Hereeeeeeee's ........ Ava Kassidy Bankester

Yes, we did finally decide on a name before she made her apperance.

Ava was born on Aug 20, 2009 at 1241 pm. She was 6 lbs 0.5 oz and 19 inches long and healthy. She was letting everyone know that she wasn't happy with all that they were doing to her.

She had APGAR scores of 9 & 9 and no jaundice. She ate a 2 oz bottle in 20 minutes once they brought her to the room. She is a little pig and definitely makes her demands known.

The whole C/S was so totally different from Ian, mostly good, a little bad. They did a spinal and the first attempt hit something and made me jump and put me in tears. Luckily the next try was better. We also discovered that morphine and I don't get along as well as Percocet and I don't get along:) I can not handle high level narcotics. The worst thing about the recovery was the tension headache that I had from Friday, the 21 through Friday the 28th. I swear I wanted my head cut off. Other than that, the recovery was a lot easier than with Ian. I didn't realize how sick I was with Ian until now. The bittersweet part of Ava's birth was that Perry's stepmom's dad died that same day in Pensacola about an hour after she was born. He did know that she had been born and what her name was before he died. So one light went out while another was born.

Ava's already had her 1 week checkup and she had weighed 6 lbs 5 oz. We weighed her last night and she is 6 lbs 13 oz. So seriously, this child loves to eat:)

Ian is being a great big brother. He loves to help and give her kisses and if she cries, he comes running to check on her. We are being patient with the tantrums.

Lil Sis Update #2

Well had my 37 week check today. My BP was high again but no protein spilling and no swelling or sudden weight gain. So I'm just being difficult:)

Well yesterday, I felt off all day and night so I got to thinking that lil sis was coming early like by this weekend. So the Dr comes in and in light of my BP being high the last 2 vists, that we should move the C/S date up. This should help with my BP issues so I don't have to have a hospital stay before she is born or possibly on any meds.

So lil sister is coming TOMORROW, Thursday, Aug, 20. So around lunchtime we should have our newest member of the family. Hopefully she will have a name by then. No we still haven't decided. Apparently we work better with the pressure of the knife:)

I will be at 37 weeks and 5 days with her. That's 10 weeks + 3 days longer than Ian cooked.

So luckily it is tomorrow so that gives time for my mom to get here to watch Ian for us. Unfortunately she will be the only grandparent present. Perry's mom & stepdad are coming tomorrow night for the weekend, my dad is coming on Sat morning, & Perry's dad and stepmom aren't going to be able to make it as his stepmom's family is having some serious health issues and her place is with them. PLEASE keep her family in your prayers. It could be a rough weekend for her.

We will send them plenty of pics and calls over the next couple of days so that they don't geel left out. She was looking forward to being here for the birth. As all of the grandparents missed it last time as well.

Oh well, time to go. I still have to get pretty feet tonight and need to run laundry so it's caught up:) Oh well no rest for the weary:)

Kids Room Pics

Finally have all the little things done in the kids' room. Thought I'd share how we have Cars + Flowers in the same room. We only have 2 bedrooms so for now they will have to share. So it was an adventure trying to figure out how to make it girly and boy at the same time. Hopefully this will work. Plus on the brightside her side will be easy to change once her interests are discovered.

Lil Sis Update

Well it's time for Ian's little sister to have an update as well.

We have officially made it to "full-term" at 37 weeks. That's 10 weeks longer than Ian. It has been very weird. I'm not used to being this pregnant and feeling like a little old lady with all the achy joints and I swear if I hit my belly on one more thing, I'm going to scream:)

Had a little scare last week, my BP had been wonky at home since the beach trip. At the Dr it was still a little high but not super high, just higher than it had been being. So we ended up with doing the Pre-E bloodwork again and then had to come back for a BP check 2 days later.

Bloodwork was good, so platelets and liver enzymes were good and BP had gone down from what it was but still seemed a little high to me. I was just told to "curtail my activities" and drink plenty of water, etc. All of which I was already doing.

So this weekend, we finished up the last of the grocery shopping. I've got the hospital bags packed (weird feling that) and the car seat base in the car. All that is left is a little pampering of mommy's feet.

So for now we are in the final countdown days to little sister arrives on Aug 28. Hopefully, she will continue to cook a little bit longer but I'm definitely getting ready to meet this little one that has been belly dancing like crazy these last couple of days. I swear I feel like the monster from Alien is going to pop out any second.

Till next time

My little man is growing up:(

Well, today was Ian's first official day of Preschool. He's only going for half days 2 days a week but it is the ending of an era.

