Wii Fit!

I have been wanting to get a Wii Fit for a while now and had some Christmas money to spend. For the last 2 weeks I have called and gone to stores in the hopes of finding one and have had no luck. Nintendo is a stinker in the way they distribute their Wii's and highly sought after accessories to their Wii's. Finally I called Target yesterday and they said they would have some this morning. So, after feeding Mason this morning, I got both boys in the car at 7:45am before church (Adam was duck hunting with my dad and Chad) and headed to Target to be there when they opened at 8am since they had limited amounts. I saw a few people standing outside the door waiting for them to open and was a little nervous there might not be enough to go around. Then I realized, as I'm getting out of the car, that I forgot my purse! So, I jump back in the car, get home, run in and grab my purse and drive back to Target. Thankfully we only live 5 minutes away! When I got there they had 3 left and I nabbed one! Yeah, I'm so excited!!! Adam and I tried it out this afternoon and it was really fun! It measures your BMI and you make a goal of where you want to be in a certain amount of time. Then you can do all sorts of activities in Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance. My favorite one today was Hula Hooping! I wish I had had the camera while Adam was doing it, it was hilarious! It's pretty fun and good exercise too!

This week...

Thought I'd give a recap of the events of this week. It has been great having 2 boys and I'm loving it! I feel like we're settling into a nice "routine" and getting used having Mason in our lives - awsome!

The other day I was feeling like I was becoming a pro at being the mom of 2! Mason was sleeping, Cole was playing quietly in his room, and I was getting some vacuuming done before fixing lunch. I should have gotten a clue from the fact that Cole was playing quietly in his room. I went in to check on him and found that he had discovered the zipper on the bottom of his bean bag chair! There were tiny styrofoam beads all over the floor of his room! I must be growing as a mom because despite my frustration, I still went to find the camera for a picture:-) He thought it was great to have "snow" inside and as he was rolling in them said "Look mom, I'm laying on these!" The joy of being a 2 year old!

Another day we made brownies. I got a step stool for my birthday and to Cole it is his step stool whenever I am making something in the kitchen. He is now able to pronounce his "s" sound when asking to use it, as before he would say "Mom, can I tand on my tep tool?" And of course brownies help to melt away the post baby pounds so it was good for me too:-)

Mason will be a month old on Sunday and I can't believe how fast it has gone! He's been sleeping so well at night and getting up once around 3am to eat and then will get up again at 6:30-7am for the morning. Lucky me, I'm now getting about 7-8 hours of sleep with only one nightly interruption! It feels great!!! He's cooing a little bit and loves to be talked to. He looks very intently at whoever is talking to him and will often reward them with a big smile! I really need to capture more of those on camera.

Life is going great at the Bucher household and we're thankful for every minute! Have a great weekend!

Good news...

Another quick update... Mason's bilirubin level went down all by itself over the weekend from 9.3 to 8.3 which is amazing to us! We are so excited that we get to have our little baby out and about for good now - God is good!!! The doctor will tell us for sure tomorrow if we can return the "suitcase" and what other follow up he has. Hopefully soon I can just have a normal maternity leave without taking Mason in for labwork. At three weeks old he is such a joy and we're so thankful for him! Here's a couple more pics - Cole getting snow to make snow cones (they were good:-)) and Mason in a cute little outfit! Love my boys!!!

Updates!

We've had a great weekend! Mason's bilirubin level was lower on Friday than it's been so far and we got to take him out from under the lights for the weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner and to the mall and Cabela's just because we wanted to go somewhere! It was so nice. The best part though was being able to hold him whenever we wanted. We even got to take him to church for the first time today!

In the last week Mason did end up having a blood transfusion on Tuesday, which went really well, and actually he has better color and energy since then. We thought we just had a super mellow baby, but he's showing his true colors now:-) We keep saying he got some feisty blood since now he is making sure to let us know when he is hungry and just being noisier and awake more! We have his bilirubin checked again on tomorrow (Monday) morning and will hopefully be able to keep him out for good now! I'm preparing myself for it to go up though and have to put him back under the lights just so I'm not totally crushed if it happens. It very likely could still be an up and down game for a while longer. God knew that I needed a little break though so he gave us the weekend off!

We had fun taking Cole to the park to play today too. He's hasn't been able to get out much either so it was fun to go on a family walk and get the dogs some exercise as well. We'll keep you updated and hopefully be able to now get some pictures other than goggle/diaper/light bed pics! Here's a couple I took over the weekend!

Mason in the beautiful cradle Grandpa Bucher made!

Just lazin' around!

