Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Birthdays...rather milestones

Today RyRy turned 3 months old and yesterday T turned 16 months old. T and RyRy are only 1 year, 1 month and 1 day apart. We were very close to having them be only 13 months apart.

We woke this morning to RyRy's right eye all gunky. It's seemed to me as though her stuffy head is now coming out through her eye instead of the nose. The poor girl's nose is so very sore from me suctioning her out all of the time. Even with the help of nasal saline drops, we started to get more and more blood each time we suction. It did seem to help her when I put Baby Vicks on a burp cloth and draped on the side of her bed closet to her little noggin. The stuff burns too much to put on her skin. I do the same thing with T. It works great.

Dawn, the traveling home nurse, came this afternoon. RyRy is up to 7 lbs, 8 oz. YAY for her! She was however a little concerned because she heard some weizing in her lungs. When we were at the doctor on Monday, Dr. White said that it wasn't in her lungs. Dawn was going to call Dr. Connolly today and let him know. They apparently didn't want me to do anything because they never called. On Monday and today, I was told to wait and see what Iowa City says. The poor girl is miserable. She had a temp of 99.1 on Monday. Today, she was a chilly 35.7 C. I am not sure what that converts to but it's colder than usual.

I am trying to get everything rounded up for tomorrow. T is going to daycare and Aunt Carmen is picking him up for me. DadD is going to school and work. RyRy and MomMom are going to Iowa City. She has to meet with Dr. Julie at 10:30 and then she has an eye exam at 12:45. Hopefully, we're home late afternoon. I haven't had time tonight to make anything ahead of time for dinner tomorrow. Maybe I should do that too!

Oh geez, now I am just babbling. I am really trying to keep myself up until 11 so I can feed RyRy and then head to bed for oh an hour or so. This is just plain grooling. We've created a monster!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Oh Sunshine...

To say that I am exhausted is an understatement. On Thursday, Dr. White and Craig, the student, and IC NP Diane decided that we should try feeding RyRy more often with smaller amounts. They thought that every hour and a half would be good. Well, we've created a monster. We tried to wean her down to every 2 hours. It didn't work. To top that off, I took her to a weight check yesterday and was the exact same as the nurse got on Friday. She's taking an ounce every 1.5 hours. I would've thought she would have gained something. But I was wrong.

We think that T is testing us. He woke up this morning at who knows what time and was fiddling around in the bathroom. I woke up to T standing next to my bed with my toothbrush in his mouth and DadD's in his other hand. This was 5:00 am!! I don't know what possessed him to wake up that early.

T also loves his baby sister. Yesterday, I put RyRy in the bouncer for just a second to get her bottle ready. T was watching tv, it was quiet down and unwind time, and RyRy started crying. I peeked around the corner because I heard T stirring around. He was crouched down next to RyRy saying "Hi Baby". But she continued to cry. I decided to just watch him to see what he would do. So he ever so gently rubbed the top of her head. She was still crying. So he decided that maybe he should pick her up. He thought about it, put his hands under her back and then withdrew and re-thought. I intervened then. Once I picked her up, he wanted to hold her. If he shows interest in her like that, we most of the time, will let him hold her. He was happy, she wasn't, and he kept giving her kisses and saying "Hi Baby."

T is starting to say words now. His new ones are "Uh-oh" and "HiBaby". Other than that, he says "eww" "hot" "DadD" "MomMom" and "yuck". He tries to say ball, car, chair but they never quite make it out to that so he points.

Over the weekend, we had some visitors. 2 of 3 of my best high school friends, Andrea and Dana, came down to meet Miss RyRy. Carolyn was running in Crazy Legs in the rain, the crazy girl. Did I mention that out of the 4 of us, I am the only one with children. I am 2 up on you girls. I can't wait for them to have some babies. They're all going to have amazingly cute kids. My sister in law Katrina and her boys, Noah and Isaac, also came for a visit. This was good because we still had Isaac birthday presents from March. We decided to take RyRy to meet her Great Grandma Dodds. She was excited to see her. I have to get a picture of RyRy with her. I really really regret not getting a picture of T with my Grandpa before he passed away. We're hoping that once the weather gets nice, we can take her to visit him too.

Today, Dawn the home nurse, is coming to do a weight check. DadD is actually going to be here for it this time. T is going to daycare as normal for a few hours. Other than that, we're going to soak up the sunshine.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

I wanted to share a few photos with ya'll from the long awaited homecoming! It was fun!



