So It's been a Year

Apparently it's been a year since I updated this blog. I've gotten so used to using Facebook to update people on our lives, but part of me is drawn back to the blog. Sometimes I need more than just a status update to explain what's going on. In the last year, things have been crazy, tiring, but good. We had LOTS of visitors to our new home in Colorado. Uncle Kyle and Auntie Heidi, Uncle Rob and Auntie Kristy, Papa Alan, Mema and Papa, Tracie and the kids. It was a lot of fun!

We went camping on 3 different trips to break in our new trailer. Let me tell you, camping with a toddler and a preschooler is interesting. But we had fun and have 3 more trips planned for this summer :)

I (Lisa) also travelled to Kansas City and Tulsa to see my nieces and brand new baby niece Elsie, and California for my sister's baby shower. In October Mema and Papa came to watch the kids for a few days while Matt and I went to Washington D.C. on a much needed mini vacation!

Sprinkled in between there, Matt traveled to Europe a number of times (about every 6-8 weeks) and was gone for 7-10 days at a time, Emma started preschool in September, and the Ethan saga continued. Soon after his allergy testing, he started getting a number of ear infections and sinus infections. They were persistent and he wasn't responding to antibiotics, and the fluid on his ears was greatly affecting his hearing. So in January of 2014 he had tubes put in. It was life changing for him and us! He started cruising along furniture and using his little walker around his first birthday, but never took those first steps that every one waits for.

Between his 12 and 18 month appointment, he only gained about a pound. At his 18 month appt he still wasn't walking independently so we got a referral to an orthopedist who referred us to physical therapy.   We've been in physical therapy for about 6 weeks and have seen a great improvement! He still loves to push his little walker around, but now he practically runs behind it. He will push that thing for hours! But in the last week he has started taking a few steps here and there, and now it is much more consistent. His little feet roll inward a great deal so he has a harder time balancing than most toddlers. But he's starting to put a little bit more weight on and making huge strides in his walking, which we are so thankful for. 

I'll try to update more regularly, but for now, you are mostly caught up on things in the Lomicka household. We are having a great spring and getting ready for many adventures this summer! 

Allergist visit- take 1

Ethan has always had sensitive skin and eczema. His skin seems to flare up easily when exposed to a number of things (perfumes, detergents, dry air, foods, dogs, etc). We were told around 5 months old that he is allergic to milk and that we should put him on a special hydrolized formula called Alimen.tum. It is ridiculously expensive and smells like cat food, but it seemed to help. His skin still flares, but not as badly as before. We went to the allergist today and he was tested for about 30 different allergens including : dairy, soy, dogs, cats, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, mold, pollen, wheat, and the list goes on. After putting him through all of that, the poor guy isn't allergic to dairy after all. At least he didn't have a reaction to it. However, he is apparently allergic to eggs. Eggs? That's not what we were expecting at all. We haven't ever given him eggs before, so I guess we wouldn't have known. Now we've been instructed to read all labels religiously, give him daily baths, and slather him in lotion or vaseline. We also must start carrying an Epi Pen and Bena.dryl.

 Apparently his skin is just very sensitive. However, his allergist doesn't want us to put him back on dairy based formula. If and when we do expose him to milk, she wants it to be in her office so that she can monitor his reaction. Thankfully his Dr. has been involved in a number of eczema studies and treatment programs so I feel like we are in good hands. Many children outgrow their allergies so lets hope he outgrows this one too!

The big 3-0

Yesterday was my 30th birthday and it was a wonderful day. Matt asked if I was sad that I didn't have a big party, and honestly, no. I'm not. The day was perfect exactly how it was. I got to sleep in, relax, and enjoy the day with our little family of 4.

The day started out with Matt getting up with Ethan and letting me sleep in. At 9:45 all 3 of them brought me breakfast in bed. Here's the remnants. There were pancakes with fresh berries and applesauce. Yum!

The kids bought me a Keurig! I love it :)  Ethan gets up around 7:45 and I am finding that I enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning. I don't need more than a cup, so a Keurig is perfect for me. Ethan appears to be taking full credit for the idea in this picture. His little face cracks me up.

After breakfast I found out that Matt had booked me a massage. It was 90 minutes of pure bliss. When I got home the kids were well taken care of and the dishes and laundry were done. My husband is amazing. Later that night we went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill. The kids were really good and Emma loved her spaghetti. 

Can't get enough of these 2!

 

When we got home Matt had a cake for me with 30 candles. It was delicious.

