Adelyn's Newborn Pictures

Isn't she the cutest thing?!?!?

Adelyn Nicole Bal

Adelyn Nicole Bal arrived at 8:04am on 8-25-11. She was 8 lbs even and 20 3/4 inches long. I had a c-section that morning bc the doctor's didn't want her going through the stress of labor. The delivery room was crowded with too many people, doctors, nurses, the NICU staff, etc. I remember the second she was born Adam's first word's were "oh baby, she's perfect." And she is. The anesthesiologist also said the same things, she's beautiful and just perfect. She was born with a head full of black hair and looks very much like her older brother. Her delivery was uncomplicated and I got to see her for a short amount of time before they took her to the NICU for observation. She spent most of her first day in the NICU but by that night, they were letting her stay in the room with us. I was lucky that I got to spend all day Friday with my girl and then Saturday morning, they transported her to Medical City Children's Hospital so she could get ready for her MRI and surgery. Luckily, my sister came and stayed with me, so that Adam could go with Addy. It was really hard on me to be at a different hospital than her even though I knew she was where she needed to be. The heaviest burden was put on Adam's shoulders. I think for this 24 hours he was worn out. We didn't want her on formula, so Adam had to make multiple trips a day to pick up breast milk from me and transport it to the NICU where Addy was at. I was released Sunday morning and we headed straight to see Addy in the NICU. It's hard to see your baby hooked up to machines and monitors when you just want to be home with her and adjusting to a normal routine. Monday, at 5 days old, was her surgery. The waiting after they took our sweet baby girl was brutal. We grabbed some lunch and sat in the waiting room with friends and family, to try and keep our minds busy. Nothing really worked, we just wanted an update that our baby girl was going to be ok. When the neurosurgeon finally came out he said the surgery was successful and that Adelyn had done great. He actually said "she is a rock." They expected her to have to be on a ventilator after surgery and she wasn't. She just soared through the surgery with flying colors. She amazes me. She was only in the NICU for another 3 days and then we were discharged home. Born on a Thursday, surgery on Monday, and sent home on a Thursday. It's amazing what they can do these days and we are beyond thankful for our perfect little girl.

This was right after her birth, the first time they let me hold her in the NICU. They wheeled my hospital bed into the NICU and I got to hold her out in the hall. They said she was the biggest baby in there :)) 

 All we are missing is Garrison! My sweet family

 This picture was after they let her come stay in the room with us. She was definitely more at peace when she was around me.

 This picture was taken right before they took her to Children's. She didn't even seem bothered by the IV they started in her hand.

 My favorite picture of all time!

 Getting settled in at Children's

 This was when I first got to hold her at children's after being away from her for over 24 hours. torture!

 Morning of her surgery, resting peacefully.

 Picture right after her surgery. We weren't allowed to hold her yet

 This picture melts my heart. Adam reading to Addy. Precious

 First time I got to hold her after surgery.

 Us right before they were going to come and get her ready for surgery. I didn't want to let her go

 This morning was great bc I showed up and all her wires/IV's were out!!

 Going home!!

Love!

I recently discovered a new thing at the grocery store, Greek yogurt parfaits. LOVE them and I'm pretty addicted. Now, if it would just magically make the baby weight come off, i'd be a pretty happy girl! :)

