Baby Flynn- Spokane Appointment

Since I am older, the doctor recommended that we go to Spokane to the Maternal-Fetal Clinic at Sacred Heart. We elected to do this to better prepare ourselves just in case there was an issue.

The Spokane Appointment was on July 14th. I was so scared and nervous.  We met with a genetic counselor. That was interesting and helpful. She talked about the different tests that we can do. We elected to do the NIPS test (Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening).  They take my blood, and a cheek swab from Jason and then they send it off to a lab. The lab will isolate my cells and remove them, so then all that should be left is some cells from the baby. They look at chromosomes for Down Syndrome, Trisomy 13 and 18 and extra chromosomes only. They don't factor in my age which the other more well known blood work does, this one just looks at the baby.  They say the results are really accurate if they are able to isolate the cells like they need to.

It was a quite an ordeal to get blood out of me that day as my veins decided not to cooperate real well. The Women's Center decided to have me go to the hospital lab to have my blood drawn, so they give me the order and the vials they would use.  So here I am walking through the halls of Sacred Heart carrying my own blood vials.  You have to check in at the Surgery Center for any Lab work, so after we figured that out, it was fairly quick.

They tried my right arm in the normal spot for me, and while they were able to draw blood, it didn't want to flow real well.  So then I start downing some water, and they put hot packs on my left arm and one of my hands.

The left arm, as usual, would not cooperate at all, so they didn't even try.  The first phlebotomist (who attempted the right arm) called in someone else just to double check.  The second one decided it might be best to just try the hand.  They were able to fill both vials, but those top of hand draws do hurt a little more.

The funny thing, is that I got to take the now filled vials back to the Women's Center. How often does that happen?!

We should hear results some time during the week of July 20-24. 

We also got to have another ultrasound.  It was very neat to see the difference between the baby at 10 weeks and 13 weeks.  It went looking like a gummy bear, to looking like a little human.

 At one point one of the hands was up by the head, and near the end it was right by the mouth. So the little one could be finding its fingers very soon if it hasn't already. We go to see it jump up and down a few times.

The fluid level they look closely at on the base of the neck measured 2.6. So the doctor gave us a gold star there.

We got some other printouts from the ultrasound, but they are so tiny (like the foot) they are hard to see. 

A Great Adventure is about to Begin!

While this is now Facebook public, I haven't written about it here. One reason, I am just bad at updating the blog.

Anyway-back to our great adventure.

On Mother's Day I found out I was pregnant. For everyone who knows me, having a family has been a very big deal to me, and now that it is happening I am just scared.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

We told family the next day, but kept it mostly quiet, except for a few friends here and there. I wanted some women who I love and trust deeply to know so that I had support for what I was going through.

Our first doctor's appointment was June 22nd-right after Father's Day. I say seeing the baby was a pretty good present.  Here is the first picture of baby Flynn. Hear rate was measuring 159, if I remember correctly

The little Gummy Bear-10 weeks 2 days

Here was our Facebook Announcement:

I came across this Winnie the Pooh quote and just had to use it.  A great adventure really is about to begin. 

Little Concert featuring Yosi Mesbah

We were very lucky to have been graced with the presence of Yosi Mesbah last week. She grew up in the area, and is now currently in Nashville trying to make it as a singer/songwriter.

She was on a little tour, and we were lucky that she made a stop in Moscow.

This is her Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/YosiSongs

Her CD Cellar and Sky is beautiful. You can buy that here.   She will also release a live version of the best performances from each concert. I can't tell you how beautiful her songs were, you just have to experience it for yourself

Childhood Development Toy Project 2015

Yes, I know this is a little behind. I was recently going through my phone and realized I have a bunch of pictures that I took with the sole purpose of posting on the blog. As you can see I haven't done that yet.

So I took 2 more classes this past Spring, they were pretty fun. One was on Childhood Developmet-Ages birth to age 8.  While I didn't walk out of there with much sticking in my head, the class was interesting.

We were tasked with creating a toy for a specific age group. We needed to clearly describe what it does developmentally for the child.

There were just 2 people in my group, and I think we rocked our little project.

We based our toy off of of The Melissa and Doug Grasping Toy

Here is the concept behind our project:

~ Shapes, textures, colors, patterns, and numbers to help kids learn those things
~ Helps develop fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination and cognitive learning.
~ 2 Design options- articulating or a string/bead option that has multiple holes the child can use to put a string through

Here are some pictures. I made a mock-up of the different shapes we would use using Crayola Model Magic.  This stuff is so much fun to work with!!!

Here is what we came up with.

These were our original ideas for shapes

I added these at the last minute

Then I worked on finalizing the patterns and textures on the shapes that were getting that treatment.

So the square has raised dots. The rectangle has q-tips I cut then ends off of. The Circle is the fuzzy thing in the middle. Then we had different patterns. My partner and I both love giraffes, so that is why the heart is a giraffe print. The back side of the pattern shapes have reflective paper.

