Weekend Distractions and Andrew Update

Swim lessons were a total success.  They LOVED them.  And we were pretty impressed with how they were done.  We alternated between circle time with songs in the pool and "exercises" on the side.  We worked on kicking, floating on their backs, splashing and falling into our arms from sitting and standing on the side.  They were two of the most cooperative babies in the class and the only ones that were comfortable enough to really splash, laugh and enjoy themselves.  We were pretty proud of them:)

Saturday night, we celebrated their Uncle Josh's birthday and went to Outback for dinner.  I'm not going to lie - I was a little nervous about how this was going to go.  We had to wait 45 minutes for a table and were then there almost an hour and a half.  They were on their very best behavior though and ate and played happily the whole time.  It was a small miracle:)

Paige dancing while she waited to leave for dinner:)

Andrew with Uncle Josh and Daddy at dinner

Happy birthday, Uncle Josh!

Sunday, was their very first birthday party!  It was for my co-workers son's 3rd birthday and it was at JW Tumbles - a kids indoor play arena.  They had a blast and it was so fun to watch them explore everything.

We climbed!

Went down LOTS of slides!

Rode on "space shuttles":)

Drove on race tracks!

Made new friends!

And made silly faces in the mirror;)

We ate yummy pizza and cake

And wished Kannon a very happy birthday! (Too bad its dark and you can't really see his awesome cake...)

Unfortunately, this week was back to reality and Andrew started his battery of testing to try to figure out his weight loss and abnormal stooling.  Today, he did a sweat chloride test to look for Cystic Fibrosis, blood work to test for Celiac Disease, and abdominal xray to look at his stool burden.  We also got a collection container to start a 72 hour stool test.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We have to gather up all his poop for 3 DAYS.  And this is the container they gave us:

Its about the size of a gallon of milk!!!

Poor guy had to sit with these bags to collect sweat (after some tortuous "sweat stimulation") for 30 minutes. He was not a fan!

But he found ways to drink despite not having his hands;)

In the xray suite - he was hating life at this point since we just finished his blood draw.

Good news is that the sweat test already came back negative - we are very relieved by that. Now we just wait on the other results and start crossing things off our differential list one by one.  We're just hoping that we find an answer quickly without too much torture and that he starts packing on those pounds!

White Coats Galore

Lots has been going on recently in the medical aspect of our world.  We returned for what I hope is our last visit to the Georgetown NICU follow-up clinic two weeks ago.  They were pleased with their progress but advised a comprehensive developmental evaluation.  I called to schedule this unaware of what was involved.  Apparently, it's a multi-specialty appointment with a developmentalist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, speech pathologist and child psychologist.  The appointment will last at least 4 HOURS! I went ahead and made the appointment since the first available wasn't until the middle of April but I'm thinking this might be a little much.  We are already linked into services in our county and our PT is happy with how they are doing.  I guess we'll see how they are doing over the next couple weeks but I may end up canceling...

Paige went back to ENT last week for another hearing evaluation.  She failed her hearing screen again and they are thinking this is due to the chronic fluid they are seeing in her ears.  Her balance has been a concern of our's for a while, too.  She has much more strength and support with her walking but falls all the time and often staggers like she's drunk.  While she has only had one ear infection in her life, these two other reasons are indications for myringotomy tubes.  I talked with the ENT Nurse Practitioner for a while and she told me that we have two options.  We can go for the tubes, immediately clear the fluid and hopefully get improvement.  Or we can wait until the weather warms a bit, recheck her one more time and gain some confidence about this being the right decision.  Well, when I called just to see when the first available surgery slot was, they told me April 20th.  So the decision is made.  We booked the surgery for that day but will have her seen again and rescreened two weeks before (when its hopefully warmer and she isn't congested) to make sure nothing has improved before going forward.  Of course, this means a prescreen appt, surgery date and then follow-up appts and hearing screens which equals an excessive amount of time off work!