The 2 hour carseat test. She was awake the entire time and passed without a dip in her heartrate.




MomMom getting RyRy dressed and back in the Apnea monitor before heading home.



She apparently did NOT want to wear that outfit.


All bundled up and ready for take off!



Here we go!


Almost there!


T was so excited to see RyRy he couldn't get close enough.


He finally go close enough. He loves her.


A picture of Troy in his orange Stellan shirt. Stellan had surgery on the 21st and thousands upon thousands of people wore orange in his honor. The Klauer's did for sure!



We have a bunch of pictures of Troy looking at himself with this toy. She admired herself for quite a while. Plus with 85 degree weather later in the day, it was fitting to wear a dress for the first time.


Mashed potato face!

Hope you enjoyed our first week home!

Runny noses and lazy days

Today has been very lazy at the Klauer household. Right now, RyRy is sleeping, DadD is folding jeans with T in toe taking the lint trap out in his PJ shirt (yup, still in PJs at 1 pm) and a diaper.

**Sidenote: We're having spahgetti for lunch and it's bath day. Hence, the reason for just a diaper and still in his pajamas.

We're battling stuffy, runny noses. T has a terribly runny nose that doesn't seem to bother him at all. Meanwhile, RyRy has such a stuffy nose, she can't breathe. She's had 3 apnea spells in the last 12 hours. I have used the bulb syringe to suck out some of the gunk. Poor girl is full of plugs.

On a happier note, RyRy is eating so much better. She is taking 40 to 50 cc every 2 hours or so. She is actually waking up and telling us she is hungry. This is good news!

We are hoping this eating turns into packin' on some weight. She is scheduled to see Dr. White tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. T also has a doctors appointment tomorrow. Can you remember a few weeks ago when he double ear infection. We this appointment is to check his ears to make sure they got better. Well as it turns out, his appointment is also at 1:30 tomorrow with another doctor. And DadD has class at 2 and won't be able to accompany me. Hmmm...one mom, 2 kiddos, one appointment time, 2 different doctors, 2 different rooms, same clinic....not so sure how this is going to work. **Big sigh!** Uncle Scott to the rescue! He's going to take T while I take RyRy.




Friday, April 24, 2009

Doing the Moby Moby

Right now, T is snoozin' in his big boy car bed and RyRy is snoozin' on my chest in the Moby. My Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jeff got us the Moby and it's AMAZING! I think that should be the word of my life lately! Simply AMAZING!

On Thursday, I had to take Rylee to get a weight check with Dr. White. Dr. Connelly is in Texas so Dr. White is taking over while he is gone. I had both kids by myself. CRAZY!! T was an absolute turd. At the last minute, Dr. White had to go to the hospital. So instead of having someone else look at her, we had to wait. Yes, wait in a tiny room filled with a stroller, carseat, diaper bag, Oxygen tank and Apnea machine. Plus me, T, and RyRy. A student doctor finally came and looked her over. I don't know how long he's been a student but my guess is not very long. I think I taught his a thing or two. So our 3:30 appointment turned into 4:55. Yup, we waited for over an hour. Shesh! I was never so glad as to get 2 kids, all the 'junk' and myself in the car and on the way home. Thankfully, they both fell asleep so it was peace and quiet!

The student doctor called NP Diane in Iowa City. They talked about what they should change. RyRy is not gaining any weight but on the flip side she's not really losing any either. She did this about 2 weeks ago in the NICU and that was why we couldn't bring her home by Easter. They decided to increase the number of feedings. We are now feeding her smaller amounts every hour and a half. Dr. White, who did finally show up, said to try 15cc every hour and a half. I got home and fed her...she took 30cc. An hour and a half later, fed her again...another 30 cc. She has been consistantly taking 30 cc all night.

The home help nurse came this morning. RyRy gained an ounce!! It's working. She is waking up every time to tell us that she is hungry. AMAZING!! Hopefully on Monday when we get the weight checked again she will be up a few more ounces.

We are enjoying the nice weather with the windows and doors open. I put RyRy in her very first dress! These kiddos have a busy afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa Schmieder are coming later today! And Jared and Jalyn get to come over and hang out after school! T loves that!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Updates on us will be done here!

Since Rylee is no longer in the hospital, I thought those of you who would like to see how we are all doing can do so on this blog. I'm new to the whole blogging thing. I am still trying to work out how to make it really really pretty. We'll get there! Hope you enjoy us!