Happy 2nd Birthday Moira!!!

Was it really only 2 years ago? It seems like forever and yet yesterday, all at the same time.

Moira is strong. She defends herself and those she loves. She is tenacious, oh is she tenacious. She is sweet and loving; smart and funny. She is a wonderful part of our family and I can't imagine our lives without her. Happy birthday my little girl!

Liliana's Height

Liliana's long awaited height check appointment was on Friday. She was very excited, but mostly because she was going to tell the doctor about the "baby in her belly" and have her "get it out." Yes, we have some issues with reality around here. Anyways, we were hoping for more than a half inch of growth, but she only grew 1/4 of an inch.

Which throws us into step two of this process, the first part of which was blood work to rule out some genetic problems (which Kaylon got to do today!) and then make an appointment with the specialist. I read that there's another test that needs to be done which entails an IV and blood draws every 30 minutes which, I'm sure, Liliana will just love. Most likely she will need to have weekly growth hormone injections to stimulate her growth. Not so sure how we're going to do that with a girl that hates needles, but I guess we'll figure it out.

I feel the need to explain that this is not a cosmetic or arbitrary choice we're making. Liliana is not just short. It's not because she is low on the growth charts- my girls fell off the weight charts for the first 3 years of their lives and I didn't bat an eye. Liliana is not creating or releasing the growth hormones needed to grow. An x-ray showed that she has the bones of a 2.5 year old. She was always near the 50% for height... until this year when she dropped to the 5%. She'll continue to drop if we don't do anything. If your child can't see, you get them glasses. My child can't grow, so I'm going to get her shots of hormones that hopefully after time she'll forget and be grateful for. Maybe when she can finally ride the roller coasters she loves so much she'll understand...

So we'll keep you posted. And hopefully you won't be able to hear her screams the next time a needle comes near...

Actual Conversation

So 30 minutes before my birthday ended last Friday, Liliana threw up. It was an interesting end to what had been a good day. She emptied her stomach a few more times and then Moira followed suite a few hours later. Kaylon slept through most of it.

The next morning Liliana came into our room with this little tidbit:

"Daddy, I had a bad dream last night. I dreamed that a monkey crapped in my mouth and so I threw up."

No lie.

Ultrasound!

I can't believe that I'm 20 weeks already! 20 weeks and I haven't taken one belly shot. I guess I should do that sometime.

Anyways, we had our 20 week u/s today. We decided that we would leave the sex a secret again this time, and even though we both secretly tried to see 'parts' neither of us were able to see anything definitive. The baby was not very cooperative. It stayed down near my cervix and would not allow for any good profile pictures. The tech almost couldn't get all the heart pictures she needed, but with some turning on my side from me, she finally got the views she needed. The good thing is the baby looks healthy, is measuring right on target, and is stubborn like its mother (oh wait, maybe that's not a good thing...). Sorry to you that are disappointed in not knowing... Kaylon and I both enjoyed the excitement of hearing "It's a ...." at the end of the delivery. That memory won out over my desire to have baby clothes ready to go before the baby is born.

Penny Predicament

Most of you know by now that Grace swallowed a penny last Thursday and had to be hospitalized. This is the first time I've been able to sit down and blog about it- and hopefully it'll fill in the holes of the story.

Last Thursday morning, 30 minutes before we were to leave for school, Grace was shaking a penny in a plastic toy tub, when the penny found a hole in her fingers and flew into her mouth. I think the surprise of it caused an automatic swallow reflex to happen (Grace can't explain very well WHY she swallowed it, just that she couldn't get it out of her mouth, so I guess the reflex is my theory). She ran in sobbing, told me the story, and I told her she would just have to poop it out. She was quite upset and told me between sobs that her chest hurt. Grace can be.... we'll say, sensitive to pain, so I wondered if the pain wasn't from the crying, but decided to look online for some idea of what to expect. All the sites recommended a call to the doctor, in case they want a x-ray, so I placed the call. They said that they'd get back to me when the doctor got in.

So, I'm thinking, she swallowed a penny- she'll poop it out in a few days- and so I take her to school. Literally 2 minutes after dropping her off the doctor's office calls wanting her to come in for an x-ray. So I pull a U-y, drag my two other kids into the school, and pick Grace back up. Luckily my good friend Michelle was willing to take the other two for what I figured would be an hour tops as we got confirmation that the penny was moving on and took Grace back to school. I didn't even have Grace bring her backpack with her.

