DIY paper airplane mobile

Now that I’m trying to get back in the regular routine of blogging, I need to show off some of Miles’ room cuteness.  Since I overhauled the plan for his room about 2 months before he arrived, his mobile plans also needed to change.

I just couldn’t land on anything I loved.  I’m not a “themey” person when it comes to my kiddo’s rooms, so I had colors in mind but not a shape.  I was going to just do a cute circle one with my leftover fabrics and then I spotted this on Etsy:

(source)

Adorable, expect for the price tag and I wanted to add a few more pattern instead of just solid papers.  So I busted out my trusty glue gun and got to making one myself.  Here were all the supplies I used:

• 2 wooden embroidery hoops – 8” and 10”
• paint for the hoops
• hot glue gun
• about 8 different scrapbook papers in gray, yellow, and white
• fishing line – I wish now I would have used line that was a bit thinner and more transparent, but you can’t be picky when you’re nine months pregnant and doing craft projects
• little white hook to attach everything to the ceiling

1. There are a few tutorials on how to make your own paper airplane mobile here and here.  Mine isn’t super detailed as I forgot to take pictures of lots of steps.
2. I only used the insides to my embroidery hoops, not the outside part that has the hardware on it.  You can discard that part (or save it for another project).  Then I started by painting my hoops with a gray spray paint I had and hated the coverage and color.  So I switched and did 2 coats using a acrylic craft paint and loved it much more.3. Make your airplanes!  There are a million different ways to make your paper airplanes.  Look here for some good examples here.  After lots of trial runs, I decided I wanted something very simple with very few fold lines.

• I cut my paper into 4.5” x 5” rectangles.
• fold your paper in half
• open it back up and fold each top corner down and line up with the fold down the middle
• fold in half again
• Take each side and fold down so the top fold line, lines up with the bottom of the plane.  Does that make sense?
• And that should make your simple airplane!
• I hot glued it together in all the places it could come unfolded and while the glue was still hot, I stuck in a long piece of fishing wire to hang it

4. I tied 3 fishing wires evenly around each hoop (6 lines total) and tried as best I could to hang the 2 hoops so they were even with each other.  They’re actually not tied together in any way.

5. After I made lots of airplanes, I tied them loosely around the hoops to figure out how I wanted to space them, which colors I wanted where, etc.  When I was happy with the placement, I tied the fishing wire as tight as I could and added a small dot of hot glue to secure it.  Then I cut off the excess fishing wire.  (the beginning stages of mobile is hanging from the ceiling fan in this picture)6. Lastly, William helped me measure and hang it from the ceiling just using a little white hook.I love how it turned out and I hope Miles enjoys this view from his bed.

Miles’ nursery {part 1}

I’m all about real around here.  So here ya go.  Take it all in.This is our guest/craft room after we took out the bed and started getting ready for our garage sale.  I will also say that I was emptying out all my craft boxes and going though them.  But oh yeah, it looked like for a good couple months.  During this time, Miles’ nursery plan went through a couple revisions.  Originally, I had my heart set on doing a wood or pallet wall.  Kinda like this:

 

(source)

I priced reclaimed barn wood and knew quickly that wasn’t going to happen.  Then I looked into doing it ourselves with pallets.  But the larger my stomach got, the less that large of a DIY project seemed appealing.  William was also worried about how to be sure all the pallets were treated in a way we’d want on a nursery wall.  I also looked into “wood” wallpaper.  Again, not quite in the budget range I was trying to stay in.  So I abandoned my original idea and started to fall in love with this color scheme:And these were a few of the inspiration nurseries I found on Pinterest that I liked:So remember when I was 30-something weeks pregnant with Ellie and painting her stencil on her wall swearing I would never do that again?  Hahahaha.  Never say never. I decided that to do this color scheme, the cream trim in his room and on the doors would have to go.  So William prepped and I spent a week carefully painting 2 coats of trim.  Not for the faint of heart, I tell ya.  But oh is is beautiful.  Luckily, the doors for the basement (oh yeah, I haven’t blogged about that yet have I?) were getting painted around this time, so Miles' closet doors and the back of the main door to the room were painted by someone who knew what they were doing.  Because all the outlets were beige as well, I have to give major props to William for being willing to buy all new white ones AND install them for me.

The next step was picking a color.  While I was researching nurseries, I saw this blue/aqua/sea green color coming up a lot and several bloggers mentioned using the color Iced Green from Benjamin Moore.  I got a small sample from Do It Best Hardware and it was exactly what I was picturing in my head!

