Preschool

I turned in Miss Kyla Rae's preschool registration paperwork today.  I might have been the only parents to turn it in on the first day open to the public.  Excited a little?  Probably.  I've got her registered at my old church's preschool (church I grew up in and was baptised in) which is 3 days/week, 2 hrs. 45 mins/day, which I liked.  There was the awkwardness of the Director looking over Kyla's paperwork and stopping at the medical section.  :)  I had prepared myself for this, so once I saw her stop at that section and start to read, I just butted in and explained to her that she was born with a limb deficiency, etc.  The Director was very nice, said that she had two kids previously who were missing some fingers.  I told her that it is the same condition, Kyla's is just more severe.  I did not have Kyla with me but told her that if she wanted to meet her that we would be more than willing to do that.  The Director said that before school starts, which is in late August, we would probably meet with Kyla's teacher so she could kind of get introduced before the first day of school.  Very neat.  I kind of figured this would be the norm for her once she started school, meeting her teachers before hand thing.  Which is fine with me.  Once they meet her, they will see that she can do anything and almost everything and do it just as well as other kids her age.  It is awkward for parents, it's like "how do I bring it up but without making a big deal out of it, because it really isn't a big deal?"  You manage. 

Kyla's verbal skills have increased lately, she is saying full sentences now and things that just crack me and Greg up.  Last night at the dinner table she said two different sentences where Greg and I just looked at eachother and were like laughing like crazy.  Just random things, but they are full complete sentences that make sense.  She is becoming Miss. Bossypants and yells at us often, this morning it was for waking her up - she said "Dad, NO, I'm sleeping" when he tried to get her up to get ready for daycare.  I don't even know. 

Monday morning I had just gotten her up for the day and had her sitting on the toliet and she held out her hand and arm to me and said "Hand, Armie" and then "Mom has hands" and "Dad has hands."  I just said "yup, that's right, that's cause you're special."  I did really well, little teary eyed, but not much.  :)  She is a sweetie, she gets it, but she can't elborate too much yet, or ask questions.  It'll come soon. 

Anyhow, I'm 22 weeks pregnant this week and feeling it.  My belly has definately popped...still no stretch marks.  Let's pray they still never come.  BUT, my belly feels FULL and uncomfortable sometimes, especially after eating a big meal.  We have a few names in mind now, all 4 letter names, to match Kyla (not sure why).  Now that I only have 4 more months until the birth, I'm starting to think more about the birth and it makes me a little nervous.  My doctor has not given me the option to have the baby normally, I am not sure if it's because I am so small or if because I have already had one with Kyla, but he has me tentatively scheduled to have it on June 25th.  With Kyla I was like cool as a cucumber when I went into the operating room and then all hell broke loose as soon as they pulled her out.  The hubs almost passed out and I automatically got shot up with sedative to calm me down.  I really was OK, but I think my heart rate was going up and since I was anemic and they didn't know it until right before and having my stomach all cut open, they didn't want my bleeding to increase. 

I dunno, it's just you really have NO IDEA what your baby is going to turn out like until that very moment.  You could do a million ultrasounds, but still never know until that moment.

Everyone check out April Lockhart, she is a teenager who was born just like Kyla, she sings and is very good, she has a YouTube channel and a FB page.  Also check out Living One-Handed's Page on FB and NubAbility Athletics on FB.  They are people my Husband found just recently.  April is definately worth checking out if you don't check the others.  Only thing that bothers me is her photos, she like crops out the end of her arm in most of them.  That bugs me.  Just like I was telling myself on the way to drop off Kyla's paperwork to the school today, God made my baby the way she is for a reason, he gave her to me for a reason, do not be ashamed of her condition, or embarassed or afaird of what others will think, be strong and proud of your little girl.  I hope I can raise my girl to truly 100% believe she is amazing and not want to ever hide what she was given. 

