L.O.V.E

This is us in 2017.. wow how things have changed but he is so much sexier now.. 

This is my hubby and I!! He is so handsome.. what I didn't know was how much of a poop head he was.. haha just kidding. I love him and we were together for about 2 years before we got married.

Brandon was dating a girl of 5 years when I met him at Best Buy. The guys in my department (digital imaging) used to joke with me about getting his jersey when I didn't know him but I was not interested. This was my first year at Ball State and I had just found out that the guy I was dating for the last year had a girlfriend the whole time we were dating. Since he was at Purdue, it was easy for him to pull off. It worked out for the best because now that guy is married with twins.. I am happy for him..

However, long story short Brandon was still dating this girl named Lauren but they were not doing good relationship wise. There were a lot of problems. Brandon didn't believe me one day when I was listening to christina music in the computer department because his exact words to me were " you listen to that kind of music, " yes I was shocked but supposedly one day I bent over to get a camera for a customer and my thong was showing and my tattoo (yes a tramp stamp).. To his knowledge christian girls did not wear thongs or have tramp stamps. He was surprised but the flirting on his end started and he invited me to a christian event since he knew was I was going through. Not know it was ran by his girlfriends aunt, the event that evening was quite awkward.

Without going into so much detail since I just started this blog and I do not really want to go back that far, brandon and his girlfriend were still having issues so he would message me on Facebook at 11pm every night after he left her home. We would continue to talk every evening and then he wanted to break up with her. This obviously did not go well and he tried many times to get me to help him but I did not want to be that girl. Honestly, at this time I was not attracted to him that way. I had been through a lot and I was not about to be the backup.. Anyways, he ended up breaking it off but continued to communicate with her every day. In fact, one day she called probably 15 times in 1 hour and I finally had to say " if you want to keep this going, keep answering the phone, if you want this to end, you have got to stop." At this point, I knew he would listen to about anything I said because for some reason I was a breath of fresh air to him.

3 weeks later, we started dating, brandon still could not get the courage to give me a hug but one day he did and I think he ran like a school girl afterwards he was so nervous. Not long after was our first kiss, which I do not remember and then he said he loved me.. To be honest, I do not remember these details, if you know us, you will have to ask him. I just don't remember, but I do remember things that are not as important, which sucks sometimes.

June 23, 2012 was our wedding day.. it went so fast and now we have two boys..

We don't even look like the same people.. Amazing how things change

The NICU

So I have many feelings about the nicu and the hospital that I just want to get off my chest.. Here are my likes and dislikes and what I had to do as a mom to take care of my little guy the way I wanted to.

The nicu did so many amazing things for my little guy.. He was deprived of oxygen and had a high dosage of acid in his system at birth. Thankfully the nicu and community north hospital have been testing out this machine that is called a body cooling machine and I swear it saved his life.. While it was the hardest thing to go through and see my little guy shiver when all you want to do is wrap a newborn in a blanket was difficult for mommy. Skin to skin was not possible not was breastfeeding, mommy was very sad.. My little guy had seizures through this process which was also hard.. My little guy will now have to be on seizre medication until he out grows them at about 6 months.. However they will protect him from any potential damage.. The cooling machine also protected his brain, as the MRI confirmed no damage.. I was shocked when we were told this but it was the best news ever..

My other likes consist of the wonderful nurses, room service during maternity stay before discharge, the accommodations that we were provided in order to stay with out little guy.. Their were a lot of not so friendly nurses, but there were way more wonderful nurses. The room service had an entire gluten free menu so I was able to recover in the gut easier because I was able to avoid gluten.. I have a allergy to wheat..

The hospital allowed us to room in on multiple floors in order to stay with out little guy.. While we were not able to get room service or use nurses, I didn't care and just wanted to stay with him. This has been a rough journey, and a lot of anger and tears have been spread but our little guy is doing wonderful as of today.. (May 30th) 

As for the dislikes with the nicu, are modern medicine and the feeding plans for babies.. Now I am kind of contradictig myself in terms of modern medicine because the body cooling machine saved my sons life but modern medicine in terms of feeding and the over usage of formula is freaking annoying.. Basically our little guy was continuing to get breast milk from me from pumping but I ran out due to stress and over stimulation to one breast. Breast feeding is strongly encouraged but since I lost my supply I was forced to use formula. I was not allowed to feed on command like a normal newborn and my child was being forced to have 70 ml of food every three hours. After discussing my concerns with a nurse practitioner for three days in a row, we finally came up with a plan to get out of here.. Finally he was reduced to 58 and I breastfeed twice a day and bottle feed 6 times a day.. This is not ideal but once I get home I will be more relaxed and able to focus on breastfeeding at home.. We are both still learning and I hate how easy the bottle is but he will have to have a bottle for daycare anyways in 4 weeks so I guess it's better he learn now.. However I really wish I could breast feed more than twice.. But it took a lot of being angry, crying and frustration to express my concerns and reduce the intake in food that they expected him to receive.

