All good!

I guess it's true that you can trust a mother's intuition...baby looks great!  God is good.  His/her heart looks perfect, as does the rest of the body, measuring just at 20 weeks.  Jason thinks he saw enough on the ultrasound to consider squirt a girl.  I guess we'll see!

Thanks for your prayers!! 

Prayers for Squirt's little heart

This Friday I go in for the "big" 20 week ultrasound, which totally blows my mind.  2o weeks already?  Anyway, in addition to the regular anatomy checks, we are doing a fetal echocardiogram as well.  

It's a long story, so bear with me.  Benjamin was born with a muscular VSD, a small hole in his heart that is causing a murmur.  We were told that it is a common condition and that 90% of the time, the hole would close on it's own by age 1.  Back in August we took B to the cardiologist for a check up and the murmur was still there, so per our request, they did an echo to check things out.  In addition to the VSD, this cardiologist (the first we saw) diagnosed B with quad*racuspid aortic valve, a condition where instead of the normal 3 cusps in an aortic valve, he has 4.  It is an extremely, extremely rare condition and neither our pediatrician nor several cardiologists we spoke to had ever heard of it in a toddler.  So, we went in for a 2nd opinion...this time the cardiologist diagnosed B with bi*cuspid ( 2 cusps) aortic valve, a slightly more common condition, but still an abnormality.  In either case, the important thing is that B's aortic valve is functioning perfectly right now.  The major concern with aortic valve defects is that the valve will leak or narrow, causing blood flow and breathing issues.  Both cardiologists think that since the valve is perfect as of now, Benjamin will have no issues with it for years--like, until his 40s or 50s.  Obviously, any time your child has a heart condition you worry, but the reassurance from the doctors has made us feel better.  B will need to go back yearly or every 2 years for echos and hopefully when he gets older we will figure out whether it is bi or quadri.

The concern for the baby is that both the VSD and aortic valve defect can be hereditary and once you have one child with a congenital heart defect, the chances of subsequent children having the same defect or something worse is greatly increased.  So, we do a fetal echocardiogram to check for problems...and pray, pray, pray that all is well.  I must admit that my gut "mom" feeling says that we have nothing to worry about, but there is always that worry in the back of your mind. 

Please pray for our little guy/girl...that his or her heart is strong and healthy and that we have an uneventful 3rd trimester and delivery.  Thanks everyone for your concern and love...will update on Friday when we have news! 

He got the boot.

 Almost 2 weeks ago, William slipped in the bathtub...well, actually he slipped out of the bathtub.  Jason had him standing up to wash his hiney and he tried to climb out and fell.  We didn't think much of it because he hardly cried, but after putting on his pj's, William refused to put any weight on his left foot/leg.  After about 20 minutes he was fine and running around like normal.  A few days later he was still acting funny--not wanting to walk on his left leg, crawling instead of walking, etc., so we took our first trip to Children's for xrays.  Everything was normal.  By last Saturday he had started limping and was showing no signs of getting better, so back to Children's we went...more xrays and bloodwork to check for infection.  Still all normal, but the limping continued.  So finally we got him in to see a pediatric orthopedic doctor yesterday and she decided that he has a toddler's fracture (basically a tiny stress fracture) in his tibia or foot that was just too small to be picked up by xray. We are SO relieved that we have an answer and that it is not an infection--apparently the biggest concern with limps in little kids is a bone or blood infection. Thank goodness it isn't that!!!  

So now little dude has a walking cast/boot for 2 weeks.  The doctor fitted it in the office and William was a huge hit as we walked out to the waiting room--I mean, who doesn't look at this and say "awwwww".  (though some people were looking at me like they were trying to figure out if I beat him.  Rude.)  It is always something with these Hoag boys!

Just for kicks, I though I'd post an 18 week belly shot as well.  In my head I am just as big as I was with the boys...in reality, not so much!!  What a difference 1 baby makes.  

18 weeks with W&B

15 month pictures

They will not sit still long enough to get their picture together, and don't like the baseball glove...so taking these pictures is always difficult!  William has "cheeeeese" down pat though.  His newest word is "knock, knock"; he walks up to every door and says knock knock!  Benjamin has his first really clear word, other than mama and dada--Nooooooooo.  It's so cute even though he's being stubborn every time he says it!

Squirt is doing well, measuring just a few days ahead with a heart rate of 150.  Doc says girl every time, but the boys' heartrates were anywhere from 135-150, so I don't know.  My belly is measuring at exactly 17 weeks--amazing to only be as big as I'm supposed to be!  At 17 weeks with the boys, I measured at 24.  It's fun to just have 1 baby.  

We've had a long weekend and everyone is ready for a nap.  Hope everyone had a good weekend.

