Calvin, One Year!

To my rainbow baby,

Today you are one year old! Today we celebrate you being a part of our family for the last year. You have brought so much happiness into our family - I couldn't imagine life without you!

You have learned so much this month! You're walking!!! You started taking your first steps a few weeks ago and were cruising around furniture really well, but wouldn't let go and walk on your own. Then on your birthday, you decided it was time to walk everywhere! We went to Anna's school family dance that night and you walked all over that gym, it was so cute!

You've started imitating a lot, especially animal sounds. You know dog, pig, cow and duck on your own, but also imitate monkey, bear/tiger/lion, and owl. You love looking at your animal books - it's really the only time you'll sit still.

You're also absorbing so much by listening to us talk. You're learning how to give things when someone says, "Can I have that?" and you are learning how to put things back (not just take them out).

You've also learned how to stand in your high chair and need to be watched like a hawk while you're in there. You are going to be a handful over this next year... I can feel it. Anna loved to climb (and still does), but I have a feeling you're going to try to get into everything and climb.

You are still a good eater, although your huge appetite comes and goes now. You still nurse a 4-5 times a day on the weekend and a few times a day during the week - usually after naps and before you go to bed for the night. I want to continue nursing at least through flu season in hopes of keeping you as healthy as possible. That means I'll probably continue pumping for at least a few more weeks - never thought I'd say that, but it's worth it. You no longer take bottles, but take pumped milk and whole milk from a cup. You still have only 4 teeth, although I could have sworn you were getting more this month the way you've been a little extra fussy... not yet though. Your nighttime sleep is still great and you typically take 2 naps a day, but sometimes an extra catnap is needed in the evening. At your one year appointment, you weighed 18lbs 11oz and are 29.92 inches tall.

Things you love: books, animals, Anna, Archie, singing Wheels on the Bus & trying to do the motions, when someone chases you and says, "I'm gonna get ya!", The Office theme song (you dance every time), your paci, being outside, climbing

Things you dislike: getting your diaper changed, when I don't pick you up, falling down when you're walking, when things get taken away from you (we're better at tricking you now that you know what it means when we ask if we can have something).

This has been an exhausting year for me, but also so, so fulfilling! I never knew how much love I could have for my kids, and it's just the best thing ever. I'm looking forward to this summer with you and Anna!
Love you, Bubba!

Ketchup

Hello out there! I'm still here, alive and well. I haven't posted in a while because I had been doing a lot of posting on my Colleen's Friends & Family Facebook page for Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. Within the last month, I've finished my sixth year of teaching, did a two week round of Cipro, found out I've been approved for the Monarch Vest, and had an amazing turn out for Great Strides.

The last post about my health discussed how I was trying a not-as-strong antibiotic that was breastfeeding friendly. Well, I took it for two weeks and ended on a Saturday. By Monday, I was already feeling crumby again. I don't know if the antibiotic just didn't kick everything, or if I caught something over the weekend, but I just wasn't back to feeling how I wanted. I decided, despite the difficulties with breastfeeding, that I needed to go on Cipro. So, for the last two weeks of the school year, I pumped and dumped while at work, and Calvin got extra frozen milk I had pumped earlier while he was with the babysitter. Aside from the nasty case of sun poisoning I got on my legs, I'm happy to say that I'm finally feeling back to normal lung-wise since having Calvin almost four months ago. We'll see what my numbers look like at the end of this month.

Later this week, a Hill-Rom representative will be coming to my house to bring my new Monarch Vest and will show me how to use it! The Monarch Vest is a portable, battery operated Vest!! Which means anytime we go out of town for the weekend, I don't have to lug my machine, tubes and Vest!! I'll be sure to post pictures once I'm familiar with it and use it for the first time. I've been trying to get a portable Vest for a few years now, so this is really exciting for me. :)

Another really exciting thing to share is the success of Great Strides this year!!! Our team walked in the Champaign, IL walk at the beginning of May. This was a new site for us, but I was a little bummed to see the turn out wasn't as large as I expected. Although, our team was wonderful!!!

