Monday, April 16, 2012
Madeline
Madeline...our little fighter. Where to start...She is doing amazing! After the NG tube was removed, she just blossomed. Last month, we started on solids and we thought that we were going to have trouble getting her to eat. Boy were we wrong. She went NUTS for baby food from the very beginning. We figured that she was ready to try solids after seeing the way she watched us eat....she would follow the spoon to our mouths and back down to the plate. Now when we feed her, she flaps her arms wildly and you can't get the spoon in her mouth fast enough. So far, she loves anything we give her. She has also started eating teething crackers, because she has 2 tiny teeth coming in on the bottom.
At 5.5 months, Maddy started sitting up on her own. I swear it happened overnight. She is one strong girl. I thought for sure she would be behind, and would not be sitting up soon because of the surgeries she had. But once again, she surprised us. She loves to sit on her musical gym and chew on whatever she can hanging in front of her. She loves looking at the dogs and squeals when they get close to her.
Maddy loves to be swaddled to sleep and nap (just like her sister did), and she loves her binky when she sleeps. Most often she naps in her swing, although she won't be doing it much longer because she flops around too much for comfort. She is still sleeping in our room at night, but we are going to transition her to her crib soon, maybe next month. Just yesterday, she slept for the whole night. Hopefully this becomes the norm.
During diaper changes, Maddy loves to laugh, wiggle, giggle and grab at her feet. She is a squirmy girl. Maddy loves to watch Hailey, and she will track her all over the room, just taking in everything. Hailey can always get her to smile.
It looks like Maddy with have sandy colored hair, although in some light, it does look red.
Maddy continues to do well with drinking from the bottle. She is finally capable of drinking a whole 4 oz at a time. She is no longer spitting up and just recently we were able to stop thickening her fluids. We couldn't be happier with her progress. She has another appt at Children's next week, and we are hoping they don't want to see us again until she is a year old.
At 5.5 months, Maddy started sitting up on her own. I swear it happened overnight. She is one strong girl. I thought for sure she would be behind, and would not be sitting up soon because of the surgeries she had. But once again, she surprised us. She loves to sit on her musical gym and chew on whatever she can hanging in front of her. She loves looking at the dogs and squeals when they get close to her.
Maddy loves to be swaddled to sleep and nap (just like her sister did), and she loves her binky when she sleeps. Most often she naps in her swing, although she won't be doing it much longer because she flops around too much for comfort. She is still sleeping in our room at night, but we are going to transition her to her crib soon, maybe next month. Just yesterday, she slept for the whole night. Hopefully this becomes the norm.
During diaper changes, Maddy loves to laugh, wiggle, giggle and grab at her feet. She is a squirmy girl. Maddy loves to watch Hailey, and she will track her all over the room, just taking in everything. Hailey can always get her to smile.
It looks like Maddy with have sandy colored hair, although in some light, it does look red.
Maddy continues to do well with drinking from the bottle. She is finally capable of drinking a whole 4 oz at a time. She is no longer spitting up and just recently we were able to stop thickening her fluids. We couldn't be happier with her progress. She has another appt at Children's next week, and we are hoping they don't want to see us again until she is a year old.
Hailey
Hailey is at such a fun age (3.5). She is clever and witty, and has such a good sense of humor and loves everyone. She is our social butterfly. Hailey is now 100% potty trained. I knew that she was ready to stop wearing pull ups while we were still at Children's, but it was just easier to not worry about bedtime accidents. So last month Hailey started wearing underwear to bed and hasn't had 1 accident. The girl has a bladder like a camel. Before bed, she will drink a full sippy cup, or 2 of milk and be able to hold it all night, and until after breakfast.
Hailey still doesn't get out of bed on her own in the morning. Instead, she lays in bed and says "Mommy, Daddy, I'm awake!" She is a great sleeper for the most part, she will sometimes wake up crying because of a bad dream. She is very particular about her bed time routine: She uses her favorite pink/green blanket to cover up with because she refuses to use the comforter that came with her sheets. The pink side of the blanket has to face up, and the tag has to be at the bottom of the blanket. She still uses her Rainforest music maker to fall asleep, as well as a Twilight Turtle and a Twilight Ladybug (that she took from Maddy). She likes to have 2 songs sung to her, or she likes it when we get in bed with her and tell her random stories about when Moose was a puppy, or about when she was born.
We no longer have nap time, however, we do "quiet time" everyday. During quiet time, she can play in her room with her dollhouse, read books, or nap. Most of the time, she chooses to play with her dollhouse. She has such an imagination and can play by herself for hours. It's really cute to listen to.
Hailey has perfected riding her bike, and loves doing anything outside. It's so hard for me to believe that she is going to be 4 soon.
She still names all of her stuffed animals "Gloria", and her most prized possession is a pink rabbit that my dad bought her for Christmas. She carries it with her everywhere.
