SNOW!

Just a few days after Christmas we finally got some real snow....none of this dusting here and a dusting there crap, actual, measurable snow! The storm was pretty anticlimactic. They were calling for high winds, lots of snow 12+ inches and all sorts of craziness. We were expecting to be blanketed in all sorts of snow and to potentially lose power, so when we all woke up to power and only about 8'' on Monday morning, we were a bit disappointed!

Lilah was all excited to head outside! 

Mairead making a snow angel

Of course, Kevin and I were the only ones disappointed - the girls were so psyched to see lots of snow on the ground! Finally, snow they could really play in! They had been waiting for snow for a long time, and it finally came! 

The day of the "blizzard" was super cold and windy, so the girls didn't last a super long time outside, but as the week went on, it got warmer and warmer, and the girls just loved being outside in it! 

Me and Clara - she wasn't thrilled.

Mairead & Lilah eating snow

Trying on her new ski helmet and having a snow snack :)

Mairead was so excited to play in the snow on a warm winter day!

The snow finally melted a little bit, meaning it wasn't soft and fluffy, and we could build a snowman, something the girls had wanted to do all week! So, we built a BIG snow man and the girls loved every second of it! 

Our snow man! 

Just say NO to funneling!

No! Not beer funneling...!

Cervical funneling

If you look at the two "+" on the ultrasound, you will see the example of funneling. Note this is NOT my ultrasound. 

Today, I had a cervical check at MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) to check my cervical length. I am 21w3days and my cervical length was 2.2cm, so, the same. The only changes were some funneling at the top of my cervix (the top almost looks like a "V") and you could definitely see that my cervix was opening, definitely not closed up tight like it had been previously. The high risk doc didn't come in, so that means it isn't too concerning, but when I see funneling with an opening cervix, I can't help but be a little nervous. The baby was breech, and I think that's probably the best position for him right now, keeps his head and majority of weight off of my cervix (he had been vertex or head down for a while). His face was buried into my placenta, and wouldn't show himself, so, no ultrasound photos today.....bummer! The girls were bummed! They love leaving with their own photo of their little brother, but, not today... 

To read more on cervical funneling, read more on the Funneling of the internal cervical OS or more about Using Ultrasound to Predict Spontaneous Preterm Birth. 

I can't help but think of the "what if" - what if I didn't have a cerclage? Would I make it to 37 weeks like I did with Mairead, our first born? or, would we have had Lilah and Clara much more prematurely? For me, the statistics for preterm labor with early cervical changes are convincing enough. I know for me being dilated 1cm with Clara by 30 weeks is evidence enough for me that a cerclage is probably the the better option. Each person is different and the sucky thing is, no one knows...weighing the risks vs. benefits is the only way to come up with a decision you can live with.

While I am confident we will be able to carry this baby as long as his sisters, the what ifs still affect me day to day, especially when I have one of those days where my cervix is just throbbing...

Who's the child?

Some days, I feel as though I have four children already, not including the little prince who is growing inside of me.

Some days, I find myself shaking my head at the things my husband does - sometimes stooping as low as our youngest. 

For example...there were two pairs of kids scissors on the counter that Lilah received for Christmas. Kevin walks over to Mairead while she and Lilah were eating breakfast, and starts to pretend to cut Mairead's hair. I looked at him and said "Really?" he looked at me with a funny look, thought about what he was doing and walked away. 

Lilah says "Daddy! We do not cut hair. We cut on paper!" 

Phew! I Thought... at least someone has been listening! Last thing I need is daddy teaching the girls to cut each others hair! Actually, I'm surprised that has not happened yet...but I am sure, someday, it will. 

A Griswald Christmas!

