A do-over...again

Hello friends!
It has been a hot minute since I've posted anything...I know and to be honest I've missed writing. Life has gotten insane! So within the past 7 or so months...lets see what has been going on.
FIRST thing: we welcomed our newest addition to the Watkins family on July 11th, little Miss Amelia Mae. We found out that we were pregnant on (ironically) World Prematurity Awareness Day, which has a great significance to our family because of our sweet Kaden. Going into this pregnancy, I was slightly terrified at the thought of potentially having another baby so early and going through the NICU life again. But I have had a lot of practice regarding not worrying about things I can't control and do what I can to make sure I had a healthy pregnancy. I made a lot of things for her, re purposed old furniture, hunted for deals left and right, and purged like a mad woman. SO many things to share regarding what I did for her! Also threw in some other crafts, made some sales and started a side small business with a friend.  I'll share more on her story and everything else later. 

Kaden turned THREE and let me tell you, this kid can go from zero to 100 in .2 seconds flat...and back to himself within seconds. I've said it once and I'll say it again- this is my favorite stage I think because I get to see how his brain is working and constantly learning new things...even if that means asking a million of the same questions over and over. He's adjusting to being a big brother overall pretty well, he sure loves his sister and it melts my heart. The past (almost) three weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions for me and I'm trying to get a grip of them but sometimes a mama's gotta cry, am I right moms?

We found out that we're staying in Virginia for about another year, which makes me happy simply because that means we get to keep John home. I can't tell you the last time that we had a whole year together of him being home...probably because it hasn't ever happened. Not even this past year. We celebrated his home from deployment for a year but also realized he was sent away to different states and different countries for weeks at a time-but he still came home and it was only for a few weeks instead of 7 months-so we will take it. Speaking of celebrating, we also just celebrated 6 whole years of marriage. SIX. I can not believe it has been that long. We've been together for 8 years total and I was just looking at all of our pictures around the house (as I listened to Kaden running around the house and as I was nursing Amelia) and I realized how much we have been through in the past 6 years. Technically 4 deployments, 3 houses, 2 states and now 2 babies later- and I love this guy more and more each day.

I think that pretty sums up the past few months, I know it doesn't seem like much-but time flies when you're having fun :)
Stay tuned-
xox

We have a toddler...

Alright friends. Here we go, I'm going to get my butt going with sharing whats going on! Now that we've had a week for the dust to settle-Kaden had his 2nd birthday party last weekend! I seriously can not believe how time has just flew by already! (You can read about his story here) We didn't have a big party for him last year since we just moved to our new home shortly before his birthday. So I was walking into unchartered territory with a toddler party. How much is TOO much? What do you cook? Do you have a list of activities for a bunch of 2 year olds? Most importantly: do you have mimosas for the moms?! (Spoiler alert: next time we have a toddler party...the answer is YES)
One of his favorite books ever is Little Blue Truck so I perused around looking at ideas for a toddler's party. I came across Kates blog, Nearly Crafty and she had such amazing ideas! Kate created the great invitations that I used for his party and even helped find the same font as what is in the story! And for a perfectionist, that is great news. The thought of having a house full of toddlers slightly terrified me, so one of my good friends suggested that we host the party at the clubhouse on base! Sounds like a fantastic idea to me, she reserved the room for me, the date was set and planning was under way. I used Kate's template for the invites, typed the information and took them to Staples to have them printed! Easy squeasy! Now if you're like me and want things to be 'cohesive' the font used in the book is called P.T. Barnum.

I also followed Kate's idea with some of the activities. I ordered little blue truck foam ornaments from Oriental Trading for the littles to make and to double as their own personalized favors! 

I later realized that we did NOT need glue, these bad boys are sticky after you peel the paper off the back! Pleasant surprise! We also had a bunch of blue truck printables for kids to color. 

I'm so sad I didn't get a whole picture of our foods! I tried to keep it simple (mainly because I was cooking it all) and thought about what kids would like to eat. We had mini corn-dogs, home made pasta salad (included veggies), homemade roasted red peppers hummus with crackers, rice crispy treats (which I have YET to make a perfect batch of...but I digress) lemonade, juices and most importantly...CUPCAKES. I made a classic white with a vanilla buttercream frosting.  I also made party popcorn for extra favors for everyone (because I'm crazy like that-this was a last minute decision) I'll share that recipe with you all another time!

