Feeling Prettty Darn Good

I was talking to my mother-in-law tonight, and she made the comment "you sound so much better." It is true. I was so miserable for such a long time. Might be T.M.I. (too much information) but my OBGYN thinks I had a UTI (urinary tract infection) from the middle of May till now. That mixed with emotional turmoil makes a pregnant mom miserable. But really, I am feeling better than I have in a while. I am still tired, still chasing an almost 18 month old, still carrying a lot of fluid, but better. I am still nervous about our little guy. I am more optimistic than I have been in a long time, and hopeful he will one day be home with us. But I still worry about the what-ifs and will-he's (what if the shunt comes out, what if it stops working, will he come early, will he come home to us?) but I am just trying to enjoy the positives. Our little guy is so active. He was somersaulting last night, and Mike kept laughing at how active he is. Mike loves to feel him move and kick at his hand. I think it truly makes this more real for him. We think he is a night owl, although that being said he still wiggles a lot through the day. He is just really more active at night. I love his wiggles and kicks. I sometimes wonder if it is the last time I will feel a child grow and kick inside of me. But like I said,

I am trying to enjoy the "good" moments. 

This was the first day in nearly a month that Mike and I were both home with Collin, without having any doctor appointments. Poor Collin I think has started to sense the stress of everything, that things are not only hard but about to change. So we decided to spend some quality time with him, and take him to the Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. Mike and I had a lot of fun with Collin and he loved every moment of it! I have to do a funny comparative picture of the last time we tried to take Collin to Farm Country.

 Collin and Mike September 2009

When we took Collin to Farm Country last September, he HATED it!!! He cried, screamed, and probably felt like it was the end of the world. Even the harmless bunnies were terrifying! This time was a blast for him.

 So today he was tickled to see so many of his favorite animals up close (and sometimes too personal!) He would make us a little nervous (sticking fingers into cages or near mouths) and with the larger animals sometimes he was unsure, but all and all he just had a lot of fun with the animals.

He loved the goats. We gave him corn kernels to feed them, and Collin thought it was pretty funny having a goat lick his hand. 

He would want to pet them, and the goat was not sure that was so much fun, so Mike did his best to keep our little curious guy from losing any fingers. 

This is probably my favorite picture. Like I said, Collin loves animals. He loves baby animals even more. He was so soft with the little baby goat (she was only about 1 1/2 months old.) He just kept softly petting her and saying "soft" (something we are trying very hard to get across to him since he likes to hit.) But with a new baby hopefully coming into our family, he has to learn to be soft and not hit. But it is so sweet to see him so gentle and realizing how sweet and new this little goat is.

He loves horses, and has a pretty good horse's neigh sound down. And whenever he sees a horse, he starts his neighing. Although Collin liked the horse, I think he was a little shocked how big his beloved horses really are. Still wanted to pet them though.

Another of Collin's loves are ducks. He knows ducks and even likes to "quack-quack" when he sees one (whether in real life or his rubber ducks.) I do not think he appreciated being so separated from the ducks. Collin usually is allowed to get closer to the ducks while feeding them.

And here is Collin with the bunnies. The picture at the top just shows how funny different ages and stages affect how kids feel around animals. That picture still makes me laugh :)

Collin rode the pony (with Dad at his side the whole time!) I am not sure what he thought. He seemed to be getting tired, so after about 4 turns he was ready to get off. I think he was more interested in petting the horses, because when we pulled him away from petting the mane of the pony, he was not a happy camper. 

My favorite part of the day was this cute heifer. She seemed to be sporting a runny nose, and really enjoyed the corn we fed her. But feeding her was pretty gross, because she would lick the corn off your hand with her huge wet tongue. So not only would you get cow slobber, you would get snot from her runny nose also. Pretty gross, but she was still cute. She was really good about allowing the kids to pet her.

And that is the end of our Farm Country visit. I think Collin loved having both Mike and I, without being shuffled off to family and friends as we headed to appointments. He has really tried to be so good throughout the last 3-4 weeks, but I know he has missed the time he gets to spend with us. He had a Mommy day today, wanting me to hold him, and give him loves. I was more than happy to oblige. Tomorrow will probably be a switch to Dad, and after days like today getting lots of kisses and loves, I am okay with that.

Whew, time to sign off on this novel. I have an appointment Monday and probably Thursday, and we are hoping to see the shunt on our little guy still working and for him to grow and look good. Hopefully we have many more good days to look forward too!