The Sweet Things in Life

Hello 2012!

2012-01-04T22:17:00.001-06:00

Hi All! I took an un-intentional blogging hiatus. I have, as always, been busy...being a mom...since my last post on October 10th! SORRY! Lots has happened around our household like...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th Birthday, New Years....and a few doctors visits. I say few and I sincerely mean there were only a few! Rylee hasn't been to the doctor for herself for almost a month! KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!!!

So here's a quick (I hope) recap of the last almost 3 months....
I don't Weston was quite walking yet in my last post, but he is now. It's fun. He's progressing well. We seen the eye doctor about his crossing eyes on October 1 and we got him some glasses. It was an honest to God battle to get him to keep those puppies on. December 10th we went back to the eye doctor. The glasses, surprise surprise, didn't work which the eye doctor didn't really think they would. SO...February 20th, we are headed to UW-AFCH for an outpatient surgery to uncross those gorgeous eyes. Hopefully, he does well with this. I actually took him up to meet and consult with the eye doctor on December 22. It just so happened that the night before we went up, he woke me up right before Daddy came home from work and the poor babe was covered in huge hives. So before our eye appt in Madison, we rushed him in to the clinic at home. They thought it was probably just a virus. Holy cow, I found out it definitely was a virus when we were on our way to Madison and he completely blew out his diaper with diarrhea. Thank goodness we packed extra clothes. At the appt, which took 4 and half hours (about 99% was waiting!), he went through all the wipes and diapers and clothes I had. Poor boy! The diarrhea is still around today. The cause...teething and virus. Christmas Day night we were getting ready to head over to my sister's house for Christmas there and while getting him dressed, Daddy noticed his feet and hands were very purple. We still don't have a diagnosis for it yet. Yesterday, we did an echocardiogram which came back normal. When I got home tonight, there was a message on the machine from the doctors office to give them a call for more test results. Hopefully we can figure it out. It's the weirdest thing really. His feet and hands will be pink one moment, purple the next and back to pink as fast as it took you to read this. He's reverted back to have restless nights. Monday night, Daddy slept with him in the recliner and last night he spun circles in our bed with us. Right now, Weston has been our biggest concern.

Rylee has been doing fantastic! She's been the healthiest one so far this winter. I hope that statement doesn't come back to bite me. I haven't spoken that out loud with the fear that she'll end up terribly sick! She thoroughly enjoyed Christmas. She got a dollhouse from Santa. She loves it! She loves it so much sometimes she wakes at wee hours of the morning to play with it for a little while before going back to bed. Makes mommy and Daddy wish there wasn't a dollhouse...between these little play sessions and all the little pieces that are scattered thoroughout our house, I don't know which worse! With her 3rd birthday just around the corner, Birth to 3 is ending. Friday is her very last day of OT. PT ends on the 19th and Speech ends on the 27th. We are sad to see these ladies leave and terrified as to what is next. I signed the consent form for the testing for early childhood last week. The school speech teacher is extremely nice and gave a very thorough tour of Benton school. She even took us to the library and let Rylee pick out a couple books to take home. I have a sneaking feeling that Rylee will end up at Southwestern since Benton doesn't have an early childhood program. I would prefer that she went to Platteville for Early childhood because it's a better school for it. They don't open enroll for children with disabilities from what I understand so that;s not an option. The biggest fear that I have with her going to Southwestern is that Daddy is 10-15 minutes away and I am 40 minutes away so if something happened, a seizure, vomit, knock of the noggin...we can't be there right away if she was at Benton school, which we can see from our house or in Platteville which is down the street from my job. It worries me. We also don't plan to live in a teeny tiny money pit forever and will relocate to Platteville. Right now, it's out of our hands, we just have to roll with it I guess but for the record, I am not too thrilled about it!

Troy is ball of fun. Up until a week ago, we had the biggest problem of him wetting his pants. He pretty much started wetting his pants, once he started school. "School" is only for 2 hours every Friday. So it's not much of school and he loves it so I have been having a hard time thinking that school is the reason for wetting of the pants, but everything kind of points to that as a major change. We tried everything, ignoring it, babying it, getting mad about it, punishing for it, making him help us clean it up...nothing worked. For Christmas last year, we were gifted Elf on the shelf. This year we broke out Elf on the shelf, which Troy names Thomas, and he hung around our house until Christmas eve when Santa came and took him back to the North Pole with him. Santa sent Troy (and Weston and Rylee) a video about what Thomas had reported to him each night. Santa told Troy that he needed to work better on making it to the potty in time. That floored Troy, he didn't realize Thomas was telling Santa that. We also made a big deal about turning 4. That turning 4 meant that he would be very big boy because he would get to go to school, have more responsibilities...that when your 4 you no longer pee your pants. I don't know if it was the 4 thing or Santa thing or 2 week break from School but he's hasn't had an accident since Christmas. Friday, he goes back to school, so I guess we'll know if it is school, if he starts having accidents again. Fingers crossed that phase it behind us. He's an exceptionally little boy. He loves numbers (he gets that from me!) and likes to do circumstancial math...like there are 4 people and 4 cookies, how many cookies does each person get...1! He loves that kind of stuff. He loves being 4. A month ago he told me that he didn't want to be 4, he wanted to be 3 forever. 4 warmed up on him and now he's an adorable 4 year old.

Me and Kristopher have been pulling our hair out with 3 kids, but aren't balled yet! We don't get to spend very much time with each other so when we do, it's extra special. Now that the holidays are over, it's back to seeing each other on pretty much only Sundays. There are many nights, like tonight, when I need to keep myself busy otherwise the loneliness creeps in and I miss him terribly. I talk to adults all day and kids all night, but most days I long to have a conversation that doesn't involve money and interest rates or juice boxes and poop. I long for a joke or laugh or a snuggle with someone who is bigger than me.

Here are a few pictures of life at our house in the last few months (sorry most of them are from my phone...)

Kris and I with our godson, Gabriel

Weston's first hair cut!


Halloween 2011

Dr. Troy Klauer, MD

Rylee Klauer, RN

Patient Weston R Klauer DOB 8/2/2010

Christmas Eve, in PJs ready for the lights at Murphy Park

Happy 4th Birthday!

Until next time...
Mary

HOLY MOLY! October?

2011-10-10T22:24:00.000-05:00

Holy Moly, ya'll, where the heck did September go? I know I constantly say this but time is really getting away from me. We have been doing great. Last Friday, Troy had his first day of school. Can you believe it...school? Neither can I. We walked him into his classroom and he hugged his cousin, Isabelle, and off they went. Kris was practically pulling me out of the room. I, very close, but didn't cry. I can't believe his already going off to school. This Friday is show and tell. He told Dad that he wanted to take George his stuffed monkey. He told me tonight that he wants to take Rylee as his show and tell. Rylee might just fit in his backpack too and boy would she love to go to school. She will start "school" in January or early February since she is turning 3. She will have her speech therapy at school. That's right...in January we will be down to 1 kind of therapy...speech. My dad, Grandpa Harley or to Troy "Grandpa with the bike", says that once Rylee gets her vowels and consonants all figured out, we are all in trouble. This girl talks and talks and talks, but we have no clue what she is actually saying to us. And you'll never, never, NEVER, find her without a book. She LOVES books. She even sleeps with them. Rylee has been in good health. The stinker is still being a picky little thing and is still weighing in at 19 lbs. She's not gaining anything, but the key is she's not losing any anymore. I was scared that earlier this summer we were going to need a feeding tube (we even made a rushed trip to AFCH for a possible emergency tube placement...scary stuff), now I am not convinced it's won't be brought up again but just not right now. I know Dr. C is pulling for NO feeding tube so as long as I have him on my side, we're doing good. Weston still isn't walking walking. Saturday night he decided to just take off and walk. It was quite awesome to see really but he only does that when he wants too. He walks around everything and will walk holding on as long he can to where he wants to go. Lately it hasn't been Rylee causing us the health issues, it's Weston. Poor little, for lack of a better word, turd. He is literally a crawling turd. He is full of #2 and gas. He has to go see Dr. Alison on Wednesday but he also gets to take a trip with Rylee to see Dr. Cathy, our GI doc, at AFCH. Dr. Alison said that the most likely cause of all this is an intolerance. All these GI issues with Weston started when we transitioned him from formula to whole milk. That kid loves his milk, it's going to be hard if Dr. Cathy says he can't have dairy anymore. He's experiencing a lot of discomfort with all of this. #2ing time is absolutely heart breaking. No baby should ever have to go through this and neither should their momma. Troy, Rylee and Weston had eye doctor visits (at the same time!) on the 1st (yes, a saturday..even better). Troy was being seen for a follow up of his turning eyes, Rylee for a follow up of her ROP and Weston because his eyes have started turning in like Troy's. Thank god my step mom Deb offered to come with and help out. She was a god send! There is no way I could've handled that on my own. Weston was particularly bothered with the dialation of his eyes. He was ticked by the end. Dr. Dailey didn't get a wonderful reading on him but none the less Weston does need glasses. He has the exact thing as Troy. His eyes turn in due to being far sighted. So for right now, Weston, will have glasses. Troy ended up leaving the appointment with a great big box of eye patches and instructions of wearing it everyday for 4 consecutive awake hours. Rylee has inherited my astigmatisms. Each eye has them. I think Dr. Dailey felt sorry for me at this point because we are going to hold off on glasses for her for 6 months. Her eyes were an indication of her chromosomal abnormality so it's no surprise really that her eyes aren't shaped right. Plus, I have them each eye also. It sucks. Contacts are doable most of the time but not always. I ordered Weston the best glasses that I thought would be the best to keep on him, we'll see. I am quite nervous. I guarantee that in 6 months, we will be ordering Rylee's glasses and another pair for Weston and Troy. (Troy's are in awful shape!). Other than the GI issues and the eye issues, our life is about as good as it gets. We are happy. I can honestly say this is probably the most relaxed I have felt in almost 3 years. Yesterday, we went up to UW Arboretum and my sister in law, Katrina, took photos of our family (see the right side for new photos!). They turned out amazing. It was fun and we had the most perfect tree! Enjoy!

Life as we know it...

2011-08-31T21:30:00.000-05:00

Been the usual crazy around here lately. School starts tomorrow, though having kids ages 1, 2 and 3...none of them are in school yet. Troy will go to St Rose's Little Lambs program. That starts at the end of the month. He's excited! We got him a Buzz Lightyear backpack and a bunch of school supplies.

Last weekend, all 3 of the kids had an overnight with Grandpa Harley and Grandma Deb. Kristopher and I went to a wedding reception in Prairie and before we left town, we stopped at Culver's to share a banana split for old times sake! We both slept like rocks that night. I don't think I moved for 9 straight hours! The kids had an amazing time too!

A couple weekends ago was a busy one for us. We had my niece Lily's birthday party on Friday night. On Saturday, I packed the kids up and took them to Lancaster for a family reunion for Kris's mom's family. Then I took them to the Grant County fair to see the farm animals and all the cool stuff. Troy desperately wanted to ride the rides but since I was the only adult with 3 kids, I told him they were scary and maybe next year he could ride them and then got him a sno-cone. Then Sunday, as a family, we went to Cassville and took my in-laws boat out on the river. That was fun! Definitely going to do that again! Next time, we're bringing a cooler full of snacks, sandwiches and drinks and a pail and shovel and stopping at a sandbar.

Weston had a bought of the flu. We think he may have had hand foot and mouth again. He would chew his food but spit it out, crying. So we assume that his throat hurt. Unfortunately, hand and foot is virus that just has to run its coarse. He's doing better now.

Tonight, I took the kids grocery shopping with me. Oh lord, that is an adventure in itself. But what made it worse was that as I was hooking the kids into their carseats at the babysitter, I noticed Troy's shorts were wet and he smelled very strongly of urine. He told me straight out that he had wet his pants and he was sorry so I told him no rides at the grocery store and he had sit in the cart the entire time. He fussed about it a little but that was it. I got the kids a popcorn chicken cup to eat as we were going through the store because we would get home when we usually sat down to eat. This would at least tie them over until I had something made. I think Troy ate 80% of the chicken. I filled cups before we headed home. Troy had 2 melt downs in the parking lot over his head hurting and was hysterically crying over something that I still not sure what it was. About halfway home, he started crying in the backseat clutching his belly and started dry heaving. I pulled over and calmed him down. By the time we got home, he was asleep. It's 6:30 at this point. I opened the house and hopped in the car to get the kids out so they could start trickling inside while I carried in groceries. Troy's lips were completely white. I took him out and we went inside because he was really shaky. He started crying about just wanting to go to his bed so I put him in bed, grabbed a bucket and told him to use that if he was going to throw up. I went out to get the other kids and when I got back inside, he was in his room sobbing. He threw up on his pillow, in the bucket, on his arm and on his bed. He told me, he ate too much chicken. It's now 2 hours later, he's been asleep for well over an hour (in Rylee's bed because his torn apart and in the washer!) It's hot in the house and he's got the blankets pulled up to his chin. Poor kid!

Rylee has been doing pretty good. She lost a bunch of weight and now has gained it back. The GI doc referred us to a food psychologist. I don't know what we will get out of it, probably nothing, since Rylee can't tell us why she is a picky eater at times. I am completely convinced that this is a behavior thing. All kids at 2 or 3 go through this. Rylee is no different in that part but she is in the aspect that she doesn't have any extra baby fat just laying around like other kids. She's doing well though. Quite the jibber jabber. And she loves to sing. I hope she as musically inclined as her dad!

Speaking of Dad, it's his birthday tomorrow. He's going to be 26. Happy Birthday daddy!

My migraines are back! I have been having more stress lately. I trying to work through it. My major stress is my mom. I can control this and turn it into something positive rather than having my brain beat out through my toenails! I have come a long way in the last month with my feelings towards my mom. She's never been the best mom, never mother of the year or anything. She's had moments where I can say that I am glad that she was there with me. Then there are moments, when she is completely out of sync with the real world. Weston's 1st birthday party was planned, invites were sent out 2 weeks ahead of time. Sawyer's 1st birthday party was the weekend before Weston's and mom made the 3 hour trek up to it. She made the 45 minute trek 3 weeks later down to Lily's 1st birthday party, which is 10 minutes from where we live. 2 hours before Weston's party, mom called me to tell me that they "won't be able to make. They have people to meet." 2 hours before the party, when I am running around like crazy putting everything together to take up to the park shelter and she dropped this on me. I just hung up on her. That or I would have said something childish and mean and would've regretted it later. OK, fine she didn't come. His actual birthday comes a few days later, she doesn't even call to acknowledge it. A week after his actual birthday, she stomps into my job, throws a gift on my desk and stomps out. She never said a cotton pickin' word to me. Fine, whatever, be a child, I'll be the adult! What really got to me, was when I pulled into Craig and Jen's driveway a week and half later, and she was there. She went to Lily's 1st birthday party, which she should've, she's her grandma. They even let off fireworks. Not once, did she acknowledge me or my kids until Rylee walked up to her. I did take Rylee away from her because she was drinking and on a counter height chair and I didn't want anything to happen to her $1,000,000 head! It's not fair to come to 2 of the birthdays and leave 1 out. It breaks my heart to think that his own grandma didn't come to his first birthday. I am so glad that he is 1 and didn't even realize she wasn't there. I will never ever let her hurt one of my kids, ever! She has let me down more in my life than been there for me. I think the birthday party thing was the last straw of many. The last chance of many. Troy, Rylee and Weston have 2 set of grandparents that love them dearly, that they love fiercely. Unfortunately, my mom is no longer welcome to share these joyful times and those not so joyful times. I have made that decision. It's completely her loss. I have 3 amazing kids, that I will raise with as much positivity and goodness as I can. I am so grateful that I have 2 awesomely wonderful sisters and an amazing mother-in-law and step-mom that I look up to, that I look to for guidance. I hope she lives a great life. I hope one day she'll straighten up, get rid of the booze and whatever else and seek a relationship with me and my family!

Pictures!

2011-08-14T20:50:00.000-05:00

Daddy found the lost camera cord. It was, of all places, in the diaper bag. I guess it helps to clean that bugger out sometimes!

We had the meeting with Rylee's therapists on the 5th. It went awesome! Couldn't have asked for a better meeting. Currently, OT and PT each come once a month and Speech comes twice a month. NOW, OT will visit once in November and once in January to do her final evaluation. PT will come once in September, once in November and once in January to also do her final evaluation. Speech will continue to come twice a month until the end of January. January is when Rylee will turn 3 and is no longer eligible for the program. It's bittersweet really. We are going to definitely miss these ladies. They have played a huge huge role in our lives for the last 2 years. They are a big reason Rylee is doing so well now. Rylee is doing great!

Her new goals are:
PT: *Kick a ball *Catch a ball * Jump using both legs
OT *Do a 12 piece small knob puzzle *Draw 1 complete circle *Properly use scissors
Speech: *Identify objects by name *Use 2 words phrases *Able to answer WH questions

These are attainable goals. They are definitely things that we can incorporate into our everyday lives. After January 29, 12 Rylee will start going to school to receive her Speech therapy. As of right now, that looks to be it for future therapy. She will of course need to keep building her strength physically but we have big hopes in taking her to gymnastics to help with that. We also found out that she will most definitely be placed in school with her peers. That to me is huge! I never in my wildest dreams imagined that she would be with kids her same age. As long as she is prospering and evolving, that is where our goal to keep her would be but we don't have a problem holding her back to Weston's class if she needs it.

Rylee has also taken an adversion to solid foods. This is probably just a behavioral things. A normal 2 year thing but Rylee isn't the normal 2 year old. She doesn't have the normal 2 year old reserve of baby fat. SO, we're really not sure what to do now. She isn't eating and when she does, it's not much. I am just sick over it. She is literally withering right away from us. Her main focus is on her milk or liquids and that is quite a pity since there is no caloric intake in those. I guess maybe someone will call me tomorrow as a follow up from Friday? I am really not sure. FYI, She was 18 lbs on Friday, down 1 lb, 6 oz from July 18th.

Weston's actual birthday was rather uneventful. We had cake and sang him happy birthday. When daddy got home from work, he put the new 2 foot tall car toy thingy together and I'm pretty sure all 3 kids were glued to it the entire following day.

This weekend, me and the kids hung around home on Saturday while Kristopher worked. Once Daddy got home, Weston and I climbed in the van and headed to the New Glarus area for 1st birthday party #3 (we have 1 more this week and 1 next month). I had a great time visiting with my friends, Annie, Carolyn, Dana and Aaron while Weston played with his buddies, Jackson and Isaac C. He was exhaustedly asleep before we got out of the driveway to head home.

