After a difficult pregnancy with Noah, I was hoping that this time would be normal and stress-free. Not to be. There had to be a little drama. On the 18wk ultrasound, they spotted something unusual: a thick placenta. Words you never want to hear a doctor say: "I've never seen that before!" Even though she said, "It's probably nothing," I had to go see a specialist. The same one I saw while pregnant with Noah. That's a place I was hoping not to visit ever again. Ultrasounds are not fun when you are worried about what they will show. It all becomes very stressful. The whole thing was feeling very much like the last time. Which is pretty scary, when you're worried that there is something majorly wrong with the baby. We were very thankful when the second ultrasound showed no major issues. Everything looked good. However, they did find one soft marker for Down syndrome: a short femur. Not a huge deal, but it did increase the risk of DS. Given our history, it was with mixed emotions that we decided to go ahead and get the blood test, which gives you results that are 99% accurate. I say we had mixed emotions because we are not really scared of Down syndrome: Noah is so precious and another little baby like him would definitely be a blessing. But Down syndrome can run in a tough crowd: heart defects, intestinal defects (like Noah's), increased chance of leukemia and Alzheimer's. Not something we look forward to for sure. But so far the ultrasounds had shown a healthy heart and no other issues, so that was a relief. We decided to find out anyway. Mainly because we've had all the drama we can handle already and want the baby's birth day to be a happy day, regardless of the how many chromosomes he has. As it turns out, the tests came back negative for Down syndrome, as well as a couple of other genetic disorders. Looks like he just has Webb short legs, which run in the family, passed down from Webb male to Webb male. Hopefully, the next few months will hold no more surprises.
In addition to the exciting baby drama, we have been focusing all our efforts on getting the house renovated. The major work is mostly done, and we are looking to moving in a few weeks. Woohoo! Now it's time to get serious about packing, yikes.
This ventilation hood almost drove Taylor crazy. But it's installed. And it's straight. Sometimes little things can cause major unexpected headaches.
There is fresh paint on the walls! No more mint green. A cause for celebration, for sure.
Andrew cut Kindergarten one day to watch the new sewer line being put in. Heavy machinery in the front yard is heaven for a five-year-old boy.
I took Noah to see Disney Jr. live. He loves anything related to Mickey Mouse. Combine that with people singing and dancing...well, he didn't want to leave! He sat on my lap the whole time and paid attention to every minute. He's so easy going - I didn't have to buy him any of the over-priced food or toys, and he still had a great time. Every single little girl there was dressed like Princess Sophia. Sometimes it's nice having all boys - no princess costumes to worry about.
Andrew's birthday is this weekend, and we have some celebrating to look forward to. Maybe some cake and ice cream will put a smile on Noah's face.
Finally, although this was technically not in February I'll go ahead and throw it in. We made paczki, a Polish pre-Lent tradition. This year, we made half with nutella and half with black current preserves. Andrew was my helper, although I think more nutella made it into his mouth than into the paczki. I have no pictures of the finished product, but they were delicious.
We started March with a few snow days, and the kids were out of school. Good in theory, but cabin fever sets in fast. Thankfully everyone is back at school now, although spring break is next week. I'm hoping we are done with the snow days this year. It's been a very cold winter, and everyone is ready for spring around here.
