R.I.P. Mouse

I noticed a dead baby mouse in our garage yesterday when we got home from school. It was a mystery what happened to it, it just lay there motionless. Ethan was upset and kept saying "It is so sad that the mouse died". So, I offered for us to give it a funeral and Ethan thought it was a great idea; and in true Ethan style, he wanted to do it all by himself. He put it in the box, he dug the hole, lay the box in the hole and covered it up. Ethan even gave the eulogy and it went something like this "God, I wish the mouse was not dead. Amen".

No surgery!

We took the kids up to Denver to see a pediatric ENT. He evaluated Kaeli and Ethan and good news, they don't have to have surgery. Since it has been a couple months since her last ear infection, and the season for them is pretty much over, he said we should wait and see if maybe she has grown out of them. We were very pleased to hear this! He put a tiny scope down her nose and looked at her adenoids and said they looked fine. The day of the xrays, she may have had more snot back there than usual which can sometimes cause the adenoids to enlarge. As for Ethan, we have to saline wash his nose 2x a day and do nasal steroids (nasonex) for 6 weeks and then go back for another checkup; at which point he will reevaluate his need for adenoid removal. We are so happy for this outcome, as it is obviously better to find your kids do not need an invasive procedure!

Walking

Although Kaeli is not fully walking; and still reverts to crawling, she is doing it a lot more. It is so cute because she is such a little turd, and looks like a midget.

Sorry it is side ways :-)

So behind!

I have been behind on posting our day to days between our concerns over Ethan, illnesses in the house, school, yada yada. Anyhow, we have done a bit so I will just post a small blurb. A few weeks ago we took advantage of an opportunity to take the kids to Kansas City to the Great Wolf Lodge. For anyone that has not gone, it is so much fun and the kids had a blast .. even Kaeli! It was quite a drive, but very worth it! We did the indoor water park every day and they had a cute magician game/scavenger hunt to keep us busy; we couldn't swim 24/7! They give you a clue book and we went around the hotel finding the clues with his magician wand and he would wave it in front of the item and then he would "collect" that item. The wand would make different things throughout the hotel turn on and do cool things. Trees would light up and birds chirp, forrest animals would talk, stuff like that. After every set of clues, he would unlock another piece that got him closer to fighting the dragon in the end. The whole process was atleast 5 hrs over the 2 days .. it was a LOT of work! Up and down stairs for each clue, a different hall way, different side of the hotel. I think we each lost a few pounds for sure, it was a lot of fun. Anyway, in the end Mike and E got to the dragon slaying part but of course they make it impossible. Mike being one to not give up, snuck out of the hotel the last night there after Ethan went to bed and tried to slay him one more time .... no luck. Even though Ethan did not defeat the dragon, he did collect all the clues and crystals so he was "dubbed" Master Magi. He received a pin and he was so excited after they knighted him that he pulled Mike aside and quietly (with a lot of excitement) said "I really like this dad". It was the sweetest thing ever! It was a successful trip and one we are glad we took! In addition to some great family time, we have a few friends that live in Kansas City. Each night we were there, we were able to meet up for dinner with them. Here are a few photos of our adventure.

Indoor water park

Lazy river

Digging for dinasour bones

Trip is booked

Our trip is booked to go back to VA in May. My little sister is giving birth to her 2nd daughter and a very, very dear friend is also giving birth and has asked me to be in the delivery room! I will be flying out with the kids April 26-May 16. Mike will be flying out the week before and flying back to Colorado with me and the kids.

I am looking forward to this trip and hope that the kids cooperate for me! :-)

No Commissioning

So, Mike did not get picked up for LDO. We are bummed, but not too badly. Mike is more disappointed in being told no .. kind of a blow to the ego. I got my hopes up about maybe going back to VA, especially for the sake of the kids, but Colorado is great and so much for our family. Mike likes his job and enjoys what he does, so we embrace the news and move on. God has a plan for us.

Ethan is fine

Ethan's doctor just called and said Ethan is good for now. His numbers were .6 (when we were worried) and they have gone up to 1.4 ... still below the normal adult range, but he said with Ethan's age, he is fine. I have to get him retested in 2 wks, just to make sure but for now, he is okay.

Thanks to all of you who said a prayer and good wishes. We were terrified of the possibilities, as most parents when they hear scary news.

1st Steps!

Kaeli took her first steps today .. February 16. 2009. I have attached a video, but you may want to turn down your volume. I got a little loud in my excitement! :-)

Bad News ...

