Brayden's Room

So I realize that I haven't posted on here in forever. I keep saying that I will update more often but I never do. I promise I'll try!! So yesterday was Brayden's 7th birthday and part of his gift was his new bedroom. When we found out were were going to have Carter, Brayden wanted to share a room with Cam so we could keep a guest bedroom. That lasted about a year and now he wants his own space (as I figured he would). So, I finally convinced my husband to help me (and my sister) move the beds last weekend and decorated the other day. I still want to paint it (probably gray) but am really happy with how it turned out.

I have since exchanged the blue comforter for another red/gray one and the top bunk is gray.

Love this painting - I bought it months ago and have been waiting to hang it up!

Took down the awful closet doors and plan to hang curtains there someday.

Love the airplanes - another Pinterest idea!! He loves the room and we are working on keeping his little brother out. Cameron seems to be in denial that he no longer shares bunk beds with his brother. His room is my next project - hopefully if I make it fun for him he'll be more excited about it.

Ahhhh My Child!!!

This is the email I got from Brayden's teacher today....

Good morning,
I recently found out that Brayden has been eating another child's snack at snack time. He admitted to it and said he was sorry. He said he doesn't do it every day and sometimes he asks if he can have some and sometimes he just helps himself. When I asked him about it, he said he didn't bring a snack so he is eating someone elses. He asked me to let you know that he would like a snack each day. I am hoping that if he brings his own snack, he won't eat other children's snacks. He did apologize and seemed to not realize that it was wrong to eat other people's food. Anyway, just wanted to let you know.

(Speaking with him about it was actually kind of funny because he is so innocent when he makes a mistake)

Argh!! What am I going to do with this crazy child? This whole situation is frustrating - they were told at the beginning of the year to bring a healthy snack. Well, Brayden doesn't exactly like healthy food so that narrows his options to string cheese.... I packed him a snack every day at first and he kept coming home with them uneaten. When I would try to pack him chips or fruit snacks - something he would eat - he would freak out because he is "only allowed to bring healthy snacks" so I just quit sending one with him most days and he has never asked about it or said anything to me.
The craziest thing about getting this email today is that he brought his lunch - which has snacks in it!!!
Somebody is going to be writing another apology letter today....

**Update: I talked to Brayden about this when he got home. He said "Well in the mornings I just think that I don't want a snack, but then when I get there my friend Carson has the extra cheesy goldfish and I just can't resist - I have to ask him to share with me." Guess we'll be buying some extra cheesy goldfish to send to school each day and keep his grubby little hands off of other people's food!!!!

My dad informed me the other night that I needed to update my blog, so here I am! Life has been crazy yet perfect. I feel like we have been going non-stop since Carter has been home. I am back at work full-time (which is 30 hrs/week for me) and have class 2 nights/week. Rubin has been down an employee at work with another one on vacation so he has been working a ton. Brayden is playing soccer and has practice one night/week plus games on Saturdays. I'm also trying to find time to run whenever I can - I'm doing the Couch 2 5K program again and hope to run in a Turkey Trot with my mom on Thanksgiving. So here is a little update on everyone:

Rubin is superdad - he puts the 2 older boys to bed every night, out of necessity the 2 nights I'm in class but then they both ask for him the other nights too so I don't fight it. I try and use that time to clean up a little or go for a run.

Brayden is absolutely hilarious, as always. I have decided that when just the 2 of us are in my car I am going to record our conversations. He says some of the funniest things. He just had his 6 yr check up (several months late) and is in the 90th % in his height - such a big boy and constantly outgrowing his jeans. He has been struggling in school with being "impulsive" and we are trying to figure out how to deal with it. We had him tested for ADHD last December by a child psychologist who specializes in it and he came back to us with the results of not ADHD but a very high IQ. He wasn't kidding when he told us that the road ahead would not be easy - we are actually meeting with him tonight to see if he has any suggestions of how to help Brayden with his behavior in school. Wish us luck!

Cameron is the sweetest little man and still loves to cuddle which melts my heart. He loves to read books and does some of the silliest things. He is really working on his colors and counting, but not potty training!! He has absolutely no interest in wearing "big-boy underwear" and says that he likes his diapers. I think he just wants to stay our little baby forever (see picture above ;))

Carter is doing great and growing so fast! He had his 2 month check up last week and was 8 lbs 13 oz and 21.5 inches long. He still spits up like crazy - sometimes we wonder if any of his bottle stayed down, but the dr didn't seem concerned since he is still gaining weight and it doesn't seem to be hurting or upsetting him. He is starting to stay awake for longer stretches during the day and can be very alert at times. He is also stronger than I expected and lifts his upper body during tummy time and looks around - I honestly think he'll be rolling over before too long. So far they have not found any long-term issues with him so hopefully he'll just keep growing and developing normally and will eventually catch up :)

He's Home!!