Andrew also had another doctor's appointment last week with the pediatrician.  You may remember back to my previous post about him having lost close to 2 pounds between his 12 and 15 month well check.  Well we went back last week for another weight check and found that he hasn't really gained any weight since his 15 month check... He has also been up to his old tricks of being up all night (although we've had some better nights this week. Thank God!) with what seems to be pain and having abnormal stooling patterns.  He will have harder stools and then HUGE (and I mean HUGE) very loose, foul smelling, head to toe, throw away clothes and bath required for all stools.  And that's not exaggerhating.  He's also eating like we are starving him.  He bangs on our cabinets for food, has several helpings at each meal, and even daycare is commenting on the excesive amount he is eating.  Dr. Arnold decided to do some stool studies on Friday and the one that tested for fecal fat was abnormal.  What does this mean?  That he has some problem with absorption.  So now we are anxiously awaiting some recommendations for Gastroenterology about what our next step(s) will be. 

So needless to say, we've got lots going on right now.  And everyone told us that it all got much easier after their first year!  But we do have some fun stuff planned this weekend -- their first swim lessons are on Saturday morning (at 9am for the next ten weeks - what were we thinking?!?!) and then their first birthday party on Sunday! Hopefully this will all be a good distraction while we wait to figure out what in the world is going on with Andrew.... We'll keep you posted.

It's A Good Thing They're Cute....

Because tonight, their gift to us was poop in the tub (for the very first time - maybe we're actually lucky...) and puke in our bed! 

But how can you get mad at this face?

Or this cheesing one? :)

Don't worry.  This is just Andrew "kissing" his sister.

16 months is a fun age.  Despite the clean up process we just completed:)

Christmas in February

The kids got lots of new stuff this weekend....because Nana and Papa were in town:)

We have a small area next to our kitchen that has been filled with Pack-n-plays and a rocking chair since the kids were born.  They have now outgrown this and our pack-n-plays were being used as toy boxes.  This weekend, we were on a mission to transform this area into an upstairs playroom so that maybe the kids would be entertained enough that I would actually be able to cook once in a while!

Here is the final product:)

They were so helpful with putting everything together:)

And quickly grew obsessed with sitting at their big kid table.

Paige then used this new space to feel her Dolly.

And then Nana really spoiled her with a new bed for all her babies.

Andrew still enjoyed being upside down the best.

More updates later.  Now its time for bed....before Andrew has us up in a few hours!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Valentine's Day wasn't so great...but the kids still had a good day:)  They looked cute in their matching shirts, ate lots of sugar, got presents, and even made their first art project at daycare!

Our little "heart breaker"

Checking out each other's shirts:)

Paige found their matching shirts hysterical!

And Andrew just loved being in the laundry basket - the only place we could contain them both for a picture!

Their first art project - on the fridge, of course!

Andrew was SO excited about his sugar cookie he was screaming:)

Paige nibbled on hers but would really rather wave to the camera.

Don't worry. Kodi wasn't left out - here was her new toy:)

Andrew's new obsession - his Valentine's Day balloon.  We're still pulling that thing all over the house!

What did Mommy get for Valentine's Day?  Strep throat and bronchitis:(  And poor Grandma (Jack's mom) celebrated her day in the hospital.  Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers - she has been in the ICU all week and has been through way more than her fair share.  We've got a lot going on right now...and our two adorable kids are what are keeping us all going:)

Our Poor Sick Babies:(

Both Paige and Andrew had a rough week.  At the beginning of last week, their typical runny nose and cough worsened and they started spiking fevers.  They woke up Monday morning burning up with crimson cheeks and no energy to do anything.  After 48 hours of this with no real improvement, we took them to the pediatrician who diagnosed them both with ear infections and started them on antibiotics.  A couple hours after their first dose, Paige developed a horrible rash that then lasted until the weekend.  The tricky part was figuring out if the rash was an antibiotic reaction or just part of her viral process.  We're pretty sure at this point that she (and probably he) had Roseola.

Our poor, miserable princess:(

Her awful rash.

By the weekend, their personalities were back and they were definitely feeling better.  Of course, this was after they successfully escaped daycare for an entire week!  Thank goodness Nana and Papa were able to come so we didn't burn all of our sick and vacation time at work!  They were great - especially Papa, who took care of the kids alone for the first time.  He was Paige's favorite person by the end of the week and she was constantly asking for "Papa?!"

Right before all of this drama started, we had a fun weekend full of trips to the soft playroom (where we probably caught this!)