He was excited to finally get to use his Cars backpack that I got for him at the last consignment sale and to wear his new shoes.

He did well when we dropped him off and no tears because he was too busy exploring. NO tears for mommy either:)

Hopefully he will cooperate for them today. We will see if they still think that he is precious:)

The house is quiet. That is weird:) Won't last much longer with lil sis arriving soon so I had better enjoy it right.

Ian's First Trip to the Beach

Well, we finally did it. We took Ian to the beach, Panama City Beach,FL, to be exact. We went with some friends of ours. The trip definitely wasn't long enough as we were only went for 2 nights but we will definitely do it again when we can stay longer and I'm not so pregnant.

We left early Saturday morning so we could have some time down there while waiting on our room to be prepared. We stayed at Edgewater Resort in the Windward building right on the beach. It was so nice. We had a balcony and what a way to start the day. Balcony and surf. I miss it. Just being around the water relaxes me, even though people may not realize it. That's what I get for being a Cancerian Crab.

So we go the beach and Ian hates the sand on his feet which I kind of expected since he has always been a little funny about his feet, understandably due to the number of heel sticks the poor boy has had. He was fine once we had him sitting in the sand and he could scoop sand and such. He really enjoyed the pool the most of course.

He hated walking at the edge of the surf until we showed him shells. He has his first seashells already in his treasure box.

We spent all day Sunday at the beach and had fun. On Monday we hit Destin and the outlet mall there. We scored Ian a pair of Stride Rite Tennis Shoes for school for $10:) Woo Hoo The shoes we wanted at the price we wanted.

Hopefully the pictures will show how much fun he had. Can't wait to do it again.

Update time again

Well I've finally got a minute to update. Life has been hectic since Father's day.

As for Ian's little sister, we are at 33 weeks now. She is definitely making her presence known. It is so weird to be this pregnant. So far so good. We took a quick tour of the hospital where we will have her. It was hilarious explaining that we don't have a clue what to do this time around but the nurse we talked to understood and didn't think we were too strange. Ian will be allowed to visit me and sister at the hospital. I was afraid that he wouldn't be and I don't know if I could be away from him that long. So we are on the countdown till August 28 and her arrival. Hopefully she will continue cooking.

We had another shower for her in GA at my mom's house and we got a ton of clothes. Ian of course was the official present opener. Our friends that are expecting as well told us that they are having another boy:) We also watched our boys who are about 6 months apart walk holding hands. It was cute and I didn't have the camera for the picture of them walking down the path. Ian also started calling for Noah and has been saying it since. It is absolutely adorable. We also are going to go to Panama City Beach with them in 2 weeks for a last hurrah before our kids come. We've never done this but have wanted to. So it will definitely be an adventure but fun.

Ian is currently recovering from his eye surgery. This one had me stressed for a week due to an anesthesia doctor that had already decided that he would have issues and would most likely be admitted overnight. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather them err on the side of caution with him especially with his med history and I understand it but don't make your mind up beforehand. Luckily we talked with another doctor before his surgery and made sure that the first doctor would not be the doctor the day of the surgery and this doctor said we can't say for sure he will have issues but we have the room reserved just in case he needed it.

So we headed up the night before since we had to be there at 7 and to get there that early we would've had to leave by 430. So we spent the night in Bham and Ian got some time in the hotel pool and we got to get a couple extra hours of sleep. The surgery went well. We will know the final outcome in about 6 weeks but we can already see a difference. Bless his heart, he looks like he should be in a horror movie with his 2 red eyes. He only had to have one muscle in each eye moved. So the surgery was about and hour and then the wait for him truly began. After an hour and half we were getting antsy and were fixing to ask his nurse to call recovery when she came to get us to go back to recovery. So we thought that meant that they were admitting him. But no.

His recovery nurse was like we had been waiting so long and if that was his kid he would want to see him. So we got to see a new area of Children's even for us old pros.

Ian was sitting up in bed all drugged. The issue was that his oxygen sats were not staying where they thought they should be so they were giving him extra time. He still hadn't fully woke up yet either but part of that could be the pain meds that they gave him an hour earlier. So we sat with him and watched his O2 sats, felt like old times in the NICU. Of course, they would be high when no one but us was there but as soon as a nurse appeared they dropped. Granted the lowest it was was 89/88 with it mostly hanging out at 92-94 range. They were looking for high 90s but we know that he can be 95/96 and that's good for him. However, once the initial wave of the pain meds receeded and he started actually waking up and became more alert, his sats stayed at 96 and up. So we got to go home that day. No hospital stay for us. Thank you God.

