/spoons in it. It really slows down my progress, but I don't mind unless I'm trying to MAKE progress baking for the shop or something. She isn't allowed in the kitchen when I'm bakin'. But this morning we made pancakes, and she helped measuring all the ingredients...the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk, oil, and even cracked the egg. She squeezed it with all her might and got her hands all eggy, but miraculously, no shell fell in! So, I went with it. She even ate 2 pancakes and got a kick out me flipping them from side to side.

Tonight she insisted on helping Dave assemble the casserole we planned for supper. She repeats everything he says! Its sooo cute!

Starting to feel ready for this baby!

I am now 7 mo pregnant!

I should post a new belly picture. I really feel like this baby moves a LOT more than Violet did while in utero. Maybe my muscles and uterus are more stretched out this time. Who knows. I've been seeing a chiropractor to help me get "balanced" (my right side was really tight!) and loosened up for delivery. I'm attempting a VBAC. I'm feeling 50% confident it'll happen.

So...Violet is crazy. She knows so many words now. We got her a book of First 100 Words and she can point out almost everything. Car, duck, truck, train, milk, ball, baby, blanket, etc...it goes on and on. She likes to say "uck uck!" for "stuck". She says "shoes on! shoes on!" all the time and wants to run around the house in her shoes. Her favorite thing lately is holding anything with a strap on it on her shoulder like a purse.

She got to be with my parents last weekend. Dave and I went to Sara and Andy's wedding in MN. I think my mom and dad had a lot of fun with her!!

She stopped using her left hand to guide the spoon into her mouth. She used to insist on using both hands to spoon food to her mouth, but suddenly she dropped the habit.

She will be 2 very soon!

This baby is still mystery baby! We don't have any names picked out. Its so hard picking names.

I went to the ER last night

I must have caught some kind of virus. Wednesday night (Sept 12th) after eating supper I felt a little weird. I went to bed that night, and woke up at 3 am with an incredible urge to throw up. I barely made it to the toilet. Everything I had eaten came up. I tried drinking a little water to wash my mouth out and went to bed. I woke up again at 7:00 am the morning of the 13th and threw up the water and more food. Yuck. Dave had just left for a short trip so he was gone. I tried to stomach 1/2 a banana, but I also threw that up. I had an appointment with the midwife for my 25 week check up and I brought up my concerns with her. She said I was pretty dehydrated and said since I couldn't keep food down, to stick to a liquid diet. I went to Fareway and got Gatorade, Sprite, Ginger Ale, and foods for the BRAT diet. Turns out I couldn't keep liquids down either. That night...I was feeling so miserable. Taking care of Violet while feeling horrible was really hard. I was hungry, yet didn't have an appetite...I was thirsty...but couldn't keep down liquids. I paged the midwife that night and asked her what she thought I should do. She suggested I go to the ER for fluids. I called my mom and she drove down to my house. She's too sweet. She left Mason City at 10:30 and got in at midnight. I took off to the hospital at midnight, and left at 4 am. I immediately felt better!! I went home and slept from 4:30-8:00. My mom stayed to help me while I rested and she left shortly before Dave got home from his trip at 3 pm.

Update on Violet - 19 mo - and I am about 6 months pregnant!

