My Own Business: Bowtanical Bowtique

I've started my own business....Bowtanical Bowtique, which specializes in handmade floral bows for infants and toddlers. It's very new and merchandise will be posted within the next couple days on my Etsy.com shop. Click on the badge below to be linked to my shop. In addition to bows, I will also be offering tutu's!

Tatum Nicole Completes Our Family

On August 6th, 2010, Tatum Nicole Aucone was born at 9:58 am. She weighed 7lbs 3oz and was 20 inches long. My pregnancy was much different from my first, no complications whatsoever and we made it to the scheduled c-section date. Those last four weeks were fun to experience, my belly grew soooo much. The morning of the c-section, Tatum O'Neill made headlines for her reconciliation with her father. Mike and I thought this was a sign that this was the day Tatum was meant to join our family.

We arrived at Exempla Good Samaritan Hospital at 7:00 am to prepare for the c-section. The nurses started the IV and doctors began coming in to introduce themselves, I was thrilled to learn my anesthesiologist would be the same one that I had during Lily's birth! This eased my fears going into the surgery.

Because I had the same anesthesiologist, Mike was able to be present throughout the preparation process, including when I had my spinal block. Everything went smoothly and before I knew it they were delivering our precious baby girl. As mentioned above, Tatum Nicole was born at 9:58 on August 6, 2010 weighing in at 7lbs 3oz and 20inches long. She was born with brown hair and dark blue eyes. She spent the majority of her first days of life sleeping. My fear of having another child was that I could not love another as much as I love Lily, but the second Tatum was born, my fears were washed away. I love Tatum just as much as I love Lily, unconditionally with all of my heart! We are so blessed to have her to complete our family.

Part of me is sad knowing that we are done having children, but the other part of me feels complete and so happy to be blessed with two beautiful and healthy girls. Adjusting to life as a parent of two is difficult, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Lily is loving being a big sister, and Tatum is now a few months old and smiles when she sees her sister. It's a special relationship blossoming and I hope they become best friends. Sorry if this post is a bit corny, but it comes from the heart.

It's a GIRL!?!?!?!?! Maybe?

Mike and I went for my 20 week ultrasound with my Perinatologist yesterday! He's an amazing doctor who really know his stuff, and he's funny, which is always a plus, especially if you're dealing with us! :) I provided him with my hospital records from my stay when I delivered Lily and we discussed the care that I'll be receiving this time around. I'll start seeing my OB every two weeks at 28 weeks and I'll see the perinatologist again at 32 weeks to check on the growth of the baby. Right now the baby is growing a week behind, 19 weeks instead of 20. I'm going to begin a baby asprin regiment to reduce the risk of developing preeclampsia again, but it's not a guarentee, so I'm trying to stay vigilant. He also advised me to start taking my blood pressure at home, which I already have, and he seemed impressed with the amount of knowledge I have on the topics of HELLP and preeclampsia. It's really been my way of coping with the experience.

On to the best part, the ultrasound! This was my 20 week anatomy scan, so he measured the baby's head, abdomen, and femur to determine it's size, he checked to make sure there were two arms, two hands, two legs and two feet! Check! And finally, we asked if we'd be able to determine the gender! Well, little baby duece had it's legs crossed and was in the breech position, which made it nearly impossible to determine the sex! Grrrrr! Initially, he said, "If I have to lean one way, I'd say girl, but that's only 70%!" Oh no, that didn't slide, I can't have only 70%, I need 100% dang it!!! I told him I'd stand on my head if I had too, but the more he looked the more he was convinced that this baby is also a girl!!! Mike and I are estatic that Lily will have a baby sister!!! The pics above are pretty ghetto, especially because I took them with my cell phone and there's a mean glare coming of the u/s paper (super glossy)! But, come Saturday, I'll have some AMAZING 3D ultrasound pictures to share...as I need a 100% confirmation that this baby is really a girl so we can plan accordingly!

Yay for baby girls!!! :)

19 Weeks & Blowing Bubbles

Just a quick pregnancy progress photo of 19 wks! While I was taking this pic, my lovely Lily was taking a bath and blowing bubbles in the water! She's been doing this for about two weeks now. It's quite amazing because I didn't show her how to do this, she figured it out on her own! Pretty cute to watch, lemme tell ya!

Boo comes to school with Mommy!

