Hicks Happenings

Brotherly Love

2011-05-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

Carson is almost 2 months old and it seems as if life didn't exist without him! Bowdy loves his brother and occasionally will babble to him, it is the cutest thing because he is trying to have a conversation. Bowdy loves to come up to Carson and rub his head gently, and just when I think he understands what it means to be nice to his brother he rubs Carson's head, but finishes the "petting" off with a little hair pull... When he isn't pulling his hair he is usually finding a way to get close enough to Carson to steal his paci. I can't wait until they can entertain each other. I caught Bowdy laying on the floor playing with Carson so I snapped a few photos, they aren't great because I had only a few seconds to capture a sweet moment!

family...

2011-04-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I take for granted all the family that lives around me, we are so grateful that both my sisters, their families, and my mom and dad all live in McKinleyville. I know most people aren't as lucky to have their families so close. Not only do we all live close, but we all get along great, yes we do argue, but usually one sister is the peacemaker(usually Janelle:)) and we quickly get over whatever the argument was. If we can't figure it out between the sisters, we all try to beat each other to call mom and get her on "our side" you would think by now we would figure out that she doesn't take sides, just tells us to get over it and move on.

Last night we had all the family over for dinner and it got me thinking how close we all are. All of us were planning on making our own dinners at our own houses, but how boring, right? Everyone just brought what they were going to make and we cooked it all at our house and had a feast and lots of fun. It is always a hoot to see all the kids play together and it makes the nights go by so much faster when they are entertaining each other. None them really fight, once in a while we have to make sure that they aren't being too big of daredevils!

Loving Life

2011-04-05T09:28:00.001-07:00

So I made it through my first week with two little boys, and honestly it was much easier than anticipated. Bowdy has been on the very consistent schedule since birth, so I had the same plan with Carson. My only struggle with Carson was trying to plan how I wanted his schedule to be because I needed it to work with Bowdys so I wasn't running around crazy trying to please two children, I need some mom time as well!

Bowdy's schedule is:

8 am -Wake up... Milk and Breakfast

10 am-12 pm: Nap

12pm: Lunch

12:30-2:00: Playtime

2-4: Nap

4:snack

5:30: dinner

6:30: Bath

7:30:Bed Time

Carson's Schedule:

8am:Wake... Feed

9-11:Sleep

11:00: Feed and Wake time

12-2: Sleep

2:00 Feed and Wake time

3-5:Sleep

5:00:Feed and Wake time

6-8:Sleep

8:00:Feed and straight back to bed

11:00:Feed and straight back to bed

4:00 am: Feed and straight back to bed

8:00 am: Start it all over!

As you can see Carson pretty much sleeps and eats and when he has wake time it usually only last 30 minutes or so. I'm pretty happy with how both of their schedules align, but having them both wake up at 8 am is a little tricky, Bowdy usually sleeps till 8:15 or 8:30 so that gives me enough time to get Carson fed. I might have to start waking Carson up at 7:30 when I go back to work so I can get out of the house at a decent hour!

Anyway... I want to thank my sister Danielle for introducing us all to babywise, without her testing this philosophy out on her own children I probably would be going insane having two babies at home!

Carson Robert Hicks

2011-03-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

We welcomed Carson Robert Hicks on March 24, 2011 at 8:05 am. He is absolutely perfect, he was 7 lbs 5 ozs and was 20 inches long. He seems so small to me, I forgot how fragile newborns were until I held him. He was born with a full head and body of black hair! We are all in love with him, I don't think Bowdy quite understands that Carson is here to stay. I did catch him looking into his bassinet yesterday laughing at him. I know they will be best of friends!

So Many Blessings

2011-02-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

Wow, has it really been 8 months since I lasted blogged? Where does all the time go? Anyway so much has happened in the last 8 months and honestly I don't think I could have imagined my life any better. Bowdy turned 1 year on December 10th and I can't believe how big he is getting. At his one year appointment he weighed 19lbs, that is incredible to me because it seemed like yesterday I was packing around a 4 pounder! He is a pretty happy baby, as long as he has taken all his naps and isn't sick. He is such a joy to be around and he has a smile that can light up the room. He definitely knows when to turn on the charm, I know most parents like to stay home when their kids are cranky, but honestly when Bowdy test my patience, I usually load him in the car and do errands like go grocery shopping. He is such a ham and a people watcher that he behaves he best when he is out and about. I can always count on getting stopped at least twice in the store for people to play with him and admire his smile... I know a little bragging, but he does have a "million dollar" smile! Bowdy has his favorite people at certain times.... in the morning he will not let his dad put him down, even if Clay needs to get dressed and he wants nothing to do with me, when we are at work he only wants Janelle to be with him and is always fighting Luke for a position on her lap, but at night time I'm his number one gal, he is quite the cuddler when he stops moving for a few minutes. He lights up when he sees his cousins and when Uncle Mikey and Uncle Travis come in the office. He is completely smitten by my dad, who people say he looks just like!