Then he gave me an incredible gift. This is a mother's necklace. The stones are Emerald and Diamond. Those are not Ethan and Emma's birthstones however. This necklace is to represent my mom and I.  As many of you know, my first mother Catherine (Emma's namesake) passed away when I was a toddler. Emerald is her birthstone and Diamond is mine. I do not have many items that belonged to her but the few that I do have are very important to me. Matt wanted to get me a special gift in honor of her memory. This is a necklace that represents her and I. It will be something that I can pass on to Emma one day. It will carry on a small piece of my mother's memory forever. It is a priceless gift. My husband has a beautiful heart. He made this birthday the best one yet. 

Emma is 3!

On Saturday Emma Catherine Lomicka turned 3 years old. She is a lot of fun and learning new things every day. 

At her 3 year well visit she was 39" tall and 39 lbs. She is in the 95% for both height and weight. They are guessing that she will be 5'7, but we'll see how accurate that is. The doctor thinks that she is a "lefty living in a right handed world" and wants to use her left hand but is still trying to figure it out. We are to watch her closely because she is very bright and we aren't supposed to let her get away with too much. Over all she is very healthy. No major concerns at this point in time which we are very thankful for.

Current Loves include;
Foods: apples, pretzels, and chicken with ketchup
Shows: Umizoomi, Dora, and Peter Rabbit
Toys: Her baby doll Bella, Minnie Mouse dress up toys, and dress up
Songs: The B-I-B-L-E, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and "the Emma song"
Clothes: Dresses, whether its 15 degrees or 80 degrees
Books: Dora books, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Friends: Kaylyn

She is also now in underwear full time (except for night time). She still sleeps 12-14 hours at night. Soon we will be starting swim lessons and gymnastics for the summer and possibly soccer in the fall. We are so excited to see how she will continue to grow and learn. We love you Emma Catherine!

Finally, a Diagnosis!!

As many of you know, when Ethan was 8 days old he stopped breathing and turned blue after being placed on his back to have his diaper changed. It took about 10-15 seconds before he could inhale again. We called his dr. and were told to bring him to the ER if he did it again. Well later that evening, he had 3 "episodes" back to back after again being placed on his back to have his diaper changed. We called 911 because of the duration of the episodes and the lethargic way he acted afterwards. At the ER we were questioned by various doctors and nurses. He had an ekg, x rays, and various tests done. No one could give us a solid diagnosis and we were told it could be gas or just a severe reaction to reflux and to see his pediatrician that week. As his Mama, I KNEW it wasn't gas or reflux. But no one could tell us what it was. So we took him home, bought a breathing monitor, and watched him very closely.

He continued to have these episodes, but we just learned how to handle it better (Flipping him on his side, patting his back and blowing in his face to stimulate breathing).  It continued to scare me half to death, but we just "dealt with it". He was also a very noisy eater and would choke easily, and make scary wheezing noises as well. When he was 10 weeks old, we moved to CO and he got a new pediatrician. At his 4 month appointment his new pediatrician listened to his symptoms and told us she thought he had reflux and a weakened airway. However, we didn't know for sure and weren't given a firm diagnosis.

Just recently Ethan was at the hospital for a minor procedure and during his pre-op check in, his nurse listened to his symptoms and told us that she had been a NICU nurse for 15 years and that he had something called Malacia. After further consultation, we now know that officially that Ethan has laryngomalacia.  His airway was weak at birth which causes a number of symptoms including:

• Noisy breathing (stridor) — An audible wheeze when your baby inhales (breathes in). It is often worse when the baby is agitated, feeding, crying or sleeping on his back.
• High pitched sound
• Difficulty feeding
• Poor weight gain
• Choking while feeding
• Apnea (breathing stoppage)
• Pulling in neck and chest with each breath
• Cyanosis (turning blue)
• Gastroesophageal reflux (spitting, vomiting and regurgitation)
• Aspiration (inhalation of food into the lungs)

Ethan had many of these. We are so thankful that he is now doing well and only seems to have a few residual symptoms. The treatment for this is usually reflux medication, time to let the airway mature, or surgery. Thankfully we have avoided the major surgery. His first 4 or 5 months of life were pretty rough, but now he is a happy, pretty healthy little boy and we are so glad to have him in our family! 

Me Post

If you are looking for a post about the kids or our new home, you aren't going to find it today. Sorry. This post is about me and some things I need to process through. I (Lisa) tend to remember things for a very long time. Most of the time the things that I remember are either completely random/useless or it was an event that made me feel awful about myself. For example, I taught a marine unit in to my students in 2006 and I still remember some of the vocabulary words like "cephalopod" which means head-foot. A cephalopod is a marine animal like squid, octopus, or cuttlefish thats body is made up of a head and feet or propulsion mechanisms. Random, I know.

