Heart Pancakes and Birth

We woke up this morning to the sound of HQ yelling "Dad" repeatedly from her bed until Ty went in to get her out.  It was pretty refreshing compared to her usual grunting or "complaining".  

Ty has been perfecting his pancake recipe for quite some time.  He doesn't cook all that often, so he's still working on it!  He doesn't like my recipe because he doesn't think they are quite "fluffy" enough for his taste...

Ty made up some flower shaped pancakes this morning.

 Around lunch time Ty's dad and Stepmom stopped by for a little visit and to drop off Valentine gifts for the kids.  It was a nice short visit.  HQ It didn't take Izzy long to notice the giant gift basket waiting on the table for them!  It was full of books (YAY!), a heart shaped box of See's Candies, 2 little valentine themed stuffed animals (HQ seems to love the little pink hippo), and a pair of greeting cards.  Izzy, being as vocal as she is announced how "offended" she was that HQ had received a cuter heart sticker in her opinion... oh that girl!  We have been recently trying to help her realize that that is just life.  There are times other people will get things she may want, but no one gets everything and stuff isn't what's important.  It makes it that much harder since SD's family believes a kid is supposed to get everything they want and they put a bunch of stuff on their credit cards to get it for her.  It's just not realistic and doesn't teach a kid anything about life, love, or the real world.  

We brought up that we were having a home birth.  Like most people they were confused at why we choose to do that, but they seemed respectful of our decision.  There are a TON of reasons we want a home birth!  Both the girls were delivered at the same hospital.  With Izzy it was a 19 hour labor sans meds and went as amazing a giving birth can go.  However the second I had her she was taken away from me for a couple hours and came back all bandaged from tests and things I was told nothing about.  They kept her in the nursery and gave her bottles in spite of my insisting I wanted to nurse her and keep her with me. Them bottle feeding made nursing so much harder! I hated it!

By the time HQ was born their policy had changed.  Unfortunately HQ had to be induced (she was 2 weeks late and I was already considered high risk), which made labor so much more painful!  But right after she was born they let her stay with us "as new research shows it healthier for mom and baby".  What doofus thought it wasn't?  But the hospital stay left much to be desired.  We were stuck in a tiny room and bothered about every 30 minutes for the most random things.  I don't think I got more than 1 hour of sleep in 48 hours and it wasn't HQ's fault!  Our nurse was also constantly switched so we had to repeat everything quite a few times.  Plus, our last nurse was also a meanie.  Bleh!

Also, if you remember the car accident I was in back in October I was sent to the hospital I would be delivering in.  It was horrible.  They refused to even let me know if Peanut still had a heartbeat.  The head nurse said, "Check her nose and just send her home".  One nurse seemed to fight for me a bit but the head nurse told her, "just tell her to come back if she starts hemorrhaging". WHAT? I'm sorry, but if they didn't value Peanut's life at all then and certainly didn't value what I needed why on earth would I trust them to deliver my baby?  I can only imagine how that would go.  But I do know they still also take baby from mom there and stick them in the nursery.  No thanks.

Sorry to get WAY of track... but after his dad and stepmom left we were off to my parents to visit and see my Aunt.  It was great to see her!  It's been over a year since the last time, but Izzy sure remembered her.  HQ didn't know what to think at first, but warmed up quickly.

On our way to see my side of the family! 

Both girls were so excited..

 Most of my immediate family was there.  My dad loves when we are all together and got the brilliant idea to whip out Scrabble. My family is AWFUL at playing board games together.  I think I can only play with 4 of my siblings and my dad without feeling like I need to throw something. We all have our own idea how the rules are supposed to go so when we suggest using the rule book some of my family will insist the rule book is wrong... always interesting!

Playing Fancy Nancy at my parents'.

We found out tonight that our Valentine's Day plans had changed.  Izzy's buddy can't make it tomorrow and she was quite crushed!  On our way home from my parents Ty decided some Valentine's Eve ice cream was in order.  It certainly lifted her spirit!  We also read two of the books (twice!) the girls got from G&G Jones before bed.  They were both about Valentine's Day. It perked her up even more, so she is back to being excited about tomorrow again. Good! :)