Starstruck

Chance and Ashlyn ran into Patrick Duffy on their way to the car this morning.  They are filming portions of "Dallas" in our building.  Larry Hagman lives 2 doors down too!

Cracked me up

Ashlyn has a very sensitive tongue and does not like to eat anything that is remotely hot.  With that being said, she is also very impatient when it comes to eating.  So I spend a lot of time blowing on her "hot" food in an attempt to cool it off enough so she will actually keep it in her mouth.  One bite that is deemed too warm can sometimes ruin the whole meal!  Anyway, she has started blowing on her food if I tell her it is hot (gives me hope for blowing out her candles on her 2nd birthday!).  It is so cute.  Today when we got in the car after the playground I was turning on the AC and I asked her if she was hot and she started blowing on herself.  She cracks me up!

2 little realizations

1.  I really need a new phone.  Mine is so slow it is impossible to capture the picture I am trying to take.  Exhibits A & B from our trip to the park this afternoon.  She was actually posed and saying cheese when I pushed the button in both of these!

2.  It would be well worth my time to drive a little further to an "age appropriate" playground.  I saw this little playground on our way home and thought we should stop and play for a little while after work/school because the weather was amazing.  The first sign I ignored was the "reserved parking" sign directly in front of the playground.  Who else was it reserved for?  The second was the "This playground was designed for children ages 5-12."  We were the only ones there so I thought, "why not?"  Well, I will tell you why not...Ashlyn needed help with everything and nothing was safe for her!  We traipsed up and down the steps, through the tunnels and down the slides.  I know I am only 5 months pregnant, but it is getting a little harder to move around as quickly as I used to.  I guess the sign should say "This playground was designed for children without pregnant mothers!"  Oh well, we had fun enjoying this January weather!

And a side note:  a cute little girl joined us towards the end of our play.  She was quite a bit older and bigger than Ashlyn (probably 5...old enough to use the playground safely).  Her (very relaxed, sitting on the park bench) mom told her daughter "Be careful of the baby, she's just a little peanut".  Why yes she is!

Perks

Chance's job has several perks!  Here is another fun one...getting to try on the Mav's Championship rings!  

Donnie Nelson's  (GM of the Mavericks)

Jeff Cuban's (Mark's brother)

A quick update on The Peanuttiest Wimberly

It was during our 20 week sonogram that we found out Baby Wimberly #2 is going to be a boy!  During that sonogram, they also look at all of the babies vital organs in an attempt to rule out any possible anomalies.  We received a great report overall, 4 extremities, no cleft palate/lip, a 4 chambered heart, 2 kidneys, 3 vessel cord and so on.  There was one measurement that caused a yellow flag...the pelvis measured 0.5 mm larger than normal which means that the baby's kidneys are slightly dilated.  This is not a normal finding, but is not uncommon.  It is something that we will closely monitor to be certain that it resolves.  We will have another sonogram at our next appointment.  It is more than likely completely benign and due to the large volume of fluids his kidneys are processing.  Dr. Waldrep assured us that it is nothing to worry about and she has seen it several times before.  Nevertheless, it is still in the back of our minds and we would appreciate prayers that it has resolved on the next sonogram.  He is measuring slightly bigger than scheduled weighing in at 13 ounces!  Dr. Waldrep moved up my due date to June 2nd!

In an attempt to prevent preterm labor this go 'round, I started getting a weekly shot of Progesterone.  We talked about enrolling in a clinical trial they are doing with the same drug, but only 2/3 's of the subjects actually get the medication and 1/3 get a placebo.  We discussed the risks and benefits and decided that I need the real deal and not take the chance of getting the placebo.  The drug has been approved by the FDA and used for years to prevent preterm labor, but there have not been any long term studies.  They have looked at long term effects of hormone therapy and the risks are similar with the injections.  It was a tough decision for us, but the chances of having another preemie are 2 1/2 times more likely.  We highly respect Dr. Waldrep and decided to follow her recommendation.  Her staff is wonderful and helped us with the lengthy process of getting the injections pre-certified and applying for financial assistance from the drug company because it is not cheap and I will get the shots until 37 weeks!

I received this at work the day after we found out we were going to have a boy!  Thanks Babe :)

In case you were worried

this baby would have to wear pink, the blue has arrived!  Aunt Kristin and Uncle Scott were in town this weekend and we got to have dinner with them Friday and Saturday night.  Such a treat!  They also dropped off the first round of "boy stuff"...0-18 months!  And Nenna did a little shopping as soon as she found out it was a boy...and by a little I mean she went crazy!  This boy is spoiled already!  Thank you guys so much!  Ashlyn is learning to share already...we are starting with her closet!

