The Family Blog

If yesterday's blog had lots of movies, today's has certainly got lots of photos. Lucky you! Do you think I'll be taking more or less pictures when #2 gets here? Many people predict less but we shall see. If he's half as fun as Easton was/is then I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures still.

Backtracking to yesterday for a mo'...when I went to wake Li'l E up from his nap he was OUT. I turned off his humidifier and his white noise and that didn't wake him. I rubbed his head but that didn't do it either. Talking to him and picking him up did. He must've been in the midst of a dream because he said, "Glasses" to me (there were no glasses in sight) and put his head right down on my shoulder. I loaded my drowsy guy in the car with no shoes or coat thinking he might snooze again on the drive. He didn't but he was so quiet and still. Just looking out the window. After about 5-10 minutes of silence he told me, "Pete". I don't know what that meant. He slowly woke back up to his full Easton potential and was excited for the toys in the waiting room at the OB's as usual. He kept expecting to see Daddy there but I had to tell him Daddy wasn't coming.

We waited for a half an hour to be seen. It didn't seem so bad without Jason there needing to get back to work. It was actually kinda fun watching E enjoy the train table. When another older kid came in to play too it got even better. But, we were called back and the first stop was the scale. First me, then Easton wanted on! I gained maybe 2.5 pounds in the last 2 weeks (eek!) but my total gain is at 18 pounds. I like to blame some of that weight on my full bladder but deep down I realize I can't as "full" at this stage of pregnancy is, like, a mere 2 ounces. Oh well. It's nearing the end and I can expect to gain a pound a week or so. Guess that's what's happening? Anyway...my blood pressure was only 96/58 and then we waited for the doc to come in. She spent literally 3 minutes with me. She asked if I had any questions and then listened to Deucie (yup, heart was still beating) and then measured my uterus (34 and I'm 33.5 weeks). She had the nurse come back to check my hematocrit and they said it was 36 which they were all happy about. I looked at them like they were crazy (for being so happy) and she was like, "Why, have you been feeling run down?" and I said, "Well, no...but y'all said I'm anemic and I'm on iron." "Oh, well, the iron's working!" If you say so...my hematocrit was 35.5 when they diagnosed my "anemia". When I had my blood drawn just before Christmas (after I'd been on the iron awhile) my 'crit was up to 36.7. Now it's down to 36 yet they're excited it's "perfect". I can't wait to be done with those fools. Good grief.

Speaking of anemia though, it turns out Easton IS anemic. Yup, I heard from the doctor today. Why all the confusion? When I called for his lab results that day (8 days ago!!!) I only asked for his hemoglobin and hematocrit values since that's the way I know to check for anemia. Those two values were perfectly normal and that's what I updated y'all on. However, the doctor also checked some other values like ferretin and the amount of actual iron in his blood and those are indeed low. She said she couldn't believe his H&H were normal with the other values as low as they were. Anyway...the plan is to start him on liquid iron supplements (his daily vitamin does not contain iron which I had suspected was the case). Then, we have to have him checked again in 2-3 weeks to see if it's improving. Sooooo not looking forward to that for him. Another blood draw? Ouch!

Anyway, I'm feeling a little frustrated about this right now. He hasn't had his iron checked since he was in the NICU. Most healthy kids have had it checked at least once or twice by now, I think. As you can see, I'm a litte confused why his was never checked before at all. The other thing is, Easton hasn't been on the charts for weight since he was 6 months old. If anemia can affect a child's appetite (and therefore weight) I'm a little puzzled why our previous doctor didn't want to just check it out. Even just with a simple finger stick--although that would've been normal since his H&H are fine. It's just if he's been anemic for quite some time that's not good. And if he's been missing out on valuable eating and growing because of it then that sucks even more. I hope this does the trick and he can catch up, but can't you see why this might bother me? Blah.

Okay, back to me and the OB...in the waiting room on our way out we ran into 4 nurses I used to work with. They were all happy and excited to see us as a couple of them were directly involved in caring for either me or Easton at some point. One of the first things out of one of their mouths was, "Have you been seen yet? What was your BP?" And then they politely raved about how much better I'm looking with this pregnancy and how Easton is a complete clone of his daddy. As they left I could hear them saying, "Gosh, doesn't she look great?" and "That's one cute kid". I'm sure they were saying it for my benefit knowing I could still "overhear" them but it was still nice. That's the kind of stuff a pregster like me wants to hear.

And, just to nit pick, Easton is not a complete clone of his daddy but I know that's just what people say sometimes. Jason and I agree that he's a pretty good mix of the both of us. And sometimes we look at him and think he looks a lot like my dad-- which wigs me out as he's not a part of our lives. But, even if you can shut a person out of your life the genes are still there, aren't they? Grrrrr.

Okay, moving on...last night when Jason got home he was sort of low energy from still not eating much and from a long day at work. And he's cold all the time now. Easton was the sweetest boy ever though and seemed to "understand" that Daddy needed a break from their usual evening play.

This morning we went to Kindermusik and had a nice time. Easton kept saying, "See Ellis" (a class pal) but Ellis wasn't there. So, after class he played chase with another tot and called him Ellis instead. They were too cute playing chase. Easton was always the "chasee" and LOVED it. Then Xander (21 months) would tag him and they'd do it again. Soooo cute. When we left the boys hugged. Awwwww!

Anyway, on to all the pictures I previously spoke of:
Still freaking out about the dangly toenail...it's still hanging on but we're not longer putting a Band-Aid on it:


Fresh from yesterday's Circle Time with a new book or 3:


Then we did some coloring for the first time at the table in his room:



And posing on another room addition from The Alabamaws:


Blitz then decided to spice things up by jumping allllll the way up onto Easton's dresser, Blitz:

Easton's reaction:

It seems the best smiles I can get out of him lately are when he's wearing that shirt or another shirt from The Maws. Strange.

Then once Daddy got home:


Bedtime stories in the new room:

And another great smile to wrap things up:


Well, now my Photobucket account is full so I must go figure out what to do next. Oh, and get my daily dose of caffiene. Toodaloo!