11 Months

Lady in Elevator: Your boys are so beautiful! Enjoy this time, they grow up too fast.
Me: Thank you. I know, I keep telling them to stop growing up but they just won't listen.
Lady in Elevator (grinning): Well, it's your own fault. You keep feeding them.
Me: Yes, but they tend to get whiney if I don't.
Both exit elevator chuckling.
_______________________________

I can't believe Tobin is already 11 months old! Didn't I have him just before Christmas which was only two weeks ago? This year has gone by way to quickly.

Toby is crawling all over the place, we can't keep him still. He also likes to open and close doors, which I remember being a favorite past time of Noah's at this age. Unfortunately, he has not figured out how to move out the door's way before he opens it and quite often pulls the door into his face.

A couple weeks ago I was putting away laundry and I entered the boys room to find Toby sitting like this:

He only needs a tin cup to run along the crib rails, "Nobooody knooows, the trouble I've seen..."

A few minutes later, I came back in with another load to put away and he was like this:

Yes, he is pulling himself up to stand!

He's pretty proud of his new accomplishments. I'm sure I'll blink and he'll be walking down the aisle at his wedding.

He's also talking a little bit. He can say: Mama, Dada, Bob, Ni-Ni (night-night), and Hi. And he also grabs his toes and says "Wee, wee, wee!" He can do the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "The Brush Your Teeth Song." It's a really fun stage to be in. I just feel like it's racing past me.

I love you, little man. Toby Toes, Toe Joe, Toblerone, Tobi Wan Kenobi, Chubbakneezer Fudge.

Girl Time

Two of my favorite people came to visit us last weekend--Megan and Amy. Some highlights of the weekend:

• Showing them our house for the first time
• Amy and Tobin's first meeting
• Watching the boys interact with these two precious ladies
• Yummy pizza dinner from Whole Foods
• Taking a walk around our little town
• My friends hearing my heart and praying for me
• Girl talk about boys
• Watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Bless your beautiful hide!)
• Mexican Train Dominoes (which I lost by about 1,000 points)
• Mexican food for lunch
• Wandering around 21st and 23rd St. in Portland

It was so good to see Megan and Amy. I really needed that time with my deep level friends. I hope they can come back soon!

Super Unleaded

Early one morning while I was still half asleep...

Noah: Mom, I changed our house into a helicopter and right now we've landed to get gas.

Jeana: Our house needs gas?

Noah: Yes, it's a helicopter and I'm filling it with regular gas.

Jeana: Oh...there's not special helicopter gas? Just regular?

Noah: Well, there's regular, cherry, vanilla, and coffee.

Sign of the Times

When asked if he uses a phone booth to change from Noah to Superboy, Noah asked, "What's a phone booth?"

Three Unrelated Things

1. My sweet husband bought me these shoes. They. Are. Awesome. Super comfortable and super cute--I have had endless compliments on them since the first day I wore them.

2. To my friends who have read The Shack. Anyone else picture Queen Latifah as Papa?

3. Our dishwasher is broken. I don't even know who to call for repairs. A plumber? A small appliance vacuum repair type shop? Any advice would be great.

Results

I finally got all my lab results back. Everything is normal except for low blood iron. I need to start taking an additional iron supplement. And the biopsy was normal, too. My doctor is thinking that the things I'm concerned about are an adrenal gland issue, but I have to wait until I'm done breastfeeding to start investigating that. Which is fine...I could use a break from co-pays and hospitals and needles for a while. And I'm not bleeding anymore so things don't feel as urgent and as intense as they did a month ago. Thank you for praying for me! Really. It is a HUGE relief to know that I'm not the only one standing before the throne on my own behalf.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Over the last month we've made lots of changes to our little house. Here are a few pictures of our most recent projects.

The Dining Room:

We painted and added a chandelier and some art.

The Living Room:

We painted and rearranged the furniture. We also added new art and fresh throw pillows.

The view from the other end of the living room. Don't you love our lamp? I really like its retro shape.

The Kitchen:

Nothing major here. Just a little window valence I made with Janine King fabric "Mod Dots".