Its been awhile since I posted. Violet is now a full-blown toddler! She's running around everywhere and climbing up on everything. She is talking so much more now. I'm going to try remember everything she can say: mama dada gaga up ice Abby Baba - blanket gara (garage) poon (spoon) obo (oatmeal) hah-dah (hot dog) wawa (water) muh (milk) bah (ball) poopoo car buh-um (button) fan hat bub-bye! luh-oo (luv you) hungry hi buh (book) caca (cracker) uh oh dog cat puh-puh-puh (porcupine) - her current favorite animal in the animal book papa (sometimes for grandpa) ba-room (bathroom) ba (bath) cup shoe some form of the word "diaper" Ah-AH (all done) duck stuck liy (light) muh-muh-muh (more more more!) -- which usually means "I need help with something!" paypah - paper joos (juice) peees (please) teeth gah-ih (got it) some form of "noodle" - it usually sounds like "goo-gah" cheese owie eyes arm hand boah (boat) something for "train" - not sure I could even use letters to make the sound she makes! gaga = banana hah! hah! = hot bihr = bird mmmmMMAAHHH = a kiss nih nih = night night I'm sure I forgot some....but thats the majority I think. I think I'm going to stop keeping track!! That was hard! She loves the jack-in-the-box that Grandma Jo got her. She winds the knob to play the song herself, but she holds the top that pops up down so it doesn't scare her in the middle of the song. She knows exactly when its going to pop up and she even slows down when its about to! It took her awhile to get used to it. She was scared at first, but she's slowly warmed up to it. She likes to drag things around the house too. She has formed an attachment to her little yellow pillow and her two blankets. The pink one and the purple one. She can't sleep without them, it seems. When its time for naptime or bedtime, she says "baba! papa!" for her blanket and pillow. When she does get them, the pillow gets a big hug. She fights to shove the whole pillow under her belly, then watches carefully as we lay BOTH (not one or the other) blankets on top of her. Then the fan gets turned on, and she goes to sleep after kicking her leg repeatedly for awhile. The napping thing is a little confusing. She is always so exhausted at 10 am and thats her normal nap time, but she goes down for a nap and doesn't sleep, and if she does, its for 15 min and she's up whining. So, I'm going to try push that nap back to after lunch, then maybe she'd sleep longer. She is eating almost everything we eat now. I don't fix her any special meals. She likes meat! She'll munch on pieces of chicken, pork, beef, and ham. She still likes chunks of cheese and a pile of pinto beans. The other night I got her to eat a big bowl of broccoli with cheese on it. She loved it! She must have been really hungry. She's not as whiney and clingy for my time. She is venturing off to play with toys on her own more. It gives me a little rest time as right now I'm 6 months pregnant and rest is much needed. I consider Violet 100% poopy-trained. She'll usually tell me if she has to go poopie, and we go take care of business on the toilet. I don't know when I'll start with the pee. I might get ambitious and get her trained before this baby comes...who knows. It is nice not having to change poopy diapers! She sleeps from 7:30-8:00 pm (bedtime) to around 8:00 am. I love that she doesn't get me up at 6 am like some of my friends' kids do. My mom taught her how to get a strap of a purse over her shoulder. Now all she wants to do with something with a strap is put it over her shoulder. So, she's been dragging her black diaper bag around on her shoulder all day. Then a toy with a string on it, then a little green bag with straps...anything. Dave says "oh no! she looks like a 'little girl' way too soon already!" I'm nervous about how she'll do with the new baby. She gets really jealous if I pay attention to other kids or hold other babies. So far, this pregnancy has been going great!! I only got a slight rash on my belly that lasted about a week. I haven't been sick, I've been eating well, and the baby is very healthy. I thank God so much for no problems. I've kept my weight down this pregnancy...managed better this time around. I have gained about 20 lbs so far. I gained over 50+ with Violet. Thankfully though, I lost all the weight before getting pregnant again, so my starting weight was 170, a weight I'm happy with. I'm trying to stay under 200 with this baby. We need to decide on names!! We're still tossing some around. Definitely not decided though.

update...

Well, its been a month since writing anything here. I should at least put on here a belly shot!! With baby #2...we are keeping the gender a surprise again. I am 22 or 23 weeks along now. I have already had my 20 week ultrasound and everything looks perfect. What a blessing! I just hope I go into labor on my own this time so I avoid a c-section again. Either way, the goal is to have a healthy mom and baby, no matter how he or she comes out.

Violet is crazy. That's the only word I can come up with to describe her. Her hair is wild and curly, and her personality is shining. She loves to giggle. She likes finding little things that "surprise" me so I react when she surprises me. Her giggle is sounding so much more adult like. She is running everywhere and climbs up on everything. I tried writing down everything she says, so I'll try again and hopefully I won't miss anything.

mama, gaga (dada), ca = cat, ga = dog, bir = bird, obo = oatmeal, mah - milk, wawa - water, up, heh = help, uh oh, poopoo, ba = bath, baba = blanket, baba/paba = pillow, papa = grandpa, puhpuhpuh = porcupine, byebye, bah = book, luh-oo = love you, mah-mah = more, muh = milk, Abuh = Abby, hah = hot, baby, tee = teeth, cheese, hot dog

28 words that she uses consistently! That's pretty impressive I think for her age. The pediatrician said at her 18 mo check up that 5-15 words is normal for kids her age.