Bowdy's 1 year update:
Eats 4 bottles a day every 4 hours.
Eats 3 small meals and he loves baby food
Speed Crawls, no walking yet!
Loves his paci
10 percent in weight
Takes two- two hr. naps
Sleeps from 730 pm- 8 am
Says dada and mama

Oyster Fest 2010

2010-06-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

This was my first year to attend Oyster Fest. It was a blast, the sun was shining for the most part and the people watching was great. Over the past years I have started to like Oysters, as long as they are the baby ones and I don't have to chew! There are so many different ones to choose from, but I think my favorite one was a cucumber lime salsa Oyster. Here are some pictures from that weekend.

A new start-Day 2

2010-06-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

So again last night I tried to figure out Bowdy's sleep issue! He did great all day taking all his naps and eating good. Last night he did much better than the night before, but I guess anything wold be an improvement from waking up every hour or so.... Last night went a little like this:

8 pm to bed
12 woke up crying, I gave him his paci and he fell asleep
1 am he woke up again and I went in there to comfort him after 5 minutes of crying and then 10 minutes later he was still crying so I gave him a pillow, wrapped him up and he went straight to bed till 6:30 this morning.
At 630 I went in and gave him his paci, he slept till I woke him up at 7:30

Over all I felt like last night was much better than Wednesday night so I know we are on a good start. Hopefully tonight gets better not worse:)

A new start

2010-06-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

So last week I was talking to Janelle and telling her that I couldn't believe how much easier Bowdy was now and that I didn't think it would ever get to this point. I was raving about how I felt I could take him anywhere and knew he wouldn't be too difficult for me to handle. This shouldn't have come as a surprise to me since I had taken him out and about since we came home from the hospital, 4lbs and all, but I think it finally hit me that I could do anything with him. Bowdy has been great during the day, taking 3 -2 1/2 hour naps and usually a evening cat nap that last from 30 minutes to 1 hour. He had been sleeping through the night with his last feeding at 8 or 8:30. I would only have to get up and give him is paci around 3 or 4 and then wake him up at 7:30. I often would complain that I felt like he should have "sleeping at night" down since he was almost 6 months and I believed he should be "perfect" Well I guess that was pretty much a perfect night compared to what I have been going through this last week. He is definitely pushing my patience each night. He has all of a sudden started waking up every two hours through-out the night and I was at my wits end on Monday night so I decided I wasn't going to give in to his screaming, but around 4:30 when Clay left for work he demanded that I do something for the kid since he had been whaling for the last 30 minutes! I cracked and ended up wrapping him in his Indian basket and what do you know... he was fast asleep until I woke him at 7:30. What is going on with him? I cried yesterday to Janelle because I just don't understand what his deal is. Yes it could be an upset stomach, or he is teething, or something hurts, or he is just being spoiled.... Too many unknowns. I tried to think if I was doing anything different these last couple weeks with him and I realized that I just started feeding him banannas, so maybe they upset his belly? None of these questions make it easier for me because I refuse to be another mom who makes excuses for her child because they have sleeping issues.
I was pondering this all day and trying to figure out what I was going to do different so that Bowdy, Clay, and I can survive the nights without an ounce of resentment. I read through the Babywise blog and searched for answers. I came across a few sugesstions that might help us! I think we are going to try to be more consistent at night time and establish a bed time routine. Until Tuesday night, we had just been giving him a bath somewhere between 7 and 8 and fed him between 8 and 8:30, which just might be a little to inconsistent for him. I hope that is the answer!
Last night is the first night I really implemented CIO as described in babywise. Night one of the implementation went a lot better than I had planned. Here is what happened:

Laid him down for bed at 8pm, he immediately fell asleep
He woke up at 12:00 so I waited 3 minutes, went into his room touched his belly and covered him back up, when I left the room 30 seconds later he was still crying.
I waited another 5 minutes and he was still crying so I went in there and did the same routine as the first time, left the room.
after another 8 minutes he was still crying so I repeated the routine, left the room and he was still crying.
I was going to give him 11 minutes this time to calm down, but after two minutes he was silent!
I laid in bed trying to fall asleep and it seemed like at least an hour of peace.... but what do you know after 8 minutes of silence Bowdy started crying again...
I repeated my routine two times and he soothed himself to sleep. By this time is was about 1 am and he fell asleep till 2:30 am.
I again repeated the routine, but only had to go in there once before he fell sleep
Then at 4:15 he woke again, I went in there once and he sleep till 7.
my goal is to have him sleep to 7:30 so I went in there, gave him is paci and then woke him at 7:30 to feed.

