Our Marvelous Two-Year Old

Its time to share a few entertaining tidbits from life with Simon. I'll start with Winnie the Pooh...here's a photo for reference--this is what our little Winnie the Pooh ice pack looks like. Whenever there is a bump or bruise bad enough to cause tears, Simon cries out for Winnie. Winnie probably ranks just under Mom and Dad, in fact, in the order of things needed to sooth an injured Simon. Despite our best efforts, however, Winnie rarely actually does his job of numbing the site of the wound--he's much too interesting to just hold in one spot, he has to be touched and squeezed and tasted, being so oddly cold!

Just last night, the following exchange occurred at bedtime:

Simon (from crib): I want Winnie!
Andy: Oh, well, Winnie is for when you get an owie. We leave Winnie in the freezer so he's nice and cold in case you get an owie and need him.
Simon: (turns to wall and bangs his head against it several times)...I need Winnie!

He is quickly becoming too clever for his own good!

I have been truly enjoying the warm spring days and being home this past week! I haven't been outside much, as I'm not quite up to long walks or chasing after Simon at the park...but we have been making use of our fenced in back yard. The evening I got home from the hospital, Andy dug out our camping chairs so we could sit outside while Simon played. It was strange to remember that when I was admitted to the hospital, there was over a foot of snow on the ground, and five days later it was completely melted already. Simon made it quite easy to play with him from my chair--in what was a self-created game of fetch, essentially.

Simon-directed playtime:

He, like all toddlers, just loves being able to control his little world! So hooray for toddler autonomy...especially on the rare instances when it means I get to take it easy and make him happy, too!

Operation Big Boy: Phase...Never Mind

Being graced with a relatively easygoing kid like Simon, so far most of our momentous changes from baby-dom to "big boy" have been surprisingly uneventful. He took weaning from both pacifier and breast like a champ last fall, for instance. Still on the list: switch from crib to bed, and toilet learning.

With a new baby on the way, we decided we'd just have the switch from crib to bed coincide with a new room for Simon--and to make it seem like less of a being-forced-out and more of a special upgrade, we decided to repaint the formerly drab office on our main floor so it would really be Simon's own new space.

the former office, as it was--a nondescript sort of beige-brown color (this is where Simon used to watch Sesame Street clips on the computer!)

I bought paint back in January, and finally a few weeks ago we got around to painting--Andy, that is. He was in charge of painting the background colors, and then Jess is going to be adding details (we're sort of doing a landscape-mural-thing, so there are trees and clouds to add).

the color of hillside, don't you think?

Here's that corner where the computer used to be--now with lovely light blue sky and green hillside; it makes for a MUCH cheerier space!

Of course, just as soon as the background painting was finished, we had all the hospital excitement...and decided upon my discharge that I should really start sleeping on the same floor as a bathroom, both to lessen the amount of stair-climbing I have to do this late in the pregnancy (and with my "take it easy" orders from the doctor), and because its looking like I'll be recovering from a C-section post-baby, and from what I've read they suggest avoiding stairs for a while afterwards. So "Simon's new room" has suddenly become "Mommy's room." Luckily, though he would go play on his big boy bed and talked about it as his new room, Simon didn't really seem to have any qualms letting Mommy use "his" room "for now." So as for the switch from crib to bed...well, he has yet to climb out of his crib and doesn't complain about it, so...never mind. We'll get to it post-baby, I guess (it will be several months before baby really needs to be in the crib rather than bassinet/pack'n'play anyway, right?).

The other big boy challenge: toilet learning. Our original plan was not to really tackle this until post-baby as well, knowing that recently-trained kids often regress when a new sibling arrives, and Simon will just be 2 1/2 this summer. However, about a month or so ago our child care provider told us he sat on the potty at her place! She had just casually asked while changing his diaper if he wanted to try, and he did. After a few more such incidents, we thought maybe we should take advantage of his interest and go ahead with potty training now, rather than miss a possible window of opportunity...and here's what we accomplished:

this is the one, and so far only, time that Simon has sat bare-bottomed on his potty chair at home

He is absolutely not interested in using the potty at home. At Miss Lisa's he'll often try sitting on the potty, and has even successfully used it a few times now...but not at home. So while the potty chair and all the little potty books are out and available, again we are saying "never mind" for now. Maybe Miss Lisa will potty train him for us :-). Or maybe we'll deal with that post-baby, too.

In other news, Poppy/TaterTot has reached 30 weeks gestation today--hooray! We are still home (doctor's appointment in the morning to check in and see how things are going), and have had lots of visits from Grandma Marilyn & Grandpa Steve this past week, plus Paloma, to help take care of Simon...and we've enjoyed some delicious pre-prepared meals from our friends in the Cities. Thanks for all of your help everyone!

Home from the Hospital

Just a quick post for those of you not on Facebook as well--they let me go home Monday afternoon! So I have been enjoying fresh air, my own home, and most of all, spending time with Simon and Andy :-). Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes! We will be crossing our fingers for no more excitement on the pregnancy front, for quite a while!

New Routines

Well, this photo was on the list to post, and then all the hospital excitement happened--so here's a little pre-hospital belly shot for you:

Simon wanted to show his belly too!

