Baby Cooper!

The day before our ultrasound/fetal echo Jon and I were pretty tense. I don’t think either of us brought it up to the other – you know just in case the other had forgotten how scary it was to be on that table and told your baby has a heart defect. I spent the night before rereading Parker’s carepage, remembering his rough little beginning and how his birth went…I’m not sure what Jon did. I think we were both pretty introspective that night. It hit me while I reading and uncounsciously preparing myself to travel down this road again that we are all still breathing. We came through it. I remember when Parker was born thinking we would never truly get over this time in our life. That we would be defined by what we went through – we were a “heart baby family” and that is how we would always be. It’s not true. That didn’t happen. I do not define Parker as a heart kid at all. Most days I do not even think about his heart. I certainly don’t dwell on that how I felt during that time or how Jon dealt with his emotions on his end. As it turned out, we did move on. I could feel this baby moving around while I was thinking about all of this and was at peace by the time I fell asleep.

We were pretty silent the whole morning of the appointment. When we got there I filled out the paperwork and the tech called us back in. About 20 minutes later we were delivered two pieces of fantastic news. 1) This baby’s heart is perfect. He could out all of the major defects that I know about. Not only was this baby’s heart perfect but all other systems looked great too. 2) Baby #2 is a BOY!!

Jon and I both thought this baby was girl because I have felt SO differently than I did when I was pregnant with Parker. We both wanted a girl at some point so we were excited about that idea. But when we found out this baby is a boy we were just ecstatic! I am so happy Parker will have a brother and I love love love little boys!! I could not be happier.

We decided on a name and this baby will be Cooper David Hebda.

Parker was not as happy as we were that Cooper is a boy!! He, apparently, really wanted a sister. He cried for awhile and finally calmed down and got excited a bit until we told him that we were going to name that baby Cooper. Then he got upset again becuase he wanted to name the baby Echo. No, we had no idea he felt like this!! We finally have him on board and he loves to talk to Cooper and go in his room and play with Cooper’s toys. He has all of these plans about teaching Cooper how to play soccer and cars and have races, ect. He also has amazing patience when it comes to waiting to feel Cooper kick. Parker sat the other day for 30 minutes while watching a video with both hands on my stomach waiting to feel Cooper kick. He finally was able to feel him last night when he was laying with his head on my stomach and Cooper kicked his cheeck. He was super excited.

I am just so happy to see our family growing and changing this way. I cannot wait to meet my man Cooper and I cannot wait to watch Parker become a big brother. So many changes! I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!

Update on Us –

Long time no post!!  We have been busy this summer! Camps, swimming lessons, family in and out, trips to Austin – lots of fun! Parker has become quite the electronics junky these days – Jon and I have new iPhones and Parker LOVES to play games and watch videos of himself.  He has also figured out how to “work” the laptop by himself so he can play preschool games on PBS.org which is always fun.  We are still working out the rules with how much is too much – it seems better than tv…I mean he knows his lower case letters now that he did not know existed a few weeks ago – but it is still staring a screen! The dilemas of modern parenting….

Baby Number 2 is doing great!  I go to the doctor tomorrow for a check up and then next Tuesday for the anatomy scan and fetal echo – big day!  Hopefully we can give the baby a name and start getting the nursery ready!  Jon is CONVINCED this baby is a girl.  I go back and forth.  Two weeks ago I was so sure it was a girl – today I am getting a strong “boy vibe”.  I guess I’m not committing yet! I can feel the baby moving around a lot which is so fun and definitely takes the worry away!

The end of summer brings another semester of school for me and the beginning of school for Parker.  He will go to preschool Tuesdsays and Thursday from 9:00 to 2:00!  I’m taking 18 hours in an effort to finish this degree before Number 2 gets here in January.  I believe I will be 37 weeks pregnant during finals! It will be a big help to have Parker in school for so many hours – I should be abe to get my work done. After this semester I’ll be one online french course away from graduating!!! I’ll take that in January and graduate in May! FINALLY. 

Jon’s work is going very well!  He has been working 7 days a week for the last several weeks.  He has taken a few days off here and then to travel and help get some stuff done around the house – like paint Parker’s room and clean out the new baby’s closet!  Good times!

Anyway – that is about it for now!  I’ll try to get back in the habit of posting! Parker is growing and changing all the time – he is like a kid now.  We very rarely see temper tantrums or outbursts that remind us of his old toddler self.   I love three year olds!

Funny Story…

Yesterday after swimming lessons the older brother of a girl in his class came up to Parker and held his hand up to Parker’s bare chest and said “What happened to you?!”.  Parker said “Oh, I that’s my scar from my heart surgery”.  Caleb, the little boy, said “Well can I touch it??”  Parker said sure and Caleb ran his fingers down Parker’s bumpy incision.  Caleb jerked his hand back when he felt all the bumps and said “Why is it so bumpy?!”.  Parker goes “Oh, that’s because I have wires”.  Caleb was totally puzzled and asked Parker why he had wires in his chest and Parker said “so I can stay connected”.  I neary died laughing.  I had no idea he knew all of that information!

Pictures

It has been awhile since I have posted pictures!  These are some random ones:

Parker fell asleep in our room the other night – I love this picture!