I got her to eat broccoli smothered in cheese last night. She wanted bite after bite!

She loves having phone conversations. She will bring me a play phone and want me to have a conversation with someone, then say "bye bye!". She gets a kick out of it! Also, when I talk to Dave on the phone, she'll run over and say "gaga gaga!" then have a "conversation" with him...which always turns out to be him asking her to say things. He'll say "bye bye!" and she'll repeat with an enthusiastic "bye BYYYYE" in a high pitched voice so I know when they're done "talking.". She gave the phone a big kiss saying "mmmmmmmmMMAAAAAAA".

She's totally poopy-trained I think. If she has to go, she'll tell me "poopie" and if I set her on the toilet when she says that, she'll go poopie. I think that's amazing!

She has 12 teeth. 27 lbs, 33 1/4" tall.

Clips and steps

She's mastered so many things in the last week: - eating with a spoon. It only took her 4 days to get it right and not dump it upside down before it hits her mouth. She eats her oatmeal all by herself in the morning. The first day was a complete mess as well as the 2nd. I had to hose down the whole eating chair she uses. The next couple days were much, much better. - eating with a fork (sortof). I gave her a plate of lima beans and she ate 1/2 of them by stabbing each little green lima bean with a fork. - She walks down stairs with nothing to hang onto now. The outside cement steps are a breeze. I hold onto her hand doing downstairs in the house because there are so many and if she fell it would be a huge fall. - She LOVES clipping things together. The plastic clips that hold her down on the changing table, the clips that hold her life jacket together, anything that clips together! She can't unclip it yet though, so when she does get it together, she gets so excited, claps, then gets frustrated that its stuck...so I unclip it every time so she can keep playing. :)

I never find time to sit down anymore!

17 months old now. Wow! Almost a year and a half. I am going to make this brief...but sortof detailed. I only have a few minutes and I feel like (lately anyway) that if I don't do something as soon as I think of it, it won't get done at all. Thats how it is with journaling online. Violet is running around now (not so much walking!) and to sum up her personality, I would say a giggly copycat. She's always copying everything we do, from our expressions, to how we move our hands, to how we "dance", for example: Dave was explaining something while we were eating breakfast, and he was knocking his knuckles on the counter. Violet started doing the same thing. Then he knocked with both hands, and she followed suit. Every time she copies something, she looks at us to get attention and laughs. She loves kissing. She'll walk up to me and go "mmmmmm!!" and expect a big "muuahhhh" in return. She lately started banging her face into ours very quickly and "kissing" us every single time. She still uses her sign language a lot. She's 32 1/2" tall, and 25-26 lbs. Not sure on the weight...it goes up and down a lot. She likes bananas now. Sometimes she'll eat a whole one as fast as me. Sometimes she'll take one bite and refuse the rest....so I never know how bananas will go over. Anything else I remember, and I'll try come back and post it!

