Matters of Life and Death

Today Emmaline was watching Charlotte's Web and came running to me with a question:

Emmaline: Mom, why do spiders have to die?
Me: Because everything that has a body dies someday.
Emmaline: Will I die?
Me: Yes. When your body gets old it will die.
Emmaline: Oooooh. What will happen to my body?
Me: Well your spirit will go to Heaven to live with Heavenly Father and your body will go rest at the cemetary. And you'll get a rock with your name on it.
Emmaline: Oh! Okay!

Luckily we've talked before about what a cemetary is (she is always asking: what are all those "rocks" (gravestones) ?) and death in general so there weren't any new concepts for her. She just has never applied it to herself before. Very interesting to see those little minds at work.

Waffles

Well in just a few short weeks we've jumped from refusing purees (she still won't eat them) to eating waffles. Smart girl!

When AJ's mom comes to visit she brings the girls Banana Waffles from Trader Joes. They are safe for all of Emmaline's allergens so that makes them okay to feed Idgie as well since they don't have egg or anything in them!





Rating: 1 Waffle

H. pylori

Well the verdict is that AJ has a little bacterial gem in his stomach called H. pylori. We have no idea when or where he got it since it appears that it can just be dormant for a long time. He could have gotten it when he lived in the Dominican Republic (over 10 years ago) which might be the most likely since that is when all his problems really started (though the problems come and go). It is hard to say.

It is curable though. He is going on a regimen of medications to kill it off. Sounds like fun!

Rating: 5 Lollipops (for finding out what the problem is!)

I'll have a double...

AJ had his "double" today - both a colonoscopy and endoscopy. The prep is the worst part of having those done since you have to clean out your entire system. We debated this morning about maybe writing a few funny notes on his butt like "Exit Only" or "No Trespassing" but decided against it. :-P

Anyway, the procedures both went really well. The doctor said he didn't see anything of concern which is both good and bad news. AJ has been in a lot of pain lately so we were hoping they'd find something so that they could fix it! They took a few biopsies and the quick results on one of them showed that there might be a bacteria of some sort in AJ's stomach but that is still inconclusive at this point until the get the full results back. We should know more about that in a few days.

Rating: Seriously - how do you even rate having to get a colonoscopy?

Solids Take 2

Alright - no video this time - but that Idgie, she's a sneaky one! Since that last video I have tried everyday, multiple times a day to get her to eat solids. We haven't had a repeat of the vomit episode but that girl will NOT eat. She just holds it in her mouth and then after a few minute will just push it all out. Or even better, she will sometimes blow raspberries and spray the food everywhere. Nice.
So after consulting many of my friends (thanks guys - you know who you are!) I decided to skip the mush and go straight to finger foods. Afterall, she is almost 9 months old so that isn't out of the rhelm of possibility. Tonight at dinner I put some peas and some rice in front of her, and guess what? You got it - she ate it right up! YAY!! She was still more interested in playing with it, but she definitely was purposefully putting it in her mouth from time to time and actually moving it around and swallowing it.
So there you have it. We have apparently succeeded in skipping the baby food part entirely which is nice because that's a money saver!

Rating: 4 Pixie Dust

Signs of Spring

When you see those first signs of spring:

It is time to get out and play!

Emmaline has actually been talking all week about wanting to teach AJ how to play soccer and she extracted a promise from him a few days ago that today they would do that. So they got some of that in too:

Rating: 4 Pixie Dust

First Speech Therapy

Well two months to the day that I made that phone call, Liliana finally had her first speech therapy appointment! Her therapist seemed very nice and Liliana took right too her - which is unusual for her. I think it helps that it was in our home. They want everything to be the "natural environment" for the child so that includes having the therapy at our home and everyone who lives in the house being around "as normal". Unfortunately what that meant is that Emmaline was able to participate. She was having a lot of fun, but being the talkative creature that she is - she tried to hog a lot of the attention. I thought Jenny (the therapist) did a good job of having Emmaline be helpful but not in the way too much.

Basically it was a lot of one-on-one playtime with a focus on communicating and understanding. Some was child led and some wasn't. For example, Liliana got out some Little People Animals to play with. So Jenny played a game with her to practice receptive skills where they hid the animal and Liliana would go find it. Or they would talk about the different animals. Jenny brought along a few toys like some stacking blocks as well that she got out and had Liliana do different activities with.

