It feels SOOOO good to say that I am stable!!! I love that word, "stable". I seem to go from stable, to not stable, to stable again. But hey, I will take the word "stable" now =)
The doctor's appointment was very uneventful, the most uneventful since the whole bed rest thing started 6 weeks ago today. Sono of cervix looks good and is holding strong at 2.5 cent. They decided to not do a sono of Cortlandt since she is measuring right on schedule. Great that she is on schedule, but boo for not being able to see her. Dr. Watkins then saw me and I am still holding at 1 cent dilated which is great. She made the comment that Cortlandt is still low, but obviously bed rest is keeping my cervix from dilating more, which is the whole point. Since everything looked so good she decided to not do an FFN test this time, but she will do it at my next appointment on Jan 14th.
The best news came at the very end of the appointment...if all stays good, as in cervix does not start to shrink too much and I don't dilate much more, there is a chance that at my 35 week appointment Dr. Watkins might release me to go back to work until Cortlandt comes =) Now this is a HUGE maybe...but still, I sooooo did not see this coming and neither did Dr. Watkins. Dr. Watkins' reasoning behind this is that once I get to 35 weeks needing to stop labor is not necessary. So why not allow me to work for a week or two or three until Cortlandt comes =) Who knows what will happen over the next 3 weeks, but just knowing there is a possibility, all be it small, that I might be able to go to work for a few weeks is amazing!!! If I could get back into my classroom for even for a week, I would be soooo happy! I left my classroom in a state of upheaval, not ready for the next week let alone a long-term sub. So getting back into that room for a week or two would allow me to get a few things ready for my sub and my team and my kiddos. Man, I would LOVE to see my kiddo's sweet faces again!!! Plus, working for a few weeks would soooo help our bank account as well.
So THANK YOU for all those continued prayers and good thoughts!!! Believe me, they are working and are very much appreciated!!!
Hugs and love!!!
~Charlotte
Friday, December 31, 2010
Christmas 2010
Here are some pictures from our fantastic Christmas!!! A little late, but I made it before the New Year!!!
For all the family who read this, I will be posting another post of Christmas pictures once I get them from my sister-in-law. My camera, as you can tell by a few of the whited-out pictures, is on it's last leg so a lot of the great shots and group pics were taken by Whitney. SO look for that post with in the next week or so.
Hope your Christmas was as great as ours was. We soooo look forward to next year when we will have a 4 1/2 and a 10-11 month old =) It's only going to get better from her on out!!!
HUGS and love to you all!!!
~Charlotte
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| Santa's little helper |
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| Daddy and Liam |
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| Showing he is a big boy and can hold his cousin, Meg. Think we have some work to do on the holding thing =) |
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| Attempt #1 at a family Christmas picture...Next year there will be 4 in it =) |
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| Liam and Mommy |
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| Amazed at how excited he was about this garbage truck =) |
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| Cortlandt's new "Little Sister" outfit |
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| Liam and his new scooter...To say he loves it is a HUGE understatement!!! |
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| Helping eat Santa's cookies |
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| Santa brought Liam a huge train table. It was left right outside his room, so he was still a little asleep when he saw it. |
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| Hugging his new police SUV!!! |
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| Papa, Liam (3 1/2 yrs) and Meg (7 months, Liam's cousin) |
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| Showing Boo his new toy, a walking bug =) |
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| He LOVES his Car's Snuggie!!! |
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| Helping Mimimi make breakfast |
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| Looking at WWI airplanes with Daddy before we all took our much needed afternoon nap. |
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| Liam and Mamama (Great-Grandmother) |
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| Attempt #2 at a family picture...the flash on my camera must have had a mind of it's own =( |
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| Dancing with Mamama! |
Hope your Christmas was as great as ours was. We soooo look forward to next year when we will have a 4 1/2 and a 10-11 month old =) It's only going to get better from her on out!!!
HUGS and love to you all!!!
~Charlotte
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Day 42 - 31 wks, 3 days - Blog is back, all is good...
Man I have missed blogging!!! Between the craziness of getting ready for Christmas and then Joey taking the computer to the farm and then having no internet on Monday and Tuesday...Blogging has not been able to happen =( So here is a quick update on Cortlandt and me...