Basically, in a nut shell.. As a mom now, I would say to new moms ever in my situation to stick to your guns and go with your gut when it comes to your baby.. Mom knows what's best for her baby!! This was something that I had to remind the doctors and explain to them that numbers charts should not be used to treat all children.

Well here is my little guy as of today and as it appears, as should be going home on Monday!!

Here is daddy with baby Bryson!!

Happy Mama, Happy Baby

Well is May 25th and we're still in the NICU but we received amazing news yesterday that his MRI came back as having no damage to his brain. We were so shocked when our favorite doc. Doctor Lewis came in and said everything looked normal he actually had to repeat it to us..

Basically it's check mark time!! Most amazing time in the world, we were given a prepare to go home guide where once he does something good and it meets standards for going home, we get to date and check it off.. We have two checked off so far.. The next steps are feeding and digestion.. He has a tube in his nose right now that is feeding him 10ml every 3 hours and his body seems to be digestioning the majority of it. Tuesday hopefully since today is holiday, we will meet with a speech pathologist in order to check his eating and sucking abilities.. If he can do this with a bottle, then they will allow me to try an pump..

I am looking forward to this more than anything. I am have been trying to pump every three hours, it's much easier now with not so many visitors but it is becoming a main priority of mine!! I woke up this morning to leaking all over my pjs.. And of course being starving.. I swear I can't cook fast enough for when I am hungry.. However I am praying that he will latch and breathe at the same time and we will be ok.. 

Today I couldn't sleep though.. We have a room next to the nurses station and they are so loud... I woke up at 6:30 trying to convince myself to go back to sleep but when I noticed my pjs were all wet, I forced myself to get up, change, get ready, eat something and pump.. So glad I did though because I got these wonderful views when I came upstairs the 6th floor to see my little guy..

I just love him!! Oh and I brought his outfit I was going to take him home in up to his room and I think it may still fit him.. I am so excited if he really gets to wear it.. I love the outfit and it was so cheap at target!! I'll post a pic if he is actually able to wear it!!

Today though we get to give him a bath, put a hat and socks on him!! Daddy did get to hold him last night and so did mommy!! This was exciting especially for daddy!!!

All About Me

Amanda Jo *

I am a 25 year old female with brown hair and blue eyes. I am a very social bug with major anal tendencies and I love for things to be my way. I am married to man by the name of Brandon and have been since June 23, 2012.. Yes, we were very young when we got married and no I do not regret it but yes, I feel we should have waited a little longer.

I graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Residential Property Management. Personally, I loved my experience at Ball State being able to have the freedom in between classes and having the many jobs that I had but I will not let my children be apart of this school!! To get it out of the way.. I am a strong conservative and I believe in God!!

Besides that, Brandon and I are actually coming up on our 2 year anniversary. We started trying for little ones in November 2013. We were successful in March 2014 but then I had a miscarriage at 6 weeks. I became obsessed with cloth diapering so many of my recent posts are about cloth diapering but many more to come down the roads about other adventures.

I am a very loud person (my voice carries), I have strong opinions, I do follow rules very well and I am extremely anal organized. I have a very good attention to detail and I am very out spoken. I love to dance, sing, be outdoors (but not like hiking and stuff, I like horseback riding, swimming, tanning, any kind of fun activity) and more than anything, I like trying new things.

I have a gluten free allergy and I am a franchise owner for Advocare!!! I love my advocare business and i love the zillion types of foods that I have been introduced too through Advocare. This program has really helped me watch what I am eating but also help with my gluten allergy.

Favorite Baby Items

I have been missing in action for awhile now taking care of an active boy!! My little man is one of the rare of many babies as he got his first two teeth at 3 months. I hear daily how uncommon this is.. Anyways, he is now 8 months old and I would like to detail my favorite things I have purchased or wish I had purchased based on therapy, his entrance in the world and what he loves..

Clothes: So Carters totally has a monopoly on kids clothes and its so annoying.. Carters will probably be my favorite for baby clothes and getting all the staple items.. I love just being able to buy a ton of sets.. They wash well and wear well. However, when my 1st son started getting into the T's I become a huge fan of Target's new Cat & Jack collection.. Love it..  I also really like using the wish app as you can get clothes directly from China and some are items sold in boutiques for way to much money..

Teethers: innobaby teethers $5.00 on Amazon. I would also recommend a fabric book, freezer keys, and the triangle teether from nuby.

Feeding: the nuby spoons soft flex silicone weaning spoon is by far my favorite and the oxo spoons. I also make my sons food, all of it, and I love the oxo storage containers. I really need to purchase the 4 oz containers now though. I would love to say don't worry about the smaller containers but they make it so much easier to make sure they are getting the right amount of food.