Today has been a "TLC the house" day. Daddy worked on cleaning the garage while I worked on laundry, dishes, cooking and getting ready for the start of another week. This kids were in and out all day, dragging in the flies with them.

I think now I am going to curl up with my husband, who I haven't seen to much of lately, and watch The Glee Project.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Toodaloo ya'll!

Updates!

2011-08-01T20:54:00.000-05:00

I have honestly tried to sit down and write like a dozen posts but have never finished any of them. We're all doing well!

Kristopher is back to working overtime on Saturdays. The paychecks at the end of the week are nice but we miss him more than he probably knows.

I am working hard but at times feel like I am hardly working, if that makes sense. I just never see an end to the pile. My fight with migraines continues except not as often. Stress induces them big time! I keep telling myself that I need to be doing something differently to reduce all the stress but haven't had much luck. It seems that if I detour from our daily routine, I am socked with one. This past weekend was hard but I made it through!

Troy is at the age of total meltdowns and total highs and there is no inbetween, just those. He be extremely happy one minute and the next he's crying about something. He's a great kid once you see beyond that. His vocabulary is outstanding! He's been potty trained for quite a while now and what a blessing that is. We're hoping to have him start school this fall. It's a program for 3 year olds at St. Rose called Little Lambs. I had them add him to the list last year just not quite sure when he will start. He's much great big helper. He's also has a great big sassy mouth at times. His famous line tonight was, "Please mom, give me another chance..." That was chance number 126,436,212. LOL! Troy is a good 36 inches and 34 lbs. He's tall and lean and quite mighty.

Rylee is probably doing the best out of all of us for once! She's walking and talking and has been seizure free for almost a month and a half. She is great with her manners. She points out body parts and sings. She still has a version of her own language but we can pick up English words at times. She still has to point at what she wants a lot of the time and that frustrates her that most of the time we have absolutely no idea what she is trying to tell us. She is sensitive and it's easy to hurt her feelings. She schmoozes her way into what she wants. That seems to be the way it works most of the time. She is 18 lbs, 6 oz and 29.5 inches. She wears size 12 month clothes, only for the length, and size 2 shoes. She is currently in a size 3 diaper. She is small and disgustingly thin but just seems to have hit a snag in the weight gain. (The only ones gaining any weight from this high calorie diet are Kristopher and I and we don't need it!) She has an infectious laugh and copies everything that everyone says or does. Troy is her best friend and if she wants his attention, she just hollers his name until he answers her. Weston is her baby and she has taken to calling him "bubba" or "buddy" (we can't really figure out which one it is, it could quite possibly be she calls him both of those) and shakes her finger and says "no, no, no" if he is up to no good! Her therapists are extremely happy with her progress. She has met all her goals for PT and OT. We are having the big meeting with the 3 therapists and program coordinator to re-assess her goals, give her new goals and talk about school this friday. Once she turns 3 she is no longer eligible for their program anymore. SO, she has to go to school to receive therapy. I can't believe in 6 months she'll be in "school".

Weston is growing like a crazy weed. He's doing great. He's learned the art of throwing temper tantrums. He's rather good at it if I do say so myself. He will turn 1 tomorrow. I can't believe it. The year has flown right on by. I find myself sometimes thinking that I hardly spent any time with him before he went to bed. I've worked hard to try and change that.

This past weekend we had his first birthday party. It went well. I was thrown for a loop 2 hours before the party started, which upset me miserably and tossed me into a migraine that I had to force myself through. I am lucky that I had Kristopher to run home to pick up the things that I forgot about. I put on my smile and by the end of the night was extremely exhausted. We had our nephews, Isaac and Noah stay over for a sleep over after the party. Noah so graciously woke everyone in the house at 4:45 on Sunday so we started our day then and didn't end it until 11 that night. We all slept pretty good last night.

I have lots of pictures to upload and someday we will find the camera cord to upload them from the camera. Right now I am sorry, but I don't have any. SOON, I PROMISE!

Handicapable!

2011-06-10T22:40:00.001-05:00

Over at Kelly's Korner, she's having a Show Us Your Life. This week is Special Needs Families. I think it's kind of neat. I believe that sometime "Special needs" is socially viewed as a negative thing. I personally have never thought that way, in my life. In fact until High school, I always thought I would be a special needs teacher. Even in high school, I volunteered at Badger Camp.

For those coming over from Kelly's Korner, let me introduce you to the most wonderful 2 year old!

She was born at 30 weeks with obvious facial deformities. She has a Chromosomal 6 deletion q25.1-q25.2. It's an extremely small deletion but one that has filled out world with many uncertainties. Rylee has met all of her milestones, just at her own pace. She rolled at 11 months, sat at 15 months, crawled at 19 months, walked at 27 months. Cognitively, she is able to hold and use a pencil or crayon, use eating utensils, play with most toys, turn pages in a book, clap, wave and blow kisses. From a speech stand point, she can't speak much. She will mimic more than anything and she can sign a few words. She becomes frustrated and agitated easily when she is trying to communicate with us because we simply can not understand what she is trying to convey to us. She is very far behind the growth curve. She is currently 18 pounds, 6 oz and 29 inches long. Her health is relatively well right now. She suffers from Hydrocephalus so she has VP shunt to help drain her excess CSF, Chronic Kidney, lung and heart diseases, Heart murmur, ROP, Failure to thrive, hypotonia, possible growth hormone deficiency, sleep apnea, global developmental delays and new to her long list of medical imperfections are Seizures.

Rylee is not perfect to the average person. She has lots of medical issues, continuous physical, occupational and speech therapies and a never ending list of doctors visits. But to me, she is just who she was meant to be. She's special! It breaks my heart that nurses, blood pressure cuffs, iv's and those metal hospital cribs are everyday things to her. There are many many times that I get frustrated and overwhelmed by all the information and schedules but I wouldn't change it for a second. I love that little girl more than life itself. I just can't imagine her any other way. I read this poem a few months ago and it really touched my heart! If you are a parent of a special needs child, always remember that God sends children with special needs to special parents because he knows that they will be well cared for.

HEAVEN'S VERY SPECIAL CHILD
by Edna Massimilla
A meeting was held quite far from Earth
It was time again for another birth.
Said the Angels to the Lord above –
“This special child will need much love.
“Her progress may be very slow
“Accomplishment she may not show.
“And she'll require extra care
“From the folks she meets down there.
“She may not run or laugh or play
“Her thoughts may seem quite far away
“So many times she will be labeled
“'different,' 'helpless' and disabled.
“So, let's be careful where she's sent.
“We want her life to be content.
“Please, Lord, find the parents who
“Will do a special job for you.
“They will not realize right away
“The leading role they are asked to play.
“But with this child sent from above
“Comes stronger faith, and richer love.
“And soon they'll know the privilege given
“In caring for their gift from heaven.
“Their precious charge, so meek and mild
“Is heaven's very special child.”

Updates!

2011-06-10T21:50:00.000-05:00

Rylee had her adenoids out on Tuesday. She had a great GI visit in the morning. Don't have to go back for roughly 3 months provided that she is followed monthly with Dr. C! AMEN! Surgery was scheduled for 3 but didn't get going until 3:30. At 4, Dr Kille came in and said that there wasn't any fluid behind the drums in her ears so he didn't do the tubes but her adenoids were very large so he removed them as planned. At 4:30 I was taken back to recovery to see her. She was still very sleepy and snoring to the high heavens! She did eventually wake up, started tracking and recognized me and drank some juice. Shortly after she sat up and drank some juice, the Rylee we love so much left her eyes and she started just staring. I, as I have seen her do this a few times before, was all over that. The nurse also got right up to her and seen it too, though he would still say he wasn't sure she had a seizure (UMM, yes she did!) A half an hour later, it happened again. Then an hour after that, it happened again. She had a flat lining moment that was a lot of scary. She slept the night away. (Seizures tend to wipe her off the face of the earth!) We were released at 11 the next day. She's been relatively fine. Super runny nose and snoring but that takes time for the swelling.

My step brother Rob had his surgery. It was a long one! He was in surgery for 12 and half hours, away from his mom and family for much more than that. He has an incision from his next to the base of his back. He woke from surgery Tuesday night with limited feeling and movement in his right arm/hand. As of Thursday night, he was able to open a milk carton with the use of both hands. Hopefully this is just swelling and he will regain all use of the arm and hand. He will go back into surgery in 7 to 10 days, depending on his arm and possible pressure sore on his hip from surgery! Pray for him to get this next phase of surgery over with and starts his way towards recovery.

That's all I got!

This week

2011-06-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

Rylee is "going under" again!! Tuesday she is having her adenoids removed and possibly having some tubes placed. It's minor and we've been through this exact procedure with Troy. This time, it's so much more risky because of Rylee's medical imperfections. She had a visit with Dr. C who practically clicked his heals that she was having this done. Seriously, he walked in the room and started fist pumping! **Random tidbit of info that I find completely odd, Dr. C's on Facebook! No joke! My coworker told me this. I just find it strange. It would be much much more strange if my dad got into Facebook. Now that's just funny!** He "cleared" her for surgery. Migraine wise for me: I've been having more and more migraines that have dramatically increased in intensity, especially last week. He prescribed me some meds to take daily at bedtime (which are still sitting at the pharmacy) and gave me a sample of some meds to which he said "if they make you feel like shit, quit taking them." **My children's doctor has a nickname for me and cusses when he's talking about my medication, are we FB friend worthy, can't decide!** I also have a lump on my neck. It's a swollen lymph node. Since my paternal grandmother died of lymphoma, it has me concerned. As long as it goes away, I should be fine! Back to Tuesday, these doctors, I swear, must not have children of their own! Rylee isn't scheduled for surgery until 2:30 PM! WTF! She can't eat or have milk after midnight and she's not going to understand why I won't feed her. THEN, take her freaking adenoids out so she feels so rotten that she wont want to eat when she finally can. 1 day without food and she'll be blown away by 1 mph wind. She doesn't have the extra weight to go without food for half of a day. And its not like she'll get a ton of calories in jello or popsicles. I guess I'll have to bring her some PediaSure (she hates the hospital's Pediasure, it's the feeding tube stuff and must taste awful!) For some reason, I am completely nervous about this surgery. No clue why, it is not like the shunt revisions or anything but pretty standard. She is doing the outpatient short stay so she's spending the night. I think that is why they're not doing surgery until 2:30 because they want enough time to discharge her in the morning. Outpatient short stay pretty much means a stay that is 23 hours or less. I have to be home by 3 on Wednesday to see my handsome boys so they better not keep us too long. Pray for her, anesthesia is always a tricky thing with her, pray for the team working on her, pray the I have this uneasiness calmed. Tuesday is also the day that my step brother Rob is going into his first of 3 surgeries to repair his back. Rylee's surgery will be 30 to 45 minutes. Rob's will be 12 hours! This is an extremely risky surgery since there are nerves everywhere and crazy stuff going on in there. He will have to lay completely still for the week following and then back into surgery again. He'll be in a body cast. This surgery, I believe, will be done through his back and the next one through his front/stomach and pelvic area. There will be 3 of the best doctors in the world working on him. He's at Mayo, the best hospital! Please pray for Rob's surgery, pray for those doctors and team that they steady the entire 12 hours and pray for Rob the following week because he's going to need them.

Last week, my migraines picked up in frequency and intensity right along with my stress level. Thursday my stress level peaked. I literally felt it at one point in the day. Last week was bad! Tuesday ended badly at work. I made a couple of errors at work that cost my coworker to stay at work 40 minutes late at work. In the end, I fixed it, all the money, down the penny, was accounted for. I seen it like spilled milk, you're out the milk, she was out her 40 minutes. Mistakes happen right? I felt so awful, she was clearly upset and it was my fault she was there the extra 40 minutes. I went home Tuesday and never in my wildest dreams did I predict what would happen Wednesday. HOLY SHIT! I wasn't picked on too bad when I was a kid, nothing that was life changing or anything, so when all these kids starting to commit suicide because of bullying I never understood, it always gets better right?! I now understand how bad it hurts! Not to the extreme of those kids but it sure doesn't feel good. I have never been bad mouthed so bad in my life, at least what I know of anyway. And it wasn't just that one co worker, that's what floored me. Thursday, I got papers tossed around me, I got doors slammed around me, I still got the silent treatment. Friday was my 5 year anniversary and I spent those precious 10 minutes I got with my husband the entire day, whining how bad I didn't want to go to work. There are only 2 other people in my life that have been able to make this terrible and above it all, I still love them. I seen it as she was out 40 minutes, she practically tried to get me fired. A select few of my coworkers treated me like complete garbage. I care about every single one of my coworkers and seen them as friends. I spent my lunch hour with my sister on Friday, practically bawling in her office. I didn't deserve that. No one's time is more precious than mine and mine is no more precious than anyone else's. What followed those 40 minutes has forever changed me. Complete life lesson. Those 40 minutes have now turned into 3 days of hell! Kris and I had a big long chat Saturday night about this. I don't have the best backbone, I despise confrontation, and I wear my emotions on my shelve. I made a vow to Kris that I will never let anyone make me feel so rotten. I am going to try till it kills me to let those hurtful things roll. I will pool that frustration and take it out in a healthy way elsewhere. I will keep my emotions to myself. I will no longer allow myself to cry where I am vulnerable. That's my vow and I hate that I may come off as heartless and emotionless and lonely, but to protect myself and my those I hold dearest to me, that's what's going to happen. The BSing at work is completely out of control and I will no longer be participating (which is how it should be). I will give 110% effort at work, but when I walk out of those doors, it stays there. Just like when I step foot in the parking lot at work my husband, darling kids and family and friends stay tucked in my heart until I drive away from there at the end of the day. That is my vow and I am going to focus way too much energy in that! I am still going to care about my coworkers, I'll just let them know it after work! Talk of the happenings at Clare Bank ends NOW!

Now, I have to hit the hay and prepare myself for surgery on Tuesday.

Rob

2011-05-23T23:29:00.000-05:00

So I know that no one probably reads this blog anymore because let's face it, I am too dang busy! I promise that I will TRY to write more often! So life around here the last 2 and half years, hasn't been very good. It's been a lot to handle and I think that we have done the best we can with what we've had thrown at us. And sometimes, I literally feel like I have been thrown under a bus. We planned on things going smoothly with Rylee and staying away from AFCH for 6 months. That's been our goal. That was our plan. I was raised and lived by a plan. I heard repeatedly throughout my youth, "plans DON'T change!" The day I had Weston, I completely ignored my body SCREAMING at me that I was in labor and my coworker said, "I think you're in labor" to which I replied, it's to early, it's not the plan. The last thing she said to me before I left that day was "just tell God your plan." On the contrary of what my youth was centered around, plans DO change. I didn't plan for my life to be like it is today. Quite the opposite actually. I just celebrated my 10th year at Clare Bank. Very awesome. My boss is Deb. She has been my boss for the last 10 years. A few years ago she became my Dad's girlfriend. A year after they had been dating, I had to call my boss Deb and tell her that an employee at one of branch bank's stole. She didn't question me, she handled it. 4 days later, my dad's girlfriend Deb got a call at work (while she was being my boss Deb) that her son, Rob, fell. He feel off the roof of a 2 story home that the construction company he worked for was building. 4 days earlier, I got a huge life changing lesson! 4 days after that, Rob had a life change. His spinal cord was completely severed. He was paralyzed from the belly button down. On the days that I think my life sucks, I think about Rob. He took the news of life in a wheelchair like it was no big deal. Just a bump in the road! Now, jump forward to today. Last September, my dad's girlfriend Deb became my dad's wife Deb. That night I watch Deb sit on Rob's lap and dance. In July, it will be 3 years since his accident. A couple weeks ago, he reached his 100th consecutive day in the hospital. He's battling the mother of all pressure sores right now. He has been dealing with all of this since Thanksgiving, I believe! I am not writing this post for your sympathy towards him because I am sure he wouldn't want it. He's incredible by the way. Rob is one of those people you HAVE to meet in your life. Like write Rob Weigel down on your bucket list! He really is that AWESOME! He's at the St. Mary's hospital in Rochester, MN. Just down the street from the Mayo Clinic. It's the hospital that presidents go to. It's that awesome! My stepmom Deb being my boss Deb today, told me about a paralyzed man who had an electrical device implanted in his spine and now he can move his toes. And get this, his name is Rob. Coincidence? I think NOT! Maybe it's fate that it worked for that Rob now make it work for our Rob. He has such a long road ahead of him already. He's going to have surgery again, hopefully soon that will be broke up in 3 parts, it's that huge to remove the rods in his spine, fix what's going on in there and piece him back together. Rob may most likely never walk again but that doesn't mean that we stop praying.

May flowers

2011-05-15T17:27:00.000-05:00

We misplaced our cord to upload photos from our camera so I don't have any pics. We have some good ones that I love too. Soon I promise!

What happened to this month? What happened to April? We spent a lot of April at the hospital or doctors office. Hopefully that won't be the case for a while!

Here's some updates on what's been happening with us the last monthish?!

ME:
I have been having terrible migraines AGAIN!! It most like stress contributing to these. Dr. C says I can't blame them solely on stress but it definitely contributes. Migraines, in case you have never had the chance to experience one, is an out of body experience! They're that bad. So bad you wish yourself out of your body. I have had plenty of them before but they intensified lately and started playing with my vision and stomach. So I now have some meds and if those don't work than we'll take a different approach. They've been running my life lately so that is all that I have.

Kristopher:
He's even less exciting than I am. Other than a little case of the flu he's been just doing the same old same old. Which will stay that way as he didn't get the job at John Deere. He's pretty bummed about it but he also has a stable job now and John Deere has a reputation for hiring a bunch of people and then laying them off shortly after. So it just wasn't meant to be.

Weston aka "Weston Bobby":
He's growing into quite the little man. He worms his way into mischief. Literally, he does the worm. He can't quite get the crawling concept down and he completely content with the worm. He seen Dr. C on Thursday as well and got a perfect report. He is 18 pounds, 14 oz, 28.25 inches long, and has a 17" head circumference. His head circumference and weight are in the 25th percentile while his length is in the 50th percentile. He currently wears size 3 diapers and size 6 to 9 month clothes. He can't quite sit by himself yet. We are to push him into that and taking steps while we hold him up. He eats like a horse. He loves his milk but also likes his stage 3 baby foods and we have even given him table foods. He absolutely adores his big brother and big sister. Troy is about the only one who can get him to laugh out loud by doing some of the weirdest things. Overall, he's a happy, healthy 9 month old little boy.

