First round of editing!

Grandma Gonce and Riley laughing!

Seriously, could there be more pink?

Running wild with her cousins

Bailey and I aka two cool chicks!

Sunbathing girl

Gettin Auntie's help

Riley's crazy hair

Na, na na na na!

Our exciting weekend.

This will be a quick update as I have about three hundred things to do today...

Saturday night Adam took Bree back into the ER due to difficulty breathing and not keeping her food down again. So he was there until 3 in the morning, and was sent home on strict orders of staying on a continuous drip of pedialyte until her respiratory symptoms resolve. (she is on 22 mls/hr) Once they came home Bree needed a breathing treatment at 330, then coughed for an hour and half, then finally I slept from 5-6 and got up and went to work until 1. Adam did make Easter dinner (turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, asparagus, rolls, and stuffing) but then we went to bed right after the kids did. :)

One of these days when I get done editing the 900 photos I have to edit (literally I have that many!) I will do a MASSIVE photo post!

Bree's home!

So, after my last post the doctor insisted that Bree stay overnight. We had to do some juggling because I had a doctor appt that I could NOT miss (whole other story) so Adam stayed overnight with Bree, but had to leave at 300 in the morning to make it to work by 400. So Bree was by herself from 300 in the morning to 1000 when Adam was able to make it back.

However, Bree is now home! We are being sent home on a continuous feed of 22 ml/hr for a few days (probably until Sunday) and then slowly go back to our 75mls at 8, 11, 2, and 5. (then the night drip) We are so happy to be together as a family again under the same roof! Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes, we are very blessed to have you all as our friends and our family!

A few cell phone videos for ya...

Cell Phone Picture Post

Sleeping in Mama and Dada's bed

First tast of cereal!

Flashing 'gang' signs (as Grandma Gonce would say)

"WOW!"

She put them on all by herself! (can you tell?)

My Chubby Wubby

Self portrait

Beautiful girl

Pretending to talk on the phone (it's really her play keys)

Mama and "Ry-ry"

Tiny shopping cart...we improvised.

My flower child!

Mama shot this photo of Adam and I

Sleeping in her big girl bed

Poop face!

Here's the scoop!

Okay, some light is shining on the horizon...the doctor came in and we had a talk. We are going to try a low continuous feed all day long and see how she does. If she shows signs of being hungry she will be allowed to nipple whatever she wants to. We will be consulting a nutritionist to decide how much volume she should be given today and for how much an hour. However, she was able to take a bottle while we are waiting for the nutritionist and she drank 17cc's before zonking out. She's been fussing all morning and is tired so I wasn't expecting her to take much. She took enough to where her tummy felt okay, and she promptly went to sleep.

I am going to try and push for us to be discharged tonight if she does well with this. Her tummy is the only problem right now and I want to get out of here asap before she catches something that is worse.

Something new

Okay, so here's the latest scoop: Bree no longer screams in pain when moved, has no fever and her petechiae are getting better. However, her nose is stuffier and now requires suctioning from the suction they have here at the hospital (bulb syringe wasn't getting it out anymore) and she is no longer tolerating her feeds. She throws up every other feed, and runs a big risk of aspiration when she does so. If she does aspirate it can lead to pneumonia, which then will lead to a longer hospitilization.

So, last night they did not give her her night drip just to make sure that her tummy will be empty today. I am still awaiting Dr. Hayes to come around (about 930) to figure out what the plan is for feeds today. I will update when I know more.

Reflection

It must be pouring

Update! We were moved rooms so now we are in room 507, bed A at Phoenix Children's Hospital. We were moved because we found out Bree has what is called ParaInfluenza Type 3. Here's a link to where you can learn more about it:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/respiratory/hpivfeat.htm
It was explained to me that it is similar to RSV, just slightly different.

However, this is not what is causing the petechiae so she is continuing to receive the antibiotics until we have a more definate answer of what is going on. For all we know it could just be a combination of things that are all contributing.

We will be here at least until Friday morning at best. A big thanks to Anneke for bringing me some snacks, a magazine and Bree a super cute bumblebee outfit! It brightened my day and whenever Bree wakes up, I am sure the sight of her new outfit will make her day better too!