August 16, 2011

Worst. Day. Ever

I know for all of 2011, I've been a really really horrible blogger. So now I have so much to catch up on that I don't even know where to start. August 16, 2011 is a day that I wish I could erase. Seriously it's the worst day of my life. It started out as a great day. 37 weeks pregnant and heading into a sonogram to check on our baby girls status. I hadn't had a sonogram since early 20ish weeks because I was so healthy. I'm not sure if this is a blessing in disguise or a bad thing. So of course, I was excited. Excited actually doesn't even do it justice but you get what I mean. I was alone (big mistake!). We had recently sold our home (exciting, something I need to blog about later) and so Adam had to be at our rental to get our gas turned out. I could seriously write an entire book about this day and I think that is part of the reason that I've neglected this blog since Adelyn's birth. I don't know how much to share and have never dealt with that many emotions, that I don't know how much I should share blah blah blah. Anyway, back to August 16th. After the sonogram they told me Adelyn was measuring 8lbs, 9 oz with 3 weeks left. Dr. Monier brought me in to speak with me, and I expected him to say he wanted to induce me. Nope. I only could wish that was what he wanted to tell me. He informed me that they found what appeared to be two cysts on her brain and with that my little perfect world came to a screeching halt.  I believe my exact words to him were "I'm sorry, I don't think I understand what you are saying to me." I work in the medical field so I knew exactly what he was saying, but in that instance and relating to MY baby girl I just didn't understand. Dr. Monier said he didn't either but that he had a specialist that could see me right away at the hospital. I don't think i've ever cried so hard in my life. The  phrase I remember repeating over and over on this day was "I can't believe this is happening." Some how I managed to relay this message to Adam and he met me at the hospital. My parents and sister met us there as well.

The next dr that we met with was a high risk OB with level 2 sonograms. We were able to see her brain and skull with more detail. I didn't know what I was looking for but I did know that her skull should not be solid black. Black was fluid he said. Fluid that was putting pressure on her brain and making it almost impossible to even see on the sonogram. Not what any mom wants to see. One thing I can be thankful for is that he did not see any cysts or tumors of any type. His diagnosis was aqueductal stenosis that was causing her  hydrocephalus. Basically there's an aqueduct in your brain that drains the CSF, hers for some reason or another was closed so that the fluid could not drain. He told us he could not tell us much more than that. The diagnosis would have to be confirmed with an MRI after she was born. He also said we would need to contact a neurosurgeon and that he could make that referral for us. There are a lot of scary unknowns with hydrocephalus and the unknowns were the hardest thing for us to deal with. They couldn't tell us how her head would measure at birth, they couldn't tell us if she would have any developmental delays, they couldn't tell us how this happened,etc. It's been devastating news to say the least. Our world was shattered in the blink of an eye. I think from August 16th until she was born on August 25th, I cried for at least half the day. The first night I cried myself to sleep with Adam doing his best to console me.  I just couldn't get it in my head that this was really happening and I was so scared for her and for her future. Thankfully Adam and I have an amazing support system. We had friends bring us dinner and come over just to hang out with me on the nights Adam worked. I found if I just kept busy, I thought about it the least. I prayed alot. I've always been a pretty hard core prayer, but it increased about tenfold during this trial.

We got to meet with Dr. Swift, the neurosurgeon who would eventually operate on our sweet baby girl, the Monday before she was born. Seriously this man is sent from God. He sat down with us for about an hour and tried to answer all our questions and help ease our fears. Again, with this diagnosis, there are so many things they just can't tell until after she's born, but he was able to help us start to accept and move forward. I felt comfortable knowing he would be helping my baby. Talk about a blessing but Dr. Swift is actually one of the neurosurgeon's who operated on the Egyptian conjoined twins a couple years back. These Dr's are amazing and I"m thankful that they were able to get us in and meet with us and take on our case. Dallas has amazing medical teams. After Addy was born, she had an MRI, and Dr. Swift was able to review those and then decide what best approach to relieve the fluid. He decided a VP shunt was needed and the best choice for Adelyn. We trusted him and moved forward. Adelyn ended up having surgery 5 days after she was born. Talk about second worst day. I'd trade places with Adelyn in a heart beat if I could. I just want her healthy and happy.

I think I'm rambling...there is just so much that I could write, that I'll leave it at that for now. Her final diagnosis stayed Aqueductal Stenosis and Hydrocephalus. Her hearing was perfect. She came out perfect. And we love our sweet little girl. God has great things in store for her. She is amazing.