Rylee:
She may have had a rough start in April but she's been doing fairly well since. She went almost a month without a seizure. Then Thursday morning she had one or so we think. We're not really sure, which is common. She had a sleep study on May 1st. The nurse that called me with the results said "Rylee failed with flying colors." We expected her to say that. Now she has to go to the ENT doctor for a possible tonsillectomy with adenoids. Then either after that appointment or if surgery is needed, than after surgery, she will have to go back to Pulmonary. Dr. S said that he thought he tonsils looked fine. Dr. C thinks that removing her adenoids will be good since she is constantly congested and has a running nose. Either way I think that CPAP is inevitable. She will meet with the ENT doctor on May 24th at the children's hospital. I thought we were trying to not go there so much, apparently NOT yet. On the good side, she is walking a lot more lately. She is also talking more. Her new words are "Carmen", "Jalyn", "OY (Troy)" "JVKJEIOAJH Bobby (Weston Bobby)" "ME" "MOM" or "MA" and she will repeat whatever we say to her. She is becoming increasingly interested in potty things.

Troy:
He says some of the funniest things! He is constantly asking us "What does that word mean?" He always needs to figure out everything. He also ALWAYS disagrees and argues with us. If we tell him to do something his reply is always "UH HUH" which his little sister has started mocking. For example, today we were talking about eye color. We told him he has brown eyes and Rylee has blue eyes. He replied "UH HUH, I don't want brown eyes, I want blue eyes." Kris was naming off all the awesome people who have brown eyes "Dad has brown eyes, Weston has brown eyes, Grandma has brown eyes." Now for the rest of the day Troy has been talking about going to Grandma's house to see her brown eyes. I even told him, no we're not going to Grandma's today and he said "DON'T SAY THAT WORD MOM!" We found out how much we have to watch what we say. The other day in the car he said clear as day "What the hell is that robot doing?" Opps! Trying to break that one. After a stern scolding, he hasn't said it since. He wants to go to school and tells me repeatedly so. He is such a great little man!

Personal Vendetta? Voodoo? Cursed?

2011-04-18T23:07:00.000-05:00

I have to say that in the last week, those in the title of this post have crossed my mind a MILLION times. Needless to say the last week has been rough on us. More than rough and more than the last week, more the last 2 weeks. To make the ~~story~~ stories short, this has been the past 13 days....

Tuesday, April 5 - ER trip to UW for possible shunt malfunction and possible seizures that turned into an overnight stay for observation. Conclusion: Not much but high white blood cells.
Friday, April 8 - Rylee showed Dr. Connolly her sick side, didn't even give him a smile. I think it scared the dickens out of him. He kept saying, "I'm sorry, something is wrong but I don't know what."
Tuesday, April 12 - Rylee had a seizure at home.
Wednesday, April 13 - Rylee's neurosurgeon wanted to her in Madison, right away. So we packed up the car and rushed up there. We only made it to Mt. Horeb before the car DIED! It quit. NO JOKE! After a tow and a ride to the Children's hospital from my godsend, Aunt Lisa, we made it, almost 2 hours late! Oh well.
Friday, April 15 - After 2 days, 36 hours on a video EEG, we got the word we could go home. I washed Rylee's hair and while I was cleaning up the shower, she threw my cell phone in it and killed it. Kris and the boys, who had been bounced between Grandma and Grandpa Klauer and daddy, came to get us. Since Wednesday, Weston had been very irritable, crabby and had the start of a rash. Maybe he just missed his mommy right? NOPE!!
Saturday, April 16 - Daddy took a test at John Deere, hoping for a new job, great benefits and FIRST shift!! (PRAY FOR THIS!!) When daddy got home, I took Weston to Urgent Care. The doctor walked in and looked at Weston's face and said "WOW, I haven't seen this in a VERY LONG TIME! I think he might have measles." After a look in his mouth and not finding any Koplik's spot, he said it's a viral rash and double ear infection and sent us home with an antibiotic.
Monday, April 18 - Weston's rash changed in the way that it looked. The measles thing didn't sit well with me, so I took him to the clinic. Dr. C was out for the day, Dr. White was booked, all the women physicians are pregnant so we got newbie Dr. Tuthill. He looked at him, grabbed a mask and a masked Dr. White who said "Lots of viruses mimic the measles, but he is showing almost every sign of the actual measles. We have to treat with the Measles." So Grant County was called and Lafayette County Health Department has checked in with us twice.

I'll be honest, I have had a few pity parties but not to often. I have before asked why all of this happens to my child or to me. But seriously, the 6 days have been loaded of bad luck or whatever you want to call this. And I find myself asking, WHY US? Why does Rylee have to have some many things stacked against and now seizures too...WHY? Why does Weston, a baby, have to have Measles....WHY? Why does Troy have to be bounced around all the time that he is constantly telling me he misses me and never wants to leave home anymore...WHY? Why do Kris and I have to sit back and watch our children go through test after test and shed tear after tear...WHY?

I know life is not fair but this is just NOT fair for any of us. I don't understand what is going on here. I don't know what we ever did to deserve this stuff that has been thrown at us. Until today, I have handled all of this lately. With as much ease as I could. I haven't shed a tear...Until today. Today, I cried my whole way home. Alone in the car, I cried. I cried for my kids and husband. I cried about our life because we just can't catch a break. I feel as though I've reached the top of what I am capable of handling but I know through all of this that it could be a lot worse. And for that, I am lucky. I am lucky to have a great husband and father of my children. And I am really lucky to have my children. I am lucky to have Rylee today. I am lucky to have Troy to put humor into our day. I am lucky to get those looks from Weston like he absolutely adores me. I may have a whole heck of alot of bad luck but I still my family and for that I am grateful.

Rylee's expensive head

2011-04-06T08:34:00.000-05:00

Rylee's $500k head isn't quite sure if wants that shunt in there or not. Her head circumference increased a centimeter in 12 days. No alarms went off because she wasn't showing any signs of a malfunctioning shunt but typical Rylee doesn't show signs until its really bad. Monday night I noticed her holding her head and rubbing her shunt. Then noticed her staring off into space, sometimes her mouth was making a chewing motion. So I called the UW Neurosurgery and spoke with a nurse who said to go to the ER. My in-laws took the boys for us and my sister joined me on the trip to Madison. Once we got to the ER, Rylee was schmoozing with the doctors and nurses. So we pretty much thought that we had wasted a trip up until they got the MRI quick brain scan results which showed her ventricles were slightly enlarged. They admitted her for overnight observation. She's been fine the entire time we have been up here other than holding and rubbing her head a few times. Right now, Kris and Rylee are lounging in a recliner watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and I am on the couch writing to all you fine people. We're hoping and praying that everything is peachy keen, no seizures and no shunt revision and we can go home soon. The neuro residents came in about 2 hours ago and we haven't heard anything since so I have no idea what is going on.

We're definitely ready to get out this place. I haven't ate in nearly 24 hours and Rylee hasn't ate since the animal crackers and applesauce I feed her for dinner last night at 10 pm (because she has been NPO since midnight). We're all ready to break out and go eat. Please pray that these doctors come visit us soon and get us out of here!

Prayers

2011-03-16T00:10:00.000-05:00

I am asking you all to say a few prayers.

Please pray for my step brother tomorrow and in the weeks to come. This poor guy was in a hospital for 3 weeks then came down to Grant County to spend 5 or 6 weeks in a nursing home. He's going crazy. Here's the story, he is a paraplegic and has a back that is broken more than it was originally from his accident. Between the rods and his broken back, he has developed pressure sores. He needs to have the rods removed and his back fixed but he can't with the pressure sores. It's a double edged sword because he can't have the surgery with those pressure sores. So tomorrow, he will leave Grant County and head back up to Mayo Clinic in Rochester to have a surgery to help that pressure sore, that just can't heal fast enough, heal. After the surgery, he has to stay on his stomach. He's a very active person so this is difficult for him. This accident that happened almost 3 years ago couldn't have happened to a stronger willed person and it's too bad that he has to deal with this set back. He's having surgery tomorrow for that pressure sore and hopefully in 6 weeks or so, that'll be healed then he can have his back surgery and then 3 to 6 weeks after that he can go back to living his normal life.

The second prayer I have for you is a little girl named Lucy. 3 weeks ago, her mom took her to the doctor for she thought was a cold and dehydration. The next day, she went into surgery to have 3 brain tumors and a large tumor on her spine removed or shaven down. She developed Hydrocephalus after the surgery and then contracted meningitis and had to have surgery a few days ago to drain the spinal fluid off her spine. She went from 38 pounds to 26 or so. She celebrated her 5th birthday in the hospital fighting for her life and sick as a dog. Today, she was moved to St. Jude's Children Hospital, leaking spinal fluid and all (which could send her back to the other hospital) to start her chemo treatment. Her mom is having a hard time and is trying hard to accept this. This is a beautiful little girl with big bright blue eyes but now her eyes look empty. It's sad. It's so sad. Her story just got to me, so please pray that the cancer hasn't grown, that her spinal fluid is clear, that her body heals and quite leaking CSF and that this lethal dose of chemo cures this cancer.

I usually think it's ridiculous when people ask for prayers for themselves but I am going to break my pet peeve for a couple tiny requests. PLEASE pray that God grants me some peace with this MRI on Friday. I am so nerves. I am going alone as Kris has to work. Kris's parents are taking the boys for the night in case we have to stay. I am going to go crazy the entire 3 hours the MRI takes. I am not nerves about the MRI itself, I am nerves about the anesthesia part. Please pray that everything goes smoothly.

Also, I had an ingrown toe nail and cut my toenail back. Then I bumped that toe. NOW, it's red and purple and hurts something terrible. And, I have a blister type sore that goes way under my toes. UGH! Please pray that this magically heals itself in the next 12 hours! I dont have time for this mess. Plus I am so tied. This time change has me all out of whack!

So I will send with my favorite prayer. Keep praying everyone. The power of pray is a crazy miracle!

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Mary

Best Day of my life

2011-03-07T23:02:00.000-06:00

Getting married to the love of my life was one of the best days of my life, when I became a mommy all 3 times were a few of the best days of my life, Rylee's 2nd day of life was one of the best days of my life, today one of our dreams for Rylee came true. Rylee took her first steps by herself tonight. By bedtime a mere 2 hours later, she was walking all over. WALKING! Absolutely amazing. My micropreemie is a big girl now.
Poor Troy is going to go from doing what he wants, when he wants to having his little sister run after him and soon his little brother crawling after him. He'll be so annoyed! **The video was taken with my phone, sorry that it is fuzzy**

I was interest to see what Rylee was like this time last year. I found this:

That was March 17, 2010. Kinda awesome huh? Close to a year ago we thought we had witnessed a miracle. I was proud that day. I am proud today. After 25 1/2 months, she finally walked. I can't believe it! I am emailing the video off to her therapy coordinator to show her physical therapist, who doesn't come here to see here until next Thursday. I am so so so excited. And, poor Kristopher's phone snapped, crackled and died so until we get him a new one he's without, so he has no idea. Right now, no idea. I can't wait until he gets home. I guarantee that first thing tomorrow, he makes her walk for him. I look forward to it! Good night all!

Busy Days!

2011-02-24T21:08:00.000-06:00

Life at the Klauer household has been truckin' along. We've been in our rhythm. So here's an update of each of us...

Kristopher:
Pretty much the same old same old. He is recovering from Strep that I gave to him and then he gave back to me. At least we share well!

ME ME MEEEEEE...
There isn't really anything new about me. I had a birthday on the 19th. It was nice, except the strep throat part, and I enjoyed turning 26. It was easy. Kristopher and I took Rylee and Troy to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa Klauer. They had a great time and both were crashed within minutes of leaving. Kristopher, Weston and I went to the Melting Pot for what Kristopher calls "Linner" because it was 3:30 in the afternoon, too late for lunch, too early for dinner so Linner. Then we went to an Imax movie, which I have never experienced. We saw I am Number 4. Let me tell you on tidbit of info about me, I am not a scary movie person. I had seen a trailer for the movie but didnt think it would be "scary" but I was startled twice thoughout that movie. PG13 my big ol' hiney! I enjoyed the storyline of the movie but I think I will just read the book instead! Or watch the next movie, I am pretty sure will be a series of movies since there is a series of books, at home with all the lights on! haha!

Weston:
On Feb. 10 we took Wes to his 6 month well child checkup. He's in the 25% for height and weight and 50% for his head circumference. He looks like, and I say this because I absolutely love him, the marshmallow man! He's a little rolly polly but technically underweight! Dr. C says if he wakes at night and wants to eat, feed him, he's a growing boy!! He's a rolling fool. He's getting ready to sit. He can sit for a little while then falls over. He's not so keen on cereal or oatmeal and not much for baby food! He did however eat a small jar of bananas tonight. I love this little boy so much!

Troy:

On Feb 10, Troy also had his well child visit just his 3 year, no shots at that one. Dr. C said this is a shocker but he has been consistently 90% for his weight his entire life! He is at the 50% for his height. He's not fat by any means just a muscular little boy. He hefts his brother and sister around where ever he wants them to be, against the likings of mom and dad! We were concerned about his eyes. They seemed a little off. Dr. C also thought so so he suggested and recommended seeing an eye doctor for the possibility of glasses. So on Feb 17, he met Dr. Scott and we learned that he has misaligned eyes and is farsighted. So he has new spectacles. Since turning 3 almost 2 months ago, he has grown up before our eyes. Literally overnight, he was potty trained both night and day. Then on Tuesday when I put his glasses on him, I lost my baby. He says the funniest things and most serious things. Just tonight he was in the bathroom going potty and I went in to check on him, he looked at me and said "excuse me, close the door now mom, don't be looking at my boy parts!" He told me I guess. I don't think that we have to worry about him running around naked.

Rylee:
I saved her for last for a reason. Because she is the most difficult and has the largest update, I am sure. On Feb 10 she joined her brothers at Dr. C office for her 2 year well child check up. She was a sick little girl. Earlier in the day we had been at the doctor in Madison and she was fine. Then 3 hours later, she had a 102°F. Weird. Turns out she had a bad double ear infection so Dr. C prescribed her the famous Omnicef. 3 days later, as we getting ready for church we found the hives. As it turns out, Dr. C has switched churches and is now a member of the same one we belong to so we jumped him after church and he ordered her a new antibiotic. Worked like a charm. By the following Wednesday, you could barely see the hives and she "talked" to Dr. C for the first time and of course gave him her famous smile that melts his heart so. As for trips to Madison, there have been many. On Jan 19, Rylee had a repeat swallow study. Turns out she has some penetration when drinking from a sippy cup so no more sippy cup, only cups with straws and a limit of 5 swallows. And she needs to be taking smaller bites. On Jan 27, her and I met a urologist, Dr. Kryger, who wanted to do an ultrasound on her kidneys and potentially a MRI of her spine. She also had an echocardiogram that day and met the cardiology doctor, Dr. Hokenson, afterwards. Her heart still has a hole in it which apparently is relatively common and she has regurgitation. Dr. Hokenson said that on a broad spectrum of kids, he wouldn't need to see her again however, considering Rylee's medical history and lack of definitive diagnosis, he wants to see her at age 5. That's great! On Feb 10, we made the trek up to Madison in the morning before all the well child visits, to have the ultrasound of her kidneys done. Her kidneys are a high normal size for her age however, she is not a normal size for her age. Everything with her kidneys are fine. There is no reflux or anything which is great. Dr. Kryger ordered her to have a MRI of her spine and that will be March 18th. I am crazy nerves for this. She has to be put under for it and it will take 3 hours. CRAZY! She has a couple of appointments on March 1st. One with her GI doctor who called me on Feb 1st. She had seen Rylee's weight from the Jan 27 appts and was quite concerned. I am certain that on at this appointment we will be faced to make the decision of the feeding tube. Dr. Cathy thinks that it is time or at least that is what I gathered when I spoke to her Feb 1. On March 1 she also meets with a Pulmonary doctor, Dr. Sanders, at least that's who I think we are suppose to see Dr. C can't find that doctor and has been trying to get ahold of him. Dr. C, Kris and I spoke about Rylee's breathing when she is sleeping. She tends to retract and on average 3-5 times a night just quite breathing all together so we hear her constantly take a great big deep breath. So Dr. C wanted to talk to Dr. Sanders about this issue before we came up (the cardiac doctor referred us to Dr. Sanders) so he will be well aware of what he is up against when we get there and possibly start her on CPAP before this appointment. So far, I haven't heard anything from Dr. C so I guess we'll wait until the appointment on the 1st. March 1st may bring new tubes to Rylee. I am quite nerves about this appointment. Rather sick to my stomach, sit and cry nerves. I fear for her. I know her weight isn't going to be great, she hasn't been eating well and is definitely not sleeping very well. Sleeping has been quite the issue the last few nights. The last 3 nights, I think she has average about 18 waking times each night. It's been ridiculous. It also doesn't help that I have been having awful migraines and she has made me want to slam my head through a brick wall. Kris and I are at our wits end. Kristopher hasn't even slept in our bed for 2 nights because he has been sleeping out in the chair in the living room with her. Between her and Weston, we don't get much rest!

As you can tell, our lives are busy. We have a little man who keeps us entertained with his quirky little stories and statements, a baby boy that we are trying to push along to crawl and laugh and a Princess that we are pushing and praying will walk some day soon. I promise new picture soon!

Birthday party count down!

