The BIG 4 Months!!

 Where does the time go!?!?!  My baby is 4 months already!  He has been doing awesome on all his milestones!  I must admit after having Brecken I get nervous and check where Jayce should be and if he is doing well.  So far he is good!  Jayce LOVES to wear Breckens shirts which is really cute and Brecken loves to let him. 

 He is able to sit up with help and keep his head stable!  I love his little feet:)  When I nurse at night I have started laying down on my side since it is more comfortable plus I like feeling his little feet push on my belly.  Other nursing mamas understand.

 He smiles all the time now!  He just sits in his swing or on the floor and looks at all the craziness of his brother and sisters and smiles like he thinks they are nuts.

He is sleeping through the night now which is AWESOME!  We had a rough night last night but he will go almost a whole week without waking up during the night at all.  He has stopped taking so many naps during the day though now so trying to get things done is a little harder however he is actually playing with his toys which helps when I put him on the floor.  He has his 4 month check up next week so we will see how he is doing.  It makes me laugh to think he was a preemie yet he is now in 6-9 month clothes and look at all those adorable rolls!!  I love rolls:)

Mothering ALL my kids!

So I just saw a post from a mom whom I started following who has a special needs son.  Same thing as Brecken and about the same severity.  Her son is 9 now so I really like reading what she is going through as a mom and how he is doing being that Brecken seems to be on the same track.  While I agree with some stuff she says there are certain things I do disagree with.  Today she had written an article about how mothering is the most important thing for a special needs child.  Yep...I agree....however the article was so focused on her special needs son there was no mention of her daughter.  I often do this too when I get on a role about how hard it is to mother a special needs kiddo.  I love my son so much and I hope he knows how much I adore him and yes taking him to all his doctors, therapies and such is a lot.  I never imagined I would be doing this once I had a family of my own.  My life literally revolves around Brecken more then any of my other kids because of his needs.  I often catch myself hearing other moms talk about how hard their day is with all they have to do and think "try throwing a couple therapies on top of that" or "yeah in the middle of helping one kid with homework I am rushing my son into a warm bath because he is having painful spasms in his legs".  I try not to do this because I understand how hard being a mom is period.

As of now yes my boys take more of my time but my girls are definitely taking more of my mental sanity.  Haha.   So personally I think mothering is the most important job no matter what.  For all 4 of my kids.  I try and get to where they all have something in their lives.  Taylor is in gymnastics so that she has something that is for her and no one else.  We try and take her out on dates so she does not have to be surrounded with "Brecken" on everything.  She enjoys his therapies and helping me with him but we have had her comment on "why does Brecken have to have Cerebral Palsy".  She never says it in a mean way or anything like that but she sees other families and knows that they do not have to do a lot of the stuff we have to.

I KNOW God gave me her as my first child for a reason.  She is an amazing big sister and a huge help to me.  Especially since we live the military life and my husband will be gone for days to months to years at a time.  I know she does the same exact thing I do too though.  She looks at other family's and wonders how it would be if we could be more "normal".  Although being 6 she does not realize that all family's have their challenges. 

Bailey on the other hand is my kiddo who knows something is up with Brecken but she is not quite sure what it is.  She pushes him around and tells him to keep up which is awesome because it does push him.  I have a feeling she is going to be the one who pushes him the hardest and be in his face when he gets older telling him to get up and try harder when he wants to quit.  She is a crazy stubborn girl who loves her big brother and will want to see him do his best no matter what.

Jayce already pushes Brecken.  Brecken sees him and gets that he is his big brother and I see him wanting to be the best big brother he can for him which in turn makes Brecken push harder.

So all in all YES parenting a special needs child is important however not forgetting that there are other ones looking to you to be the mom you need to be is just as important.  Making time for my other son and my girls is just as important to me as being the strong mama Breck needs.

I love my kids and yes they ALL drive me nuts sometimes but they are ALL worth it every single day!  Every night when I go to bed I always think my worst days with my kids is 1,000 times better then the best days I had without them.  Being a mom is hard and no joke but it is a job only the amazing and strong can handle and I say if you still have the same number of kids at the end of the day that you started the day with...you are super mom!! 

Jayce Christian Levy

 Jayce Christian Levy was born Saturday September 1st 2012 at 04:07.  He is 5 pounds and 14 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long.  So I went into labor and delivery with pain in my c-section scar and they wanted to keep me overnight.  So they doped me up with Vicodin and Ambien and as soon as I started to get all loopy they decided they wanted to go ahead and pull little man out.  So I do not remember a lot of what happened.  Doug said I was pretty out of it and I kept falling asleep during the delivery.  I remember hearing him cry and then they took him to NICU.  As soon as I got out of recovery I heard the news when my little man was not in my room.