As Nana said "If it's not one thing, it's another"

So...we are back in our home away from home. That's right, Bree is back in the hospital. Yesterday morning, when I got her up from sleeping at night her temp was 102.8 and she cried in pain everytime I moved her. (particularly her neck or trunk area). However, after a dose of tylenol her temp went down to 101 ish and she rested a little more comfortable. The cries in pain went down to whimpers, and she would at least sleep on my shoulder. That was the only position she was comfy in, up on my shoulder. Any attempt to lay her down resulted in screaming pain.

About noon, I noticed three little petechiae on her lower left leg. (petechiae are like little pinpoints of blood just under the skin) We kept an eye on them since her discomfort was not getting any better and when we were getting her ready for bed the three had multiplied to twenty. SO...off the hospital I went with Bree while Adam stayed home with Riley.

The hospital had the same concern as I did: Meningitis. They drew blood, urine, and even went as far as doing a lumbar puncture. For those of you who don't know, a lumbar puncture is where they bend the person over as far as they can in a sitting position, and insert a hollow needle into the space between the vertebrae in order to get some cerebral spinal fluid for testing. This was HORRIBLE to watch! I was okay with the needle, but when they were bending her over she was having such a hard time catching her breath because she was so upset and had a stuffy nose on top of that.

Thankfully all the labs came back a-okay, and even really don't show signs of her being sick. My child, the medical mystery! They started her on some strong antibiotics just to be safe, and she continues to recieve those every twelve hours as of right now.

So, as of this morning they have ruled out meningitis (Praise the Lord!) and are going to test for a few different types of viruses. I will update when I know more...

By the way, Riley still has a yucky nose and a slight cough but our friend Danielle was awesome enough to watch Riley so Adam could go to work today. Needless to say, we owe her some babysitting so her and Pat can go out for a night on the town!

"Just a bug"

So, apparently what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. Riley caught a bug in Vegas, and brought it home with her, and then proceeded to share it with her sister. Both girls had a fever of 101.8 for 4 days, and diarrhea on top of that. On Sunday, Adam caught the bug as well so I had to rush home from work so that I could take care of three diarrhea pooping, cranky people. Also on Sunday, Riley and Bree developed a rash around their mouth and a little around their eyes. Riley developed a cough that sounds horrible, but luckily Bree has been spared the cough so far. (Fingers crossed!) So, I decided after a week of sickness and changing symptoms that a doctor visit was in order.

So today at 1110 we were at the doctors office (me and the girls), and we were told that it was "just a bug" and it should pass soon. In the meantime, no playdates or being around other kiddos just so we can keep all our friends 'safe'. Dr. Pham was very impressed with the girls' weights which were: Riley: 27.8 pounds and Bree: 11.8 pounds! Woo hoo!!! Even though they are sick, they are still gaining weight. He was also happy that they both were well hydrated and were eating in some form (Riley is struggling a bit).

Please be praying for this sickness to leave our house! (and for me not to get sick!) As you know, a stay at home Mama doesn't get any sick days!

Humming in the night

Both the girls have been sick the last week, and last night Riley was woken up by the sound of the garage door opening when Adam left for work at 315 inthe morning. I let her try to fuss it out, but after a half an hour of crying she had worked herself into such a fit that she was coughing really hard in between crying. I went and got her, and brought her into bed with me.

We snuggled and with her little body pressed against mine, and her head resting on my arm I began to hum Brahm's Lullaby. (I have done this with both of my girls since they were born, so the tune is very familiar to them.) Like the sweet little girl that she is, Riley began to calm down and before I knew it I started to hear her humming as well. She was not humming the tune, but when I would hum I would hear her hum right after.

Our humming filled the room until she drifted off to sleep in my arms.

My Big Little Girl

Bree is a big girl now! Okay, so not a super super big girl, but she is no longer sleeping on our room at night. We set up her crib, moved all her equipment (apnea monitor and feeding pump, IV pole to go with it, and the plugs that go along with those) and she got to be all set up in her own bed. Funny how quickly you can forget how small a baby can look in a giant crib. I took some pictures of course, but they have taken a number in my "wait for editing" line.

