Too much Information

Well being that I had the pulse ox machine at my disposal last night I decided to leave Zach plugged into the machine while on oxygen at night... Let me just say - I wish I hadn't but glad I did.  I was thinking that it would be nice to have him hooked up to prove to myself that he is getting enough oxygen all night long and that he is doing just fine - that was not what was proved.  About five or six times last night Zach set off his pulse ox machine informing me that he was not getting enough O2 because his levels dropped below 85% (at which the machine was set to go off at).  I am now thinking that we might be further off from being tube and tank free than I first thought!  He does fine when he is awake but once he falls deep asleep we come into trouble.  So although it was frustrating to see his drops it was good knowing that maybe there is something we can do about it - I plan on having a conversation with Zach's doctor today!

On a totally other note... what is up with the weather here?  Monday the boys and I went out for a park day and today we are bundled up, I am wearing my new flowy sweater (of which are my new favorite) and sipping teecino while the boys are snuggled on the couch watching Back to the Future.  Berry muffins are baking in the oven and are just about ready to come out.  I am planning on making soup for dinner.  At least it is not snowing but sakes... mother nature make up your mind!

Frustrations

UGH!  

Not even ten minutes after my last post little Zechariah crashed - not bad but enough where I did not feel comfortable having him off oxygen.  I am not sure if the crash was due to the time length that he was off or the fact that he fell into a deep sleep - either way we are still corded and will be for a while.  Tomorrow Zechariah will be three months old and I had high hopes that we would ditch the tubes and tank but it looks like that will not be the case.  I was reminded by my cousin that this time will pass and before I know it I will be looking at this through the rear view mirror... we were there but no longer are... Until then I will hope it comes soon.
Another great frustration of mine is milk production!  While Zechariah was in the hospital I was producing forty-fifty ounces in a twenty four hour period.  Once he came home I was not in the right mind set and I stopped pumping for a week and a half... once I got back to it my production went down to fifteen ounces in a twenty four hour period.  In the last week my production has gone down to four ounces in a twenty four hour period.  I am so frustrated!  I am drinking water like crazy, taking all my vitamins for postpartum, for milk production as well as a prescription for milk production and nothing is helping... oh yeah and I am pumping every two to three hours for ten minutes each time.  I am doing just about everything in my power and I am not having any success.  I hate not being able to provide milk for Zach.  I knew that actually breast feeding was out of the loop but to know come to the realization that milk for him by pumping is getting further and further out of reach I am getting really bummed! 

UGH! 

Yeah!

Some exciting news here in the Kulow house... we may have a wireless baby by tomorrow morning!  Today is Zach's Pulse Ox test... I took him off oxygen at 8:30 this morning he has been hooked to the Pulse Ox machine since 1pm and he is holding his O2 levels at about 95%.  He has had a few dips but it was due to feeding and he choked a little other than that he is doing great!  To alleviate my stress of him dropping after the test is done they actually are leaving the Pulse Ox machine here with me until tomorrow morning.  I am so happy about that... that means that I can have him on tonight too, such a relieve! 
Well the two older boys decided not to nap yesterday and thankfully were in bed asleep by eight thirty last night.  I took advantage of the situation myself and curled up in bed around that same time.  I wanted to get some sleep before Zach woke up for his first mid night feeding.  To my surprise he never woke up - Zach slept through the entire night.  He went to bed at 8:30pm and didn't wake up until 7:45am!  Awesome!!!  My first full night's sleep in a long time.  I had it in my mind that it would help me to get through tonight with him being off oxygen and the little sleep I would be getting due to freaking out wondering if he was breathing... thankfully I will have a machine to warn me! 
I figured out why Ki has been so fussy lately and has had a runny nose and fever... he is cutting three molars!  I guess I can cut him some slack knowing that now - I was just thinking I might throw him in the trash.  Guess I will keep him now!  Although at this very moment he is playing in his room rather than napping - Grrr, I am not ready to give up nap time!
After I dropped Zeke off at preschool today Ki, Zach and I headed out to get some groceries and a few other things.  I love my shopping skills - I bought three outfits for Zach and two shirts for me and I spent $5.62... between coupons, sales and a gift card for $15, I did pretty darn good!  Also for those of you that are Jello eaters like my boys... Target has all their Jello on sale - we bought the rainbow.  The large boxes are normally $1.19 and they were $.89 so we stocked up.  Also the Gatorade that Michael drinks was on sale at Safeway... normally $1.79 and they were $.79 - I grabbed as many as I could handle with the two younger boys in tow.  The three of us hit Khols, Target, Macy's, and Safeway in the time that Zeke was at school - pretty impressive if I don't say so myself.
Since Ki is not going to fall asleep and he is being noisy and Zeke is sleeping I better go and get Ki out of their room! 