I took Ethan to the doctor today to get his adenoids checked, as suggested by the pulmonary doctor. The PCM put in an ENT consult and also asked us to go get his blood drawn at the lab to check for iron deficiency. Five minutes after Mike and Ethan walked in the door from getting his blood taken, the doctor called. Ethan's white blood cell count is 10 times lower than normal .. his immune system is down and even the slightest cold could be very bad for him right now. I take him back Tuesday for another blood test. If the blood count is the same or lower, he will more than likely be given antibiotics and then another blood draw on Thursday. If his count is still not up, we will be sent immediately to the hematologist.
We are to keep him away from other children for now, out of school and away from playgroups until this is figured out next week. Catching a simple cold from a kid with sniffles would not be good.
Best case scenario, he has a suppressed viral infection causing this ... I cannot bring myself to discuss worse case right now. As you can probably understand, Mike and I are terrified, nervous, scared and very emotional, but trying to think positive and stay strong so that Ethan does not worry. We have not told him anything ( he obviously knows nothing about blood counts, etc). The condition is called "neutropenia". Please keep him in your prayers ... we will update Tuesday!

Ethan now?

I took Ethan to his pediatrician today, but recommendation from a pulmonary doctor. She said I should have his adenoids checked. She said that he exudes a lot of symptoms of large adenoids, and being that Kaeli has them and will be getting hers removed; it was probably the problem. It would explain his dark circles, pale .. drawn out look, waking up in the middle of the night, constant sniffles and sneezes and a negative allergy test. After approaching his Pediatrician with the possibility, he agreed fully and put in a referral to see an ENT specialist up in Denver (same one as Kaeli). In addition, he wanted to take a blood test and make sure he does not have an iron deficiency. The blood work results should be back by tomorrow.

Kaeli's 1 Year checkup

Kaeli had her appointment this morning for her 1 year check up. She is doing fabulous, and had the doctor smiling with her happiness and chatty personality. She is now 18lbs 12oz and 28 inches long. She had four shots yesterday and was fine until about 730pm when we were getting ready for bed and she suddenly out of nowhere spiked a 102.8 fever, got very lethargic, and was moaning while I held her. I called her pediatrician and he told me to take her to the ER. They of course made me feel like an idiot for bringing her in. Everyone that I came in contact with kept saying "this is normal", "we don't know why her doctor would have you bring her in here". They gave her a dose of tylenol and then motrin an hour later and it finally broke. Her poor little body was burning up and her face was fire red and she was sweating and moaning ... I was glad I took her just to be safe. I would have been mad if I didn't take her and something awful happened. So today we are staying in and letting her rest, continuing the tylenol and motrin for another day. That was the first time either of them had a strong reaction to vaccines, so it had concerned us.

We took her completely off the bottle February 1 and she is on soy milk and table foods now. She does very well on the soy milk and has atleast 5 sippy cups full a day, she cannot get enough of it! Kaeli still only has the two bottom front teeth, so food is a bit limited at the moment to what she can chew. We try everything, if she chokes we hold off for a while. One of her top teeth did just cut through, so that should be fully in pretty soon. Kaeli loves to laugh and loves to laugh at Ethan especially! She says Hi to everybody all the time and it is so cute. We are trying to teach her a few signs to help her communicate since Hi is pretty much all she does say .. although there have been a couple occasions we think she said momma and doggy. She stands on her own for long periods of time, but when we start to bug her about taking a step down she goes :-) She loves to put clothes on her head and around her neck like a scarf ... throws herself in the laundry piles on laundry day and rolls around ... peeks under the door when she knows someone is behind a closed door ... jumps in excitement when Ethan walks in the room ... lays on the floor and whines when she is upset ... plays with my ear to fall asleep (just like Ethan did as a baby) ... is easily distracted by a snack cup of cheerios ... gives the dog her toys and paci through his kennel ... melts everyones heart with her sweet smile and happy demeanor.

Kaeli has an appointment next week with the Pediatric ENT to consult about getting her adenoids taken out and tubes in her ears. We will keep everyone posted.

We are so blessed to have this little baby girl. She is feisty and bossy and sweet and gentle ... all things wrapped into one little chunky monkey. Thanks to all of you that sent birthday wishes.

Little Boy after dentist

Where does he get this stuff?!

We are playing Mario Party on Wii and I am Mario. When he wins a game he says "I'm the winner (but sounds like weener)", so I won the mini game and said "I'm the weener" and E looks at me and says "You are a penis". I had to explain that I was saying winner .. just differently because Mario speaks wierd.

Anyways, thought it was cute ...

Naked Baby

Hazards of holding a naked baby ... The dialog following the incident:

Daddy: "I guess we have to get rid of sissy since she peed on our floor".

Ethan: " No! I don't want to get rid of sissy, I love her!"