Christmas 2010 will surely go down in the books for the Ferrie family! At times, Kevin and I felt as though we were in the middle of a "Griswald Christmas" - and thankfully, Kevin and I are the type of people who try to laugh their way through trying times. I have to say, we surely learned some good life lessons that will affect the holidays in the future! :)

As you may have read earlier, our oldest, Mairead, came down with the stomach bug on Wednesday night. I spent all of Thursday sanitizing the upstairs. When we woke up on Friday morning and the remainder of our little family was still healthy, I was amazed. Could We? Are we....Dare we say it? Healthy? We got up, and prepared for our third annual Christmas Eve Open House. I baked cookies and prepared our dinner. In the mid-afternoon, Kevin said he felt a little funny, but it didn't stop him too much. By the time my parents got here and our friends arrived, he started to feel yucky. He wasn't puking, but he was visiting the bathroom a lot.....Hmmmmmmmm....before we knew it, he was throwing up. Thankfully for him, it was just once, and he was blessed with just an annoyance of wonderful diarrhea. 

Here are the girls with my mom cutting out the cookies.

Lilah decorating her cookie for Santa

Mairead looking proud of her decorated cookie! 

The kids had a blast decorating cookies for Santa (each year, I bake cookies and then the kids decorate them to give to Santa) and playing together. Everyone was having a blast! Kevin would try and socialize every now and then, but you could tell he felt yucky. Once our friends left, my parents helped us get the girls ready for bed. We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and put the girls to bed. My parents left and we got ready to start wrapping. Yes. You read that right. Start wrapping.

The girls reading with Nana & Papa before bed (just a short time before the "storm")

Lesson #1: It's not a smart idea to wait until Christmas Eve to start wrapping. And I mean, start wrapping. 

So, Kevin and I started wrapping. We sorted out all the girls toys. Kevin was about to put together the girls baby doll bunk bed and we learned yet another lesson: 

Lesson #2: It's not a smart idea to leave all the gifts in their packed boxes before inventory, or making sure everything has all the pieces. 

Yep. The bunk bed came without screws. No screws. The "big gift" for the girls had to stay in the box. What a major disappointment. If that wasn't disappointment enough, at the same time, we heard yelling upstairs...."Lilah's puking!"........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I thought. This can't be. Well, it was. We ran upstairs and Lilah was puking all over the place. I felt horribly. We cleaned her up, bathed her and changed beds around, and went back to wrapping.

For about 10 minutes. Until the 2nd round began. 

Lilah was puking again. And again. In between puking episodes, we'd return to wrapping. 

Lesson #3: It's pretty difficult to prepare for Christmas with a puking child. Never wait to wrap every. single. gift. Not smart. 

Once we got Lilah settled, we went back to wrapping. Then, we hear Clara crying on the monitor, which was unusual for her. I had weird feeling. Since we have a video monitor, I was watching her, and then I heard her wretching. I flew upstairs and sure enough, puke all over the place. Oh, and the smell........she was covered. I bathed her while Kevin changed her bed. She wretched some more. Have I mentioned how much I hate watching a small child vomit? It has to be on the of the saddest things ever. They are just so helpless. I just felt horrible for her and Lilah. I nursed her back to sleep and put her to bed. By now, it's about 1030pm, and we're back to wrapping.

Lesson #4: It's even more difficult to wrap your kids Christmas presents with two puking children. Of course, they couldn't plan their puking episodes together, so about every 5-10 minutes we were running upstairs to clean up and care for a puking princess. 

Lesson #5: Not only is it tough to wrap gifts with two children puking, it's tough to wrap gifts while doing mounds of laundry. With the rate of puking children, we were quickly running out of pillows (until we got smart and started using garbage bags underneath the pillow cases to keep the pillows safe), blankets and loveys! 

All we could think about was how we would never forget this Christmas! If that wasn't bad enough, I felt like crap, too. I had a killer head cold and just wanted to go to bed, and Kevin didn't feel too well either after puking and pooping! We were a mess. Finally, around 12:30am, we headed to bed. We were still dealing with puking children, but thankfully, they were slowing down. We tucked the girls in and fell asleep. I hoped the girls would wake up feeling better so we could all enjoy Christmas morning together....

Just before the girls saw what was under their tree! 

