Recent Happenings

So Merry Christmas!
We’ve had a great (and eventful) Christmas season. Visited John’s folks first and also celebrated Liz’s birthday, then went to my parents’ place the next weekend and also met up with some close friends from high school.
Rowan, of course, was thoroughly spoiled. He got some great toys, books, and cloths. Something that I’m especially excited for is this:

The bunny is either awake or asleep and is an easier way for a kid to know that it is/isn’t time to get up (if they aren’t old enough for numbers yet). We started it tonight and I made a big deal out of discussing how the bunny is asleep because it’s bed time. Rowan repeated “Nigh nigh” as his agreement.
Rowan’s getting to be such a big boy. He talks quite a bit and has many mispronounced but understandable words in his vocabulary including (some spelt phonetically for comedic purposes):

mama, daddy, kitty, buppy (puppy), hot, right right (bright light), no, yes, pee pee (please), pee pee (boy part), pee pee (Sleepy, his groundhog), dump (jump), butta butta (belly button), eye, tuba (bathtub), nigh nigh (night night), tanta (santa), Jedus (Jesus), baby, cookie, open, nana (banana or Nana), bapa (papa/Grandpa), Tata (Tasha), Autin (Austin), Iz (Liz), uh oh, up pee (up please), all dee (all done), and dah doo bee (?)

I’m sure there’s a few more, but it will be crazy to look back on this list in a year and remember how much/little he knew!

We are also wonderfully 14 weeks pregnant with out next baby! I feel great and this time around has been much easier than the last two (We lost a baby at 13 weeks in July that had stopped growing at 5 weeks… still had BAD morning sickness the whole time though. We decided to name her/him Lucy, buried her in the baby cemetery down the road from our house and visit her about once a month). So this time around has been blessedly mild. Ultrasounds have been great and I am so very very excited to have another. We are so blessed. What’s more, at least four friends/family members are also due in June. It will be an amazing summer of babies! 

I have a new job as a dialysis nurse. I love it. The longer days allow me to stay home with Rowan more and once John’s business picks up even more, I can get down to working two days a week. Ideally by June

Lastly, in the realm of updates, the craziest update of them all. While visiting John’s family in Iowa on the 17th-18th, I HAD A STROKE. No lie. Full blown, ischemic right frontal lobe, s-t-r-o-k-e. While going out to the hottub on Sunday with John and Rowan, who was in my right arm, I opened the garage door to go outside and immediately afterwards had slurred speech and complete loss of movement in my left arm. The speech improved within seconds, but I couldn’t move my left wrist or hand for about an hour. One of my first thoughts was, “I can barely get Rowan changed with TWO hands! How am I going to manage with one?!”
In the ER while having tests run, I was able to wiggle a finger, then another about an hour later, then another. By the ambulance ride to the larger Iowa City hospital, I could move my hand again, but my whole arm felt sluggish and weak. By the next day, everything was pretty much back to normal and they did more tests (that involved not eating until 7pm… uh). We got home Tuesday evening. Crazy. I’m great now. On aspirin forever and a shot added in when pregnant/nursing, so I can’t complain. It could be much much worse. I haven’t needed therapy or anything.
Thanks to anyone praying for us. It was really overwhelming to think of telling anyone since I was still wrapping my own mind around it, but two weeks of nothing else happening have helped reduce a lot of anxiety and I’m mentally feeling good now too. John calls it (my spot of dead brain) my “fuzzy jellybean” and jokes that one day I’ll count to 100 and find that I’m missing a number or something. I love him so much. And I am very thankful.

Now everyone wiggle your fingers and smile!