Here is our poster board:

I would do the poster board a little differently now by taking the black edging off the shapes.  The lettering is vinyl peel and stick. Those are awesome for posters by the way. However the underside of my nails were sore for a couple of days from peeling the letters off the sheet.

Our classmates got to grade our projects in a sense by commenting on which ones were their favorites. We apparently got some good feedback. We were also the only ones with an actual thing to hold.

Random Pondering

I have been feeling so many different emotions lately. Overwhelmed, stress, hurt, frustration, unloved, alone.

Work hasn't been enjoyable for quite a while now. While I am trying to change my mindset, to make it better, it isn't always easy. I am getting new tasks, which is  good and I am very thankful for the chance to further my knowledge.

However, I literally have to take a deep breath every morning before I enter to building, just to get myself to go in.

Classes on the other hand are very fun, why didn't I listen to myself 14 years ago when I loved going down to the Early Childhood Center on campus? Oh well, can't dwell. Just need to find something that I love doing, hopefully it will be in the new degree, if I am able to finish it. Now that there are 7 weeks of actual class time left, I just need to focus on what needs to be done, and take one step at a time. There will be stressful times, but I can make it easier by not waiting until the last minute to get things done.

Then there is home.....I have felt so alone lately.  At times I feel like we are wanting very different things out of life. I really want a family, but can't say that he wants the same. He says he does, then always comes up with excuses/reasons why we need to wait.

I am pretty close to saying if we don't have a family by end of 2016, then I don't think we will have one. Mainly for the reason of my age, I will turn 38 in 2017, and second I am tired of getting up the hope and then having it smashed. So in a sense it would be a timeline for my heart to get used to the fact that it won't be a mom.

It hurts when you see friends/family expecting. And while I am absolutely ecstatic for them, I can't help but judge myself and ask, "why doesn't he want a family with me?"

A minor breakdown:

This was me about a week ago. I had a minor breakdown. Too much stuff to handle in one day. and too much stress and pent up emotion for too long.  But I had a good cry, met with a great friend and moved on. While I am not sure where I am headed, I am at least trying to refocus myself to realizing that life is just a ride. We don't know when the ride is over, but in the meantime we just need to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Family Room

I needed to tackle the family room because we were having family come up and would need the extra space for air mattresses. Now, I didn't do the family room the way I would have wanted, which would have been to go through every bin, drawer, box, etc to see if whatever was inside was actually needed. If it was then to find a better home for it.

No I did what Jason mentioned and that was to put everything in the office and deal with it later. It is stacked rather nicely, but now the office is pretty unusable. I will tackle that room later though.

However I am quite pleased with the progress of the family room.

What I started with. The items in the right foreground are items to be donated.

View from office door back to what I was starting with

Second weekend of working on this. Got the white chairs cleaned, seat covers to dry cleaners. See the bigger donation pile on the left hand side! Makes me so happy ! Lower left hand side is all stuff needing to be washed and stored (which is done!).

Different view. One side of the family room wasn't too bad so it was just a quick pick up. 

Pretty much the finished picture. The fabric cubes on the right side are extra bedding for family arriving. Air mattress and mattress are on white chairs. 

View from other side. Donation pile still needs to leave, but I keep adding to it.

Overall it took 3 weekends of working in the family room. That time wasn't continuous as I did break it up to save my sanity. It isn't perfect, but it sure is a lot better than it was. I know it will be even nicer when I don't have air mattresses in the middle of the floor from nephews visiting. 

Still need curtains for the windows and the patio door-can't find any I like in Moscow or ones that I can get 2 sets of if I do find a pattern/color I like. I am hanging a denim curtain on the right side of the fire place where the firewood box is. I also might do something to hide the extra plastic bins that are now empty, but I am not wanting to get rid of because they are expensive to replace. That area is next to the chest freezer or to the left of the fireplace.

Now to the next task.....the office.  DUN, DUN, DUNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

Valentine's Day Dinner

I can't actually recall the last time Jason and I went to dinner for Valentine's Day. We usually just stay home and I make something. We had a bad experience at a restaurant many years ago that made us start doing this.

However, Moscow has a great little BBQ place called CD's Smoke Pit.  And they were going to do a Valentine's Day Dinner, so Jason and I decided to give it a try.

We love their food and I will tell you they did not disappoint . Here is the menu.

Candied Bacon-  it was like candy!

Lentil soup-nice and thick

The Pork Tenderloin Pinwheels. Oh My Goodness!!!! Delicious!

The smoked Pink Lady Apple- the smokiness of the apple and the sweetness of the ice cream and caramel was a perfect combination.

A friend joined us as well and that was a lot of fun. For our first Valentine's Dinner out in years it was a great success. CD's may just have to become tradition when it comes to celebrating Valentine's Day.