First Night Away from Toddler

Shouldn't that say first night away from BABY?  Probably, but we finally did our first night away from Kyla and she is 2 1/2 next month.  Oh well!  LOL.  So this isn't nessicarily because we wanted to wait that long, but because we don't have a whole lot of trust worthy options available to us as far as babysitting is concerned.  And trust worthy is the key word there...I am not just going to leave my kid with anyone.  We went out of town for 1 night, just to a place 1 hour away, in Walla Walla and it was nice.  We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast and the weather was kind of rainy so we just hung out in shops, ate at nice restaurants and dessert shops.  My baby (inside) I'm sure enjoyed the trip.  We were going to go to a movie but I had been looking around town for these people who do horse drawn carriage rides.  This is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do, but had never gotten the chance, and so I had it planned out that we would do it.  Well turns out after I had given up, I spotted them coming down toward the main street so I yelled at my Husband to chase after them.  HAHA, so we did and we took a ride.  It was about a half hour through town and was so fun.  It was raining so we snuggled up under blankets and I had my hot chocolate and all was good, the carriage was covered so it was warm.  After that we went back to the Bed & Breakfast and got in the hot tub for a while (no worries about cooking baby, we didn't turn the temp any higher than 99 degrees, but I still sat in it for too long, felt icky after getting out), anyhow, then we relaxed for a bit and went out to dinner at a nice restaurant and headed back to the B&B.  I was passed out by 9.  LOL, a full day for pregnant me, equals an early bed time for me. 
Kyla did well, her Grandma babysat her at our house.  She was a little wound up after we got home, but settled down later in the day.  She has been doing awesome on the potty, which is nice.  No more diapers is good.  At least we will get a break for about 4.5 months, then we start is all over again for another 2 years or so.  :)  I'm still trying to figure out a name for this little girl.  Greg came up with a pretty good one, so it's a very possible right now.  The thing with girls is you have to come up with not just 1 name, but two, for the middle.  If it was a boy I was just going to use Greg's name as the middle name.  Oh well.  I had a doctor appointment last Friday and I was 110, so I've gained 7 lbs so far this pregnancy, which is good, considering I only gained 10 with Kyla.  I'm sure by the end I'll gain probably 20 in total maybe, which is actually very healthy, so we will see.  For now I am feeling awesome...this pregnancy has been amazing besides the first scary part, but as far as feeling good, I have felt barely like I am even pregnant with this kid.  Total opposite from my pregnancy with Kyla, that was miserable, which is why I wasn't sure I even wanted to do it again.  God is blessing me with this easy one. 

Greg and I are going to start doing Sunday School in Kyla's class room on a regular basis.  It's not too bad, just a rotation every 4-5 weeks, so it's like a handful of times over the summer.  Should be fun but busy, especially as my belly gets bigger.  Anyhow, hope everyone is doing well.  Check back in, in a few weeks.

Potty Trained!!

Mama got tough last Friday and decided it was time for my almost 2.5 year old to get out of diapers.  We started Friday morning at 8 am, put her in panties and pants...  she had 3 accidents in the morning.  Each time she would look down and say "ugh oh...oh no, .... oh no" and I would take her to the bathroom to use her potty and get cleaned up.  Then Friday afternoon she started doing good but it would take her forever sitting on the potty.  Saturday morning she had like 3 more accidents, but then come Saturday afternoon and thru today she has had zero accidents.  This includes her being in Sunday School for an hour and a half on Sunday morning; the ladies there said she told them she had to go potty and they took her and she went.  I am soooo proud of her for learning so quickly and so happy she is basically out of diapers.  I am still putting her in a Pull-Up during nap time just incase, and a diaper at night, but she will gradually get out of those as well.  Now the focus is on using that money we would've spent on diapers for Ky to purchase size 1 and 2 diapers for when the baby gets here. 

I've been looking around for a place for the kids that takes both babies and toddlers and dose like preschool activities with them, songs, art, learning, crafts, that kind of thing, and at the same place so we'd only have to make one stop in the morning and after work, and the places I have found...well yesterday the place I called quoted me 1250/month for both kids.  UGHhhhh hello, seriously???  And this was at a CHURCH, LOL.  Oh boy.  Other places have quoted me around the same, 1,000/month was another quote I got yesterday.  It is just insane.  So now I am really starting to think, and I'm considering possibly just staying home and doing like before and after school care for older kids, like age 4 and up, since we live within walking distance to a local elementary school.  I am just the type that if I were to stay home with my 2 kids, I need something else to do too, or I'm going to get bored.  I like kids, I think I'd enjoy doing the before and after school care thing, and this way it is some income but also gives my kids social interaction and me more of a schedule to my day - more purpose.  And not having an actual daycare, like where I'd be taking care of kids all day long gives me time to still run my errands and have 1:1 time with my kids without other kids around.  If I do stay home, I also plan to get Kyla registered for Preschool here starting in August.  So many decisions to make/planning to figure out, but that's OK. 

Baby GIRL!

