We are Thankful for...

There are so many things that we are thankful for this year. I can remember the Thanksgiving 4 years ago and thinking I would never be so thankful as to have Ethan home from the hospital and doing well. I was wrong...we added to it this year when we had Micah. We are so thankful that Micah was born a strong, healthy, full-term baby! Being parents has been the best experience we could ask for and we are so thankful that we have been given the opportunity to become parents twice.

Not only am I thankful for my children, but I am incredibly thankful for Matt. I would have never made it through the pregnancy without him. He was so supportive the entire time in so many ways. He is such a strong partner in this marriage and I am so thankful for that.

I am also thankful for all of our family and friends. The last time we had so much support was when Ethan was in the hospital and we saw even more support this time. We are so thankful for everyone's kind words, acts and love. We would not have made it through such a difficult time without all of you.

I am most thankful for family in general. We both have the most supportive families and we are so lucky that we are spending every single day this weekend with family. So many people don't have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with and we have been blessed with large enough families to celebrate multiple times.

While the year 2004 and the year 2008 were the most trying years for us, we are always going to be thankful for those years, as they made us a family and made us a strong family.

We wish all of you the best this holiday season and are thankful for all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Memories and Pictures

I am constantly amazed how certain things can spark memories of Ethan's birth. Just the other day I was in a discussion online with some women about how the soap at the hospital brings back a flood of memories for each of us. In my case, it includes the time both Ethan and I were in the hospital. Every memory of being there floods back every time I have to go to the hospital and have washed my hands. It's funny how something as simple as soap can bring back so many memories.

Another example is actually from yesterday. I was watching an old episode of Roseanne, where Darlene brings home her premature baby. The scene where she walks into the house with the baby really got to me. Something as simple as a t.v. show made me break down into tears. It made me remember the feeling of bringing home both Ethan and Micah. It also reminded me of being up in the middle of the night watching the episode where she has the baby, while I was pumping milk for Ethan when he was in the hospital. I still can't believe it made me break down the way it did.

You would think that having a full-term baby would have helped some of those feelings to subside a bit, but obviously it didn't. I can't just forget all of the things we went through with Ethan, just as I will never forget what I went through to get Micah here. One thing I do know is that the memories of what happened with Ethan are getting easier to deal with. At one time, I would have cried for much longer than a couple of minutes. Now, I can shed some tears and move on with whatever I was doing. All I have to do now is look at my two wonderful boys and know that everything we went through was completely worth it. That's where the pictures come in...

Who do they look like??

That is a question that comes up often when it comes to a new baby. We have heard by a lot of people that Micah looks just like Ethan. We've also heard that Ethan looks just like Matt, so therefore that must mean that Micah looks just like Matt. Hmmm...I beg to differ on this one. I really think that Ethan does look like Matt, but at times can look like me. I also think that at times Micah can look just like Ethan or Matt, but he also looks like me. Over the years, I have accepted the fact that Matt cannot deny Ethan, because Ethan does look a lot like Matt. When it comes to Micah, I must say that he does remind me of pictures of me. Is it me just wanting one of our kids to take after me a little more? Or, is it that Micah does look a little more like me? Maybe, Ethan just looks like Ethan and Micah just looks like Micah...who knows??

Well, I thought I would have a little fun with this post and show you some comparisons. First, I have a picture of what Ethan looked like at 4 months old, which is one month adjusted age and I have a picture of Micah at one month old. I didn't realize until I looked at the pictures that Ethan and Micah were wearing the exact same outfit in their picture and that both pictures took place in November!!

Micah - 1 month old

Ethan - 4 mos. old, 1 mo. adjusted.

Micah

Ethan

Here are a couple of pictures of Matt when he was a baby. In the one on the left he was 1 month old and in the one on the right he was 10 weeks old.

Here are some pictures of me when I was a baby. In the one on the left, I was probably about a month or two old and in the one on the right was from when I was born. Sorry, I don't have any close ups of me, my mom and dad have those!

Recently, I was shown this picture of my dad when he was younger and told that Ethan looks like him. So, I thought I would include that one here with a recent picture of Ethan.
So, you decide who looks like who and have some fun :) I think they look like both of us and we certainly cannot deny our children!! Let us know what you think by voting in the poll on the right side of the screen.

I finally did it...

I worked out for the first time today!! I actually just finished about 45 minutes ago and so far I'm feeling ok. I did a 20 minute, 1 mile workout. I took it easier than I normally would, but I was able to still keep up. I chose not to use weights today, but I will add them in as the week goes on. I'm hoping to at least do it every other day to begin with and then try to do it everyday. I'm using the Walk Away the Pounds program, so I hope to be at the 2 mile in December and then add in the 3 mile in January.