...and we did. The little girls woke up feeling better and happy. They were so excited to get downstairs to see Santa. When they saw all the presents under the tree they were just shocked...He really did come...They didn't wait to long to start opening, each gift was better than the last. Lilah was psyched about her new set of scissors! HA! $2 pack of scissors was a hit! Who needs to spend big $$$ on kids!?! Clara enjoyed romping around and just exploring. Mairead was just in heaven - she was so very excited! 

Clara enjoying her new baby doll from Kevin's parents

Mairead proud of all of her gifts! 

Lilah shows her daddy one of her gifts!

Clara opens her first gift! 

Just an idea of how Christmas looked at our house...how special is this?

Since the majority of our family was sick, we decided to stay home and not go to my parents. It was a big bummer because I wanted to see my brother and his family, but, there was no way, I could put my little girls in the car after having such a rough night. They each threw up one more time on Christmas day, but all in all, they were happy and had a really great day. They played. They napped. They were happy.

Mairead & Clara sharing their new toys together.

Mairead playing with her new puzzle

It was actually awesome to just spend the day at home. They played and played and played. They couldn't get enough, and it was nice to not have to take them away from all of their new things. I felt kind of queasy in the morning and thought I was next on the chopping block, but, I was okay. Every time I ate something, I wondered if it would come back to haunt me later! 

Clara taking a sink bath after a diaper blow out! 

That night, everyone was on the mend and went to bed early and slept until almost 9am! We were all very tired from our Griswald Christmas Eve! We all woke up happy and feeling good! yeah! We headed to my parents to celebrate Christmas with  them. We exchanged gifts and had a great lunch together. My mom and I headed to a local shoe store so I could buy some boots for the impending BLIZZARD that was coming for us! I bought some sassy snow boots and can't wait to wear them! Overall, it was another great day!

Mairead enjoying her new gifts at Nana & Papas

Clara and my dad

Lilah proud of all of her new gifts! A second Christmas!

My new boots! Aren't they awesome!?! And they're waterproof! 

Even though our Christmas was filled with lots of germs and sickies, it was actually a really special Christmas. We spent it happily together. I try not to complain of sickness as our family is so very lucky. Our girls aren't sick very often, I just wish the timing had been better...but like always, it could have been worse. Kevin and I tried to laugh when possible and keep things light. We enjoyed each other and had a nice day spending quality time with our three little princesses. How could I ask for more? 

And as Jimmy Buffett would say........"if we couldn't laugh, we'd all go insane..."

Merry Christmas!

We've had quite a crazy last 24 hours! But that's for another day...another blog...another story! 

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

Ah...The JOYS!

Of the holiday season........!

You know, the sniffling, coughing, snotting, puking and even pooping time of the year! 

For the last two Christmas', I have had a cold, so why would this year be any different? On Monday, Mairead came down with the sniffles. She was a bit snotty, but by Tuesday, she was much, much better....of course, on Tuesday, I had a scratchy throat. Damn it. Yesterday, I woke up, my ears were blocked, I felt congested and just felt icky. Clara was also a little snotty. Here we go!

As if that wasn't bad enough, I took an ambien to knock myself out last night and get a good nights sleep - and you know, whenever I expect to sleep through the night, it just never happens. So, when I heard Mairead crying at about 11pm, and hear Kevin yell "Steeeeephhhhhhh!", I know it's never good. 

I walked into Mairead's room and said "What's wrong", well, since I just ran into her room and didn't have my glasses on, I didn't realize there was puke all over her bed. Kevin says "She puked! All. Over. The. Place." Yah. then I started to smell it. I bathed Mairead while Kevin stripped her bed. We put her back to bed and yet again, it happened. More puke. This can't be good, I thought. After that, it's fuzzy....the ambien had kicked in and I was no use to Kevin. He was left on his own.....but, that's okay, there have been plenty of nights where I have been up with the kids and he has had absolutely no clue until the next morning when he says "Wow! The kids slept good last night, huh!?!" Of course, I chuckle and say "HA!" --- so, I guess, I deserve a turn to enjoy some of the absolute goodness of sleeping without realizing exactly what is going on! 

