Happy Birthday Makena!!

Our big girl, Makena, turned 4 today! And despite all of the fun we had at her birthday party on Saturday we had to celebrate a little more today. We started off the day by going to Toys R Us. Aunt Carol had sent Makena a gift card to buy a car for her Barbies. She and Megan each got a pink Barbie convertible. You can't take 2 kids to the toy store and only let one of them get a toy! We also went to the park and had a picnic with some of our friends. I took my camera but failed to take any pictures. Here are a few pictures of our sweet girl over the past 4 years:

January 19, 2006

I couldn't resist posting a couple more baby pics. She was an adorable baby. I love her expressions!

The birth announcement picture

First Birthday PartyJanuary 19, 2008: A two year old Makena with her brand new sister, Megan.

Princess Makena at 3 years old And here are a few pictures from today. I let Makena help make her own birthday cake. (What do you think of our new countertops?) Tasting the frosting...
Makena wanted to go to Mi Pueblo for her birthday dinner. (She picked Mi Pueblo last year, too!)

Megan was the only one wearing a party hat.

After dinner, we came home to put together Makena's big present from us, a baby doll care center.

Megan helped her Daddy put it together.

This is Makena and her favorite baby doll, Benny.

Polkadots are Great, Just not on your Face

Saturday night I had my first visible sign that my platelets are low. I hadn't had a problem with nausea or vomiting in weeks. And I didn't feel that bad Saturday night. But as soon as I stepped out of the shower it hit me and I threw up. This is my 3rd pregnancy, so I have had a lot of morning sickness. But this time was different. My whole face hurt while I was throwing up. It was really weird. I looked in the mirror and saw petechiae (or little red spots) all over my face. It's not a very attractive look. I took a picture of myself last night which was a full 24 hours after the event. So the petechiae aren't as pronounced as they were Saturday night and Sunday morning. I closed my eyes because I wanted to show the extra spots I got around them. I took the picture after I showered. So my hair is wet, I have on no make-up and I look as bad as I could possibly look (especially with the new polkadots.) The petechiae may be hard to see until you click on the picture. My face usually isn't this splotchy. All of the spots you see are petechiae. They kind of look like little red freckles.

Our New Bathroom & More

We went to check on our lot and discovered it had finally gotten warm enough for them to pour the concrete. Hooray! It was dark when we went out there so the pics aren't terrific.

And we have a new addition to our lot....a bathroom! :)

And just to add a little cuteness, here is a pic of the smallest Hannah Montana fan ever.

Makena's 4th Birthday Party

Makena will turn 4 on January 19th. She is growing up so fast! Makena has been thinking about her 4th birthday party since her she had her 3rd birthday party. (It's easy to start planning early when you don't have a sense of how long a year really is.) For her 4th birthday, she wanted a party at Cash Lovell Stables. (Most of the party venues have websites I was able to show her and that helped her choose.) Cash Lovell has a climate controlled riding area. All of the kids got to ride a horse (at least once), make a horse craft and have their faces painted. Makena and Megan got a little extra time in the saddle. After all of the horsey fun, everyone went into the lounge for birthday cake. We asked our party guests to bring items for a local charity instead of birthday gifts. We chose Samaritan Ministries of Winston Salem. They are home to Winston-Salem's only soup kitchen, a 69 bed homeless shelter for men and also offer a substance abuse recovery center for men. We were able to collect approximately $200 worth of gift cards and checks as well as many items off of their wish list. We had a huge box that was overflowing with donations. I am always impressed with the generosity of our friends and family. Phil, Makena and Megan took everything to Samaritan Ministries today. They were very appreciative and impressed by our large donation.

Here are some fun pics from Makena's party:

The kids listened to a safety talk.
(Most of the kids) waited very patiently for their turn.

Megan was very excited!

Such a big girl!

The birthday girl got extra time in the saddle.

Makena and Megan worked hard on their horsey craft.

Kaley

The adults thought the face painting was mediocre. The kids thought it was fantastic.

Adam

Wyatt

Weston

Owen

Big smiles from the birthday girl!

Makena going down the "horsey slide."

Before the party, Megan told us she wanted to ride a green horse. There were no green horses but I don't think she was disappointed.

