The Dreaded Appt.

You might remember a year ago, Avery had to have eye surgery done to open up a blocked tear duct.

Typically with these surgeries, they put a probe in the tear duct to open it and that's it. Well, her doctor adds in another step to it....along with probing it, he also puts a tube down the tear duct that stays there for a year. Apparently just probing it doesn't always work and a high percentage of kids have to have a second procedure done after that. With inserting the tube, the chance of another procedure is very small.

So since last September, we've been going for check ups on her eye every 2-3 months. They're not fun appointments because the doctor really has to pry her eye open to see if the tube is still in place. You can imagine what a treat that is for all involved!

Well at her last appointment a few months back, they told me they would be removing it at her next follow up. So the check up was today and I had Gabe meet me there as well (he hasn't been coming to the other ones because they're very quick). I was nervous because the doctor had said that if they couldn't get the tube out in the office, she'd have to go back to the surgery center and get "put under" again to have it removed. That was the last thing I wanted to go through again!

We got there and they took us back to a room. The technician asked us a few things then she actually gave Avery an eye exam which was pretty cool! Avery did well-I think she was about 20/25 which the tech said is normal at her age (20/25-20/40 is normal for them). Then she gave Avery a numbing drop before she left-which was fun!

Avery sat with Gabe when the doctor came in and he did a few checks then was ready to remove the tube. He tried it first with just Gabe holding her, but she kept turning her head around so I got recruited to hold her head still. And within a few seconds, he had it out!! And I was shocked at how long it was-a couple of inches for sure!

So the good news is that we don't have to go back again unless she has any symptoms that make us think it's still clogged....crossing our fingers that all is clear!

Of course Avery got treated to lunch at Wendy's on the way home for being such a big girl! She did great and we were so proud of her!

Meeting Baby John

On Sunday, we met some of Gabe's friends who we haven't seen in a few months. They had a baby boy, John, back on June 1st so we were dying to meet him!

We met them at one of the new Anchor Bars here in Rochester and sadly it was very dead. If you know the real Anchor Bar in Buffalo, the place is always packed!

But the food was good and the company even better so no complaints!

And here's the little guy-baby John! He's about 2 months old now!

Gabe holding John (I'm sure he'll love me for this pic!)
Avery did very well with him. She was very curious as to what he was doing but really didn't get "grabby" with him. She gave him a kiss on his foot:

and when we left, she kissed his hand. So sweet! I think someone will make a great big sister!

And I have to say that this child packed away the food at dinner. She had a fruit cup, half of the mac n cheese we got, some chips, 2 chicken wings, and pretty much this entire slice of pizza:

It was a good meal for her! We had a really nice time and hope to see little John (and parents) again soon-they grow so big so fast!

Visiting Nama

On Saturday, Avery and I went to Buffalo for a visit.


Unfortunately (or fortunately) Gabe had to stay home because we got a call on Friday that someone wanted to see our house! So he had to be here to let them in and had some prep work to do in the morning. We definitely missed him though as this is our 3rd trip in a row without him!


We arrived around noon and Avery had lunch shortly after. My Mom bought her some cherries which she loved! Can you tell by her face? We attempted to have her take a nap, which didn't work so while my Mom was lying down with her, I made a Target run.

When I got back, we headed to Isleview to enjoy the beautiful weather by the water! We have never taken Avery there so I thought she'd enjoy it! Here's my Mom and Avery when we first got there:

Megan and Noah met us as well and we all went to Mississippi Mudd's for some ice cream! This is the first time Avery had an actual ice cream cone and she went to town! Of course she's a rather slow eater so it was melting faster than she can eat it! My Mom had to jump in and help her out a bit!

Noah!

After ice cream, the kids wanted to check out the water and see the boats going by! Avery kept saying she wanted to go in the water-which for her is a shock!

After we left there, we went back to my Mom's house and had a nice dinner. Then it was time for Avery and I to head home. And she did like she did in the old days-conked out for an hour in the car and passed right back out when we got home...it was so nice!

Surreal

It's a surreal thing to pull up to your house and see this:

That's what I saw when I got home from work yesterday....hard to believe it's actually happening!

14 Weeks-Baby #2

I haven't really gotten the chance to talk much about this pregnancy yet.

So I'll start by saying that we found out we are expecting on May 27th. It was a Friday and Gabe and I had plans to meet for lunch that day (Avery and I go to his work to have lunch with him occasionally). After Gabe left for work, I took a home test and it came out positive. I know with my OB that I have to go there to confirm my results so after Avery and I got ready, we ran to my OB's office. They confirmed that I was pregnant! So I quickly took Avery to the Carter's store and picked up this shirt for her. When I got to Gabe's work, I called to tell him we were there and he came down to my car to meet us. When he opened the door to get Avery, she held the shirt out to him! Needless to say, he was a bit surprised!