I know that this is a long and boring post, but I'm hoping this night process keeps getting easier. We are leaving for the lake on Sunday and will be gone almost 3 weeks, I hope he is a little better by then so he doesn't bother anyone. We have changed his daily schedule and I plan on being less flexible with is until he masters his night sleeping. He is perfect for me during the day so I know he can be perfect at night!

Here is our new schedule:

7:30- bottle and solids

8:45- nap

11:00 bottle

12:15-nap

2:00- bottle and solids

3:15- nap

5:30-bottle

7:45-bath

8:00 -bottle and solids and bed.

If anyone has any helpful suggestions let me know I am totally open to any ideas... I know babywise works because I see the kids that are raised on it and they are a pleasure to be around, but maybe I'm doing something wrong:(

6 months

2010-06-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Wow has time really flown by! I still find myself in disbelief that I have a baby, much less a 6 month old baby! Where does the time go? I guess when you work almost full time you don't realize how fast time is really going when all you seem to think about is getting the week over and enjoying the weekend. Sometimes I wish I could be a stay at home mom for the simple fact that I wouldn't have to get up early and get dressed every morning and rush to the office. I dream that only having to find things to entertain my child and getting tons of play time with him were things that consumed my day. Every time I get this "I don't want to work" feeling I take the day off and once I finish all my chores, I just sit there and realize I couldn't do this everyday, week vacations are nice, but I don't think being a stay at home mom is for me, unless I had a billion kids. Besides working for my Dad isn't half bad, I get to bring Bowdy to work and get to be will Janelle, Connor and Lucas. I bet if Danielle worked here, Janelle and I would work lots of hours because we would love just being with eachother.

Bowdy is doing great, we had his six month check up on Monday and he weighed 14lbs(3%), 25.75" long(24%) and was 9% in head. The doctor said he was progressing just great, but wanted him to start gaining more weight, hopefully he will move into a higher percent at his 9 month check up. I can't believe that in another 6 months he will be 1 year, it seems like he will always be small, not crawling or talking. but I guess I need to savor this time because before I know it he will be into everything!

6 month stats:

Sleeps 12 hours at night
Feeds every 3 1/2 hours
Eats 6 oz of formula
Eats 3 meals a day
Still very smiley
Rolls over immediately when placed on the floor
Puts everything in his mouth including both feet
Starting to do mini push ups(I think he will be crawling soon)
Loves his cousins to talk to him
Doesn't spit up as much as before(I think the meds are working)
Has a cough that will not go away

A little less crazy

2010-05-28T22:51:00.000-07:00

Im finally getting a little bit of time to update my blog (just finishing watching 5 kiddos) that is officially way overdue! A lot has been going on in our lives, but the most exciting thing is that I finally finished college. Yes I know I should have my masters degree, or even a PHD with the amount of time I spent getting my BS in Business, but oh well I truly lived up the first couple of years of college, or the first four years and wasn't focused on getting into the real world, but the truth is just working and raising a baby is way easier then going to school! I am enjoying spending my nights with family instead of in the library, even though study groups were quite amusing with the right kind of study partners! I have been working at least 30 hours per week and I hope I can step that up to 40, but I'm trying to find the perfect schedule and the balance I need to be a good mom and wife. I know that Clay is probably more excited for me to be graduated because it will take a little pressure off of him playing daddy day-care. Well the most important boy in our lives is now 24 weeks! It is crazy how fast the first 5 months went, and I feel like I didn't appreciate him as a baby because I felt like he wouldn't get to the big boy stage, but I know he is growing up faster than I could imagine. He is now 13 lbs and the doctors seem happy with his growth even though he is still on the smaller side. We started him on reflux meds a couple weeks ago because he was spitting up more than normal and he has had a cough for almost 6 weeks.

They are hoping this medicine will help him gain more weight and get rid of the cough, I know his grandma Dena will appreciate him not smelling like puke, or spitting up(projectile status) on her!

