HOME!

It feels so good to be home, even if I am in my parents "new home" in San Antonio. My parents just make me feel at home, relaxed and well comforted. After two flights from Louisville, we got here yesterday afternoon about 4pm. Dreycin did really good, but if i were any further along he could not have been a lap infant. the first flight 1hr 18min he slept and when we took off he held on to my finger so tight it was starting to turn purple, the second flight he was up the entire time and was a little more at east with take off. I managed to carry him, diaper bag, carry on and the stroller. And im a pro after that, back when I found out I was pregnant I decided I needed a lite stroller, did my research and the chicco liteway was the best option. In Babies R Us I closed and opened it while holding Dreycin's hand, so that I knew I could do it with one hand! Because lets face it when you have a toddler, who isnt in their stroller you are holding their hand! One lady was like, you just opened your stroller with one hand and turned to her husband and said "Im done with our stroller, we are getting that stroller." She had a big bulky peg perego, which im pretty sure cost somewhere around $400, the chicco liteway isnt cheap but its about $140 and well worth the use I have gotten out of it so far and will be doing with the next! Which leads me to start questioning, which double stroller will we get? I love the city mini but its $400, and I like the contours double tandem stroller price tag of $275 or so......
ANyways,  Dreycin was quiet on the way home from the airport but when we got to my parents house it was like Christmas morning for Dreycin, well easter afternoon anyways. He had a new table, with two new chairs, puzzle, elmo easter basket, candy, chocolate bunny, easter eggs, modeling clay kit with a bag of cookie cutters, bubble wand and bubbles, 4 mini trains from Thomas and a wooden railroad that he can put on the floor or his table, 3 new little tikes foam balls, new plate set and bib. Seriously like christmas morning. He was so excited! And he slept all night in his souped up playard (with comforter lining, 1 blanket, and pillow). This morning we got up around 8am, i woke up at 7am for no reason......(although we are on eastern time vs central time) and I read for 1hr before Dreycin woke up two magazines. I never get to do that, which was nice. So around 10am we left with my dad to go to Sea World here in San Antonio. It was misting, but the rain never lasts here in Texas. We got there and it was not crowded at all, and by the time we watched the first show which was the sea lions and walrus, it had stopped raining. Dreycin loved the shows, after the first one he put on this really sad face and said Bye bye, bye bye. He was really sad to have to leave. We ate lunch, watched the Azul show with dolphins and white beluga whales (probably Dreycin's favorite) He did great, he did nap in his stroller for about 45min then woke up in time to see the Shamu show. We did a few other things, then came home around 5pm. And Dreycin still had tons of energy!

Derek and I decided to celebrate EAster on Saturday afternoon since Dreycin and I would be flying on Easter. We hid the easter eggs in living room/play area and then gave him his basket which had a mini etch a sketch from fisher price, mr potato head, mini playdough set, chocolate easter bunny, brach's jelly chicks and bunnies (only a few in eggs), and 2 dark chocolate dipped peeps. His basket was a mesh soccer ball, it was so cute! And Dreycin really got the hang of looking for eggs and putting them in his basket, while carrying it!

Im really looking forward to being home right now, Derek has taken alot of the stress off of me as far as the move is concerned! Plus im having a small shower this weekend in Dallas( we are going for the weekend), and gonna get to see some of my close friends!

Pictures will have to come later, im tired ;)

Leaky boobs @ 20wks....???

A couple of nights ago was the first night Dreycin slept through the night since the ear infection/sickness started back in March. And the next day I felt good, he was running around like a wild man and baby D is becoming more active everyday! I may have done too much that day, but I got all the veggies cooked for the week, laundry done, and that afternoon we took a 2hr nap.

Ive been looking at baby bedding and I really think a sea/ocean theme would go with the crib we got. Derek said he was just kidding about the dragon theme, and that he was actually going to send me websites of skulls and bones bedding! He kids with me alot. One of the sets is from jcpenney online, and the other one is at babies r us(i put this one on my registry), they are both very similar but I cant make up my mind! Just like I cant make up my mind about what type of baby carrier to buy! My friend Stef is sending me one thats like the one I registered for, so I can try it out this weekend when we leave for San Antonio!