Cortlandt and I are doing great and I can't believe we have made it to 31 weeks!!! When I was first hospitalized 6 weeks ago tomorrow, I honestly had my doubts that I would see 31 weeks. Sure feels good to be here!!! I have another doctors appointment today @ 2:30, so I will post an update this evening. I know we will be doing another sono to measure my cervix and Cortlandt, and then I will see Dr. Watkins and she will see if I have dilated more (fingers crossed that I have not) and then do another FFN test (check to see if I will go into labor within the next 14 days). I honestly have no idea what her plan is if any of the above mentioned have changed for the worse or come back positive (FFN Test). I know that at my last appointment, 2 weeks ago, if the FFN test came back positive, I would have been admitted to the hospital for 2 weeks, until I was 32 weeks. Well I will be 32 weeks next Monday, so I'm not sure if the test comes back positive if she will admit me until I’m 34 weeks or what...
32 weeks was the next big hurdle she wanted me to cross because of lung development and less complications in NICU for Cortlandt. Once I hit that, next Monday =), our next big hurdle is 35 weeks, majority of babies have enough lung development that they will spend little or no time in the NICU. My personal goal is 36 weeks, why not add an extra 7 days of growth to really ensure no NICU!!!
So since the last post, I have been doing pretty much the same old thing...get up, get Liam dressed for school, eat breakfast sitting down, sit more, watch TV, cross-stitch, get water, sit some more, use the restroom, move to the bed to sit, watch more TV, do more cross-stitching, get more water, use restroom, sit some more, etc...
Well I better run and start to get ready for the doctor’s appointment. When I know I have go somewhere, I try to get ready in little spurts and then sit for a while in between.
Look back later today for Christmas pictures as well as an update from the doctor =)
HUGS!!!
~Charlotte
Cortlandt and I are doing great and I can't believe we have made it to 31 weeks!!! When I was first hospitalized 6 weeks ago tomorrow, I honestly had my doubts that I would see 31 weeks. Sure feels good to be here!!! I have another doctors appointment today @ 2:30, so I will post an update this evening. I know we will be doing another sono to measure my cervix and Cortlandt, and then I will see Dr. Watkins and she will see if I have dilated more (fingers crossed that I have not) and then do another FFN test (check to see if I will go into labor within the next 14 days). I honestly have no idea what her plan is if any of the above mentioned have changed for the worse or come back positive (FFN Test). I know that at my last appointment, 2 weeks ago, if the FFN test came back positive, I would have been admitted to the hospital for 2 weeks, until I was 32 weeks. Well I will be 32 weeks next Monday, so I'm not sure if the test comes back positive if she will admit me until I’m 34 weeks or what...
32 weeks was the next big hurdle she wanted me to cross because of lung development and less complications in NICU for Cortlandt. Once I hit that, next Monday =), our next big hurdle is 35 weeks, majority of babies have enough lung development that they will spend little or no time in the NICU. My personal goal is 36 weeks, why not add an extra 7 days of growth to really ensure no NICU!!!
So since the last post, I have been doing pretty much the same old thing...get up, get Liam dressed for school, eat breakfast sitting down, sit more, watch TV, cross-stitch, get water, sit some more, use the restroom, move to the bed to sit, watch more TV, do more cross-stitching, get more water, use restroom, sit some more, etc...
Well I better run and start to get ready for the doctor’s appointment. When I know I have go somewhere, I try to get ready in little spurts and then sit for a while in between.
Look back later today for Christmas pictures as well as an update from the doctor =)
HUGS!!!
~Charlotte
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Day 34 - 30 wks, 2 day - Time sure does fly when your on bed rest...
**Long post alert***
Some days seem to drag...but others just fly, and the last 3 or 4 have just FLOWN by!!! First, I can't believe I am 30 weeks!!! I think I skipped over Monday all together because it did not dawn on me that I was 30 weeks until I started this post. Since Monday morning, this house has been Christmas Central for the Coates/Grant family. Joey, Liam, and Papa went to the farm Saturday evening so my Mom came over and stayed with me for the weekend. My Mom loves to bake and during the holiday season she turns into Betty Crocker on steroids normally making 6-7 different kinds of cookies as well as breads and pies. It's crazy but she LOVES doing it!!! My plan this year was to be a part of the cookie part so I could learn all her secrets. Instead, I got to stay on the couch and listen to her bake and smell the yummy goodness as the smell of Christmas cookies filled my house =)
One of my favorite cookie traditions is cookie painting. We have been doing it as long as I can remember, and I learned that the cookie recipe was actually my Grandma Grant's =) It's pretty much just a plain, not too sweet, sugar cookie that once cooled gets painted with colored powdered sugar frosting. My Mom says that she used to make these when my Dad was in dental school. She, my Dad and my uncles would paint them then and on Monday we passed the tradition onto Liam =) He and Joey got home in time for Liam to help Mimimi (my Mom) make the cookies and then he got to paint them.