I also remember things people have said or done to me. Why is it that we remember the hurtful things more than the helpful things? I still remember the awful way that some people I thought were friends treated me one day at the beach while I was in high school. I remember crying on my birthday as a child and the way that people have made me feel self-conscious as an adult. I have a really hard time letting go of some of those events. I question myself all the time. What did I do to make that person say that? Why did she unfriend me on Face.Book? Did I say something wrong? What could I have done so that this didn't happen? Why doesn't she like me? Why didn't they respond?

Matt thinks I care too much about what other people think about me. In reality, I probably do. My problem is that I let these things bother me for a very long time and they keep coming back to me.  They replay over and over again in my mind, in my heart and eat away at me. I suck at letting stuff go. I admit it. I'm just trying to figure out how to deal with stuff and move on. As Emma gets older I am trying to deal with my crappy stuff so that I don't pass it down to her. I want her to rock what she's got and forget the mean people in the world. Because no matter how sweet and cute she is, someone is going to hurt her at some point in time and I don't want her carrying that with her the rest of her life.

Settling in

A lot has happened since my last post. Sorry about that. Moving, life with 2 small children, living in an area with no family, and a husband who travels for work have made things pretty crazy lately.

We bought a house in Littleton, CO. We are unpacked but still getting things situated and need to do some more painting. 

This little man has grown to 17 pounds and regularly sleeps 12 hours at night. 

We started ethan on baby food. He's not a huge fan so we don't push it. The fingers have become a favorite comfort item. 

This adorable girl turns 3 next weekend. I can't believe it. She's funny, sensitive, sweet and a huge talker! She's using the potty and really enjoys going to MOPS, sunday school and any where she might make friends. 

Mema and Papa came to visit towards the end of February. It snowed (as promised) while they were here and Emma enjoyed all of the extra love and attention she got. 

I promise I'll update more frequently from now on!

Ethan 3 months

Ethan James you are 3 months old! Here's a little bit about you right now. 

You have big blue eyes and fluffy light brown hair.

Wear a size 1 diaper and O-3 month clothes although you are slowly moving into 3-6 months. 

Inconsistent is the name of the game with you! You nap well if it is quiet and Mommy is holding you, however with a 2 year old sister, that doesn't happen often. On rare occasions you will fall asleep in the car and sleep for a few hours. 

Most of the time you scream in the car. It makes driving a stressful experience!

You love to chew on your hands.

You sleep better at night time and usually go 6-8 hours to start with and then shorter stretches after that. You are typically in bed by 7:30pm. 

You eat every 2 1/2-3 hours during the day and are getting much better at taking a bottle. 

Breathing is still a bit of an issue with you although we are hoping you grow out of whatever it is very soon!

You are much more smiley and happy now than you were a month ago. Maybe the Colorado air is doing some good for you! 

We love you and are so glad that you are part of our family! 

Movin on Up!

So quite a few things have happened since my last post. I'll do a quick rundown and then get to the real reason for this post.

 Ethan James Lomicka was born Friday August 24th at 1:22 pm weighing 7 lbs 12 oz and 20.5 inches long.  He is pure sweetness in a tiny package!

Chuck and Cheryl stayed for 2 weeks and blessed us by preparing meals, doing errands, and playing with Emma. 

Mom and Dad Montgomery came to visit too. They had lots of fun chasing Emma around and holding Ethan.

This crazy girl started preschool 2 days a week to get some extra social interaction and to give Mommy some time alone with Ethan. She's growing so fast and her vocabulary expands every day. She loves to run to Matt when he gets home from work and yell  "Daddy! Daddy! I miss you too!" It's one of the cutest things I have ever seen. She is pretty determined to do things herself and doesn't appreciate it when you try to do it for her. The most recent is putting her shoes on by herself. I'd say she's got about a 40% success rate for getting them on the right foot!

AND..... the big announcement..... 

We're moving! That's right, we're crazy. Moving with a toddler and a newborn. But we like to do things the hard way I guess. We moved to Indiana when I was 5 months pregnant and now we're moving with a new baby. We are very excited to soon be enjoying this beautiful city!

Matt got a new job at a company outside of Denver. He starts very soon and we have to move ASAP. We can't wait to be closer to our family in CA and to have the Rocky Mountains in our backyard. We are looking forward to raising our kids camping, hiking, and snowboarding/skiing just as we were. 