I was actually really impressed because Liliana was saying stuff that I have never heard her say before! I have no idea where it was coming from but it is a good thing. She was popping out two words phrases right and left! The funny moment was when Emmaline tried to steal one of Lil's toys and Lil yelled at her "NO!" Then pointing to the timeout chair said, "SIT!" I think she knew it was HER time!

Rating: 3 Lollipops

They don't always fight

It seems like they do - but then you catch them in moments like this:

Rating: 3 Pixie Dust

First Solids

Well at the ripe old age of 8 months and 10 days old - we decided to start Idgie on solids! We delayed it due to our family history of food allergies.

And since I promised pictures last time I posted, and never came through, I am doing one better - I give you VIDEO!

To give a little context to the scene. I nursed Idgie right before we tried the solids. I mention that because otherwise the big finale of the video will have you confused with what my dear sweet girl is capable of. You'll also catch Emmaline being her silly self, and Liliana being her grumpy self that is obstinate and ready for a nap!

Still on the mend

I am not sure what is up. Liliana is finally showing real signs of improvement. She actually ate today - so that is good. Of course last night she threw up all over her bedroom floor! Idgie is still throwing up from time to time. I actually am starting to think that now it has to do with mucous drainage - it makes her gag and then vomit. Very frustrating. She is starting to eat more but still not as much as she was - hopefully that picks up soon. At this point I think my milk supply might never recover if she doesn't eat.. I need to start solids one of these days anyway so I guess it isn't a huge deal. I'll probably do that as soon as her congestion clears up!

Maybe I'll take pictures of them tomorrow - we haven't had pictures in forever!

Rating: 2 Lollipops

We're alive

I think we are coming out of this thing slowly but surely. None of the girls are eating very much, AJ still feels off and on, and I only had one day of feel so-so (thank goodness!) Now maybe we can get back to our boring lives and maybe in another month I can dig out of all the laundry the last week has created.

Rating: 3 Lollipops

And it continues

Well not only are Idige and Lil still sick - but now AJ and Emmaline are too. We thought Idgie was improving but last night she started puking again. This morning I couldn't even get her to nurse. I decided since it was Day 3 that I would take her to the doctor. Of course it is Saturday so our only choice was the Urgent Care Clinic. The doctor examined her and said that she actually need to be at the ER and getting IV fluids. She wasn't at deaths door or anything but she was what he called "borderline" dehydrated - a fine line between needing fluids or not. We decided since she was refusing to nurse, that she needed to be seen. So off I took her to the ER. They were very busy today and we ended up being there from 10:00am - 4:15pm.

They did chest x-rays, nose swabs, tested her boogers - all things to check for things like pneumonia or RSV. They concluded that she has an upper respiratory infection. The doctor there wanted me to try one more time to get her to drink without needing an IV. She was still refusing to nurse so they got me a bottle with some Pedialyte in it. She has never had a bottle before - ever. So I didn't think she would take it. Turns out I was wrong. She latched onto it like some ravenous beast and downed those two ounces in just a couple minutes. Excellent!!! She still wanted more so I tried to nurse again. This time she did it. YAY!
Then a few minutes later - she puked it all up. (I am now the proud owner of a pair of "Standard issue" pants the hospital gave me)
Because she puked everything up so fast - they decided that the IV was the only route left. After a stick in both hands, and one in her foot - they *still* couldn't get the IV into her tiny dehydrated veins. They decided to give it a rest and then find a nurse who runs lots of IVs for pediatrics. I gave her another 2 ounce bottle of pedialyte. This time though - I made her take it slow, waiting a few minutes between each 1/2 ounce. That seemed to do the trick because she kept it down! The she napped for awhile and when she woke up she drank another ounce of the pedialyte. Success!!!
They came in to get the IV in and this time it went in with just one poke. They pumped her up with fluids, decided she was doing much better, and sent us home!
This evening she is still not nursing as much as normal -but she is doing much much better and at least it is staying down. I have also been letting her have water out of a bottle as well.

Meanwhile - while all that was going on - AJ was at home, sick, with two sick girls. Both of whom apparently had killer diarrhea today instead of vomit.

Rating: 5 Lollipops (for Idgie improving) and 5 Fireballs (for having to go to the ER and for everyone being sick!)

Sick Day

So what happens when both your two year old and your 8 month old are feverish and vomiting? You get:

8 changes of pajamas
4 bedding changes
4 adult clothing changes
26 towels washed
4 extra baths
and just 4 wet diapers.

Rating: 5 Fireballs