Mother of the year award to be given me!

C, Grandma and I got home last night from the after hours clinic at our pediatrician’s office at about 9pm.  Fun times.  Grandma rode along b/c she did not want me to be out with C alone after dark.  Not that the Dr’s office is in a bad part of town but it is IN town next to the freeway (which has a lot of questionable people hanging around all of the time).  Thanks, Nana.  Anyway back to C.  She has had a very runny nose for about 10 days.  Then on Wednesday started throwing up and yesterday diarrhea.  That is all bad enough for a six month old but what had me going in last night instead of the appointment I made for today, she orange “crystals” in her diaper.  I did not know they were crystals until the doc told me.  J had never had this and it freaked me out pretty good.  The doc said that the kidneys will make these crystals when they are dehydrated.  I am still having trouble getting C to eat anything.  She eats about 2 ozs of her bottle and then REFUSES the rest.  Anyone have any suggestions?  I am open for them.   So hopefully, we won’t have to go back to the doctor b/c she is not eating.

Now to J.  We have been struggling with him about potty training.  He is 5 and not even close to being potty trained.  We have pushed – we have back off – we have done everything we can think of and no luck.  We have treated it as a behavior issue and no I am not so sure (at least partly).  I do think he is holding #1 all day b/c that is a control issue but #2 I am not so sure about anymore.  The older preemie list serv I belong to has talked about potty training periodically.  But until now, this aspect of the topic has never (to my knowledge) been brought up before.  Y’all all know that J was born very early and as a result had/has low muscle tone in his trunk (torso).  *Warning about to give TMI*  He always lays down on his stomach to have a BM and these BMs are usually very large.  Also, if we “catch” him mid process and try to take him to the potty literally it get sucked back into him.  (I already warned about TMI    )  Well last night as I am reading the email thread on this topic, several people are talking about all of these things being attributed to LOW TONE IN THE TRUNK.  As I sit reading this, I am preparing my acceptance speech for MOTY award.  All kidding aside, I do feel really bad that I have been treating this as a behavior issue and it my be beyond his control.  So, next dr appointment I guess I will ask for a GI referral to go and talk about this.

J had a big day the other day.  He and I spent all day at TCH which exhausted me much more than it did J.  He spent the day getting Neuro-psych testing.  He had two interns and a dr testing him for about 6 hours.  He did great.  He thinks work like that or “school work” fun.  As part of the testing, the doctor met with me for about an hour and a half.  I really liked her.  She and I had very similar views on “labels” and when to and when not to diagnosis.  She said that J was a very unique and did not neatly in any one box.  His skills are very scattered (which I knew) -advanced in areas and bombed areas he should have excelled in.  I don’t think she told me anything that I did not already know but we go back for the results in a few weeks.  She also said that J needs to go to that private school that made me so angry last summer.  J’s speech therapist has also been pushing for this lately too.  So, I agreed to go talk to them again for the summer camp and look into sending him to kindergarten there.  Remember, this place is ridiculously expensive.  They do give scholarships.  We shall see.

J just woke up.  Need to go be mom. 

Everyone have a great weekend.  If you live here in Houston, try to stay dry.

Some oh so cute pics of my kiddos

I posted about taking pictures in the bluebonnets a few weeks ago.  Well here are some of the better ones.

Some of C – who is now begining to sit. 

Who had squash for the first time today.    She is going to be very involved in her feedings.

It has been a while

For anyone wondering, I am still healing from the whole jaw incident.  I was and still am pretty sore in my neck and jaw.  I was so incredibly depressed on friday when I went to get a massage, and they told me I could not get one until 6 weeks post injury.    I don’t think I have been that disappointed in a long time.  I was hoping for at least an hour of relief.  I need to make an appointment with our ENT to follow up.   When I see him, my entire family will then be treated by this man.  I know he will see dollar signs whenever we make an appointment.