Derek plans to go to Georgia the first weekend in May to find us a house, we found two online through a realty company but they dont have pics of the inside? I forgot how much of a hassle it is to move, getting not only my medical, dental, etc records but also Dreycin's. Changing addresses with every company that we have services from, credit cards etc. Its a pain. Ive also had to transfer two of my retirement accounts to an IRA(which I had to open) and then on top of all that I lost my debit card a couple of days before we are to leave for San Antonio. I also started my applications for my social work licenses for Georgia(where we are going), Missouri(where we may end up going may 2012), and Texas (you never know) which all of them need professional references, so we spent a majority of the day yesterday and the day before at my old job collecting those. And then try getting all this done with a little one in the house, who hates for you to be on the phone, or in his car seat for hours at a time! Then throw in dr's appts, meals and snacks, and grocery shopping, everyday is filled with tons of errands and a cranky little boy. Yesterday he actually napped in his stroller at the grocery store. We did make time tuesday afternoon to go to the zoo, we had to get out of the house and Daddy had 24hr duty. On Wednesday afternoon was Dreycin's f/u from his surgery, the doctor said he ears looked perfect and to f/uwith pediatrician at his next appt which will be his 18mos May 12th, and then an ENT in about 6months.

Which leads me to my last topic, what in the world is my body thinking making milk already? I read a couple of chat rooms and supposedly its common around the 4-5month of pregnancy, especially with your 2nd.  So i guess its time to get all those leftover nursing pads out!

Surgery & Sons

Yesterday was such a stressful, yet exciting day. We all got up bright and early, to be at Dreycin's ear tubes surgery at 6:30am, Dreycin went back for surgery at 7:40am, he didnt cry but I spent most of the time barfing in our room's bathroom. I think it was nerves, and since I only had tea crackers I was pretty much dry heaving...... and then the doctor came out at almost 8am and said he did fine, he should be waking up in recovery in about 15-20min. The doc said that there was alot of thick, old fluid build up in the right ear, and not as much in the left ear. They placed a tube in each ear, and said they should fall out in 1yr. We have a f/u in 1wk. About 5min later a nurse came in with Dreycin (who reaked of perfume, in the medical field they usually do not let you wear perfume) who started to wimper shortly after he saw us. I had his bottle ready for him, and right away he gulped down almost 8oz. He continued to cry for the next 1hr on and off. They told us to keep his diet bland for the day, and I had brought a bag of saltines and dreycin munched on those during his bouts of crying on the way home. Once we got home Dreycin and I spent the next 1.5hrs watching Sesame Street and some other show. But once the afternoon rolled around he was ready to party again! Today Dreycin is still whiney, now the night time wasnt so great. He woke up around 1am and 4am. Today we went to the mall, to the park for a picnic lunch with our chickfila and then to bed bath and beyond to get a knife holder because Dreycin is so tall he can reach in all of our drawers. Im not waiting to let an accident happen. We all picked up some sidewalk chalk since its getting nice out! He is now passed out napping. Around noon I left for the ultrasound and my OB appt. The ultrasound went great, the baby weighs 12ounces right now, and has "big bones" according to our doc. Since I have Sjrogen's syndrom they had to take additional pictures of the brain and heart, which both were completely normal. And since im on the lupus med Plaquenil, additional pics of lips and nose to rule out cleft lip and palate. Our baby boy is perfect, im measuring about 1wk ahead of my due date, and an average due date due to his size is Sept 1st, which happens to be Derek's grandpa's bday. My boys sure do favor being born on their grandfather's bday! Wouldnt that be something, Dreycin born on his papa Doss' bday and Baby #2 born on his Gpa DeLaVega's bday! Our little boy was turning and twisting so much that we couldnt catch a glimpse to see the gender! He is active, but still not as active as Dreycin was! I have to say I was completely fooled, I totally thought that since this pregnancy was so different from the first I was having a girl. Everything from food cravings, to less morning sickness, to feeling like I was carrying this baby wayyyyyy lower. Im so thankful that our baby is healthy, and in a way it is a blessing that I get to use all of Dreycin's stuff again! I already am thinking about going through all of it, and went and did some shopping this morning for baby #2. We think we are going to stick with the D's, Derek already has a D boy name picked out. And I already bought the crib off of craiglist, for 1/2 the price that it is in store. IT looks brand new, a few scratches but it looks so good....and it converts to a toddler bed, then full size bed! We have no idea what kind of bedding yet, I thought something with the sea, Derek likes a dragon/prince/swords/shields theme. We'll see! But I think Derek can take the lead with this baby!