Bree slept great, and we are now going to start working on getting both girls into bed by seven. Due to Bree's 10 hour night drip, she sleeps through the night. So, I am one lucky Mama to have two little girls who sleep from 7 at night to 6 in the morning...I am looking forward to catching up on sleep here soon!

The other part of the Gonce family

So as I mentioned in the post about Hunter, we met Mama, Dad, Hunter and Bailey in Vegas. For Bree this was her first visit there, and she did great! We got in late Friday night, and on Saturday we had a packed day! We took Hunter and Bailey to the Adventure Dome in Circus Circus and we had a blast! We rode the big water ride, and got a great picture of the four of us...Hunter refused to hold his arms in the air (this was our second ride together) so we teased him that he was being a 'Sally'.



However, Hunter redeemed himself when both kids wanted to go on the roller coaster. Now, mind you, this is no sissy roller coaster. There are two upside down loops, I think three corkscrews and two tunnel portions all within the 45 seconds of the ride. Adam can't do roller coasters (he could barely do the two times on water ride) so he didn't ride this one with us. The poor kids, they couldn't even hold their heads up because of the "G" force that this ride put on their little bodies...take a look:


Needless to say, the kids did not want to ride this one again. However, Bailey wanted to ride the water ride over and over and over so I think Bailey and I rode it four times in a row before she was satisfied. We also rode the bumper cars with the kids (and secretly let the kids steer) and had a super fun time with that. And, I might add....we all played laser tag and I whooped everyone!!!! I do not recall what the kids' scores were, but Adam's score was 525 and mine was 3200!! Must be beginners luck because I had never played that before, and I am not a very sporty person!

Mama and Dad watched our girls for us that morning and we were extremely grateful for it. Adam and I both needed to let go and act like little kids again! Yes, we were still responsible because we had kids with us, but for three hours we weren't wiping poopy butts, runny noses or messing with feeding tubes!

Later that night, Adam and I got to go out on our own and we had a fun time, and got some much needed alone time to spend just with each other...

Catch up!

Sooo...when I last left off, Auntie Danielle was still visiting! Whew...I am half a month behind. It's okay, you guys can call me a slacker. :) I am very particular when family visits, I prefer to spend my time with them instead of on the computer, cleaning my house or anything else except spending time with them. So, after the past three weeks of visiting my house is trashed, but we have lots of new memories...which I will share with all of you!

As you all saw, Auntie was with Bree when she got her ears pierced. She is still doing great with them and her earrings still look as beautiful as they first did! We (Dannie and I) also went to the Phoenix Children's Museum with Riley and Bree. Some of the stuff was a little too advanced for Riley to understand or do on her own, but with Auntie's help she did great. I have not edited those photos yet (slacker!) but when I do I will post them for all to see!

We made sure that we took a park trip with Auntie and Riley did okay. She got to try and feed the ducks, and succeeded in slipping and falling in the mud really close to the water, of course. She gave her poor mama a heart attack, and I let loose a few explicit words. (oops!) Once again, have not downloaded, but will do so in the coming weeks!

Auntie left us on Wednesday the 25th, but with talk of already returning when she can. Both Riley and Bree adore their Auntie (or E.T. as Riley says) and they both can't wait to see her again!

Hunter Lance Gonce

So, I PROMISE I will do some serious blogging next week (lots of catch up to do!), but I have a few small things to write down before I forget. As some of you know (and for those who don't!) Hunter and Bailey are visiting. They are 8, and 7 years old. Grandma, Papa, Hunter and Bailey all drove down from Washington this last weekend and we met them in Las Vegas for the weekend. We met them on Friday night and stayed until Sunday morning then they followed us down to our house and are staying for the week.

On Saturday morning we are having breakfast at a buffet, we are all sitting around the table and Hunter goes "So, what if the guy who lives upstairs (points up...meaning God) came down here and told me 'Hunter you are my soldier' (cue Darth Vader voice) and then told me to go down there (points down) and I did and I killed the guy who lives down there (meaning the Devil) and then God said 'I am KING!!!'?" (puts arms up like he is flexing his muscles) I just kind of stared for a minute taking in the information that was just told to me and I said "Well, that would be pretty cool, right Uncle Adam?"

