Saturday, August 22, 2009
Summer Vacations
The month of July is notorious for vacation. I think it should be declared national vacation month officially! Not to be left out, we went on vacation this July to Washington state where our family lives. More specifically, we went to help out Adam's parents remodel their house! The house turned out great and we managed to squeeze in some fun. What made this trip extra special was that this was the first time since 2000 that all of Adam's siblings and their kids too were in the same place. So, we had to squeeze in some family pictures of course! Here is some of the pictures from our trip, and from the family pictures as well.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Cooking with Mama
Let's make sure that title is correct...it was more like "mashing bananas, mixing sugar in, and then eating what I made while watching Mama make banana bread"! Either way...Riley had a great time and it is something I hope to continue with her. :) Here's a picture story to prove my point!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
ABORT MISSION!
Here's how potty training went...
Day 1: Pretty good...few accidents but we had positive attitudes all around!
Day 2: The morning was wonderful and Riley had a great attitude! We had 17 accidents that morning, but we were still doing the happy dance for when the panties were dry. The afternoon started to go downhill when we would ask Riley if her panties were dry. She would scream "NO!" at us. We'd remind her we don't scream and we'd get a quieter "no".
Day 3: Full on melt downs whenever we'd ask if she was dry...if we tried to hustle to the potty during an accident and full out tantrums if we even SUGGESTED she sit on the potty. After a good few hours of that I called it and said:
ABORT MISSION POTTY TRAINING!!! ABORT ABORT!
(So for now we are waiting until Riley shows us she is ready again.)
Day 1: Pretty good...few accidents but we had positive attitudes all around!
Day 2: The morning was wonderful and Riley had a great attitude! We had 17 accidents that morning, but we were still doing the happy dance for when the panties were dry. The afternoon started to go downhill when we would ask Riley if her panties were dry. She would scream "NO!" at us. We'd remind her we don't scream and we'd get a quieter "no".
Day 3: Full on melt downs whenever we'd ask if she was dry...if we tried to hustle to the potty during an accident and full out tantrums if we even SUGGESTED she sit on the potty. After a good few hours of that I called it and said:
ABORT MISSION POTTY TRAINING!!! ABORT ABORT!
(So for now we are waiting until Riley shows us she is ready again.)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Some bench time
Sooo...is it bad that we spend enough time at the local children's hospital that I recognize when they have redecorated a bench? Not just A bench...two in fact! Bree and I got to spend a lovely half day together just her and I. No, it was a Mommy/littlest daughter date...it was a "Bree-possibly-might-have-an-infected/granulation-tissued/displaced-g-tube" sort of day.
We started out the day as any other. However, when Adam went to feed her (after coming home from working all night), he fed her and then two minutes later up it all came. Now her g-tube has been looking pretty nasty as of lately despite my every two hour cleaning attempts the past two days. It has been oozing so much it was forming scabs that when I would remove the pad to replace it with a clean and fresh one it would tear off and cause her g tube site to start bleeding.
After this mornings vomit attack, I said "ENOUGH!" (okay, I didn't really yell it out loud, but in my head I did) and called the surgeon who deals with the mechanics of the tube itself. They rushed us into an appt at 945, so Bree and I were off! (Leaving poor tired Adam home with pee pee puddles Riley). During the appt, Dr. Rowe was concerned with the amount of drainage we were having so she took the opportunity to burn off a lot of excess granulation tissue in hopes that this was the culprit of the leaking and oozing. She also told us Bree would be having a placement study done today...which they scheduled at the soonest time....2.
That's right...2 in the afternoon (and Bree was not allowed to have anything put into her belly for food). So...Bree and I hung around at the hospital making the rounds. We went and visited her first home, the NICU, where the receptionist, Auntie Courtnee, and Becky all oohed and aahed over her and remarked how big she was. In fact, she was so big that Miss Becky kept having to boost her up while holding her. How great it is to have a chubby child! (and to think she started at 1 lb!)
Bree and I grabbed some lunch (okay, I did!) and headed out to the playground/garden area where I noticed the said newly refinished bench. It is a little different from the rest and the black and white contrast of the bench really doesn't fit in too much with the brightly colorful bead encrusted other benches. (Can you tell we've been there a bit too much?)
After eating a wonderful baked potato for lunch we then went and checked in for her study. We happened to see our other friends (who also seem to call the hospital home!) Anneke and Felix while they were enjoying lunch with a friend. (Their daughter Grace, is in the hospital once again for suspected H. Pulori infection and some lung issues too) Once we were called back for Bree's study it only took ten minutes and all checked out well! Bree and I packed up the car (stroller, diaper bag..you know the usual!) and headed off into the sunset towards home.
(Okay, so I am exaggerating a bit...it was only 4 pm. But it felt like we should have been heading into the sunset with how long of a day it was.)
OH! And that other newly refinished bench...it is one of the ones outside. In case you were wondering. And, that one matches quite nicely with all the others.
We started out the day as any other. However, when Adam went to feed her (after coming home from working all night), he fed her and then two minutes later up it all came. Now her g-tube has been looking pretty nasty as of lately despite my every two hour cleaning attempts the past two days. It has been oozing so much it was forming scabs that when I would remove the pad to replace it with a clean and fresh one it would tear off and cause her g tube site to start bleeding.