2011-01-10T00:50:00.000-06:00

Our nephew Noah turned 3 on Saturday and had a bowling birthday party. His party was at a bowling alley in Fitchburg so me, Kris, Troy and Weston made the trek. Rylee can not go into crowds due to those bad germs that everyone carries so she got to spend sometime with Grandpa Harley and Grandma Deb. This birthday party was Troy's first time bowling. He had a lot of fun. The hardest parts for him were watching Noah open all his Thomas the train gifts and leaving. Leaving somewhere is always hard for us. Troy never wants to leave, doesn't matter where we are. Apparently at the Klauer Christmas, Kristopher had to deal with a HUGE temper tantrum from Troy when it was time to leave. He was NOT happy to go, I guess. Anyway, Troy kept asking why it wasn't his birthday party, where was his birthday party....it's THIS Saturday. I am excited. We are going to have fun. We're going to have cake (Troy has requested cars on his cake), food and games. This party is for Troy and Rylee and Weston! Troy's 3rd birthday, Rylee's 2nd and Weston's Baptism. Weston's godparents are Kristopher's brother Nicholas and one of my best friends, Andrea. We decided to adopt a Marine unit in Nicholas' honor because Nick is a Marine and has spent time away from home. So we adopted a unit of 20 men who miss home. They want and need essentials and things to keep them entertained. We enlisted the help of our guests in bringing a thing or two to send to these guys. I am excited to see what we collect for them. I just got all the plates, silverware, napkins, streamers, etc. essentials for a party. Our party is a little different than most in that it will be equipped with antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer. We have to keep our babes healthy, which has been a struggle thus far. We are tired of sucking out boogie plugs and dealing with bloody noses. We started off the year by having 2 doctors appointments. In 2010, we drove over 7500 miles back and forth to the 109 doctor appointments. On average, the doctor appointments cost $130-$140 each, so we cost about $15000 for just doctor appointments which does not include the 3 shunt surgeries, 6 MRIs, 8 days in the PICU, 19 days in the NICU, ambulance ride, delivery of a baby! 2010 started off with at the time AWFUL news, I was pregnant for the 6th time in my life, 7 months later, we had Weston and I can't imagine life without those chubby legs and that gorgeous smile! My maternity leave was the busiest, worst time of my life. I never wish that on anyone. I am glad 2010 is over. Kris and I have been dealt some pretty shitty cards. I keep thinking that things can't get much worse and sometimes I am surprised when they do. It's the little things that drive me nuts like a shredded tire or stupid insurance crap. That is why in 2011, I am going to be a rock. I am going to be that do it all mom that I need to be and let things roll. My step brother Rob (who fell 2 stories to the ground while roofing in July 2008, leaving his spinal cord completely severed and now paralyzed from the waist down) has been having some issues lately. His mom has been worried about him (mainly because he lives 4 hours away and she's not right there to hold his hand and keep an eye on him) and sometimes I think that worrying gets to him a little. He's extremely strong willed person and he's so lucky to have that support system. I am trying to accept that I don't have that and I will admit, sometimes it bothers me, sometimes I long for that, sometimes I need to just get it all out. Don't get me wrong, I have a great family but I sometimes get the feeling that all I do is talk about Rylee's problems and appointments so that's why they never call anymore. In 2011, I am not going to constantly talk about Rylee's issues and I am going to try my hardest to let go of the longing for that support system that Rob has and I don't and I am going to do it all. I started this blog to keep my family and friends updated about Rylee after we brought her home. On January 29th, against many odds, she will be 2. I was told twice that she was in critical condition and might not make it through the night and I did it alone then. Today she was running her fingers through my hair, blowing in my face and laughing with me as we jumped around the room. Therefore, the blog posts, like they have been lately, will probably be few and far between. I have my best friend and rock, Kristopher. With him, I'll be fine. I will do it all, with a smile on my face and hopefully by the end of the year, my mommy of 3 body is fit and toned. By the end of the year, I will be physically, mentally, financially and emotionally healthier.

Happy New Years!

2011-01-01T18:58:00.002-06:00

I am taking a break from the Rose Bowl, however, due to the noises Kristopher is making, I am pretty sure it's still bad!

Kristopher and I have New Years Resolutions this year. We are get fit (like everyone else in America!), be better parents and love one another more. This may sound funny, but we want to run a marathon. Big goal! I think if we can run a 5k and live through it, we're doing good! I want to get fit. Lose a couple pounds and fine tone this ol' mommy of 3 body of mine. I want to be a better me. We got a christmas card during the holiday season from my aunt and uncle who wrote, "you're my guiding light". I am flattered by that. I often hear, you're super mom, you're a do it all mom. I do do it all but in 2011 I am going to do it all with a smile of my face and let those little things roll. (SIDENOTE: I just looked over at Rylee, who is all decked out in her Badger cheerleading outfit, who was standing up playing with a toy in the rocking chair! Scary and awesome at the same time! And by the way, purple Horned Toads, I mean Frogs, is a stupid mascot! Just sayin'!)

Christmas (GOGOGOGOGO, awww! Sorry, I can't help multitasking! I am a mom of 3, I can type and watch football at the same time right?!) was great. Santa Claus, for unknown reasons, came to our house. He dropped of a train set for Troy and a kitchen all decked out for Rylee. Troy got a bike and Rylee got a tricycle. They are spoiled. Troy was a turd. I kept telling him Santa Claus wasn't coming or he was coming back to pick up the toys, didn't faze Troy. He continued on and on. By Monday, I was glad I had to go back to work! What Santa Claus didn't take into consideration when picking out those toys was the mess all those little pieces make. And what a nuisance it is to constantly put a train back together again.

We're having Weston baptized on January 16th. Then a big party for him, Rylee's 2nd birthday and Troy's 3rd birthday. One BIG party! It should be fun!

Colds are heavily invading our home. Wes can't seem to shake his. Rylee has the yuckiest nose ever! The snow around here, up until Thursday, was absolutely unnecessary! Needless to say, we are ready for spring!! Extremely ready for spring. These kids need to run of their energy. Hopefully by spring, we have to 4 runners and a roller in this house.

(Oh my, the Badgers are down by 8 with 2:34 left in the game....I have got to go do something else!....oh oh oh...TOUCHDOWN! Oh I can't even handle this! 2 points away...holy moly)

3 years ago...

2010-12-28T21:49:00.000-06:00

my life changed forever! Troy Thomas Klauer entered this world. Happy 3rd Birthday Troy. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Oh, what to do...

2010-12-10T17:24:00.000-06:00

We took Rylee to her Growth Hormone testing. Her blood pressure dropped to 50s over 20s. That’s the lowest it got, which was low enough! It took about 4 hours. She was pretty much zonked through the entire thing. On Tuesday, after much badgering, I got the test results. She passed. This was a test that we desperately wanted her to fail. I thought, prayed rather, that this Growth Hormone deficiency was going to be it. It was going to be the diagnosis that we had been waiting for. But she passed meaning that’s not it. To say that I was bummed to highest level on Tuesday is an understatement. So it’s back to the drawing board. We had to take Wes to see Dr. Ashley on Wednesday and she pulled Dr. Connolly in to look into his ears. We discussed the results a little while he was in with us. He thinks that she may quite possibly have some form of dwarfism. It could possibly be the Chromosome deletion. It could be a lot of things. So we discuss this more at length on Thursday when we take Wes back again for his 4 month well child appointment. Diane Eastman, Rylee’s nurse practitioner from UIHC, called me yesterday. She desperately wants Rylee in to have her heart and kidneys looked at. I was trying to steer away from Iowa City because of the drive but I guess it’s not much longer than going to Madison from our house. Rylee’s innocent heart murmur may not be so innocent after all. Her enlarged kidneys could be the problem. I hope going down there we can figure out what is causing this “failure to thrive”. She is officially considered a “failure to thrive” child because her growth is less than 2 lbs and 2 inches of growth in 1 year. In the last 12 months, she has only gained 10 oz and grew 1 5/8 inches. I want to discuss the possibility of the Mayo Clinic with Dr. Connolly. I think it is time to quit messing around and just head up there. If he doesn’t think so, I do. And I am mom so I win! I am at my wits end really. I just don't know what to do anymore.

Runny noses is the race around our house. We can’t get Wes and Rylee’s to quit! Poor Wes had an ear infection in November and again in the beginning of this month. This poor child has been following in his big brother’s footsteps, through and through. He has also developed a wheezy cough that Amoxicillin didn’t kick, neither did Omnicef so he has Prednisone to his regimen. He is taking Omnicef, Prednisone and Albuterol by nebulizer everyday. Hopefully, when we see Dr. Connolly next week, this is all cleared up.

Last Sunday night, Kristopher took Troy to see a Canadian Pacific train come stop in Dubuque. It was all lit up in lights and they had performers and music. He had a blast. The only downsides were that it was late, 9:30 pm, and bitterly cold out. They stayed for about a half hour and then came home. He was so excited to tell me about it. He even talked about it with his babysitter for a couple of days. He knew all the colors of the lights. He’s growing up before our eyes! He says some of the funniest things and we have the most interesting conversations. He’s hugely into trains and dinosaurs.

This weekend is a big one for us. Tomorrow my baby brother graduates from college and is having a little open house at my dad’s afterwards. I am excited to cheer him on. I have to pick his girlfriend up at 1 and we will take our seats (yes, there is assigned seating!). Do you all remember the scrawny little guy? Now he is a bulky, muscular, tall guy. He’s no longer my “little” brother…he’s my little but BIG brother! Congrats Scotty!

Next Monday, we are off to the GI doctor and Thursday to see Dr. Connolly. Eventually we will go a week with out a doctor visit…I hope!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T20:23:00.000-06:00

Well, it official. My sisters, sister-in-law and I are NUTS. Down right crazy. We braved the crowds and went black friday shopping at WalMart's 12:01 am sale. I got a few things but my favorite is the bicycle for Troy for his birthday. I am so excited about that! I do have to say that people are down right crazy. Oh man. Erin decided that she would like something to eat and a quick McDonald's drive thru turned into a rediculous 30 minute wait. Then about half way home, we almost hit a herd of cows, literally by the hair on my chinny chin chin. I got to bed at 3:30 am and was up at 7, needless to say I am tired.

Thanksgiving is usually a low key holiday for us. This year, I made the whole dinner and all then later we went over to my dad's and ate some more! I made a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The sage and garlic turkey,sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and dinner rolls. We had pumpkin pie loaded with Cool Whip for dessert. It was fantastic. Rylee loved it. Troy broke out in hives from who knows what (a little benadryl and he was fixed). We went around the table and said what we were thankful for. Troy said "peanut butter sandwich", haha, it's been his favorite lately. This is a photo of my scrumptious turkey.

It's been a while since I posted about what has been happening in our family. Rylee's big testing is coming up, Tues Nov 30th. They are testing her for Growth Hormone Deficiency. We will then discuss why this is, what the treatment is, who we see next...those kinds of questions. Then Dec 1st, I have been subpoenaed to court. First time I have ever been to court and I HAVE to be there. In August 2008, I became a Notary Public. I am bonded and all. In October 2009, I had a family come in and I notarized a will. Now, after a death, there is a controversy over that will and I am the main witness. That darn Notary. Since then I have been much more leery of what I am notarizing. I am nervous as all get out. I have to make it through Rylee's testing first and pray to the high heavens that nothing goes wrong at that appointment. That attorney does know that she has this big testing and there is always a possibility of something going wrong, especially with Rylee and her "damaged" organs.

Lately, I have been crafty. A while ago, when I started making Halloween costumes, I got fabric to make Christmas stockings for our family. I finally got them made. They are so darn cute. I spent $16.95 to make those. I already had the interfacing so I just had to buy the fabric. I still have to put our names on them but I think I am just going to get those iron on sheets and print them on. So for about $3.50 each, we each has personalized, custom stockings, can't beat that!

Troy and Kristopher's stockings

Rylee and my stockings

Weston's stocking

Last weekend, I decided to make an apron because I don't have one. It turned out so cute! I had so much material left over, that I decided to attempt to make Rylee a dress. It's a pillowcase dress and it's so cute. I just love it. She looks adorable in it though I didn't get any pictures of her wearing it. It cost me just under $10 for the 2 yards of material and I still have quite a bit left over. So for $10, I got an apron and an infant sized dress.

2 weeks ago, I spent my sunday at the sewing maching and made 1 panel for the kids bedroom window. I have 3 more to make for their room and 4 for ours. I couldn't stomach spending the $10 per yard for the fabric I wanted for the kids room. I wanted something colorful yet still go with the grayish, silvery paint we got to paint their room. I found those most adorable fabric for our room and there again I couldn't spend that much money just for curtains. The designer fabric was 30% off so I got them for about $7 per yard. So instead of getting the 10 yards that I needed (2.5 yards per window), I got 4 yards of the designer ($7/yard x 4 yards = $28) and 6 yards of muslin ($1.39/yard x6 yards = $8.34 for a total of $36.34 for 8 panels to cover 4 windows...not bad!). I had a picture in my head of how to would turn out. It looked awesome. Now that I have my pattern down from making the first one, I need to get crackin' on the other 7, ugh. And we need to get those rooms painted.

I also made curtains for my kitchen sink window and a valence for the dining room window to match. Cute right? I made both of those for about $7.

I also made a WI Badger wreath. The tulle cost me $6, the styrofoam wreath $3 and the "W" for $1 for a total of $10. I decided that I needed to make a wreath hanger to go with so for $7 I made one.

I also made this twined "K". The twine was $2 and the letter K was $1 for a total of $3.

I made these jars. I spent about $2 per jar, used the same roll of twine from the letter K above, $1 each for the finials, $1 each for the spinals and $.50 for each of round bases for a total of $13. (I still have to attach the bottoms to the jars but one of the jars are bubbled so I am trying to figure out how I am going to do that.) I got the rocks from the dollar store so $2 there.

I had so much fun but I think I am taking a break from crafting for a bit. I need to get our bedrooms painted and curtains made and hung. I am excited to see the finished project. It's on my too do BEFORE christmas. I got the ideas of the twined K, Apothecary jars and wreath hanger from Shanty2Chic. Right now they have not 1 but 2 giveaways that I am excited about. The first giveaway you'll see is for Gorilla glue. That stuff is amazing. They have some great epoxy glue. The other giveaway, I will extremely heartbroken if I don't win, is for a Silhouette Machine. Oh my goodness, I want one of those really really really bad. It would make my crafting so much easier. You probably ask, why the Silhouette versus a Cricut? Because, you get patterns and such online for $.99 I believe for the Silhouette versus the Cricut cartridges for $60+.

Here are a few more overdue photos. My little Weston is not so little anymore. He is battling a cold right now and just got over a nasty ear infection.

Our Journey with a Preemie Princess

2010-11-17T09:17:00.001-06:00

Last year, I wrote this post for Premature Awareness Month Bloggers Unite event on November 17, 2009. In the last year, we've been busy. We successfully made it through RSV, cold and flu season without any major illnesses. In February 2010, I found out that I was pregnant...again, due September 8, 2010. This pregnancy was a rough one. I had major morning sickness, achiness, Braxton Hicks since week 13...I was just miserable the entire time! In April 2010, Rylee started seeing a GI doctor and nutritionist monthly. We have tried many different diets and medications. So far, since February Rylee has gained 1 lb. In the end of July, Rylee started vomiting again. Her GI doctor and nutritionist decided that it would be best to have her head measured. I rushed her to the local clinic at closing time, had her head measured and sent off to the Children's Hospital in Madison. By 9 am the following morning, they had reviewed it and called. They wanted her there right away to have a brain scan done. The scan showed that her shunt had indeed quit working. She was scheduled for the surgery the following morning, July 30th. It went well and we were able to come home the 31st. On August 2nd, I went to work like any other Monday morning. I had contractions all day but chalked it up to those Braxton Hicks. I had a regular 34 week OB appointment at 3:30 pm. I got in the car and started to the clinic, which takes 35 minutes to get there, when those contractions started to hurt a little. I told the nurse when I got there and got this look like "you are not in labor!" I was doing a doctor rotation so a new doctor whom I had never seen before came in with her head in my file. She looked at me and said "oh my gosh, ok...how long have you been shaking?" She called an ambulance to take me to the hospital since I was no longer in any shape to drive and I was 3 cm and 90%. Those EMTs, both men, wheeled me out of the clinic on a stretcher through the OB waiting room. I probably scared the daylights out of those waiting expectant moms. I was 5 cm and completely effaced when I got to the hospital. Weston Robert was born 5 weeks, 3 days early. He started grunting with each breath and had some trouble catching on to eating. He spent 19 days in the NICU. 5 days after bringing Weston home, I noticed that an incision from Rylee's July surgery was broke open and there was a black something inside of it. The next day, I took her to see Dr. Alison who was extremely upset by this, got us an appointment at the children's hospital for the following morning and instructed us to go to the UW ER if if broke open again, bled or could see the black "thing". As of Monday, we found out that Rylee's shunt was exposed and she needed an entirely new shunt. Dr. Bragg (the new Neurosurgeon) tapped her shunt for infection and instructed us to be back in the morning for surgery. I was extremely nervous that morning. They took her back and it seemed like forever before we got an update. Dr. Bragg came in and said that she had just closed Rylee up and getting ready to clean her off, when the phone rang. It was the lab, saying that Rylee's culture from the shunt tapping the afternoon before had grown out for positive strep coag. So Dr. Bragg, went back into surgery to remove the shunt, place a PICC line, and place an EVD. Rylee was in the Pediatric ICU for 8 days before undergoing another surgery to put a new shunt in. Today, Rylee and Weston are healthy and happy. Weston has completely caught up with his age. Rylee is lagging about 12 months behind. They wear the same sized clothes and diapers. It's like having twins. The last 22 months have been hard. As a mother, my heart has broke many times watching my child go through test after test. Whenever I have a "down" day, I think about her toothy smile, infectious laugh and the mere fact, that truly against all odds, she is here with us. We don't know what her life expectancy is but she will have the best life we can give her.

Too many babies are born early. The cause of Rylee's prematurity is unknown. There are problems with her heart, lungs, kidneys, intestines, brain, feet, hands...could these have been prevented if she was a full term baby? We'll never know. Give a baby a chance, donate to the March of Dimes. Do it for Rylee!

I made a quick little video of Rylee's last 22 months. Enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Lots of STUFF

2010-11-09T10:40:00.000-06:00

Happy Tuesday everyone. It's not so happy for me. Sunday, I woke with a horrible sore throat and terrible head ache. I spent much of Sunday with a fever in bed, sleeping. I woke on Monday, without a fever or headache but still an awfully sore throat. As yesterday progressed, I became feverish, achy body, light headed...so I broke down and called the doctor. I have strep throat. Never have I had such pain in my life. Dr. Alison prescribed me some amoxicillan and wrote me a note to stay out of work today. I took my amoxicillian and went to bed. I woke 12 hours later covered in hives. Apparently I am allergic to amoxicillian. They're going to get me some different antibiotics and steroids for the hives. Glad I wasn't at work today. Right now, I don't have a fever just quite itchy and sore.

Next order of business is the month of November. November is Prematurity Awareness month. Do you remember my post about my little miracle last year? Click here to read it again. November 17th is Prematurity awareness day. I will blog that day with Bloggers Unite about not only Rylee but her little brother Weston too. 1 in 8 babies are born premature, support those babies on November 17th by blogging or donating to the March of Dimes or by simply wearing purple.