Today, I felt better, and Mairead obviously wasn't herself...but thankfully, it wasn't a day full of puke. I sanitized the upstairs from top to bottom with bleach and lysol....and I mean, stripped every bed, washed the crib mattresses down with bleach, and every thing that could tolerate bleach, got a good washing.....washed the floors, vacuumed and just cleaned until I couldn't handle it anymore. I baked some cookies for our Christmas Eve open house tomorrow night and took care of my girlies. 

So, here it is, 8pm, all three girls are in bed. I don't think it will take too long for them all to pass out. Mairead has only puked since 1 time since 2am....and I think the 2pm puking episode was from an absolute stupid mommy moment when I felt bad for Mairead and let her have a Hershey's chocolate mint after she downed a cup of water. OOPS. 

Here's to a healthy Christmas morning and praying that no one else gets the pukies......being pregnant with a cerclage at 20 weeks pregnant makes me very, very nervous! And a sick husband is never fun!

**Spoke too soon. Mairead woke up puking again at 930pm. Hope this is it! Oh, and note to self, red italian ices don't come out looking very appetizing! 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lilah Loo Loo!

Happy Birthday to the funniest, sweetiest and craziest Lilah Loo I know!!!

 I don't even know where to begin. Lilah has brought so much to our family and has taught us so much before she was even born. When I was pregnant with Lilah things were so difficult for a while. After we left our 19 week ultrasound we didn't know if Lilah would be born too soon, premature or healthy. I was given an emergent cerclage, Kevin had to give me weekly progesterone shots and remained on bed rest for about 15 weeks. It was such a stressful time for our family looking back. Kevin worked from home for a lot of it and our extended family didn't really understand the gravity of what was going on. Having an incompetent cervix isn't something that most people know about, like heart disease, or cancer or anything like that - they don't realize the amount of women who lose their healthy babies to this. But, thankfully, our little Lilah arrived safe and sound in our arms and she has filled our lives with so much joy and laughter. I remember the moments after Lilah was born, it was just so special. I would look at her in amazement thinking how relieved I was to have here with us, safe and sound and perfect. I can't even describe the feeling...I think because I am now pregnant that I think about all the feelings we experienced during her pregnancy and birth that make her birthday this year even more special.

It just doesn't feel like it has been three years... I have written about how she was our biggest surprise. Lilah is special. She is certainly her own self and does things on her terms. Her mind moves too fast for her speech and it isn't uncommon to find her eating her words because she tries to talk too fast! She has one speed - fast. The last year we have seen so much change in Lilah. She has gone from toddler to a little girl in the blink of an eye. I look at photos of her from last spring and I see a different child. She is so happy, loving and sweet - though, she isn't afraid to tell you how she really feels, and well, sometimes it isn't always the nicest things! We call her "Lilah Loo" but her real name is "Lilah Ann" - when we call her "Lilah Ann" she gets pissed and says "I'm not Lilah Ann! I AM LILAH LOO!" She loves her sisters, loves to dress up in anything and everything girly. The kid may be an athlete someday, but she is as girly girl as they get, there is no denying that for one second. She has started dance lessons and is doing fantastic. She really, really loves it! She also does swim lessons and continues to excel in class - she is with kids who are 4-5+ years old, and has no problem keeping up! She loves to have her hair braided and loves to fall asleep in her variety of leotards and tutus. Not only does she love to be wild and crazy, she also is like her mamma - loves her sleep! If the kid is tired, she sleeps. No problem! It's hard to think if Lilah wasn't born into our family - she has just brought us so much laughs! She's amazing! 

Lilah & her sister, Mairead....love this photo, thanks, Mom! 

Her third birthday was just special. I think because this was the first time that she really has "got it" - she has been talking about her birthday for so, so long, and now, it is here, and I really think she enjoyed every second of her birthday weekend. The look on her face when we were baking and decorating her cake was just special, and the reaction when her family and friends sang 'Happy Birthday' to her...and only her was priceless - she was truly in awe, and I don't think she could believe we were actually singing to her. She was very excited to have "her very own friends" at her "very own birfday party". This year she chose to have a "swim party" at her swim school - it was such a great party for a winter birthday! It was just really, really great this year. I love seeing the happiness and joy in our children, it just makes everything worth it. 