I forget that there are people who read my blog and aren't friends with me on Facebook, so I'm updating here also to let everyone know that Carter came home yesterday!
He is absolutely perfect and is doing great. Brayden is the proudest big brother I have ever seen and wants to hold him all the time. Cam still isn't quite sure what's going on but is doing really well so far. He kissed Carter's head today and when I asked him if he just kissed his brother he said, "That's not my brother, that's baby Carter!". So he still has a few things to figure out :)
I have never been a more proud mommy and am so happy that our family is all in the same place and I'm not having to split my time here and at the hospital. Our perfect little family is complete :)
Again, I want to thank everyone for the prayers and support throughout these past few months. It has been a crazy ride but was all worth it in the end.

Update

So here is the update from yesterday:
I talked to the doctor last night about doing the 3 day versus 8 day monitoring. From what I understand, the 3 day is more strict and harder to pass. If he fails it, they have to wait 2-3 days and then try it again or start the 8 days over again, so if he doesn't pass then we are looking at him staying longer than 8 days anyway. For the 8 day, as long as he doesn't have any major spells he is fine. We were really struggling with what to do because obviously we want him home as soon as possible, but we also want to do what is best for him. If he comes home in 3 days and then has a spell 2 days later, how would we know without him hooked up to monitors? As hard as it was, we have decided to go ahead and do the 8 days. That is what the doctor recommended and we feel it is the safest thing to do. These "spells" are just a prematurity thing and he will grow out of them. As I was holding him last night in the hospital trying to decide what to do (and crying from the stress of the day), his heart rate dropped again. It didn't stay down long and isn't considered a spell since he was able to recover on his own, but it seemed like a sign to me that he just still isn't ready to come home.
With that being said, I talked to my doctor's nurse this morning about extending my disability to 8 weeks and she said that they can't. She was really nice about it and was very understanding of my situation, but said that they have to follow protocol. Because they will do a 6 week postpartum check up and clear me, I will no longer be under their care.
So the timeline we are looking at now is Carter coming home next Thursday or Friday and me going back to work on Tuesday. I have a few vacation days so I will probably take them to give myself at least a week home with my child before I have to go back to work, but I don't exactly want to use all of that and have nothing left either.
I also start grad school Sept 6 and will have class 2 nights a week, on days that I work, so those days I will leave the house around 6-7 am and get home around 10 pm and not see anyone in my family. It sucks, but I don't really have a choice - neither one of these classes are offered again for another year and 1/2 so I have to take them this semester.
So overall the situation just sucks, but we will figure something out. It will be a rough few months but I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it. Nothing about this summer/pregnancy/year has been ideal, but that precious baby is worth it all :)

Home Soon!!

*UPDATE: About 2 seconds after posting this the nurse called and said that he just had another spell where his heart rate dropped. He is supposed to go 8 days spell-free before he can come home, but she said sometimes they do a different monitoring for 3 days. I have to talk to the dr when I go over tonight and we'll see what they decide to do. Kind of a discouraging phone call. While I want him home, I also want to know that he is ready to come home. If he is still having problems with dropping his heart rate, we won't have monitors here to tell us so it could be dangerous. I want what is best for him but I really would like for him to be here.

Carter has been a rock star with eating and on Monday they switched him over to "ad lib" so he now eats what he wants, when he wants. When they switched him, the put him on a lower calorie formula so they said it may take a couple of days to adjust and start to gain weight. Once he gains weight 2 days in a row, he gets to come home!! He gained 4 grams (pretty much nothing) Monday night but then lost last night. They said he has been taking more than his usual amount at his last few feedings today so hopefully he'll gain tonight and tomorrow and then get to come home on Friday!! We are trying not to get our hopes up or get set on a certain day, but we are pretty sure he'll be home by the end of the weekend.
He is a month old today and we are so proud of our little miracle baby. I can't wait to have all of my family here together (but I should probably get started on the nursery...)
Thank you all for the prayers and support over the past few months. This summer didn't exactly turn out as we expected but we are thankful for how well everything is going now and are looking forward to the future :)

Oh - and I had to post this picture of him with no feeding tube! His little cheeks have fattened up quite a bit - he is up to 5 lbs 12 oz.

Growing Boy

Carter is still doing really well!! He is growing like crazy - as of last night he was up to 5 lbs 9.7 oz!!
He is starting to get the hang of taking a bottle - he took a full 2 oz for me today but he still has feedings where he gets too tired or starts breathing too fast and has to stop. The plan is that once he takes 80% of his feedings by bottle (he is a little over 50 now) then they will switch him to eating on demand - he can have however much he wants whenever he is hungry. He has to gain weight for 2 days doing that method before he can come home. We seem to be getting pretty close to that, but he also has to go 8 days "spell-free" before going home (heart rate drop below 80 for more than 20 seconds). He had been doing awesome and had not had a spell since July 31, but then the little stinker had one 2 days ago, so now he has to start the 8 days all over again.
At this point, if he gets his feedings figured out and has no more spells he could come home as early as the 25th (next Thurs). We are hoping he can come home by next weekend!