15 Months old!

I have gotten so bad about taking the boys "monthly" pictures...didn't do one at all for 14 months and haven't yet for 15, but I guess I'm only 5 days behind.  It's just so hard to get them to sit still!!

Took them to the doc last week and the poor babies got 4 shots each--it was the worst crying there has ever been.  Horrible.  William had a major growth spurt and has finally surpassed his little brother in height!  He is 34 inches tall (off the charts), 25 pounds (60th percentile) and still has an enormous, off-the-charts head.  Benjamin is 32 1/2 inches tall (90th), 24 lbs 10 oz (55th) and also has an enormous head.  Sometimes dressing and undressing these boys is a challenge because their shirts always get stuck on their heads!!!

The doctor says B is right on track for language development even though he only says maybe 2 or 3 words...tons of babbling/jargon though, which made the doctor happy.  I am convinced that he (Benjamin) knows and can do more than he lets on because all of the sudden he'll blurt out a word or an animal noise and then never say it again.  I really think it's a function of his thumb ALWAYS being in his mouth!!  We need to work on that.

William has now started putting words together--last night we were reading "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" and he started shaking his hand and saying "No more" (monkeys jumping on the bed), so cute.  

Jason and I got away for the weekend, thanks to my parents, and it was great.  I did not take a single picture though--amazing that once you have kids, you just never take a photo without them in it!!

I have an appointment today to check on Squirt's progress...SO tempted to find out if its a boy or girl!!!  Jason won't be there, so I won't, but it's tempting.

The boys woke up late today--7:30 ish and were still ready for a morning nap around 9:30...what am I going to do when they switch to one nap??

That's all for now...I'll post again about how Squirt is doing.

Happy Halloween!

We had a busy, crazy few days of Halloween celebrations.  The boys went to a Halloween party at their "music school", we went to our old neighbors' house for a pizza party, visited Daddy at work (in costume), and of course went trick-or-treating.  The boys were troopers and were just so darn cute.  William LOVED trick-or-treating and really got the hang of running up to a front door and sticking his little hand in the candy bowl.  He also loved being outside with the moon and kept pointing to it and saying "Moooooooonnnn"...and I realized that they have NEVER been outside after dark--they are always in bed!!  Poor kids are 15 months old and just now experiencing the moon!  Benjamin was not so hot on all the halloween hoopla--he just does not like to be around crowds of people and weird situations.  I ended up carrying him the whole time...I think he maybe walked up to one house.

Yesterday was an interestingly awful day...it was either a halloween hangover or the effects of the end of daylight savings time; either way the boys were in rare form.  Benjamin who never gets in trouble, has never once had to sit in time out (William goes to time out 2 or 3 times a week!), has thrown maybe 2 fits in his 15 months, was a total nightmare.  Meltdown after meltdown after meltdown.  In the midst of this, William showed us that he is a true big brother--when B was in time out, W walked over to the rug and sat down next to him.  He goes to get B's sheepy and takes it to him all the time; he gets upset when B gets in trouble for throwing food--it is SO cute!!

Now I need to get rid of the Halloween candy--pronto.  Can't. stop.eating.  !!

Two little men and a baby

Not much new going on, just hanging out and trying to find things to do inside since it has been raining FOREVER and is a little chilly.  The boys will go outside no matter what the weather, but mama is somewhat of a baby when it comes to wet and cold!  

Here are the boys (William first) getting ready for a football game playdate with our new twin friends--2 families from J's work who have twins and then a 3rd younger child--so fun to find families with similar makeup!  The boys had a blast playing and terrorizing a new house.

J's parents got the boys this adorable table and chairs for their birthday...this is William pretending to sit and do a puzzle.  I say pretend because all he really does is throw the puzzle pieces on the floor, tip the chairs over (and fall off), and get the chairs taken away for the day because he won't stop pushing them around the house!!  But he looks super cute, doesn't he?
I love this picture.  It's like they are talking to each other, debating whether to go with Case or Deere.  And here's Squirt.  That's what I've nicknamed the baby.  I feel badly for him/her already because we are so crazy with the boys that we don't pay as much attention as we did to the boys at this stage of pregnancy.  Poor little Squirt.  The doctor says at my next appt (in 3 weeks), we'll be able to see the sex...I'm really hoping to not cave in and find out!  

The belly...this pic is from 11 weeks, so 3 weeks ago.  I should take a new one but never have my camera when I   a) am dressed in something presentable; b) have 2 free minutes to take a pic and c) have had the time to clean up the house so there isn't a ton of junk in the picture.  Excuses?  yes.  But trust me, the belly is bigger...I'm the same size now (at 14 weeks) as I was at 16 with the boys.  Fun little baby bump. :)

Now to watch Thurs night TV...love my DVR!!