Happy Birthday Emma

Emma Reese Ivie turned 1 and we were lucky enough to get to celebrate with her!  I cannot believe she is already a year old.  Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

Emma Reese Ivie 

Enjoying a cupcake with daddy

Checking out the girls toys

Ryan in her "tutu"...so CUTE!

PS...I am waiting for Jessi to post more pictures so I can steal some!  I wasn't very diligent with my camera :(

This is how we roll

Ashlyn was a little too quiet for a little too long.  This is what she was busy doing!  She was so proud, clapping her hands when we came around the corner.  I was trying so hard not to laugh, but it was pretty funny.  She TP'ed our loft!

Beauty school dropout

I actually never made it to beauty school...probably should have because I cannot "fix" Ashlyn's hair to save my life!  In my defense, I don't have the most stationary client to practice on.  And she is really not too fond anything in her hair.  After all of those headbands she wore as an infant, I wouldn't think she would mind a bow or ponytail...au contraire mon frere...doesn't last 1 second!  Somehow a teacher at school managed to get her hair in the CUTEST piggy tails!  She looked so grown up.  

Is this not the cutest thing ever?!?!

81 degrees in January

We headed over to Arlington to spend a beautiful Sunday with Gpa, Gma, Aunt Sarah and The Mills (Uncle Keith, Aunt Karen and Jennifer...Karen's brother and his family).  Gpa cooked out for lunch and then we headed to the park to enjoy the weather!  

"Really, Gpa?"

Leaning in for a kiss

Some fun at the park

Slid right out of her shoe 

Running with Aunt Sarah

(Hidden) valley girl

This chick loves ranch dressing!!!  We were out running errands in our old neighborhood and popped into Jake's for dinner!  Chance and I ordered our usual burgers and Ashlyn had chicken strips.  Her strips came with ranch dressing.  I guess she has never had ranch dressing before because she went crazy over it!  

Yes, she is sporting her Mav's shirt...Thanks Dad!

A satisfied customer

Double dippin'

"Oh heck, let me just drink this stuff!"

Sleepless on Southside

A quick update on our sleep these days...

Since we stopped the breathing treatments and she seems to be getting over the respiratory virus, Ashlyn has been going to bed like her old self.  We put her down and she snuggles up and falls asleep pretty quickly.  The problem now is that if she wakes up at all, she isn't able to put herself back to sleep.  When that happens she ends up back in bed with us.  She goes back to sleep pretty quickly and all is well...until she rolled off the bed!  Still a work in progress, but going in the right direction!

It's a...

BOY!!!!!!

Crying it out=Climbing it out!

Well not quite, but any day Ashlyn is going to get that last little boost needed to catapult her over the edge of her crib.  Perplexed as we watched her scale the sides of her crib on the monitor I wondered where did my good sleeper go?!?!  Since she was born, Ashlyn has always been a good sleeper (of the nighttime variety...nap time is more hit or miss).  We worked very hard to get her to sleep through night as early as possible.  Because of her size and the medication she was taking, I had to wake up her throughout the night for the first 3 months.  Once I stopped waking her up, she pretty much slept through the night.  Our nighttime routine has always been pretty simple and she usually falls fast asleep without so much as a peep.  This last round of ear infections and now bronchiolitis has really thrown her for a loop.  Add a bedtime breathing treatment of Xopenex (the form of Albeuterol with less side effects...aka...possibility of causing hyperactivity...HA!)  into the mix and we have the Energizer bunny on our hands.  I dread bedtime, having no idea what is in store.  The night before last it was after midnight before she finally wore herself out.  And I shouldn't say herself because she was NOT herself.  She was delirious...kicking, hitting, pulling my hair, scratching, screaming...she literally kicked our a$$es!  Our 20 month old was out of control!  I was spent after 4 hours of going round and round.  And I was trying so hard not to get frustrated or lose my patience with her because it was not her fault...and it was totally not her.  Yes, she has her sassy moments, but she has never acted like that!  Last night was a little milder, having her last breathing treatment at 5:30.  We put her to bed at her normal bedtime and she cried and cried for over an hour.  After multiple paci retrieving trips (and yes, she would start laughing when we walked in after she threw her pacifier out of the crib), lining the hardwoods under the crib hoping the lessen the impact when she finally takes the plunge and progressive rounds of the Ferber method, we gave in.  Call us weak, call us softies, call us what you will...but don't call us until the morning because we are getting some sleep!  After 3 sleepless nights something had to give...and it was us this time.  Ashlyn had a fairly restful night snuggled up in her favorite place...right smack between her parents!  Oh well...hopefully we will have our  good little sleeper back really soon...hopefully before June!