Kids!

Then....Sunday morning we were at breakfast (yet again!) and we were finishing up feeding Bree through her feeding tube and he tells Adam "All right, let me get this straight...whatever Bree doesn't eat with her bottle you put up her nose?" :) He said it as if we were punishing Bree for not eating it all...we did explain how it all works to him but that was too cute!

Quick update!

Auntie (my sister Danielle) has been visiting since the 15th so we have all been having fun, hanging out and just enjoying life together! Riley LOVES her Auntie and even calls her if she leaves the room. All we hear is "EEE.TTTT!!!" Riley has also found her favorite cartoon show. It is called Yo-Gabba-Gabba and is a very odd show. Five "things": Three monsters, a cat looking thing and a magic robot all dance around. sing and do things with the help of DJ Lance Rock and his friends. They change 'venues' every three to five minutes so it keeps her attention. Needless to say Danielle and I can sing all the songs to the show. (SUPER MARTIAN ROBOT GIRL!... It's more fun to share...wiggle wiggle wiggle GO! wiggle wiggle wiggle STOP!...Let's do it! Break it down!)

In Bree news, she is now 10 lbs 8 ounces and has been given the clear from the pediatrician to just come in on regular check ups. Yay! Being on the road to normalcy for us is exciting! She also got her ears pierced last Monday...take a look!

Riley crying in sympathy for Bree

One last hug before it's time!

OUCH!!!!

"You people are doing this AGAIN!!!???"

Despite the look of the pictures, Bree did great and stopped crying within two minutes of the last piercing...we all went and celebrated with some Dairy Queen ice cream (and Bree with a bottle!)

Cell phone videos!

The following videos were taken with my cell phone. Not the best quality, but the most convenient with small kiddos. (they don't wait for you to get the video camera when doing something cute!)

Picture time!

Blowing Bubbles...

Our TV interview (I sat in the chair to the left)

Fit face!

The infamous sandals

"BOB!"

So, Adam really loves Curious George. As a small boy of 5, him and his family lived in a small town in Wisconsin where everyone knew everyone else. Well, Adam was shopping with his Mama and an old man saw them and said "How's it going George?" to Adam. Adam got REALLY angry (clenched his fists, face red) and said "MY NAME IS NOT GEORGE!!! IT'S ADAM!!!" So, since then his nickname has been George and to add insult to injury (ha ha) he has been given and collected curious george stuff. So, we found girl curious george pj's for Riley so we HAD to get them.

Adam picked those out to dress Riley in for bed last night. He got her all dressed, stood her up, she said "Ta-duh!" as usual, and then Adam (all seriously) asks, "Who's on your shirt Riley? Who's that right there?" We were expecting at least the monkey noise....well, we got "BOB!". That's right, BOB....Adam didn't get his hallmark moment, but we both got a good laugh out of it!

Bree's a celebrity super star!

Yesterday, Adam and I went down to Family Partners to do a tv interview. The state of Arizona has to make some budget cuts, however they are trying to completely eliminate this program so that they can "save" some money. Bree gets a little bit of physical therapy and developmental support from this program. In addition, this program provides a place for disabled adults to be during the daytime. They provide them with activities to do, and some place safe to be during the day. THIS PROGRAM NEEDS TO BE SAVED! There was a study done in Colorado that concluded that for every $1 that was spent in early intervention services (birth to 3), that it saved $4 down the road for services that would be needed in school. Why would we eliminate this program?? Here is the link to the story from channel 3 news:

http://www.azfamily.com/video/newsat9-index.html?nvid=340992

Every state in the USA is having similar cuts, I encourage each of you to take the time to write your governer telling him/her that we cannot put our children at a disadvantage! Let's cut from traffic construction, anything but from our future generations. Don't they deserve the best chance at life that we can give them?

Picture post!