Spring Time

I think the weather finally got me in the mood to get out.  This morning I packed up the boys in the car and we headed to the park.  The boys rode their bike around the mile long lake, then we played at the park, then we blew bubbles and then rolled down the grassy hill - phew... it was a busy day and I think that I successfully filled the morning with all things spring!  The boys had a blast and I had hoped that all the play would wear them out for a good nap... here we are an hour of them laying on their beds, but not a single one is asleep... I have almost fallen asleep waiting for them to fall asleep!

Ki loves riding his bike

Zeke is super fast on his bike so although the bike ride was only a mile he probably did more because every time he would get too far ahead I would make him ride back... he did a lot of back tracking to allow Ki to catch up.

The boys taking a break

Ki and his bike

Zeke was racing down the grassy hill and ate it

Ki laughing at brother who fell

My little climber

Love this picture

While Zeke did the monkey bars Ki decided to hang... I was pretty impressed with the fact that he was able to hang there for a while and even got his feet off the ground for a good swing or two.

Zeke with no fear... he just jumped off the platform!

Zeke and his bubbles

Zach was snuggled in the pouch the entire time

Zeke rolling down the hill

Ki was not too sure about the rolling so he just laid down on the grass.

Birthday Celebration

For Zeke's birthday celebration we headed to Beau Jos pizza with some friends and family... here are a few pictures from our day out.

Sakes Alive

Where does the time go?  It seems like most of my posts lately have been catch up posts because the time slips away and before I know it we are a week or two from my last post.  Last night Michael was "razzing" me because I have not posted anything in the recent days to allow him to know what is going on in our family.  I always think it kind of funny that Michael reads the blog as this IS his life, but I guess with his work schedule and all my humorous posts are a little sneak peak into what the boys and I do on a daily basis.  So for those of you that depend on my blog for family updates, I am sorry!  I will try to take some time right now to give you the latest and greatest...
Yesterday was Ezekiel's fourth birthday... honestly where has the time gone!  My baby is four years old!  Michael and I were talking about just how much fun Zeke is at this age, I know that each year gets better and I am loving it now!  Zeke has got personality galore!  This week we were watching Cat and the Hat and he was talking about what bears eat... being the kind of mom that I am I said, "They like to eat cute little boys."  Without missing a beat Zeke said, "No, bears like to eat mommies and daddies."  Another example of Zeke's quick wit... my mom came to visit for a few days and the first day she was here she said that she needed to shower because she stunk so that morning she took a shower.  That night I was getting dinner cleared and told the boys to head upstairs to get showered.  Zeke goes over to my mom sniffs her face and says, "You stink Gigi you need to come take a shower with us."  Four years old and is already working the system!  I guess being this quick wit and smart means that Michael and I are in trouble in the years to come... until then - I am totally enjoying my little Ezekiel Michael Kulow!
On Wednesday I took Zach in for his oxygen saturation check and he is doing really well... so much so that on Tuesday the respiratory therapist will come to our house to check him while he sleeps and eats and if his levels are 90% or more than we can discontinue oxygen.  There is part of me that just can't wait for it, although there is another part of me that is worried that he may be doing really well for the test and then crash after the test is done and I am afraid that I might be in for some long nights or staying up worrying about his levels while he is sleeping.  Other Zach news... as of Wednesday when I took him in he weighed ten pounds and fifteen ounces!  He is a chunky little guy... my mom says that he has jowls of which he does!
I had previously mentioned something about going house hunting... well last weekend we found a house that I thought would fit our family perfectly... four bedroom two bath, three car garage on two and a half acres.  The house is in need of some updating as it was built in 1956 and the house is mostly circa 1956 to date.  I loved the house the minute we walked in, it is a place that as would be able to grow in and could make our own with land!  Michael was a little more on the reserved side of it.  Last night after a lot of talking and praying we have decided that we will postpone the house search until next year when our debt is paid off and we will have been able to put money aside for a down payment.  As much as it kills me to think of that I figure it is most likely the best option.  Hoping and praying that this time next year we find the perfect house for our family as we will need to get established as Zeke will be starting kindergarten next fall. 
Onto the subject of "me time"... I told you about my needing some me time and I have put it aside a little the last two weeks as I have been waiting for my mom to come out and bring me a sewing machine.  Well mom came out but wasn't able to fit in the sewing machine so yesterday my grandma Betty and I searched the internet together and I found one... I am now just waiting for it to come in the mail.  Currently sitting on my desk to be sewn are thirty burp rags, two quilts and fifteen hot/cold packs -  all cut out and just waiting for the machine to arrive.  I think this week I am going to head to JoAnn's to get thread and bobbins and try to wait patiently for the machine to arrive.
Remember me asking your opinion on what purse I should purchase?  Well I choose the green polka dot with pink lining and it came on Thursday.  I am slightly bummed I was picturing it to be a lot bigger than it is.  So I am thinking that I might just have to figure out how to sew one on my own... I will see how that works out.  With two in cloth diapers and really not wanting to carry a diaper bag I need to have a purse that is big enough to carry a small child!  LOL!
Spring is definitely in air here!  Colorado weather is the strangest in the world though I am sure of it.  We had a few days of eighty degrees weather and then Thursday morning we woke up to snow.  Today however I am sitting in my house with the windows open and I am barefoot and wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt.  I can't decide which season is my favorite however, I have a love affair with fall and all the colors that are present and the cooler days that lend to my love for sipping hot tea... however it is a close tie with Spring.  The sounds the fill the air of wind chimes caught in the breeze, the birds singing their love songs and all the bulbs peeking up from the brown that has covered the yards.  Sitting at my desk I can see the buds on all the trees that will soon provide shade for the hot summer days and then provide a wonderful covering of reds and oranges on my lawn in the Fall.  I think after so many years of living in San Diego where seasons are not present or as drastic my love affair with them all have become so that I admire them in such a deep way.
Well time to jet... the little people are getting restless!

