Crazy Weather!

Ok, so it has been said that the weather in IL can be pretty crazy, today was one of those days. This morning when we woke up it was in the 50s. It got close to 60 degrees by noon. We were running around without our coats on in January! At around 1pm it started to rain, we were under a tornado watch. And then by 3pm it was icing and by 4pm it was snowing!

Here is a picture of the storm cloud at around 1pm.















Here is a picture of our deck with the ice pelletes on it at around 3pm.















Here is a picture taken looking out our front door at 4pm, very windy and snowing!

Saying Goodbye...

Today we said goodbye to the kid's pediatrician, Dr. Rahman. He is leaving his practice to move to Atlanta to be closer to his son's family and his granddaughter. We are going to miss Dr. Rahman so much. He was my "go to" person when Will would have an issue. He has really kept me strong during this past year with all of Will's medical issues.

I found Dr. Rahman in the phonebook. We had just moved here and I needed to find a pediatrician for the kids because I would soon be delivering William. He was the first name that I saw in the phonebook and they took our insurance so I just went with him. I really wasn't too concerned about having a pediatrician because Caroline had always been so healthy, the only reason why she would go to the doctor was for immunizations. Little did I know how frequently we would be visiting Dr. Rahman during Will's first year.

The first time that I met Dr. Rahman was while I was in the hospital after having Will and he came into my room to give me an update on Will. He was very nice and really reassured me that everything was going to be okay. At that point, we were all joking about how hairy Will was. Dr. Rahman said, "He is the hairiest child I have ever seen". At Will's one week check up at Dr. Rahman's office was we he decided to send us to a genetic specialist at Cardinal Glennon. That is when I had a complete meltdown in his office and he was so caring and so very nice.

There have been times that Dr. Rahman has called me himself to get a handle on what was going on with Will. He would call me on his way home from the office and then call me again in the morning on his way to work to check in. He is an awesome doctor, one that I am so very lucky to have found.

I took Will to see him today because he has caught a cold and sounded like he was wheezing. I wanted Dr. Rahman to take a listen to him and tell me for sure. He did hear some slight wheezing so we are going to do breathing treatments and put him on an antibiotic. I took the picture of all three of them after Dr. Rahman had finished with the exam. Will was not every excited about it as you can see, I should have taken the picture before the exam!

Disappointing Visit

Today we had an appointment with and ENT at Cardinal Glennon. Josh and I wanted to see this type of doctor because there have been many other parents of RTSweeties that have suggested it when we explain some of the issues that Will seems to be having.

Let me set the mood for you....

Our appointment was at 8:30am. We arrive at appox. 8:25am. We get registered and sign the paper work by 8:30am and taken back to a room by 8:45am. The doctor didn't come into the room until 9:55am, we waited over an hour in the room! I was so mad that I think that I may have had smoke coming out of my ears. Josh came with us to the appointment and thought that he would make it to work by at least 10:30am, so he ended up missing the entire morning of work.

Okay, so someone finally came into the room at 9:55am and he wasn't even the doctor! He was one of those doctors in training persons, I am not opposed to these students but it just means that I am going to have to say everything twice and with Will's medical history, that is ALOT to say twice!

So Josh and I go over things with this guy. We have printed out emails from other RTS parents that we had received and a report from Will's occupational and speech therapist as well as the medical guidelines for RTS (we were prepared!). Our main concerns for this visit was that we wanted to make sure that Will's tonsils and adenoids are normal size as to not be restricting his swallowing and to throw around the idea that he may need an antihistamine for post nasal drip (causing the vomiting).

They looked into his ears to check for fluid, which he didn't have. Then they scoped his nose to check the throat area. It was the littlest flashlight on the end of a probe that they put up his nose and took a look around. They numbed his nose so that it didn't hurt while doing it. He didn't like it at all but they got to look around. They noticed that there were parts of his throat that were red and irritated so they are thinking that we need to increase the reflux medications. So we are going to give him three doses a day instead of two. They also said that one of his tonsils was a bit larger than the other.The only other recommendation that they had was to give him bigger volumes of formula in the morning so that there will be less volume for the evening feeding. And they want to see us back in a month.

This is not what I expected to get from this visit. I didn't go to this appointment to get feeding strategies, we get plenty of those. GI can't seem to explain the vomiting, I thought that maybe this doctor could. There was no mention of an antihistamine and they seemed to disregard it when I mentioned it to them for the second time. I questioned the fact that even though he is tube feed we are still working on oral feeding and he can't seem to keep any food in his mouth. Nothing, they just told me to keep trying.

We left the appointment at 11:15am knowing nothing more than what we went in knowing.

Will's first word

Today was a really GREAT day! I had Will sitting in his highchair while I was talking on the phone with my sister, Leslie. I had given him some of those puff things. His tray was empty and he signed more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe it, I started crying and then Leslie started crying. I am so proud of him! We have been working on this sign for a really long time and he did it without being prompted. I feel like all of our hard work has paid off. And he was so proud of himself, he was smiling from ear to ear. He has done several times since then. Today was a really big day. William said his first word! Way to Go William!!!