So we spent the night recovering or more exact, Ian slept until 630 the next morning. He only had to take one dose of Tylenol with codeine for pain that night. By the next morning, he was his old self so it was hard to get him to stay in bed with me for the day so I could take it easy as well as him.

He is busy being spoiled this week as grandma is here to help wrangle him so I can get some things done around the house. All we have heard since we came home from Albany was Mom, Truck, Yeah, 50 million times a day. So now he is in little boy heaven because grandma with the truck is here and he has her wrapped around his finger literally:)

Ian Update

Well, let's see. Ian has been a busy little guy this summer. Sorry the pictures aren't where they are supposed to be. I need a lesson on how to get them where I want them. Can some of my blogger friends tell me how to get the pictures to appear under the paragraphs I want?

He has a new word now, Pool. We put him in a 2 week Water Babies class with daddy and he loved it except for the night that I tried to watch him and get some pics. I did manage to get 2. Whenever mommy is around that is the only person he wants. He is soooooooooooo spoiled. He doesn't like to get his face wet but we will work with him on it. It's just hard to undo 2.5 years of telling him not to get his face wet because of the trach in a year.

He also helped host a baby shower for his new little sister over Father's day. He wasn't too sure about that but he definitely loved opening all the presents. Christmas is going to be a blast this year. He got to spend all day Father's day in the pool and even learned how to shoot a water pistol. Granted he was shooting me but he was having fun. Unfortunately, he did come home with a lovely black eye. I swear, I'm the world's worst mom. The boy trips into a low windowsill where we were staying and this happened with 2 people walking right behind him. The funniest thing that weekend was that he got to see a little 3 month old baby girl. I didn't hold her because I didn't want The Look yet. Daddy held her, grandma sneak attack, and Ian saw him and he got The Look. Then they sat her in his lap and it lasted for a good 5 seconds before he put his hands in front of him and 'pushed' her away. We were loving it and unfortunately we didn't have the camera.

We just got back from a trip home to Albany, GA to see grandma and grandpa and help put plans into place for another baby shower. Somehow mom tricked me into designing my own invites for the party that she's hosting. Got to love Moms. Ian had a blast there as usual and as usual was filthy. The day started at 445 for him and he was up for about 16 hours straight. Can we say tired 3 year old.

So on Sunday he got to go to a 4 year old Bday party at Burger King for our friend's son. The other reason we went home. I've known that dad for about 30 years, yep most of my life. Just scary. Ian just did laps around the playpark but he had a blast and only 2 falls but none of them were on the equipment. Why is that they happen in slow motion and you see it happening but you can't get there fast enough even when it happens less than a foot away from you. I swear if I could figure out how to wrap him in bubble wrap I would.

So now for Monday, we had to go to Bham for his ortho appt for a 6 month followup on his back and get xrays to see if the curve had made any improvement. He was a big boy and only one meltdown and that was when daddy had to take him to be xrayed since I wasn't going to go into the room with them being so pregnant. He went in screaming momma and came out all smiles and with an Elmo sticker. We love the modern technology of them putting us in the exam room and then pulling the xrays up on the computer. We were looking at today's as soon as the nurse left and we could see how much straighter he was. Of course the first words out of the ortho's mouth was Are we sure he has achondroplasia? Yes we are we have the genetic testing results. Yes his head doesn't show the typical forehead bossing and apparently he has grown a little. We don't see it but grandma on Saturday made the same comment. So we actually thought about it we were out and about after the appt and we noticed that we weren't having to hunch over to hold his hand anymore. Ok back on target. The ortho measured his curve and it was a 10 degree improvement. So at this point since it was showing improvement we aren't going to brace but continue to monitor and we go back in another 8 months.

So that's it for now on what Ian has been up to so far over the last couple of weeks. Upcoming events are eye surgery and then the second baby shower he is hosting and starting preschool and oh yeah getting a sister.

28 Week Dr Appt

Well, we made it to this appointment. So little sister has officially been cooking about a week longer than when Ian was born. So we are officially first timers again. We don't know what to expect any more at this point. All the bloodwork from last week's paranoid appt came back fine and I apparently don't have gestational diabetes as nothing was said about that. Yay!! So I got the lovely Rhogam shot today as well. We also went ahead and scheduled the CSection date for her arrival. Friday, Aug 28 is the big day. Now hopefully she will not make any surprise appearance before then.