Moving on to the holidays. We recently celebrated Halloween. I am not really sure this constitutes as a holiday but boy did Troy have fun. We got all the kids dressed up in their costumes. We went to the assisted living facility that my grandma is at to visit with her. Then we ventured over to my dad's, my aunt and uncle's, and my dad's wife's parents (did you get that? They also are my bosses!). We got home in time for the trick or treating. Rylee, Weston and I stayed home to hand candy out while Kris and Troy went Trick or Treating. I watched from the door as he went to the first house, the lady on the corner. Aren't these the cutest pirates you've ever seen? I am so proud of their costumes. They weren't hard to make but I made them all by myself. They turned out better than I thought. Rylee had a pirate tutu. So cute!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This is the 3rd or 4th year that Kris and I have just done Thanksgiving as our little family. I love this. It's a day of deliciousness, cozy house, jammies, great food, family, football and BLACK FRIDAY ADS! I don't exactly have my menu planned out yet but we'll be having the usual turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie. I love cooking for my family and can't wait until their older. My sons will tell their wives, make that like my mom! HAHA! I have never been one to get up early and do the black friday events. The crowds bug me. But I think I am going to attend this year with my sister, sister-in-law...whoever is going before I work that day. I don't know what I will get if anything but we'll see. I am pretty I went like 5 years ago and didn't get anything, just helped out my sisters.

Speaking of Christmas shopping, had I be on the mend, Kristopher and I are going to go do some Christmas shopping this weekend. I am excited to spend some time with him. He's been wonderful to me, especially the last couple of days. My in-laws are wonderfully taking ALL the kids, so we can have some time away. Plus, Santa needs to get the stuff to our house without children seeing it. Here's a sneak peek into what Santa and Mrs. Klaus (we spell things with Ks around here, not Cs!) plan to pick up on their day out....

Smart Trike for Weston or Rylee, not quite sure which one yet

Train set for Troy - Santa and Mrs. Klaus plan to set this up so it's play ready Christmas morning

We may also be getting our hands on a play kitchen so a shopping cart and play food and dishes may be in order too.

Before Christmas we are in major need to purge purge purge some toys. They are overtaking our home and we can't possible add anymore unless we get rid of some!

It's not going to be a very expensive Christmas but it's going to be a great one. We have much to be thankful of like always. Don't forget about Prematurity Awareness day on November 17th, wear something purple.

Freakin' Awesome!

2010-10-30T16:22:00.000-05:00

Like I said in my last post, we have started cloth diapering Weston and Rylee. My sister in law told me about the system that they use. I looked into it and did a TON of research and we decided to use the same system called Best Bottom Diapers. It's a one size diaper that has inserts that snap inside. Super easy! And perfect for our busy busy family. We put them in disposable for the couple hours they are at daycare everyday but when they are home, they're clothed. We got them from a store in Middleton called Nicki's Diapers. I mean this store is literally stocked FULL of cloth diapers, as well as other baby things. It's a neat store tucked in a neat little strip mall area. We decided primarily to start cloth diapering because of how sensitive their skin is. Then after researching and seeing the cost, how can we afford not too? I spent a little over $200 to get us started. That's 2 to 3 months worth of disposable diapers. So in 3 months, they have completely paid for themselves. We have been doing this for just about a month and love it. Yes it is a little more work but not a ton. We have an extra load of laundry each day but with a family of 5, we have laundry every day anyway. This system works wonders for our busy household. Not to mention, reduces our carbon footprint!We got the following diaper covers for them (we got 2 of the white):

Vanilla

Blue Moon

Chunky Monkey

Cookies N Cream

Key Lime Pie

Mint Chocolate Chip

Strawberry Shortcake

Now over at Nicki's Diapers Blog, they are giving away a brand NEW pattern and the winner gets to choose the color they get...AND I WANT ONE! Isn't this so cute?

Onto other news, we may have a new diagnosis for Rylee! We visited the GI doc on Tuesday. Dr. N wanted to consult with her "superior" ("superior" asshole, he was!) to see what he thought about have her "scoped" and biopsies taken of her bottom stomach and small intestine to test the enzymes and to look her anatomy. This would require her to be put under. The "superior" jerkoff decided that before they do that they should test her thyroid and growth hormone as well as for Celiac Disease and malnourishment. Dr. N said she would call me if any of the test results we abnormal otherwise she would send a letter and see us in a month. She called me on Thursday at work. The Celiac Disease results were not in yet (at Rylee's age, it's not very accurate but they wanted to see what it said anyway, maybe retest at age 3). The rest of the results were in, thyroid is fine, not malnourished BUT her growth hormone was "extremely low, practically non existent." The next step is to see an endocrinologist, Dr N says RIGHT AWAY! Turns out that we will see Dr. Connor on November 10th. It was then or wait until February, nope not doing that! Here's a link I found quick for you to reference and read a little about what it is, causes and treatment: Hypopituitarism. We'll know more November 10th, which is a good day...my niece Lexie turns 7 that day! Pray that this could be the answer to our prayers. Dr. N said, "Mary, I think we found it, maybe we make this sick little girl a little more healthy, put some meat on those tiny bones." I think we are also going to have a meeting with Dr. C and get some kind of weight check schedule set up and overall future plans set up. We can't keep just skipping along, something has to be done. That is what I feel in my heart. I didn't listen to my heart the last time and she ended up with 2 unnecessary surgeries.

Tomorrow is Halloween. We have a ship full of Pirates! They're going to be so stinkin' cute. I made their costumes 100% on my own. Very proud of it. I also made their treat bags. Those a cute too. I'll post pics soon!

We're still alive!

2010-10-24T20:22:00.000-05:00

Holy Cow, I haven't posted in a while! We've been fairly well at our house. Weston just got over a cough but other than that we've been fairly healthy. The diaper rash was out of control at our house so we decided to switch to cloth diapers. We cloth diaper Rylee and Weston at home and use disposable when we are out and about or they're going to daycare. We're attempting some potty training again with Troy. He's doing alright but the problem comes when he is playing he doesn't want to stop to go potty so its a fight to get him in. Last night he took off his pullup and ran into bathroom saying "daddy I got a go potty" and he sure did! He will only use the big potty, STANDING UP! So you can imagine what the potty looks like after a day of Troy...YUCK! We took Rylee to visit the neurosurgeon a couple weeks ago. Her weight was 16 lbs, 4 oz! AMAZING. That's up 10 ounces. Since she was in the hospital, she hasn't really wanted Pediasure a lot bunch so we decided to experiment. Rylee hasn't gained any weight since February. At the end of August she was drinking about 24-32 ounces of Pediasure a day by bottle and that was pretty much all she was getting. She wasn't interested in pureed foods. We started to give her more table foods, by the speech therapists request. Mid September we started reducing the Pediasure and supplementing with Vit D milk and giving some table foods like cut cooked veggies and soft meats. Today, Rylee is not longer taking a bottle, drinking solely Vit D and eating table foods at every meal. This girl can eat. She eats more than Troy. She got mad at Kristopher tonight because she ate all of her biscuit and he was going to eat his, so he had to give her another one! She has been using a spoon. It's great! We also took Rylee to the Orthoped doc a couple of weeks ago. This was just to check her Surefits to make sure there were no tight spots or rubbing. There were a couple of spots that had to be popped out a little and he put some Teflon tape in the inside to help make moving a little easier. He said that she absolutely HAD to have shoes. They could not be Robeez, which are moccasin type shoes, because they do not have stability to them. He said tennis shoes. He also said that it didn't matter if we got her Stride Rites or Walmart brand shoes just whatever we could find. HA, that turned out to be harder than we thought. Yesterday, Kristopher took all 3 kids to Walker's in Lancaster where his mom works to look there. They came home with the cutest little white and pink pair of Nike's. She hates them but she'll get used to them. They're hers for a while since she doesn't out grown much very fast. She'll probably wear them out before she outgrows them! I asked the Orthoped doc if these braces will fix the problem or will this be a problem throughout her childhood and teenage years? The pronation of both feet is so severe that it's going to be a lifetime problem. There is nothing they can do to fix it. The braces are there to help but not cure. Rylee's incisions are nice and healed. There is one of her tummy that I don't really like the look of but the Neurosurgeon assured me that it looked fine. Her hair is starting to grow back from the surgeries and the rest of her hair is grossly long and constantly in her eyes. She needs to have her hair to be trimmed for sure! The orange dye is starting to come out but there is definitely still a tint to her blonde hair, she looks more like a strawberry blonde. My hair tends to pick up the red when I have it dyed so it maybe more in the genes. She's pulling herself up to everything! She's doing wonderfully! Weston is growing growing growing. He is 10 lbs, 4 oz. He still has all of his hair. His head control is awesome. And he smiles. True smiles. He gets all fussy and fidgety with Kristopher sometimes and all Kris does is hand him to me and Weston is a whole new kid! I just love him so much and I tell him that all the time. Bedtime tonight is coming early for Troy. He hasn't been a very good boy today. His ears aren't working today and he thinks its fine to pick on his sister and back talk to mom and dad so right now we're all listening to him scream to the high heavens. He's sure persistent, it's been a good 1o minutes. It's football season and we love our Badgers and Packers. Do you know how to Bucky?

2 of the fastest yet longest months ever

2010-10-07T22:54:00.000-05:00

I took Weston to his 2 month check up today. That's right, this past Saturday marked Weston's 2 month "birthday". I can't believe it. I can't believe that he is 2 months old yet it seems like he was born ages ago! His stats at 2 months:

Weight: 10 lbs, 4 oz (5-10th%)
Height: 22.5 inches (25th%)
Head Circum: 14.75 inches (5th%)

I also am proud to announce: I GOT THE FIRST SMILE AND COO! Me...I never get the firsts, that's always Kristopher or others but this time I GOT THE FIRST SMILE. It was this morning and he was just staring at me as I looked down at him, a smile spread and a little coo escaped. I was thrilled! It made my entire week.

My grandma is still in the hospital. She's getting better. I need express that "getting better" needs to be used loosely. She's better today, who knows what tomorrow will be like. She's tired and ready to be home. Unfortunately for her, I don't think home will happen for quite a while, if ever.

A girl I went to high school with had a baby a couple of days ago. She's was only 24ish weeks along. Baby Cricket weighed less than a pound and passed away today. My heart goes out to her as she deals with this difficult time. Please pray for her. Her father just died a few months ago, now her daughter. And to make matters worse, she's doing this alone. The baby's father is not in the picture that I know of. I pray she doesn't reach that dark dark place that is easy to get into when this happens. It makes me think of Baby Samantha. Do you remember me talking about Samantha? I still pray for Samantha, but more so for her mom and dad. I know it's been hard for them and my heart breaks when I think about what her mom must be going through. So many people can be unkind and just don't understand, it's ridiculous.

Other news, we went to the apple orchard last weekend. We got 40 lbs of apples. I made 6 apple pies and 6 apple crisps out of about 20 lbs. We're not applesauce people. The kids like it but could probably live without it (well their bottoms can). So I made up a creamy caramel dip to sliced apples. Troy loves it and it's easy to make.

My boy is fussing. I think it's going to be an extremely long night. Have a good night all. Please pray for my Grandma, Sarah and Cricket, Samantha and Jamie, and for sleep for me, Kris and Weston!

Heartbreak and triumph!

2010-09-27T19:28:00.004-05:00

I had to look up to see when the last time I wrote was. My last post was about finding a balance between all my children. I haven't perfected it by any means but it's gotten better. Weston is sleeping better at night, well most nights anyway. Rylee is healing well and walking while holding onto things. Troy is being 2, throwing a tantrum one minute and helpful the next. He really is a good kid but 2 is a hard age.

I went back to work last week. It was nice to be back but I dearly missed my kids. I would say that Rylee had the hardest time. The first few nights she clung to me and cried in the morning when I left. All in all, we're doing well as a family.

In the last week I got an eye opener. My grandma is in the hospital. She's sick, the sickest I have ever seen her. I told Dr. C, who is also her doctor, that he couldn't let her die, not right now. He just looked at me and said sooner or later it will happen. I know that time will come and I can't even stomach the thought. I haven't gotten to visit with her much lately not only because I don't have a ton of time (which is extremely awful to say because I should've made time) but because she's getting harder and harder to visit with which breaks my heart. I long for the Grandma I had when I was little, the Grandma who played cards with me at the kitchen table in their old farmhouse, the Grandma who hugged me tight after I miscarried my first baby, the Grandma who was always baking. I miss her. She's feisty and stubborn inside, but it's not in her eyes anymore. I will always remember those special times with her. My kids will always know what a great woman she is. I didn't get to visit her today. I hope, pray rather, that she is doing better. I am not ready to let her go. Not right now. She may not be the same Grandma she was 15 years ago, but she's still Grandma. She's a great person, through and through. She still worries about her family, prays for her family and is proud of her family. I look up to her. I hope she kicks this bug's ass all the way to the moon and back.

I love this song!

Hmmm...How?

2010-09-15T21:18:00.001-05:00

I find myself becoming overwhelmed when I have one child eating, one getting into something, causing mischief and the other crying to be held. I don't know how as 1 person I am suppose to feed, correct and calm 3 kids. It's something that I hope to learn to balance overtime but for right now, I take the most urgent. I am also finding that I feel guilty when I can't spend that time with each child like I used to. I used to dread bedtime but cherished the moments that Troy and I shared whether it be the stories we told each other or the cuddling time right before he fell asleep. I loved the moments that I got with Rylee when we were playing or bathing or just sitting cuddled together. Now I can't balance that time. I find myself feeling guilty if I am holding Weston and Rylee is crying. Or cuddling Rylee and Troy is off in a corner playing by himself. I hate to say but I think Troy has gotten the shaft. I have noticed that Kris and I are both doing it. The other 2 kids require more attention therefore Troy is getting less. For example, tonight we were going to have leftovers for supper but Troy wanted a peanut butter sandwich (at this point, if he asks for something like a PB sandwich, we give it to him because it might be the only thing he'll eat all day, picky picky eater) so I made him one. That child sat at the dinner table by himself, eating his PB sandwich while I wrangled with Rylee and tried to feed Weston at the same time. It wasn't until he asked for more PB sandwich, that I realized I had left him to eat by himself. Our rule at our dinner table is that no one gets up until everyone is done eating just so that no one has to eat alone. And I made him eat alone. My heart throbs to go back and change that moment. I find that a lot lately with all the kids. I haven't quite fell into a knack for this mom of 3 role yet. I thought that bringing Rylee home and transitioning to 2 kids was harder than this time but I don't think so. I think it was hard when Rylee came home because of the monitors and oxygen and her requiring so much time. This time, I can't hold all 3 kids on my lap and snuggle with them all at the same time like I could when it was just Troy and Rylee. I never want to wish my children older, but I am hoping that once Weston can hold his own a little more, than we'll be able to manage a little better. We are also in dire need of a schedule. For whatever reason, we can not get a routine set at all! I am just plain frustrated tonight. It's 9:15 pm and Troy and Rylee are both still up playing. I can't for the life of me get them to lay down eventually they should tucker themselves out, I hope. Once they do, Little Man will wake and be awake all night. The joys of motherhood. Maybe in 10 years, we'll get some rest but not right now.

Tomorrow, we are busy running around. We have Weston's weight check at 9:45 am in Cuba City and Rylee's post-op appointment in Madison with Neurosurgery at 12:20 pm. This means that I have enough time to run Weston to get his weight checked, run home grab the other 2 kids and some sandwiches and chips and head off to Madison. It should be fun, me and 3 kids, stitches removal. Oh lord, help me. I am scared. I pray Troy behaves, Rylee doesn't vomit and Weston doesn't scream his head off. Say a prayer for me for tomorrow. It shall be interesting.

Good night all.

Do you remember?

2010-09-12T23:26:00.000-05:00

**Note: I know this is late! I've been trying to write this since yesterday, Sept. 11. Sorry life is a tad busy!**

Do you remember where you were when you heard about the attacks on our great nation? I was in English Lit class. There was a knock on the door and our teacher, Mr. Devlin, stepped out to see what was up. He walked back in with a look on his face like he'd been socked in the gut. He turned on the television and let us watch as the second tower fell. I watched all day from my rural Wisconsin high school (and when I say rural, I mean rural! The baseball field butted up next to a corn field and there were like 4 or 5 little tiny towns combined into 1 little school district. It's rural in those parts!  But I loved it.) with shock and horror. One minute I was talking about my new boyfriend, gossiping with my friends, adjusting to life as a junior!, to terrorist attacks, death and wondering what all of this meant. Here we are 9 years later. Too many lives have been lost and Ground Zero is still a 7 story deep hole in the ground.

I don't understand why this world is so full of hate. I don't understand why so many countries "hate" the United States. I personally love it here.   I see so many people who have the same scoul day after day. Literally, I can think of a few people who come into the bank regularly with nothing but a scoul. There is a woman who comes in everyday, people have tried to "kill her with kindness", and she's still an old stick in the mud. I don't understand how life could be so bad that everyday you have to be rude and unkind to others. Don't these people know you should never be unkind to your banker, duh?! Anyway, we're no closer to peace than 9 years ago, or maybe we are but it sure doesn't feel like it. I am praying hard for those family of lost loved ones and those in the armed forces risking their lives for me and my family. God Bless all of them (or maybe you).

Want a little update on us...
well not much is new. I have been busy getting the last few things done on our checklist before I have to go back to work. Technically, I was suppose to go back tomorrow morning but I am staying home for another week. Right now, no one in our family is ready for me to go back to work. No one, except part of me. I am excited to return to work. I have a purpose at work, it's fulftilling work. I like to think that I am irreplaceable (but that's not true!). Kris hasn't been alone with all 3 kids yet, and I don't want to throw him to the wolves when he does have to be. After being away from home for nearly 6 weeks, my house needs me to be home. There are common weekly/daily chores that simply didn't get done and now we're paying for that. Weston is on no schedule at all. He eats all the time and sleeps when he wants (which is sleeping through the day and awake at night, and we haven't been home or had enough time to help change this). Rylee has not 7 but 8 healing incision on her body (6 on her head, which is crazy, and 2 on her abdomin). She needs to heal a lot more before she can go to daycare. Troy is the one that needs me home the most. He's had a rough go of it the last couple of weeks. I am not sure how to help him or break him of this behavior. I know he is just acting out but that is no way to try to get our attention. I am having a hard time with him. I also wanted to have him potty trained before I went back to work from my maternity leave but that's not happening unless the potty training fairy comes and sprinkles some potty dust over him. And I am not ready yet. I haven't bonded with Weston near enough, don't trust anyone to care for Rylee but me, haven't gotten to just sit,haven't watch my son's imagination run wild and spent much time time with my husband.