We had over 30 walkers and raised over $3,000!! I'm hoping we'll be able to reach our goal of $5,000 before the year is over. I want to sincerely thank everyone for making the trek to Champaign to show your support for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, everyone fighting with CF and for me. It truly means a lot to me that you show up and walk with me & my family. :)

Last week wrapped up the end of my sixth year of teaching. This was my third year teaching third grade and working with my amazing partner. I'm sad to say that she's leaving our building, moving on to bigger and better things (she's going to be a kick-ass union president!), so I'll be getting a new partner this fall.

I'm also about half way done with my Master's program - woo hoo! This summer I'm taking my fourth class (research and statistics, ew!) and will only have three left (2 in the fall, 1 in the spring) until I'm done!!! So far, I've maintained a 4.0 GPA which I'm pretty proud of! I can't thank Lindsey and Alycia enough for doing this program with me; they're definitely helping me get through this!!

So now, here we are, the first week of June. I've already worked 2 days of my summer, with 11 1/2 days of professional development scheduled -- who says teachers don't work over the summer?! But in between PD and Master's assignments will be lots of time with my babies! I can't believe that at the end of this summer Anna will be four years old and Calvin will be six months old!
Today we signed up for the summer reading program at two local libraries, enjoyed a walk downtown, went to a new park and went to Steak n Shake for lunch. This afternoon, Anna and I created a Summer To-Do List, and we are slowly filling up our summer days. I love being able to spend this time with my kids because I feel like I miss out on so much during the school year.

Antibiotic Update

My nurse and I finally got into contact at about 5pm last night. She said that her and my doctor had discussed a couple options for me, keeping in mind that I want to continue breastfeeding. The first option was to begin Cipro, but they were completely against me nursing at all while on it for two weeks. This didn't appeal to me, but I understood where they were coming from. The second option was to try a different, not as strong, but breastfeeding-safe antibiotic called Cefdinir.

I went with option two. I'm a little nervous to try a new antibiotic, but hoping for the best. I'm really glad that I'll be able to continue nursing Calvin while on it. I'll be starting my first dose tonight. I'm hoping it'll be strong enough to kick whatever is hanging out in my lungs. Thankfully I haven't had anymore lung pain since yesterday morning (I think my treatments helped that), but I can definitely tell I'm more junky than usual.

Yep, putting in a Great Strides plug because it's true -- this is why we need a CURE for CF! Although I've been relatively stable over the last four years because of Kalydeco, chest infections still happen and antibiotics are necessary to maintain my lung function. If you'd like to help us find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis (so I never have to do treatments again!!), click here. :)

Being a Mom with CF

Warning: Post ahead is not all rainbows and sunshine. It's reality.

Being a mom with CF is hard. Being a mom is hard. Being a mom and having a full time job is hard. Putting CF on top of those things makes it even more difficult. I'll admit, I haven't been 100% with my treatments for the last few months. At the end of my pregnancy I was so tired and uncomfortable. And now, I'm just tired! There have been evenings where I skip my second treatment to get to be a little earlier and at the time, I think that's okay. Sleep is hard to come by with a toddler and a newborn, so I try to take advantage, but it sucks that I have to skip a breathing treatment to do it.

I've been back at work for only two weeks now and I just texted my CF doctor about beginning oral antibiotics. Anyone with CF knows the defeat you feel when you have to "call in the big guns". Luckily for me, those "big guns" are still oral antibiotics and not IVs, but it still sucks. I feel like CF is winning and that I'm losing.

A week ago I didn't feel the greatest. I was having some sinus drainage along with a sore throat. But with snow one day and 60-70 degree temperatures a few days later, I chalked it up to the crazy weather and maybe allergies. Everyone in our house just seemed a little extra snotty, so I didn't think it was a big deal. But when I woke up and it hurt to breathe this morning, that's when I knew it wasn't just crazy weather or allergies. My lungs are not happy with whatever has been hanging around over the last week.

