Hi

I haven't posted in awhile. Back when Joey was a newborn, I had the time to post everyday. It is a little harder to do with two...especially when one of those two kids is a 2 1/2 year old with lots of energy that likes to get into things. Oh, and did I mention that we are living in a small apartment without our things and with no friends or family nearby? Yea, that adds some complications, too.

Another thing that doesn't happen when you have more than one is the constant photography sessions. We have more pictures of Joey as an infant than I know what to do with. Poor Luke...he isn't going to have very many pictures of his childhood. I am trying but it just isn't happening!

But here is my favorite of Luke(or Lukey as we like to call him). He is finally getting over his cold. He has been congested for over a week. Luckily he didn't get a fever even though Joey had one last week and Joey is constantly touching him and in his face!

Luke's First Week

Luke had an eventful first week of life. Unfortunately, eventful is not always good when talking about a newborn. While we were in the hospital, he stayed in the nursery the whole time. He didn't get to spend time with us in my room. We finally all got discharged from the hospital on Monday. We spent Monday and Tuesday at home with Joey and my mom(Joe can't take any days off work unless it's an emergency). On Wednesday morning, we went back into the doctors office to get Luke's bilirubin level checked. I got a call on Wednesday at lunchtime from the doctor to tell me that his bilirubin level was at a 17.8. That is pretty high and not good. So we packed our bags again and headed back to the hospital. Joe was able to come home and go with us. My mom and Joey stayed home. They put Luke under the lights overnight. He also had to have an IV in. We couldn't hold him and I couldn't breastfeed him because the doctor said that there is something in breastmilk that can make the jaundice worse. I had to pump. I hate pumping. Anyways, here is a picture of my baby tanning.

On Thursday, after about 14 or so hours of Luke laying under the lights, he was allowed out of the isolet after his bilirubin level went down. We still had to stay at the hospital on Thursday night because they wanted to watch him and check his level again the next day.

Joe was able to take the day off work on Thursday to play with Joey while my mom came with me. Poor Joey was definitely missing his mom and dad. He loves my mom, though, so that made it a lot easier! Then my mom and Joe swapped and Joe spent the night with Luke and I at the hospital.

Also on Thursday, I started to develop a cold. What bad luck! I called my doctor to see if I could take anything and someone that I talked to at the clinic suggested that I just go get checked out at the emergency room--it was right there and with our insurance, it was free. So I went down to the emergency room at the hospital and spend 5 hours waiting to be told that it is a virus. I guess it was better to be safe than sorry. But they did give me a mask to wear around Luke. So I have been wearing a mask while feeding him or getting close to him. This means that I can't kiss him and hug him like I want to. I am feeling better now, though, so hopefully it will only be another day or two of wearing the mask.

My mom left on Saturday. She was here for 2 weeks because she came early just in case we needed her. Joey definitely misses his buddy that he spend so much time with. We were so lucky to have her here because I pretty much didn't see Joey for a week because of being at the hospital for so long.

We are home and enjoying life as a family of 4. Luke is doing great and eating and sleeping pretty good. Joey loves his little brother. He likes to hug and kiss him, shake his hand, and play with his toys. He has done great with the new addition.

Here are some pictures of Luke: Luke's first week.

Luke Michael McKenna

The newest member of our family was born today! Luke Michael was born early this morning at 1:12am weighing 6lbs 13oz and measuring 20 1/4 inches. He came pretty quickly! The day started out with us waking up early to go in for our scheduled induction at 6:30. Before leaving our apartment, the hospital called to tell us that they were really busy and didn't have a room for us. So they told us to sit and wait for a call from them. Finally at 1pm, we got called to go in. We got to the hospital and sat around until about 3 when they called us back. My doctor was great and instead of cancelling us and making us reschedule until the next day, he let us stay and go through with getting the baby out!

I got my epidural and had my water broken by 5:30. If you remember from when Joey was born, my epidural did not work. I was pretty determined to make sure that it worked this time! The doctor had to stick me twice but it worked and it makes me wonder why you would want to go through labor without an epidural. I have done it both ways and getting drugs was by far the best way to go. We spent the rest of the evening talking with the nurses and the doctor. For some reason, the doctor liked us and sat in our room for about 5 out of the 6 hours that At around 12:45, my nurse, Christy, checked me and thought that I was ready to go. I pushed a little and out popped Luke! It was such a great experience this time around, to be able to enjoy pushing and meeting my baby, while not in pain.