I decided to start small and work to lose at least 15 lbs by January 23, which is the day I go back to work. It would be nice to lose more than that, but I know it will be hard to lose more than that it such a small amount of time. I weighed myself today and even took some pictures of myself so that I can track my own progress. Don't expect to see those pictures anywhere on here! I don't plan to share them :) They are not what I would call attractive.

I'll keep you updated on my progress every once in awhile!

One Month Old Already!!

Micah turned a month old today! I can't believe it has already been a month. It seems like the months took forever while I was pregnant and now a month has just flown by! Micah is growing like a weed, he hasn't gained any length, but as of Monday he is 10lbs 2oz. It took some time, but we got his weight up and he is now gaining at a good pace. He is a pretty good baby, but you better move fast when he is hungry! He is already up to 4 oz in a feeding, so he usually get 50% breastmilk and 50% formula. Ethan is enjoying his new little brother, although he has said that it is annoying that everyone asks "is that your brother? and do you like your brother?" I can see that getting old for him :) Ethan has learned very quickly how nicely the "pacingfier" works. He wants to give it to Micah whenever he starts into a fit when he is hungry! Ethan even gets frustrated when he can't get it into Micah's mouth fast enough :) But, Ethan has been great with him and loves to kiss and hug him and even comfort him. He especially loves rubbing Micah's head, it is really cute and he loves giving him a toy to look at.

We had a conference with Ethan's teacher and therapy team at school last week. All is well and Ethan even has a lot of his kindergarten readiness skills going. He still has a few things that need extra work, but he is moving forward in everything and has consistently improved since last year, which is all that matters. Matt and I both felt really good about how Ethan has progressed and we are so proud of how hard he works. We figured out that Ethan is absorbing everything and even doing some of the things at home, but he is not necessarily ready to show he can do it at school. His teacher was happy to hear that he does some of the stuff at home, because she knows it will come to him at school soon enough. Ethan has also been getting tested at his private speech therapy and he is doing really well! She said he doesn't have much more to go before she can release him, so that was also really good news. So between private speech and his speech and occupational therapy at school, Ethan has made some great strides!

I am continuing to heal and I have been able to do more and more each day. I still feel like my legs are made of cement whenever I walk up the stairs, but everything else is getting better. I'm hoping to start a small workout in the next few days to help continue to build strength in my legs. I have a hard time standing for long periods of time, but I am able to sit up for longer periods of time without feeling a lot of back pain. I know the standing will also get better, but since I've been doing that for less time than sitting, it will still take awhile. I'm hoping that sometime in December I will start to feel a little more normal. I go back to the doctor the week of Thanksgiving, so we'll see if he suggests anything else to help me get my strength back from the bedrest.

Here are some more pictures of our little men!!

Micah's first water bath!!

He can be very serious!

I think this is just funny!!

Look at how he posed for the picture :)

My miracles...

Everyday that I look at my two children, I am reminded that we have been given two very special miracles. I find myself in tears out of pure happiness at being given the opportunity to raise two boys. I think back to all that we have been through with Ethan and how many times we came close to losing him and how close we came to losing Micah so early on and I remind myself of how thankful I am to have both of them home with me. Matt and I made the decision on the day my cerclage was placed with this pregnancy that we were done having children regardless of the outcome. As the pregnancy progressed, I wondered many times if we were making the right decision and I would think that maybe we could have one more. But, each time I thought that, I remembered how lucky we were to have the two children we had and how difficult is was to have these two children.

The Friday before we had Micah, I talked to the doctor about getting a tubal ligation if I would have a c-section. He made sure that we were sure and he even said that he didn't blame us for coming to that decision. When it came down to having a c-section, he asked me again if it was what we wanted and we both said yes, and he even asked again during the c-section. Matt and I would not mind having more children if it didn't mean that I would be stuck in bed for 6 months and then deal with long-term recovery afterwards. There are no guarantees about what would happen with a 3rd pregnancy, but we decided that we came way too close to losing both of our children that we did not want to test it. We are happy with our decision and we feel that our family is complete. I only tell this because I have been asked by a lot of people if we are going to have any more children. So, take a look at our little miracles and know that we are so thankful for these two boys that we have been given...

The Ninja and Superman

This year for Halloween Ethan was a ninja. We chose that because of the way he acts so much like a ninja. Matt and I will be downstairs thinking that Ethan is up in bed and he will silently come downstairs and before we know it he is standing next to us and we never heard a single step! The only problem with his ninja costume was that the mask was never in the bag! We were disappointed, but he still looked great :) Micah was superman and he was the cutest little superman ever! We finally found our camera, it was in a bag that seems to have a million pockets and in the several times that bag was checked we kept missing the one pocket with the camera! Matt gave one last check over the weekend and he found it! We are so excited about it. So, here are a few pictures, sorry that superman was so sleepy! I'll add some more pictures of Micah later this week.