woo hoo an update!

Things have been fairly busy around this household, but fortunately we were able to take a bit of a snuggle break yesterday. Thank goodness. Brie has been very affectionate lately, giving lots of hugs, open mouth (and sometimes with teeth) kisses and snuggles. It has been fun to watch the little gal grow up even more.

The baby has been kicking even more and has been very active lately, and I have been known to break out into short burts of nesting sessions. It makes Ben laugh. And quite honestly, it makes me laugh too. My body doesn't know what it is like to be 27 weeks pregnant, I think I'm confusing it. It's fun to think back at what little Brie looked like @ 27 weeks - here is a picture of the night she opened her eyes - right around 27 weeks and weighing in around 1 pound 10 ounces. Which we already know this baby bird is past 1 pound 11 ounces.

Last Thursday, Brie had her January edition of her synagis shot and weigh in. She weighed in at a whopping 14 pounds 14 ounces; and funny enough she is 14 months old... weird... Synagis went well, although she pouted at the nurse for a long time afterwards. Daddy stayed home this time to watch and he thought her little reaction was so sweet when she wanted to snuggle him after getting poked.

She's been eating more and more table food, has a new love for Graham crackers and is trying out some milk every now and then. Our hope is to be 100% on milk, juice, water, and NO baby food by the time baby #2 arrives. This is our hope anyways. So far so good.

Saturday we went to a rocking birthday party for two of Brie's NICU friends. A & O, these boys were born Dec 30th and we got to know their parents really well even though we walked out of the NICU a little over a month later. We had fun watching them eat their cakes and also enjoyed eating a bit of our own. It was fun to celebrate what God has done in our NICU baby's lives.

This week I've got several appointments, but only to get caught up before the baby comes, I have 2 chiropractor visits (yahoo!), an OB appointment, and an eye doctor appointment. We're gonna get these eyes of mine checked out and order some new contacts.

Just so all you davenporter's know - Brie and I will be there at the end of the month for a baby shower for my newphew-to-be so if you feel like getting together - be sure and let me know.

Pregnacy

Well, thought I'd give an update on the pregnacy. Things are going GREAT! We are one day further along than we were with Brieanna. Tomorrow, Sunday we will be 26 weeks along! Yahoo!

Yesterday (Friday) we had an appointment with the perinatiologist who is overseeing the pregnancy along with our OB. We had an ultrasound and the baby weighed in at 1 pound 11 ounces, so already bigger than Brieanna was at birth.

We now see our OB weekly for blood pressure checks and a general check in and at home I am daily testing my urine for protein. This is actually something I really enjoy because it gives me the daily reassurance that everything is going well.

They have rescheduled the amnio for Monday, March 23rd. Pending the results of the amnio, delivery has been scheduled for Tuesday morning, March 24th, but it may happen the afternoon of 23rd.

We are thrilled that everything is still going so well and we are continuing to pray that they go well. Thank you for your continued prayers as well! It does feel great now that we know what to expect in the NICU if the little baby were to arrive. But we are looking forward to delivering a GIANT baby in March.

Christmas Day!

I forgot to mention about our fantastic Christmas.

Christmas Eve we went to our church service at 5:30 and then headed towards Davenport following the service. There ended up being a large accident on I-80 so we were stopped for 2 hours. Thankfully, Ben had reminded me to pack the car with extra blankets, so we stayed nice and cozy during the wait.

Christmas Day we got up and headed up to my late Great Aunt's condo in Chicago. We had an amazing family dinner there with my dad's side of the family. Brie showed off and was adorable in her Christmas Dress from the Howards. She met for the first time her Great Grandma Spitzer and the Chalifoux family (my dad's sister & fam).

Here is an adorable picture from the day, I still need to get the good pictures from my dad. But I uploaded a few on our flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/massung

ER Visit

Well Brieanna had her first trip back to the hospital. And no it was not to see the doctor, it was a trip to the Blank ER.

We had gone out to the mall and Target and on the way back to the car (not carrying any bags) Brie was strapped to me in the ERGO and I slipped on some major ice. Because she was in the Ergo I was able to catch my fall with my right hand and kind of cradle (although unnecessary) her with my left. Well I went down on one knee and she ended up hitting back her head on the cement.



So we got in the car, Ben looked at her, and I looked at her, noticed there was a large red area on the back of her head and decided it might be wise to take her in to the hospital. She did not loose consciousness or vomit or anything that would indicate a concussion, but we thought it might be wise. So we put a call in to our family physician and headed on our way to the ER. Our physician thought that she probably didn't have a concussion either but he thought it was wise to get her checked over. While on the way to the hospital she wasn't acting like herself, she was VERY tired, couldn't keep her eyes open and was not very smiley (not our little girl). So of course that freaked me out even more and reassured me that going to the ER was the right thing to do.

So we went back to our favorite place, Blank Children's Hospital where the ER staff took a look at her. The resident who came in and saw her, had actually seen her when he did a NICU rotation and remembered who she was based on her asymptomatic diaphragmatic hernia. That was great that he knew of her at least, and he was pleased that she has had no issues since leaving the hospital. He checked her over, a nurse and a doctor checked her over and gave her a clean bill of health.



So today, she's fine, happy and back to her goofy self. Thank goodness. And the large red spot on her head - is gone.

New Car seat

Well, in preparing for the new baby to arrive in March, I've begun to resarch carseats for Brieanna's new one.

Today I went to Babies R Us to try Brie out in several different car seats that I had looked at online with fairly high ratings. I was glad that I tested her in some, I found one that I thought I had liked online, but putting her in it made me realize how much I didn't like it. I had a 15% off coupon at Babies R Us so I was hoping to find one there but left empty handed. No big deal, just wanted to come home and do a bit more research.

So we went to Target, my favorite store, we looked at some car seats there. I didn't have a 15% off coupon for Target so I wasn't planning on purchasing one there. We looked at Britax at both stores. Britax is one of the top rated for convertible car seats, but little do people know that The Learning Curve makes one that is just as well rated by the National Highway Safety Administration. I found the "True fit" carseat online before I even saw it in the store. But then arriving at Target today I sat Brie in it, fell in love, and even better, it was on clearance for 15% off!! No coupon needed. Needless to say I'm very happy about the purchase, knowing that she's safe, and can be in the 5 point harness until she's 65 pounds. (Which will be a LOONG time from now) Here's the new car seat <http://www.learningcurve.com/product/detail/Y11006?locale=en_US> and a picture of Brieanna in it.

Kiddo's room

So yes, I'm still not revealing the gender, but due to advice from my fantastic brother <http://bradleyspitzer.blogspot.com/> we will now mention names so we don't confuse people.

Brieanna and the new baby have their crib's in the same room and I uploaded new pics of the completed room on our flickr site. I LOVE having the room completed and finished. Even though baby won't be here for another 13 weeks, so we hope, it's nice to know I don't have to run around large and trying to get things done.

Anyways, you can find our pictures at <http://www.flickr.com/photos/massung>, and on my facebook page. The room was painted that way for Brieanna, and really all we did was recover/obtain a new glider, and add a crib!

The bugs were inspired by some awesome decorative plates we got for our wedding from Tim and Teri Adams - we LOVE them and were our inspiration for the room. Someday I'll get a picture of them up on here.

Here is an old video of Big Girl B in the tub - I think it was taken around June? I don't know the exact date.

Anyways, here is a video of her now in the tub- my what a change! Daddy B has been making a fun noise whenever she's in the tub and she gets SOO excited and squirms away with a smile. This video didn't capture the best smile, but you get the idea.