Reassurance in parenting

Obviously, at times, parenting can be really tough. So every once in a while it is really nice to get some sort of reassurance that you are doing a good job. Each night at bedtime Garrison gets to pick out two books that we read. After that he usually requests that I sing him a song or two or maybe even the same song 20 times. Obviously, it's because I have an awesome voice. Ha, seriously, I hope Adam doesn't listen in to these night time singing sessions. I'm horrible. Garrison's favorite bed time books are Dora and Max. He even has Max memorized. He likes to say the words before I say them and he's pretty much got it down. His favorite night time song is Jesus loves me. Which has been good because it lead to a bunch of questions. Where does Jesus live? Can Jesus come play tomorrow? Etc etc. So yesterday morning, we were driving and Garrison said one of his trucks was about to eat him. I said no, it won't hurt you, mommy will protect you. Garrison's response was "no, that is Jesus' job." Ahhhhh and that is the reassurance I needed yesterday. To know that I"m teaching him values that will last a life time and that my teachings of Jesus are seeping in his ever expanding brain. It was a really cool parenting moment and I'm so proud of my little guy!

couponing anyone?!

It seems like the craze lately is couponing. Has anyone seen the show Extreme Coupon? That's where I first became aware of it. The first show I watched was a lady that bought $1000 worth of groceries and paid $40. That's insane. and impressive. So the next day, I got online to start looking up how they do this. Completely stressed me out. This extreme couponing definitely isn't for me. Who seriously has 30-40 hours a week to devote strictly to clipping coupons, reading ads, shopping around?! Not this lady. The show did however make me aware of some of my spending habits. So i've been paying attention to store ads and deals on items we use and etc. I'm a walmart shopper bc of the convenience but lately have been hitting the sales at Albertson's.

Anyway, all that to preference how proud I was of myself on Saturday. With the baby coming up, I wanted to start a small stockpile of diapers and wipes. The stuff we will go through like crazy. My mom had forwarded me a one day only coupon to Babies R Us. The coupon happened to be the brand that I love for newborns, pampers swaddlers. The coupon was $8 off diapers and $3 off wipes (had to be pampers). So we went to babies R us and I grabbed the wipes I like. 500 ct for $14. I noticed it said buy pampers diapers and get half off the wipes. So do the math....$14/2 is 7 - 3 is $4. So I move onto the diapers. The swaddlers were 108 ct for $29.99. (first off, I had totally forgotten how ridiculous diapers are priced!!!!) So do the math....$30 - 8 is $22. So I figured I'd spend a little under $30. Not great, but still saving me $12. So I go to check out and end up spending $17. She rang everything up, I didn't scam or cheat anyone, but I still am not really 100% sure how I did it. (Note: I had bought a couple other items bc I had a gift card, so I didnt' really start looking at my receipt until I got in the car). I guess the diapers were on sale bc they ended up costing me $15 and the wipes, for 500 wipes!!, ended up costing me $1.49. So I'm really proud of myself for driving the extra distance and using my coupon and getting a heck of a deal. Even if I'm not 100% sure how I did. Which this is also the reason that coupons stress me out. My only wish was that I had realized how great of a deal it was and doubled up on it. Oh well. Live and Learn. Welcome to my life of couponing. :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Garrison!!

Garrison turned 3 on June 28th. It doesn't quit seem possible. The past 3 years have flown bye and Garrison has been the light of our lives since the day he was born. I look at my sweet boy and don't see anything baby about him. He is really turning into a sweet, loving, and fun guy but he is definitely all boy. His favorite things are trucks, the bigger the better, and mud pits. Every day he takes the cushions off our couch and turns the couch (bc the bottom is black) into a mud pit for his trucks. He can play cars and trucks for hours. His favorite show is Diego and his birthday theme was Go Diego Go and we had a pool party. He was surrounded by about 30 friends and family, whom have all been in his life since birth. He is so loved and that makes my heart happy. This was the first year that he really loved opening gifts. He would open a gift and ooh and awe over it and then turn around and grab another one "how about this one?" he'd ask and when I said ok, he'd tear into it. I think about 90% of his gifts, were trucks, which was completely fine with Garrison. The next day I was sitting in the living room and Garrison come up and sat in my lap and said "Thank you for my party, mama." Talk about melting my heart. I just love this little guy! Here are a few milestones that occurred in the last year that I don't want to forget:

• Adam and I are still blessed with our schedules, that most of the time he is home with us. He goes to school two days a week and just moved up to the big kids class. He seems to enjoy this more and his teacher said he was bored in the 2 year old class room. He can count to 13 and I'm always trying to get him to practice his numbers. If he doesn't want to he says "I can't remember" but I’ve caught on to this little trick. He can also count some in Spanish, mostly just uno, dos, tres, and quatro (which he butchers).
• The past 4 nights he has gone to bed without his Lambo. Adam said last night that this makes him sad bc it's proof he is growing up too fast. Lambo has been his best friend for 3 years, but I think Diego and a great imagination have finally replaced him. Sigh :(
• I love our bed time routine, although some nights I really am tested on patience. Every night it's "5 more minutes" about 10 times, bc he just isn't ready for bed. We get to read 2 books together and then he crawls in bed. Sometimes I'll read him another book as long as he lays still and closes his eyes other nights he request that I rub his back or sing "Jesus" to him. He loves for me to sing Jesus Loves Me. He goes to Sunday school and always tells me Jesus loves mommy, Jesus loves daddy, etc. He also loves to thank Jesus for his snacks. 
• We were released from his GI specialist this year and the original diagnosis of EE has been contested. We don't have to go back for any testing unless symptoms reappear. He is medication free. Thank you God!! He is still seeing a urologist for his urine reflux, but has not had any complications with this, and our choice of not  putting him on a daily antibiotic has so far been fine. We only go back every 6 months for a kidney ultrasound to monitor it, but more than likely as he keeps getting taller he will outgrown this as well.
• Garrison was fully potty trained about 3 months ago.  He was so easy. He just picked right up on it. Now when he goes to the bathroom, he shuts the door and occasionally locks it, because he wants privacy. He has a stool, so he can wash his hands by himself. We still monitor him but for the most part, he is self sufficient.
• He eats like a bird. He loves healthy snacks. His favorites are carrots, yogurt, and cheese. Our friend Jason was here staying the weekend with us, and asked Garrison if he wanted pizza for dinner. Garrison's reply was "No, carrots are fine."He loves to help mommy water the plants. He loves to be naked. He loves to pee outside (we really have to watch he doesn't pull down his pants at inappropriate places!). He loves to pretend he is either a puppy or a horse. He hates getting water in his eyes. He is very bossy. He is starting to get a temper.

The last 3 years have been wonderful and we love watching this little guy grow up. I wish that time would slow down, that is my only complaint. Happy Birthday sweet boy and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for you. xoxo 

These are my tattoos

I came home from work the other day and Garrison came running to greet me, which is his normal routine. He loves to have his mommy home. Today instead of "I missed you!" I heard "look at my tattoos!" This is my sweet boy, I guess he gets it from his daddy....

I think I decided that I've basically given up blogging this year because every time that I think Oh let's log on and blog about that, it reminds me of the 10  other things that I meant to blog about, and then I just feel overwhelmed! So today's blog won't be about something that occurred two months ago or me trying to catch up...it will simply be about what's on my mind today and the happenings of the Bal household present tense. If I find the time, I'll go back and blog about all the fun we've had in the past months, but I'm going to move on so that maybe I won't feel so overwhelmed to "back-blog" and maybe, just maybe, my blog won't be so lame.

Today, I went to the Dr for my 26 week check-up. (I feel the need to say that Adam and I are having a GIRL bc the "it's a girl blog" has been on my to-do list for a couple months now...ok, see I'm starting to stress myself out!)  We are beyond excited to be adding a girl to our little family and I can't wait to see how Adam is with her. He has always said he wanted a daddy's girl and I'm almost certain that from the moment he lays eyes on her, he will be in big, BIG trouble. At today's appt, she weighed 1 lb, 12 oz and is 12.5 inches long. She was very animated ( probably had a lot to do with the glucose screen, and that they had just made me drink 12 oz of orange syrup). She is definitely my child by the way she was loving the sugar. We saw her chomp her lips like she was smacking them and rub her eyes and yawn and then stick out her tongue. It amazes me. I would watch her everyday with a sonogram machine if I could afford one at home. How cool would that be "Hey let's see what the baby's doing" anytime I wanted. Oh to dream.....We can't wait to meet our little girl!!