Our first trip away from Violet

So, Dave and I decided we needed to do 2 things: Get away together and not be "mom and dad" all the time (mostly for me though...) and also celebrate our 4th wedding annivesary. I was able to get the weekend off baking for the coffee shop, and Dave lined up his mom to watch Violet for us, and we booked a trip to downtown Chicago. My initial feeling was nervousness, only because this was my first trip away from Violet overnight. I knew that she would be fine, so I convinced myself to enjoy myself and talk myself into believing that she would be perfectly fine with Martha. I had no worried whatsoever about Martha's ability to take care of her...goodness...she's practically overqualified, but I worried about Violet being with someone unfamiliar for 2 days. Tonight is our last night in Chicago. We arrived here Thursday late, but we left our house very early Thursday morning. Very early is like 8:30 for us. Violet was awake for the first 2 hours of the car ride, and eventually fell asleep for an hour, and then was awake for the last hour. We drove right to Dave's grandma's house and had lunch with her and Aunt Joyce. The 17-yr locusts were out in full force, buzzing so loud that you needed earplugs. I got a headache just listening to them for a couple hours. She served cold cut sandwiches, melon, pineapple, potato salad, and chips. Then Dave tackled the light fixture above the kitchen table for his grandma, so he and her went to Home Depot while Joyce and I stayed to play with Violet. After an hour, Dave got back and Violet needed to go take a nap. I headed downstairs with her to the guest bed to see if she would go to sleep, but she would only calm down to rest if I was laying next to her rubbing her back, so I ended up taking a nap too. That was nice to sleep during the day. Once Dave was done with the light, we went out to dinner at Max & Erma's with Martha, Florence and Joyce. Violet was a little less than behaved, only getting a minimal amount of sleep during the day and refusing to eat the chicken and broccoli we offered her. We got her to bed at Martha's house around 9 pm, and then headed downtown. The feeling of taking off without the car seat in the car or Violet's familiar babble from the back seat was really weird! Refreshing and disheartening at the same time. I already missed her, but kept thinking how much fun Dave and I would have the next couple days, and got excited. So, we checked into the fancy Conrad hotel. We were in room 1213, a king suite with a view of Michigan Avenue and the lakefront. Very, very nice. Huge bathroom, comfy bed, and basically all the best amenities. We slept well that night. Friday morning we woke up at 8:00 (I think I officially lack the ability to sleep in now because I'm programmed to wake up when Violet does!). We got ready for the day, and ate a delicious breakfast at the restaurant at the hotel. We took a cab to the Museum of Science and Industry that cost us around $20. We saw old airplanes, trains, genetics research and displays, a prenatal development display, the human heart, human brain, an old historic main street, historical robot world, the insides of a navy submarine, ate a brownie ice cream sundae, etc. I can't remember every exhibit, but each one was 100% different from the other and it took a lot of brain power to take it all in. We felt exhausted after 2 hours, and decided to leave. We discovered the public bus route came by the museum, so we waited, and once it arrived, were happy to know that the fare was only $2 per person. Much better than our cab ride expense on the way to the museum. The bus would have taken us into the heart of Michigan Avenue, but we saw a Land's End store and decided to hop off early and shop there, because we had 3 gift cards to the store to use up. I found 2 pairs of sunglasses and some maternity clothes, and Dave got a pair of leather flipflops. We headed back to the hotel to drop off our things, and stayed there for awhile to rest and appreciate the relaxing silence and escape of the noisy atmosphere on the streets. After about an hour, we decided to head back out for some dinner and get to Millennium Park in time to get good seats for the show that night. We had our hearts set on Mr. Submarine, but when we got there, we found out it was closed down. We were disappointed, but had a 2nd option knowing that we had just passed a local sandwich shop a block away, and went there instead. We were surprised at how delicious it