Children = Laundry

So, Bree has a yeast rash. :( We have not been able to get rid of it!!! So, we are trying cloth diapers to help it air out and that is the best thing we have found so far for it. So lots of laundry is in order in my house. Here soon, she is going to be getting an oatmeal bath (when big sis is taking a nap), and we will start the cloth diapers for today.

Speaking of the big sis...she refused to wear a diaper this morning. I was going to just let her run around with pants on and when she wet, she would see that it wasn't pleasant. Well, as I was going to get some pants that would work for that (not jeans!!!) she piddled all over my kitchen rug. Once again, more laundry is in order!

I cleaned up her piddle and wrestled her into a diaper and a onesie so that she can't tear off her diaper. (in the process of wrestling, she kicked me, hit me, and even piddled on my leg a bit) So, now she has put on her new sandals (WHOLE OTHER STORY: tantrum in target over them..didn't want to try on any others, just those...we have to sneak them off while she is sleeping) and is asking to go outside in 55 degree weather. (too cold...for those of you in WA and OR it would feel like 40 ish)

I think that some big girl panties are in order so that she can learn what it feels like to piddle when you don't have a diaper on. I am not expecting potty training...just experiencing new things.....and lots of laundry!

New look...

So...here's the big change! What do you think of the new blog design? More like something that fits our family? There's blue and green in the background, along with pink for the girls...then there is an orange thrown in there for a neutral! I LOVE IT! It was made by Traci Rutledge of Sweet Cheeky Designs..(see her "plug" on the bottom right hand side). She had a contest in February where participants had to nominate someone else deserving to get a blog makeover. Here is what she said:

"I told everyone that they had to inspire them in some way and many people nominated you. I knew immediately when I looked at your blog that I wanted to do this for you. You have had a tough time of it and you always seem to make others smile."

Traci was great working with, and didn't seemed bothered by my five millions questions! I just wanted to make sure it was a blog design that represented our family well, but didn't need a bunch of maintenance. I already have enough going on in my life! Thank you so much Traci and for those who nominated me for this makeover, it is wonderful!

Changes coming soon!

Keep an eye on our blog...there are some BIG changes that are about to happen! I'm not telling what it is, but I will in time...patience is a virtue, right?

Wipe wipe wipe!

As many of you know, Riley is obsessed with wipes. For those of you who don't: Riley is obsessed with wipes! She usually always has one with her just so she can wipe things down, and didn't you know? It can double as a blanket for her babies! Now on Monday night, she was playing quietly by herself by her bookcase. We had had a rough day (lots of testing boundaries, time outs, and tears), and I was just super glad she was being quiet and playing nicely. (She had a whole bunch of wipes that were entertaining her (maybe 5) that she had snuck from me earlier in the day) I had seen her over there grunting and doing her 'poop' face. Well I went and checked her diaper and there was nothing there. So, I go back and sit on the couch to watch my DVR show of Heroes.

Riley had moved herself over to our front door area where her Elmo chair was and I could look over and see her sitting there. She was saying "wipe, wipe, wipe" and wiping her hands off with the wipes (innocent enough, right?)...well about five minutes later I looked over to see her standing up and bending down wiping the floor. Wouldn't you know it but there was poop all over the back of her falling out of her diaper onto the floor!!!!!! It was all over her hands (hence the wipe, wipe, wiping!), all over her Elmo chair and even some smeared on my wall!! EW! So, out came a towel to lay her on, and she got a bath. Her clothes earned a ride in the washing machine....and my walls (and tile floor!) got a nice scrub down with some bleach water. Elmo chair is not machine washable (and is red, obviously) so he got wiped and scrubbed down with some clorox wipes. It sure gave us a good laugh!

No "bottle" day

So Sunday was the big day! Adam and I had been putting it off, and off and off so I finally picked a day and March 1st was no bottle day. Riley did great!!!! A bit of fussing at nap time (which is anytime after 1030 in the morning), and we have had about an hour of crying off and on at bedtime. I need to make up a schedule for Riley and start to implement it with her (bath, books, then bed). We are slowly getting back into our routine once again, which is great and much more stable for Miss Riley...

Hope this finds you happy, healthy, and in love with life!