spring purge

I want to do an ENORMOUS spring clean purge of our house. We have boxes and boxes in the garage and in our closets that we haven't opened since we moved them here almost a year ago. We did a garage sale and donation just after we packed up our previous house, but now it's time to do it again. I want this to be the biggest boldest purge we've ever done. I want to get rid of clothes that I've saved forever, items that might even be slightly sentimental, and paperwork that we've held on to for longer than necessary.

However...

I still feel like junk (I know, I'm such a whiner). Last night as I was going to sleep I mentally pictured items in my closet that I would throw in the box. I even thought about all the stuff in our guest room that will most likely become Kai's new room before baby comes. I literally started to mentally catalogue stuff in to different boxes. Donate, trash, recycle, garage sale, keep. You know, Clean Sweep style. Oh how I wish we had HGtv. Anyway, I eventually fell asleep so I didn't finish. As soon as I'm feeling better (if not sooner) I'm definitely ready to make room in our small home. I can't wait! The nesting phase must hit earlier the second time around...

Do you do a spring cleaning? How do you keep your house from getting too cluttered? I'd love your ideas!

flare up

Malakai's hernia flared up on Friday night. It happened exactly like it did the first time and we were able to retrace our steps to pinpoint the cause. I'm almost certain it's aggravated by his new potty chair. We just picked it up on Monday to start practicing before bath time each night. Both times when his hernia happened it was the transition from potty chair to bathtub. I think it's the way he's sitting on the chair that strains the area. It's hard not to feel guilty and wonder if we hadn't introduced the potty chair if none of this would have happened. But it's too late for regrets, it is what it is.

Thankfully Dr. B showed us how to literally push it back in and we were able to do so fairly easily to bring him relief. Afterwards he had a very hard time going to sleep so we gave him some ibuprofen for the residual pain and he was good to go the rest of the night.

I'll be calling the surgeon on Monday to set up our initial appointment. I'm guessing we'll talk about all the details and schedule the surgery for sometime later this month. While I'll still nervous about surgery (especially anesthesia) I'm slightly looking forward to it so we can put the flare ups behind us and move forward towards Malakai's recovery.

After the drama on Friday night we had a fairly restful weekend. No plans or obligations on Saturday all day, which has been a long time coming for us. It was nice to hang out at home and get some rest.

Thanks again to all of you who are praying and thinking of us and especially Malakai. He's really just as good as normal other than when the hernia flares up, which I'm very thankful for.

Here's hoping this week turns out better than the last one!

photo friday: snoozin' ((and a thank you))

Here's my boy + his "bwawdie" down for his nap at this very moment. He's so sweet + peaceful when he sleeps. He sometimes talks (just like his daddy), but whenever he's sleeping so still + quiet I can't help but watch for a little while (and try to snap a picture without waking him). 

Thank you to all of you that are praying and recruiting others to pray. I KNOW that Malakai is going to get through this and so are his mama + daddy, but it's just a heavy weight on my heart whenever I think about it. It doesn't help that I'm extra emo + constantly sick due to some very strong pregnancy hormones. So I'm doing my best to distract myself with other things and take joy in all our little moments. 

All the encouraging words and whispered prayers are such a blessing over us. I know in the grand scheme of things that this is a very very small bump in the road and that it'll be behind us soon. It could be much worse, others have it much much worse, so I don't want to whine too much around here. Despite that, thank you for reading and understanding where I'm coming from. It helps to be heard. 

We have a much needed weekend ahead with very little planned. 

Happy Weekend!

urgent care

So, I started to blog yesterday afternoon during Kai's nap, but took a nap of my own and decided to finish after he went to bed. That is obviously not how our evening went down. Let me back up.