This was taken on March 4, so about 27.5 weeks along

Of course, since Wednesday's shocker of hospital admission for an indefinite amount of time, we've had to scramble to make some adjustments. Over the past several days, though, we managed to get into a little hospital-visit routine with Simon, and he seems to be handling things okay. Simon was able to come visit me every night between dinner and bedtime, with Andy coming some other times as well when he could get away from work, and a few other visitors too. Its good to know that if we do end up back in the hospital, possibly long term, we can come up with some semblance of a normal routine for Simon.

After Wednesday and Thursday visits ending with too-late bedtimes, Friday night Andy and Simon brought some dinner along to eat in my room with me rather than eating at home first

reading stories in Mama's hospital bed

thanks to everyone for the lovely flowers, gifts, and many offers of help--whether I'm in the hospital or home from here on in, I'm to take it easy, so we really appreciate all the continued offers of help!

Just today, Simon and Andy came over after church. The plan had been to just come later tonight, but when Simon asked where I was, I am told the conversation went something like this:

Simon: "where's Mommy?"

Andy: "Mommy is at the hospital. We'll go see her after naptime."

Simon: "No, go see Mommy now"

Andy: "You think we should go see Mommy right now?" (considering...)

Simon: "yes, that's a good idea."

...so they packed some lunch fixin's and came over after church :).

We have good news from the doctors this morning--I have been stable enough that they let me go sans IV, and say that if I have another quiet day & night, I can probably go home in the morning! If I have any significant bleeding I'll need to come right back of course, but since we live close to the hospital (so we could get here quickly), and my previa is only partial (so its less likely to result in serious hemorrhaging than a complete previa), they are willing to consider my going home and taking it easy there instead of taking it easy here in the hospital. We are very glad, and hope all goes well tonight so I can go home tomorrow!

Quick Update: Baby & Mama

Well, TaterTot/Poppy and I are camped out in the hospital, for at least several more days, and possibly until it is time to deliver. The current best-case scenario would be that Poppy stays put, and they would deliver via C-section at about 36 weeks--pre-term, but late enough in the pregnancy that the chance of complications for the baby would be very low (full term is considered 37 weeks), and early enough that I won't have gone into labor (which could be dangerous in terms of bleeding).

our little Poppy/TaterTot on Wednesday--28 weeks, 3 days gestation, developing beautifully

Blogging from the Hospital

Well folks, I'm typing this email from the comfort of my adjustable hospital bed here at Mayo Clinic.

In fact, I've been here all day...at the clinic that is, not checked into a hospital bed until late this afternoon. Here's the general order of medical-related events today:

10:30 am--I check in and drink the oh-so-sugary solution for standard glucose screening test
11:30 am--blood draw (glucose screening and other standard stuff)
around 1:00 pm--our follow-up ultrasound to check up on little Poppy/TaterTot, and more particularly, on the placenta previa
1:30 pm--chatting with doctor and no, previa has NOT resolved itself...also, the minor bleeding I've been having the past day or so is enough to concern the doctors, so...

3:00 pm--I'm checked in for what will be a minimum 24-hour observation; another blood draw, hooked up to fetal monitors, and an injection of steroids to speed up baby's lung development, in case of preterm labor
7:00 pm--taken off the monitors (yay!) and switched to an antenatal care room for over night (no longer in labor & delivery)

To come tomorrow--another steroid shot, about 24 hours after the first, more fetal monitoring, and surely a whole host of doctors in and out...this is Mayo Clinic, after all. Its rather unclear which doctor/resident/fellow is actually in charge of my care, though there are certainly enough of them involved. We couldn't really get a straight answer about how long we'd be here--you know, anywhere from "24 hours" to "until you deliver". And for those of you who are counting, I'm only 28 weeks along in this pregnancy...so hoping for a not-preterm delivery, that last option would mean being here for 9 or 10 weeks to get me to term!

Let me just say, for the record, that this is NOT how I planned to spend the evening, much less the next many weeks! But then again, maybe they'll discharge me tomorrow night already...I can hope, right :-).

p.s. on the plus side, Poppy is doing just fine!

Exploring our own backyard

Sometimes it takes having visitors to get out and see the things in your own neighborhood/city! We were lucky enough last week to have Brian, Natalie, Toby (age 4), and Sophie (age 2) come to visit on a relatively warm day, which was enough to prompt us to finally check out a local nature center we had heard good things about but not yet explored. It was great--and free! Here are a few photos...

Andy & Simon, as we explored one of the many trails

Toby got to try out cross-country skiing. I was so impressed--I never would have guessed that a 4-year old would be able to stay upright and actually manuever skis as well as he did! Sophie really wanted to try too, but they didn't have any boots or skis to rent small enough for a 2-year old.

Inside the nature center is basically a mini-museum, but better: you can touch everything! Here Simon got to explore various rocks, pieces of wood, and fossils. They even have a life-size model of a T-rex skull with a sign by it that says "please touch gently".

Sophie, checking out some of the big fish in aquariums lining the walls--they also had snakes, turtles, and other creatures to watch.

Simon was inspired by Toby skiing, and all the cross-country skiers on the trail, to try it out himself--all on his own he found himself some sticks to use as ski poles and starting "skiing":

(For those of you unaccustomed to Simonese--he says "Hi Mommy, I skiing with these sticks")

So next time you come to visit, remind us to take you to the nature center!