Toys: I love b toys (sold at target or meijer)-- there is a drum set that my son loves and he plays with all aspects of it.. He loves the pack of four cars that you can pull back and they move forward.. Bryson's other favorite toys change over time so I will try to keep updating this..

The fishers price remote control. It helped prevent my son from wanting my cell phone and removing batteries from our tv remotes.. The music and words are weird though.

Haba wooden blocks- made in Germany. These are the only wooden blocks that did chip or haven't chipped when my son puts them in his mouth. At 8 months old, he has 7 teeth and still wants to chew on everything.

At 6 months, we got him for Christmas the radio flyer push wagon and at 8 months, he can walk with it. It's heavier than most walking toys so he can pull up on it and you don't have to worry about it tipping..  and he loves it.

Blankets: my by far favorite blankets are on the pricer side but totally worth it and uphold to their value are pottery barn.. If you watch close, they go on clearance for new styles.. I love them so much.. 

Receiving blanket: I purchased off brands to save money but for my next kid, I will purchase only carters. They are the only ones that get soft and not crunchy.

Burp clothes: I honestly purchased a ton of burts bees products from burp clothes, sheets, and changing pad covers but they are not my favorite. For some reasons they bleach and fade in color. I don't even own bleach. The burp clothes are hard. I honestly love just regular 100 percent Cotton Birdseye cloth diapers. We were given a ton from the hospital and I wish I would have taken more. My total favorite though are the bamboo silky soft burpy bibs from Aden & Anais.. They are amazing..

Bibs: wow how much these irritate me. I bought a huge package of bibs with elastic and they were terry cloth and they worked great for literally a month and a half. He didn't start solids until 6 months and he is now 9 months now and he literally pulled them off now. Not only does he pull them off but the elastic sucks and there are holes in them now. I have reverted to the Carters ones with a snap and OMG these are by far my favorite. They are super easy to rinse off and then I can just hang them to dry on the high chair and use them for the next day. I cant find anymore to buy more or I could probably wash them and then get another one but with this quick change in need for snaps, I haven't had time to get more. Plus these are longer which is so nice now that he is getting bigger.

Update: 10/18/2017 Carters has changed their bibs and I am really ticked.. I almost bought a ton of girly ones just on the off chance we ever have a girl and now I am kicking myself for not because they have changed them and I am super sad. 

Swings: I don't have one.. We bought the mama roo and my son did not enjoy it. However, babies need to spend more time on the floor.. He enjoyed his floor mat more than anything.

Update 10/18/2017 we bought a different swing by Graco for second son and he loved it.. I will have to check what it is but my second son liked it a lot. But I do still swear by tummy time.

Exesaucer- my son doesn't like this either. He would rather sit on the floor and be social and play with other kids and his toys alone. He doesn't like being in it alone. In fact, I don't recommend these and neither do First Steps Therapists either. They are bad for the hips and do not promote good stability. 

Bryson Michael Booher

Bryson was born in the most critical and unexpected way I ever imagined. There is a long story behind this that just makes me angry and I would rather not go into too many details. He was born deprived of oxygen due to how long it took for the doctors to offer a c section and ended up in the NICU.

May 19th, 2015 at 3:54am he was born into this world and rushed to get oxygen. I was knocked out on medication due to not being numb enough to perform the emergency surgery.. I didn't get to see Bryson  for hours after he was born. My dreams and wishes of skin to skin, holding him, or breast feeding went out the window quick.

This was the first photo of him after he was born with a ventilator. Brandon had to hurry and take the photo as he was being rushed upstairs to the NICU. He later was placed in a cooling blanket for 72 hours and then warmed for 24 hours, longest process ever. He developed seizures during this process resulting in needing an MRI and will need to be on seizure medication until he doesn't have them any longer. This will be determined by neurologist in the future.

Cooling blanket process.. This was so hard for me. When your child is born you want to warm them and protect them and snuggle and none of this was i allowed to do. Instead I had to see him in a box with purple hands shivering.

This picture they finally let me wrap him in a blanket that I brought during the cooling phase process. This was the best feeling ever.

On May 21st, 2015, I finally got to hold him, although it was full of wires, cords and wrapped in a cooling blanket and only 1 hour long, however it was the best moment I could have asked for. Poor daddy did not get a chance to hold him and still as of today has not been able to (may 24th), he will hopefully get to later today. We are waiting patiently for the MRI to be complete and then hopefully will have a bath, we'll get to hold him and we should get results tomorrow. 

At 1:45pm today they removed all of his eeg cords to perform his MRI.. Oh how handsome and healthy he looks in these photos.

I couldn't imagine my world without him now.. I love him to pieces and miss him so much..I can't wait to dress him, snuggle him and kiss him at home and not in this hospital. I have loved the nurses and small family I have here already but this has been a hard process. I can't wait to take him home..