We waited a few weeks to tell our parents and when we told them, we just had Avery wear the shirt and had them figure it out on their own. And they all got it pretty quickly!

I will say that being pregnant and having a toddler is a totally different ballgame! You just don't get any "down" time at all and it really wears you out by the end of the day.

I was nauseous this time from the get go---in fact I was feeling a little "off" a few days before taking my pregnancy test, which is what made me take it. With Avery my nausea was an all day thing but would come and go so I would at least get some relief. This time I'm not as lucky. My nausea has been all day, every day. From the second I get up until I go to bed all I feel is sick to my stomach-it's terrible. If I feel good for 5min a DAY, that's good! And lucky me even vomitted this time around (in a real classy manner-out the car door while driving!). After a few weeks of it not improving and trying everything imaginable (sour candy, gum, preggie pops, ginger ale, ginger tea, sea bands), I asked my OB for some help at my appointment. She suggested taking vitamin B6 and if that didn't help on its own to add in 1/2 of a unisom pill (which is a sleeping pill that helps with nausea). The B6 didn't do anything for me so after a day I added in the unisom. I would have given the B6 more time, but it was the weekend of Avery's birthday party and I really couldn't afford to be feeling crappy that weekend. Anyways, the meds helped a LOT! I'm still taking them now and hope to stop in the next few weeks. With Avery I was nauseous until about 15/16 weeks so I'm giving it a few more weeks. I'm afraid to stop taking it in fear of feeling like shit all day long.

Of course the sleeping pill makes me groggy in the morning and I just feel tired a lot. I'm not sure if its the sleeping pill making me tired all of the time, or what but I really just feel drained a lot of the time these days. I'm hoping my energy picks up soon!

I'm not in maternity clothes yet, but I am showing for sure. I feel really huge compared to last time already!

I haven't had any really strong cravings or aversions yet. I will say this though-nothing sounds appealing to me when it's time to eat. I literally will open the cabinets and just stare at the food and nothing sounds good to me at all. And I'm normally a girl who could eat ice cream every day and I haven't wanted it at all lately. It's not that the thought of it makes me gag, but I just don't really care if I have it or not. Which for me, is odd! So yeah, I've been very not into eating I guess you can say-which is hard when you're starving every two hours! It makes it hard to decide what to eat-and mostly I've been going for saltier foods. I really think I'm dehydrated to a point and it's my body's way of getting me to drink something. That's another thing-nothing to drink sounds good either. I normally drink water all day and lately it doesn't appeal to me-I drink it, but I'm just "eh" about it along with everything else.

So, I think I'm caught up now!

Here's a pic of me today at 14 weeks (left) and a pic of me at 15 weeks with Avery (right):

Pan Fried Pasta and Ricotta

I had some ricotta cheese in the fridge that had to be used. Typically I'd make calzones or baked pasta/lasagna/stuffed shells with it, but with the heat we had last week, that wasn't happening. I really did not want to turn on the oven. So I turned to Google to see if I could find anything. And....I got a winner!

Pasta and Ricotta
Any pasta you want (I used a mix of ziti and penne-roughly 1lb)
3 tbsp butter
2 1/2 tbsp oil
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to box instructions. Before draining, reserve some of the pasta water.
2. While cooking pasta, heat oil and butter in a large skillet until melted.
3. Add ricotta and parmesan and heat until mixed well.
4. Add drained pasta and stir to coat. If sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water.

Notes-I also added in some spices to my oil/butter mixture. I threw in some garlic powder (my real garlic wasn't any good), pepper, and Italian spice blend. I also added in peas to ours to get some sort of vegetable in there, but anything you add would taste good!

I have to say that this turned out really good! I LOVE ricotta cheese in anything and I can say I've never thought to use it as a sauce. It was very yummy and we'll make it again for sure! The recipe is very easy too!

Girly Girl

I paint my toes in the summer, as I'm sure most women do.

Avery was very quick to notice them when I painted them weeks ago. She would point and say "Mommy pink toes!" So I asked if she wanted hers to be pink as well and she would always tell me "No." One time she said yes, so I grabbed my polish only for her to freak out when I got near her.

So pretty much everyday I would just hear her say "Mommy pink toes" over and over.

On Friday she started saying it, but then she followed it with "Avery pink toes." So I asked if she wanted hers pink too. She just kept saying "Mommy pink toes, Avery pink toes." We went to the library for our usual story time and throughout the morning she kept bringing it up. So I said to her, "Ya know, Mommy can paint your toes pink later if you want." After she brought it up a few more times I asked again if she wanted them painted....and she replied "Yes!"

So while she ate lunch I grabbed my polish. She immediately put her foot up on the table (while eating) and I started to paint. As soon as she saw one of them pink she said "OOooohh!" and was all excited. So she let me finish all of them! After I finished she said "pink toes again!" I think she wanted me to keep painting!

And look how stinkin' cute these little pink toes are!
So now both Mommy and Avery have pink toes for the summer!