Lilah enjoying her birthday party! Cannonball! 

Now, it is Sunday evening. Our birthday girl is fast asleep upstairs with her new pillow pet, Madeline doll and whatever else she decided to bring/wear to bed tonight. I kiss her sweet little cheeks, tell her I love her and thank our lucky stars for having the chance to raise such an amazing little girl. 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Little Lilah....We love you! 

Making memories

Me & Lilah baking the cake together

Ever since Mairead's first birthday, I have started the tradition of baking a homemade birthday cake - it doesn't have to be from scratch, it could be from a box or homemade, but the gist is to do something together - the birthday girl and me. We bake the cake together and then decorate it. I talked more about our little tradition and how it started in this post from Mairead's birthday.

On Wednesday, while Mairead was in school, me, Lilah and Clara went shopping for Lilah's party. She picked out her cake, her cake colors and what she wanted for a cake - a purple heart cake. Much easier than Mairead's castle cake! She picked out her decorations and got really, really excited for "her own birfday party".

Last night, we baked our cake, a marble cake. We ate the batter and got silly. It went over much better than our Gingerbread House Fiasco yesterday! I love when precious moments like these actually go as planned. Lilah was just so excited, and I loved every second of it. This was her first birthday that she actually "got it" - she talked about it every day and just couldn't get enough. Her little words just rambled out of her mouth incessantly about her "very own birfday party". When she saw her heart cake come out of the oven, she was in love. She was even more excited. It was hard to tell her that we would have to wait to decorate it until the morning, but she understood! 

Mmmmmmmmm! This frosting is SO GOOD!

This morning, we got ready for the party while daddy was at the store picking up a few things. When he got home, we were able to make the frosting and decorate her beautiful heart cake. She ate the pudding frosting while I frosted the cake. She watched intently wondering when it would be her turn to decorate the cake. She was in awe over the color purple! She was so sweet and let Mairead help decorate, too. Of course, we all had our fair share of the pudding frosting.......Mmmmmmmmmmm.....vanilla pudding mixed with heavy cream - nice and healthy! 

"That's my own birfday cake!?!"

After I wrote "Happy Birthday, Lilah" it was their turn to decorate. They placed the pretty pink flowers Lilah picked out, and placed crown candies all over, then, finally, poured sprinkles all over the top. Lilah was so proud of her cake and Mairead was excited for her birthday to come - in May! I love celebrating birthdays....they certainly are bittersweet. I'll write a post tomorrow for Lilah's official birthday. 

Gingerbread House FIASCO.

Starting the project off happy, happy! 

Do you ever have some days where you ask yourself "why?"......or do you ever have these grandiose ideas about how wonderful and fun and exciting a project will be with your kids?

Today, I had those grandiose ideas, and then I found myself asking "why"....

I should have known that today shouldn't have been the day to attempt that grandiose idea with my three, beautiful princesses. The morning started off rocky. There was little listening and a lot of arguing. I kept threatening to pull the plug on the big gingerbread house project, but, they redeemed themselves, and I thought it was worth the try. After all, it is the holiday season and I wanted to have a fun day building gingerbread houses and baking Lilah's birthday cake (more on that, later!)... So. We tried. And I failed. 

See my beautiful creation in the background?

Little did I know I set myself up for failure before we even started the project. I usually buy the already built and ready to decorate gingerbread house, so it's quick satisfaction for the girls [and me]...but noooooo, I must not have been paying attention and bought the you can build, hold together for hours until it dries gingerbread house. Yeah. It didn't quite work. And with three little kids who want it and want it now, that is...impossible. 

See the proof? We actually did try

The girls were excited and I was afraid of the outcome. We all started of happy and having fun together. We made the icing, I read the direction, and then found myself holding the gingerbread house together, afraid to let go. I used cans to help hold it together. The girls started to fool around, eat the "do not recommend eating icing" after I told them a gazillion times not to eat the icing (Yeah, I know it's too tempting) and then they just started being fresh. Before I knew it, Lilah was in time out, and then she got out, and Mairead was in time out, and by then, the gingerbread house was.....well, not standing anymore. At that point, the girls were just not behaving. I looked at the counter and it was a huge mess, icing everywhere with a house that was no longer standing. The kids were screaming. I wanted to scream. And suddenly, this awesome, grandiose idea of building a holiday gingerbread house with my three little princesses.....well, was just a memory. 