Yesterday morning I had my first appointment with my OB. She delivered Malakai and was excited to see me again. I had been thinking of switching to a nurse midwife for more natural birthing options, but I just love my OB so much that I don't think I could do it. < bunny trail. Anyway, she tried to hear the little bean's heartbeat but couldn't find it. At 8 weeks 5 days, it's still early. She heard Kai somewhat early, but I was 9 weeks 3 days, almost a week further. I wasn't worried and neither was she. However, I had some spotting on Monday (and received a lovely shot of rhogham thanks to my rh- bloodtype) so she offered to request an ultrasound if I wanted. Of course I wanted! Surprisingly they were able to schedule me for an appointment later that afternoon. 

We picked up Ben from work and the three of us headed in. As I lay down on the table I told the tech we had a CD-R for photos and I kid you not she said "well I want to make sure there's something in there first". Considering that my chart has my reason for being there as "threatened miscarriage" (for formality sake) that was the worst possible thing to say. 

Baby bean is doing just fine and Malakai did a great job. He was really curious about everything but didn't freak out at not being able to get down from daddy's arms or anything. 

When we got home I started to feel really sick. Nauseated, heartburn, terrible headache, and sort of dizzy. I gagged a couple times but never vomited (darn this stubborn stomach of mine). It was the worst my "morning" sickness has been. Ben decided to stay home from his class that he has on Wednesday nights for work since I was barely able to look after Malakai. My feeling terrible and Ben staying home ended up being such a huge blessing.

We had planned to put Kai down for bed and finally watch the movie Inception that Ben had grabbed from RedBox earlier. Kai sat on his potty chair before bath time and then when Ben put him in the bath he began to cry. He has done this before on a rare occasion when he isn't in the mood for a bath or to stop what he was doing. Ben rushed his bath, Kai cried the whole time. 

When we got him out he started screaming. We laid him down in his room and I started looking over his whole body asking him where his ouch was.  Then I noticed that he had some swelling in his groin. ( he has a history of issues with this area, none of them have been painful). As I looked at it and gently touched it, the swelling got worse and he got more upset. I started to cry and told Ben to call the pediatrician. I gently got him dressed and we were instructed to take him to urgent care and request an ultrasound. 

If I had been feeling better and Ben had gone to class I would have been without a car. I would have had to go through that terror by myself and then wait for Ben to get to us so we could take him in. Thank the LORD I was feeling so miserable. 

Malakai calmed down on the car ride, but was quiet and clingy as we checked in. Both are not normal traits for him. We sat in the waiting room and he started to perk up. We were probably behind 15 other people, plus if any emergencies came in they went straight to the front. We weren't considered an emergency. Ben took Kai to the changing table in the restroom to check things out and oddly everything was back to normal. So he called the doctor to see if we could come see her tomorrow instead of waiting all night at Urgent Care, which is what we did. 

This morning at 9am we went and saw Dr. B and explained what had happened. She said that last night, because of his undescended testicle that she thought maybe it had twisted in the canal or something. Upon hearing and seeing more details she said she knew exactly what was wrong, Malakai had a hernia. 

She explained to us the following, some of which I knew from his history and some of which was brand new to me (mostly the hernia stuff). 

When baby boys are forming in the womb their testicles are formed in the abdomen and normally travel down canals to their rightful place just before birth. Malakai had a stubborn one that waited to make it's way down. It had come down by the time he was a year, but would often go back up a bit, again, this has never been painful. We were to watch it and if it didn't stay down by his 2nd birthday we'd see a specialist and talk surgery.  With the canal being an opening, it left a space for his bowel/intestine to protrude, which is what we had seen happen last night and is very painful. So, the threat of surgery has now become a reality as they have to close that canal to keep it from happening again and doing other damage. 

Dr. B left the room to call the pediatric surgeon and I began to cry. On the car ride there, this was exactly what I had prayed against. I don't want my son to have surgery, especially at just 20 months of age. It is much much better than if he were still an infant, but it's still scary. I don't like the thought of him going under anesthesia, being cut open, and having to go through recovery. I'm not trying to be dramatic, and this surgery is relatively simple, but it's surgery and I'm scared. 