I am finally getting around to filing claims with Aflac. Pray for a big return! It should be a nice amount, whcih we are happy about!  Have a good night all.

Life is great, again!

2010-09-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

We finally got discharged on Wednesday after waiting all day long. We officially packed in the car at 8:45 pm on Wednesday. It was a long day of waiting and waiting! Thursday morning we heard the never ending "NO WYLEE", it was like music to my ears. Weston and I packed in the van yesterday late morning and went to get weighed, to the bank (twice) and to Dubuque to the second hand kids store. I bought a bunch of shirts, sweatpants, 0-3 mo outfits for the boys and only spent $45. They're pretty stocked for winter. Weston is still wearing newborn clothes but rapidly moving towards 0-3 month. He was 7 lb, 15 oz. The nurse was in a hurry, Weston was screaming and squirming and it was one of those weighted scales so I am not sure how exact that weight is. Today, Rylee and I packed up and went to the grocery store and made a surprise visit to Aunt Carmen at work. She was shy at First Capital Group but warmed up when we were at the grocery store. We made a stop at Menards to pick up Daddy's birthday present. I know his birthday was over a week ago but we still got him something. We don't have ladder. Our gutters are in desperate need to be cleaned out and we can't hang up christmas lights outside without a ladder. So guess what daddy got? A ladder! He was actually excited. I was impressed that I could manuaver around the store with that thing. He wanted to clean the gutters out right away just to use his new ladder. Who gets excited over a ladder? We do at our house! We piled our cart full of groceries. Kris and I went through the fridge while I was making out my list this morning and threw out a bunch of stuff. It's crazy how much stuff gets shoved to the back. I need to clean that beast out once a week. It's stocked now. I actually made a list of the meals that we're going to have and got groceries accordingly. It was all just stuff that we're going to use, nothing else. I didn't stray from my list a bit! All 3 of my children are napping right now. I am suppose to head back to work on Monday. My 6 weeks are over but I think that with all the stuff that has transpired over the last 6 weeks, I need 1 more week. My house, kids and dogs need me for 1 more week. So I think that is what I am going to do. It's a good plan! The neighbor decided to mow her grass, there went my 3 sleeping children! Until next time all!

The last 43 days!

2010-09-08T11:26:00.000-05:00

The last 43 days has been crazy! Here's a quick recap (more for my note taking than anything)

Day 1, 7/28/10 Became an aunt again to Sawyer James in the wee hours of the morning. Mid afternoon got a call from the GI doctor with suspicions that Rylee's shunt isn't working. 4:55 pm, ran my rear end off to get Rylee into the clinic to get her head measured.
Day 2, 7/29/10 UW Pediatric Neurosurgery called and wanted Rylee there ASAP for a quick brain scan to check her shunt. 2:00 pm brain scan, 2:30 pm looked at the scan with Dr. A and found that her shunt was indeed not working, 4:00 pm finally heading back to SW WI, 11:30 pm, got all the running around done and home only to find out we have to be at the hospital by 6 am the next morning...ouch!
Day 3, 7/30/10 Shunt revision surgery to replace the valve at 7:45 am. Problems with anesthesia and waking from surgery got to see her at noon wake up with a smile on her face!
Day 4, 7/31/10 Rylee slept the entire night, was happy as a clam, and by 11:30 am we were loaded in the car and headed back to SW WI to get Troy and go home.
Day 5, 8/1/10 Rylee was doing better than expected so as a last minute decision decided to visit our new nephew Sawyer. We packed up Troy, Rylee and ourselves for the 2 and half hour drive to Tomah. At 4:30 pm, an almost accident which included a big slam of the brakes, brought on some contractions. By 6 pm, Mommy wasn't feeling very well. By 10 pm, Mom felt alright and slept fairly well through the night. Rylee vomited at our visit and at home in the evening with a slight fever, decided to take a visit to the doctor the next morning.
Day 6, 8/2/10 7:30 am, after a quick shower to help relax from all the contractions, Mommy went to work. At 9:20 am, Visited Dr. Rose, 10:00 am went to hospital for blood draw, mommy wasn't feels so well, 1:00 pm Mommy decided to time the contractions, 2:45 Mommy got in the car to go to 34 week OB appointment, 3:20 pm arrived at the clinic with painful contractions, 4:00 pm doctor finally came in to see Mommy, 4:20 pm being loaded on a stretcher and into an ambulance, 4:30 pm arrived at hospital, 4:35 pm seen Dr. Berger, 5:00 pm got epidural 5:30 pm Dr. B broke water, 7:00 pm started pitocin, 9:45 pm broke down the room for delivery, 9:52 pm started pushing, 9:57 pm Weston Robert Klauer came into this world and was sent to the NICU
Day 7 8/3/10 Spent at the hospital NICU and recovering. Weston doing well except for grunting while breathing.
Day 8 8/4/10 Mommy released from the hospital.
Day 9 thru Day 24 8/5/10 to 8/20/10 Divided time between home and the NICU with Weston. 8/15/10 (Day 19) Become an aunt AGAIN to Lily Evelyn. 8/19/10 (Day 23) Took Rylee to her 18 month well child appointment. She was 28.5 inches long and 15 lbs, 8 oz.
Day 25 8/21/10 Brought Weston home after 19 days!
Day 26 thru Day 29 8/22/10 to 8/25/10 Hung out around home, enjoying visitors!
Day 30 8/26/10 Noticed Rylee's incision was broke open and could see something black. Called the Doctor and made an appointment for the following day
Day 31 8/27/10 2:30 pm met Dr Alison who all but freaked out about the incision. She called UW peds neurosurgery about this and made us an appt for Monday. She removed Rylee's stitches that didn't dissolve like they were suppose to and instructed us to go to the UW ER if it opened again before our appointment and ordered some antibiotics.
Day 32 8/28/10 Rylee broke her incision open at 2 pm which started bleeding. At 5 pm did it again but this time was accompanied by crying and a temp. 7 pm arrived at UW ER, 10 pm new antibiotics and homebound
Day 33 8/29/10 Spent the day at home with some visitors and got ready for our 3 appointments on Monday
Day 34 8/30/10 8:55 am met with GI doctor, 9:20 met Dr Bragg, Rylee's new neurosurgeon, who said the black thing we seen was a stitch holding the shunt together, pretty much exposed as well as the shunt. Tapped the shunt and took some blood to test for infection at which she thought was probably neg. Scheduled shunt revision surgery for 7:45 the following morning.
Day 35 8/31/10 8:05 am took Rylee back for surgery, 10:00 am Dr Bragg came in say that just as she was finishing up the revision surgery, the lab called saying the cultures were positive so taken the entire shunt out. 11 am, surgery was done and they just needed to place a picc line. 12:45 pm Got taken back to recovery to see her
Day 36 9/1/10 Happy Birthday Daddy! First night in the PICU was uneventful.
Day 37 thru 41 9/2/10 to 9/6/10 Kris and I split out time between home and the PICU.
Day 42 9/7/10 Surgery was at 11:30 am to place the shunt back in. Dr Bragg switched the side of the shunt to her left. She had to tunnel a new catheter from her brain to her belly and had a hard time routing it down around her neck area because she's so thin. Rylee has orange hair with none on top.
Day 43 9/8/10 Today we are hoping to go home. Rylee has to have a quick brain scan, which isn't schedule so we're at their will for times, and then hopefully can go home.

Thank you all that called, text us and sent us prayers yesterday. It meant a lot and we appreciate more than you know. It's funny how something so tramatic happens like this, you really find out who cares and who doesn't. Some come to visit, while others can't even pick up the a couple seconds to call. True colors were shown yesterday and it was my feelings that were hurt. Not much I can do about it now but move on! Keep your fingers crossed that we can come home today. Everyone needs it, especially our dogs and house!

Visitors

2010-09-06T21:36:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness, you guys are amazing. I did a little begging for visitors and bam you came running! The last few days have gone amazingly well for Rylee. Other than having to keep her from standing in her crib, she's been a good girl. My sister in law Katrina, aunt Lisa and sister, Carmen, came Friday night and played, put her bed and watched her sleep so that Weston, Troy and I could go to my dad's rehearsal supper. Primarily we went home because Weston was extremely fussy during the night, which woke Rylee each time and left me pacing the room the entire night. Needless to say, I was exhausted. I was almost to the point of no return on my lack of sleep. I was whiny and grumpy and my poor husband was well rested, which made me bitter. So we deviced a plan that if family was willing to help take care of Rylee in our absence that we would take them up on the offer. I decided that it was important to go to my dad's wedding rehearsal (smart choice) since I had family coming to visit. Rylee was left alone all night but the nurses took great care of her and she slept through the night.

Saturday, Kristopher and I decided that it would work out best if he took Weston to the hospital and I took Troy to the wedding (since we were both in it). Again, smart decision! My sister, Erin, and her family and my sister-in-law Katrina and her son, Adam, each came to visit on Saturday. She lit up and had a great time with them. Kristopher and Weston left after Rylee had went to sleep for the night and came home to go to the reception. It worked out well.

Yesterday morning we left rather early, later than I would've liked, to head to Madison to be with Rylee for the day. My friends Dana and Aaron came to visit around 11, my brother Craig, his wife and their daughter, Lily, came at 1, my sister Erin and her family followed; my Aunt Debbie and her husband came too, then my in-laws also and my Uncle Tim, Aunt Jean and cousin Anne. We had constant visitors from 1 until 6 but Rylee loved every single second of it. Needless to say, she crashed at the early hour of 7 pm. It was a great day for her. She absolutely loves visitors. It's a change of pace for her. Last night, Troy, Weston and I went home. We got some relatively good sleep. That was surprising since Weston slept all day. He was awake until midnight but at least it wasn't all night.

This morning, we got up and made a quick stop at WalMart. Troy Thomas has grown and we found out how much when this chilly weather came. We don't have jeans or many long sleeve tops that fit him. So we made a quick stop at WalMart to pick up a few essentials like a few pairs of pants, tops, undies and socks. We didn't have an actual potty chair. He's preferred to use a potty seat on the big potty. I was reading online that naked time or undies time was good and to have a potty chair in the room with him. So I set the potty chairs out on the floor at WalMart and let him pick out his favorite one. He choice a Cars potty chair that has a shifter that makes noise and all. Then I let him pick out a pack of undies, which he choice Sesame Street. Then we headed up to Madison. Kristopher's brother and his family were going to the Madison Children's Museum so Kris and Troy headed over to play with them (or from what Kris said, lack there of). While they were gone, Kris's parents came to visit as well as my sister and niece. My dad and his new wife came later as well as my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jeff. Rylee liked my Uncle Jeff a lot. They played and played. Tonight after Rylee fell asleep, Kris, the boys and I went to grab a bite to eat. Kristopher dropped me off at the hospital and headed for home. Upon arriving to Rylee's room, her night nurse told me that surgery is scheduled for 11:30 tomorrow. However, the neurosurgery resident said 7:30 earlier today when I signed the forms. I am not sure when the surgery is. Oh well. I am flying solo on this one I am afraid, either when they take her away or when they come get me for recovery (and I'll have Weston). Right now, I am super tired. I am going to hit the hay for a couple of hours and wake Rylee to eat before midnight. Please pray that all goes well tomorrow for everyone. Please pray that Kristopher gets some sleep, he's flying solo with Weston (and troy) tonight.

Rylee update

2010-09-03T09:27:00.000-05:00

I think this is post #456 titled "Rylee update". I couldn't think of anything better. I have had quite a lack of sleep lately so give me a break. You'll probably read run on sentences, misspellings and punctuation problems but I don't care!

Rylee went into surgery at 8:05 am on Tuesday, 8/31. As far as the doctor knew, the CF culture from the shunt tap on Monday was negative. Dr Bragg was just finishing up the shunt repositioning surgery when the lab called. The culture grew out, her shunt was positive for infection. I am still unsure exactly the kind of infection, some say staph infection, others say they're not entirely sure yet. Anyway, Dr. Bragg came in to tell us the lab had just called and that she was going to go back in since Rylee was still under to remove the shunt entirely. There wasn't a dry eye in that room when she delivered the news. I can honestly say that for the third time in Rylee's young life I was scared that she would die. Maybe that sounds trival but there was infection so close to her brain and spinal fluid. I was scared for her and still am. At 11 am, Dr. Bragg stopped back in the room to tell us that she was finished but that they'd like to have a PICC line placed since she's having so many surgeries. It would make blood draws easier and then they don't have to stick her to do another IV. Finally at 12:30, after 4 and half hours, I got to go back to the recovery and see her. She was awake already this time. Dr. Bragg put in an EVD, external ventricular drain, to drain the spinal fluid from her brain so her head had a white band around it to secure that. By 3 pm, she was in a lot of pain. A little morphine helped her tremendously and she hasn't required any pain medicine since. Tuesday night, Kristopher stayed with Rylee and I took the boys home.

Wednesday was Kristopher's birthday so I baked a cake at midnight Tuesday night and brought it up to celebrate. Kris took Troy to the new Children's Museum to play and hang out together while Rylee, Weston and I stayed back to hold down the fort. She was sitting up, playing with toys and books and watching tv. Kristopher again stayed the night while the boys and I went home.

Thursday, Weston had a doctor appointment with Dr. Connolly. According the measurements, he has grew an inch and a half and gained 1 lb, 2 oz since birth. He told me that Dr. Allison met him at the door Monday morning to tell him about Rylee. She worried about her all weekend. I filled him in on what has been going on. He always asks how Kris and I are doing in which I can usually honestly say "fine". This time I said "We're doing the best we can. We're trying to do what's best for each child." He then asked how Troy was handling it. I just lost it then. Earlier that morning, Troy kept constantly asking where Rylee was in which I replied "at the doctor with boo boos". That's how he explained it to us one time so to keep it simple, that's what we tell because we know he semi-understands that way. We had decided that during Weston's doctor appointment and the limbo time before Kris would take him that it would be best for him to go to Tara, the babysitter's, to play. I put him in the van, told him to climb up in his "cool cool carseat" while I got Weston and when I came back to load Weston, Troy was sitting on the floor next to Rylee's carseat playing with it. When I asked him what he was doing, he looked at me with the saddest face and said "I sad. I want WYLEE" and started crying big tears. I hugged, explained that she didn't feel good and had to stay for a little while longer but would be home soon. He misses her plain and simple. He comes to visit but she's pretty much confined to her bed and has to stay in one position so he can't really play with her or hug her or love her up like he's used to. I told Dr. Connolly about what happened that morning, he said he's worried about Troy. I think we're going to see if a child life specialist can come and talk with him about this stuff. He understands that she has "boo boo's" but doesn't understand why she can't come home. I don't know how to help, I think that he would benefit from seeing someone. I also met Dr. Connolly's wife, I guess we're family friends now or something. He popped his head in the room as I was going to load Weston in his carseat to see if his wife could see him. She was smitten over him! After we left, we headed up to Madison. I met Kristopher on the road between Mineral Point and Belmont, we waved at each other and that was all I got to see of him for the day. I don't think you can even count that as seeing one another. Last night was a bunch of playing with toys, watching tv and just laying around. My aunt Lisa came to visit. I had a fussy, squirmy boy who thought he had to be held all the time. So her visit was extremely helpful, she was my saving grace!

Today, we're just doing the same old same old. She just got a bath and is a little fussy because they're messing with her. Overall, she's happy and extremely friendly with everyone. She loves visitors. Anyone who comes in has to come over to play with her because she's so darn bored. So if you happen to be wandering the halls of the UW Children's hospital, PLEASE come visit her.

Tomorrow is my dad's wedding. Rylee has a beautiful dress that her grandma Klauer made for her but it will just hang in her closet. She won't be there. Kristopher is going to come up and stay the night with her while the boys and I do our thing at the wedding.

The tentative plan is for Rylee to have her EVD removed and a new shunt placed on Tuesday, spend another night, go home on Wednesday. At least it's a holiday weekend so Kris and I can share the responsibilities better and Troy doesn't have to be shipped off somewhere. So for the next 5 days, we're just hanging out. I again beg that if you're in the area, please stop by and see her, she'd love it!

UGH!

2010-08-30T22:54:00.001-05:00

That's been our day. Saturday night we took Rylee to UW ER to have her shunt looked at because it was broke open, bleeding and the black stitches were visible. They changed her antibiotic and sent us home. Today, we seen GI, worthless trip!, and then Neurosurgery. Dr. Bragg is Rylee's new neurosurgeon because Dr. Albright left for Korea or something on August 15th for the next 3 or something years. Dr. Albright has done both surgeries. Today, we came in thinking there was an infection, which there is inflammation. Dr. Bragg was concerned. She wanted the shunt tapped and blood work drawn to test for infection. The spinal fluid was clear and as of right now, I have not received a call to tell me the shunt is infected which is awesome. Rylee will go in for surgery tomorrow. Our time is 7:45 am again. That worked so well last time, I am so happy that we got that time frame again. Unfortunately, we have to be there at 6:15 am which means a leave time of 4:30 am. I don't even know why we should go to bed, especially Kristopher who had to work tonight. Dr. Bragg is going to remove the shunt valve that was just replaced July 30th and the tubing that drains the fluid into her stomach and put new parts in a new place. She's going to reroute of sorts. The shunt will now run more along her ear than straight back. This moves the tubing's path as well. From my understanding, Rylee's body doesn't dissolve dissolving stitches. It was that along with the scratching/breaking open of the incision and the thinness of her skin that the black silk stitch, that holds the valve and tubing together, is exposed. The worry is that if left as is, infection would fester and spread to the shunt and would essentially kill her. Dr. Bragg was fairly certain before tapping the shunt and all that it was not infected yet. Thank goodness for that. This may have been avoided if we would've had the follow up appointment that we should've had but somewhere along the line wires were crossed and I was told we didn't need to have. However, you never know. It could've still happened. All I know is, it needs to be fixed. I was apologized to at least 10 times today. It wasn't me that needs the apologies, it's Rylee. I have so much to do tonight. It's 10:45 pm now, all the kids are asleep, I have washed/dried and folded 3 loads of laundry, washed a butt load of dishes and washed Troy's hair (which is a huge accomplishment in itself considering he's scared to death of water and I did it by myself because he rubbed Desitin in it, I don't know where he finds that crap but this is the second time.) and bathed Rylee with the special cleaner. Nothing a little Carrie Underwood and ~~yodeling~~ singing can't help! Troy is going to go to Kris's brother's house tomorrow to play while Rylee's in surgery and once she's out and in her hospital room, Kris will go get him. Weston is coming with us. I am not ready to let the leash loose yet. I am not with Troy either, but he really can't come, he wouldn't be any fun and they wouldn't like that he was there. He'll have much more fun playing with Isaac, Noah and Adam. I still have to pack bags for everyone. I am not sure who is staying with Rylee at the hospital and who is bringing Troy and Weston home for the night. Either way, neither one of us will get any sleep, it will be either Weston waking me or the nurses. Please pray for Rylee's surgery to go well tomorrow and for serenity to wash over me, I am a ball of nerves already.

