Update

Doctor's appointment today:

Brandon - healthy, keeping ADHD meds where they are for now, nothing new to report for him.

Hannah - still some white blood cells in her urine but nothing that is of concern at this point. We are going to make an appointment with a pediatric urologist in the next few months and see what he/she says. She only has a day left of her antibiotic - thank goodness because I'm really tired of her saying "you can give me the medicine but I will spit it out!" Then proceeding to do so. Yeah, fun times! She weighs 31 pounds and is 38 inches tall - 25th %ile for both. She is about the same height and weight I was at her age. Hoping she doesn't get some of my genes and stays proportional. Dr. says she is incredibly smart after hearing all the things she can do - but we knew that!

Sarah - had an MMR shot today and did great - cried for a few minutes but all smiles shortly after. She is up to date on her shots for a few months at least. She'll need the next round of shots at her 18 month appointment sometime in November or December. She weighs 22 pounds and is about 30 inches (maybe a little shorter - it was really hard to get her to stand still for that part) I forgot to ask where that puts her on the scales, of course it doesn't really matter much since she should be on the Chinese scales and not American baby scales but it is nice to have an idea of how she is growing. Again Dr. says she is doing great! Her receptive language is wonderful as she understands quite a bit. He isn't at all worried that she doesn't say too much - mama, dada, ball?, dog? She gets her point across and understands so much that it won't be long before she is speaking well. We just have to be sure the other two aren't speaking for her and are talking to her in correct sentences and words.

We have some "mostly" healthy kiddos here!

sick

Sarah has a runny nose
I have a fever of 101 - 102, runny nose, sore throat and laryngitis. It has been an interesting morning.

Hannah has not taken her medicine well the last day - she thought she would only have to take it one day so it has been a fight again to get her to take anything. Sometimes I can get her to take it in chocolate milk - without telling her of course - or in chocolate syrup. She sees the dropper coming and says "I'll take it but I'm spitting it out" and sure enough see spits it out - taking it is another story we are still forcing it into her. Only 2 and a half more days of medicine for her.

e. coli

yup, that's what she has in her system according to the hospital who called me on Friday.

After fighting with her for 3 days and tearful calls (my tears along with hers) to our doctor regarding what we should do they (our doctor) said bring her in and do another urinalysis to see what the antibiotics are doing for her. Turns out - nothing because in the 10.5 tsp she should have gotten into her system we are guessing she got MAYBE 2 tsp. We tried everything - hiding it, holding her down, bribing, you name it we tried it. So, they decided to give her a shot - I can't remember the name of the antibiotic they gave her off hand but it is a potent one and they have to give it in her hip because it is just too much for her arm or leg. Luckily, they diluted it with novicane so while she felt the initial poke it didn't hurt nearly as much as it could have. On top of that they said once the novicane wore off she would be sore but she wasn't. Our doctor prescribed Amoxicillian as well to make sure that the infection was completely gone and we will go back on Tuesday for another urinalysis to see what is going on. Great plan - I thought - since she SAYS she likes the pink medicine and won't fight me on it - she PROMISES - because she does NOT want another shot.

Load the girls up in the car, drive to Walgreens to get the prescription filled. Miss a phone call from the hospital but rather than call while I'm in the car - drive home to put Sarah to bed since she has fallen asleep in the car. Call the hospital to find out what they need and they tell me the antibiotic they prescribed on Tuesday will not work for the germs that grew. I told them what we had done - they said they were going to ask us to bring her in to have the same shot so we didn't have to do that but that Amoxicillan will NOT work on the strain of e.coli that she has in her system and they are prescribing ANOTHER antibiotic. Find out it is Furadantin one she has taken in the past and HATES!! Dandy. Back to square one.

Apparently, e.coli is in everyone's system to some extent but it is a pain to get rid of when it causes a UTI - at least this strain. I made the mistake of googling and have really pushed the antibiotic today. (We waited until today to start the Furadantin because of the shot being so powerful. We didn't want her tummy to get too upset.)