was. We ate our sandwiches in the park and waited for the show to start. We got seats to Mendellson's Elijah. We didn't realize it was more of an opera. Definitely talented singers, orchestra and choir, but after an hour (we waited for the intermission), we took off to explore more things and enjoy the nightlife. We meandered through the park and enjoyed watching the families with young children hop around the fountains with changing faces and water shooting out at random times. We ended up back at our hotel, tired from all the walking. Dave had a desire to go out and find a nice place to get dessert. The concierge recommended a place called Phil Stefani's which was supposed to be a block away from the hotel, but we headed the wrong direction and never found it. We ended up at a smaller restaurant that had seating on the sidewalk outside. It was around 10 pm by the time we sat down. We split a strawberry-rhubarb salad and chocolate fondue. It was fun to enjoy the warm night and watch people as they walked by. There is no shortage of interesting people to look at. Saturday morning we were able to sleep in til 9:00. We had a desire to check out this new breakfast restaurant called Yolk, so we got ready quickly (because we were so hungry!) and got down to Rush Street. We hailed the first cab we saw and it took us there. We paid $6 for that taxi fare. The restaurant was hopping! We got seats at the bar, sipped strawberry-orange juice and looked over the menu. Dave got a corned beef hollandaise sauce dish, and I ordered an omelet with 3 kinds of meat, tomatoes, and onions. It was an absolutely enourmous amount of food, but we finished it and were very happy with our satisfying breakfast. Our next stop was the Art Institute. It was a 1 mile walk from the restaurant. I think the combination of the hot, muggy air and our full bellies made both of us extremely groggy and tired. We got our tickets at the Institute and started walking down the hall to the first exhibit, but both decided we couldn't move on without some coffee or something. We drug our feet down to the café and slowly sipped our coffee hoping for a pick-me-up. Dave said he could have fallen asleep right there on his arm no problem. We sat there for a long time, just hoping we would wake up. We were so full....and tired. The feeling eventually left and we perked up a little bit. We strolled through so many exhibits...and the last one we saw was the "contemporary" art. Weird, really weird art. Some things I am sure I could have scribbed, framed, and stuck on the wall to fit right in. Just silly...to us. We didn't get it. Anyway, we had enough of the quiet art institute. I was kindof bored actually. Dave was disappointed at the lack of armor on display, as he was hoping to find some items he remembered seeing as a child to show me. We found out 1/2 of the armor was in storage, waiting for renovations and the moving of art wings to be relocated. Oh well. So, after the Art Institute, we decided to walk back to our hotel (another mile) and made a pit-stop at Caribou Coffee. We got iced mochas, Dave had a cookie, and I had a cup of fruit, granola and yogurt. We weren't really hungry...but ate anyway. We got back to the hotel and laid around and relaxed, enjoying the peace and quiet again. I worked on a sudoku puzzle, I think. We changed clothes and put on nice attire for our dinner out. We decided to try Lawry's Prime Rib restaurant, and had reservations set for 8:15. We had about 2 hours to kill, so we shopped at Crate and Barrel and found some gifts to give Martha as a token of our appreciation for taking care of Violet while we were away. Dave got some ibuprofen to try relieve a sore back muscle ache, and then we had our dinner. We both ordered Prime Rib...but enjoyed their signature "spinning salad" the most out of the entire dinner. The restaurant gave us a complimentary strawberry trifle for dessert for our annivesary. :) So, here we are in our hotel room after having dinner at Lawry's. We are planning on getting to bed a little earlier than the last 2 nights because we have an earlier morning. I am really excited to see Violet!! This time was much needed for Dave and I...to get some 1 on 1 time, and remember what it was like before kids. Its amazing how much our little daughter consumes our life and it gave me a renewed appreciation for Dave, as well as a reminder that we need to do this time away thing (even an evening) on a more consistent basis to keep our priorities in order.