2 weeks old

19 days old, on the way home

Proud Big Big Brother

First Ice Cream Sandwich, she liked it!

4 weeks old

He makes Rylee look big

She likes him

Not impressed

Goodnight!

Life as we know it

2010-08-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

Life as we know it around here involves lots of doctor visits, so much so that our 2 1/2 year old thinks that everytime we get in the car we are going to the doctor's office. Over the last couple of days, I have noticed Rylee's shunt incision has been getting a little red and bumped up. Last night I discovered that she once again scratched it open but this time there was a gaping hole and something black inside. I called the Medical Associates clinic to see if I can have her looked at. Of course, this was at 20 to 5 pm and couldn't get in until today at 2:35pm. I was told by the nurse to call UW and see what they have to say. I called UW who took my message and number and was told I would be called "tomorrow right away". Well, it's now 9:48 pm of "tomorrow" and I still haven't gotten that call. We seen Dr. Alison this afternoon. She looked at it and was going to call UW herself and find out what kind of stitches were used, whether they dissolve or need to be removed. Upon coming back in, she said she read the nurse the rights by saying that not rechecking her stitches and incisions was unacceptable. That nurse didn't know what kind of stitches were used but would find out and call her back. Dr. Alison came back in, confirmed that the black I seen the night before was stitches used under the skin and were indeed infected. She also wanted to remove the clear above skin stitches. As myself and nurse Paula were holding Rylee down while Dr. Alison pulled out the stitches, UW Madison nurse called back and said that dissolving stitches were used. For whatever reason, Rylee's body doesn't know how to dissolve those stitches. Dr. Alison prescribed Rylee some antibiotics to start immediately and made us an appointment at UW for Monday. We were already scheduled at 8:55 am with GI and 11 am with Middleton Rehab. Now we can add 9:20 am for Neurosurgery. If we see the black stitches anytime this weekend, we have to go to UW ER. The hope is we caught this early enough that the infection doesn't spread to her shunt. If it does, that would be fatal. Rylee also has a popped blood vessel in her eye which started Wednesday and has grown with each passing day. Dr Alison didn't seem concerned but I am. I am so worried that the infection will spread that she hasn't left my side all night. She's sleeping with me tonight and probably sat and sun too. She's been soo whiny the last couple of days, I am worried.

It's been a day, well afternoon/evening rather, from hell. I had my first outings with 3 kids alone. Not much fun! I also packed them into the van in a hurry after finding out that I screwed up my calendar and didn't let my sister's dogs out. Those poor dogs were in their kennel for over 24 hours. Talk about feeling like a monster. The worst part is they both held it, no accidents from either of them. They had to have been feeling pretty miserable. Thankfully my sister called her friend to come help me. These are 2 strong labs and between the two of us we probably could've won funniest home videos or something the way those dogs pulled us around the yard! They chowed down their food and drank a bunch of water. I left a light on for them when we left and let them run around the basement. Kristopher is going to go over and let them potty and put them to bed for the night after he gets off work. I get a "F" for dog sitting.

I did however get Weston in to see my grandma. She was tickled to meet him. We weren't there long but enough to say hello, get enough milk in Weston to get home and for Troy and Rylee to drag out all of the toys. Tonight, I am praying for a night of more sleep than last night. Weston thought he needed to eat every 15-30 minutes for 3 hours. Not cool!!! So far, it's been much of the same tonight. He just twitched in his sleep. I think I am going to ever-so-gently move him into to his bed and snuggle with Rylee and head to dreamy dreamy land at least for as long as I can!

Weston Day 20 update

2010-08-22T20:53:00.000-05:00

I can't even describe how good feels to have Weston home. It's been interesting. Last night, Kristopher got up with him quite a bit while he let me sleep. I think it was such a huge stress having Weston in the hospital that having him home now, I was dead tired. Thankfully, my husband let me rest (and most of the time, I didn't even hear him) and it paid off well. Today, I felt much better. We had my sisters and their families over today. It was nice visiting with all of them. Troy and Rylee had a blast! Right after they left, Troy zonked out while sitting at the table. Within 20 minutes from their departure, all 3 kids were napping. I even fit in a 30 minute nap and even a shower! Tonight after supper, Kris and I loaded up the kids in the strollers (we don't have a triple stroller so he took Troy and Rylee in the double and I put Weston in his carseat and used the large stroller) and took a little walk. I was so bit up by the time we were done. We came home and did baths. I bathed Weston in the infant bath tub with the sling while Kris bathed Rylee in the sink. Troy did his own bath after those two were finished and taking their bottles. Right now, Weston is down for bedtime and Rylee and Troy will soon be out! I am soo glad that Kris was home to help us adjust to this new life. We still have to get into a new routine and hopefully that comes soon! I can't even describe how good it is to peak over the railing into the crib at the end of my bed and see a little bundle all wrapped up sleeping. AWESOME! It's also wonderful that Troy and Rylee are so concerned when Weston cries or very curious about him.

After 19 days, We're proud to say....

2010-08-21T18:47:00.000-05:00

Weston came home today! We've been home for about 6 hours and it's went well. We had 1 little accident with Troy. He slipped and his chin bumped Rylee's head leaving a bleeding lip. Otherwise, Troy is very interested in feeding time especially nursing time and whenever Weston fusses he runs up to us to let us know. Rylee is also very interested. She crawls up and pulls herself up to see him on Kris or my lap. They both were excited. Rylee waves at him and Troy kisses him. It's been pretty easy. We had lunch just Kris and I (and Weston) and dinner as a family. It's been a rollarcoaster ride the last 19 days but we are so so so happy to have Weston home.

Genetics Appointment came and went...

2010-08-16T15:44:00.000-05:00

I don't really know what to tell in regards to this appointment. We walked in hoping, praying the high heavens really, that Dr. Giampietro would shine a magic light on Rylee and open a whole new world for her. Unfortunately, that definitely wasn't the case. After the mix up with Iowa City Genetics (they said they never tested Rylee, didn't have any records of it, turned out that after 2 hours on the phone with them, all those records were under "Baby Girl Klauer"...duh!), we got tons of records and diagrams that we hadn't seen before. We even got the results for Kris, Troy and I, which is great! The 3 of us have "perfect" genetic makeup (no one is absolutely perfect, everyone's is different but ours don't have to much or too little genetic material)! We talked briefly about the nasal bones that were seen in the ultrasounds with Weston. The presence or lack there of can indicate Down's Syndrome and we would know upon first glance of him, if he had Down's. Dr. G thinks we're definitely in the clear there especially since there are no facial deformities and he's acting just like he should for his gestational age.

What does Chromosome 6 deletion q25.1-25.2 mean for Rylee...

There is not an exact case of her deletion in the literature. Therefore, we don't know much more than before. There is cases of deletions that house her same deletion just a tad larger. And those are what we have to work with. Hydrocephalus, protein and metabolism problems,developmental delays, hormonal estrogen problems, facial deformities, deformities with the anus...are a few problems that are listed among that literature. Rylee has Hydrocephalus, facial deformities, developmental delays and could very well have a protein problem and definitely has metabolism problems. Estrogen problems, if there are some, will most like become a concern more around puberty time, I assume.

Rylee's future...

Rylee's future is not grim, at this point in time. She has more problems, such as some with her heart and kidneys, could be lungs, largely decreased immune system, than those that I listed above. She is meeting all her milestones just at a much slower rate than a normal 19 month old child. Dr. G asked if we would like to have her "case" published in the literature. We agreed, hoping that in the future some other child comes forward with the exact same deletion and we can use them as a reference or that we can help another family by not having to go through all the uncertainties like we have. Dr. G took pictures of her, I know that sounds weird, but pictures can help. We are going to go back for yearly visits to keep the literally updated. Dr. G said he would let us know when it's published and if a med student uses her "case" as a case study. All Dr. G could say was that not much is know about Chromosome 6 making it largely rare to have any kind of abnormality. He also said that this was just a genetic accident. It was nothing that I did or didn't do and couldn't be replicated by me and Kris again (which Weston has 100% completed our family so no worries there!). Also banking Weston cord blood would have done nothing for Rylee. It hasn't been proven that cord blood from a sibling can heal developmental delays or Hydrocephalus, only has in the individual who's cord blood was banked. Stem Cell research is an extremely controversial study, some believe in it some don't. I guess I believe that if could've saved the life of one my children or someone else, why not? We didn't bank Weston's cord blood because of the chromosome uncertainties. That may bite us in the rear later on but at the time it was the right decision and I am standing by it.

Weston Day 13 update

2010-08-16T01:44:00.000-05:00

Technically right now Weston is 14 days old but I don't know exactly how he is doing at this very moment. Probably filling his belly or having his belly filled for him! Day 13 wasn't such a great day for me. I was frustrated with the nursing. These 12, 10, 13, 16 cc stuff is getting pretty old. However, Day 12 he did take 20 cc for me. That's the record so far. He didn't want a bottle after nursing. In the morning, I was sitting in the NICU playing with my sweet boy's beautiful golden head of hair when Lila with the annoying parents', doctor came in to see her for the day. She announces that Ms. Lila was going home. Now, Weston is the oldest baby there! Well, there is only Weston and William (he did get leave and room with his mommy and daddy but had to come back when he couldn't keep his blood sugars under control). She also announced that Mr. William would be circumcised today (Monday, August 16) and would be able to go home on Tuesday. LOVELY! If no other babies are brought to the NICU, than Weston will be all alone. I guess if he is the only baby, maybe they'll work with him more on his feedings. I think Lila was a lone ranger until Weston came along. She was 4 days old then him and over 2 lbs smaller than him. I am trying not to compare. Each situation is different, except hers and Weston's are extremely close. The thing that really bothers me is that both kiddos, Lila and William, are only children. Who cares that Troy and Rylee are being left home and never get to spend any time with their momma?! It's was Weston's turn to come home 12 days ago. 12 days ago, he was doing well. I want to bring him home so freakin' bad. I was going to stick around for the majority of the day. I was hoping to do all feedings from 7 am to 7 pm as well as a bath before the 7 pm feeding. I ended up going home after the 10 am feeding because Lila's parents were coming at 2 to take her home. And I personally didn't want to see that, be there, hear it...so I came home. I told Kristopher that he was more than welcome to go down and do the 1 pm feeding since the nurse, who was alone today with 3 babies and going to try to discharge 1 at 2 pm. Weston was scheduled to eat at 1, William at 1:30 and Lila at 2 pm. Now who do you think would get the shaft? Weston! However, Kristopher said that he didn't want to see that, hear that, be around that and didn't think that he could handle it any better than I could. It took all my might and sole not to start crying while I was there and heard the news she was going home. No other baby thus far has bothered me about going home. I also haven't witnessed any baby going home, they're just gone when I get there. However, I knew that I wouldn't handle it well, probably cry at their excitement, so I chose for my own good to go home. It was better that way! Weston rules the roast now. We get to use the Serenity room. The Serenity room is a quiet room in NICU that I could use to pump, nap or nurse. It's really quiet! You can't hear much from the NICU other than alarms or doors shutting. It's actually a nice little room to have. We used it a few times in the last couple of days. However, Lila's parents always needed to take over because they preferred to use that room. Now that she's gone, it's all ours! Mr. William's parents can't take him in there because he has to stay on the monitors. Weston gets unhooked and carried in there like a CHAMP!

When I came home at noon, I pumped and decided to lay down. I am still having the migraines and fevers. I woke to a temp of 102 an hour later with chills and the whole bit. I just can't get rid of that fever. It's no wonder that little boy doesn't want to nurse, the milk is extremely warm and warms his belly right up. I wouldn't want to drink 102° milk either. The Acute care doctor said that it was perfectly fine for me to nurse him still even though I am on antibiotics for the UTI. However, the antibiotics aren't working. It's been the better part of a week, I only take them 2 times per day for 7 days, and I feel worse that I did a week ago. I did get up and go back to the hospital for the 4 and 7 pm feedings and to do his bath. I didn't know if I would be rusting at bathing a newborn but it all came flooding back as soon as I stuck him in, almost like auto pilot. Nurse Candy, just let me do my own thing while she made him up a fresh bed. The sheets on his "bed" are the exact same pattern as his crib set. EXACTLY! Hopefully, that rubs off on him! He's also in an outfit from home so hopefully that also entices him to eat to come home. We had a pep talk after his bath. I simply told him he has to come home. The Serenity Prayer is on the wall in the Serenity room. It's what I need to pray for every single day!

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

I love that little boy! It breaks my heart to leave him day after day after day. It breaks my heart to have to constantly leave Troy and Rylee. It breaks my heart that Troy and Rylee don't want mom to do anything for them, they want dad because that's who has been taking care of them for 2 weeks. It breaks my heart that when I come home I don't even feel well enough to help put them to bed. Weston needs to come for everyone's sake but especially Troy and Rylee. They need their mommy as much as their mommy needs them. Those 3 kids, and Kris, are the light of my world, my whole reason for existing, the reason I get out of bed everyday. I need them all here with me together!

The best part of Day 13 was that my brother and his wife became parents again. The trifecta of babies who were suppose to be born within a total of 39 days, all came a seperate week and are all squished in 18 days... 3 babies (technically of the 5, mine, Erin's, Jen's and my 2 friends, we were expecting, 4 were born in that 18 days)! Can you imagine what our family holidays will be like? Oh man! The grand total of the 3 babies are 2 boys, Sawyer (July 28) and Weston (August 2) and 1 girl, Lily (August 15). I ran over to the hospital to visit Lily today. She was super laid back and had been resting much of the day. Her parents were beat so hopefully she doesn't keep them up too much tonight! Congrats Craig, Jen and Isabelle and Welcome Ms. Lily!

Today, Monday, in a few short hours, Kris, Troy, Rylee and I will be headed to UW Genetics clinic. It's an appointment we've been waiting 18 months for and has finally arrived. Too bad we're not taking Mr. Weston with us to be looked over. Bummer! Please pray that the doctors can give us some kind of insight on what this Chromsome abnormality is and how it will affect Rylee's present and future.

Weston Day 11 update

2010-08-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

Today has been the best day yet! Weston gained 45 grams last night and another 30 tonight. He's up to 5 lb, 15.3 oz, just shy of 6 lbs! 3 more ounces and he's back to his birth weight! That's one of the goals, not a major one, just to get close to it. Surpassing it would be awesome! Last night, Troy and Rylee stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Klauer. I took them down to the hospital at 2:15 yesterday afternoon so they could peek in the window to see Mr. Weston. Troy waved but wasn't too interested. It was dark and daddy was holding him, they couldn't really see him. Then Daddy and I switched places, he took the "big" kids and I took over with Weston. He delivered them to Grandma, while I tried to nurse that little dude. He did alright. I believe he took 10 cc at one of the feedings and 6 at another. They tubed him the rest. He was a tuckered out little man. This morning, Kris and I went down to the hospital together for his 7 and 10 am feedings. I think he took 16 cc at the 7 am feeding. At the 10 am feeding, we decided to try nursing and see if he was up for it. He took 12 cc. The nurse, Shirley, took him out to the scale to weigh him, to see how much he got, and it was like he got a second wind of sorts. She suggested we try a slow flow bottle feeding for the rest of his 45 cc. I haven't done this yet, Daddy has a couple of time and had a record of 25 cc. We bet a soda that I could get him to take more. Within 5 minutes, he had that 25 cc gone. He gave me 3 nice, loud burps. Daddy then bet me another soda that he wouldn't take the rest of the bottle. Weston proved him wrong. He slowly but surely finished off that bottle. Unfortunately, that was the only time I was at the hospital today. I stayed home with Troy and Rylee the rest of the afternoon and evening. I did call a little while ago for an update on how he was doing and how his day went. He took 20 cc, 12 cc and 40 cc from a slow flow bottle. He also got a bath. I am sure he's tuckered out now. I am anxious to see how he does this weekend. He's full of surprises, that boy. So it wouldn't surprise me if we go a step or two backwards, we know all too well how this goes with preemies.

At around noon today, Kris's parents brought the kids down to the hospital. We are expecting to have to go pick them up so this was a nice surprise. Daddy ran down and helped switch things over from car to car. I opened the blinds for the kids to see Weston. I put him as close to the window as I could, the counter are high and I'm short. Troy got a little excited for a second but Rylee didn't know what to think about him. She had a look on her face like "who the hell is that and why is my mommy holding him?" She's pretty much been glued to me all afternoon and evening. She didn't want to lay in her bed for bedtime so she snuggle against my thigh sawin logs right now. Troy fell asleep at 7:45 on the living room floor. I think with the lack of a nap and staying overnight last night, he was tired. I woke him trying to get him into bed. I told him that he could come and snuggle with me if he wanted. Nope, he wanted to sleep in his own bed. I didn't say another word just helped him into bed and tucked him in.

Last Monday, I took a trip to Acute care for a headache and fever. Today, Kris let me lay down for 45 minutes before he left for work. I woke again to a fever and chills and headache. I can't for the life of me get this cotton pickin' headache to go away. I have teeter tottered between being hot and cold all afternoon and evening. I just can't seem to find a happy medium. I would be doing back to "normal" if it weren't for this garbage. I just hope the antibiotics are working. They don't feel like it. Maybe this UTI is why I am so dang tired. I can't get enough sleep and my poor husband gets less that I do and functions a lot better.

