Watching Shrek

Last night there was a Shrek Christmas show on TV. I didn't really like the content of the show but the kids liked watching it. Will was glued to the TV, it was pretty funny. I have never really seen him watch TV like he did, maybe it was the big green oger. Here are pictures of the kids watching the show.

First Blog!!

Well, here it is...our new blog! I have decided to change over Will's caringbridge website so that I can add more pictures! I am going to be adding pictures more often through the blog. I also know that some people had trouble viewing the caringbridge site at times, so I hope that with the new blog it is easier. I hope that everyone enjoys the new blog.

Getting Ready...

Hi everyone!
I haven't posted in awhile so I wanted to let you all know that everything is going well. We have not had any vomitting issues this past week since changing the formula. We are very pleased that he has not been getting sick with his feedings.
Caroline doesn't have school this week, which is good because she has come down with a cold. She has a runny nose, cough and sneezing. I have been giving her medicine and she seems to be doing well.
We are gearing up for the holiday season. I am ready for some turkey on Thursday! We will be traveling to Sparta. We are going to eat lunch with Grammy Abell and the rest of the family there. Then we are going to stop in at Grandma Forcum's house to visit my Dad and all of his family. Then to Grammy and Papa Pillers house for supper. Whew....that's alot of TURKEY!!!!
The kids are going to stay the night at my Mom's house on Thursday because I am planning on being one of those crazy people shopping at 4am! My friends (Laura B and Laura D) are going to go too so we are making it a day and I am sad to report that I am in serious need of retail therapy! LOL! I am looking forward to the day, it should be fun!
Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving! Oh, I forgot to mention that at school last week Caroline's class made a poster with all of the things that they were thankful for. Each child got to list 2 things and next to Caroline's name she had that she was thankful for DisneyWorld and her bedroom. I thought that it was too cute!
((Hugs))

What a Day

Today we had our appointment with ortho. The appointment went well. We only had to go uptown, we had the appointment at Glennon Care, which is a clinic in Maryville with Cardinal Glennon doctors. It was great to not have to drive to StL, expecially with the traffic! Anyway, we saw Dr. Engle and she was great. I told her about my concerns of Will's ankles turning in while standing and also about the popping in his hips, ankles and knees. She decided to have x-rays done of his hips and feet. We did those x-rays at Anderson Hospital (never again!!) We waited 1 hour and 15 minutes in the waiting room, with both kids, by myself, Will having no nap, need I go on! Then we had to go back to the doctor office, which is right next door to the hospital but I still had to put both kids into their carseats, drive to the doctor's office then get both kids out of their carseats, etc. to go over the x-rays with her. After going over everything, she decided that the right thing to do is to get him in some braces to keep his ankles straight and keep is big toe from curling under while standing. We will be going through Early Intervention to get he braces through the State of IL. They will pay for the braces because we had them included in his ISFP. So it will take between 6-8 weeks to get them. I am glad that we decided to get the second opinion, she seemed to reason like Josh and I did. So know we have to be fitted for the braces and wait until they come in.

Something new

I hope that everyone had a nice weekend.
We have tried some different things with Will's feeding. We have been giving him only 2 ounces at a time through the tube and we have also switched to the ready serve type of formula (the type that is already mixed/more expensive). I believe that the changes have made a difference. He seems to be doing well. He only threw up a small amount today. We will give this a shot for awhile and see how it goes. I will keep you all posted....
On Tuesday we have an appointment with Orthopedics. Will sees ortho because of his tethered spinal cord release surgery. He has follow ups with ortho every 6 months. The last time we saw ortho, I sort of questioned the reasoning of the doctor. You remember the whole shoe issue...Anyway, we are getting a second opinion. I am still concerned about Will turning his ankles in while standing. He likes to stand on the insides of his ankles. I just think that it would be easier to correct now rather than later. He also "pops" alot. His hips, knees and ankles are always popping, even when he is not weight barring. So I am concerned that the popping could cause damage to his joints in the future. I was not very comfortable with the ortho that we had seen in the past so I requested to have the second opinion. We will see how it goes...

