My Guy!

Here he is!

The moment you've been waiting for!!

The newest man in my life!!

I am totally smitten!

And he truly is our gift from God!

Jungle Fever

I'm not getting Jungle Fever.

Tif won't let me.

I'm painting some things on Cohen's wall but Tif is adamant that we stick to a select few animals and a quote.

No murals.

No 'Mom's gone overboard'.

Just the basics.

Sigh...

So here's what I have to work with...

A giraffe, a lion, a quote,

and five little monkeys playing, peeking over stripes, and swinging from vines

(and believe me...I REALLY had to do a lot of talking to get vines--grin)

Everything is finished except the monkeys and vines.

And I don't think I'll get those finished on this trip

since I haven't even drawn them up yet and I'm leaving tomorrow.

So you'll have to wait to see those pictures.

But here's what I've painted so far...

Tif found the picture of the giraffe online (isn't it so sweet looking down into the crib?) and I found the lion as a graphic and I added more dimension.

I think Cohen will really enjoy looking at the lion during diaper changes.

Finally...Some Time to Create

I promised you more pictures.

So, here they are...

The first is a diaper cake that I made for Cohen's baby shower.

I've never been a fan of the diaper cakes made with disposable diapers.

They always looked lumpy and unfinished.

So I was really worried about creating one for the shower.

Solution?

Cover the diapers up!

How?

Well, I took some birth announcements I got at a garage sale

and cut out the center section to make a frame.

Then I glued them end to end, added some embellishments,

and wrapped them around the diapers.

And Voila! No more lumpy, unfinished diapers!

All I needed now was something really special to top it off.

And I found 'just the thing'!

A baby bottle filled with little blue cigar gum came from

one of my FAVORITE Texas Stores.

H.E.B.!!!

(man I really miss H.E.B!!!!)

I added a few final embellishments and 'color me finished' I was DONE!

Heeeere is my diaper cake...

The next project was one that I hadn't planned on doing.

I was just helping out.

Tif's in-laws gave her the most ADORABLE door wreath

made out of diapers, a stuffed monkey, and ribbon, and washcloths, and all kinds of fun stuff!

It was TRULY the CUTEST, CUTEST door wreath EVER!

Until it got knocked off the door and broken by the anesthesiologist.

I tried to salvage the pieces so I could remake it but it just didn't happen.

So, I made a replacement door wreath.

Even though I tried to use most of the items from the original wreath

I wasn't able to reuse the diapers.

So I hung streamers instead.

It wasn't nearly as cute as the original

but it made the door look too, too cute!

P.S. The Soccer Balls were compliments of Grandaddy!

God Answers Prayer!

Thank you my friends!

Thank you so very much!

God has heard our prayers!

We just got in from Tif's OB and Cardiologist appointments and both Dr.'s gave her glowing reports!

The official diagnosis is Atypical (or 'a-TIF-ical' as I've been calling it) Postpartum Preeclampsia.

The OB said she is doing great and the risk of relapse will get lower and lower over the next two weeks.

And the cardiologist gave her a 'two thumbs up' and said he did not see any signs of cardiomyopathy (or any heart damage for that matter!). He gave the A-OK and said he just wanted to see her again in 6 months just to make sure she was still doing great.

So I'd like to thank you all so, so much for your kind words, emails, text messages, phone calls, and most especially your prayers.

God has truly blessed us with great friends!

Staying Busy

Okay.

So I'm here at Tif's.

Just lovin' on my new grandson.

And trying to stay busy with all the projects we've been planning to do

all these months but just never had the time.

And now my time is running out.

So I thought I'd give you a sneak peak

of some of the things we've been working on in Cohen's nursery.

The first project was one that really means a lot to me.

I've saved the girls' layette (or 'changing table' as it's called these days)

for 28 years now.

Hoping that I'd get the chance to use it again.

AND I DID!!

So, here it is!...Tif's changing table from 28 years ago...a true vintage piece!

And here's what it looks like after a face lift...


Then, we needed bedding.