It's been a great weekend of just lounging around, sleeping in (for Cole, he's been sleeping until about 8:30 or 9 this weekend!), fun in the snow, and just being together! Adam made Cole a snow fort and took him sledding with the dogs tied to the sled to pull him down the street. Mason is in his usual outfit - diaper and blue blankie. I'm anxious to actually dress him in some of the cute clothes I have for him once he can come out from under his glowing bed! He has another set of labs in the morning and we will hopefully be close to trying it without the lights! He is likely to need a blood transfusion this week though so just be praying that everything will go well with that if need be.

Adam and I have traded off taking little excursions out of the house here and there. We can't really pack up the fam and go anywhere yet. That's okay though, the roads have been bad and it's so cold outside that I'm content to be in my warm house!

Well, it's onto 2009 this week! We've had such a blessed year this year and can't wait to see what the next brings!

Christmas with the Buchers!

Our first and best Christmas present was Mason and the fact that he got to be home for Christmas! What a blessing!!! We had such a fun day! We were going to spend Christmas at Adam's parents but with Mason needing to be in his little light bed, we decided to have it over here. Adam's mom brought all the food and did all the work of getting that ready! Thanks so much!!!

We actually had to go in and semi-wake Cole up. He is usually up between 7-7:30am, but slept until 8:30 Christmas morning. We walked into his room and he immediately woke up. We told him Santa had eaten all his cookies and milk and he'd better go look in the family room. When he ran out there, the presents were all over the family room floor and he couldn't stop smiling!!! It was so cute! He got to open some presents, we had breakfast and then the Bucher gang showed up. We opened presents, munched on lots of good food, played Beyond Balderdash, and lounged around. Then we had a delicious turkey dinner and could hardly get up from the table!

We're so thankful that God sent his son to be born in a simple manger and to live and then die for us. That's the ultimate Christmas gift! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!!!

We did take Mason out from under the lights for a quick Christmas picture!

SOOOOOOOOOO glad to be home!!!!!!!

This past 9 days has been quite a ride! The arrival of Mason Benjamin Bucher came on Sunday, December 14th at 4:01am. We went into the hospital around 2am and I was dilated to 7cm. By the time my epidural was done, I was ready to push and had him about 20 minutes later. Thank goodness for our bodies knowing what to do after the first kid!!!

So he was 8lb 7oz, 19 3/4" long and absolutely beautiful and healthy! We planned on going home the next afternoon but got a call from the pediatrician that afternoon saying they found out that he has an ABO incompatability. This means that he has a difference in his blood type which I made antibodies to and passed him. These antibodies then fight against his red blood cells and cause them to break down and die and turn into bilirubin. A lot of babies get jaundiced in the first few days after birth but because of the increase in his red blood cells dying, his bilirubin went way up really quickly and he was at risk for dangerous side effects if we didn't do anything. So for 2 days in the newborn nursery he was under phototherapy lights. We thought we were going to get to go home and then his bilirubin level went up again. So I was discharged from the hospital and we transfered Mason to pediatrics for closer monitoring. When his levels went up even more the next day, they decided to put him in the NICU and give him some medicine through an IV that would bind to the antibodies and stop breaking down his red blood cells. After 2 doses of that, his bilirubin level started coming down and after 6 days in the NICU we were finally able to bring him home today. We have a "bili bed" that he has to be in most of the time other than to feed and cuddle him a little. Hopefully that will just be for a few days and then we're home free on the bilirubin. They said though that with babies with ABO incompatabilities, a lot of times they will need a blood transfusion at around 4-6 weeks due to their red blood cells dropping faster than other babies. So, we are praying that he will not need that, even though it is a routine in and out of the hospital thing.

God blessed us so much throughout this whole thing. I was able to get a room to stay at the hospital every night so I could feed him and be with him every day. God allowed him to be born at full term when he was at his healthiest and biggest so he didn't have any other health issues to deal with during this. He also took care of Mason and allowed the best doctors and nurses to care for him from day one and we were able to avoid an exchange transfusion (they basically exchange his blood for a donor's). God is so good and answered our prayers the whole way! Thanks to all of you who were praying for us, we appreciate it and know that it helped!

Through all this Cole has had a week between grandma's houses and being home a few nights with Adam. He has faired wonderfully and we are so excited to be able to be home with him and get back to being a normal family! And to be able to be home for Christmas is such a blessing! We are looking forward to the holidays and just enjoying being a family of 4! We hope you enjoy these pictures and have a wonderful Christmas!

at right: Mason in his "suitcase" phototherapy bed.