After I got all the trim done, I wasn't quite sure what I had gotten myself into.  Thankfully, my mom came to the rescue to help with the rest of it.  Her and William did one coat on Friday night and knocked the other one out Saturday morning.   Owen and Ellie were great helpers (NOT).Then after the paint was done, we put together his crib and dresser.  It felt awesome to finally get some of the big stuff done so I could focus on more of the fun little details. Ta-da. Paint done and crib is assembled! And here is the adorable light I found at Target next to a sweet little owl I picked up a long time ago at Prairie Gardens.  I’ll post a few more of the individual crafts projects I did and then show you a full tour of his room!

Miles is healthy!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! ~ Psalm 107:1a

This morning, we got everyone finally loaded up and made the short trek to Peoria.  If you’re wondering, Frozen is the exact length you need to get you from our door to my parents house.  We pretty much drove in silence as I whispered prayers over and over.

We are so so thankful that my parents rearranged their schedules and took time off to watch Owen and Ellison.  Not having to worry about them was wonderful.  When we arrived, they rushed immediately to the basement where the toys are. :)  I nursed Miles, grabbed some food, and William and I headed out to downtown Peoria.  OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital of Illinois is just about 15 minutes from my parent’s house.  We filled out paperwork and got in pretty quickly.  A nurse took the standard length, weight, and head circumference measurements.  I was thrilled to see that he was already up to 10lbs, 1oz.We waited for awhile in a small exam room and then met the super nice Jen Tarpinian who is a genetic counselor.  Here’s her staff picture more so I remember. :)She started by asking a ton of questions about the pregnancy, birth, and our family history.  All while making little genetic looking diagrams on her paper. :)  When she paused and asked how Miles was doing, I said that he was great, I was the one who was a mess.  She immediately put down her paper and said “while I still need to confer with Dr. Hoganson, the blood work I’ve seen looks fine.”   And cue the Kleenex.  We talked a bit more and she said she would be back in shortly after looking over the last round of blood work results with Dr. Hoganson.

Then the long wait began.  She popped her head back in to ask if we had gotten an urine sample and it was “pending” or we needed to do one today.  I told her how we had done it a say later as the lab hadn’t realized they needed it.  Then a bit later, she came back and said they were doing a large blood draw on a baby next door (hence the screaming we heard) and when it got quiet we could expect to be next.

Dr. George Hoganson came in with Jen and while quirky, he was very kind, knowledge, and easy to understand.  He started by telling us a little more about the newborn screening.  He said that because thousands of infants are screened in the state, there are bound to be cases that pick up borderline kids like Miles.  His metabolism was definitely not all the way matured, as witnessed by his jaundice. This was likely why he had elevated C3 acylcarnitine.  (don’t you like all these fancy new words I’m learning to use?)  He said a lot more big word things too, but I basically tuned as I understood that he was almost “apologizing” for our trip.  Miles was ok.  I tried to hold it together.

I did quickly tune back in when he said that all of Mile's’ blood work had come back in normal ranges and they had tested his urine for ketones and it too, was fine.  He had to do a physical exam while we were there.  We mentioned the cleft palate so while Miles was screaming and giving us a good look, Dr. Hoganson checked it out.  And guess what, more good news.  He said he wouldn’t even classify what Miles has as a cleft palate as he thinks the entire palate is intact.  He threw out a few other suggestions like maybe bifid uvula (although this doesn’t look anything like what I see) or just an indentation in the soft palate, but definitely wouldn’t call it a cleft palate.  He said to follow up with our pediatrician and watch it as he grows.  I’m pretty sure I told him that I wanted to hug him at that point.  At that point, he said Miles looked great and he would be closing Miles’ file with the state.  cue: more tissues.I asked Jen to take a picture of us before we headed out.  She did and then said she couldn’t be happier to close a file and never see us back here.We packed everything up, hugged, called William’s parents and drove in silent happiness back to my folk’s house.  I walked in and simply said “he’s fine” to my dad who burst into tears.  Followed by more tears from my mom.

Thank you Jesus.   It was a good day.

My breast milk could be “poison”

Yes, it’s a dramatic title.  But I’m hormonal so forgive me. :)

Just when we get this little man home from the NICU and think we’re pretty much in the clear with major health issues, I get a call from his pediatrician's office on Wednesday, May 28th.Every baby at an Illinois hospital has a blood screening at 24 hours and before leaving the hospital.  I saw both of Miles’ screenings being done.  They use a heel warmer to get his blood flowing more easily and prick his heel.  Then they squeeze his heel hard and fill in each one of circles with his blood.  This card gets sent to the state where it is screened for all kinds of genetic disorders that may not “show up” with physical signs at birth.
The nurse who called informed me that Miles’ blood screen came back positive for genetic disorder called methylmalonic acidemia.  In plain English, people with organic acid disorders cannot break down protein properly.  This causes harmful substances to build up in their blood and urine.  It would mean an immediate end to our breastfeeding and would mean a lifelong of medicine, special diets, and possible g-tubes and organ transplants.

