Baby Brown.....

It is with such a sad and heavy heart that I am updating our family blog. Today our family went to a regular appointment to see if Baby Brown was a boy or girl. At that time the doctor was deliverying another baby so we had to wait. Instead of sending me home ( this is a one doctor practice) one of the nurses decided that she would attempt to find the gender out then verify it with Dr. Roque. We all went back into the room and for about 10 minutes she tried to get a good picture of the baby but I noticed she was having a hard time. I asked if their was a heart beat and without any worry she said yes that it was just an old machine and the doctor would have to do it. With that the doctor came in and within 2 minutes told us that this "wasen't a normal baby" that there was NO amniotic fluid and one of the kidneys was enlarged. Immediatly she made an appointment for us to go downtown Charlotte to a high risk doctor. We took Grant home and dropped him off with our neighbors who were so kind to take him on such short notice. Keep in mind this whole time Jon and I were preparing for a birth defect or maybe a handicap child at worst case. After a drive that seemed to last forever we arrived at the high risk doctor. That is when he informed us that our baby was a boy and had a strong heartbeat and was proper size for his gestational age, but indeed there was NO amniotic fluid and they could only find one kidney. On top of that the only kidney he has, has Renal Cysts on it. As we waited for our options we had none. I can carry the baby to term or as far as my body will let me and deleiver, but without the amniotic fluid the babies lungs can not mature. Or I can be induced this week. We asked if there was anyway to put fluid in or give me steroid shot to mature the lungs but at 20 weeks there just isn't much they can do. My mom is flying in tommrow to be with us and help us through this horrible time. I am having such a hard time with this because our baby still moves and kicks in me even as I type this. It is so sureal, I had a great pregnancy with Grant this shouldn't be happening. I can sleep tonight because I keep waking up thinking this is a terrible dream then having to realize that it isn't. Sorry for such a depressing post and I know my spelling is shitty but I just thought I would let everyone read this instead of trying to tell everyone individually. I will keep everyone updated on what is going on when I can. Thanks for all the support and please send prayers to our family.

Time for an update

This week A LOT has happened!!!! First of all Jon's brother Tim and his girlfriend Stephanie came down to visit!!! Grant had a blast with as he calls them Rock and Phee. Unfortunately for them their weeks vacation fell right when North Carolina was getting a snow storm!!! So when they first got here it rained and rained, then that rain turned to heavy snow, we got around 5 inches!!! After a few snow days Jon and I went back to work. Well unfortunately I only worked for two days last week before my boss decided to tell me that he wanted to switch my hours from 7:30 am- 12:00pm to 2:30pm-6:30pm. On top of that I would be in Grants room during that time, let's just say that Grant isn't the best for me when I am in the room!!!! My boss tried to offer me these hours a while back and I told him that it was just impossible for me to work those hours. It would interfere with Grant's whole schedule and I wouldn't get home until 7:30, so it would be hurry up feed Grant and put him to sleep. So I decided not to take the hours and now Grant and I are spending more quality time together. Which I am really excited to do before the new baby gets here!!!

Our goals before Baby Brown gets here in August are: to get Grant potty trained and to switch him into a big boy bed!!!! I know that once the baby is here that he might regress in the potty training area but I'm not worried about that to much. On the pregnancy front I am 17 weeks and I don't feel a bit pregnant. Your second child is so different than your first!! I don't have the time to focus really on this pregnancy because of a certain someone running around all the time!!! I feel bad for this but everyone is assuring me that it is normal to feel like this!!! I don't even think I have picked up a pregnancy book at all yet!!! Anyways my doctor is being mean and making me wait until I am 22 or 24 weeks to find the sex out!!!! I found out at 18 weeks with Grant so I am getting very impatient!!! So I think that around the third week in April is when I will find out so we will keep you posted......

Baby on the way....