Yesterday, Tuesday, was a crazy day...well for Joey that it. He was off and decided that he would put Liam's new bed together. Well that then led to doing everything else that needed to be done in Liam's room and then it carried over into the stuff that needed to be done for the guest room. Needless to say, Joey worked from like 10:00 am to around 7:30 pm. He was crazy determined to get all of it done and man does it look good!!!
The best part was that Liam was with Mimimi, so he had no idea that he would be coming home to a new room. Needless to say, Liam was thrilled with it!!! When he first walked in, you could tell he didn't know what to look at first. The one thing he is still talking about are the airplanes! His favorite is a big bomber. He said "goodnight" to it last night and "goodmorinng" to it this morning. He then preceded to remind Joey and me that "That one is my favorite plane, it's a bomber!"
Here is a picture of the start of our guest bedroom...
Some days seem to drag...but others just fly, and the last 3 or 4 have just FLOWN by!!! First, I can't believe I am 30 weeks!!! I think I skipped over Monday all together because it did not dawn on me that I was 30 weeks until I started this post. Since Monday morning, this house has been Christmas Central for the Coates/Grant family. Joey, Liam, and Papa went to the farm Saturday evening so my Mom came over and stayed with me for the weekend. My Mom loves to bake and during the holiday season she turns into Betty Crocker on steroids normally making 6-7 different kinds of cookies as well as breads and pies. It's crazy but she LOVES doing it!!! My plan this year was to be a part of the cookie part so I could learn all her secrets. Instead, I got to stay on the couch and listen to her bake and smell the yummy goodness as the smell of Christmas cookies filled my house =)
One of my favorite cookie traditions is cookie painting. We have been doing it as long as I can remember, and I learned that the cookie recipe was actually my Grandma Grant's =) It's pretty much just a plain, not too sweet, sugar cookie that once cooled gets painted with colored powdered sugar frosting. My Mom says that she used to make these when my Dad was in dental school. She, my Dad and my uncles would paint them then and on Monday we passed the tradition onto Liam =) He and Joey got home in time for Liam to help Mimimi (my Mom) make the cookies and then he got to paint them.
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| Helping Mimimi make the icing... of course it has to be blue =) |
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Mommie paining and Liam tracing his hand with the icing...lol ...Notice what color he is using??? All his cookies were blue, "Boo, like my eyes." as he calls it =) |
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Liam's first painted Christmas cookies: he did the blue bell and blue tree. He and Mommy did the snowman and small tree together. |
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| Just the start of the Christmas cookie craze! There used to be more of the jelly filled ones...but... um...someone ate them ;-) |
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| The newest addition to the cooking line-up, Almond Biscotties =) |
Monday evening, Liam went to spend the night with Mimimi and Joey and I wrapped Liam's gifts =) I have not been able to be a part of the majority of the Christmas shopping this year, so it was nice that I was able to be a part of it even if it was only the wrapping. I didn't last that long though...Cortlandt really is low because I started to feel pressure just from sitting after wrapping 6 or 7 gifts...so I went back to the couch and left the rest of the wrapping for Joey.Yesterday, Tuesday, was a crazy day...well for Joey that it. He was off and decided that he would put Liam's new bed together. Well that then led to doing everything else that needed to be done in Liam's room and then it carried over into the stuff that needed to be done for the guest room. Needless to say, Joey worked from like 10:00 am to around 7:30 pm. He was crazy determined to get all of it done and man does it look good!!!