Hailey still doesn't get out of bed on her own in the morning. Instead, she lays in bed and says "Mommy, Daddy, I'm awake!" She is a great sleeper for the most part, she will sometimes wake up crying because of a bad dream. She is very particular about her bed time routine: She uses her favorite pink/green blanket to cover up with because she refuses to use the comforter that came with her sheets. The pink side of the blanket has to face up, and the tag has to be at the bottom of the blanket. She still uses her Rainforest music maker to fall asleep, as well as a Twilight Turtle and a Twilight Ladybug (that she took from Maddy). She likes to have 2 songs sung to her, or she likes it when we get in bed with her and tell her random stories about when Moose was a puppy, or about when she was born.
We no longer have nap time, however, we do "quiet time" everyday. During quiet time, she can play in her room with her dollhouse, read books, or nap. Most of the time, she chooses to play with her dollhouse. She has such an imagination and can play by herself for hours. It's really cute to listen to.
Hailey has perfected riding her bike, and loves doing anything outside. It's so hard for me to believe that she is going to be 4 soon.
She still names all of her stuffed animals "Gloria", and her most prized possession is a pink rabbit that my dad bought her for Christmas. She carries it with her everywhere.
MIA
I have been so bad at keeping this blog up to date. Part of me just wants to stop doing it, but another part of me wants to be able to look back on these times and read about what Hailey and Madeline were up to at certain ages.
So for now, I guess I will play catch up...
So for now, I guess I will play catch up...
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Maddy is free!
Yesterday we took Maddy back to Children's for her monthly check up. We were really hoping that they could say we could leave the tube out...and thankfully, they did!!! We couldn't be happier. Her surgeon thought she looked great and was so happy with her progress.
We also took Hailey with us this time, which we haven't done before. This was her first time back at the hospital since we left in Decempber, and she was SO excited to see Maddy's surgeon, Dr. Avansino again, and of course, go to the gift shop. Hailey was all over Dr. Avansino and even drew a picture of him on the white board while we were waiting.
After Maddy's appointment, we went back to the Surgical floor (Giraffe 3), that we spent most of time on during our stay too see if any of our favorite nurses were working. We were lucky enough to get to see 2 nurses that we really liked, Heather and Kathy. They loved seeing how big Maddy is, and Hailey was all over them for stickers and other goodies. We then checked out the gift shop, and then headed over to an appointment with Maddy's Occupational Therapist, who was so happy to hear of Maddy's progress.
After all the appointments, we headed to University Village for lunch at The Ram, frozen yogurt at Menchi's and a little shopping. It was a great day, and such a relief knowing that Maddy will never need another tube in her nose again.
Now we just need to make sure is drinking at least 600mls of milk a day, which she is doing. She has slowly been increasing each day and has been letting us know when she is hungry.
We also took Hailey with us this time, which we haven't done before. This was her first time back at the hospital since we left in Decempber, and she was SO excited to see Maddy's surgeon, Dr. Avansino again, and of course, go to the gift shop. Hailey was all over Dr. Avansino and even drew a picture of him on the white board while we were waiting.
After Maddy's appointment, we went back to the Surgical floor (Giraffe 3), that we spent most of time on during our stay too see if any of our favorite nurses were working. We were lucky enough to get to see 2 nurses that we really liked, Heather and Kathy. They loved seeing how big Maddy is, and Hailey was all over them for stickers and other goodies. We then checked out the gift shop, and then headed over to an appointment with Maddy's Occupational Therapist, who was so happy to hear of Maddy's progress.
After all the appointments, we headed to University Village for lunch at The Ram, frozen yogurt at Menchi's and a little shopping. It was a great day, and such a relief knowing that Maddy will never need another tube in her nose again.
Now we just need to make sure is drinking at least 600mls of milk a day, which she is doing. She has slowly been increasing each day and has been letting us know when she is hungry.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Maddy's 4 month appt.
Maddy weighs 12lbs 3 oz (25%), she is 23 1/4 inches tall (15%), and her head circumference (HC) is 38 1/4 cm (25%). Hailey's stats at 4 months were: 13 lbs 4 oz, 24 3/4 inches tall, and HC was 40 1/2 cm. So Maddy is pretty darn close to where Hailey was at this age. Which is really impressive considering Maddy was a whole 2 lbs smaller than Hailey at birth.
Dr. Gass said she is doing great. We just need to work on Maddy reaching and holding on to things, which is so much easier for her to do without the sock on her hand. Other than that, she is meeting all of her goals for this age. Dr. Gass was totally onboard with leaving her tubeless as long as she is meeting her goals. He prescribed some special lotion for Maddy's face to help with the irritation.
Maddy got 3 shots, and one oral vaccine. Of course she screamed during the shots, but she calmed down quickly.