I had to have her repeat the name of the disorder several times because I felt like I was in shock.  She could tell I was trying to not burst into tears on the phone and tried to reassure me that the screening could be a false positive if the initial blood sample was too small or the test was performed too early.  She gave me some symptoms to call about immediately and told me the specialist’s office would be calling very soon.  She thankfully encouraged me to keep nursing him until I heard otherwise.

Later in the day, I talked with the doctor’s office that will be taking Miles’ case.  Dr. Hoganson is a pediatric endocrinologist.   He practices in Chicago and Peoria and thankfully, we were able to get an appointment in Peoria for this Thursday, June 5th at noon.  My parents will be able to take care of Owen and Ellison so we can both be fully present at the appointment.

The day after we received this call, we had to go do a huge round of blood work that got sent to Peoria.  When I went to the lab, I asked them if they used the heel warmers before pricking him.  She said, oh we need a lot more blood than that.  One nurse held him still while one drew a ton of blood.  Thankfully, she only had to try once to get the needle in!The next day they called back to apologize that they had not completely read the orders to see that they needed an urine sample.  So another trip to the doctor and we got a u-bag and I spent the morning nursing, checking, nursing, checking and finally getting a sample to take back in.  And now we wait.  We know nothing except that we will be meeting with Dr. Hoganson, a geneticists, and a dietician tomorrow.Some of the people I know are asking how I’m doing.  Honestly, I feel like I handled the birth and NICU stuff pretty well emotionally.  And then this was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”  The first day I just cried and cried.  Ellie kept saying “mommy sad?” which made it all the worse. I did just a little Google research just to find out a little more about it and prepare myself to ask questions tomorrow.  I also tried to find real stories of any infant who has had this to see if nursing was possible (it wasn’t).  As of today, I’m just crying when we have a sweet, quiet nursing time.  Every time I get a chance, I just lay hands on him and pray that it was simply a false positive on the screening.  I’m just choosing not to ‘go there’ yet until I have to tomorrow.

I know that many moms choose to not breastfeed or can’t for a multitude of reasons.  And they and their babies turn out just fine.  (And more power to you mommas for ANY way that you feed your babies)  But to love something so much and to be told I possibly won’t be able to do it anymore is just heartbreaking.  Not to mention thinking about what this lifelong disorder could possibly look like for Miles and our family.  It’s a little too overwhelming to process.

So if you are the praying type, I beg you to pray for us as we head to OSF in Peoria tomorrow at noon.  Pray that it was a false positive on his screening.  And pray that if he does have this, that God will provide everything we need to be able to process this news and move forward to be able to do what we need to for Miles’ health.  And just pray for my momma heart. 

*for more info you can check out - www.newbornscreening.info/Parents/organicaciddisorders/MMA.html and www.oaanews.org/mma.htm

1 week checkup

Today was William’s last day of being home, so I ran Miles to his one week checkup appointment by himself.  This is how he feels about his car seat:We couldn’t get into Dr. Melvin, so we saw Dr. Tripathy.  She was the pediatrician we switched from.  The appointment confirmed my first thoughts on her – very thorough and knowledgeable, but all business.He’s above his birth weight at 9lbs, 15oz!  She said his everything looked great, even his circumcision.  While checking his cleft palate, she could barely see it without pushing his tongue way down.  We’re going to check in with Dr. Melvin at his one month and possibly get a referral to a specialist so we can know what the future possibly holds on that front.  It has had ZERO impact on his eating/breathing right now.  Thank you God!

Miles’ Going Home Day!

Friday, May 23rd was a good day!  When the doctors did morning rounds, I asked begged that we be allowed to go home.  Dr. Stratton agreed!  The last thing on this little guy’s list was his circumcision.  Save the worst pain for last, right?Around 11, a very nice doctor came and explained the procedure and I signed consent papers.  The nurse gave me a meal ticket .  I ran downstairs to the cafeteria and grabbed a quick bite and got back upstairs just as Miles was getting back.  Now all we had to do was wait until he peed.  Wouldn’t you know…my child would take 4 HOURS to simply pee.  We nursed and nursed and checked his diaper again and again, nothing.  The second he peed, the nurse swung into action and we were ready to leave in about 5 minutes!
Since William had the kids, it was easier for me to just drive him home myself.  They don’t let you carry the car seat out, so he got his first wagon ride down while I went and pulled up the van. We got loaded up and I thanked God as we drove away from our home away from home.When I got home, Anne D was just leaving after dropping off a delicious meal and diapers!  Owen and Ellie attacked the car seat the second we walked in the door. Owen wasn’t too interested in holding him.Daddy sure was though!He finally got a little wash down and I tried my best to get all the little tape off him left from all his wires. William had a hard time letting him go as he had barely seen the little man all week.We are so thankful for the amazing care he received in the NICU.  But we are even more thankful to be home!