We had our 18 week ultrasound yesterday.  Found out we are getting another little girl.  Greg was a little upset, or at least he said he had to act like he was upset but he's really not :)  He is the only dude in our house, even both of our dogs are girls.  LOL.  I think God's giving us girls just to soften his heart.  :)  Baby looked really good.  I am 18 weeks, 5 days but baby is measuring a week ahead.  Weighs 8 ounces, has 2 hands/2 feet, she didn't see any Amniotic Bands in there at all, so we are looking good.  I know I haven't written about Kyla lately. She is doing really well.  Can make a mess of a perfectly clean room in a matter of seconds.  She's a busy body.  Loves to be home with Mom, isn't so big on going to daycare.  We are thinking all of that through right now.  If I'll stay home/continue working, what...  So much to think about and I am very picky about care of my kids, when they are babies especially.  We will see.  Anyhow, wanted to share the news.  I figure even though I'm talking about this new baby a lot now...it totally has to do with ABS because if you think about parents who already have children with ABS, I believe a concern to all of us is "will our next baby be alright, or will it have the same thing?" etc.  There is lots of worry involved.  I felt my Husband last night after the lady stepped out of the room to get our ultrasound pictures and he was damp through the 3 shirts he was wearing...I was like "why are you sweating?" he said he was anxious, just wanted to make sure baby looked fine and everything was there like it should be.  It's definately an issue for parents who have children who have ABS and want to have another.  I was told that ABS is kind of like a fluke, if it happens to one kid, it won't happen again.  It doesn't look like it is for us.  So another Vance girl on the way.  Once again, I had boy names, but no girl names.  We are going to have to think of a good girl name.  We already have one in mind, but I am picky about names too, I believe kids will become their name, so it's a very important decision...don't want no brats, don't want no provocative names, just cute nice names, so we get a cute nice kid.  :)

Good, Strong, Fast Heartbeat!

So I was super nervous at my appt, and the doctor understood.  He said it's always the Mom's with 4 normal/perfect pregnancies that are never nervous and don't ever think anything could go wrong.  He got out the doppler right away and automatically we heard a fast strong heartbeat, never skipped a beat, he said it couldn't sound any better than it did.  I was so relieved.  Definately thanked God for taking care of my little baby immediately following the appointment.  Heart rate was in the 150's, kind of slow, which sometimes means boy... yikes!  I don't know what I would do with a boy.  There are not many boys in my family, a lot of girls, but not many boys.  I would be clueless...  BUT we have to wait 3 more weeks to find out.  I was bummed about that a little, but I trust him and will be so excited when the day finally gets here!  I'm apparently 14 weeks and due date is June 28th.  He is even already talking about c-section scheduled date of June 25th, but that's a little ways from now.  Kyla is going to be such a good big sister.  She is already asking to give "baby sister" (aka my belly) hugs and kisses and rubs.  So sweet that girl.  Anyway, wanted to send a quick update before I head home for the day.  Take care everyone.

Dr. Appt Today

We've got a dr. appt for the baby today.  I'm stressing.  Ughhhh.  I was so not like this when I was pregnant with Kyla.  I really do wonder if a lot of it has to do with the fact that I thought my pregnancy was fine with Kyla until she was born, now I feel like I doubt what the ultrasounds are showing or that the doppler isn't working or that I can't trust the doctor.  Last appointment the doctor couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat but he didn't search very long to try to find it.  As in move the doppler over my belly a lot to look for it.  Just kind of held it in one place and moved it around a little and that's about it.  I'm nervous but am trying not to be...I just want to know my baby is healthy and growing and developing just fine!  It's been 5 weeks or more now since our last ultrasound.  You'd think with my history with Kyla they would be doing them more frequently.  Ugh.  I'm one nervous mama on the days of my doctor appointments.  It doesn't help anything so I know I shouldn't be.  I have been drinking my BOOST protein shakes everyday (just 1/day) to try to gain some weight, since the doctor told me I need to gain some.  I weighed myself last night.  I haven't gained any weight.  LOL, not surprising...it's like almost impossible for me to gain weight, always has been.  So I will probably get in trouble for that today as well.  I told my doctor last time that with Kyla I was 107 when I got pregnant, was super sick and dropped to about 103 or even 102 or something and then from there, when I delivered I was 117.  This pregnancy I started out at 103 and have remained pretty much at 103....I have only gotten sick once, but I also am just getting to the point where I can eat a lot and not feel like I might get sick after.  Who knows.  I need to remember to just give this all to God, he is in control and stop my little brain from worrying.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Chritmas and New Year's.  We had a relaxing New Year's, went to a local pizza place and then to a hockey game with quite a few friends and their kid's.  It was pretty fun.  I was asleep by 11.  Can't stay up super late anymore with this baby makin' me sleepy!  :)  Pray for good news for us today and I'll update you all soon. 