I used the same font for his banner with my super amazing Silhouette machine. I also used the font and the machine with the print and cut feature to make thank you tags for the popcorn bags. 

Kids came to play, eat and run around. I think we had an overall good birthday party! We approached nap time...aka melt down time right before everyone left which we all thought would be coming our way. We truly have amazing friends that came to celebrate and help when we needed it. I may or may not have gotten a little teary eyed when we all sang to Kaden. I just can't believe that he is TWO! I can't believe he was once a little 3 pound baby living in an incubator and fighting for his life, I really do believe that you can't even tell. He has grown into such an amazing little person and his personality just surprises me every day. He is such a sweet, loving and compassionate little boy. I know all babies are sweet and loving, but I'm not sure when we will hit the 'rough and tough' stage but this little guy loves his mama and I'm not afraid to share that with the world- I'll take it as long as I can. 

Crazytown- Population: 2

Hi friends! It has been quite a whirlwind around these parts. We are working on getting our Christmas decorations up, getting presents ready, the house ready all while we continue our daily activities. We started our new family tradition of getting our tree! Growing up, we had both fake and real trees-but we mostly had fake ones with my mom. They were easier for us I think so they just stuck. John grew up with real trees, so we decided to carry on that idea with our own family. This year we were able to go and cut down a tree instead of picking it up from Home Depot. Don't get me wrong-those trees were fine-but this was new. We got to hunt for the perfect tree, pick it out and even support local-all wins in my book! We went to Sneads Farm in Fredericksburg and it was wonderful!

They actually were hosting a USO event that we didn't know about but got to check it out. They were providing military families with a free tree, stand, decorations, wrapping paper, lunch all sorts of wonderful things all for free! You enter into a drawing and you get your voucher emailed to you if you were picked-but we were able to still participate. It was amazing! Not to mention the farm had fresh kettle corn...and if you know me-I love my popcorn.  Kaden had a blast, we have a perfect tree and all we need is for Santa to come down our chimney!

One of the great things about the Marine Corps is the friendships that we get to make. Granted we only get to stay (geographically) close for a few years at a time but with all the jobs stationed around the world (literally) you're bound to come across one another again-but if you're lucky enough to become friends with a few of these amazing people-then you get to plan a get together! One of my good friends from Twentynine Palms was here visiting family while her husband was training and we were so lucky that we got to have her and her wonderful daughter over! Kaden and Aleyna are 4 days apart and Laura and I were working together and pregnant together at the same time. It was amazing to see her and her little one. We joke that we already have our kids' marriage arranged so we'll see each other all the time. Kaden and Aleyna truly had the best time together- these pictures are about a year apart (exactly) look how big they are now!

I had some of our kickball ladies over with their little ones to decorate salt dough ornaments last week. We had lots of baked goods, coffee, kids running around playing and adult conversation-all amazing things in my book! We also had a holiday get together and bunco night the other night with the same ladies-a much needed 'mom's night out'! I'm so glad I joined this team of ladies-we all have different stories but we all have things in common and having our lifestyle- we usually have family far away so we get to 'make' our own family and that is an amazing feeling.

We have a crazy week ahead of us with Christmas fast approaching. Kaden has his LAST developmental NICU follow up!! (insert happy dance here) I can honestly say I'm not as worried about this appointment as I was the last rounds-this kid is a parrot and repeats (or tries to) every word out of your mouth. He is learning new things every day and he's growing and getting through every stage of toddler-hood we can have-all while I'm pulling my hair. But I wouldn't change it for anything-he's doing what he needs to do and I am truly grateful for it.
My mom is coming to visit! I haven't seen her since last Christmas! This is the longest gap that we've gone not seeing each other, which is weird-but I know she's excited to come and see Kaden (and me too maybe...) She's coming from the warm weather of Arizona-and we're expecting snow soon-she's in for a surprise.
So between a big appointment, my mom coming and a few play dates scattered throughout the week. We have our hands full. One thing I do want to share with you is I just received this amazing new cookbook from the Birchbox Book Club that I am a part of- Homemade Decadence by Joy the Baker. Let me tell you-it looks amazing. I can't wait to share the recipes with you! I hope to share them on a regular basis with you all because I want to make everything. SO if you're local, get in touch with me because I need to share all of these baked goods with you.