Can't blame this one on daycare

Ashlyn hasn't been to school in a week because of her procedures so I am not sure where she got Bronchiolitis!  Oh wait, maybe the doctor's office or hospital?  I am sure there are a few germs running around there!  She started with a cough and congestion on Friday.  By Sunday she was pretty sick with a fever, wheezing, grunting, rapid breathing and nasal flaring.  It was pretty scary.  Her Mimi was off work for MLK Day so she volunteered to come stay with her. After a rough night, I decided to take her to the doctor Monday morning.  Mimi joined us for a marathon doctor's visit.  We were there 2.5 hours!  The first thing they did was hook her up to a pulse oximeter...NOT a fan!  The doctor saw her and agreed she sounded like crap.  He swabbed her for the Flu and RSV, both were negative.  Yay!  So then, after some research, he decided to try a breathing treatment.  The medication she takes for her hemangioma is a heart medication and counteracts the dilating effects of the breathing treatment.  Because she was so sick Sunday night, we didn't give her Propranolol so he thought the breathing treatment would be safe.  She was not crazy about the breathing treatment initially, but then got tired of fighting it.  They rechecked her oxygen sats and he came back and listened to her again and she sounded great!  He was debating on doing a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia but since she responded so well to the breathing treatment he didn't need to!  The symptoms of pneumonia don't usually get better with albueterol.  So he sent us home with breathing treatments every 4-6 hours.  We got home just in time for nap time.  Mimi stayed with Ashlyn and I went to work for the afternoon.  She woke up from a great nap, with the respiratory symptoms back.  I did another breathing treatment when I got home from work, but it didn't really seem to help.  By the time Chance got home from work her fever was 102.  I was getting a little nervous, thinking maybe she had pneumonia and bronchiolitis?!?!  We did another breathing treatment and dose of Tylenol at 9 and she was doing a little better.  After a little more sleep last night, she woke up this morning and sounds a little better and her fever hasn't been back.  I stayed home from work today so we are hanging out in our jammies and trying to get over this junk!  The good news...her ears looked great!

Quick bath before our doctor's appointment

Thumbs up for a breathing treatment

Aunt Sarah and her girls

Aunt Sarah got some early morning snuggles from her girls! 

Perfect Saturday night

For 2 preggers!  A home cooked and meal and a comfy couch!  Thanks for a wonderful dinner Uncle J and thanks for babysitting, Aunt Sarah.  

Kourtny 31 weeks with twins
Me 19 weeks with one

Shout out

To Gma, Mimi & PaJ for hanging out with Ashlyn this week so she could recover from her procedures before heading back to school!  Thanks and we love ya :)

Ashlyn and her Gpa

Pictures from home

Most days I get a picture from Chance as he plays Mr. Mom in the mornings.  And over the holidays when he got to spend a lot of time at home with Ashlyn, I got several pictures.  These pictures are usually quite comical and give me a good chuckle.  Here are some examples...

Smugglin' Paci's
4 and counting!

Loaded up to take the dry cleaning downstairs
Notice where the clothes are

"Where's my teeth?"
Ashlyn's application for a denture commercial

"It was THIS big daddy"
The picture and text I received after they took the dogs out one day

"Roger Roger"
In training...what they really do all day!

"The missing blue cup!"
We had been looking for this blue cup for days.
Chance stumbled across it one morning.  Can't imagine how it got there!

Fashionista

Ashlyn is starting to get interested in her closet and her clothes.  She insisted that I put these socks and shoes on her.  Lovely!  And the pose...she is too much! (Ignore the quality...it was too funny not to post)

Runway Ready!