At the top of the slide!

We also had a big Sunday brunch with friends.  Mommy's sorority sister, Chris, came down to meet the kids for the first time and stayed overnight.  It was SO good to see her and she spoiled the kids with presents.

Checking out their gifts

Andrew loving his tissue paper:)

Hanging out with Aunt CJ before bed

It really is so good to have them back to themselves. Their personalities are blossoming more and more each day and we are constantly in owe of how amazing they are.  They really do look like toddlers now.  Where did our babies go?!?

Andrew's favorite chair

Paige dancing to the Goodnight song on TV

Andrew now loves to say "Cheeese!" like his sister:)

Our big girl reading her book all by herself (look close, its upside down!):)

Happy almost Valentine's Day!  We'll post pics tomorrow...

15 Months

Today was our 15 month well check.  They have definitely figured out what it means to be at the doctor's office and were not very happy or well behaved.  Andrew displayed his new talent of throwing temper tantrums - aren't we lucky that this has started so early?!? And Paige screamed through her whole exam.

Paige's numbers were great.  She weighed 20 pounds, 8 ounces (40th percentile), measured 30 3/4 inches (56th percentile), and her head circumference was 19 inches (96th percentile) - our kids have had huge heads all along!  Andrew's numbers were okay.  He weighed 20 pounds, 10 ounces (18th percentile), measured 30 inches (11th percentile), and his head circumference is 19 inches (86th percentile).  The concern with him is that he has lost 1.5 pounds since his last visit there.  Obviously babies this age are not supposed to lose weight. So we will closely monitor his weight over the next couple weeks and head back next month for another visit and weight check for him.  In the mean time, we are going to focus on what he is eating and try to encourage him to eat a bit more.  We certainly did not think we would have an eating/weight gain issue with him - he's been our little fatty for quite some time!  But they are both becoming pretty picky and getting them to eat can often be a challenge.

Janice, our physical therapist, continues to come twice a month and is really pleased with Andrew's progress.  He is running, climbing and very steady on his feet.  Paige is still mastering multiple steps and is a little less balanced.  Her gait is very wide and her hips are a bit turned out.  She also continues to rise on her toes and turn slightly outward with her feet.  Janice will reassess her again in two weeks and if not improved, we may consider some orthodics for her.  She is certainly making up for her gross motor with her speech and cognitive development!  She is saying "Dada", "dolly", "duck and quack", "cracker", and "nah nah" (no). She will bring things to us when asked and will often come across the room to give kisses.  Other times, she will simply tell you 'no' and shake her head furiously if she doesn't want to do something! Andrew will copy certain sounds and will say "Dada" and "Baba" (bottle).  He simply ignores many commands because he doesn't want to do them, but he definitely understands everything you say.

We've also done both hearing and vision appointments over the past month or so and both went well.  There don't seem to be any vision abnormalities now but Paige will return a little earlier than Andrew because she has mild ptosis of her right eye (drooping of her lid) and a slight astigmatism.  This puts her at slightly higher risk of vision problems in the future but we don't have to go back for a year (Andrew - 2 years).  The hearing appointments were also interesting:)  They put us in a sound booth and made different volume and tone sounds in different directions with a rubber duck that lit up.  Andrew passed without any difficulty.  Paige did not do well with the lower tones but they did notice a good amount of fluid in her ears.  She had a cold at the time which could account for this, so we go back in February to see if the fluid is gone and repeat the test.  If its not gone, we may talk about tubes.  Paige loved the test though because 'duck' and 'quack' are two of her favorite words.  Whenever the duck lit up she would shout 'duck' and turn around to make sure I saw it, too.  It was pretty adorable:)

We're exploring lots of new places in our area and plan to try out a couple more soft playrooms and indoor play centers this weekend.  Its good for them to be in new places and its especially good for Andrew to run and get some of his energy out!  We went to a soft playroom last weekend and Andrew ran along with the 2 and 3 year olds climbing up ladders, going head first down slides and diving into the ball pit.  He has no fear! And he never stops moving!  He keeps us very busy...and maybe all those burned calories explain some of his recent weight loss!  Oh do we have our hands full:)