We have figured out how to get MOST of the tsp into her though. The prescription is for 1 tsp 4 times a day - 4 TIMES!! - for 5 days - thank goodness only 5 days but I'm not sure how it will go when Brent isn't around. Anyway, back to my unorthodox way of getting her to take the medicine. She loves Mary Poppins and was watching it the other day. Remember the song "A Spoonful of Sugar" and how it helps the medicine go down? Well, I take the 1 tsp and mix it with about a half a tablespoon of sugar. A little gritty but it makes it super sweet. She still doesn't like it and it makes it more volume wise than a tsp. So I draw up a half to 3/4 tsp into the dropper and force that in her because she likes her "treat" for when she finishes little does she know that it has the rest of the antibiotic mixed in. The treat is chocolate syrup mixed with the remainder of the antibiotic. Yup, very unorthodox and she would NEVER get to drink 2 tsps of pure chocolate syrup any other time especially 4 times a day and the first dose at breakfast. But at this point whatever works we will do. I can't just give her the chocolate with medicine in it because if she knew that it had the medicine in it she wouldn't take it on principle. The stuff we force into her is messy and we may only be getting a portion of it in but at least she is getting much more than she was before. I'm hoping and praying this all works and she is clear on her urinalysis on Tuesday. Sure would be nice if she would go to the bathroom in the toilet again though. We have had more "accidents" in the last few days because it hurts for her to go to the bathroom. She holds it so long and then just dribbles to relieve the pressure. She has been wearing pullups - which I hate to do but I'm tired of cleaning my couch, the carpet, her bed and the 10 pairs of underwear and complete outfits she must change every day.

On top of all this Sarah has a cold - runny nose, slight cough (although that hasn't gone away since we got her) I just want the kids to be healthy.

So, pray for Hannah to get better, Sarah to get over her cold, all of them not to drive me crazy with the bickering while Brandon is off for 2 weeks, and I'm looking for a teaching position - our plate is full!

4 years ago today

at 8:16 a.m. beautiful Hannah was born at 6lbs 14oz and perfect! (look how little Brandon looked!)

Her one year old picture taken by Patrick Grimes Photography

Two years old -

Three years old -
And last weekend.

We have had a stinky birthday for her though so far. We didn't get home until 11:30 last night because we were in the ER with her. She wouldn't go potty all day - if you remember last year at this time we were planning on her surgery for the reflux and we had been battling UTI's for months. Well, last night we discovered she has another one. Luckily, she has not had one for a while but this one is bad because it burns a lot for her. We've tried everything - even sitting in the tub with cool water in it to go. She did end up going a very little bit at the hospital last night so they wouldn't do anything invasive - poor baby is petrified of that. The medicine they prescribed is nasty tasting. The nurse at our doctor's office said to mask it with jelly - which might work if she liked jelly but she doesn't. She also suggested trying to get it down her throat without it touching her tongue which makes sense until you try it and she spits out everything that goes in. She is supposed to take 1.5tsp 2 times a day. So far today I might have gotten in a quarter of a tsp the other 1 and a quarter tsp ended up down her dress, neck, my pants, the floor, her hair. Yeah, not too pretty. I'm going to try again this evening when Brent is home and then call the doctor in the morning. I'm afraid they may have to give her a shot of antibiotic. I hate UTI's.

2 months ago today....

they handed us this beautiful, scared, grieving little girl.

And now look at her! Her hair is thicker and getting long, her skin is glowing, her eyes are bright. This picture was taken on Sunday morning when we had her baptized in a dress that my great aunt crocheted for my sister and me. My sister and I both wore it, my niece K wore it, my cousins daughter (same side of the family) wore it, Hannah wore it and now Sarah. It will be passed to K, Hannah and Sarah's daughters so they can each wear it when they are the right size.

And a few more pictures from her day -
She was a little nervous with all the new faces but did great during the baptism. You can see Brandon peeking on from below and the back of Hannah's head. You can't see the pastor because the elder that is holding the baptismal bowl is in front of him but I love the look on Sarah. She isn't sure but hey is that water! She loves water. I kept thinking she would love to get her hands in that bowl and splash around a bit. (The elder holding the bowl - you can see the back of him - was one of both of our Sunday School teachers a long time ago. He told me he was thrilled to be able to participate in Sarah's baptism.)
And Sarah with Pastor Ted after the service.
It was such a great day: One of my best friends was able to come to the service then to my parents house later for more celebration. We figured out we have known each other for about 14 years and have been through so much together. It was great being able to introduce her to Sarah.
Most of our family and friends that live where we had the service were able to come save a few that had other commitments or health issues. I think we may have overwhelmed the church - our family alone had brought 10 kids to the service and 8 or 9 of them went to Sunday School. I think they are used to having about 5-6 kids and we doubled it easily. Good thing the kids are all pretty well-behaved!
It was also Brent's grandpa's birthday and he would have been so thrilled to see all the kids together and meet the grandchildren he wasn't able to.