Long Day

Well, he slept through the night, which was great for me!! But today he hasn't been eating really well (nothing new) but with the time change he is totally messed up on his feeding schedule. He is off the schedule by one bottle (by this time of the day we should be on bottle #5 and we are only on #4) He was getting tired so I was going to tube him the rest of bottle #4, which was about 3 ounces. Just finished tubing when he started to vomit, cleaned that up, changed his clothes and thought he was done. Ten minutes later, the mother load of vomit! It was so bad that I just sat him in the kitchen sink. So the entire bottle #4 came out, so he only downed 3 bottles, 12 ounces. Not good! So I have had two showers today and Will has had two baths. My carpet has been shampooed. My floor has been mopped, twice. I am done...for today ;-)

Funny Thing...

happened while registering Will for his upper GI yesterday. It was the first time that we have had any procedures done at St. John's. The lady called our number and we walked over to her desk and sat down. She asked if this was William, I said yes and spelled our last name for her. She typed it all into the computer then got a really puzzled look on her face. She said "my computer says that William is in his seventies". I thought about it for a minute then it hit me, that's grandpa! Grandpa Bill Pillers is a patient at St. John's also! We have never had this happen before because Will usually only goes to Cardinal Glennon, and I don't think that Grandpa Bill would be a patient there!
After I explained to the women that the William Pillers that she has in her computer is Will's grandpa, she just smiled and asked for his middle initial. I guess she didn't think it was as cute as I did! Here is a picture of Grandpa Bill and Will at Will's birthday party in August.
Update on Will, he did the crying spell last night again. We gave him medicine for reflux but it didn't seem to help. He finally just fell asleep but it was a long night, again!
Josh left for CA today, he will be there for two nights for work. I hope that Will decides to sleep well tonight! :-)

Everything normal

The upper GI went well. Everything came back normal, no obstructions and only a small amount of reflux. So the doctor thinks that Will just can't handle the amount that we are giving him. He usually gets 24 ounces a day but we are going to cut him down to 20 ounces (one less bottle) a day. The doctor thinks that by the end of the day he just can't take anymore liquids in and therefore vomitting. We are adding extra calories to his formula (an extra half scoop of formula and one scoop of duocal) making his formula 30 calories per ounce verses regular formula which is 20 calories per ounce. So she doesn't think that there is going to be a problem with decreasing the amount per day. We will see what happens...
Oh, he also weighed 16 pounds 10 ounces today!

Not so good

The flu shots didn't go so well :-\ Caroline was screaming and kicking. It took me and two other nurses to hold her down, then after it was already done she said "I know it is going to hurt" When I told her it was already over, she just said "oh". Then she asked if she was brave and the nurse told her no! I told her that she can for sure be brave next time to which she gave me the look of "there is not going to be a next time!".
I called the GI doctor today because of all of the vomitting that Will has been doing the last few weeks. She wants him to have an upper GI again to make sure that everything is okay. We are scheduled to do that tomorrow at 9am. Then we will see the doctor after we have the test done and go over what it shows.
I will let everyone know what happens tomorrow.

Wanted to update you all on Will. He is doing better, I believe that we have turned the corner on this cold. He was up for about 3 hours last night crying from midnight to 3am. It was another night with crying and there being nothing that I could do to soothe him. But other than having a long night he is doing well today. Thanks for all of your prayers.
Tomorrow we are going to the pedi (Dr. Rahman) or as Caroline would call him Dr. ComeOn for the kids flu vaccines. I am going to be taking the kids by myself because Josh has to work. So please pray that Caroline does better with this vaccine than the last one she got in August. If you remember, she was kicking and screaming and I had to hold her down (it wasn't pretty). So lets pray that the poor little girl makes it through (and Mommy too!).
Teresa (Josh's little sister) got engaged this weekend!!! Congratulations Teresa and Todd!!! ((HUGS))

First Cold of the Season

Hi All-
It is official, Will has his first cold of the season! He is very conjested and just not feeling well. And thanks to all of the idiot parents in the world, they have taken all children's medicine off of the shelves so there is nothing that I can buy to help him get some relief. Idiots! Don't even get me started on that subject!
He has been having trouble eating because he can't breathe through his nose so as a result he has been getting most feedings through the tube. He has also been vomitting more than usual too. I just don't think that he can handle large quanities through the tube (large quanity being 4 ounces). So when I have to feed him I have to give him 2 ounces then wait 30 minutes and give him the other 2 ounces. But the vomitting can still happen, it just depends on what time of day it is, I think. He vomits more in the evening but not so much during the day. Weird! He has been EXTREMELY whiny and wants to be held all the time. Needless to say, I have about had it. But I hope that he will be getting better soon. We go to the doctor on Monday for flu shots (Lord help me with Caroline, she told me after her last shot that she would not be going to k-garten because she was never going to get a shot again!) so if he is not better by then at least he can see the doc.
On another note, Caroline had a great time trick or treating! She got so much candy that she asked if I could put some of her candy in my pockets so that her bag would not be so heavy! She was most excited about recieving two cans of soda and a bag of microwave popcorn as treats! She is my child!
Pray for Will's speedy recovery from this cold (my arms are getting tired from holding him all day and night and my house looks like something exploded in it!)