These are some swimming lesson pictures – I would have taken more but he was crying almost the whole time.  We aren’t giving up on it though – he’ll get there! I’ll post more about it later!

Biology 101

I was not prepared for this conversation.  And even after rethinking my answers…I’m still freaking out at the possibility of being asked for more info.  It’s not that I mind him knowing…it’s that he will tell EVERYONE…

Here’s how it happened…

“Mom, how will the baby get out of your tummy?”

“All moms have a baby door”

“Where is it?”

“God gave moms a very special place for their baby doors”

“Can I see it?”

“No”

“What if it doesn’t open and it breaks?”

“That’s why moms go to the doctor so much, so doctors can make sure that moms are healthy and when its time, the baby door will work”

“How do moms open the baby door?”

“They push it open”

“Like a button?”

“No, not like a button”

“Does it hurt the baby?”

” (quietly) Not as much as it hurts the mommy…”

“What?”

“Nothing.  No it doesn’t hurt the baby”

“Does the baby just fall on some carpet?”

“No, the doctor is there to catch the baby”

“Maybe he will drop your baby”

“I don’t think so.  Doctors don’t drop babies, they are very careful”

“How did the baby get INTO your tummy?”

“God made the baby there.  Want some ice cream Parker??!”

“Sure!”

HOLY COW!!!!!  Is that too much information?!  I can’t handle this…

Parker My Hero

Ok so this may be the grossest post yet….

So Wrigley threw up.  A lot.  An obscene amount.  I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye and threw up.  Twice.  Parker was painting play dough in our dining room and since me throwing up is nothing new these days, he did not rush to me or anything.    When I came out I was busy looking for paper towels or something and he asked what had happened.  When I told him about”it” he wanted to go see.  He throws up easily by gross things too so I was trying to talk him out of it but he really wanted to look.  (That’s weird right?)  So he goes over and just stares at it.  I am busy trying to find a towel and I realize that I’m not sure how big of a mess this is.  Paper towels?  The whole roll?  What do I need?  So I go try to look again.  I threw up again before I even saw it…I was just thinking about what I saw the first time.  So I had to ask Parker if he thought a paper towel would cover it and he said no but maybe the big dish towel.  Well towel is see through, thin…that won’t work.  So Parker suggested putting a big towel over it and just throwing the big towel away.  Not bad right?  But how to get a towel over “it”….

Parker volunteers!  He said he would put the towel on it for me.  Now I pause and think about if this is taking advantage of him.  I am running through my options.  I can’t look at it again.  Jon is an hour away at work.  I shouldn’t call my dad 30 minutes away to have him come over to clean up my dogs…well anyway.  I’m out of options.  Could Parker really be old enough to be something like Prince Charming to me?  So I give him one of thick hand towels.  We put a pile of trains on the floor to practice what I am talking about.  I need “it” to be COMPLETELY covered.  He does this well.

So he goes over with the towel and says “One Two THREE” and throws the towel as hard as he can….and misses.  “Oh no.  Sorry mom” he says.

The next plan was a big bath towel.  It couldn’t miss.  I didn’t ask Parker to do it this time.  He was my cheerleader and told me I could do it and I threw the towel and it covered “it”.  “YOU DID IT MOM!!!!” He screamed.  It was almost epic.

I managed to clean it all up and we decided just to throw away the towel.  Not a bad suggestion, right?  Anyway…This happened about 30 minutes after I was making homemade playdough that he was going to put into muffin pans and paint.  While I was stirring the playdough for 7 minutes he opened all of the paint and it all fell on my freshly scrubbed floor.  At least it wasn’t my carpet! It’s been a saga of an afternoon!

Parker’s “Pizza” Place

Most kids like to play restaurant or kitchen.  You ask for something, your kid makes it and proudly brings it over and you pretend to it.  Loads of fun.  Parker makes this game exhausting ha ha.  Here is how it went this morning.  He worked at a pizza shop and I was calling from the other room.

Me: Hello, can I get a pepperoni and a cheese pizza?

Parker: No.  We are out of cheese pizza.

Me: Oh.  Well, just pepperoni is fine then.

Parker: Oh well, I don’t sell pizza anymore.

Me: What do you sell now?

Parker: Pancakes

Me: Well its dinner time and I don’t really feel like pancakes.

Parker: Sure you do.  I make every kind of pancakes.

Me: Ok.  I’ll have blueberry pancakes.

Parker: I am out of blueberries.

Me: What do you have?

Parker: Strawberries

Me: Ok, I’ll have strawberry pancakes.

Parker: We are closed now.

Me: Lets play something else.

See??  He is so funny – I love playing games with him.  He comes up with the craziest stuff!

Safari Summer Camp!!

Our church has a preschool summer camp for kids ages 3-5.  Parker goes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9:30 to 1:30.  Yesterday was his first day and he was pretty nervous but he did great!  It was SO hard to leave because he was fighting back tears.  He walked into the room and introduced himself to his teachers and asked them what their names were.  He scouted out the room for his friend Sophia.  I hugged him goodbye and he said “I will remember everything so I can tell you when you pick me up” and he turned around and walked towards some friends who were playing on the floor.  He did it! 

