Clinton - Three Months

I know it has been quite a while, but I had to share with everyone how absolutely adorable my baby boy is!  He is cooing away, getting fatter by the minute, and smiling nonstop! 

Now, if I could just stop him from waking in the middle of the night for a bottle, it would be wonderful!  Any tips?

Introducing...

Clinton Washington

Our little Clinton was born on 11-11-11, weighed 8lbs 3oz, and was 21 inches long.  I cannot begin to tell you how lucky we are!  He is just such a good baby.  Even lets mommy sleep a whole 4 hours before his next feeding at night!  Wooo Hoo!

His birth is another story.  I was dilated at a 2.5 a few days before his arrival and ready to meet the little guy.  I woke on 11-10-11 at 11:50 pm with contractions.  At 2:30 am on 11-11-11, my contractions were 4 minutes apart and starting to get stronger.  When we arrived at the hospital, I was a 4 1/2.  The nurses kept saying he was sitting pretty high and will probably lower by the time I am a 10.  The contractions were strong and it helped so much with me standing or swaying.  Laying down made them worse...much worse!  At about 5 am, I was given my epidural and was at a 6.  After a small nap and watching reruns of, In Living Color (anyone remember Wanda?) on You Tube, my OBGYN came in to check on me.  It was about noon.  I was at a 9 and starting to feel the urge to push, which was not comfortable at all.  I actually found that more painful than the contractions.  My doctor explained that I needed to wait at least an hour to see if my cervix was fully ready and to see if the baby had dropped at all.  He was a negative 2 at this point.  They gave me a little more pain meds to help me from pushing.  An hour went and past.  Clinton only dropped to a negative one.  At 2:20 pm, my cervix was ready and I was at a 10, but the little guy still hadn't dropped.  I had also developed a fever, which concerned the doctor that the baby may have an infection as well.  My doctor suggested that I try pushing, just to see if it would work at all.  Her main concern was I would exhaust myself and she was starting to lean towards a C section.  I was determined, let me tell ya!  After a half hour of pushing, Clinton finally came into the world.

He was taken away from me quickly so he could be given an IV in case he was sick.  Clint went with him to make sure everything was ok.  Once I arrived to my room, Clinton came in shortly after, healthy and well.  Phew!

We are so happy to finally be parents!

Keep Smiling...

Last Thursday, the day we finally got our power back from the storm, we got the phone call.  My grandpa had passed away. 

He was one of those grandpa's everyone wished they had.  He was always smiling, laughing, and gentle as ever.  He was a huge animal lover.  He would tell us stories of growing up in Oil City, PA, with his pet chicken, which was later served as dinner. 

He grew up poor and without parents in his teen years.  At 18, he enlisted in the army and served in Italy till 1945.  He came home in January 1946 and married my grandmother, who he had met by writing love letters to during the war.  He loved his family, his wife, and his 1988 Chrysler LeBaron.

Summer time was always my favorite time to spend at my grandparents. He would sit on the front porch of their Detroit home and tell us the name of every person that lived in each home on his block. As the people moved out of the neighborhood, my grandparents started to see a change in culture. Where it was once an all Polish neighborhood, turned into many different cultures such as Arabic, Mexican, and African American. Of course, being very old fashion, my grandparents did not take kindly to this. About 4-5 years ago, my grandparents got new neighbors, who were Arabic. My grandpa had fallen in his backyard and could not get up. My grandmother was inside and did not know. The man (who was Arabic) next door saw my grandpa and rushed over, carrying him into my grandparents home. After that, my grandma would buy their children gifts and speak so highly of them. It's funny how perception changed...for the better.

He was not your typical person with dementia.  He would repeat things constantly, or tell you stories about three times over in one sitting, but he was always so happy to see you! 

I could go on and on with the stories...

After my grandma passed in 2008, we worried he may be lost without her.  We moved him into an assisted living, where the staff instantly fell in love with the man we knew.  He would trick the cute, young women staff members into helping him with things, such as unplugging his TV and asking them to help him fix it. 

Now, he is back with my grandma, where I am sure he is driving her nuts with telling her how cute she is or how much he loves her.  That man was not shy when it came to showing his emotions towards us or her.  Yes, I am very sad I lost him, but am so lucky I got to spend 31 wonderful years with him.

I have to hear your best grandpa stories now...

Chaising Love...

I have been dreaming of a chaise in our bedroom for a long time.  After we found out about Baby V, I fell in love even more with the idea of having a chaise in our bedroom to nurse at night in or rock baby back to sleep. 

Then the new Arhaus catalog comes in the mail...BAM!

Now this is all I can dream of. 

Oh Arhaus, how I love you and wish I could afford you...

Wild and Crazy...Not Really

Where have I been??  Gosh, things have been a little bit of a blur lately.  It all started with the first trimester of pregnancy.  Even though I didn't really have morning sickness, the nausea was pretty bad at times.  Then came the tiredness and my allergies for Spring.  By May, I started to feel like myself again and we began working on the nursery...more on that to come.  I even did a few other fun projects around the house and felt like a happy pregnant woman.  Then came June ~sigh~... June was not a good month. 