Fort Wayne was a great experience for us and we've met many wonderful people along the way. We will be sad to leave our friends, our church, and to be moving away from Megan and James. Emma has made friends at MOPS, church, and preschool but we are glad that she is young enough to start over without too much trouble. Please be in prayer for all of us during this time of transition. 

the little gymnast

You may remember me mentioning that Emma has been taking gymnastics classes for about 6 weeks. At her age it is not really "gymnastics" but more of an obstacle course that improves their strength, balance, and coordination. I have noticed a big improvement in Emma's strength and ability to navigate through different things since we started. We went to the park the other day and she decided that the handrails would work well as a hanging bar. (Pardon the bathing suit. We were at the splash pad)

The approach

The initial jump

Hang and swing! Look at those legs up. Way to use your muscles Emma!

I think we'll continue these classes through the fall for as long as Emma is having a good time :) When she turns 3 then she can start a real introduction to gymnastics class! For now we'll enjoy our Mommy and Me class and keep working on her skills :)

What we've been up to

Sorry it has been so long! Things have been a little busy around here. Matt went on a hiking trip the last week in June, we had a crazy storm, we've been busy preparing the house for the baby, and I had a baby shower. That about covers it! Here are some pictures of our recent adventures.

We played with friends in the pool.

We played at Science Central

Lost shingles in the storm

Matt's poor truck

The tree that shed it's limbs. You can really see how dry it is here. Everything is completely dead.

What used to be our tree. It's now a stump.

4th of July cutie

More updates coming soon!

31 Weeks

How far Along: 31 weeks

Approximate Size of Baby: 3 1/2 - 4 lbs and 16 or so inches

What's Baby Up to This Week: (according to my pregnancy calendar) He's busy gaining weight and filling out. His lungs continue to mature and his brain is growing. 

Weight Gain: 5 pounds. Holding pretty steady, but guessing I'll put on a few (or many) more in the next 8 weeks before he's born :) 

Gender: BOY!!

Symptoms: My right hip is pretty much a constant pain and Insomnia is nuts. I can't sleep at all. I usually go through a cycle of 4 or 5 days of not sleeping well and then I sleep like a rock the next night. 

What I Miss Most: Sleeping on my stomach and steaming hot baths. Sleep in general :) 

What I'm looking forward to this week: Some quality time with Emma while Matt takes a few days to backpack with the boys in the Upper Peninsula.  

28 weeks... A Day Early

Pregnancy Highlights

How far Along: 28 weeks

Approximate Size of Baby: 2 1/2 lbs and 15 inches

What's Baby Up to This Week: (according to my pregnancy calendar) His brain is growing like crazy, he's adding fat to his body, and his eyes are starting to filter light. He may even start to recognize my voice. 

Weight Gain: 4 pounds

Gender: BOY!!

Symptoms: Still struggling with some sciatica pain but trying to be a trooper about it. Insomnia and some nasal congestion. But I'll take it over the constant nausea I felt for 9 months with Emma!

What I Miss Most: Sleeping on my stomach and steaming hot baths

What I'm looking forward to this week: Our first family vacation with just the 3 of us next week and taking Baby Boy on many trips in the future!

**Matt asked why I hadn't been taking any pictures of my belly this time around since I did one a week with Emma from about 18 weeks on. I guess I better get with it because this poor baby isn't going to have anything documented! 

Potty Training

Well, its back to just the 3 1/2 of us since Matt's parents left on Tuesday so we figured we better get back to work on the potty training. I am really tired of changing Emma's diapers and she's tired of wearing them. Not to mention the fact that they are considerably more expensive the bigger your child gets. We don't have any plans made for the next few days so I will be staying at home and working on getting her to use the potty. This morning I went in and got her up and we went straight to the potty. She didn't pee but she did sit there. Of course, her diaper was extremely wet so I may have missed it already. After that we didn't put a new diaper on. We put on the Minnie Mouse pan.ties that she picked out at Targ.et and had a talk about how big girls wear pan.ties and pee on the potty and she didn't need her diapers any more. She sits on the potty quite frequently but so far nothing has happened. We haven't had any accidents yet today, but I'm sure we'll get there. Fingers crossed that she starts to catch on soon! 