End of an era

I know that there are some that are going to read this and chuckle as this era passed long ago for them... however it is new in our house!  Just this week Zeke has decided that he is too big for mommy to pick out his clothes.  Usually what happens is that he comes down in the morning and watches PBS for one hour and then I send him up to get dressed.  I spend the one hour in the morning getting the upstairs picked up, the beds made and clothes set out... well the last few days the clothes that I lay out are usually found stuffed under his bed and he has something else on.  This morning he beat me to setting out clothes and got himself dressed and I came into his room as he was doing this and he said to me, "Mom I am almost four and I can pick out my clothes all by myself."  So I guess I got told!  I guess I should be thankful that I got to pick out his clothes for the first three years and fifty one weeks, because next Friday he will be four years old. 

Exciting News

I just got off the phone with the bank and we have been pre-approved to purchase a home.  I called our Realtor and we will go and look and three homes on Sunday that are in our price range and fit our criteria.  So excited I can barely contain myself.  We are just now in the place of finding the 3.5% for a down payment.  So excited I am hoping that all the right doors open for our family and that we are able to find our first home!

You know you're a mom when...

One of my friends started a facebook post of, "You know you are a parent when..." and I had a bunch of things to add to it, so rather than post it all there I thought I would make a blog post about it and then have you add to it!

~ When you use your clothing to wipe a nose
~ When you consider five straight hours of sleep at night a great nights sleep
~ When the only time you sit during the day is to go to the bathroom
~ When all your words end with "y" hinney, potty, tummy...
~ When you yell at the top of your lungs, "Stop your screaming"
~ When you seek solitude in a shower
~ When you consider dressed up wearing dangling earrings and colored chap stick
~ When the only time you can get phone calls done is between the hours of 1-3pm (and of course all the businesses are at lunch that time)
~ When all your pants have snot smears from the knee down
~ When you smell a brown streak to make sure it is just dirt and not something else
~ When you are more prepared for an outing to the post office than a boy scout for a camp out
~When you have a first aid kit that would impress an EMT
~ When you carry a purse with one or two personal items and the rest is full of snacks and toys
~ When your little one goes potty on the toilet you do a jig

I am sure that there are plenty more that you can think of... that is all my mind can think of as I am baking banana muffins and picking up the kitchen.

Have a great day moms... and everyone else too! ;-)