Bowdys Milestones:

-2 bottom teeth

-eats baby food three times a day(when I'm on top of it)

-Rolls over and is constantly turning in circles to watch TV

-Loves his johnny jump up

-eats 6 ozs ever 3.5 hours

-sleeps from 830 pm- 7:30

-takes 3 naps

-smiles constantly

*Im sure there are many more, but over all he is a GREAT baby, I didn't know someone could bring you this much joy. He has been a blessing to Clay and I

Its been awhile!

2010-03-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well we have all noticed that I haven't blogged in awhile because to be honest blogging is my last priority! I have my birthday last weekend and a group of us went to Santa Rosa. We all had a blast, but I wish the weather was a bit warmer. Here are a couple pictures from the weekend...

Not that bad...

2010-01-14T16:34:00.000-08:00

Today was Bowdys appt to get circumcised and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Everyone kept saying how horrible the experience of getting your kid circumcised was so I was preparing myself for the worst. Last week I told Clay that he would be in charge of taking Bowdy, because I didn't want to go, then on Monday I changed my mind. I told him I would at least go to the doctors, but I would stay in the waiting room. My mom didn't agree with my choice on this and she basically told me to suck it up and be in the room. So of course I listened to her and both Clay and I went together, but we both made it clear we wouldn't watch.

After finally getting into the room, Dr. Humphrey just wrapped him in a blanket, strapped him down and got to business. Bowdy cried when her got the numbing shots, but that was basically it. They gave us some "sugar water" and I just dipped his pacifier in that a few times and he went sound asleep. He must like sugar just like his auntie! Dr. Humprhey did assure me that he did better than most kids and that when kids have their parents in the

room they seem to be more comfortable. I'm glad our experience went well, because I was nervous for weeks about it.

Oh and even better than him sleeping during that painful process was that he weighed in at 5lbs 13 oz! Almost 6 pounds! Wonder if Ill have anything to talk about when he is "normal"size!

Below are some pictures we took and sent to the NICU nurses at the hospital. The quilt his is laying on was made by one of them so we sent them a thank you card and include these photos!

Its the small things...

2010-01-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

It's the small things in life that make you excited! To most parents putting their kids in their car seats seem meaningless, but today I put Bowdy in his "big boy" car seat for the first time and he actually rode in it while we ran errands. I am a nervous wreck about his neck falling forward, because the nurses told me that if his falls forward he could cut off his air supply since he is so little, well he has gotten super strong, so I decided it was time to get him out of the car bed!

Isn't he so cute?

1 Month Old

2010-01-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it has already been one month since I gave birth to this little boy! It is crazy because it seems like I've had him forever, or at least longer than a month. It is funny how milestones, such as him one month birthday, put things into perspective. When we were in the hospital it seemed like we were never going to leave and now that I have been home for two weeks, the two weeks in the hospital feel almost like they didn't even happen! Everyone always says that you could never love someone as much as your child, and I am another one of those people.

I would say that we are pretty lucky with how Bowdy behaves, and I would love to attribute that to the way he "just is", but the truth is that Clay and I are lucky to have sisters that keep me following Babywise guidelines. I truly believe that is why he is on a strict 3 hour feeding schedule with a little wake time after his feeds(I know Janelle, I'll try harder to keep him awake after the feeds) and he sleeps for the remaining 2 1/2 hours in between. I have to give props to the NICU nurses who trained him as well to eat only every three hours, so I got a jump start before having to do it on my own, now I just make sure to not deviate from that schedule. The second week at home has been more challenging for Clay and I as Bowdy is now developing his personality and has found his voice, but overall we are having a blast raising, or monitoring, our child.

Today we were visited by the home health nurse (for the third time in the two weeks we have been home) and he weighed in at 5lbs and 1/2 oz. He will be in a regular car seat before we know it!

First Doctors Appt

2010-01-03T20:25:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday we had Bowdy's first doctors appointment and he is now weighing in at 4lbs 12 oz, 18 1/4 inches long. He has grown over an inch since birth and seems to be gaining about 1 oz a day which is great and before long we will have a big boy! We have seen the home health nurse twice already and they seemed please with his progression, so I believe we don't have to have them out to the house anymore. At first I thought the home health visits were a little bizarre, but I think they helped reassure me that he was doing okay. We go back to the doctor this coming Tuesday, and I'm hoping to be carrying a 5lb boy!