Our end product. In pieces.

Note to self....next time read the box and make sure it reads house pre-assembled or that the house comes with gorilla glue that you don't have to wait a million years to wait dry! 

Short & Sweet - 19wk Ultrasound

19w1d Ultrasound (face shot with arm by head)

Short and sweet....not referring to cervical length, thankfully!

Not much to report today...had my usual every two week cervical length check and ultrasound. We were the last ultrasound of the day and you could tell the ultrasound tech wanted to get out of town, so the ultrasound did not last very long! I honestly think she rushed it just a tad too much, but whatever...

My cervix measured 2.0-2.2cm, a little shorter than two weeks ago, but still acceptable and within the norms for me at this point of pregnancy. The baby looked good, she didn't do measurements or anything, but did do a quick fluid and heart rate check, and all was normal! 

The baby was moving all around - I am really starting to feel his  movements a lot. Kevin is starting to feel him, too! 

Sesame Street Live! Imagine 1-2-3

On Sunday, we took the girls to see our third Sesame Street Live show. The last two shows have been awesome and we had been lucky enough to sit in the front row. The girls have walked away from the show in awe at what they had just seen as the characters get down on the floor to dance, hug and interact with the children. It's like a dream for them! And to this day, they still talk about it!

This year when we went to buy tickets, we learned that we wouldn't be able to sit in the front row unless we paid DOUBLE the money, which included the seats and a "meet and greet" with the characters. There was no way we could afford to spend that kind of money and take all of the kids, so we thought the 2nd row would be just as good! The girls were so excited to go, and to be honest, we were pretty excited to take them knowing how much fun they had the previous years.

I have to say this years show was a disappointment, I don't even think the girls were that psyched about it either. In the past, the girls talked about the show for days, but as of today, the girls haven't really mentioned it...The characters didn't get down on the floor and interact with the kids nearly half as much as they did previously. Honestly, I think they did this on purpose since the people in the front row paid more for this "interaction" before/after the show. Don't get me wrong, the girls had a blast, got to shake hands with Ernie and get up close with Zoe, but they didn't get to hug or dance with any of the characters like they have previously. Call my kids spoiled, but I think they were a little sad because they didn't understand why the characters didn't go up to them!

Overall, the girls had a fun time! Clara watched the first 30+ minutes in awe and didn't move off of my lap. Lilah and Mairead were in dancing heaven and just enjoyed themselves....not to mention, enjoyed the cotton candy, too! We are so fortunate to be able to take our girls to things like this!

I will say that after this years disappointment, I probably wouldn't bring them to another show again - plus, I think they're ready to move on to bigger and better things :) and so is mommy & daddy!

Lilah couldn't believe her eyes! Mairead was in awe...

Clara had just woken up from a little nappy....my tired little baby girl

Christmas Party

Our family

On Friday night, Kevin and I went to the annual Coast Guard Christmas party held at a local hotel here. My parents were a huge help and watched the girls so Kevin and I could enjoy the party! This was the first time we had ever left Clara before bed time, and the first time anyone besides me or Kevin had put her to bed...She's so easy now, I didn't anticipate a problem, and thankfully, she was an angel, and went to bed just perfectly! The big girls had a blast, too! They ordered pizza, played and watched a Christmas movie together. Kevin and I had a nice time, too! It was nice getting out to socialize without the kiddos, even if it was a work sponsored event!

I also thought it was time to post a few preggo photos of me...I had seen this black dress at The Gap and wanted to buy it, but refused to spend $68 on it....but low and behold, I was at the mall on Thursday, went into Gap Maternity, and it was on sale for $36, not to mention, I got an additional 30% off! 

Me (18w4d pregnant) & Kevin