The Stepdown/Hallway/Nook/Bedroom Entry Space

Painted a nice chocolate brown. It really felt like I was painting with pudding because of the color and viscosity of the paint. I was kind of tempted to lick my brush.
When we moved in all the trim and doors were tan. I like the white much better.

The Bathroom:
I painted the cabinets. They look black in the picture but they are really espresso brown.
The beach shadow boxes I was talking about. This was a fun project to do--and easy!New cabinet hardware. There wasn't any hardware on these before so we had to drill our own holes. I had a genius moment and made a hole template so we wouldn't have to measure every time. I still want to frame the mirror in this deep espresso color.

What do you think??

Biopsy

The procedure yesterday went well. I actually didn't feel any pain at all and didn't have any cramping. Afterwards there was some light spotting but that's it. And the lining was a lot lighter than I expected it to be. Kind of pinkish-white. I should find out the results in about a week.

The only negative thing was the OB/GYN who performed the biopsy. Let's just say that her bedside manner left much to be desired. Much, much, much to be desired. But the good news is that I never have to see her again if I don't want to so...neener, neener, neener Dr. Meanie-Pants.

If the results of the biopsy return with nothing to report, there isn't really anything else I can do until I stop breastfeeding. I guess breastfeeding really alters your hormone levels so any hormone level testing they did now would be inconclusive. My goal is to breastfeed for at least two more months (until Toby is one year old) and then I'll have to wait a couple of months for my hormones to regulate and then I can proceed with more testing.

I want to clarify that this health problem is not consuming my life. It's a very small part of my life that happens to be taking up a lot of my time right now, what with all the testing. But it's annoying enough that I want to remedy it if possible. Basically, it's a bunch of little issues (skin tag, excess facial hair, irregular cycle, etc.) that all could be related. Or they could all be their own separate little health dramas. And if I come across vague on this blog, it's because I don't really know how candid to be about female issues. At this point it would be all theories and ranting and I think it would invite the horror stories of "My neighbor's best friend's cousin's hairdresser's nanny had the exact same thing and her ovary exploded and she died in the grocery store." I really, really do not want to hear that. You know?

Toofers and Mobility

Toby's top two front teeth emerged yesterday.

He is also crawling. Kind of. He does this thing where he gets up on his hands and knees and then draws his knees up as far as he can. Then he throws him arms behind him so that he flops onto his belly (or sometimes his face) and moves forward like a seal sliding on ice. Then back up on hands and knees and the process repeats. But he really is moving forward.

Another way he gets around is by laying on his back and pushing himself with his feet. He can't quite steer this way so he doesn't ever seem to get where he wants to go. But he goes.

Also, he can do this little sitting up scoot on his bottom thing that is quite cute. He moved all the way across his and Noah's bedroom this way and managed to pull out one of Noah's drawers and completely empty it's contents.

I love watching all these developments. However, Toby firmly refuses to believe me when I tell him that he is absolutely forbidden to grow up. Oh well...

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Uterus

Sorry, if this comes out kind of random. I've been suffering from a head cold since Wednesday and I still feel like I have a bowling ball instead of a skull. I also apologize if this grosses you out...but hey, you don't have to read it.

The bleeding has stopped, for now. Once I finish this round of medicine I'll probably start bleeding again but hopefully it will be only for a few days. The best case scenario would be that my cycle will have been completely "reset" and I'll go on having regular cycles until my next pregnancy or menopause, whichever comes first.

All my lab results came back within normal ranges. I had an ultrasound on Monday and was told that in addition to my beautiful cervix, my right ovary is higher than my left. And I already knew that my uterus tilts backward. Otherwise, everything looked normal and healthy except...DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNN the placental lining. It is super thick. Which means that when I do start bleeding again it will probably be a pretty heavy flow.

Because of this abnormality I'll be going to see an OBGYN on Tuesday to have what's called an endometrial biopsy. Basically, they are going to take a small sample of the lining and have it tested. I was told it would be like a more than normally uncomfortable pap smear--with cramping. Fun. I'll let you know how it goes.

Time for Sudafed.