I'm going to make it my mission to be better with my posts with you all-probably starting with a delicious baked good. Until then, I'm going to go enjoy watching "The Holiday" on Lifetime and mentally prepare myself for the crazy week we have ahead of us! 

World Prematurity Awareness Day

My goodness, you guys- I haven't posted in almost a MONTH. I have been busy making and sending our crochet headbands to help raise awareness for cervical cancer. We are about half way to our goal, so thank you so much for all of your support-please keep the orders coming! 

I want to share another awareness with you all- today is World Prematurity Awareness Day. This day floods my mind and heart with memories and emotions. Each year, nearly 500,000 babies are premature, or preemies. That's 1 of every 8 infants born in the United States. These little miracles come for all sorts of reasons, medical or not. You can read about Kaden's story HERE.

I still remember basically living in the NICU for 6 weeks, doing everything in my power to help him get stronger every day, and waiting 4 days to hold him for only 15 minutes-because he was so fragile. 

I remember bringing him home and waking up every hour to make sure he really is breathing, because that is what kept us from coming home-he would forget to breathe, which would drastically drop his heart rate. I remember having to take him weekly for weight checks because he was born weighing in at 3 lbs 2 oz. and I would worry and stress about if I can produce enough milk since I exclusively pumped for him-because he wasn't strong enough to nurse naturally.  I remember driving over an hour one way bi-weekly to get his eyes checked because he had ROP  (Retinopathy of Prematurity), to a cardiologist to check his heart murmur, and weeks of physical therapy.  But I also remember emailing my husband videos and pictures daily of this little guy and telling him all of the amazing things he has been doing and how he has been growing. 

OH and his first birthday, when he first sat up, smiled at me, laughed, trying new foods, his first word (for the record- it was 'mama'), when he started walking and the smile that will melt the coldest of hearts. We have so many memories that both terrified us and made us laugh so hard we had tears running down our faces-all because he is a healthy, happy growing baby (or should I choke out the word 'toddler'?) 

Once upon a time, doctors told us that he may not be developmentally on track with kids 'his age' because of being born so early. But I beg to differ. We've been meeting with doctors and specialists and they sometimes have a hard time believing he is a preemie. This little guy is growing and thriving SO much every day, it blows my mind. He's been hitting milestones left and right and 'passed' his NICU follow ups with flying colors. 

SO today, I am wearing purple to represent World Prematurity Awareness Day for all of these little miracles everywhere. 

Kids bounce back...like rubber bands.

Now that it has been some time and I'm over the traumatizing injuries we have encountered, I wanted to share some thoughts with you all. I have always been told that babies (kids, rather) are incredibly resilient. I've had encounters to prove that saying to be true, but never really thought too much about it until recently.
During Kaden's 18 month wellness check, his pediatrician was concerned about his lack of weight gain. He didn't gain any weight from 15 months to 18 months and he didn't measure on any of the percentiles. So she wanted us to adjust his diet to cut out all processed foods, all sugars (unless natural) and he can only have whole wheat. Side note: we eat pretty healthy as it is now. Yes he would have juice occasionally, organic granola bars, kids yogurt, the occasional treat. So this didn't seem like a huge change for us. We were told to come back after 6 weeks to see if he gained any weight and if not we were going to have to get blood work done to possibly rule out any thyroid issues and or celiac disease issues.

So we went back, and he's still a little guy. He also started walking in between his two wellness visits, so he has been burning calories left and right, but he has a good appetite. She still wanted to do blood work and I agreed to make sure we don't have to worry about anything. Well, it took 5 people, 3 and different attempts to try to draw enough blood for 4 vials. Have you tried to wrangle a 1 1/2 year old to have a needle shoved in his hand? I don't recommend it. We had to try his hand because his veins are so small they couldn't find any in his arms and his hand had the only 'big enough' one. I say this with all seriousness- I was more traumatized than he was. I literally had tears in my eyes throughout this process and I finally said enough and hugged the bajeezes out of him. By the time we got home a few hours later (after a play date in between) he seemed to have forgotten all about that morning- but I didn't.

Fast forward to two days later. I brought Kaden with me to my kickball game since we have all moms on our team and we help each other with our kids while we all play. There was an accident where Kaden was leaning on the fence and fell forward and ended up biting down on his bottom lip, hard. Our first busted lip. After we sat and waited for it to stop bleeding (and praying it does so we didn't have to get a stitch) he got up and walked around, saw a slide, pointed at it and said "weeeeeee" (aka slide) so who was I to tell him no after that incident? He took a little longer for this boo boo to be forgotten, only because certain foods would burn when he ate them-which I totally understand. I've busted my lip quite a few times.

