Chiropracter Scans

So I lied! I didn't quite do the "wordless wednesday" ... Because when we got back from the chiropracter with our re-evaluation results, I was too excited not to share them!!!


My printer/scanner is unplugged (we got a new computer, so haven't set it all up yet), so this is a photo of the results printout.

Basically, the bottom scan was the first one. This shows the location and severity of nerve blockage. Red is the worst (severe), Blue is moderate, and Green is mild. Although the improvement we've seen speaks louder than these scans, it was still nice to see it in the scan! So now we scale down from three times per week to once per week. Yay!!!

P.S. My last bit of good news for the day: Daisy has gained 10 pounds in the last 2 months!!! She is on my mind soooooo much, and it makes me feel a bit more at peace knowing that she's gaining weight, therefore doing much better. That's all I'm going to say about that right now. I love my girl.

*~*~Hearts Full and Overflowing~*~* Look at us... our hands are full, our house is messy, and you can see a bit of sleepiness in all of our eyes... but we truely couldn't be happier. I feel so undeserving of the abundant blessings we've been given. I know it's a silly statement-- the idea of "deserving" anything, especially knowing that we've been given nothing based on merit, {but I believe, by grace}-- but still, I find myself sometimes thinking 'What did I do to deserve this, How could I possibly have come into such a precious circumstance/life?"

Anyways, my house full of my boys, it makes me smile! So that's it for reflections. I was prepared for chaos, and we haven't really had more than a couple brief <-fleeting-> moments of chaos. Our home has actually been very PEACEFUL, and what an amazing surprise and blessing that has been!

I had to include a picture of Austin in one of his homemade diapers, since I was so super excited to "test-out" my handiwork. This is the blue "camo" one I made at my mom's house. It did *everything* it was supposed to do! Contained big breastfed-baby messes, which is all I could ask for. (Besides the super-softness of cotton against my sweet baby's skin!) I was so excited to take him home and start using my new baby stash!

For the record... {since I tend to update my babybooks months later based on blog entries & notes written in margins of calendars}

Austin's birthweight (at 1503 on 11/2) 7-6

Weight at discharge (at 2430 on 11/4) 6-15

Today's weight, at his 1st Dr appt. (at 1130 on 11/5) 7-4

Healthy checkup, Bilirubin (jaundice) has come down, milk is in, & he's perfect!

And LAST... the birth everyone keeps asking about! Promise I won't write a lot... trying to tame my rambling! Let me just say it was SOOO much faster than I had expected!!! And of course beautiful, awe-inspiring, powerful, you know how I feel about birth, there are no words!!

My water broke at 0600 and he was born at 1503-

9 hours total, when compared with Jake's 39 hours!

This time I pushed (gently) TWO times, and with Jake I pushed (hard!) for TWO hours!

No tears (or episiotomy) either time, & both babies were essentially the same size. Jake was 39 3/7 wk and Austin was 37 2/7 wk.

Oh, this is the greatest part... I went from 5cm to 10cm in 45 minutes!!!! Isn't that amazing!?! I was just discussing with the nurse how my back was super uncomfortable & I couldn't find a relaxing position, so I was asking for a hot compress for my back- and she said "I think you're complete!" I told her that would be great, but there was no way, because I was just 5cm less than an hour ago. She said NO, you are ready! And I was! Amazing! I gently "breathed" him out in-between birthing waves (contractions), and I was in such a comfortable position that I was able to see everything- I watched him come into this world and greeted him right on my tummy. I couldn't have asked for a better birth. And it couldn't have been more different than my last one (which I also LOVED.)

PS jake doing great w/ bro... nsg now & then bedtime- thnx for all the congrats!

Miss Daisy!!

MISS DAISY

It's time to post pictures of our 4-year-old Great Dane, Daisy. Per our contract, every year we send pictures to the breeder (Colra Danes), but this year I think my Yahoo Groups account went inactive since I hadn't been on in so long. So I'm posting them here. She's our skinny-minny. She lost a lot of weight about a year ago (see previous post if you're interested)- she's stopped losing weight thankfully, but hasn't gained any back either. After a zillion tests and thousands of dollars, they ruled out pretty much everything, but said that something is invading her lungs, presumably cancer. The next steps were biopsies and lung-washes to diagnose it, and we declined. Number one, we couldn't afford it, and number two, even though her insurance would cover it, we decided that we wouldn't put her through cancer treatments. Since they had ruled out everything else, we decided to give it a break and see what happened. So it's been about 10 months or so since all of this, and she's doing fine. She's asymptomatic, and is as happy as can be- she's just as active and maintains her usual appetite. So here's our update... Although skinny, she's our little love and is doing well.

About Daisy & Jake... they are so great together! Daisy is an absolute SWEETHEART! And is so good with Jake. Jake is *obsessed* with her, actually! He runs around saying "Daishy, Daishy!"... and he gets totally hysterical when he watches her run around the yard playing with her toys! Daisy has gotten a little excited lately as Jake has become more mobile. She has actually wanted to "play" with him a few times when he's outside walking in 'her' yard... it scared me a little because she's so big- I don't want her to knock him over or step on him (which she did once, and almost did another time... both in the last week!) I told her she'd need to wait a few years for that. (P.S. Jake is blowing a kiss in the pic below)

Happy 4th Birthday Daisy! (8/26)

(You might recognize this pic... it's from 3 months ago... I'll get a more recent one later!)

Last weekend I went to LA for a friend's baby shower- it was so much fun reconnecting with old friends! These are a bunch of girls I used to work with at Cedars-Sinai 4 years ago. As much as we have wanted to over the years, we hadn't seen eachother since I left!

Our Christmas!!!

Let's see... it's been a long time since my last post!

Jake is cutting his first tooth!!! (his bottom left). I'm getting a complex because he's still not crawling or even sitting unsupported (not for more than a few seconds). I know every baby is different and I don't even know the age they are *supposed* to do it, but I think it's at about 6 months. (Which will be 1/6/07 for him). We have a deadline, we've been doing lots of practicing! haha

Christmas has been so much fun, but it just seems like the last few years it has flown by. I love the Christmas season soooo much-- We start the music and decorating right after Thanksgiving, and it's still just not enough. I haven't been able to make all of the gifts that I wanted to, but I've made some. It's hard to find the time to just sit and create (especially uninterrupted)! This is the first Christmas that we have really stayed pretty low-key. It feels good!

Today Jake and I went to the mall for the first time this holiday season. I like to go at least once to see all the decorations. We waited in line for 2 hours to see Santa!!! (Nothing like the last minute!) We were supposed to go a few weeks ago but Kevin wanted to go with us, but then he had to work so much overtime that he couldn't come today.

I haven't mentioned Daisy much on the blog... she's our sweet 3 year old Great Dane. She's lost a lot of weight recently so we've been having a zillion tests done to figure out what's going on. So anyways, Santa got her a 'jacket' for an early xmas gift since she is always so cold now (because she has no fat on her!). She just finished her antibiotics, so we'll see if it did anything. I'm nervous. Some days I think she looks the same or worse, and some days I think she looks better. I've never "dressed" my pets, so I had to take a picture of her in her new duds. She feels so special in it!

Here are a few of the xmas photos that didn't make the cut. It was hard to coordinate dog and baby! Unfortunately the final one didn't have Daisy in it. (Bottom pic)

Here's wishing you a wonderful Christmas and New Year!