Garrison. My sweet little boy turns 3 next month. He won't let me call him my baby. He says NO! I a big boy! He already loves his little sister. He talks to her in my belly and tickles her. He says tickle, tickle, tickle, while trying to tickle my belly. It's cute bc he even says it in a baby voice. If I'm laying on the couch, he will come over and lift my shirt a little bit and put his hand on my belly and just pat it. Let's hope his love for her continues because right now, he really has me amazed. Last night, we had chicken nachos. Garrison had taken the shredded cheese to the table and so I needed it and said to him "Garrison, I'll bring this right back" in order to avoid a fit. The boy loves cheese. I used it and took it back to him and he said "Thanks mom, I knew I could count on you." Ummm seriously?! Where did he learned that. He cracks me up on a daily basis!!

Expanding our family

Pretty much everyone already knows that Adam and I are expecting our second baby. What a blessing! I am 18 weeks right now and finally starting to feel somewhat "normal" again. I've felt so horrible this time around and that is partially to blame why I've had no motivation to do anything, except sleep. Maybe now that i'm feeling better I will get my blog caught up and blog more frequently. I'm sure I won't be too busy with a second baby or anything. Our next sonogram is scheduled for April 25th and then we can confirm whether we are having a boy or girl. At our NT sono, around 13 weeks, the sono lady thought we are having a girl but of course told us not to go out and buy a bunch of pink. I now have it in my head that i'm having a girl, so the anticipation of waiting another month is really killing me!! Several of my friends and my mom, haven't been able to resist buying cute little stuff in pink. I already have about 6  pink outfits, so if it's a boy I'm not sure what I'll do with these gifts! Either way, I love looking at it, and thinking about the baby inside my belly. Stay tuned....one more month!!

This looks safe....right?!

He's trimming out tree with a small electric saw while standing on one of my bar stools....My family might be rubbing off on him just a little bit. :)

Funny story

I just realized that my last post was December 8th....that is just plain sad!! It's definitely not because I have nothing to share or nothing that is exciting enough that I think you would care....in fact, it's simply because I have had no energy and been pretty blah and tired and without energy (did I mention I don't have any energy?!)....but I'll wait and share that in a post very soon. Promises Promises!!

So to start my New Year off right...a funny story to share about what happened to me today. It's embarrassing but never the less, should be shared so that you can get a good laugh in. This morning I was chewing 1/3 of a stick of gum. Now, if you are like my friend Laci, you are probably wanting me to stop the story here and explain why I only was chewing 1/3 of the stick of gum. You see, it was my last piece, and I wanted to use it sparingly. It's not like there are gas stations on every corner here in this small city of Dallas. Ok, so for Laci and other's like her, back to the story we go....All the sudden I sneezed. Violently sneezed. The kind that creeps up on you and you have no control and your neighbor can probably here it. Then I realize, my gum is gone. My first thought was that I swallowed it but I don't remember swallowing it. So next, I check out my hair. I just had a vision of it getting stuck in my newly highlighted hair and me having to cut it out. Nope, my hair was clear. Checked my clothes and the ground all around me. Nope. The gum had just disappeared. I looked for several minutes and finally gave up. Obviously, I had swallowed it.

Fast forward, 4 hours. Yes...four...4...FOUR hours! I'm eating a salad for lunch and something catches my eye. Its lime green and small (thankfully only 1/3 of a stick) but completely out of place. I grab the object still not really understanding what it was. Yep, found my gum! Stuck, in no other place, than on my boob. Kind of the underpart, in the cleavage so it was sort of hidden. I'm not well-endowed so it's not like I could feel it sticking to the other boob. I guess it was content there but not anymore. So next time you loose your gum....check there first. :)