C is doing great.  She found her feet this past weekend.  She has been playing with her hands for a while but her feet were of no interest.  Well, she is now fascinated with them.  It has really helped with her balance.  She will sit on her own for a few minutes at a time.  She can’t look up b/c that head of hers throw off her balance.    She is also really reaching for things.  She loves the toy we attached to her car seat.

We had our second to last appointment with our social worker today.  It went fine, and C was very charming.

I am also beginning to make C’s baby food.  For those who know me and know that I don’t cook, I AM THE ONE COOKING C’s food not hubby.  Well, at least for tonight.  I am starting with squash and I must say it tastes pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.  We shall see how she like it.

We went a few weekends ago and took our pictures in the bluebonnets.  I don’t have the pics saved to this computer and will have to post them tomorrow.

J is doing great.  He is getting excited (as well as I am) that we leave for Disney in 22 days. 

My oh so very strange week

And it is only Wednesday.  I think I may just keep my head under the covers for the rest of the week. 

Monday was pretty uneventful.

Tuesday – Ok, let me start by saying that two women w/i the last 7 weeks have been randomly abducted  and since been found murdered here in suburbs of Houston.  (Thankfully, two different suspects have been arrested in these two crimes.)  Back to my story.  I leave the house about 8:45am to drop J off at school and then head to a meeting with a client for a 10:00am meeting.  I was actually meeting a trainee there to help her with the meeting.  I get there shortly before 10am and no sign of the trainee.  I head on into the home and wait.  I know this family so we were catching up b/c I had not seen them in a couple of years.  I look at my watch and 10:15 rolls around no trainee, then 10:30 rolls around and still not trainee.  I decide to begin the meeting w/o trainee.  Right about 10:45am the trainee calls the house to see “where we were?”  She was “at the house and no one was home.”  Now mind you she was calling the home phone but no one was home.  Whatever.  Obviously, she was at the wrong house.  She gets directions and finally arrives as I was finishing up the meeting.  She answers a cell call in the middle of the meeting ( yes, she really did) and looks at me and tells me to call my office mate, Jen, when I leave.  We wrap up and I head out.  I call Jen and get quite a story.  Apparently, my phone is in a dead zone at this client’s home.  The trainee called Jen at 10:20 telling her that I did not show up to the scheduled meeting and the family was not at home either.  Jennifer knew this was out of character for me not to show up and figured that the family would not be there too.  But as the time went on and I did not show up, Jen called my mother to make sure I left for the meeting.  My mother told Jennifer that she knew I was going to drop off J and head to a meeting off of I 45.  So, now the office is worried and my family is contemplating going out in the huge city of Houston to look for me.  Remeber, I am in a dead zone for my cell and for them I am just not answering my phone.   Jennifer thinks I have been in a wreck and dead on the side of the road, and my mother thinks some lunatic has abducted me.  So imagine my surprise when I call Jennifer back after the meeting and find out what has been going on the past hour.

Now for Today

Driving to work like always.  Well, I pull into the office parking lot and was talking to Jen (a different Jen) on the phone like I do every morning on the way to work.  As we are talking I am sitting there putting on my make up.  Well, everyone who puts on make up knows the “make up face”  we make putting it on.  Imagine my surprise when my jaw locks and I can’t close my mouth.  Somehow, I dislocated my jaw.  How ridiculous is this?  I have had my jaw catch before and have been able to work it back to normal.  So, I sit in my car moving my jaw and trying to massage it to get it to uncatch.  After about 10 min I realize it is becoming a futile effort.  I drive myself to the closest ER and and see only one person ahead of me. YEAH!  I expect to have them fix it and head to work w/i a few hours.  The NSP come in and tries to “reduce” my jaw to no avail.  He then sends me to xray to see exactly how it is dislocated.  The Radiologist could not get a good enough view so off to a CAT scan I go.  All because I put on some make up.  The CAT scan shows that the way I dislocated it was “the difficult” way to fix.  Now, the NSP and attending try to “reduce” (that is what they called popping it back into the joint) my jaw and couldn’t.  Now, they are talking about putting me under and having and ENT or Cranial/Facial Surgeon come and do this b/c they could not.  WHAT!  The specialist calls back and says for them to sedate me and try again themselves before he cam down.  Apparently, he was in surgery for the day.  The doc is talking to me about the risks of anesthesia blah, blah, blah and just as I am signing consent.  He mentions that he may need to admit me if this attempt did not work.  WTH!  2.2 seconds later I am out.  I come too at 3:3o pm (this all started at 9am) hearing the nurse getting on J b/c he is getting into everything.  BTW, my mom and kiddos have been with me since about 1030am.  J and C did great though.  Mom, thanks for today I really appreciate it.  Sorry, I digress.  The nurse then tells me that it took two men working on my jaw to “reduce” it.  Again, WTH.  I have been home since about 445pm and felt like frap all night.  And for those of you whose mind went to the gutter shame on you.