Violet's appointment with the cardiologist

Today was a traumatic day for Violet. She had her EKG scheduled at 11:30 this morning so the doc could get a better idea whats going on with her heart. Before I go into it, I'll say that the results were outstanding. She only has a minor innocent heart murmur that poses no threat to her health or physical activity!! Praise God! I'm so happy! So, we left our house around 10:45. I got to the hospital check-in window promptly at 11:15 so I could spend some time filling out paperwork. I think I filled out 3 forms and then later they found that I missed one so I had to fill out another one. The information they need is incredible! Violet was happy as can be, waving and smiling at people. She sat in her stoller and played with some animal stickers while we waited. We were then called to come back, so I left the stroller in the waiting room while we went back to the doctor's rooms. The nurse talked to me a little bit and explained what was going to happen. She said an EKG is a very simple and quick test....the most time consuming part is hooking her up to the machine with all the stickers and everything. The moment the two nurses came in with the machine on wheels was the moment she got a sour face and started crying. She immediately wanted to bury her head in my shoulder....but when I wouldn't let her, her screams only got stronger and louder. They took her blood pressure with the little cuff and it was normal I think...her heartrate was around 190 (way high!) because she was so stressed out. Once they got all the little sticky patches on her skin and hooked up to the machine, we tried to calm her down with toys, books, stickers, a toy frog, anything to keep her distracted and calm enough for 10 seconds so the test would run successfully. Thankfully, she found comfort in one of the nurse's green plastic frogs on a string and the test came out fine. Once they finished, she got unhooked and and nurses left, telling me the cardiologist would be in to see us soon. She then was happy as a clam again! She walked around the room exploring things and grabbed a few books and magazines from the magazine rack hooked to the edge of the countertop in the room. We scanned through a few magazines for distraction purposes. The doctor came in about 5 minutes later and talked to me a bit about murmurs. He tried to listen to her (as I sat her in my lap) but the scareyness of the stethascope and his presence sent her into a crying frenzy again. He grabbed stickers and anything we could find to try calm her down again. Eventually she stopped crying and he could listen. He said he heard the murmur faintly, but that it was an innocent one and there was no hole in her heart, just extra whooshing of blood in her heart valves that poses no risk to her health. He was happy to hear that and give me a clear diagnosis for her and not to limit any of her physicial activity since "nothing was really wrong" that needed medical attention. He said he'd like to hear her heart again in about a year's time. His next suggestion was to take an X-ray of her chest area to make sure that her heart is the right size and shape for her body and age. So, I got a lab sheet to go re-register in radiology, a separate wing of the hospital. She was happy to get the stickers off her skin and put her shirt back on. We walked back to get the stroller and I put her in with some melon chunks to eat while we traveled through the hospital. She happily munched away. While we registered for that, I called Dave with the good news. He was happy to hear it as well! So, we got to radiology and soon after settling down playing with some toys in the waiting room, the nurses called us back. I wheeled her down the hallway, and they came out to ask if I could possibly be pregnant. Well, I told them "Yes! I am!" and that of course, meant that I couldn't be in the x-ray room with Violet. So, the two girls took her away from me kicking and screaming while they did the x-ray. Thankfully, they were quick and painless. I couldn't see anything, but from what they told me, they had Violet sitting in a chair strapped in with her arms held over her head. The screaming was hard to hear sitting in the hallway by myself...but she stopped temporarily. They nurses said once she got strapped into the machine she was fine. Weird. Anyway, they gave Violet back to me and we got her shirt and shoes back on. I was free to go, but curious if I could see the pictures of the x-ray. They said sure! So, I walked back to another room and got to see a couple of the x-rays of Violet's chest. Nothing really crazy....a lot of bones and a thing in the middle of her chest where her heart is and an air bubble obviously in her stomach...kindof funny. Probably from her frantic screaming. We were both thankful to be done. I put her back in her stroller with some fish crackers and she ate those all the way to the car. Almost the moment she got all buckled in and the car started moving, she konked out and fell asleep. The whole 30 minute drive home she slept, and when I pulled in the driveway and turned off the engine, she continued to stay sleeping, so I put her in her crib at home to sleep more, and she slept for around 2 1/2 more hours. She definitely needed the sleep because the whole morning at the hospital caused her to skip her normal 10:30 nap. That was our day. She got over it, but most of all I'm glad there is nothing wrong and that she doesn't need to get the echo-cardiogram on Friday that was previously scheduled in case something more serious had been found out. *whew*!! Glad today is over!

Violet's heart murmur

Its hard to even type those words in the title of this post. Its hard to think that your baby has anything wrong with her when she's barely been sick in her life. I switched pediatricians because Dave and I didn't like the other guy (Dr. Pranger). For many reasons, but to avoid ranting, I'll just say we are glad we switched. We are seeing Dr. VanSickle in Waterloo (she's with Covenant, not Allen). She is much easier to talk to! I am glad we switched. ANYWAY, she checked Violet at 15 mo. We are late in scheduling this one, so she's closer to 16 months. She heard a heart murmur. I don't know how serious it is, but she said that at this age, any heart murmur is more serious than one in a child that is less than a year old. She asked if our other doctor heard it. I said no. She was surprised. She said that the only thing to do is see a pediatric cardiologist for a preliminary EKG test (which is a quick test) and then depending on the results of that, she may or may not need the ECHO-cardiogram. The echo test is more extensive, which would prevent Violet from drinking or eating the morning of the test, and she'd have to be sedated for an hour to lay there for the entire test. Most patients don't have to be sedated for this test, but because of her age, she wouldn't be able to lie down for an hour controlled. So.....I don't know whats going to happen. Tuesday next week is the initial exam with the cardiologist. He'll perform the EKG and then let us know from there. I'm just praying everything is alright and trusting God to see us through this.