So this weekend is the first of 2 baby showers being held for us. This one is in FL by my MIL and SIL and Ian is hosting with their assistance. Hopefully we will get some of the items we need and not just frilly dresses but I'm not holding my breath. Thank goodness for exchanges.

So for now all is well with the Bankesters. Now to make it to our next Dr appt in 4 weeks.

1st Dentist Appointment

Well we had put it off long enough while waiting for all the other issues with Ian to stabilize and for him to get old enough to understand what was going on. So today was Ian's first dental appt. He did well. He did have a meltdown which I had thought would happen especially after the mood he woke up in this morning. But he came out all smiles with his 2 toys, bribes to behave. Oh how I love bribes:) He didn't have any cavities but they are watching some areas. Which I expected after him being on Pediasure and bottles for so long and not letting us near him with a toothbrush until last year. Granted all the milk he drinks doesn't help but he needs the calories and protein from it . They didn't do xrays as they didn't want to push their luck with him and his cooperation. So we will work up to that. Now to introduce flossing to him. That ought to be fun. But he will probably surprise me and like it and then we will have to hide all the floss in the house. We did get an at home flouride treatment for him to use and we will start that and hopefully that will improve his teeth some.

So he was an awfully good big boy today and then of course mommy bought him a new Hot Wheel car at Walmart as a prize. As if he didn't have enough cars and I don't complain enough about putting them up. Oh well, 97 cents and it makes his day, he deserved it.

28 Week Milestone

Well we have made it to one big milestone in the pregnancy with Ian's little sister, 28 weeks. By this time we had already had Ian and had started the NICU roller coaster. Granted I have been to the OB 2x in the last 2 weeks because I'm paranoid and don't know what is normal. This last visit on Friday was due to a tiny bit of bloody drool on my pillow when I woke up. Now typically probably wouldn't bother me as I have bad gums but that was one of the things that happened with Ian when I was developing HELLP and we didn't know it was a cause of concern.

Now with it being Friday and going into the weekend I was worried. So into the Drs we go. I know that they think I'm being crazy but with everything that happened with Ian and with how fast it happened, I am a little justified. So the Dr ordered some bloodwork to check my platelets and liver enzymes just to be on the safe side. They will let me know if anything is off. My Dr (not the same Dr that I had with Ian) is funny since he has finally figured out that I wasn't the typical presentation of HELLP with Ian( I skipped preeclampsia and eclampsia and went straight to Class 1 HELLP) and wants me to be boring this pregnancy. I want to be boring as well.

So as of now, all is well and little girl is still cooking, yay!! We have our next milestone on Thursday when we go in for the actual scheduled Dr appt. I never made it to that one with Ian. I get to have the lovely Rhogam shot as well. Oh joy.

Time to now hopefully go get some sleep. I hate pregnancy insomnia.

I Love Pea Pod Announcements

I love Pea Pod Announcements. I found them when I was looking for birth announcements for Ian and wanting something unique. They did such a great job with his and didn't freak out when some, ok the majority, were NICU pictures. They are a small company started by a mom and is now 4 years old. They also do invitations, thank you cards, and holiday cards as well as announcements.

Well they had a 4th Birthday Party on Facebook last night. Just for signing in I got a 15% off code and then I won a set of Keep In Touch cards ( think of as kid business cards) and a 30% off code.


This is so great. I've been looking and trying to decide on which announcement to do for our little girl and how to customize it. The codes will help with the cost. Yay:)

If you want to check out this cool place they are at www. peapodannouncements.com and they also have a Facebook page as well.

I know I sound like an ad for them but they are an amazing bunch of designers and do a lot of great work.

The summer is packed

Whew!! Just got through with making all of Ian's dr appointments for the summer. We are trying to get as much done this summer as possible before 'lil sis arrives. Ian sure is a busy boy.
This month we are going to the dentist for the 1st time. My one question is Why do dentists think a one year old & up are able to go back by themselves and let strangers near them with sharp instruments and no other dr expects this? Ian is funny about his mouth and going through a separation anxiety phase. I refuse to let them restrain him or sedate him. Hopefully he will do well.

Ian also is going to start Water Babies this month for 2 weeks. We decided to do that instead of swimming lessons to start off with. Since he just got his trach out last summer we wanted him to get used to the water first. He's going to do this with daddy. This will be interesting.

Ian is also going to host a baby shower (with a grandma) this month as well in FL. This will be fun and the first of 2 showers. The grandmas missed out on this stage with Ian so they are having fun with 'lil sis. Hopefully I won't end up with all super frilly girl clothes but I have a feeling I will. He then has a bday party for our friend's son the next weekend. We love them and don't get to see them much. I've known the husband since 1st grade. How weird is that.