This one makes me laugh! My parents went to Scotland for 2 weeks to visit/sightsee. My mom has a cousin that still lives in Scotland so she and my aunt (and my dad) went to visit. They brought Sarah back a Tam. So, here is Sarah connecting with her great-grandmother's heritage.

Wednesday is another big day in our family....

ps: thanks Susie for the pictures!

Pictures

my camera is broken - well, not so much that I can't take any pictures - I just can't see the pictures until I download them on the computer. The problem with that is the little green light that tells me that the picture is in focus is on the screen which is the broken part. I am rough on my camera. I admit it. I put it in the diaper bag or my purse and go. Someone stepped on the diaper bag causing the screen to get broken. My own fault since a) I put the camera in there b) I put the bag on the floor of the car and c) didn't remind anyone not to step on my bag for the millionth time. When I take pictures now I just snap and snap and snap hoping for one or two good ones when I download. Unfortunately a new camera isn't in the plans for the next bit so it will have to do. Because I have no camera my sister will have to take pictures this weekend because Sarah is being baptized - don't want to miss those pictures!
Anyway - the photos from this week:
Sarah likes pushing her baby in the stroller - luckily Grandma bought a new stroller for Hannah for her birthday and we will have 2 strollers in the house next week! Yay!

Sarah has discovered juice boxes - good thing Mommy saved the juice box holders from Brandon and Hannah because we haven't gotten the hang of not squeezing the box!

She has also mastered the rocking horse! She is so proud of herself.

Hannah in the heart glasses.

Sarah in the heart glasses.

and kissing Sarah's monkey. They are so cute!

Hannah teaching Sarah how to climb. You can't see it in the picture but there is a little blue couch next to the crib that Hannah climbs up on to get into the crib with Sarah. In the picture Sarah is standing on the seat of the couch. She loves going in there and climbing up on it now. My little monkeys! Luckily we have had no falls - trying to keep it that way is tough!

My sister has great news on her blog - see the links to the right. It isn't posted yet as of 9:40 a.m. today but will be very shortly.

I'm really happy for her and Ric.

Updated: Susie has updated her blog - so I'll post the news here - Ric's PET scan came back clear! He is officially cancer free. I think she said he has to go back in about 3 months for another check. The goal now is for him to gain back some of the weight he lost and get his strength up then he can start taking longer runs.

Official...

can you see what they are holding in this picture? It is her official U.S. Citizenship papers! We stink at getting the mail in this house so the box was full and I have no idea when this arrived - could have been Friday, Saturday or Monday - no clue and it doesn't really matter in the end - it is here!!! There was a form letter from the President as well - something for her scrapbook that I really need to work on because I haven't since before we went to China and I have the whole trip to put in it.


Brandon and Hannah started swimming lessons tonight. Hannah went under water willingly and seemed to have a good time. Brandon had a hard time with going under when he took his goggles off and they floated down the gutter on the side of the pool. But, I think he had fun too.

And finally a picture of all three kids, together, all looking somewhat in the same direction and mostly with "good" faces. I never thought it would be that hard to get a picture of all three of them. I happen to like this one with the dress in Sarah's mouth - material is her pacifier and she walked around for a while with her dress pulled up. We try to discourage the dress and shirt in the mouth because it is messy (and a bit gross!) when there is Sarah slime on things. We have a few blanket pieces that my Aunt Susan serged for her to carry around - the dress was just handy this afternoon.

How cute are my babies!?

Brandon's school pictures came today. I think they came out great!

It's Sarah's Birthday!

Well, her 16 month birthday!

