2 1/2 week secret

So the last 2.5 weeks I've kept a secret that yes, we are finally having a girl. At my last doctor's appointment, my nursed asked if I wanted to find out. My nurse, Brandi, is a friend from middle/elementary school and I think she was more excited than me to find out it was a girl. Until yesterday, the secret was wrapped underneath HIPAA laws and only my nurse, doctor, ultrasound technician, and I knew. How I kept the secret, who knows? We only looked at the sex of the baby and nothing else. We will find out if everything is okay this Friday at the high risk doctor.

I decided I would surprise Garrett in the airport with the news with this sign when he got in from Mozambique. I didn't tell Jay either until then. I was afraid he would say something or be really upset. He kept saying he wanted a baby brother because he didn't want to mix the toys. Well, I guess we are mixing toys.

Wrapping up 1.5 weeks

So we are coming to an end to this long 1.5 weeks that Garrett has been gone.  Tomorrow around 8:00 our time, Garrett starts his trek back to the US.  I warned him it would be cold and rainy, but what was I thinking?  Of course they will gladly come home to anything that is below 90 degrees rain or shine.  I know for those on the trip, AC and a nice shower will be the best commodity.

This week, I've been typing away each night trying to complete a 12 page paper (I know it does not sound like a lot, but I am a math major.) for an award I was nominated for.  I've been putting off until this time when Garrett was away.  I think with keeping the kids, getting them up each morning, getting dinner for them, putting them to bed each night, and then working until at least 10:00 each night, I am beat.

Today, we went to the ear doctor for Mason.  After going to the pediatrician a couple of times in the past, I knew that the tubes were no longer in his eardrums.  I was told once that Down Syndrome kids will most likely need tubes in their ears constantly to keep the fluid out.  After the doctor took the earwax along with the tubes out, he was able to see that Mason had fluid in his ears.  I also talked to him about the constant runny nose and coughing the past few weeks and he was pretty quick to suggest to take out his adenoids.  To make a long story short, on Monday, May 13th Mason will be getting tubes in and adenoids out, or at least part of his adenoids.  The doctor explained that Down Syndrome kids sometimes have cleft palats (which he doesn't believe that Mason has) or a partial cleft palat.  He will not know until he gets into surgery that day.  If his palat is fine, then he will proceed with removing all of the adenoids.  If the palat is partially cleft, he will only take a part of his adenoids.

We have survived this past week and we have 2 nights and a day and a half left before Garrett is home.  Tomorrow we have a t-ball game along with a birthday party to attend.  This should keep us pretty busy tomorrow.  We hope Garrett has nice flights home and makes it back on time on Sunday.

3 days and counting

Today was day 3 that Garrett has been gone and is in Africa.  Since we have been married, I think this is the longest time we've been away from one another.  It is awesome to see the pictures that Garrett is taking on his trip and hearing about all that he has been doing in such a little time of being there.  I received a call Thursday morning at 3:00 when they made it to Johannesburg, texts at lunch time on Thursday when they arrived at the missionaries house in Mozambique, as well as another call this morning around 4:45 before my alarm went off.  The boys were able to see Garrett tonight briefly.  

It is still a while before he gets back, but we will make it, as long as no one else gets sick.  Before Garrett left, Mason came home on Tuesday with a slight fever.  He stayed home with me on Wednesday (the day Garrett left) and was fine, no fever all day.  Thursday was a totally different day and he came home with a fever early in the day.  This was enough to make this mom go crazy, and the hormones didn't help that day.  My honors kids knew something was wrong when I received the phone call to go get him.  I was about on my way and my mom said to turn around and she would get him.  This is when things started to turn around.  Both boys stayed home with my mom today and Mason seems to be on the mend, although he has slept a ton today.

The rest of week should be eventful, with a t-ball game (as long as the field isn't too wet), church, baby shower and of course school all next week, then we end with a birthday party.  At the end of the week, Mason will revisit the ear doctor to check his tubes and hearing to make sure everything is alright.  By what his pediatrician has said when he has checked his ears, it seems the tubes may be making their way out his ear drums.  We will know more on Friday.  I'm also working on Jay tying his shoes.  Last night he tied it by himself and I got it on video for Garrett.  We still have a ways to go to get faster at it as well as tying it tighter, but my goal is to make sure he can do it before he goes to school this fall.  That should happen.

Now for the news everyone probably wants to know, when will we find out what we are having:  Friday, May 3rd.  When I went to my doctor's visit last Thursday, he suggested that since Mason had down syndrome, he wanted me seen by the high risk doctor just for precautions instead of the ob's office.  This is the same office I went to several times for them to monitor Mason's heart and such.  They will just do an overall scan to make sure everything is okay and will be able to look at the ultrasound more intensely to see if there is anything wrong or if everything looks good.  Normally they want to see me at 17 weeks (this past week), but with Garrett out of town, it won't be until I'm 19 weeks along.

Spring Break 2013

We've had a great Spring Break thus far. Over the weekend, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus at church and followed that up with visits with each of our families. We have acquired tons of candy, some of which will make its way into classrooms in high schools. We can't have all of that sitting around our house.

This week, Jay has stayed home with me since our daycare allows us to take a free week and they refund your money. Today he finally just told Garrett and a teacher at school he is saving money and that is why he is at home with mommy. I usually use it at Christmas, but Jay won't be there then since he will be in kindergarten. Jay and I have had a very eventful week thus far. We've cleaned house, put out pine needles, played with Nicolette and Lincoln at Discovery Place Kids, and played at the park with the Trent's. We even fit in a grocery run along with Mason's 18 month appointment on Wednesday.

Mason is doing great and has the following stats:

20 pounds 10 ounces (<3%, DS 50%)
28.5 inches (<3%, DS 20%)

Tomorrow he will be evaluated for speech therapy to see if we can do anything right now since he really isn't saying much.

Spring Break comes to an end tomorrow and we he a few things over the weekend, including Jay's first t-ball game. Should be interesting!!