Ian will then see his orthopedist. Hopefully, he won't end up with a back brace. He's doing better sitting up straighter but I'm still worried.

Are you tired yet? I am. Now for July, Ian will have another shower to help with and then the next week have eye surgery. It's not an emergent surgery but we wanted to get it done now before there is more damage. Hopefully it is just the one eye muscle on each eye that is causing the problem and this will help with him looking up and not having to move his head to look up and holding his head back while he is walking. Then we a followup for that. So far July is not as booked as June.

August 10 starts Preschool at the elementary school. Hopefully, I will be able to see him off that week for his 2 days a week. August also starts back up with Playgym so that he gets that as 'therapy' and modeling. Sometime in August, 'lil sis will make an appearance as well, I think.

The summer is flying by and we still don't have a name for the little girl but with us that's par for the course. She probably won't have a name until right before I'm wheeled in for the c section. I can't believe I'm 36 in a couple of weeks either. Time sure has flown by. Hopefully we will have Ian's room redone in the next 2 weekends so that we can start setting it up for him and his sister. Nothing goes together like Cars and flowers. The house will be a tight fit for the next couple of years but by then we will be in a better financial position to buy a bigger house.

Next dr appt is in 2 weeks and that will be a milestone for us as we didn't reach that one with Ian, we will be 2 days short of 29 weeks. Already we have reached one milestone, at this point with Ian I was already in the hospital with HELLP. So I am now in completely uncharted waters. I don't know what's normal and what isn't. It's like being pregnant for the first time all over. I also think that his 'lil sis is already bigger than Ian was when he was born.

Oh well that's enough for now.

Ian and his eye appt

Well we got to see Dr Elsas yesterday. They must have been running behind something fierce because we were there for over 2 hours. That's a first for us there. But Ian does need the eye muscle surgery like I thought would happen. The good news is is that it isn't an emergent surgery. We just need to decide when to do it. Hopefully it will improve the way he holds his head when he sits and walks. He holds his head back to focus his eyes. His current prescription is helping but his eyes still cross when he looks up even with his glasses.

The surgery would be outpatient and Dr Elsas is one of the best but it does mean putting him under general anesthesia which is always scary for us and him. Luckily Perry was asking the questions because eye surgery freaks me out. I have a thing about my eyes. Plus Ian was being Ian and getting into everything while the dr was talking.

So it looks as if Ian will have the surgery this summer. We want to go ahead and get it done before sis arrives and he starts school and while he still has his Medicaid to help pick up the copays. So now we just have to figure out when and get it scheduled.

That's all for now. Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day.

Lil Sis Update

Well, we went to the dr yesterday for the dreaded 1 hour glucose test. The good news is that I didn't blow it out of the water like I did with Ian. My level with him was 223 and with her 143. Unfortunately, I do still have to do the 3 hour one next week since I was borderline with her. Hopefully, I will pass that one like I did with him. I hate that test. I'm an easy stick for blood work but they always bruise the crap out of me and I look like a drug addict. So Perry now has to take the morning off so that he can stay with Ian because no children are allowed at the lab. How do people manage that if they don't have daycare or family or a sitter?

That's our other challenge is finding a sitter for Ian. All of our family is 3 hours away and I am very picky about who will be Ian's sitter or even his lil sister's. I think in today's world you have to be. I have a lot of contacts unfortunately they are all in the Auburn area and no one will come to Tallassee because it is 'too far away'. We run into that with other services as well from Montgomery or Auburn. You would think I lived in Siberia or something. We have a possibility for the summer but no one for the fall. I'm worried that lil sis will make a surprise early appearance and Perry won't be able to be in the OR with me as he is baby sitting Ian or Ian will be at school and we won't have anyone to pick him up. Good grief this is getting stressful just thinking about it.

Oh well, got to get ready to go to Bham for the afternoon. Ian has an eye doctor appt. We may find out if he needs eye surgery today. Hopefully not, but if it will help with him focusing his eyes and stop them crossing and being lazy we will do it. We are hoping that his eyes are part of why he usually holds his head back when he is walking. It seems he has an 'A' pattern to focus his eyes. He leans his head back to focus on some objects.

Tired of Trucks yet.. last truck post finally:)

Yet more Touch a Truck photos

Yet more trucks. Did I mention this was little boy heaven.

More Touch a Truck photos

some more photos from today at Touch a Truck