So, do y’all think I should hide under the covers for the rest of the week? 

J Man turns 5 years old today!

** Photo Heavy

**I started writing this on Feb 18th.  That is J’s actual birthday but life got in the way and it took me a few days to get it done.

5 years and 6 hours ago J entered our little world with much ado.  I am going to give y’all a glimpse as to the strides he has made in the past 5 years.

Here is a picture of  J at 3 days old.

What you call a micropreemie

J was born at 23 weeks and 6/7 days weighing 1lb and 8.8 ozs measuring 12 inches long.  He had the whole litany of issues these babies have in the NICU – PDA, intubation, life threatening infections, brain bleeds, eye surgery, hearing loss, respitory issues, digestion issues.  He was fighting the odds from day one.  He proved himself to be a fighter and is still to this day.

J getting baptized in the hospital

First time I held him at about 1 month old

Here is little J in his car seat just coming home from the hospital.

J was on the NICU for 3 months and came home mid-May on oxygen and a heart monitor.  He took about 10 different medicaition daily.  He began OT and ST.  ST also helps with oral motor for feeding and then language formation later on.  He did not like his OT b/c she worked him VERY hard (which he needed).

getting bigger

It took J 16 months to sit up.  He had low tone in his trunk muscles. But by his 17th month he was up and cruising on furniture.

Since then nothing has held him back.  We still struggle with speech, social skills, sensory issues, eye issues and maybe hearing ( we get retested next week).  He is doing amazingly well and a very happy little boy.

Here are just a few more pictures of J over the past 5 years.

Our little musician

I was helping him blow out the candles b/c they were melting fast.

I hope y’all can appreciate how far he has come and how incredibly proud we are of him.  We love you J- man.

C’s doctor’s appointment yesterday

She is growing like a weed.  She weighs 12lbs 10 ozs (25%), length 23in (10%) and head cir 16 1/4 in (50%).  For her adjusted age her % are 50%, 25% and 75%.  She has a big ole head. 

Well, my concerns were not unfounded.  We have an appointment with a Physical Medicine/Rehab Doctor tomorrow morning.  Oh the fun begins.  This baby was not supposed to have specialists, right?

Don’t get me wrong, overall it was a good checkup.

I will let y’all know how the appointment goes.

They are getting so big

I just can’t believe how fast the kiddos are growing.  J turns 5 years old in 2 weeks and C turns 4 months on Tuesday.  It just seems like yesterday we brought C home.

What is going on in J’s world:

*Had his ARD (meeting for his IEPs) about a week ago.  They will have him in PPCD (preschool for kids with delays) for 1/2 the day and regular Kindergarten for 1/2 the day.  That is exactly what I wanted.  The surprise of the meeting was that they (without me having to fight for it) have J having an Aide with him the entire time he is in the Kindergarten classroom.  He will then the following year go to just Kindergarten with support.

*He really is starting to communicate verbally with us.  His verbal skills took off at Christmas and we see continued growth.

*The school did his benchmarks and he is scoring Kindergarten and above.  Go J!  If only I could get him potty trained.

