The Big Potty Boy & The Little Lady

I hope you enjoy a recent photo of Joshua- particularly the supper that still remains on his face. He was working on a project when I took this photo- involving his pretend wooden pieces and his comb from the barber shop. I have no earthly clue what he was trying to accomplish, but he worked at it diligently while standing on his beloved step stool.

So sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been getting increasingly lazy as the days draw nearer and nearer to delivery day, which doesn't exactly make for good blogging. We've been spending our time with Joshua, just enjoying being a family of three most of our evenings. We've been laughing a whole bunch, and I've been loving watching Joshua and Jason play together and watch football together. If ever I've seen a twinkle in Jason's eye, it's from Joshua's interest in learning about, playing and watching football with his Daddy.

We had a very busy weekend with a library trip on Saturday morning (one of Joshua's most favorite things to do), some flower un-planting involving shovels and dirt (Joshua's other favorite things to use), a PSU game and dinner with Jason's parents on Saturday evening. Sunday was church, where we nearly accomplished the reintroduction of Joshua to kids church, but ended with his return to me in the sanctuary about 15 minutes after I dropped him off. The teacher said we'll just work on him slowly and let him get used to staying the whole time again. This week's goal is to make it through snack time. (Oh how I dread preschool.) Then in the afternoon we had a Kiwanis picnic to attend and had a great time there.

Although this may seem awfully disjointed, I have to share an update on Joshua and the potty. This child has completely amazed me, and has given me complete trust in our intuition about when he was ready to attempt training. He has essentially, over the course of a week and a half, trained himself. He has had three accidents in all of that time, but with shocking accuracy knows just when he needs to go to the potty. Night training hasn't really been attempted, but we did talk about how all he needs to do when he wakes up is call for me if he needs to use the potty. Normally, he'll lay in his bed for hours (not that I let him go that long) once he wakes up, knowing that we'll be checking on him to see when he's awake. He's never been one to make any noise or get out of bed when he's actually rested and ready to get up. So, wouldn't you know it, yesterday morning I heard, "Mommy?" on the monitor. I went tearing up the stairs and he looked at me and said, "I have to pee." So we headed to the potty, and sure enough, he went. The amazing part was that his diaper was completely dry from the entire night. I was so proud of him that I didn't know what to do. He did the same thing this morning, although he wasn't completely dry. But he's getting it...a heck of a lot faster than I would have anticipated. Yay for Joshua!!!!

And now for the update on the other one... Jason and I had an appointment with Dr. Miller yesterday afternoon. Sadly, our 2:00 appointment never ended up happening until 3:20 because there was a baby who needed to be delivered upstairs. We love our doctor, and love the fact that he's a one man show, except in situations like that where you sit and wait. For whatever reason, my blood pressure was once again higher than the hills. No other problems, but he still wants to see me again tomorrow morning to do a recheck on the blood pressure. I have no idea what happens if it's not better. I guess I'll get that information if and when it becomes necessary, although we hope it doesn't.

We were given all of our pre-op instructions yesterday as well. I have to go on Monday for my registration work at the hospital, as well as the round of lab work that they need to have done right before the big day. We're first out of the gate for surgery next Wednesday morning, so we need to arrive at the hospital by 6 am. As soon as they have me prepped with all of the glamorous things that happen, I'll be in surgery (hopefully between 7-7:30 am). Hopefully that means I'll be back in my room, feeling my toes and enjoying the baby and Jason by 9:30 or so. Jason has everyone's information and will be sharing an update via text message (probably...) as soon as he can. He'll be spending all of the time that I'm in recovery with the baby, giving her her bath and rocking with her, so don't panic if you don't hear anything right away. He'll make calls to our immediate family, so it's possible that you may get word from one of them as well. Daddy will have a lot of jobs to do, but that was one of the best parts for him after Joshua was born. It's their own special time together before he has to share her, even with me. Our families will start to roll in after lunch sometime to give us some quiet time with the baby, and to save them the agony of sitting in a hospital waiting room for hours on end while they're screwing around with me or doing the things that they need to do to the baby.

We're still not sure when the big brother will make his appearance and are waiting to see how I feel and make a decision on how much to expose him to. I'm considering waiting until Thursday morning to have him come to visit when I can get out of bed and am free of my IV and catheter. The fewer scary medical things we have to expose him to, the better. All he can understand is that Mommy and the baby need to rest because it's hard work to have a baby. He knows that my tummy will hurt and that I won't be able to pick him up, but that he'll be able to sit with me and see his sister as much as he wants. Poor thing--- I'm way more worried about him and how he's going to adjust to all of this than I am about anything else (spinal, IV, pain, new baby, sleepless nights, feeding issues, etc. all included). I know he'll surprise me and handle it like a champ, but you all know me well enough to know that that doesn't mean I won't still worry.

I'll keep everyone posted if anything comes from this blood pressure issue tomorrow morning. I've been monitoring it here and haven't seen anything quite as alarming as what we saw yesterday. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Regardless, I am more excited than I can even begin to express that by this time next week, we'll have a new baby in our arms. We pray that she's safe and sound, that I handle surgery half as well as I did the first time, and that we're surrounded by those we love this time next week. When my delivery with Joshua was looming, I had no idea the enormity of the change that was about to happen, even though I thought I was fully prepared. What struck me the most was the intense feeling of falling in love with this little person, and falling in love with my husband all over again as I watched him fall in love with our son. I find myself very overwhelmed at the idea of it all happening again next week, and fully expecting the rush of emotions that's headed our way. It makes you appreciate the blessing so much more, and savor each part of it. I find many of my thoughts centering on that as the days draw closer. We are so blessed.