Thoughtful Friends

2009-12-25T07:45:00.001-08:00

With a new baby come lots of visitors, this might be one of my favorite parts to being a new mom. I have always loved having lots of friends, and lately everyone comes and visits and I am enjoying their company. I wish I took pictures of everyone that has either came to the hospital to see him, or stopped by the house.

Amanda and Victoria stopped by the other night and we had lots of fun playing with Bowdy. As you can see in the picture below we put Bowdy in his stocking, this was his dads idea!

I know I talked about Janelle in an earlier post about how "pushy" she can be or maybe she just knows how to get what she wants! There is a loving side to her as well, she is super supportive, just like Danielle and she was one of the reasons I was able to get through the first two weeks spent at the hospital. Since Janelle had some free time she spent a couple nights with me at the hospital and woke up with me at every feeding to help.
As mentioned above we have had many friends visits, but another amazing part to having good friends is that they have cooked dinner for us as well. Below is dinner Natalie Jones made for Clay and I on our 2nd night home. This picture doesn't show how amazing the food was. She made us a pasta dish, french bread, and some good tasting cookies. The cookies seemed to disappeared throughout the night during feeding times...
As everyone knows- hospital food sucks! Tasha and Chrissy came to visit us at the hospital and they brought us an assortment of desserts made made themselves and Natalie. This is a good change from the boring food we had been eating. Somehow treats brighten your day!

Our Little Man

2009-12-23T21:14:00.000-08:00

Our Precious Boy

2009-12-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

So as most of you know we got home from the hospital yesterday around 11 am and as exciting as it was to be going home, the excitement was overshadowed by my nerves. As crazy as it sounds I was actually scared to have Bowdy taken off the monitors and wasn't sure if taking the feeding tube out of his nose was a good thing or not. I hated the sight of all the wires hooked up to him, but found peace knowing that when I had a doubt about is stability I could just look up and see his heart rate, pulse, and oxygen levels. I was so consumed by the numbers, that a nurse told me to stop focusing on them and just pay attention to his color and the way his chest was moving, but do you blame me for wanting the numbers on the monitors to always show great numbers? I mean, do the nurses really pay enough attention to your child...

Here is the story of my (lack of) labor and delivery that started on Wednesday December 9th around 11 pm. I went in for my 38 week appt with Ginger at Dr Stokes office around 4:15 thinking that everything was going to be fine. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable and wanted him to come soon, Janelle volunteered to come along to the appointment to apply some pressure in order to get me induced. I am more reserved than Janelle and I would never think to ask any questions at these appointments and wold just go there, get weighed/checked and be on my way. My appointments usually only took about 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes less and consisted of no more than an average of 3 sentences spoken by me. Needless to say Janelle wanted Bowdy to come and she knew that is what I wanted also, so she came along with me to ask the questions I wouldn't dare to. About 10 minutes into the appointment Janelle took over explaining or elaborating ever symptom I had and when I would say they weren't that big of deal, or explain that they might be due to sleep deprivation, she would give me the eye. I think I was just trying to be tougher than I am. At that particular appointment I had high blood pressure and protein in my urine, which hadn't been the case at any of my other check ups, so the doctor seemed a little concerned, but said she wanted me to go to the hospital in the morning and do a 24 hr urine test. I said okay and we were almost on our way, when you know who said, "can we go to the hospital tonight instead of waiting till tomorrow, that would make us feel more comfortable." The doctor said sure, so off we were to St Joe's. Once we got there I called my mom and Clay to update them and told then it was no biggie, and we should be home shortly(about 1 hour). A 1 hour hospital visit turned into a six hour visit, but I still wasn't concerned. Janelle and I just hung out (I got her hooked on NCIS) and waited patiently for the nurses to tell us we could leave. Around 1130 the nurse came in and said that she was going to send me home and wanted me to do a 24 hour urine test, then about 5 minutes later she came back in and said that something wasn't adding up and she was going to order an alternator. I called my mom and Clay and said they should come in because i was getting an ultrasound. I was excited because Clay hadn't got to see any of my past ultrasounds so this would be the first time he could see our son.