*I know I mentioned it in the past that he came to the top of the MDCP Waiver Program and we had to wait to see if he was approved.  Well, he was approved.  That will provide us with a lot of relief.

Hubby’s school had a festival and a Blackhawk landed on the football field.

C is just becoming so much fun.  Let’s see what is going on with C:

*She is still laid back as ever but really interacting with us.

*She loves to be sung too and just this week started joining in on the singing.  The song she absolutely loves is a 50s song “Shaboom.”  I am not even sure that is the title but I learned it in a 7th grade play.  For some reason it popped into my head the other night and I started singing it to her.  She became total quiet and just listened.  Now she sings with me.  Too cute.

*She loves to stand.  I support her trunk and she will just stand looking around forever.

*She needs to be facing out so she can see the world.

*She has no started acknowledging Daddy.  Forever she would not look at him.  Who knows why?

*Still does not do belly time.  I can put her on her stomach and if I let her she would scream for an hour straight.  So, we do it in short spurts.  She refuses to raise her head.

*She hates her bumbo.  She is not a big fan of sitting in general.  See above – standing is preferred method.

*She sleeps for 10 hours per night.  No that is not a typo.  I put her down around 9pm and she stirs about630a and 7a. 

*Has absolutly no interest in toys.  I keep introducing them to her and she could care less.  I am sure that will changes soon.

I have a few concerns about her muscle tone.  I called ECI last week to come out and evaluate.  I also see her pediatrician this week and will talk to him.  Her left side (from head to toe) is not as developed as her right.  For example, her right eye opens more than the left, her right cheek is fuller than the left, her skull has a higher ridge on the right side.  We noticed this about a month ago.  I was not too concerned at that point.  Well since she now loves to stand.  I stand her infront of the mirror.  Her left arm just hangs whereas her right one is active.  She can use her left arm but the tone is tighter.  I have been having her do exercises in the left arm to loosen it up.  She has also always cried whenever I raise her left arm above her head to stretch the muscles.  Does not cry when it is her right.  So, it seems there is always somethng to worry about.  Some reading may say “That does not seem like much to worry about.”  The thing is tone issues can and often means neuro issues.  She is hitting all of the milestones so I don’t need to worry yet.

Here are some really cute ones of C.

hating the Bumbo

I am still here!

I know I have not been keeping up this blog like I should.  I know the amount of people reading has dropped off to next to nothing.  That is ok b/c a few people check in and it keeps family updated (when I post).  The reason I have been such a slacker is I have an addiction.  I am ready to come out and admit what it is.  I AM ADDICTED TO FACEBOOK.  Yes, I said it.  I really have spent way too much time “playing” with friends on it.  I really have enjoyed connecting with friends from the past.  I found my bestfriend from grade school.  Until last week, we had not talked since 1989.

So, I have pictures to post and milestones to report. but for another time.  I do still have a 3 month old and she has decided it is time to eat.

Thanks for the prayers

Update on my grandmother. She made it through the surgery and is doing well.

Just sitting and holding hands

Yesterday took an unexpected turn.   I called to wish my mother a very happy birthday and found out that my Maw Maw was just admitted to ICU.  She is headed to surgery today and we all pray that she can handle it.  She is 87 years old with multiple other health problems that complicate things greatly.  She was given all of her options and decided that even with pain management could not live like she was feeling and would take her chances.   She is a pretty tough cookie.  I am optimistic about today.  That being said, we all know that anything could happen and I am glad C and I could spend some time with her yesterday.

I called to check in with my mom last night.  She had told me that Maw Maw made the decision to do the surgery (that decision had not been made before I left the hospital).  She also told me that they (my mom and dad) had gone out to get dinner and bring back dinner for my Paw Paw.  When they returned, my Paw Paw told my mom that they just sat and held hands.  I HOPE that after the 63 + years of marriage that I still want to sit with hubby and hold his hand.

So if you could about noon today say a prayer for my grandmother.