O.K., so I know that I am horrible at updating this thing. I still have Grant's Birthday pictures to post along with others. I have been so bad at updating I am not sure if anyone still reads this thing!!! So brief update on us. Grant had a GREAT birthday party back home in Indiana!!! I couldn't get him to sit down for two seconds during the whole party. The only time I think that he was quiet was when he was on the other side of the room trying to secretly open the present that Ms. Amanda got him!!!! I thought that was priceless!!! That is why there will be no presents under our tree until Santa brings them!!! Second big announcement, WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!! Yep, that is right, Grant is going to be a big brother!!! The baby is due August 1st which is good and bad. Good because Jon's birthday is August 4th. Bad I have to be pregnant during the hottest part of the summer!!!! We are so excited and nervous at the same time!!! I have decided that I am taking one more semester before the baby is born and then I am taking time off school and work (at least 9 months, probably will be a year!)

So until baby comes we are going to be busy. We are going to start potty training soon (pray for us) and get some stuff done around the house as well!!! So this is going to be a GREAT new year for us with lots of exciting things and changes going on!!! We'll keep you updated on everything!!

Happy Halloween

This year we decided that Grant was going to go as a Vampire. He didn't like any costumes that had things that went on his head. So we figured this would be the next best thing. My mom made the cape which turned out great. Well I got it in the mail about a week before Halloween and went to put it on him.....He freaked out!!!! I don't know why but I went to put it on him and he fell to the floor screaming!!! I thought oh great, we are going to have the only Vampire that doesn't wear a cape. So as the week went on Jon and I made it a game to wear the cape and show him it wasn't bad at all. On Friday he had his Halloween party at school so I tried to come home and put him down for a nap before hand. After about a hour I knew he wasn't going to take a nap so I started to get him ready. We put on his turtleneck, spiked his hair, and put on his new black pants that I had to dye!!! Then it was the cape and I put it on him without a hitch!! I was so excited that he wore it, and he looked so adorable!!!! Later that night all of our neighbors and their kids decided to go together Trick or Treating. I was sure that Grant wouldn't last very long because he didn't take a nap. He walked the WHOLE neighborhood. And once he figured out that people were giving him candy he caught on quick!!! We had a great Halloween weekend. Next up is our trip home to Indy for Grant's Birthday and Thanksgiving!!!

Grant's first baseball game

So I have to say that I am very, very proud of Jon for taking Grant to his very first baseball game all by himself!!! I had to work late and our neighbors invited us to go see the Kannapolis Intimidators!!!! So Jon decided to take Grant!!! Let me tell you taking a two year old who wants to do nothing but run around to a baseball game is rough even with two people, but Jon did it all by himself and lasted 4 innings!!! Now I know some people might not think that is a lot, but when your by yourself it is!!! So I am writing this blog to show how proud I am that they both survived their first baseball game together!!! Next time though Mommy wants to go!!!!

Two Green Thumbs and one Lazy Bum!!!!

So this summer I decided to try my hand at gardening once again. Years past I haven't been able to grow a thing. So I planted green peppers, tomatos, and yellow squash!! The green peppers didn't do good at all because I underestimated the size of the squash plants! And I am sad to say I grew a ton of tomatos but the squirrl yes squirrl kept eating them:( But my yellow squash took off great!!! I have never eaten so much of it, I even had to give a lot to the neighbors!!! Grant also helped me keep up with the watering too!! He was such a big help this summer. And Pluto just layed around while we did the work in Grant's log cabin....he's a bit lazy!!!

Fourth of July!!!!

This year we had a great Fourth of July!!! Our street threw a block party so all the neighbors could meet each other. It was a blast, there was a ton of food, there was a parade which Grant was the Grand Marshall of, a big jumper that had a slide, basketball goal, punching bags the works, there was also corn-hole, horse shoes, water balloon fights scavenger hunts and a watermelon eating contest. Grant had a blast in the pool and the jumper!! He wasn't to thrilled with how loud the fireworks were but liked the ones that were far away that we could see. After Grant went to bed most of the neighbors went home but there were a handful of us that stayed out and drank and watched the guys make asses of themselves with karaoke!!! All and all it was a great day!!!