The ultrasound tech said it would be quick, just a couple of minutes, but as she started to give me the ultrasound, I noticed she was taking a long time and what should have taken a few minutes turned in to a 15-20 minute ultrasound, I started to panic. Then she told me that my amniotic fluid was at a 2 and a 10 is normal with a 5 being dangerously low. I was very worried along with everyone else that was there. Dr Koch was oncall and he seemed worried, he called a Dr in San Francisco to see what he should do and then called the ultrasound tech back in to get some measurements of the baby. Due to the low fluid the tech could get any measurements so Dr. Koch decided to induce my labor using cervidal. About two hours into the induction the Dr told the nurses to remove the cervidal because the baby couldn't handle contractions. Ever contraction I would have cause Bowdy's heart rate to drop dramatically. It was now around 3 am and the oncall Dr and surgical team didn't want to do a c-section because they were tired and might not be able to preform at their optimal levels. At 8am Dr Ajamani came on and she asked if I wanted to try to be induced again or if I opted for a C-section, I chose a c-section because I didn't want to risk hurting Bowdy just to have a natural labor. The doctor said it would be about 3 or 4 hours before they could get me into surgery so I called Clay and told him the plan and that he didn't have to rush to the hospital because it would be a few hours. About 5 minutes later the Doc came in and said they had a slight change in plans and I would be ready for the c-section in about 10 minutes. Oh no I said, the father isn't even here and just about then I saw Clay walk by the window. As he walked through the door they were dressing him for surgery and had me walking down the hall to surgery. It took them about 10 minutes to get Bowdy out and about 1 hour to complete the whole c-section. When they took Bowdy out they briefly showed him to Clay and I and said that he was a tiny one, they guessed 5lbs. They rushed him to ICU along with Clay so they could check him out. After they weighed him the nursery called the OR and said he was 3lbs and 14 ounces. The doctors were shocked and asked why no one knew he was that small. Needless to say he did great outside the womb, passing most of the test they ran on him.

As the hour passed all I could do was lay in the hospital bed and wait for the medicine to wear off before I could get to see my little baby. This was so hard for me, everyone who was there took pictures to show me him, but I wanted to see him for myself. I finally had enough energy to get out of bed, get into a wheelchair and go see him in the ICU. This is when I lost it, I saw him all hooked up to wires and an IV and was so upset that I couldn't help him. All I could think about was how I was responsible for him laying there. How could I not have known something was wrong, I felt horrible, I sat there and bawled. After a couple minutes of holding the little guy I went back to my room extremely emotional. The next few days were just a blur, I was recovering and didn't get to see my baby often, Clay was too sick to hold him... It felt like I had a child, but I had no connection with him, did he even know who his parents were?

On Sunday night I got discharged from the hospital, but there was no way I could leave my child there alone so the hospital staff allowed up to stay in our room until they got busy. This was so nice because it allowed me to go into the nursery and hold/feed him every three hours, I don't know what I would have done it I have to stay home and not be with him. On Monday I tried to go home and get some rest and I told the nurses to just feed him at 11 and I would be back to do the rest of the feedings. When I got home I was okay for about 1 hour, then I got emotional again and couldn't believe I left him. My dad had to take me back to the hospital.

I could write a novel on the time spent at the hospital, but honestly it makes me tear up thinking about everything that happened in the last two weeks. I know that what my child went through doesn't even hold a candle to what other parents go through with their kids, but when something happens to your child and your not sure if they will be okay, it seems like the biggest heartache that can happen. Now looking back on the past two weeks I can say now the one thing that got my through this (besides my family) is trusting the God had a plan for Bowdy and no matter how much I wanted him to eat and come home, God had a plan for him. After a week long emotional roller coaster ride, we went to church to watch Cole in the Christmas program, then the Pastor gave his message. One thing he talked about was that God has a plan for everyone--- after this message I prayed and told God I would trust him to take care of Bowdy and I would rely on him to heal Bowdy. After church I went back to the hospital, were the nurse made me nurse him. I was frustrated, because he hadn't been successful at nursing and that would set us back if he ended up getting tube fed because he wouldn't nurse. I just closed my eyes and prayed. The feeding wasn't successful, but that was the last unsuccessful feeding we had. From that time forward, Bowdy excelled, eating all by himself for the next 48 hours and we were able to come home! Trust the lord, because you can't do anything without him!

So we are home now and after 1 successful night on our own my nerves have calmed and I know that we are going to adjust to having a little newborn quickly! We have had lots of fun talking, smiling, and playing with him!

BOWDY DANIEL HICKS

2009-12-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

Born 12/10/09 9:18 am weighting in at 3lbs 14 oz standing in the right corner of the NICU.

Bowdy made his appereance into the world 6 days ago. To everyones surpise, including the doctors he was tiny! Because of his size and his inability to eat on his own he has spent the last 5 days in the NICU. We talked to the doctor today and he is making progress, but still has to be in there until at least the end of the week. We wish he could at least be in our room at the hospital, but I guess we can wait a week:( The hardest part of having him in the NICU is that Clay is sick and can't go in and see him. He has only been in the room once with him. Poor guy!