Sibling Love

Will has started crawling over to Caroline when she is laying on the floor. He will crawl all over her and hug and kiss on her. It is really cute to watch, here are some pictures of the two of them. They LOVE each other!

Mommy and Me

Tonight at Caroline's school was Mommy and Me night. It was so cute! When we got there all of the Moms went to the sanctuary while the kids got ready. They came up and we first said a prayer and then said the Pledge of Allegiance. Caroline knew all of the words to the Pledge, I was amazed that she knew them all. They then sang four songs, If Your Happy and You know It, Mommy was her name, Jesus Loves Me and I can't remember the last one. She sang her little heart out, it was so cute. After they were done singing we went and had a snack, cookies and punch. We then made a craft. We made flowers with her fingerprints and then glued a Mommy Prayer on it. Caroline loves doing crafts, I think that was her favorite part of the evening.

These are pictures of Caroline and her class singing their songs. She is sitting next to one of her favorite friends in class, Cameron.

This is Caroline signing I Love You showing me the picture that we made together. Caroline and I have signed I love you to each other since I can remember. Josh and I taught Caroline many easy signs before she could talk and I love you was one that we taught her. We still sign it to each other several times a day.

Here is Caroline with her teacher Mrs. Abby. Caroline really likes Mrs. Abby.

It was really nice to spend time with Caroline. I can't believe what an amazing little girl she has grown to be. She is kind, loving and brillent. I am very proud of my girl, she is getting so big.

I really had a great time tonight, I haven't stopped smiling since the singing began!

she said/she said

We have been waiting for the State of IL to approve the smo braces for Will's feet. The braces will help with the turning in of his ankles. We had the appointment with Orthopedics on Nov. 13th. I gave the prescription to Will's physical therapist the following week. That week was Thanksgiving so I knew that there would be a delay in the processing because of the holiday. Will's therapist had to write a letter along with other paperwork that had to be filed in order to get the braces. It was the beginning of December before the letter was sent to the person with early intervention who is in charge of getting the approval from the state.

So we have been waiting since November for these braces. I was wondering where we were at in the process so I called the lady at the early intervention office in charge and asked her what was going on and why it was taking so long. She told me that she didn't receive the paper work from the physical therapist until the beginning of JANUARY!!!! She told me that she was getting the pricing together today and it would be within the next thirty days that we would be hearing something from the state, whether they approved or denied the request for the braces.

I asked her if she had the date in which the therapist sent in the paper work and she said it was faxed to her on the 6th of January. I asked her if that was the day that the therapist maybe re-sent the paper work or was that the original request. She said that it was the original request. That would be one month later than when I was told it was sent.

I phoned the therapist and she seemed confused and not sure why I was told it wasn't sent until the 6th of January. So I am in a situation of she said/she said and I have no idea where to vent my anger! So now we are going to have to wait another thirty days for approval from the state then we have to wait to have them made, probably another thirty days. TWO more months! That is just ridiculous, I can't believe that we are having to wait this long for the braces. For pete's sake, can't a baby boy get some braces!!!

Ruth Marie

Josh's brother, Ryan and his wife, Andrea welcomed their second child yesterday, 1/17/08. Her name is Ruth Marie (Ruthie), she was 8 pounds 6 ounces and 18.5 inches long. She is beautiful!!! I had the pleasure of being at the hospital when she was born and it was so exicting. From where we were waiting we could hear her first cry and everyone in the delivery room cheering when she was born, it was amazing!

Andrea is an amazing woman! She went to the hospital on Wednesday to be induced. She called me that morning before going to the hospital to tell me that she was going to have her baby that day. After I picked Caroline up from school we headed to Sparta, where I dropped the kids off at my Moms house and then went to the hospital. I thought that I was going to miss it! But I had plenty of time, she didn't deliver until the next day at 9:15pm!

Andrea is the only woman on this planet that can be in labor and still be smiling!!! She was smiling the whole time! Andrea is a real trooper and again, AMAZING!!

They even let me hold Ruthie! She is sooo tiny and cute. It is amazing that I don't remember my kids ever being that small but Will only weighed 7 pounds when he was born, Caroline weighed 8 pounds. But for some reason, Ruthie just seems so tiny.

They should be able to come home tomorrow. Baby and Mommy are doing well.

I love you Ruthie! hugs and kisses, Aunt M.

.

New Things the Kids are doing

Caroline has been working really hard on her coloring skills and she is doing awesome. Ms. Abby (her teacher) said that she has the best coloring skills of the class! Yesterday she brought me these two pictures that she had colored and I was shocked at how well she did. She was very proud of herself.





















Will has been working on stacking. He is stacking his blocks very well. We are using Caroline's Dora blocks because they are bigger and he can handle them easier. He is able to stack three blocks! He is doing awesome and he is super excited when we all cheer for him when he does it.

My babies are growing up. Sigh.