Do any of you remember my kidney stone I had last year?  It happened again.  This time, the pain started at work during my lunch.  I called Clint and told him I thought I had a stone.  I then called my OB.  They told me to go to the hospital.  The drive home was fun.  I thought I was going to rip the steering wheel off the pain was so bad.  I got to the ER, where I thought I was suppose to go.  I later found out the ER doctors should have taken me immediately to labor and delivery to make sure everything was ok with the baby.  Instead, the ER doctors and nurses kept me there for 8 hours with no food or water.  I had to constantly remind them I was pregnant, which I find crazy since I had a belly showing.  I was in the hospital for 3 days, on so many pain killers, and threw up more times than I could count.  The Urologists seem to think I would pass the stone, but they had no idea if I had a stone because they could not do an MRI on me.  I went home. 

For a week and a half, I felt great.  No pain at all.  The following week, the pain started on my drive to work.  After 3 hours, I could barely stand it.  Back to the hospital I went.  This time, I went to labor and delivery, which took me in right away.  I was admitted again, this time for two days. 

There is one thing I should explain about kidney stones.  One minute, you can be in the worst pain ever, and the next, you are fine.  It all matters if the stone is moving.  In my case, when the Urologists visited me, I was in no pain.  This time, the Urologist told me I was having "pregnancy pains", and I should have taken a vicodin to help with the pain.  Would have saved me a trip to the hospital.  I was fuming and it took everything in me to not take out my IV and stab him in the eye!  I knew the pain I was having and knew vicodin was not going to do anything, but make me puke.  They sent me home with lots of vicoden.

Three days later, the pain came back.  Luckily I was at home.  It was a Sunday.  I kept saying to myself, it will go away.  Twelve hours later, it didn't go away.  I had Clint up all night with me as I cried and kept saying I did not want to go back to the hospital.  I took vicodin...it did nothing.  Clint finally convinced me to go.  As I waited, I heard one of the nurses say, "She will probably pass it", but I was so exhausted and out of it from the pain meds to even scream back a nasty remark.  They kept asking me on a scale of one to ten, how bad was the pain.  I kept saying, "Ten!".  I even think one nurse did not believe me.  She said, "Now you know, a ten is suppose to be the worst pain imaginable".  I started to think, what is with these people??  Do they think I am making it up?  Do they think I LOVE coming to the hospital three times in awful pain? 

That day, the same Urologist, that I wanted to murder, came in.  This time I was in awful pain when he saw me.  No pain meds were taking away the pain at all.  He said, since this was my third visit, he felt a procedure needed to be done to see if there is a stone.  Off I went to the procedure right away.  Instead of putting me out, they decided to give me something similar to an epidural, where I was numb from the waist down and awake the whole time.  After a half hour, the doctor came up to me and showed me a picture of what looked like a tooth.  It was my stone.  A whooping 1 CM!  For those that do not know, 1 cm is about the size of a pea...maybe even bigger.  There was no way I was going to pass that thing on my own, considering the size of the tube it had to go through.  I right away pointed my finger at that doctor and said, "SEE!  I told you I had a giant stone!"  He laughed and apologized.  He was lucky at this time I could smile, as well.   On June 29th, my 31st birthday, I was home and so happy it was all over. 

Since I missed over 10 days of work, I was pretty swamped and have finally caught back up.  I would say I am ready to deliver with no fears of pain.  Anyone I talked to at the hospital said their kidney stone pain was way worst than giving birth.  So, labor, I am ready for you!

All in all, I have been wonderful lately!  I am ready to jump back into the world of blogging and hope to catch up with all my blog buddies!  

Something is Happening in November

Clint and I are expecting!  I am 9 weeks along right now.  If feels like 9 months already!  hehe....not really. 

We learned on March 11.  I had been feeling very dizzy for a few days.  I really did not think I was pregnant, but something told me to buy a test after work.  Instantly, the test was positive.  It did not hit me for a few days after.  Even thought we wanted this very badly, I was pretty overwhelmed by the thought of having to care for another human being in less than a year.  One day, I was the happiest ever.  The next, I was a stressed out mess.  Luckily, it has passed for now and we are both happy as a clam! 

We decided to wait to tell our families until after our first appointment.  To our surprise, they wanted to preform an ultrasound, where we also heard the heart beat.  It was pretty amazing.  They actually thought I was farther along than I really was.  Turns out I was only 7 weeks along at the appointment. 

We decided to surprise my parents by taking them out to dinner for their anniversary.  After we ordered our food, we presented them with a card.  Inside the card was signed from us, our furry babies, and Baby Viers.  My mom just gave us a look and said, "What is with the Baby Viers?"  Clint told her we are expecting.  She froze for a moment and looked at me then looked at Clint, then me again.  Then came the tears.  After she scarfed down her food, she ran over to Kate Spade and bought the first diaper bag she saw.  There was no stopping her. 

This one to be exact

So far so good, though.  I have been lucky enough to not develop much morning sickness (knock on wood).  Just a little nauseous at times.  I am mainly tired.  Naps are a must!  Meals are not so fun right now either.  I hate cooking right now and certain foods just make me gag.  For example, I love red peppers!  Right now, the word makes me want to puke!  I can't even look at what I just typed!  My biggest craving is slurpee's.  After I have one, I feel like a million bucks!  I try not to have them often though because of the sugar content.

I apologize for not being around much lately.  For about three weeks now, I have just been so exhausted.  It's amazing how it just hits you.  I have been dying to show you projects we have completed around the house and cannot wait to update you on our bundle of joy!  Bare with me right now...YEAH!