I will update everyone on the Labor and Delivery of mister Bowdy in the near future!

49er Game

2009-12-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, after Thanksgiving, Jason and Jessica flew into Redding and we picked them up, had lunch and then went to the lights parade in downtown Red Bluff. It was amazing all the pretty lighted floats, I think there were 50 or more. On Sunday the four of us drove down to San Fransico to watch the 49ers play. The game started at 1, but we arrived early and tailgated, which was fun and entertaining. The weather was perfect, it was 70 outside and not windy at all, Jessica and I came prepared for the cold weather, but were excited to know we could actually not bundle up. The game was exciting and they ended up winning, which was shocking giving the way they have been playing all year. We had awesome seats only 7 rows from the field and you could see everything, it is crazy how much bigger and fit the players look in person. Clay and Jason even got their picture taken with Sam the mascot, they were so proud!

A Much Needed Break

2009-12-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

Why doesn't it seem like vacations are long enough? We just finished our week long Thanksgiving break from school and I swear I seemed to have more things going on during the week of "vacation" then when I'm not on vacation. I did enjoy sleeping in and just one responsibility during the week, which was working! Sometimes I day dream of just having to get up each morning and working 8-5. That seems like the luxury life, but I'm sure I'll never have a job that is that simple.... Enough blabbing, we have a fun Thanksgiving week and one of the nice thing about being married it that you get to enjoy almost double holiday party's.

My Dad has been on a diet for almost two months and has lost 25 pounds so you can imagine that Thanksgiving dinner would be a struggle for him to control himself. Here is a picture of him making his hungry satisfying shake in the morning so he could control himself. He did GREAT!

This year Uncle Clay was chosen by all the kids to be there playing friend, he is so good with all of them because he is a kid at heart. He spent a couple hours playing football, Frisbee, and baseball with them, until he was worn out. They all had a blast and there were no major injuries, expect when Carly through a dirt clod at Connors face, he wasn't the least bit happy!

This year my side of the family celebrated Thanksgiving on Wednesday, so all of us could be together. It was lots of fun and the weather was beautiful, which makes it nice for everyone to be able to hang outside. My mom was in charge of the Turkey and stuffing because she doesn't trust any of us to be in charge of the main part of dinner. Last year she let Travis and Danielle deep fry the turkey and they showed up to cook it when we were supposed to have dinner(the turkey only took 15 minutes to cook) needless to say that threw her schedule off and I think she will volunteer to do the turkey cooking from here on out. Secretly us girls were hoping the turkey this year would not be on time, but of course if was perfect, just like she planned... Danielle was in charge of candy yams(connors new favorite, probably because he heard the word candy associated with them) and mash potatoes. Janelle made the best rolls and we elected her to make them each year for every holiday dinner since they were phenomenal. I made the desserts, which weren't that good. I made Carmel Apple cheesecake bars, but they were way too rich, Janelle couldn't even finish one!

After dinner on Wednesday Clay and I headed over to Red Bluff to spend the rest of the week with his family. We have Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night with his parents, sister, grandma and uncle. It was a very relaxing dinner and we had another huge feast. It is always nice to go to his parents because they are exceptional hostest and make sure you are well taken care of. Clay got to spend lots of time with his dad. They went bowling, played endless amounts of horse shoes and pool games.

Well we had a good week and I hope you all did as well. We are now in the final stages of this pregnancy and can't wait for it to get over with, wish he would come already. Janelle has mentioned taking castrol oil, but I'm nervous because I have read some scary stories online and don't know if I should take the risk. She has been making me drink "bring on the birth" and it is so nasty, but I guess it makes her happy:) Maybe next time I blog I will be able to introduce everyone to Bowdy!

No Rhyme or Reason

2009-11-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

Well I was all excited to get a blog, but I find myself not having anything to blog about or any pictures to share. This is a random post to let everyone know what has been happening in our lives...

Well it is officially winter and as I look outside I'm not sure the rain is ever going to let up. I usually don't mind the rain except when I have to hike up the hills on campus and manage to get soaking wet and then be stuck inside with people who smell like wet dogs. The worst part of being pregnant while it is raining is that none of my coats will zip up and so when I mange to stay dry I end up having a huge wet strip down my belly where I can't cover up. Let me tell you that is attractive! Enough about the rain... Clay is unemployed and as much as he hates it I don't seem to mind it at all (a huge change from last unemployed season) I do wish he was collecting a pay check but it is so nice to come home at night and have dinner made for you and the house cleaned, laundry washed and put away. And best of all he sleeps on the couch at least half the week so I can be comfortable at night. (I miss him next to me, but sleep is priceless) He has been such a huge help especially since all I want to do is sleep. I really couldn't ask for a better husband, well okay maybe he could be a little more empathic when the whole pregnancy emotions happen, but he tries to not laugh at me when I'm being completly ridiculous.