So now's the big debate - what to do? The typical antibiotic I go on when feeling this way is Cipro which is not the best for a nursing mother because it could be transferred to baby through my milk....or at least that's what I think I remember from when Anna was a baby. With her, she slept longer stretches at night, so I could wait until the medication wasn't at it's strongest point and then nurse her. While at work, I pumped and dumped and she was given bottles of extra frozen milk from previous weeks.

This time around, Calvin still wakes up every three hours at night to nurse, so I'm not sure how that's going to work with the Cipro. After doing some of my own research online (LactMed) and talking with other CF mothers, it seems like the Cipro is strongest 3-4 hours after taking a dose. I think I can swing it by continuing to nurse and then giving a bottle of previously pumped milk during the 3-4 hour post-dosage time. I'll also look into giving Calvin some probiotics to help keep his tummy happy while he's exposed to some extra medicine. Continuing to nurse him is really important to me. He's doing so well nursing and I'm not going to let this bump in the road stop that. I feel like nursing my kids is one thing that my body has been able to do right, so it's going to take a lot to get me to stop. If I have to be hooked up to the pump extra over the next 10-14 days, then so be it.

As of right now, I'm still waiting to hear back from my doctor, but I'm planning on starting the Cipro asap-- hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning. I know I need it before this gets any worse. My plan for the weekend is to rest as much as possible while trying to complete my Master's assignments for the semester (since we're busy the next two weekends).

Anna & Antibiotics

Things have been a bit crazy around here and if you've been following along, you know that we're expecting some new arrivals (that's right, there's two!!) this spring! I'll post much more about that later, but I wanted to post a little happy thought today.

Anna, Tim and I have been sick for the last week. It started with me last Monday, and of course I'm still going. Then Anna started on Wednesday/Thursday, and Tim on Friday/Saturday. This weekend was difficult because we spent it celebrating Christmas with Tim's side do the family, but none of us were at 100%. Thankfully today we all got a "sick" day. School was canceled last night due to the icy roads and very cold temperatures. Tim didn't have to work today either because his dad wasn't feeling the best. It's been nice having a recovery day. 

This morning when Anna work up, though, her poor little eyes were full of green gunk. Whatever is going on in her sinuses had started coming out of her eyes - poor baby! I decided to get her in to see the doctor today to see what was going on since she didn't seem to be getting much better. Turns out one of her ears was quite red inside which the doctor thought could be bacterial. So, Anna is now on her first round of antibiotics and eye drops (those are not fun). 

My happy thought is that I am so proud that she has been able to go this long without being sick and needing antibiotics! I really do attribute it to her being breastfed for the first 13 months of her life. She's also been watched by Tim's fabulous grandma, which has kept her away from a daycare setting, but she's still around a couple other kids. I'm just so happy that she's been able to stay so healthy, and I hope the trend continues as she gets older. 

As for the two little ones coming this May/June, I definitely plan on nursing them as well. Although I know it'll be much more difficult than it was with Anna, I think the benefits are absolutely worth it. 

*Not bashing formula-fed babies, just proud of my body & how I feel it has kept Anna healthy*

World Breastfeeding Week

#normalizebreastfeeding

I never thought I'd be one of "those moms" who breastfed her baby until she was a year old, but here we are and I'm so proud!

I'm proud that my "sick" body was able to provide the best for Anna for this long, and that I was able to stick with it during the school year. This would not have been possible without my very supportive husband, Tim​, and my super supportive co-workers (especially Shelley​)!!
I am posting this in honor of World Breastfeeding Week.

I now understand the commitment breastfeeding mothers endure to provide for their babies, but the satisfaction and bond is absolutely worth it! Thank you to my friends & family for supporting us along this journey.