23 Weeks and Counting

I'm now 23 weeks and a few days pregnant with Little Boy. Since the first trimester ended I am feeling pretty good. Occasionally I feel rather exhausted, but nothing too bad. My back has been pretty bad and I've been having horrible sciatica flare ups. For those that may not know, I had surgery on my left foot to correct some problems I had with the bones being in the wrong places and joints being dislocated. These problems were hereditary and I happen to have it on both sides of my family. Lucky me! Most people in my family have the problem on both feet. I only had it on one, but with a greater severity. So in high school I had it fixed with a pin and screws and 4 months of crutches. Apparently 15 years of my foot being that way affected the way I walk, my growth plates in one leg, and a number of other things.

 I am supposed to wear hard, molded inserts in my shoes to help correct my posture and gait. Only I don't. They don't fit in most shoes and I mostly just forget about them. Back pain has been an issue for years but i mostly just deal with it. I guess it's not something I ever thought would change so you just learn how to live with it. Unfortunately, pregnancy shifts everything and the pain has become unbearable at times. I limp a lot and have difficulty sleeping. So, I finally went to see a physical therapist at my Dr's recommendation. An appointment I thought would last 30 minutes ended up taking an hour and a half! I was pretty shocked and so was the Physical Therapist. Apparently I should have sought out some kind of care sooner! Ha! My spine is so out of whack and my hips are way off along with a number of other things. I left armed with homework and strict instructions to wear my inserts from now on, or at least until the end of my pregnancy. If Matt has his way, I'll wear them forever and never wear another pair of sandals or heels. We'll see about that....

Baby Boy

Yep, at 22 weeks gestation the little man is still nameless. And no, even if we had chosen his name we still wouldn't tell you! Don't take it personally, we did the same thing with Emma. Matt says that everyone already knows its a boy so we should keep his name as a surprise until he's born. I'm okay with that.

Things are going smoothly so far. First 14 weeks were rough but now I feel pretty good nausea-wise. Occasionally I feel rather exhausted but I think that's to be expected with a 2 year old :) Sciatic pain has been annoying but overall, I can't really complain.

22 weeks down, 18 to go.... more or less.... you know, cause I wouldn't mind if he decided to come a week early ;)

Birthday Girl

Emma Catherine turned 2 on Friday April 6th. She is now 34 1/2 inches tall (75%) and weighs 30lbs (85%). She enjoys playing outside, blowing bubbles, eating snacks and watching Minnie Mouse. Current dislikes include eating vegetables, coming inside when she wants to play, and leaving Mommy's side. She is starting potty training and likes to get herself dressed. She can get her own shoes on and can pull on her pants up to her thighs but cant get them on completely. It's pretty funny to watch her learn new things all the time. She's very vocal, especially when she sees one of us after we've left for a little while. It's quite a greeting!

Watching Minnie Mouse

Cheesing it up for the cameras

Helping Daddy put together her new soccer goal.

We love you so much sweet girl! We love watching you learn and grow everyday.

Who would've thought?

Who would have thought that my pearl wearing, sparkle shoe loving, squealing girly girl 

would love to play in the dirt so much? Certainly not me! Emma can't get enough of being outside. We hear "out si. out si. Shoes shoes!" All day long. Emma knows that she has to put her shoes on before going outside so she always goes to get them first. The bad news is that she can reach all of the door handles and open them because they are the pull down lever kind. The good news is that she can't reach the dead bolt.

Emma has been helping us with the garden expansion. Here she is raking up wood chips. This summer I'll have a gardening buddy! Now if only I could teach her how to pull the weeds!

Little Super Star

With the weather being so nice we are trying to get outside as often as possible. 

 We took a nice walk after dinner yesterday. There is a nice path behind our neighborhood that goes straight down the road for a little over a mile. We usually walk to the end and back. This time Emma decided that she'd rather walk than sit in her stroller. She loves to explore the outside. She picked up rocks, leaves, and pinecones and pointed out many different things. She's so much like Matt in that way.

She got some new sunglasses. She cracked us up with them. What a little super star. She went back and forth between wearing them and holding them in her hand. A young couple approached from the opposite direction and she slipped them on, looked up with her cutest smile and said "hiiiiiii". We were cracking up. Someone knows they are cute!

Pretty Winter Days

This winter has been a lot warmer than usual. We haven't had as much snow as we normally do and for that, I am very grateful. When it is sunny and warm enough to play outside Emma and I have been trying to take advantage of the day. She likes to run to the fence and see if the boys next door are playing out back. Here are some pictures of her backyard adventures.

Running to see if the boys are there

She can see them!

Asking to go play next door

Running to the gate

We hope there are many more warm days in our future!