Now on to the pregnancy! I am getting ready for him to be here in about 1 month, but it still doesn't seem real, I feel like I am playing pretend, until of course I wake up every 30 minutes to an hour to use the restroom, don't sleep at night when Clay is in bed, and feel like a huge whale ready to explode. I have seemed to manage a pretty normal pregancy and have enjoyed being pregnant, but as of a week ago I have swelled up and its hard to find anything comfortable to wear beside PJS. I guess if this is the worst I have to deal with then I'll survive!

Last weekend my mother-in-law and clays aunt threw me a baby shower in Red Bluff, and it was super fun. My mom, Janelle and the kids, Jessica and Alissa all made the trip over from the coast. We had lots of guest and gifts, now I just have to find some where to put it all. I was excited to see my Aunt Penny and her girls and of course Sashelle's twins. The twins are so adorable and I can't believe how big they have gotton. Sashelle is a trooper and I'm still not sure how she does it all with two newborns, but i think it has something to do with her mom and sister always being there to help! All in All it was a fabulous weekend, I always love getting to see the in-laws and have a relaxing weekend. One of Cindy's friends took lots of pictures and Ill post them as soon as I get them.

A random picture of Connor today

Here is a picture of me at 36 weeks (Janelle didn't realize how big I was until she took these, you got to love her for the truth)

I finally finished the leather on my baskets and my mom put the straps in on one of them.

It's Shower Time

2009-10-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

As my due date draws near, it seems like things in my life are getting busier but I'm sure that it's about to get even crazier in a few months! Last week my mom, sisters, and some friends threw me a baby shower at my moms house. I think the party was a hit, but I may be a little bias. We had about 30 people there and the food was catered by Perfect Palette, which is always the best part of a party!

Our menu consisted of:

pepperoncini cheese spread
sun-dried tomato spread
caramelized onion spread
turkey and basil sandwiches with scallion cream cheese
sesame crusted asian chicken sandwiches
roast beef with shaved apple and horseradish cream sandwiches
homemade potstickers with hot and sour chili sauce

Great, I'm starving thinking about food! Anyway everything turned out great that day and I just finished organizing and putting all the gifts away. My challenge with the gifts is that we are going to be living in a one bedroom apartment and trying to get everything to fit it becoming quite the ordeal as we keep stockpiling more and more stuff!

Thanks to everyone who could come to the shower! I will be having my another shower hosted by my mother-in-law in a couple weeks and I think we will be anxious to get the little guy here to enjoy all his new things!

Joined the Club

2009-10-23T09:42:00.001-07:00

There have been many exciting changes this past year, but I think the most exciting of them all is that we are going to be first time parents in a couple of months. I found out I was pregnant at 3 weeks and I was kinda bummed that I knew so soon because I thought 9 more months seemed like forever. Well here I am now only a couple months from the delivery and wondering if we are ready, I guess we are going to have to get ready!

This past summer has been filled with lots of activities, but the most recent trip we took was to Shasta Lake . My mom basically kidnapped my sisters and I as well as the kids and took us on a weekend getaway to Shasta Lake. It was a lot of fun once we arrived and figured out where we were going. My mom is so funny because she likes to be in control and that usually doesn't happen because all three of us girls also want to be the boss, so in order for her to be in charge you has to fool us.... So this is the short version of how the trip came to be.

She rented a 12 person van ( the one that you took in high school to all the games) We all were humiliated at first, but got use to all the room it provided. I especially loved it because all the kids were in the furthest seat back ( 3 rows to be specific) so I could barely hear them!

We stayed a lovely vacation rental that had a beautiful view overlooking the lake. On Saturday we went to the Shasta Caves and they are pretty amazing once you get done hiking up and down the hills and stairs ( I tried hard to have a good attitude) next we went and took naps, but they didn't last long enough because we had to catch the pumpkin train in McCloud. All in all it was a very relaxing weekend and I'm grateful I have a thoughtful mother who is always trying to surprise us! In the end we all the love the surprise.

Here are some random photos from the trip...