Luke hung out with Joe and I for about 2 hours and then the nurses decided that he didn't sound very good. Because I only pushed a few times, he didn't get the normal newborn squeeze out of the birth canal. His lungs had some fluid in them which caused him to make a singing noise. He went to the nursery and has been there all day. It is kinda boring when you have a baby and you don't get to take care of it. I have been sitting around all day with nothing to do. I have gone down to see Luke, but he needs to be monitored so I can only hold him for so long. The nurses don't want me to breastfeed him yet because of his breathing, so I have been pumping to get my milk to come in. I did get to feed Luke his bottle a little bit ago. Hopefully he will be doing better by tomorrow so that he can meet his big brother!

And last but not least, here are some pictures of our Luke!

Dr. Lewis and Luke

Joe, our great nurse Christy, Luke and I.

Today is the Day...

...or so we thought.
Because of my declining fluid levels, my doctor decided that I should be induced early(38 weeks). I went to 41 weeks with Joey before getting induced. I have to say, though, I am more than happy to have this baby early. My doctor also told me that since Joey was 8lbs 6oz, there is a good chance that this little boy could weigh more than that at full term! No thanks!
Yesterday, labor and delivery called and told me to be at the hospital at 6:30 to start my induction. We got up this morning and while we were getting ready, labor and delivery called to tell me that their beds got filled up overnight and to stay home. They will call me later this morning to tell me when to come in. Sigh. I have to say, though, this shouldn't suprise me. This pregnancy has been one thing after another going on. Starting at the beginning when I had an ultrasound and the doctor didn't see a heartbeat, continuing on to a crazy false positive test result caused by an incapable lab tech, numerous UTI's, a temporary move to Tampa at 32 weeks, living in an apartment without my bed or couch, low fluid levels, fetal body measurements that don't match my weeks...ugh. If this pregnancy is a glimpse into our future with this little boy, we are in TROUBLE!
So, while Joe was able to go back to sleep this morning, I sit awake waiting for my mom and Joey to wake up and say "What the heck are you still doing here?"
Again, I sigh. And sit with a pillow propped behind my back because I am so uncomfortable.

Getting Ready for his Baby Brother

Last week we bought a mini-crib for our new baby. I didn't want to use a pack n play for him because I just didn't think that was comfortable enough. Hopefully the baby will sleep good in there because it is in our room. When we brought Joey home from the hospital, he went right into his own room and slept "like a baby" from the beginning. I am a huge fan of putting your baby in their own room from the beginning and getting them used to that way of life. Pray that this baby is as good of a sleeper as Joey was and still is! I have to say that I am a little nervous about this new baby boy because he is constantly moving. In the middle of the night, he wakes me up because he moves so much. I am not going to lie...I am scared.

Anyways, back to the crib. Joe set it up with help from Joey, of course. After it was set up and we explained that it was for his new baby brother, Joey went and got all of his books, his pillow and his blanket and put them in the crib. He wanted to share with his baby brother! We'll see how long that lasts after he is here:)

Playtime

One of the greatest things about being in Tampa is Joe's schedule. He is working 3 nights on, 3 nights off. Although it sounds bad, it is really working out great for us! When Joe is working, he is done at 7:30am, gets home at around 8:00am, plays with Joey for a few hours and goes to sleep. When he is off, he is off for 3 whole days. We love that! I don't know how we are going to go back to California in a few months after living here and having this schedule.

I have been trying to get some good pictures of Joe and Joey playing. Joey's imagination is crazy these days. He loves to pretend and comes up with some pretty crazy things. Here he is looking for the bear...not sure why he had to have his shirt up on his head!