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| Joey's Dad made this for Liam's first room. The airplanes are actually an extra bumper that matched Liam's crib bedding. |
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| The bed is from Papa and Nana for Christmas |
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| My Mom found a full sized quilt/sheet set that matched Liam's old crib bedding =) Liam LOVES airplanes and I was so happy to that she found the set since PB Kids does not make it anymore. |
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| This desk used to be in Joey's old room when he was a kiddo. |
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| Joey made these airplanes when he was a kid. They used to hang in his bedroom. A fun tradition to carry on from one airplane lover to another =) |
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| Climbing his bunk bed for the first time! |
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| I asked Liam who fixed up his room and he pointed to Daddy and said "My Daddy did it!!!" |
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| Just a cute picture =) |
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| Looking at his airplanes |
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| Pointing to his favorite, the bomber! |
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| Liam took this picture of his favorite airplane... Think he did a pretty good job =) |
Here is a picture of the start of our guest bedroom...
The wall color is a light gray but looks more on the blue side when there is blue in the room. For right now we are using our old bedding, so the room is grey/black/white with some yellow. You can't tell, but the sheets are yellow. My goal is to design the room around the wedding quilt that my Step-Mom and Grandma made for Joey and I. It has a white background with different shade of blue on it. So eventually I want the room to be blue/white/gray with pops of yellow and orange. I'm on the hunt for a yellow pillow or two for the bed that can be used now and also later when the room is the way I really want it to be. The night stands will be painted white and then distressed, for a shabby chik look. I think it looks pretty good for being thrown together with a hodgpodg of furniture and bedding =)
Well I better end this post before it becomes a novel =)
HUGS to you all!!!
Thank you for all the continued thoughts and prayers!
3 days until Christmas!!!!
~Charlotte
Well I better end this post before it becomes a novel =)
HUGS to you all!!!
Thank you for all the continued thoughts and prayers!
3 days until Christmas!!!!
~Charlotte
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Day 30 - 29 wks, 5 days - Home for Christmas!!!
Well I officially made the 2 more weeks at home cut =) I was nervous this time around, seeing as how in 2 weeks I dilated and shrunk, to put it in easy terms. Yesterday was a LONG morning of waiting. Well it felt a lot longer than it was seeing as how the nurse called me around 11:00. But still, I was nervous so time went really slowly. Anyway, she called, said the test was negative and I was good to stay home for 2 more weeks...That means Christmas is 100% at HOME!!!
My next appointment is on Dec 30th. We will do another sono to measure stuff, as well as do another FFN test. We will go from there if I get two more weeks at home or get to call the hospital home until I am 32 weeks, which will only be about 2 weeks.
Thank you for the continued prayers!!! I know they are helping to keep Cortlandt safe and sound right where she is =)
The other highlight of yesterday was that it was Liam's first day to wear big boy undies to school!!! I sent him in his outfit as well as 2 changes of cloths. I am happy to report that he made it all day without having to be changed =) I was soo very impressed with him. He was even happy about it, as he announced when he got home that "Me have no accident today Mommy! Me very big boy!" It was sooo cute!!!
Today, Courtney came by, brought me coffee and queso, I know funny combo but soooo good!!! She also brought me some Christmas gifts from people at school, sooo made my day =) Joey, Liam and Papa (Joey's Dad) are going to the farm later today through Monday, so my Mom will be staying the night tonight.
Ohhh and the best part of the whole weekend will be that my dear hairdresser is making a house call to cut my hair tomorrow morning!!! I have known Andrew since I was like 6 or 7 years old. He has seen my brother and I grow up, been invited to graduations, showers (baby and wedding) and weddings (both his and mine). He is a dear family friend and just an all around awesome guy!!! He came by and visited me twice at the hospital, and one of the times I joked that he might have to make a hospital call to cut my hair. Little did I know that he actually would, though it is now a house call. Sooo I will have cute hair for Christmas and my shower on Jan 8th. I am so looking forward to getting an inch or two cut off and having the bob re-shaped and I will post pictures tomorrow =)
The OTHER highlight, yes I know there are a lot, was my Mom delivering my Christmas Scentsy scents last night. Now, my house smells like Christmas Cottage and Cozy Fireside...so YUMMY!!! I highly recommend getting a Scentsy, especially if you are like me and are bad at remembering to blow out candles :-S. Plus, I only have 2 Scentsy going and my entire house smells like Christmas. Did I say my house smells so YUMMY??!!??!!
Well that is all for today!
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!
HUGS and love from the yummy Christmas smelling land of bed rest ;-)
~Charlotte
My next appointment is on Dec 30th. We will do another sono to measure stuff, as well as do another FFN test. We will go from there if I get two more weeks at home or get to call the hospital home until I am 32 weeks, which will only be about 2 weeks.