Instead, the x-ray showed the penny to be stuck in her lower esophagus. They decided to repeat the test at the 3 hour swallowing mark to see if it wouldn't move before sending us to the ER. The repeat showed that it still hadn't moved. Off to the Fairfax Pediatric ER we went.

The ER was fantastic. They had books, toys, coloring pages and crayons, and TV to entertain/distract the kids. Plus they had people who's whole job was to act as a child liaison, answering the kids' questions and explaining procedures in kid language. They were amazing.

The doctors looked at the film and determined that the coin was a quarter, even after Grace confirmed multiple times that it was a penny. Knowing they had been playing with Liliana's pennies lately, I was pretty sure the coin was a penny as well, so I told them that I guessed we would see. After consulting all the experts, they decided to wait for the 24 hour mark to check again (if we didn't see the penny pass on its own). Statistics say that most coins (75%) will pass in 24 hours on their own. They wanted to avoid anesthesia if at all possible, since while safe, it carries risks that outweigh a 24 hour wait. But in order to wait, Grace couldn't eat, to avoid an complications in the esophagus. And since she couldn't eat, she needed an IV. And an IV means a hospital room.

Grace did fantastic. With the help of the child liaison's instructions and distractions, she didn't even cry when they put in the IV. The hunger made her uncomfortable, but having her own personal TV and a room full of toys, games, and puzzles helped her get through. Kaylon came in the evening to switch with me, and he stayed the night.

Early the next morning they did the x-ray right in her room. The penny was still there. An endoscopy was scheduled and the girls and I drove down to see her before she went into the procedure room. I have to say, one of the funniest things I've ever seen is my child undergoing anesthesia. She whimpered that the medicine hurt; I rubbed her arm to comfort her; her eyes fluttered; she yawned; and then she was asleep. It was amazing.

The procedure took less than 20 minutes. She woke up and guzzled her first apple juice in over 24 hours. They gave her cookies and she excitedly talked about ordering a cheeseburger when she got back to her room (which she got). She wanted to order 4 meals since that's how many she was missing, but she didn't even finish the one, so I'm glad I talked her out of it. We had to wait around for our discharge, but we got out of there around 1 in the afternoon with the penny (not quarter) in a bag and pictures from the endoscopy for proof. Grace complained on the way home that she missed "her hospital." Hopefully she won't swallow another penny in hopes of getting back.

Tactfulness

Kaylon likes to cook on weekends, and when he cooks he puts a lot more effort into his meals than I do. Tonight he recreated a sun dried tomatoes pasta dish from Cheesecake Factory with success. I was ready for the girls to refuse it, but the younger two ate it quickly once they got past the "this is something new" stage. Grace was quick to try it but was less enthusiastic as time went on. Finally she got the courage up to address the chef.

"Daddy, I really don't want to hurt your feelings, but this isn't my particular favorite food. It's not like I hate it or anything, I just..."

"What don't you like about it? Is it the sun-dried tomatoes? I can take those out.."

"No, Dadddy, it's really all of it. I just... kinda, really hate it."



It still makes me laugh.

New Pics

Here are the pictures from our recent trip to JCPenny. Family will be getting their copies soon!

New Van!

Before Mom leaves on Tuesday to return to AZ for the duration of the cold weather, she hinted to Kaylon to take me out for the weekend, which he acted on. He kidnapped me Friday night and took me to the Hyatt at Reston Town Center for a relaxing weekend of no kids, cooking, or housework.

We decided to also use this time to buy a new van, since our 1998 Toyota Sienna was just deemed to need 2000$ of work in addition to the A/C and ABS work that needed done (totaling probably $5000-6000). Having bought cars at a dealership before, and knowing our personalities and strengths in such situations, we had a plan going in: Kaylon would do the talking and I would shut my mouth and use my poker face. (I am EASILY guilted.) We ended up with a 2007 Honda Odyssey EX-L with a built in DVD player and navigation for a couple thousand less than it was really worth, thanks to Kaylon's negotiating skills (He was quite amazing!).

Course, the automatic door is already sticking... thank goodness for a 3 year full warranty!

It was a great weekend for just the two of us- even better being able to take care of the van without kids tagging along, and so much fun to show the girls the new van when we got home (and have them truly excited to see US!).