A funny "Lilo" story

So for a few weeks now after we put the kids to bed Josh and I come downstairs to watch TV, work on the computer or whatever. We are downstairs for awhile then Josh usually goes up to take a shower and get ready for bed. There has been about three times that he comes back down and said that Caroline was sleeping on the floor in the hallway to our room. She brings her blanket, stuffed zebra and drink cup and sets up shop on the floor. Josh then wakes her up and walks her back to her room where she will sleep the rest of the night. Last night Josh went up to get ready for bed to find Caroline in our bed! Josh said that she scared the crap out of him. Josh asked her what she was doing and she said that she was scared. She wasn't crying or had a bad dream or anything, she usually goes to the floor or our room before she even gets to sleep. Josh then walked her back to her room put her back to bed where she slept for the rest of the night.

I am not sure why she has been doing this. We have never let her sleep in our bed, not even as an infant, it just isn't our thing. I think that it is kind of funny that she would want to sleep on the floor instead of her bed but I think that this is just a phase. I really want to get a picture of her on the floor but have missed it. If I get one I will post it.

Has anyone else's kids done this???

The Mom Song

I ran across this video on youtube and it is so funny. I thought that I would share it with all of you fellow Moms out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM&feature=related


I hope that you all enjoy it. Let me know if you like it!

Our weekend

So there is really nothing new going on around here but I felt that I needed to post something, not sure what, but here goes!

We didn't really do much this weekend. Josh took the kids to visit Grandma Montroy and Aunt Judy on Saturday while I took some pictures of my friend's kids. The photo shoot went well, I got some really good pictures. I may post some in a later post. Josh said that Grandma Montroy and Judy were glad to see the kids so it all worked out well.

This morning we went to church. On our way home it started to flury snow but didn't last too long (long enough for us to say "hey Caroline, look it's snowing"). Josh and I cleaned out our closet and did some organizing in our room (I hate organizing). Josh watched football and the kids played. And that was our day.

The Littlest Ballerina

We signed Caroline up for a ballet/tap dance class and tonight was her first class. She had a great time. I took my camera along and tried to get some pictures but I had Will with me and he was not really letting me get too many good ones.

Caroline and her class stretching.

Caroline doing leg lifts. (It was really hard for her to keep her balance.)

Caroline looking super cute in her ballet outfit.

Caroline dancing like a ballerina during the free dance at the end of class.

First Day Back

Today was Caroline's first day back to school after Christmas break. It was hard for all of us to get up and moving this morning but Caroline was super excited about going back to school. She had to wear one of her new outfits that Santa brought her (a skirt, of course!). When I took her into the classroom and she saw all of her friends she was all smiles! I always tell her to have fun and learn something new and she gave me the OKAY MOM! look. So we are back in our old routine around here...

Playing Today

Today we had some really warm weather, nearly 70! Caroline and I decided to go and play outside for awhile. I got a new camera for Christmas and I wanted to play with it a little bit while we were out.

Caroline wanted to go on a bike ride. Here is a picture of her getting ready for the ride. She hates wearing her helmet, she claims that it is itchy. I really think that it is because she has her eye on a new princess helmet!

I took this picture while we were riding, I think that she looks so cute on her little bike!

After the bike ride we played on the neighbors playground equipment. She had a great time playing and I had a great time playing with my camera and Caroline, of course!

Some new gear

So Will has some new gear. The GI doctor wants us to use a pump when we tube feed William. She is hoping that this setup will eliminate the vomiting. We still feed him by mouth first and then what he doesn't eat we pump. The pump is set up to feed him 4 ounces of formula in 20 minutes, so if he eats 2 ounces on his own then it only takes us 10 minutes with the pump. I am not sure how I feel about having to sit by this pump 5 times a day trying to get him to sit still for 20 minutes but I will give it a try. The hardest part is trying to get him to sit still and be patient.

So here is the set up. It looks very complicated but it is really easy. And it doesn't hurt him at all (he is smiling while eating!)

The machine is called a kangaroo joey. Caroline likes it because it has kangaroos on it! So we are going to give this a try for a month and see if there is any change in the vomiting department.

Just a lazy day

We had a very lazy day yesterday. Caroline didn't even get out of her pajamas! She put together her new puzzles that she got for Christmas and played with her new games. Here is a picture of Caroline after she finished one of her puzzles. She is really good at it!

Josh and I worked on taking down the Christmas decorations and cleaning the house. I still have tons of cleaning to do, but it is a slow process when you only have one hand (I am usually ALWAYS holding Will).

Even our dog Madi had a lazy day. I found him laying his head on a pillow that was left on the floor. He looked so comfortable!

Update on The Stitch

So I wanted to give you all an update on Will (aka: The Stitch). Yesterday he could not keep anything down. So we stopped offering him formula 1) because we were tired of wearing it 2) he wasn't keeping any of it down. So we only gave him pedilyte which didn't always stay down either. He has also been experiencing diaherria, at least 4-5 times a day. With all of this, I am guessing that he has a bug of some sort.

I have a call into GI so see if there is anything that they suggest to keep him hydrated at this point. At the rate we are going, what goes in ALWAYS comes out!