Here are a few pics of Dreycin's surgery, baby # 2 and the crib we bought!

April 13th

IS going to be a BIG day for us. That morning at 630am we have to be at the outpatient hospital for Dreycin's surgery for ear tubes. His surgery is actually at 730am, and supposedly it will take less than 10min. Basically the dc gave us 3 options, 1.another 2-3wks of a semi powerful antibiotic (bc he is allergic to amoxicillin) 2. let nature run its course to see if the body will heal, but more than likely we would end up with another infection, with fevers and more fluid build which = more hearing loss or 3. tubes surgery.
Now if we had more time, I would probably see if maybeI could do some alternative health treatments rather than jumping to surgery, but as of right now the hearing test concluded that Dreycin's right eardrum does not move at all to sound, and the left one is "kind of" responding to sound. And the fact that we are catching this early enough, that it does not put a huge delay in his speech development.....so for now surgery is the only option for us. along with surgery, we went and ahead and went to a pediatric chiropractor today, who adjusted Dreycin and recommended that after the surgery start him on a probiotic. Couple of interesting things she mentioned.
1. yogurt probiotics are not permanent, once we "dispose" what we have eaten the probiotics are no longer in our body
2. Kids lollipop probiotics are a bad idea, because probiotics should never be paired with sugar
3. The probiotic she recommended was liquid, adding a dropper to his juice or by mouth if he would take it. (BTW Dreycin is an excellent medicine taker, he's been a trooper through all th antibiotics!)
4. Kids with recurrent ear infections/fluid in ears should try a no dairy diet, which we do not use cow's milk for Dreycin we only use rice or almond milk because he could not stomach the cow milk. he does eat cheese, eggs, but isnt a fan of cottage cheese or yogurts. She recommended we try it for 1month, because cheese and dairy products make the immune system weaker and work harder, and the body makes more mucous and drainage. Now in some of her patients she in addition to no dairy, recommends a gluten free diet. She mentioned that it is very hard to find natural whole wheat without additives, preservatives, etc. and gluten seems to be also something that makes the immune system weaker. This may not be a bad idea for me to do, but i LOVE cheese......maybe later on? Now i know some people dont believe in alternative health, but I believe that it is just going to provide my little man with a clean 360 bill of health. I will do anything for him. And in turn, i know it has helped me with my lupus, and even Derek with his back. There is so much knowledge behind eastern medicine, and I learn a little bit in each part of the USA. Which brings me to our next big news......

                                                We finally have orders!