Makena picked the picture for her birthday cake out of one of her books. It's Cinderella and her horse with Prince Charming. Everyone loved the cake. Mrs. Pumpkin's came through again!

Beck enjoyed his first taste of cotton candy!

Yee-Haw, Daddy!

Afterward, Makena told us it was the best birthday party ever. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!

BUT I WANT AN EPIDURAL!!

I've started going to the OB/GYN every two weeks now. I found out a few weeks ago that my platelets were low. Not critically low, just low. They wanted to re-check them at my next visit. I had my 32 week visit yesterday and had more blood work done. My doctor called me and told me she had good news and bad news. The good news was my duplex was normal (more on that in a little bit.) The bad news is that my platelets had dropped even more and are now 80. Platelets obviously affect your ability to clot which can be a concern during labor and delivery. Another important fact about having low platelets when you're pregnant is that if they're too low you can't have an epidural. I've learned that generally, they want your platelets to be 100 or greater. If your platelets are low you are at greater risk of bleeding inside your spinal column when they do the epidural. You could develop an epidural hematoma, which if severe enough, can lead to paralysis. So there is a very good reason they're monitoring this. I still have a few weeks before our baby boy is due to arrive so I'm hoping my platelets will come back up. They're sending me to see a hematologist to try to determine why my platelets are low. They'll re-check my labs next week. I had an epidural with my other deliveries and was planning on having one again. I think if we didn't have so much going on right now I would be even more worried about this. I guess I'm lucky that I don't have much time to focus on it. Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do to increase my platelet count on my own. There are medications that can do this but most aren't safe to use during pregnancy. It would be great if there were some platelet rich foods I could eat. :)

My OB/GYN also had good news when she called. They sent me to have a duplex of my left leg to rule out a DVT (blood clot.) My left calf had been sore for about 5 days. Visually, it doesn't look different than my right leg but they wanted a duplex to make sure. So the good news is I don't have a DVT.

And there is other good news. Our baby boy is growing and doing well. And of course, he is worth every single one of these doctor's visits and blood draws. Epidural or not, we're looking forward to his arrival!

Explorers and Footings

We have been home a lot lately. We've been packing up stuff for storage and goodwill. And we have had guys coming out to do work around the house. Makena and Megan have been really good helpers and have had fun entertaining themselves while they have been stuck at home. The other day they were playing a game that was a cross between Dora the Explorer and the book, We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Megan would say, "Uh oh! A mud puddle!" or "Uh oh! Snow!"

Note the Dora backpack...
To my amazement, they have actually been working on our lot in these frigid temps. It has been so cold here lately! We drove out there yesterday and saw they had started laying the footings. It's supposed to be a bit warmer this week so they should get a little more work done.

A Few of my Favorite Things

I thought it might be fun to compile a list of some of my favorite things right now. Some of them are small and really quite ridiculous but I feel that they have or will make my life easier some how and that is why I love them. I wanted to share my list in case any of you have yet to discover these wonderful things. Here they are in no particular order:

1. http://www.lowesfoods.com/default/index.cfm/onlineshopping/lfstogo/ One of our grocery stores has a "to go" service which is absolutely awesome. I haven't needed their services in a while but I will be calling on them again very soon. You order your groceries online then you drive to the store ring a door bell and they will put them in your car. They charge a small fee but it is well worth it. I generally make a couple of impulse buys when I venture in the store which would make up for fee. You can also peruse the weekly sales online so you're not missing any deals. You don't even have to get out of your car!
2. http://www.diapers.com/ is a website I've heard about many times but have never utilized. I got curious the other day and finally checked it out. Why have I not used them before? They sell diapers, wipes, formula and a ton of other baby gear and deliver it to your door. And they offer free shipping on all orders over $49. One of the big boxes of diapers will get you close to that $49. Their prices seem to be comparable to Walmart and Target. Newborns go through so many diapers in the beginning I think It will be nice to have them as an option when I don't want to go to the store. For my cloth diapering friends, they do sell cloth diapers and other products on the site so you should still check it out. I would love to give cloth diapering a shot if I could keep our ever-growing mountain of laundry under control.
3. The Magic Eraser Where have you been all my life? I had heard people talk about the magic eraser and it's wonderful abilities but just tried it recently. We've been trying to get our house ready to put on the market and boy has this thing come in handy. When you live with two little monkeys you get crayon and other spots all over your walls. I've attacked said spots with The Magic Eraser and they have either disappeared or are greatly diminished. It has drastically reduced the amount of touch-up painting we're going to have to do.
4. http://www.etsy.com/ Is another absolutely awesome site. You can find so many handmade, unique items. I've mostly shopped etsy for my kids and friend's kids. We always get compliments on our etsy finds. I just ordered our little brother and big sister shirts from etsy and they are really cute. You can find personalized items at a pretty reasonable price. It's also an easy way to shop local. You can key in your city and state and watch a ton of local sellers pop up.
5. http://www.weeruns.biz/1IndexOnSeason.htm Fabulous Friday is fast approaching! I love going to the Wee Runs consignment sale in High Point. I am fairly picky when it comes to consignment shopping for the kids and having so much in one place really helps me out. I always walk out with a ton of finds that become staples in the girls' wardrobe. We always get a ton of compliments on our Wee Runs finds, too. I get brand name clothes and I find a lot of things that still have their price tags. I lucked up in the fall and actually found the girls' matching Christmas dresses. (I have a picture of Megan in her dress on a previous post. They wore them to the Christmas Eve church service.) I always go on Friday, which is the first day of the sale. You have to pay $10 admission on Friday but it has paid off for me. I like to get there before everything has been picked over.
6. http://littlepinkchic.com/ Our invitation lady. I can't remember how I discovered her. We've used her numerous times. Her invitations are reasonably priced and she always responds and ships quickly. If you're looking for something and don't see it on her website you can contact her and she can usually make something for you.
7. http://warm-baby.com/ I've had a ton of people ask me where I got the girl's personalized winter hats. I found her on ebay and I absolutely love her hats. They were only $11 a piece! $11 for a custom hat! She has some hats already made. Megan's hat was already listed but I had to contact her to have Makena's hat custom made. I was planning on giving the hats as Christmas gifts but didn't get around to ordering them in time. I may try to do it next year.
8. http://www.salemgym.com/ Phil and I are both fans of Salem Gymnastics. We generally become fans of anyone who goes out of their way to help us out. Some of you may remember that we had to reschedule Megan's birthday party last Fall because she was sick on the day of her party. I was anticipating a big ordeal when we had to cancel/postpone the party. But their party coordinator was terrific. We paid a non-refundable deposit before the party date. She offered to let us change our party date at no additional charge or refund our "non-refundable" deposit. She also seemed genuinely concerned about Megan's well being. Obviously, this woman is a mother, too.
9. http://www.mrspumpkins.com/ Mrs. Pumpkin's is another place that really offered to help us out. They are closed on Sundays, when Megan's party was originally supposed to take place, so I had scheduled to pick her cake up on Saturday. I had thought about canceling the order when Megan was sick on Friday and again Saturday but I was afraid she would miraculously recover on Sunday and then we would be without a cake. Phil took Makena to pick up the cake. He told them them about Megan being sick and they told him, "Well you don't want this cake then. We can recycle it." We're talking about the personalized cake that said Happy Birthday Megan! and had Pooh Bear, Barney and Blues Clues on it. She said she could scrape the top off and use it for something else. I don't think there are many bakeries that would offer to do something like that. Phil did take the cake but we quickly decided that we would become repeat customers of Mrs. Pumpkin's.
10. http://www.empiretoday.com/ I think everyone has heard of Empire. They run a ton of commercials on TV. We needed some new carpet in our one of our rooms. We got estimates from Empire and Home Depot. Home Depot's estimate turned out to be cheaper. A lot cheaper. Like $800 or so cheaper. So I called Empire to cancel their installation. I told the Empire guy why we were canceling and he put me on hold. He came back and asked if I had heard about their price matching and said they were willing to change their price . They beat Home Depot's estimate by $100 and still had our carpet installed next day. And we didn't even have to fax in a copy of Home Depot's estimate. They took our word for it. Phil and I both did a happy dance after that phone call.
11. Medela Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags These are great little bags that you can use to clean breastpump parts and other feeding accessories. You just add a little water and pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes. You can reuse each bag 20 times and can buy 5 bags for about $5. I discovered these after Megan was born and wish I had known about them when Makena was a baby.

I'm sure there will be plenty more favorites to come as I think of them.