Thank you for the continued prayers!!! I know they are helping to keep Cortlandt safe and sound right where she is =)
The other highlight of yesterday was that it was Liam's first day to wear big boy undies to school!!! I sent him in his outfit as well as 2 changes of cloths. I am happy to report that he made it all day without having to be changed =) I was soo very impressed with him. He was even happy about it, as he announced when he got home that "Me have no accident today Mommy! Me very big boy!" It was sooo cute!!!
Today, Courtney came by, brought me coffee and queso, I know funny combo but soooo good!!! She also brought me some Christmas gifts from people at school, sooo made my day =) Joey, Liam and Papa (Joey's Dad) are going to the farm later today through Monday, so my Mom will be staying the night tonight.
Ohhh and the best part of the whole weekend will be that my dear hairdresser is making a house call to cut my hair tomorrow morning!!! I have known Andrew since I was like 6 or 7 years old. He has seen my brother and I grow up, been invited to graduations, showers (baby and wedding) and weddings (both his and mine). He is a dear family friend and just an all around awesome guy!!! He came by and visited me twice at the hospital, and one of the times I joked that he might have to make a hospital call to cut my hair. Little did I know that he actually would, though it is now a house call. Sooo I will have cute hair for Christmas and my shower on Jan 8th. I am so looking forward to getting an inch or two cut off and having the bob re-shaped and I will post pictures tomorrow =)
The OTHER highlight, yes I know there are a lot, was my Mom delivering my Christmas Scentsy scents last night. Now, my house smells like Christmas Cottage and Cozy Fireside...so YUMMY!!! I highly recommend getting a Scentsy, especially if you are like me and are bad at remembering to blow out candles :-S. Plus, I only have 2 Scentsy going and my entire house smells like Christmas. Did I say my house smells so YUMMY??!!??!!
Well that is all for today!
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!
HUGS and love from the yummy Christmas smelling land of bed rest ;-)
~Charlotte
Friday, December 17, 2010
Glitter Christmas Ornament Directions =)
Here are the instrutions for the glitter Christmas ornaments. Like I said before, they look like they took a whole lot longer than they did. Here we go...
First, you will need to get your supplies...
- Small can of Minwax Satin Polyurethane or some other kind of varnish
- Glass ornaments, any size/shape you want
- Super fine glitter
- Small dixie-cups (the smallest you can find work the best)
- Something to cover your work area
- Paper to make little funnels (use to get glitter into the ornaments) OR buy small funnels
Steps...
1. Cover work area - you do not want to get the varnish on it, trust me, it is not fun to try to clean it up!
2. Make some funnels with the paper. Make a different funnel for each color glitter you have. You don't want to get red glitter mixed into the white, etc.
3. Pour some varnish into a dixie-cup. Since the cup can is paper, I use it to pore the varnish into the ornaments by crimping one of the sides, so it looks like a measuring cup.
4. Pour some varnish into the ornament. Rotate the ornament so the varnish covers the entire inside. DO NOT SHAKE the ornament now!!! If you shake it, you wil get bubbles in the varnish and they DO NOT pop.
5. Put the ornament, upside down, in one of the dixie-cups. This will let any extra varnish drip out. Let it stand for about 5 minutes.
6. Using one of your funnels, pour some glitter into the ornament. Plug the hole with your finger and shake away! Add more glitter if needed. Pour any extra glitter back into the glitter container. (I used Tulip Fabric Glitter Dust, only because that is all my Mom could find. Martha Stewart makes some super fine glitter dust in an assortment of beautiful colors. Just look at the craft store and see what you find. BUT it needs to be super fine, or glitter dust. NOT the normal school glitter. The finer it is, the more sparkly your ornaments will be.)
7. Place the glittered ornament back in the ornament container to dry for another 5 minutes.
8. This is what you have when you are finished…
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| I think they look pretty in a glass bowl =) |
9. As an extra, you can wrap ribbon around the top of the ornament to add more pizzazz to it =) The ones I am going to make for the Christmas tree next year will have contrasting ribbons on them.
I hope you have as much fun as I did making these. It sounds more complicated then it is. Once you get an assembly line going you will be amazed how fast you can make these =)
Happy Crafting!!!
~Charlotte
~Charlotte
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