Dr. Gass said she is doing great. We just need to work on Maddy reaching and holding on to things, which is so much easier for her to do without the sock on her hand. Other than that, she is meeting all of her goals for this age. Dr. Gass was totally onboard with leaving her tubeless as long as she is meeting her goals. He prescribed some special lotion for Maddy's face to help with the irritation.
Maddy got 3 shots, and one oral vaccine. Of course she screamed during the shots, but she calmed down quickly.
Tubeless Wednesday
While driving Hailey to the doctor on Wednesday morning, Maddy was unusually quiet and I couldn't see her because the mirror in the back had been bumped. I wasn't too worried until Hailey yelled "Maddy pulled out her tube!" I didn't think Hailey was telling the truth because she likes to tell us that Maddy spit up when she hasn't. We figure out if she is being honest pretty quick by asked her what color the spit up is. Usually she answers with "blue" or "pink", so we know she is fibbing. This time I was driving so I couldn't tell if Maddy had indeed pulled out her tube. So at the first stop light I came too, I turned around and sure enough, the tube was out. I still don't know how she managed to get it out because she had a sock on her hand. She is a little houdini!
Since the tube was out, we decided to leave it out and see how Maddy did on the bottle alone. She wasn't progressing too much on drinking from the bottle, so we figured maybe she just needs to be pushed. So we spent the rest of Wednesday offering her the bottle every hour or so to get as much in her as we could. We monitored her diapers to make sure she was peeing and pooping and not getting dehydrated. Overall, she did great overnight. On Thursday we did the same thing, and she continued to do well. She still wasn't consuming the same amount she would be getting if she had the tube in, but she was fairly close. On Friday, we got a call from her OT from Children's who said she had just been thinking about Maddy and had decided to call. I told her it was perfect timing! I explained to her what was going on and she was really excited about the progress and said this is exactly what some kids need to wean off the tube. Keren, the OT, called Maddy's nutritionist, and together they set up a new goal for Maddy. Her new goal is 600mls per day, which is about 20 ounces. They said as long as she meets her goal daily, we can leave the tube out until our next appt. on Feb. 29.
Each day we are seeing a small improvement on how much she is consuming. It's all very exciting, but stressful and nerve wracking at the same time. Without her tube in, she is not getting her acid reflux medication or her iron, however, she hasn't shown any discomfort related to reflux.
She definitely seems more happy and smiles a lot more without the tube in. She also laughs more, which we love. We are enjoying seeing both of her cute cheeks, and her poor cheeks are getting a chance to heal up from being covered in tape.
We hope this is the beginning of being tube free!!
Since the tube was out, we decided to leave it out and see how Maddy did on the bottle alone. She wasn't progressing too much on drinking from the bottle, so we figured maybe she just needs to be pushed. So we spent the rest of Wednesday offering her the bottle every hour or so to get as much in her as we could. We monitored her diapers to make sure she was peeing and pooping and not getting dehydrated. Overall, she did great overnight. On Thursday we did the same thing, and she continued to do well. She still wasn't consuming the same amount she would be getting if she had the tube in, but she was fairly close. On Friday, we got a call from her OT from Children's who said she had just been thinking about Maddy and had decided to call. I told her it was perfect timing! I explained to her what was going on and she was really excited about the progress and said this is exactly what some kids need to wean off the tube. Keren, the OT, called Maddy's nutritionist, and together they set up a new goal for Maddy. Her new goal is 600mls per day, which is about 20 ounces. They said as long as she meets her goal daily, we can leave the tube out until our next appt. on Feb. 29.
Each day we are seeing a small improvement on how much she is consuming. It's all very exciting, but stressful and nerve wracking at the same time. Without her tube in, she is not getting her acid reflux medication or her iron, however, she hasn't shown any discomfort related to reflux.
She definitely seems more happy and smiles a lot more without the tube in. She also laughs more, which we love. We are enjoying seeing both of her cute cheeks, and her poor cheeks are getting a chance to heal up from being covered in tape.
We hope this is the beginning of being tube free!!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Valentine's Day train
My parents bought tickets to ride the Wickersham train the weekend before Valentine's day. They knew Hailey wold love it because she loves trains. Although, she gets scared of the train whistle when it's off in the distance. Strange I know. The train ride was about an hour and half long, and there was a guy who played the banjo and say kid songs in our train car. Halfway through the ride, the train stops so everyone can get out and walk a short distance to a waterfall. It was really fun and we look forward to doing it again, maybe at Christmas time!
Family pictures 2012
I was hoping to wait to do family pictures until Maddy got her tube out, but since there really isn't an end in sight at this point, we decided to have them done last month. We went to Sweetpea Memories in Alger because I love her work. She also offers free pictures to military families and to families who have been affected by cancer. I admire her for being so charitable, and I wanted to support her business. the pictures turned out amazing, and I was on pins and needles waiting for them to be emailed to us. Here they are!
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