So Tif found these bumper pads at a thrift store and we used those, plus a shower curtain, a tablecloth, random fabric, and a corduroy jumper (another thrift store find) to create bedding for his crib and his cradle.

This is what we had to work with...

And this is what we made...



And here's his cradle (another thrift store find)...

It's late so that's all I'll post for now.

Hopefully, tomorrow I can post pictures of a couple of other things

I've made for him in my spare time (whatever THAT is!)

Blind-sided

This week we were blind-sided.

I don't know any other way to put it.

At a time when we should have been celebrating new life we were, instead, caught up in a whirlwind of fear, hospital stays, doctor visits, and confusing medical terminology.

Two days after Tif was released from the hospital her swelling was so severe

that it had actually affected her breathing and heart rhythm.

She woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air so we made a 3am trip to the ER. The staff started right in with an EKG, bloodwork, X-Rays, and an Echocardiogram.

Once those results were back, we started hearing medical terms

that a shouldn't even be part of a 28-year old's vocabulary.

Things like 'acute postpartum cardiomyopathy' and 'congestive heart failure'

and 'postpartum preeclampsia'.

WHAT?!?!

According to her doctors she had a textbook pregnancy! Never even ONE complication!

How could something go wrong NOW??

The ER Doctor said the Cardiologist had been paged and would be in that morning.

And, since no beds were available, we'd have to wait in the exam room until a bed opened up upstairs (which, unbelievably, took 15 HOURS!!!!).

Tif was started immediately on a dosage of lasix to start draining off all the fluid that had accumulated since her delivery.

And boy did THAT start happening quickly!

Within a matter of a couple of hours they had already drained over 2 liters of fluid.

2 LITERS! THAT'S LIKE A BOTTLE OF SODA!!

And the lasix continued to do its job.

Over the course of her 2-day stay they drained well over 6 liters of fluid off her body and she lost OVER 19 POUNDS!

UNBELIEVABLE!!

And remember that Cardiologist that was suppose to be in first thing in the morning? Yeah, well, he finally showed up at 11pm.

It was hard to be angry with him

because he gave us reassuring news after he had seen her labs.

He felt like Tif was going to be fine.

Thankfully, he did not feel that it was cardiomyopathy OR congestive heart failure (Praise God!!)--but wanted her to follow up in his office later this week to take a look at her heart without 6 liters of fluid taking its toll.

He released her from his care

but her obstetricians did not want to release her until a diagnosis was made.

They spent hours and hours researching and consulting other doctors.

Their final diagnosis?

Atypical Postpartum Preeclampsia.

Okay.

So after a day of magnesium drip she was released last night

and had that follow-up visit with the cardiologist today.

Well. Not Really.

The cardiologist wasn't there.

So we just had the echocardiogram done and we'll follow up with the doctor in a few days.

In the meantime we're trying to keep positive thoughts

and love on that sweet, sweet (did I mention sweet?) little man!

It's La-La Time!!!

finally

He's ^ Here!!!

...and he made his debut on Wednesday, August 13th at 7:47 pm.

My little man Cohen Eric Nelson weighed in at a whopping 7lbs 7.9 oz and measured 19 inches long (no chunky monkies here).

And he's the cutest little guy EVER!

Tif delivered by c-section and, much to my delight, the nurse let me go into the operating room with her and Steven!

(Thank Goodness!!! 'cause I would have lost my mind just waiting!!)

Tif did really, really well!! I'm so proud of her!

Plus, she gave me the SWEETEST gift EVER!!!

No La-La Yet!

...and we're still waiting!

Another Dr. appointment has come and gone. But still no baby.

Now we're hoping he will come on 8/8/08 (since the number 8 is Tif's favorite number). Keep your fingers crossed.

In the meantime my life has been in a holding pattern.

I'm afraid to start new projects because I won't have time to clean things up to leave on the spur of the moment. The car has been packed for over a week so we won't have to spend time running around gathering luggage (so, I'm having to wash and re-wear the remaining few clothes I have left in the house).

So for now, Cohen's still cozy and tucked inside mommy's tummy. He will be here soon and the anticipation is building! Sigh...Patience has never been one of my virtues.