 Jayce has Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn (TTN).  He has fluid in his lungs.  This is actually a pretty common thing for kids who are born via c-section.  They just do not get that squeeze to get all the fluid out that a vaginal birth canal provides.  So as of right now they have him in an incubator with a mask strapped over his nose and a tube down his throat.  He is hooked up to monitors and has an IV.  At first I was really upset about this (who would not be seeing their kid hooked up to all of this stuff) but he is getting better and it is all working.  I have not been able to nurse and I still have not gotten to hold him.  I really want to hold my baby boy!  So for now he is still in NICU and I am in my room by my lonesome.  God is good and we have had some amazing people come to our side!  Gary and Charlene Lewis and their girls have pulled together to watch our kids while we are in the hospital.  We have had girls calling to get meals sent to us once we get home.  We have massive amounts of prayers coming our way!  I am confident Jayce is going to heal completely and quickly from this!  Doug has the next month off while we get through this and his work has been amazing on letting him do what he has to do.  Anyways I am a proud mama and excited he has joined us!!  So early too!  His due date was the 25th of September and the c-section was for the 18th but then they moved him up to the 6th and he still did not think that was soon enough so decided the 1st worked best for him.  I am just thankful he waited until September so I got my September baby!!

 Brecken and Taylor have seen him and Taylor was excited to be able to touch him.  Brecken did not want to touch him but he did not want to leave his side either.  I think he was afraid he may hurt him.  I just cannot wait to get my son home and have all the kids together:)  Soon.....soon!

34 weeks, First Day of School and the Beach:)

 So here is my 34 week picture.  Bailey is not happy at all.  Lol.  I am actually 35 weeks now but falling behind on getting pictures up.  Sorry. I know you all want to see me in my fantasticness.  Anyways Jayce is huge and I am done.  I want him out.  Lol.  I am sore and tired and just done.

 This last week was Taylors first week of 1st grade!!  She likes it so far and her teacher seems nice!  We thought it was Breckens first day too but apparently that is today.  All the parents showed up for his class so they apparently did not inform us all that we all still had another week of summer.  So today will be his first day of school:)

 This weekend we went to the beach. One of the benefits of living by the water is it takes us 2 minutes to get to the beach.  Bailey chased birds the entire time.  I sat and looked like a beached whale.  All in a days work:)

So we have 4 more weeks until this son makes his appearance.  Things are getting busy again because of school and such.  I am done with my summer semester and did really well actually!  I am thinking I am going to take the fall off but we shall see.  3 more weeks until Doug has a month off and 4 more weeks until my mom is out here to help.  I am ready!!!  Bring on kiddo #4!!

May!!!

May is a BUSY month for our family.  First there is Mothers Day.  Then my Taylor turns 6 on the 15th.  I turn 29 on the 17th and my mom is turning the big 50 on the 19th.  Plus Doug and I started dating May 24th which will put us at 12 years together this month!  So here is an update on most things.

Doug is finally back from a couple TDYs and is not supposed to leave for a while.  This is good for me because I am now starting to get uncomfortable doing some things around the house like giving kids a bath and some of the cleaning.

Taylor only has a couple more weeks left of school and is really doing great!  I cannot believe how big she is getting and there are days I stare at her thinking "Gees....when did she become such a beautiful and loving child and how on earth did she learn all this from being around me all the time?".  She is still in dance class and loving it.  She really is good at it too!  I am not a dancer at all but she definitely has talent from somewhere.  She also has found a great friend out here whom we have pay dates with at least once a week and see at church.  I am SO grateful she has someone who is as great a kid as she is and has a passion for Jesus like Taylor does:)

Brecken is doing great!  He is up to 5 therapies a week now and really progressing.  I can see it the most in his physical therapy.  His speech is going great too!  He is still signing most of the time but he seems more willing to try vocalizing.  He still uses his speech machine at school and the teachers and volunteer parents are always telling me how crazy it is that he knows how to use it so well!  He is really loving school and he will be doing summer school.  The kids are so great to him and help him all the time!  I saw a little girl help him up the stairs the other day and I just feel blessed that so many other families have taught their kids to be such great kids!  His occupational therapy is going well but they did have to up his time doing it.  He was not progressing like they want to see which is great that they are so on top of things in seeing where he needs more help!  He is being seen in June by a specialist to make sure he is all on track:)

Bailey is doing awesome!  I love this age!  She is zooming around the house and learning to talk and getting so crazy!  She dances all the time!  She is a CUDDLER big time!  The other 2 kids were daddys kids but Bailey definitely is a mommy's girl:)  People say she is the one kid who looks exactly like me so obviously she is super cute:)

I am doing GREAT!  I am 20 weeks pregnant with another boy!  Jayce Christian Levy.  We are really excited to add another boy to the mix.  Brecken is WAY excited.  I am getting big fast but I am still feeling pretty good.  I am feeling him kick and he is starting to kick where I feel it on the outside.  Taylor keeps asking when she can feel him but she has not yet.  I am just feeling blessed that everything is going well and life is back on track for now.