I went home and moped around ha ha.  Seriousy – I did not get off the couch for four hours except to microwave my spa lean cusine (which by the way I NEVER have because I eat lunch with Parker every day…it was a sad lunch).  I was so so happy for him but I have never left him somewhere that I did not stay inside the building.  Even during the three months he was in daycare, I was teaching 2 rooms down and I checked on him all day.  I totally knew what he was doing.  But I had nothing about this.  I didn’t know what they were talking about, if they got to go outside, what he ate and how much he ate (an obsession that has not gone away in 3 1/2 years), if he was sitting nervously watching or if he was participating, if he was listening to his teachers or getting into trouble…it’s hard to just miss 4 whole hours when I have been the sole master and conductor of his day for soooo many of them. 

When I picked him up he was beaming.  He had so much fun.  He did not remember everything that happened but I did get lots of info and it sounds like it was really really fun.  They had a safari hunt in a room called “the adventure room” and he walked in a long line to get there.  They ate goldfish for snack.  He ate half of his lunch.  He met new friends, painted elephants, read an elephant book and learned an elephant song that he doesn’t feel like singing. 

Today was day 2 and it was a great day for both of us!  I enjoyed the quiet time at home and cleaned out our closet and put away all of my size 6 clothes that are mocking me and hung up my maternity shirts that are starting to whisper my name.  I did three loads of laundry and ironed Jon’s shirts.  Jon was home for lunch and I enjoyed my grown up food.  We watched grown up tv shows and then it was time to go get the boy.  Yesterday I went into the building to pick up Parker.  They do a carpool but I was hoping to catch a glimpse of him playing so I went in.  I was the only mom who did this and Parker was bummed that he did not get to go outside with his friends so today I waited in the carpool line and watched him sit on the grass chatting it up with the other kids while he waited.   He is so grown up.  I wish I could bring a camera for them to take pictures…yes I am one of those moms.  But I won’t.  I just can’t believe he is old enough and mature enough to keep his little world spinning for four hours without me.  I’m not saying that to be self centered – but things like finding the trash can, picking up his toys, choosing what to do in his free time, managing conflict with other kids, telling the teacher when he has to go to the bathroom, solving his own problems without suggestions…I am very very proud 🙂

A note about Baby #2 – I had an ultrasound yesterday and he/she was PERFECT.  I am 10 weeks (tomorrow) and the baby was measuring perfectly.  Great heartbeat – so beautiful to hear.  We were even able to see the baby kicking his little legs and squirming his body around.  I don’t think I realized they started moving like that this early – it is amazing.  I am still pretty tired and feel pretty yucky by the late afternoon but I am so excited to be 2 weeks away from my second trimester.  It’s all unreal STILL.  It is fun to watch Parker do these new big grown up boy things and be thinking about swings and rocking chairs for this baby…

Ben and Chelcy’s wedding!

Ben and Chelcy got married last Friday night!  It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding and we all had so much fun.  I can’t wait to see the professional pictures but I did find some on facebook that I could post here.  There is not one of Parker in his tux 😦  He was in the wedding too and it was so so sweet.  I’ll put the link of the real pictures up when Chelcy sends it!

This is my cousin Garrett (the big one!), Parker and Chelcy’s brother Chad watching Cars while we were waiting for things to get started.  Parker wore what Chad is wearing – just not so early 🙂

Chelcy!!  They had a very vintage, very 40’s wedding…from the her dress to the music – it was awesome!

Her hair – soooo great!

So this is not the best picture of any of us – but its the only one with all the girls so you could get the idea…

The “Harrell” kids!!

And now a word from Dr. Thomas…

Today was cardiology day here in Texas!  We started by watching a little boy get an EKG and an echo on youtube (amazing isn’t it??) and we were in the car by 9:30 to head to the office.  Parker did so so so great.  It was a little emotional for me to see his big boy body lying on the table having his own conversation with Dr. Thomas.  I was standing over him and he actually asked me to step back so he could see.  He got a little nervous and tearful during the EKG but he handled the echo like a rock star.  When Dr. Thomas walked in he shook Parker’s hand and Parker lifted up his shirt and said “when I was a baby I had heart surgery – see?”.  

His heart looked great!! His pressures were actually down from last year.  His arterial switch site looks good.  The only thing is that he heard/and saw an extra heartbeat called a premature ventricular contraction or PVC.  Dr. Thomas said these are common in anyone and he sees them a lot.  He does not think it is related to any of his defects or surgeries.  As long as these heartbeats are not occuring more than 100 times a day it is no big deal – if it more than that he will want to put Parker on some medication to regulate his heartbeat.  He sent us home in a Holter Monitor (oh what a fun day it was….) to wear unti tomorrow morning.  We’ll send that in and hear back from Dr Thomas in a week or so.  It didn’t sound like it was  a huge deal…

I was quite pleased with the whole appointment.   I am so thankful for his strong heart and body and am overwhelmed with pride at how brave he is.  OH – he also told Dr. Thomas that he wanted to be a heart doctor!! What fun – of course last week he wanted to build schools and drive the cranes…