I took the girls to the local mall to play at the indoor play area this morning. Hannah had a great time until some other child had an "accident" on the slide area and she got wet. Gross! I got out of there very quickly and purchased another dress for her. I did tell the mall about it but didn't stick around to see if they cleaned it up. My guess is all the kids playing in it did the cleaning. Good thing I carry antibacterial wipes for hands and legs. You would think that a parent would notice their child had an accident and notify the mall and keep the other kids out of the area until someone came and cleaned it but that didn't happen. I was not very happy!

On the other hand, Sarah also had a great time playing. She didn't venture far at first and gradually moved away from me. She got brave! I had to really watch her around the older kids who were fast and didn't think to watch out for any of the babies but she did great. We will probably go again next week. It was a good outing for me. I just need to remember to bring the antibacterial wipes again.

Sarah feeding herself pasta. I loved how she stuck it on her finger to put it in her mouth. I think I now have pictures of all my kids feeding themselves pasta for the first time. What a mess!

So...

When is a baby considered a walker? Brandon was taking steps at 9 months (like 10 or more) before he would fall down. He was proficient at about 10 months (not crawling anymore at all) I don't remember with Hannah if she was proficient or not but she was walking the week before she turned a year. (Brent and I had a bet. I said she wouldn't be walking before a year, he said she would so he encouraged it a lot and there she went). Sarah has decided that she doesn't always need a hand to go anywhere and will cross the room and wander the house. She always comes back to be sure I'm around and I have to close doors so she is safe and contained. Is she proficient? No. Is she walking? Yes. In the last day or so we haven't seen the heiny scoot much. I think we may have a walker.

Here are a few pictures of the girls.

I haven't gotten any good ones of Brandon lately. I'm hoping his school pictures come in soon. We ordered a CD of them so we can print as many as we want. I sure hope they are good - there wasn't a preview first. He is at a really difficult age where he doesn't particularly want to cooperate for pictures all the time - bunny ears are funny, you know!

We spent the weekend visiting our family. My parents went out of town (out of country for that matter!) Sarah hadn't met many of Daddy's family so we spent time at his parents house. Cousin Carolyn and her husband Rob were there - Hannah LOVED them and wanted to know when she was going to see them again. Cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Emily got to meet her. Ryan noted that she was more beautiful in person than in her pictures - have to agree with him on that one! Cousin Mark and his girlfriend Johna were around, too. Aunt Beth brought a friend around who Sarah particularly liked - you know when she hits your knee to get your attention she likes you. :) It was a fun weekend for all the kids!

Sarah got her ears pierced on Saturday morning - she looks adorable! She cried for a minute or so then was back to her happy, loving self. She doesn't seem bothered by them and only sometimes plays with them. Very cute! I haven't gotten any really good pictures of her with them yet.

Hannah started taking ballet this week. I only signed her up for the first session and now I'm kicking myself because the next session is full. I'm really going to have to be on top of things when the next catalog comes out. I want to sign her up for Toddler Irish Dance (for ages 3-4). How cute would she be in those dresses! She loves to dance and really had a great time at her class the other day. The teacher is full of patience - 12+ little girls all excited to dance but not necessarily follow directions...I should have edited this one and cropped it in on Hannah. She didn't know I was taking the picture and looked really cute making faces at herself in the mirror. She loved that she was wearing all black - black leotard (that was too big - it belonged to my neice K when she was little), black tights and new (real) black ballet slippers. She would like me to know she doesn't like pink and wouldn't be happy in all pink. We did see a purple leotard that she would enjoy. I may buy it this weekend for her. At least it would fit better



We also went to a park near us that has a water feature. Sarah was in pure heaven holding her Daddy's hand and getting wet. The girl has no fear of water. She also enjoyed the swing when we were finished getting wet.



Sarah has started to give kisses - wonderful open mouthed sloppy kisses - on request. After she gives the first one and you say "I love you" she shakes her head "no" and does it again, and again, and again. I'm not sure that the shaking of her head means "no", just that it is the thing she does after she kisses. She is starting to really take to Hannah more and more - enough to give her kisses when she kisses Mommy. They are going to be best buddies in no time. There is no more jealousy unless Sarah is tired. It is a wonderful step in the right direction!!