Mexico!

Sadly we are back from our lovely vacation to Meheco. It was lovely. We went to a small island off of Cancun called Isla Mujeres. It was so quaint and perfect. We didn't do much other than sit around on the beach and eat. Its so sad to be back to reality.

This was what our evenings consisted of....watching the gorgeous sunsets. And just as a side note, for as small as the island was there were at least 50 pregnant women, tourists and locals alike. No joke. Think the universe is trying tell me something?

Alright alright, I get the message.....sheesh.

So we've decided to join the club. 15 weeks and counting down the days til August!

Piano Recital

I can't believe I forgot to post this! I usually get all my pictures on blogger and then go through and make posts but this one slipped through.

Elyse takes piano from the amazing Rachel Blanchard on Roosevelt Island. She absolutely loves it and leaves her house every week on cloud 9. Rachel did a recital at the hospital on the island and it was great. Since I grew up with people with disabilities I always feel bad that my kids don't get to experience that and have the understanding that we had as children.

After, the kids handed out treats to the residents who had varying levels of disabilities. I was really proud of Elyse for being super kind to them and not being nervous. I can remember being so frustrated as a kid and plain old angry as an older teenager when people would stare at my sister, but now I realize that if you're not around people with disabilities you just might not understand. I really hope I can teach my kids to be kind no matter what.

Levi's birthday part II

The other request that Levi had for his birthday was to go to Chuck E Cheese. We got 170 tokens and the kids had a blast.

Elyse was rockin the skee ball game.

Levi was appropriately scared of Chuck E. When I was little I was so freaked out by him because I thought his tail was his giant penis. Yikes!

Oh New Jersey Chuck E's, you make us feel good about our parenting skills.

Levi's birthday!

Levi had his 4th birthday a couple of weeks ago. We went together to a birthday breakfast, he behaved perfectly!

We had a party that night. He only invited 2 friends. Miles and Ines. Karley and Al were also invited but the fact that Xander would have had to come was a deal breaker. I had to ask special permission for Miles' little brother to come, but since Levi never realized he had a little brother it was no problem.

The party was simple, pizza, cake and lots of crazy running around. Just what Levi asked for and super easy for mom.

I love this little guy! He is so much fun and so loving. He is also very emotional and always wants hugs when he's sad, even if he's sad because I got upset with him :) He is still sleeping on the floor next to his bed. He is such a good helper (when he feels like it) and he loves to go to work with Cannon, he acts so tough when they have to use tools! But he LOOVES to cook, we're hoping that he goes somewhere with that. He will drop everything he's doing and come running to the kitchen if he hears the pots clang! At times he will say something funny/cute but as soon as its noticed by anyone he gets really embarrassed. He is my brother Hyrum to a T! We love you little leavers!!

Snow

As some of you know, we have had A LOT of snow this year. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think its been around 60 inches. Thats is about 6 or 7 storms. And its really not that big of a deal, but when you have to shovel 2 buildings then it really sucks. And what really sucks is when your husband is out of town 2 days a week and you have to do it. Boo.

This was from our first storm on the day after Christmas. This bus was stuck until the middle of the next day. It was funny when these MTA guys came because they just sat there for a few hours. They were super helpful.

Then shortly after, 6 cars got stuck next to the bus.

The morning after.

So the bus on the right was actually going UP first ave, not coming from where he ended up, he was supposed to be going the same direction as the bus on the left so he must have skidded all the way onto a cross street!

This was our **backyard which of course was pure fun but boy was it cold that day!

This was after the first round of shoveling that usually happens early in the morning and the second round at a more decent hour, but the whole sidewalk gets cleared....oy.

The view up our street. Good times. Oh and PS the snow only looks white for about 6 hours then it turns to black slush.

**I use the term backyard loosely. It is actually the alley way, but what are you gonna do? I'll take what I can get at this point.

Christmas...finally!!

Its only a month plus late but here we go!

Christmas eve magic.