Since the Mountain Grandparents have been working extra hard these past couple weeks, I thought it'd be nice to give them a day off and Lily could join Mommy at the high school! Our morning started bright and early, 7:00. Luckily, thanks to the CSAP schedule, I didn't have students until after lunch. Lily explored the school and then colored and watched Melmo while Mommy completed paperwork. We enjoyed lunch with my co-workers and 6th hour brought students into my classroom. My female students were so excited that Lily had come to visit, but even to boys showed some excitement. 7th hour is my free period, we had a couple visiting students who spend their free period in my room on a daily basis. They helped Lily draw on the white board and danced to Lady Gaga with her. The end of 7th brought a school assymbly, as our POMS squad won 1st in nationals! Lily really enjoyed all the clapping and especially the dancing! By this time Lily was super tired, so we went back to my room where she took a nap until it was time to go home! I really enjoyed having my baby girl at work...but man she's a handful!

AFP4 & 24 Urine --- Normal! :)

Very excited to report that the AFP4, which tests for Down's and other defects, as well as my 24 Urine screening came back completely normal! It's that little piece of relief that every mommy needs mid-pregnancy! Now we can focus our energy on finding out the sex of the baby on March 22!

Boo in the Bath ---- 18 months old

Let's face it, Boo Bear loves her bath time! This past weekend she's decided it's funny to lay down in the bath with her ears under the water to listen to the cool sounds. She's so darn cute, I thought I'd share some pics!

17 Week Appointment and Due Date Clairfication

Well, I went in for my 17 wk appointment yesterday, I showed up 30 minutes early to find out I was a day late! This sent me into a frenzy, so I dashed up to OB floor and luckily Dr. Moore was in and had a cancellation! Yay! They did all the normal stuff, weight (gained 7 lbs total so far), blood pressure (in the normal ranges) and temperature. I was really anxious to see Dr. Moore and ask her why I haven't been feeling this baby yet! I was feeling Lily at 14 wks, so I've been really paranoid!

Luckily, Dr. Moore was able to find the heartbeat relatively easily, except the baby kept moving around! The heartbeat was strong and in the 150's! Dr. Moore explained that I probably had an anterior placenta, meaning the placenta is between my belly and the baby, and that's why it's more difficult for me to feel this baby. She said I should begin feeling the baby soon when the kicks become more vigorous! I can't wait!!!

I was sent downstairs to the lab for a preeclampsia work-up and AFP testing to determine the baby's health. I'm praying for healthy, normal results from that test, and will hear the results at my perinatologist visit on 3/22 at 4:00! I'm so stoked for that visit, that's when we'll find out the sex of our lil' baby! Oh, and I was sent home with a 24 hr urine collection kit to collect baseline labs in case preeclampsia rears it's ugly head again! Hopefully it won't, I'm staying positive and thinking I'm going to have a nice, healthy and happy 9 months!!! :)

Oh, last thing, I thought my due date was 8/14/10 based on the 8 wk ultrasound, the doc clarified that it's actually based on my LMP, which makes my official due date 8/9/10! Pretty sweet date!!!

My Lil' Boo Bear

It doesn't matter how big she gets, she'll always be my Lil' Boo Bear! I love Lily soooo much, it's absolutely amazing. Everyday I'm impressed by how much she's growing and learning, her speech is blossoming at an astonishing rate! She's reading books with me now, I read and then point to the picture of the next word, and she'll say it...a great example is Goodnight Moon. She LOVES this book because she can participate in it...and I love it because I love how she sits in my lap, smiles, points and now talks! It's awesome!

Tonight we're looking forward to celebrating my dad's birthday at Three Margaritas! Yay! I'm so excited for cheese enchiladas, beans and cheese, and spanish rice! Yummy! Sorry, just excited! :)

14 Weeks Pics, Locks of Love & Lily Boo....

Here's a quick belly pic of 14 weeks 5 days pregger me! 11 1/2 inches of golden locks for Locks of Love & a before pic! And of course a couple Lily pics!!!

Blabbering Boo Bear

New words have become almost a daily occurance for our Lil' Boo...her newest words this past week are mouse, pancake & orange. She's also increasing her monkey skills, her newest feat is getting up onto our bed to bounce around. Scares the living day lights out of me...but she loves it! I'm excited for the warm weather so Lily can play on the trampoline in the backyard...she enjoyed it last summer even though I bounced her...this year will be even more exciting! I'll post some pics later!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

The day teachers dread most.....dun dun dun....paren-teacher conferences! Ahhhh! It's not all bad, but it's hard to be away from Lily all day as it is, let alone all night too! We have to be here until 8 o'clock! Yuck! Atleast I get to sit with my co-workers who I love to death! :) I'm hoping my mom will email me some pics of their day with Lily so I can post them!