We are going to Albany, GA (which has just gotten a super walmart) but upside is that we are 3hrs from Destin! WAHOO!!! and about 50miles from the nearest beach! Derek will resume his job as mechanical engineer at the Marine Corps Logistics base, basically they repair any and all vehicles that have been damaged. I doubt I will find work there, which is ok because we may only be there for about 1yr until Derek gets out. He may extend for a 1yr or so to finish his bachelor's degree (he is at  81 credits right now). Im just going to soak in a new adventure of our new temporary home, and being a stay at home mommy. There is only 1 hospital, and 1 high risk OB. which Im not one who doesnt like choices, but I guess I have to go with it. Our orders actually came 1month early for May 1st! But Derek does not have to report until May 31st, and begins work that following day. Unfortunately because of all these turn of events, we wont be getting to come home for the month of June. Derek will already be working, and i will be busy setting up new docs for me and Dreycin. We arent having much luck in the housing area, we have only found a couple of places one of which is a 3bdrm townhome/apt complex in Leesburg, GA about 16minutes from Albany. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but will do for a year or so. And the waiting list for base housing is  6mos-1yr. On May 17th we are leaving Louisville, Kentucky road tripping 10hrs to GA. It has been such a wonderful experience for us here. We were engaged here July 4th, 2006. We gave birth to our son Nov 9, 2009. Louisville, Ky has given us a place to call home for almost 3years.

Oh, and the afternoon of April 13th Im going to our sono, alone because Derek needs to stay home with Dreycin after his surgery. Kind of sad about that, wish someone was going with me. But ill just take the flip with me and record the whole thing for Derek and Dreycin to see. PINk or Blue!??!

This weekend is my last weekend to work for the psychiatric hospital, I figured now would be the best time to stop since we are only a few weeks away from our move and our Texas trip. Over the last few months I have been slowly packing boxes, but now is crunch time! I went and bought 4 big storage bins from Target (on sale) and plan to fill them with anything I can! We plan to have the military come get our large items to move(w&d,beds,couches,dining room,desk,dressers,etc) on May 16th.

What a busy month ahead we have......thank goodness me and dreycin are gonna get a little break to visit family and friends!

You said WHAT??

Today Dreycin and I went for an ear re-check, to see if the damn ear infection had cleared up with the 3rd round of antibiotics. Well........they did an ear test, and after the doc informed me that there was still a fluid build up he told me that the ear test showed that Dreycin is starting to have hearing loss. In the right ear, his eardrum did not move at all to sound and his left ear barely did what it was suppose to do. So this thursday we go to a Ear nose and throat specialist, to more than likely get tubes recommended from what our Ped said. With all this the hardest part is going through all this alone, the repeated dr's appts always alone. Derek can never get off because of his work, and the military could care less about the "families." So today I called Derek crying (you know because of my pregnancy hormones) telling him I didnt care what he had to tell his boss but he was coming to this appt with me....I feel so bad for Dreycin, that he is having to go through this. And I plan to go into this appt asking for the most aggressive treatment, to get Dreycin back on track not only with his ears but also his speech. Ive noticed that he doesnt say complete words, just the beginning and sadly Ive only heard Dreycin say Mommy 1x. He also only does jibber jabber, but a few months ago he was saying full words. And lately he whines alot, instead of using words. I was reading online and it said that kids with fluid in their ears, makes them feel like they are hearing everything underwater. Poor guy, and I can just admit now that my son since he has been sick "sometimes" still sleeps with his mommy and daddy. It was just too much sleep loss for me and derek during the sick time and he felt bad so I wasnt gonna make him sleep alone :( So now we are in transition of sleep training once again, but yesterday afternoon he took a 2hr nap with me in our bed. Anyways, no update on our move. But im now 18wks, and only 1 more week until we have our big ultrasound!

Updates....

Well this past weekend, Dreycin did not get any better and we took a trip to the emergency room. Tylenol alone would not control a 101/102 temp so off we went. Derek and I were both prepared to be there all night, and much to our surprise when we arrive at Kosair's we were in and out in 1hr at the most. Keflex, the new antibiotic wasnt working and the infection got worse so they put Dreycin on Omnicef. Seems to be working, he did have a few days of temps after that ER visit but the doc told us to rotate tylenol and motrin every 3hrs to keep his temps down. Before we went I called my aunt Deborah who is a PA and she was like, he needs omnicef and you need to rotate motrin tylenol every 3-4hrs......and she is AWESOME because I walked right into that ER to get what Dreycin needed and they said exactly what she had already told us. Thank god I didnt have to fight with anyone. But poor Dreycin probably cried the whole time we were there, he had to wear one of the baby gowns and have his a oxygen sticky on his foot and he was not a happy camper. they even offered him a popsicle but he didnt want it, which was weird for him! So needless to say these last 3wks have been a living, sleepless nightmare! What they think happened was he got sick the first time, got an ear infection, then somehow got another little virus which disrupted his path to getting better!
I'll be taking Dreycin for a checkup probably next Wednesday to get his ears looked at again.