Earlier this week, our new friends Rachel and her son (from Stickers for Mommy) invited us over for dinner and for us to take a look at her consignment sale preparations. Kaden and Callum played, ran around and laughed together. Kaden ends up falling (my kid is still learning the world of balance) onto his lip (again) and we have a small busted lip. Tears and blood came, hugs were given, few minutes passed and all was right in the world.

This kid is entering a whole new world of injuries. As he should be. He is climbing on everything, and it will only be a matter of time until he starts jumping off things. I just can't believe how much this kid has been through already from being poked and prodded every day in the hospital, his shots, falling, swallowing a penny and who knows what else will be coming our way. But he wakes up the next morning with a smile on his face every day and is ready to take on the day, every day. I truly believe that kids are so resilient, I see this every day and I think that these little people are sometimes stronger than us as adults.

Happy Neonatal Nurse Day

 If you are a Neonatal Nurse- I wish I could hug you-wherever you are. I am forever grateful for every single nurse that we had while Kaden was in the hospital. A part of me still misses some of the nurses that we had because they were such a huge part of our life for so many days and nights. Don't get me wrong, some of the nurses we had were less than friendly-but regardless they still were responsible for taking care of our little man when he needed it the most. Before February 11, I have never met a NICU nurse before. I haven't even been inside of a NICU.  Then before we knew it these strangers would turn out to be some of the most important people in our lives whether we were ready or not. I came across a post on a Preemie baby website I've been reading and following and it prompted me to write my own. I just want to take this chance and thank the NICU nurses everywhere, specifically the nurses that we had in our life.

Thank you for remembering us every day and every night. 

Thank you for requesting to be Kaden's nurse time and time again.

Thank you for answering every single one of my 384,598,728 questions I had daily.

Thank you for listening to my concerns and advocating for me.

Thank you for missing your child's baseball game to take care of our child.

Thank you for letting me call every hour to check on Kaden when I had to go home for the night.

Thank you for telling me "you will be okay" when I needed it the most.

Thank you for re-swadding Kaden 500 times a day because he broke out-yet again and re-taping his tubes because he pulled them off/out for the 25th time that hour. 

Thank you for sitting with me every day and every night when I had to be there without John.

Thank you for picking this profession and kicking ass at it.

There are so many more things that I am so thankful for. But most of all, thank you for keeping our baby alive and thriving when he was most fragile. Being in a hospital can be pretty horrible, but thank you to our nurses for making it a little more bearable.

xo

 

you can read about Kaden's story here

Walking Watkins

If you're friends with me on Facebook, or Instagram (@mrs_watkins723) you would have seen that our Kaden at 17 months old is now a walker! I'm going to be honest with you all, I was worried about him walking. I know, I know-every baby will do things on their own time-but when you see babies walking and they're around 12 months old or younger and your baby has yet to brave that task-you get worried-even though I knew he would be okay. Since Kaden was born 10 weeks early, we have to adjust his age down to basically track his development across the board. So even though he really is 17 months old, developmentally he is about 14.5 months old which also means he should be doing the things that other babies that age should be doing. He is slowly gaining more confidence on letting go of things (and me) and walking around the room, especially in places other than home! It seems like he has more of an adventure sense now that he can explore so much more at his new eye level.

We also have to be seen by a high risk development clinic with NICU doctors (as well as Physical Therapists and Occupational Therapists) about every 6 months up until he is about 2 years old just to track him and make sure he is doing things 'according to plan'. Having a bunch of doctors evaluate your baby can be a lot to take in. Since we moved from California to Virginia, we were told that we now can possibly qualify for county services to help Kaden. When we were back in CA, I was one of the people that evaluated children and talked with parents to get services as well as provide services to these kids. So being on the flip side of things requires me to take a step back and be the client and not be the worker. Let me tell you, it is hard. Full disclosure here: I feel like when we have professionals coming in and testing him, I'm getting evaluated as well. Or at least my parenting skills are. I feel like being a parent is one of the hardest jobs around. I know I can do the best job that I can and I think that both John and I are doing a pretty darn good job with the cards that we have been dealt. Sometimes I feel like I can do more and maybe having these other services come our way can help with that, but I never know until I try them right?