Christmas Photos

I just tried uploading some Christmas Photos of Kyla I took, but it's taking forever, so if you'd like to see, go to www.ambervancephotography.com and you can see them.  :)

Things have been going well for the most part.  We are trying to get our last minute Christmas shopping done, it's been a little difficult.  Greg is always working and I'm always with Kyla - never have a babysitter, and I'm not supposed to lift over 25 lbs, which is how much Kyla weighs, so outings have been difficult.  I still do them, even though I'm not supposed to, really don't have any other choice than to lift my kid in and out of her car seat and in and out of shopping carts.  Such is life!  I do not plan to take much time off for Christmas, but may take 1 day this week.  Only working 3 days/week is fairly easy to pull off, although I have been using some vacation for doctor's appointments lately.

Baby stuff is going OK.  Still stressful.  We had a doctor appt last Tuesday and the doctor couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler.  I'm not exactly sure how many weeks pregnant I am...I was under the impression that I am just 10 weeks but the doctor thought I was 12.  They are supposed to be re-calculating what my due date is, which will tell me how many weeks I am.  Anyway, at 10 weeks is it just barely possible to hear the heartbeat with the doppler, so I wasn't too alarmed.  The doctor did tell me that if I really wanted to hear it, he could lift up my uterus with his hand and push it up more against my belly and try to hear it that way.  I was like "No thank you!,"  hello....what woman would want that, especially with the complications that I have had and the fact that he had told me I'm supposed to be being careful right now.  Anyway, up until just about an hour or so ago I really hadn't felt baby flutters since Friday evening, but I finally felt some good ones just a bit ago when Kyla was rubbing my belly.  She only calls the baby "baby sister"....baby sister must've known her big sister was talking about her.

Ky's been a really good girl lately, she is definitely not getting coal for Christmas.  She is getting more and more fun everyday. 

My cousin who is one semester away from his degree in graphic design made me a logo for my photography yesterday.  I haven't got the final product yet, but I'm pumped.  It looks really professional and I can't wait to update my photos and website.

I probably won't do another post before Christmas, so Merry Christmas everyone!

Man Up Men!

I like what this dude has to say; particularly the first half of the video.  I'll embed later.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7391893n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

My Beautiful Daughter

Thought I would check back in this week.  I am off of bed rest, as of last Tuesday and am so glad to be out of the house and living life as usual (sort of).  We had a doctor appointment Tuesday morning and that went alright.  The doctor said we still have about a 30% chance of losing the baby, and what I am experiencing is something they call a Threatened Abortion.  Nice terminology huh?  Ugh, I wanted to like cry just hearing him say this stuff to me, but I didn't.  He remembered Kyla and her delivery and the shock of her arm...at the end of the appointment he gave me a hug and that's why I like him.  He knows what we have already been through and the stress we are going through now.  It's definitely scary knowing that at any moment for at least 4 more weeks my baby could just all of a sudden you know...we could lose the baby and I could be anywhere...  I try not to think about this too much because I trust that once again God has something in store for us.  I am pretty sure this little baby is going to make it.  As soon as I found out I was pregnant I put in a prayer request at church for them to be praying for a healthy baby and healthy pregnancy.  This was on a Sunday and the following Wednesday I got a phone call from a Pastor at the church letting me know that they would be praying for me, our family and the baby.  Now people who talk crap about large churches, what do you think about that?  I have gone to small churches that wouldn't be that quick to call and discuss prayer requests with their church members.  I just feel like there are so many people praying for this baby, including myself, and my Husband and this is just another one of those deals.  I have always felt that life hasn't been a piece of cake for me...and it really hasn't... but like I have always believed, I think there is a reason for that.  So to make a long story short, if we can make it to 10 weeks, the risk of losing the baby will go down to 2%.  I am 10 weeks in about 3.5 weeks.  Not too much longer. 

Kyla on the other hand has been doing amazingly well.  She literally shocks me with how smart she is on almost a daily basis.  Her memory is like weird good, she is now saying her ABC's up until the letter G and the things she says just crack us up.  Last night we went out to dinner at sort of a nicer restaurant and the kid now plays a like peek-a-boo game with armie.  The peek-a-boo game consists of her pulling her armie inside her shirt, lifting up her shirt and poking it out by her belly, then pulling it back in and poking armie out her sleeve...then pulling it in and pulling her shirt up and sticking armie out by her belly...the entire time she is doing this she is having a great time, just thinks it's hilarious.  Well last night she starts doing this at the restaurant and I'm like "Kyla put your shirt down!!!" and of course my Husband is just cracking up and egging her on.  UGH.... I'm sure people are already watching her and to top that off she decides to put on a show for them.  LOL. 

We go in a little over a week for an ultrasound...make sure baby is still alive.  Talk about stress, right?  I'll be nervous for that one.  One thing though, I know without any doubt that whatever happens is God's plan and I don't doubt what he has planned for me.  I can rest in knowing that.