102 Years Old!!!

It just hit me....my Great Grandpa Ted turns 102 years old TODAY! Isn't that incredible!!! He is an amazing person whose lead an amazing life! Despite his age, he's incredibly independent & sharp as a tack! Can you even imagine the things he's seen in his life time? Seriously, he saw the first cars, first airplanes, the Great Depression, faught in WWII (he's the oldest living vetern in Kansas), and countless other historical events & he's still here to share his stories with others! I just had to brag about how cool it is that my Great Grandpa is 102! And how cool is it that Lily has a Great Great Grandpa & a Great Great Grandma? That's AWESOME! Ok, I'm done! :)

Bath Book & Belly Pic 13wks 3days

Just wanted to share a couple pics from last night...one of Lily reading a book in the bath tub & one of my belly at 13 wks 3 days! Enjoy!

La, la, la la....Melmo's World!

Recently Lily has fallen in love with Melmo....yes, Melmo! You know, the lovable red monster on Sesame Street? Well, she can't quite say his name correctly, but she's in love! We have a DVD player in the car & got her a Melmo DVD a couple weeks ago...and it's a Godsend! Before we'd have some major bucking & screaming come time to buckle into the carseat, but thanks to Melmo, those days are over! (For now...!) Anyways, thought I'd share! :)

Superbowl Weekend!

This weekend was full of fun, nephews, class (Lesson-Study through RMMSMSP), dinner with our neighbors, cleaning (which never ends) and of course, the Superbowl!
For those of you who don't know, we watch my nephews on Tuesday & Thursday nights, as well as Saturdays....Nikki watches Lily Mon., Wed. & Friday's for us...so it's a great reciprocal situation! Anywho, we had the boys Saturday morning, but one went to a b-day party and the other with the Mountain Grandparents, so Mike and I had the night off! :) We were invited over to our neighbors Megan & Paul's house for dinner. They have a 13 month old daughter, Hayden, which Lily has only met once. We had a great time, they're a really great couple, and the girls got along fantastically! I was a bit nervous because Lily's been known to be a bit of a bruiser....but they played nicely & there weren't any casualties! We look forward to spending more time with this family!
Sunday was full of cleaning (for me) & cooking (for Mike). Oh, and we went grocery shopping...OMG...it was insane at King Soopers! Anyway, the majority of my day was spent cleaning everything from the fridge (which has been just gross & I couldn't take it anymore), to laundry, sweeping, mopping, & vaccuming. I feel like I accomplished a LOT....mostly because the past 13 weeks have been rough on my pregger ass who just sleeps...or relaxes...the weekends away! Mikey kept busy cooking ribs, chicken wigs, making dip among many other things!
The game was great, as everyone knows, and although it didn't really matter to me who won or lost...I'm happy for the Saints! :) But sad for Hank & Kendra.....oh I love E! We enjoyed the company of Randy & Cheryl, as well as, Brittany, Cory & Baby Jack! :)

Lily's Growing Up & Lovin' Baths

Just a quick update on Lily:

She went to the doctor's on Friday, because on Thursday night, during her bath, she consumed three small bath hearts (about the size of a thumbnail and paper thin). That night she woke up with serious vomiting, which persisted ALL night! Needless to say, I called in sick and took her to the doctor office. Before I continue....it turns out the soap was not the culprit....as on Sunday I became violently ill, followed by Michael on Wednesday, and I can assure you that neither of us ate soap of any kind! Lol!

Anyway, we went to the doctor's and she now weighs a whopping 26 lbs! Seriously, she's come a long way from the 4lb 10oz baby she was born into this world as! Also, Lily's Grandma Aucone bought her new shoes on Tuesday, guess what size? 6! A 17-month-old in size 6 shoes! Now, I don't know if this is normal....but considering her foot was the size of my thumb 17 months ago, it seems really amazing!

I'm happy to report that Lily is in great health now and the only form of soap in her tub is Mr. Bubbles. The pic taken on today's update was taken last night when she was in the tub. Her cousin Jerry plays with her, and while these pics were taken, he was hiding in various places and jumping out at her. Needless to say, she was having the time of her life.

For those of you who don't know, Lily is not only a soap-eating monkey, but she's talking up a storm. The latest words: done, Melmo (Elmo, mine (ahhh!), please, more (and she does the sign), Jerry, T.T. (for Tristan), Go-Go (for Fresh Beat Band), baby and tons of other smaller words that she's been saying for months.