4 months (+ a few days)

Baby Wimberly #2 will be joining us in less than 5 months!  This pregnancy has been pretty smooth so far.  Just to bring us up to date:  I went in for blood work as soon as we found out I was pregnant.  All of my numbers looked good so we had a sonogram at 6 weeks.  That sono showed a fetal sac, but no fetal pole (the first signs of a baby).  We scheduled another sonogram for 3 days later to follow up.  Sometimes it is just too early to see anything.  It was a stressful couple of days but we went back optimistic and received good news...and saw a heartbeat!  We went back at 8 weeks for the first scheduled prenatal visit.  Dr. Waldrep wasn't able to find the heartbeat on the doppler so she sent us back over for another sonogram.  So we got a 2nd view of our newest family member...and all looked well.  The last 2 visits have been pretty routine each 4 weeks apart.  I have been feeling pretty good lately and getting some energy back.  The first trimester was a little rough with evening sickness and unbelievable fatigue.  It is a little different the 2nd time around when you are chasing a toddler!  Chance has been a lifesaver and really stepped up when I couldn't peel myself from the couch!  We have been discussing a few options for treatments that hopefully help prevent preterm labor.  We will make a final decision on our next appointment.  We will also find out if we will be having a boy or girl!  And, I have started feeling the baby move!  I felt Ashlyn VERY early (16 weeks) and have been anxious to start feeling this little one move around.  I love and cherish every movement...such an amazing, indescribable feeling!  My baby bump definitely popped out a little sooner this time around.  This isn't a great picture (I think there is a little shadow) but I was getting a little behind so I will just go with it!  More news to come on our littlest peanut! 

4 months

Ashlyn's Christmas Wish

For anyone who didn't hear Ashlyn's Christmas wish...here it is!  And she must have been a good girl because she will get her wish in June!  Stay tuned to find out if it will be a little brother or sister!

Tubes and laser treatment

After a rough day leading up to her surgery, everything went very smoothly!  Ashlyn woke up yesterday morning very lethargic.  Chance called me and was pretty worried about her.  He said she just kept falling asleep.  He fed her some breakfast and put her back down in her crib.  I thought maybe she was just going through a growth spurt because she has been eating quite a bit lately.  She napped for almost 2 hours and then woke up barfing!  Poor Chance!  I called the ENT and they suggested we take her to the pediatrician just to have her checked out since she was scheduled for surgery the next day.  Chance took her in and he said her ears looked terrible and were more than likely making her sick.  He said when they get really bad it can make you kind of feel toxic, or just sick all over.  He gave her another round of Rocephin shots but thought we should still be ok for the procedures.  

So we arrived at Medical City bright and early!  We filled out all of the paperwork and got her registered.  They took us back around 7 to the pre-op area.  We met with the Anesthesiologist, ENT and Plastic surgeon and several nurses.  Ashlyn was doing pretty well until they wanted to put the pulse oximeter on her foot.  She freaked out about it and was NOT having it.  They decided they could wait until she was asleep to place it.  We got her gowned up and they gave her a shot of "goofy juice".  I think they should offer a little to the parents.  Although these procedures are very routine and we knew we were in good hands...it is still a little nerve racking anytime there is anesthesia involved.  She got pretty relaxed before they took her back.  We said our goodbyes.  Dr. Hung was right.  He told us he would be out to talk to us before we could even finish our coffee.  Sure enough...he popped in to let us know everything went smoothly.  Her ears were definitely infected and full of thick mucus...ouch!  He cleaned them out and placed the tubes.  He said Dr. Burns was up next.  About 15 minutes later Dr. Burns came out and said everything went very well.  He told us, "I didn't kill it (talking about the tumor) but I definitely got its attention!"  He said he has a lot of room to go up on the laser, but went conservatively since it was her first treatment.  He wants to do another in about 6-8 weeks.  Ugh...ok.  We highly trust his opinion...so much so that we are currently in the process of filing an out of network appeal for his services since we found out in December he is no longer "In-Network".  An insurance NIGHTMARE...but that is for another post!  

Anyway, she was in recovery for about 15 minutes and then they brought her out to us.  She was pretty mad...I think mostly because the pulse ox fell off her foot on the way out and they were trying to put it back on!  She was pretty fussy for about 5 minutes and then calmed down and started drinking a little juice.  She kind of dozed on and off for about 30 minutes while they were getting our discharge paperwork together.  We got her dressed and they sent us on our way!  We had to stop by the pharmacy to get her ear drops which conveniently happens to be located next to Society Bakery (I love Medical City!).  So we picked out a few cupcakes for a post-surgery celebration and headed home!  Ashlyn really perked up, ate a good breakfast and then took a 2 1/2 hour nap!  She woke up from her nap in a great mood and has been playing ever since.  We are hoping for a good nights sleep tonite!  Thanks for all of the prayers!

Versed happy!

Back from surgery

Loving these snuggles!

Perking up a little

I love my robe, Nenna!

Yummy!

No, her eyes aren't swollen shut...this is her cheese face!

Her cheek is pretty swollen and the red is dark red.
It will get worse over the next couple of days and then start to get better.