We were told what to do if the hernia were to flare up again, heaven forbid. Then, we were instructed to call the surgeon within the month to schedule an appointment and move forward from there. I am looking forward to fixing this problem for good, the hernia surgery will also make sure his testicle stays down which keeps the risk of partial sterility away. But I'm still scared for my baby. 

Even still, I want to focus on what I have to be thankful for...

531. seeing our teensy baby bean

532. the way God works things out for our good.

533. our brave + sweet little boy

534. the moments where I do feel well enough to get things done around the house or around town.

535. a husband who puts family first + takes the best care of us. 

536. the freedom to call out to God in times of trouble and the faith to trust him through the heartache.

537. gatorade + the gift of Trader Joe's hard candies to battle nausea from Jamie. 

538. supportive + loving family + friends. 

539. times when Kai plays quietly or independently so I can just observe and rest.

540. nap time.

What are you thankful for this week?

Also, will you pray with us for Malakai's surgery? We are praying for healing, peace, quick recover, and financial provision (our insurance is a very high deductible). 

pushing through

This past weekend we had so many things going on that I had to push through the "morning" sickness and the exhaustion to get things done and meet social obligations. I'm glad I did, but I'd pay for it every night.

I switched from my prescription prenatal vitamins back to my over-the-counter brand and felt less nauseated as soon as the next day. I'll be discussing this with my doctor tomorrow. The main reason for the prescription was to get enough folic acid, but it's only a 200mcg difference, so I'm hoping it's ok. I never took prescription vitamins with Kai.

On Friday night we dropped Malakai off at Grandma + Grandpa Pottorf's house to go to a fundraiser at my brother Cody's High School for Mr. Falcon. It was dinner, a play, and an auction. I did pretty well eating the food and dealing with the smells. I had my trusty oyster crackers with me, which almost always helps.

{Cody + his friend Tyler}

When we got home I went straight to sleep, it was about 8:30pm. Yes, I was exhausted. 

On Saturday I got up at 6am to get ready for a women's conference in Salem. My mother-in-law picked me up and we met my sister-in-law there. The conference was all day, I was armed with plenty of snacks and water to keep me from getting sick from an empty stomach and I did fairly well. 

{me, Kristi, + Debbie}

I got home at 5:30 and we immediately rushed to get ready to head out the door again for a friend's 80's themed birthday party. We were late, but luckily they live just down the street. Here's what we threw together...

{Ben went 80's preppy. the bday boy in the background}

{Kai rocked some metalic guitars + mama had the classic side ponytail}

We got to meet yet another sweet newborn February baby, little Henry, and enjoyed a feast of Mexican food. We got home around 8:30 and after Kai went to bed, I crashed early again. I was so exhausted that I went to sleep with all my makeup on, blue eyeshadow + all. 

Sunday I went to church at 8am for work. Ben + Kai met me later that morning for 2nd service. Malakai took a nap when we got home around 1pm and so did I (can you see a trend here?). Afterwards we went to my parents' place to visit and have dinner. Ben + Cody brainstormed skit ideas for the Mr. Falcon pageant coming up in May, I'm excited to see what they put together. 

Yesterday I had planned on running errands, and even though I started to feel really sick again, I got ready and we headed out the door. On the way to the store Malakai fell asleep. It was also pouring down rain. So I decided to head to Jamie + Jacob's house to visit them, hoping Kai was sleep. But he woke up as soon as the rain drops hit his face. After visiting we headed back home and napped (the best time of day). Afterwards we picked up daddy from work and ran a few of the errands we didn't accomplish earlier. 

I returned a pair of pants I had purchased at The Loft, but couldn't find the receipt. They generously gave me store credit, but the bummer is that they don't have maternity wear in store and I can't use it online. I'm thinking that maybe I'll be able to find some cute tops in the summer that will work for my swelling belly. 

Speaking of, here's a photo from this past Friday. 

I'm so terrible about blogging on Mondays lately. I get so tired over the weekend that I don't want to do anything but snuggle up with Malakai and rest. Hopefully I'll get my energy back soon and get back in the groove of things.

Even though it's already Tuesday, what did you do over the past weekend?