And here is a picture of Joey hiding in a "cage" with his toys.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I love my birthday. I have always loved my birthday and even though I turned 31 this year, I was still happy that it was my birthday! My celebration started on Saturday night when my mom came to Tampa for a few days. She likes to visit me on my birthday...wonder where I get my love of my birthday from? On Sunday night, Joe and I went out on a date to Landry's. We had a delicious meal. Joe had to work M-W nights (not sure why they didn't give him my birthday off!) so it was just my mom, Joey and I to play. We checked out a new mall on Monday and on my actual birthday, we went to Barnes and Noble and PF Changs for lunch. Here is a picture of Joey and I on my birthday morning. Please excuse the mess in the background...including my moms McDonald's iced tea cup...she can't live without tea in the summer!

After a birthday dinner of lobster ravioli, we ate these cupcakes for dessert!

They were good, but I've had better in California;)

Now we just hang out and wait around for the newest member of our family's birthday, whenever that may be!

Joey the Artist

Joey has decided that one of his new favorite things to do is to color with markers. Unfortunately, it ends with marker ALL over his arms and occasionally on his face. But whatever, he loves it. He has decided that his art studio is the counter in our kitchen. So he climbs up onto the stool and colors.


Here is his newest "say cheese" face.

And here is his dog. I drew the ear on the left but then he told me that he didn't want anymore help! So on either side of its head are ears. On the top of its head is hair. Then he has a dog body with a tail. And everydog has spots. Unfortunately this dog doesn't have any legs so I don't know how its going to get anywhere!

He also still loves to play with stickers. He decided to put them all over his face for this picture.

Some More Pictures

I found some pictures that I had forgotten to post from our trip to Pittsburgh. The first is a picture of Joey meeting his cousin, Cole, for the first time. He was really good with Cole and didn't even mind when I held him! He wasn't jealous or anything, although he knew that Cole wasn't staying with us for good like his baby brother will be:) Joey kept trying to kiss Cole and tickle him. Cole didn't seem to mind the attention.

Another suprise was that Joey didn't mind when my mom held Cole. We thought that maybe he would get jealous when my mom(a.k.a. the baby hog) held and kissed Cole but Joey didn't even notice...maybe it was all of the attention that he got from everyone else.

Joey and I also went to meet my college friend, Jamie, for lunch one day. She lives in Cleveland and we hadn't seen eachother in YEARS. She had never met Joey and I had never met her twin girls, Amiya and Arya. They are 1 and they are so cute! We had a great time catching up and visiting. Jamie and I went to Duquesne together. We met during one of our first weekends of college in our freshman year. Then we went on to ignore eachother for a few months until finally we met again:) Odd story, I know. Anyways, here is a picture of Joey trying to squeeze inbetween the girls.

I think thats all of my random post for today.

Living the life in Tampa!

We are in Tampa now and enjoying ourselves, even though we really haven't done much! After living in Minot and then Edwards, we aren't used to being able to hop into the car and go to the store and be home in 20 minutes! Joey and I have been investigating the area and reporting back to Joe since he is working/sleeping most of the time. Oh, probably because this is considered a "deployment" for him! What a great deployment...in Tampa, FL with your family. We got lucky!
Joe is working 3 days on/3 days off so we are actually seeing him more here than we do in California. We have had the chance to go to the pool a lot which is less than 50 yards from our apartment door. Joey and Joe also get to play daily with Joey's little people, Toy Story charachters, books, and Magna-Tiles. This gives me a HUGE break since I am exhausted most of the time and getting up and down of the floor isn't easy with a huge stomach!
I went to my new doctor last week. He is the head OB at one of the hospitals here in Tampa. Of course, I had the head Anesthesiologist in California when I gave birth to Joey and my epidural didn't work, so I am not really sure why I care that he is the head OB. Anyways, he is a nice man, the office staff was really nice and they encouraged me to bring Joey in for my appointments. Although nice of them, I don't really think that it is appropriate for my 2.5 year old to see me getting examined by a strange man. The doctor said that often times, second babies that are boys can be up to 1 lb bigger than the first baby. So, that could be good news and could be bad news. Joey was 8lbs 6ozs. I CANNOT give birth to a 9lb baby. I refuse. So he said that he will do an ultrasound and try to get the baby out early. That would be great considering our babysitting situation here...we have none. If I go into labor before my mom gets here, we have no one to watch Joey and I will be delivering a baby by myself while Joe stays home with Joey. I would love to be able to plan a day when I can have this boy. I guess we have to wait and see.
For some reason, I can't upload any pictures but I will try again later.