This week has been a little rough, Derek has been working out in the field so sometimes that means he doesnt come home, and if he does it isnt early its usually like around 630 or 7, but keep in mind he works at 6am sometimes earlier. Well Tuesday night he got to come home and was like, I probably shouldnt tell you this but everyone else has gotten orders but us and another Marine.....I was po'd? I mean how hard is it to just give someone orders. My dad says this a ploy for the monitor to get Derek to re-enlist, but we dont know for sure. My worst fear is that they will send us to a unit that is being deployed, and off Derek goes to the war. For sure then, i'll be moving back home. There is no way I can raise two kids, without some kind of support, mostly from my parents. I guess we have no choice, in whether we play the Marine Corps little game.

This last week I have started to feel Baby A's subtle movements, more so when im laying down. And I bought our ticket to come home at the end of April. Im very excited to go see my parents, family, and friends. Only 2more weeks (april 13th) until we find out pink or blue! Ive been doing alot of window shopping lately, so im anxious to start planning the nursery and a baby shower!!! The cutest thing right now is when I ask Dreycin where the baby is, he lifts up my shirt! ITs so stinkin cute, and sometimes especially lately that he has been sick he will come over and lay his head on my growing belly. We have also come up with some new activities here at home.....jumbo crayon coloring, mommy made water table, and we tried finger paints but, well ill leave you with a few pics!

16 weeks 3/23/11

Not a fan....

Much happier

Yes mommy helped!

cooking smashed goldfish and raisins......

Sweet lil boy!

Sun protection

So Ive been looking all over the internet where to get the best UV clothing, hats, sun blocks, etc because I LOVE the sun and no lupus is going to stop me from taking my son to the zoo, parks, and hopefully beaches later this summer.....when its not snowing (yes it snowed here last night). Ive found a couple of good websites, one being UV skinz. I figure I may as well go ahead and invest in all this stuff, because I will have lupus the rest of my life. I guess prior to being a mom, and since being diagnosed I tried to avoid the sun but now I have a little boy that loves the outdoors and cries to just go outside! On colder days he will just sit at his picnic table and stare outside! And while im at this, its a reason to SHOP for lots of beautiful fun hats! I went ahead and bought the sunblock called Fallene Total block tinted 60spf, that is recommended for patients with lupus or other skin/autoimmude diseases to use on their face/neck. I do notice that my face and hands are exposed alot more to the sun, while driving or just everyday activity running errands in and out of the car. So im still on a mission to find a sunscreen for my body. Im currently using Neutrogena Sunblock Ultra sheer 85 SPF, which i'll use until I run out of. Did ya'll know sunblock expires after 3years? Yea just found that one out today! Anyways, Dreycin and I are planning a trip home at the end of April to San Antonio to visit my parents, of course im sure we'll stay in Dallas for a few days but I have lots on our agenda.....San Antonio Zoo, Sea World, and maybe a water park....and definitely going to Austin to see some of our DeLaVega family and go to the children's museum there! Spend some time with my besties Juanita and Jennifer! Derek thinks it will be easier for him to pack up some of our house if Dreycin and I are not there! which is probably true.....but we still dont know where we are going. Our garage has been taken over by all the boxes I have already packed, plus all of Dreycin's baby stuff. One thing is for sure, Derek's current Instructor course ends April 28th, so we are thinking May after all there will be no more Marines at Fort Knox, Ky after May 26th. I wish they would just tell us.....