The traditional Christmas day marshmallow Santa, which I hate and I'm proud to say so does Levi.

I think this is the only picture of me from the season....I always say the kids are going to think that I was never around because there are never any pictures of me. I need some pa pa paparzzi to foller me around.

Levi's surprised face....it was his Yo Yo! He got it and promptly forgot about it because apparently he wanted a yellow one. Dude you need to specify! Santa can't read your mind!

I told them to smile, apparently Levi was not happy with his loot....

Much better.

Merry Christmas, if you can remember it I hope it was great!

Sleeping arrangements

This is how Levi prefers to sleep these days. Next to his bed and under his "fort" complete with "door" This has lasted for over a month.....this kid is....well lets just say this kid is particular!

Inductions

Woah woah, they are actually saying that there are too many inductions? I'm shocked. But do I think that they will stop telling women that their babies are too big to push out or that they can't go more than 10 days over!!?? No, but this is a start to getting women to take charge of their care and BE PATIENT!!!

Too many U.S. births induced early for no medical reason

Wed, Jan 26, 2011 (HealthDay News) — Five to 40 percent or more of births in the United States are induced early without any good medical reason, according to a new hospital-by-hospital report.

And there is tremendous variation in the rates documented by hospitals voluntarily reporting these "early elective induction" deliveries, even within the same community. In Los Angeles, for instance, the rates of babies delivered early without a good medical reason ranged from 4 percent to 29 percent. In Boston, the rates reported by different hospitals ranged from near zero to 27 percent.

"This is the first real evidence that the practice of scheduling newborn deliveries without medical reasons is common and varies among hospitals," said Leah Binder, CEO of Leapfrog Group, an employer-driven hospital quality watchdog group. Leapfrog announced the findings of its annual hospital report at a Wednesday news conference.

"The information is extremely disturbing," she continued. "We are calling on hospitals to put policies in place to prevent early elective deliveries."

According to Binder, "elective inductions have now outpaced medical inductions."

The consequences of such deliveries can be grave. "The last few weeks of a pregnancy are critical to the development of the baby's brain, lung and liver," said Dr. Alan Fleishman, senior vice president and medical director of the March of Dimes Foundation. "Babies born just a few weeks early have feeding problems, jaundice, inability to hold temperature and tremendous increased costs. Every week counts."

Babies delivered early also face a higher risk of death, spending time in a neonatal intensive care unit and life-long health problems, according to a statement from the Leapfrog Group.

Plus, using gestational dating to figure out a delivery time can be "grossly inadequate" unless a woman has an ultrasound exam in the first trimester, Fleishman pointed out. If the dating is off by even two weeks, the baby could end up being premature (born before 37 weeks), he said.

Leapfrog's target goal for 2010 was 12 percent, but it is now lowering that threshold to 5 percent, said Barbara Rudolph, senior scientific director of Childbirth Connection, an advocacy group that promotes quality maternal care.

The good news is that about 50 percent of hospitals reported early elective delivery rates of 12 percent or below. The bad news is that an equal half reported rates higher than that figure.

But more good news is that 29 percent of hospitals reported rates of 5 percent or less, indicating that such low rates are achievable, said Rudolph.

Why are so many early elective deliveries occurring?

According to Maureen Corry, Childbirth Connection's executive director, a recent survey found that the leading reason (accounting for about 25 percent of early births) was caregiver concern that the mother was overdue. About 19 percent were medical inductions, another 19 percent were due to the mother's desire "to get the pregnancy over with," and the final one (17 percent) came from concern about the size of the baby. According to Fleischman, large babies aren't a valid reason for early delivery.

And 75 percent of mothers actually think that 34 to 36 weeks is full-term (although it is really 39 to 40 weeks), Fleischman added. Providers' desire for convenience and predictable schedules could also play a role.

"We encourage women to wait until they've completed the 39th week of pregnancy [to deliver] unless it's medically called for," Binder said. "Every woman in America needs to know [information on a hospital's early elective delivery rate] before she enters the door of a hospital."