On Friday, January 29th, we welcomed Baby Jackson Craig Singleton to the world, our bff's first son. On this day, I realized that Lily isn't the baby she once was. She has grown soooo much & is officially a toddler. It was really fun to have Lily meet Baby Jack...she didn't say much to him there...but talked about baby afterwards for hours. It was interesting holding a newborn & Lily at the same time. It was like a preview of my future, but in that moment, I knew that this will be something that I'll be able to handle.

Anyway, I think I blabbed enough for an update blog......

12 Week Prenatal Appointment - Baby #2

Thanks to a power outage, I'm rewriting this blog...so I'll try to remember to the best of my pregger brain ability! Yesterday, February 4, 2010, I had my 12 week prenatal appointment with my OB. It was the first time I've gotten to see her with this pregnancy, as it is Kaiser's policy to meet with a nurse practicioner for the first visit. I was looking forward to this appointment, because I had prepared many questions for Dr. Moore and I really like her personality.

I was seen very quickly after I arrived, I was taken back by the nurse to be weighed, have my temp taken and check my bp. I was pleased with the results, I've only gained a pound, my temp was normal and my bp was average, 112/60. I was brought back to my room to wait for Dr. Moore.

When Dr. Moore walked in, she smiled and said, "Well, no preconception visit for you!" I laughed, as I had emailed her days before my positive pregnancy test about having a preconception appointment since my last pregnancy ended with serious complications. I said, "Apparently I'm fertile!" She asked how my symptoms were treating me, which have been relatively mild compared to when I was pregnant with Lily. Then we started in with the conversation surrounding my complications with the last pregnancy, HELLP Syndrome and sever preeclampsia, which lead to the premature delivery of Lily at 36 weeks gestation. I told her, "I'm a giant dork, so I've done tons of research & have some questions written down." She was happy that I was informed and I started my questions:

Q1.) The Preeclampsia Foundation recommends being co-monitored or have consultation services by a MFM Specailist. How does Kaiser approach this & how can we set that up?

A1.) I'll write a referal today for a visit with our perinatologist at the Rock Creek facility. Your 20 week appointment will be with him, rather than with radiology. The perinatologist will perform the ultrasound, reveal the gender of the baby and consult with you regarding your risks & care for HELLP Syndrome & preeclampsia.

Q2.) My research indicates the average reoccurance rate of HELLP is 5-20% & 40-60% for preeclampsia. Due to these risks, expert srecommend close monitoring. What is your definition of close & how will my prenatal schedule look?

A2.) At your 16 week appointment we'll be running baseline preeclampsia labs, in addition to your AFP bloodscreen for Down's, and send you home with a 24-hour urine kit. Your 20 week appointment (as mentioned above) will be with the perinatologist. We'll see you every four weeks until 32 weeks when we'll start seeing you every other week. Unless your bp starts to climb or you experience anyother symptoms of preeclampsia, in which case we'd have you come in immediately.

Q3.) "If she develops severe disease at 28-36 weeks, reoccurance is about 40%; 1/3 will be at the same gestational age." Will this effect the scheduling of my c-section?

A3.) We'll schedule your c-section for 39 weeks & hope you make it to term. We will deliver early if you go into labor naturally, break your bag of waters OR develop HELLP or preeclampsia.

Q4.) When should I begin monitoring my bp at home?

A4.) You can start monitoring anytime, but around 28 weeks you can keep record of your bp. Make sure you rest for 30 minutes prior. If your pressure reads 140/90 or above, it's time to call us or go to L&D.

Q5.) I try to keep hydrated, but I'm not urinating as much with this pregnancy as I did with my first. Could this be because breastfeeding hormones are similar to pregnancy hormones?

A5.) Your body may be used to pregnancy & not as effected as it was with the initial pregnancy. The other reason could be that when we preform a c-section the bladder is disected from the uterus. Therefore, your bladder and uterus may not be touching as they used to & the sensitivity is lessened. Just pay attention to the color of your urine, if it's a clear to pale yellow, you're getting enough fluids.

After our Q&A session, Dr. Moore pulled out the doppler and found the baby's heartbeat! She found it with ease, which surprised me since Lily was hiding & she had to do an u/s. Although it would've been nice to see this baby, I remember how frightened I was when she couldn't find Lily's and the minutes it took her to get the mobile u/s machine felt like an eternity. I pulled out my phone and recorded the baby's heartbeat to play back later for Mike & Lily. I was concentrating so hard on recording the heartbeat, I forgot to ask what the bpm were....oh well! Anyway, it was a relief to hear the heartbeat, but it still doesnt' seem quite real yet. I can't wait to start feeling the baby so it will really sink in!