After this mornings vomit attack, I said "ENOUGH!" (okay, I didn't really yell it out loud, but in my head I did) and called the surgeon who deals with the mechanics of the tube itself. They rushed us into an appt at 945, so Bree and I were off! (Leaving poor tired Adam home with pee pee puddles Riley). During the appt, Dr. Rowe was concerned with the amount of drainage we were having so she took the opportunity to burn off a lot of excess granulation tissue in hopes that this was the culprit of the leaking and oozing. She also told us Bree would be having a placement study done today...which they scheduled at the soonest time....2.
That's right...2 in the afternoon (and Bree was not allowed to have anything put into her belly for food). So...Bree and I hung around at the hospital making the rounds. We went and visited her first home, the NICU, where the receptionist, Auntie Courtnee, and Becky all oohed and aahed over her and remarked how big she was. In fact, she was so big that Miss Becky kept having to boost her up while holding her. How great it is to have a chubby child! (and to think she started at 1 lb!)
Bree and I grabbed some lunch (okay, I did!) and headed out to the playground/garden area where I noticed the said newly refinished bench. It is a little different from the rest and the black and white contrast of the bench really doesn't fit in too much with the brightly colorful bead encrusted other benches. (Can you tell we've been there a bit too much?)
After eating a wonderful baked potato for lunch we then went and checked in for her study. We happened to see our other friends (who also seem to call the hospital home!) Anneke and Felix while they were enjoying lunch with a friend. (Their daughter Grace, is in the hospital once again for suspected H. Pulori infection and some lung issues too) Once we were called back for Bree's study it only took ten minutes and all checked out well! Bree and I packed up the car (stroller, diaper bag..you know the usual!) and headed off into the sunset towards home.
(Okay, so I am exaggerating a bit...it was only 4 pm. But it felt like we should have been heading into the sunset with how long of a day it was.)
OH! And that other newly refinished bench...it is one of the ones outside. In case you were wondering. And, that one matches quite nicely with all the others.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Role reversal...and other things
In our house for the past two days we have had a role reversal. Normally it is Riley that we are telling "I am busy with Bree, you need to wait a minute and I will get to you when I am done with Bree...thank you!" However, we undertook the tremendous task of potty training Riley. So now, it is Bree that is being left on the floor playing alone because sister has peed all over the floor.
This is not without good cause because we have had successes. Today (just a half an hour ago) she recognized she needed to go, ran to the potty, and went pee in the potty!!! After a massive love and praise fest she got to have some chocolate and watch a cartoon of her choosing. (Wubbzy of course!)
One thing that the girls are on the same page about is language! They are both talking up a storm! Bree's is more ah-oh, ba-ba, bo-ba, and EeeeeEEEE, but it is progress and it is great to hear new noises out of her everyday. This morning she said "Mom" clear as day, but I am sure we will not be hearing that again for a bit. She has been imitating noises she is hearing but I do not think she recognizes them for what they are. So far she has said, Mom, bye, and up. However, we have heard each of these on one occasion and not since then.
Riley on the other hand is pairing up old words, creating new ones and learning new ones every day! Just the other day in the car she started cracking up and saying "Ha ha ha fuuunnnn-eeee Grandma! Ha ha ha ha fuuuuunn-eee Oooba! Ha ha ha ha fuuunnnn-eeee Ya ya! Ha ha ha ha!" She named off every person she could think of. Adam and I just sat in the car and laughed with her it was too cute!
On a personal note, I am going to go back to posting every day on here. I am waiting too long between posts, and then I am trying to cram all this info into a "update" post. So, come with me on my journey...there might be some late night nonsense posts, but it's all in the spirit of fun, right?
This is not without good cause because we have had successes. Today (just a half an hour ago) she recognized she needed to go, ran to the potty, and went pee in the potty!!! After a massive love and praise fest she got to have some chocolate and watch a cartoon of her choosing. (Wubbzy of course!)
One thing that the girls are on the same page about is language! They are both talking up a storm! Bree's is more ah-oh, ba-ba, bo-ba, and EeeeeEEEE, but it is progress and it is great to hear new noises out of her everyday. This morning she said "Mom" clear as day, but I am sure we will not be hearing that again for a bit. She has been imitating noises she is hearing but I do not think she recognizes them for what they are. So far she has said, Mom, bye, and up. However, we have heard each of these on one occasion and not since then.
Riley on the other hand is pairing up old words, creating new ones and learning new ones every day! Just the other day in the car she started cracking up and saying "Ha ha ha fuuunnnn-eeee Grandma! Ha ha ha ha fuuuuunn-eee Oooba! Ha ha ha ha fuuunnnn-eeee Ya ya! Ha ha ha ha!" She named off every person she could think of. Adam and I just sat in the car and laughed with her it was too cute!
On a personal note, I am going to go back to posting every day on here. I am waiting too long between posts, and then I am trying to cram all this info into a "update" post. So, come with me on my journey...there might be some late night nonsense posts, but it's all in the spirit of fun, right?
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