This weekend is my friend Dana's baby shower. I unfortunately don't think that I am going to be able to make it. I think that my time needs to be at the NICU and my focus on helping him come home. Last month, Rylee and I went to my friend Carolyn's baby shower. Little did we know then that the belly pictures that were taken would be the only ones we get. Carolyn's baby, Isaac, was born this week and Weston last week. I the span of a month, I knew very well that there would be 4 babies born. So far, my sister had her baby, I had Weston the following week and Carolyn had hers the 3rd week and they have all been boys and decided to come in a hurry. SO, is Baby Donar coming next week? Is Baby Donar a boy too? Or a girl? Those are the questions and many people are anxious to find out. Either way, Weston will have 2 "buddies" at our family Christmases and outings. I am excited for all 3 of them! And I am excited for people to meet Weston. So far, he has "met" Aunt Carmen and Jalyn and Scott and Aubrey (through the window), Grandma and Grandpa Klauer a couple of times, and Grandpa Harley and Deb. He has so many people left to meet who will greatly impact his life...Aunt Erin, Uncle Craig, Great-Grandma Dodds....this list could go on forever! Ok, I am done babbling now, I am trying to stay awake to pump for Weston. Have a good night all. Cross your fingers, your toes, anything and pray to the highest of heavens for the feedings to get better and better so we can bring our bundle home!

Another Day 9 update!

2010-08-11T22:11:00.000-05:00

Weston is officially 9 days old now, 9:57 pm. I went down to do his 7 pm feeding tonight. He woke when I got there. He nursed for a good 35 to 40 minutes before starting to fall asleep. He took exactly 14 cc again. Consistency is great! 14 in the morning, 14 at night. I think that feeding light bulb might be coming on, slowly but surely. He did spit up a bit after the rest of his tube feeding but no one seemed concerned. There's a new inmate in the NICU tonight too. His name is William and he shares the exact same birth weight and head circumference as Weston but is half an inch shorter. He joins Weston in the corner. He is actually in Weston's "old" bed. Weston is kind of shoved into tight quarters. I have a feeling though, that William won't be there long. He was a c-section baby and I think had some gunk in his chest. Lyla is the only girl in the NICU. She was born 4 days before Weston and weighed 3 lbs, 11 oz. Her parents are super annoying. Everything that comes out of her mom's mouth is about Daddy. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband but I don't constantly talk about him. I even heard one of the nurses say they creeped her out a bit. I wouldn't say they creep me out but definitely are annoying, even Kristopher thinks so and that stuff never bothers him! Marcos is a little boy, I know nothing about except that his name is Marcos and his dad is Diego and he's got the most annoying, loud cry. Marcos gets to break out of the joint tomorrow. His parents are super young, maybe 17ish. His mom has been scolded a few times for a few things a couple of the times that I have been there. She fails to wash her hands everytime she comes in. I thought that was kind of an automatic thing! And, she has broken the #1 rule numerous times I have been there, falling asleep while holding Marcos or nursing him. She snores rather loud, so the nurses jump on her every time they hear her. Sad! And they're taking him home tomorrow on monitors and such! OH boy. It was a hoppin' joint there tonight at 8 o'clock. William's dad had just left, and Marcos and Lyla's parents had just came. I headed out about that time to go back to my sister's and rescue her from my kids! HA! If they're brains aren't still thumpin' from all the screamin', I'd be very surprised. They had a ball though. Both crashed right after we got home. It's been quiet and peaceful for the last 20 minutes. Tomorrow, they are going to go to Kris's parent's house, I think. SO, I think I am going to go to the hospital for my usual 7 am feeding, then come home and spend the rest of the morning with them. I am sure Kris will go down for the 1 pm feeding and I may bring them down right before he needs to leave to go to work. I asked Troy if he wanted to see Baby Weston tomorrow and he said YES! When we pulled in the driveway and I turned off the car, he said lets see Baby Weston (Troy's pronouncation WE-ton). He can only look through a window and it's been a week since he has done that so it's due time. Hopefully we can bring him home within the next week and he'll actually be real to Troy and Rylee.

Weston day 9

2010-08-11T14:26:00.001-05:00

Weston has started gaining weight. Saturday, he gained 2 oz (60 g) putting him at 5 lb, 7.1 oz. Sunday, he gained 39 g which is about 1.3 oz putting him up to 5 lb, 8.4 oz. Monday, he gained a whooping 3 oz (95 g) putting him at a weight of 5 lb, 11 oz. At least the weight is starting to come on. He is primarily taking his feeds by feeding tube. Anything he doesn't take by mouth is fortified with Neosure 22 k/cal to help with adding some calories. His feedings are 50-55 cc 8 times a day consistently at 1, 4, 7 and 10 around the clock. I went down this morning and tried to breastfeed him. He was awake and alert. He transferred 14 cc on his own. That's wonderful! I asked the doctor about trying bottles today. He gave us the go ahead to try them. Kristopher went down to do the 1 pm feeding and try the bottle out. He only took 20 cc of his 55 but some is better than none. Kris said he was just way way too sleepy. I am going down for his 7 pm feeding and praying, rather pleading with God, that he takes 14 cc or better from me. Once he figures out that he has to actually take all the feeds by mouth than I don't think it will be long before he is home. FINGERS CROSSED! At this point, I'd do anything to have him home!

We've been relying on family to watch the other kids so that I can be with Weston in the evenings. Last night was Kristopher's first night back to work. On Monday, I came home from the hospital around noon and decided to lay down for a nap. Kristopher woke me a couple of hours later to a migraine and high fever. I called the doctor's office who instructed me to go to Acute Care. So Kristopher stayed home and took me while my sister came over to watch our kids. Turns out it's a UTI, no biggie! Got some antibiotics to kick this out of my system and should be good as new in a couple of days. The antibiotics are perfectly fine to take while breastfeeding and I was able to go to the NICU. We already at the hospital and it was close to 7 by the time we got out, so we went up to the NICU together and did the 7 feeding. Last night, my dad and Deb watched the kids so I could go down. Tonight, my sister is going to watch them again (bless her heart, she was rather entertained by them on Monday). Tomorrow, I believe they get to spend a night with Grandma Klauer. Thank goodness for Family!

Rylee got her braces on Monday. Today is day 3 so we are up to 3 hours to wear them. She can wear them while awake and active. We are to add 1 hour per day to the time that she wears them to avoid discomfort and pressure sores. They're tiny! The one down fall is that she has to wear socks with them and we sure aren't in sock wearing weather.

I want to wish my friend Carolyn and her husband Hans a congratulations on their new arrival, Isaac, this morning. It's a baby a week around here I guess!

Identical brothers!!

2010-08-08T17:36:00.000-05:00

Kris took a picture of Weston when he was visiting him this afternoon. It reminded me alot of a photo I took of Troy at almost the same age.

This is Troy at 4 days old

This is Weston at 6 days old

Amazing right?

Weston's Day 5 and 6 update

2010-08-08T13:02:00.000-05:00

Weston is doing rather well. Today, they removed the billi lights. Tomorrow, they'll remove his monitors. Then he's considered a "newborn" status. Really the only thing left is getting him to take all his feedings by mouth. And gain some darn weight! Weight is a constant issue around here. I believe that maybe tomorrow he'll be moved to a "crib". As I was leaving this morning, the nurse put an outfit on him and turned the temperature in his isolette down. More calories are burned in a crib because he has to regulate his own body temperature but they are also fortifying his feeding that he takes either by feeding tube or finger feeding. I have gotten to put him to breast now everytime I go. That's a new experience for me but he's pretty good at it. The first time he took his entire feeding. Now the last couple of times, he hasn't taken much. Kristopher left a little while ago to go to see him and do his 1 pm feeding. Things are going to start getting tricky tomorrow when Kris has to go back to work. My time there will be shortened greatly. There will no longer be evening visits. It doesn't sound like he'll be home very soon. I am having a hard time with this. I just want him home. I went through this with Rylee too but I am much more impatient this go around.

Weston Day 3 and 4 update

2010-08-06T10:30:00.000-05:00

Weston is coming right along. Yesterday morning labs were draw to check his billi levels. They were 9.5 but yesterday morning's labs showed a jump to 15.6 so he got to bake under some lights all day yesterday. Today's lab showed a 14.2! So he's down and should keep going that way for the next couple of days. Tuesday night his weight was down 1.5 ounces to 6 lb, 1.5 oz, Wednesday night it was down another 7 oz to 5 lb 10.5 oz and last night he was down 3 more oz to 5 lb 7.5 oz. Dr H didn't seemed to concerned about it today. Weston's iv expired and was pulled this morning so Dr. H decided for right now to leave it out and increase the volume of his feeds. I fed him his 7 am feeding of 20cc that he took like a champ! So far he hasn't had any residuals. His urine output is wonderful and his stools are transitioning right now. Kris and I took the kids over to my dad's last night so we could spend time with him together. We tag teamed on a feeding. When we were driving to my dad's house, Rylee threw up all over herself in the car. She had been pretty fussy all day and has some terrible diaper rash on her bottom. I am not really sure what is going on. Kris and I decided to see how it goes today. At my dad's last night, she played, smiled and scooted all around. Deb went out and got her some clothes and baby bath and bathed her in the sink, which she loved. Troy has learned how to say "grandma", probably since he's been with his Grandma Klauer so much in the past couple weeks. So he now calls Deb and Deb's mom, Doris, Grandma. In less than a month, she will be marrying Grandpa so that makes her Grandma too. In the couple of hours that we were gone, they sure had a blast.

Today, when Dr. H did his rounds, he mentioned a few things that need to be done a couple of days before we can bring him home. Then said we would do those things in a couple of days. Ideally, we bring Weston home on Monday or Tuesday of next week! I think I can handle that. After seeing him, holding him, smelling him, loving him, I can't wait to have him home. He just looks so good and is doing so well, I just want him all to myself. I want to be able to hold him when I want, how I want and not worry about the cords. I want to have a baby to feed at night instead of waking every couple hours to pump for that baby. His diapers and clothes are all ready for him, we just need him. I know he will come home eventually I just really want it to be now.

Weston Day 2 update

2010-08-04T21:41:00.000-05:00

Today was a great day for Weston. He got his first feeding today of 4 cc. We're starting slow to make sure that he can tolerate them. Kris along with Grandma and Grandpa Klauer got to be there for the second feeding of 5 cc. This was also Kristopher's first time holding Weston. Everytime I went to visit him I have got to hold so this was pretty special for him. I was discharged at around 1 today. I had different feelings on being discharged to go home. On one hand, I was excited to go home but on the other, I didn't want to leave the hospital without Weston. I have had to do this before and it was definitely not any easier this time around. It's awful and I don't wish it on anyone. I will only be 25 minutes from him whereas I was 2 hours from Rylee. I get to go see him everyday and spend as much time as needed him. Kris and the kids had to wait until I was discharged because they were my way home, kind of. I drove myself to the clinic on Monday and left there in an ambulance so Kris's car was still parked at the clinic. I was surprised it wasn't towed. We still had a bunch of things that needed to be done before Weston came home like getting him diapers and a mattress. The first place we went was good ol' Walmart. We got Weston's mattress and diapers as well as a bunch of groceries for at home. Then we headed over to the clinic to get Kristopher's car and headed home. It was nice to be home. Troy, Rylee and I napped, I showered, we made dinner that the hospital sent home with us and then I headed back to the NICU to be with Weston. I really hadn't spent much time with him today so I needed some mommy and Weston time. Right after I got there it was time for him to eat. Earlier in the day, the nurse placed a feeding tube down his nose to his tummy because he didn't seem to care about eating much. However, the night nurse decided that we should let him try taking his feeding from a syringe. He wanted the pacifier and was sucking well on it right before the feeding. He took the entire 10 cc in a matter of minutes. He didn't let any dribble from his mouth and when finished he gave 2 big burps. I got to feed him tonight and burp him. Then we just cuddled for a while before he started to feel a little chilly. His heart rates were great all day with only 1 brady spell. His breathing is a night and day difference from yesterday. He's a little yellowish so tomorrow they draw another billi count to see if he needs some photo therapy. I can't wait until he is home with us especially after cuddling with him tonight and seeing how well he is doing. Tomorrow I plan on being at the NICU by 7 am which is his feeding time and hoping to be there when the doctor does his rounds. I am anxious to see what he has to say and if he has any ideas on a time frame of Weston's stay. I am praying hard for him. He's figured out the breathing business now if we can get the feeding part figured out, which he's well on his way, then I don't think that it will be long. Amen for that!

BIG SURPRISE!!

2010-08-03T18:48:00.001-05:00

Before I get to the big surprise, I wanna give you all an update on Rylee. We came home Saturday and all was fine. Sunday, she had a hard time keeping much down. Kris and I both think that it was the taste of the tylenol we got. It was cherry and she only vomited while being given that. The ibuprofen seemed to go fine. However, since she had vomited a few times, I decided to have her checked out at Medical Associates yesterday. She was down 1 and half ounces from Saturday. We had to take her out to the hospital to get a blood draw (apparently it takes to long to have it done at the clinic so they send their patients in urgent need to the hospital to get the results within an hour) to check her white blood count and hemoglobin level. White blood cell count was a little elevated and hemoglobin was fine. They think she may have something viral but don't know for sure. I was told that if the vomiting started again or she developed a fever than I needed to bring her right back. So far so good, I think.

Ok...are you ready for the Big Surprise???? It's this...

Introducing Weston Robert Klauer! He's absolutely precious. It's been a crazy week around our household and won't be slowing anytime soon obviously. We named him Weston because we liked the name. His middle name Robert came from each of us having a Grandpa named Robert. I threw it out there because that was my grandpa's name and though he's no longer with us and I miss him like crazy, I know he's been watching over us and keeping us safe and healthy. Then Kristopher said, that was his grandpa's name too. So it worked out both ways.

Weston decided that on Monday he wanted to have a birthday! I was suppose to go to the doctor last Thursday but with all the running around for Rylee I had to reschedule. I was rescheduled for Friday and obviously that didn't work out because of Rylee's surgery. So I was re-rescheduled for Monday at 3:30 pm with Dr. O'Donnell. Kris, the kids and I took at trip on Sunday to Tomah. Everyone was feeling happy, well and chipper so we decided it was a good time to meet Mr. Sawyer James and see how everyone was doing there. On the ride home, Kris had to slam the breaks to avoid hitting the Prius that slammed on his breaks infront of us. I started having some contractions then. About half way home, the contractions got a little stronger and more frequent. By the time we got home, I was not feeling so well so I laid down and they pretty much went away. Monday morning I got up, showered and went to work. I took Rylee to the doctor and to the hospital for that CBC. I was short of breath then and when I got back at work, I was not feeling well at all. I didn't know if I wanted to throw up or pass out or sit or stand or spit. I was having contractions but nothing out the normal. I got in the car to go to the doctor and I honestly have no idea how I drove myself there. Seriously, I was in quite a bit of pain, contractions on top of each other and still feeling sick to my stomach. I only hope that I didn't drive someone off the road, drove the speed limit or between the lines. I was pretty out of it. I told the nurse about the contractions in which she looked at me with this look like "come on your just under 35 weeks, you're not in labor but whatever". Dr. O'Donnell came in and measured, right at 34 weeks. Then she checked me. I was a 3 and 90%. Since I drove myself to the clinic and was in active labor, she decided that ambulance was the way to go to the hospital. I got wheeled out through Medical Associates Clinic West Campus (OB is on the second floor) on a stretcher. They held the elevator for me and all! The nice paramedic told me that because the traffic that we were going to go lights and sirens to the hospital. He kept asking me to tell him when a contraction stopped or started, the problem at the point was that I had no idea if they were stopping. It was probably a less than 10 minutes ride and we flew through the ER right up to L&D. Dr. Berger, my primary doctor, met us in the hall and checked me right when we came in. I was a 5 and 90% with a bulging bag of water. He let me get an epidural first then broke my water to get the show on the road and because it was bulging! Honestly, a dam broke when he opened that bag. He said it was the second largest rupture he's ever seen! It was wild. Kristopher came right before that, thank goodness. Once I got that epidural, I relaxed as well as baby. So instead of baby coming at 6 like Dr. B predicted, he took his sweet little time. It turned out that he was face up instead of face down. Dr. B tried to turn him, but he didn't wanna turn around. After I was complete, Dr. B did manage to turn him. He was born at 9:57 pm. He was born 5 weeks, 2 days early but was rather large! Dr. B predicted girl at 5 lbs 4 oz. I thought boy as well as Kris. He was 6 lb, 3 oz and 19.5 inches long. There are full term babies who are smaller than him. I can't even imagine what another 37 days in there would have produced! I didn't have any problems. Dr. B suctioned him and he let out some good loud bellars. He started grunting when he was breathing and because he was born before 36 he was taken to the NICU, after I got to hold him for a minute or two. He is still in the NICU. He's been having some problems with his breathing however, remains on room air and hasn't dipped below 90% for his O2. I get to go home tomorrow but he's going to have to stay. I am not really all that ready yet. We have to put a crib together, get a crib mattress, get diapers and some clothes to fit him right now, wash the other boy clothes, wash his crib bedding, I need to get a pump to use while he's here and once I go back to work. There's a list. I wanted to get some meals put together in the freezer so I'd like to do that too. It'll be a bunch of shopping, wash, cooking and dishes tomorrow I am afraid. As well as running back and forth to dubuque! He's certainly precious. And resembles his big brother an awful lot! His hair is thick and blond. He has a LOT of bruising on his face, legs, arms and bottom of his feet (that's from constantly kicking me the ribs). The nurse in the NICU said that she would guess that by Thursday he'll be under some billi lights for jaundice. I didn't expect to have a baby yesterday when I went to the doctor! Mr. Weston has been a surprise from the beginning and hasn't let us down yet. Enjoy some photos!

Rylee at my friend's baby shower a couple weeks ago

Troy wearing Rylee's first birthday crown...it's a nice smile

Last picture of her beautiful head of hair, though they didn't shave much off

This is a shirt they gave us to have Rylee wear, she swam in the thing!

This was the afternoon after surgery, she was happy and, you can't see it well here, but has bright orange hair

See the clown hair, it's still tinted orange.

This was the following morning

Her face in this picture cracks me up! She just had surgery less than 24 hours before and she's got big toothy smiles!

There were guys right outside cleaning the windows right next to out room so we set her up by the window to look at them.

First time meeting mommy

all settled in the NICU

My big babies and me this afternoon. They haven't gotten to see Weston yet. He needed his rest so we didn't even try to have them look in through the window at him and I really don't think either one would understand he was really looking through a window. We did ask Troy where the baby was and he point at my tummy. When we said, he's not in there anymore, Troy simply said baby at baby doctor. He did well when it was time to go and I had to stay but he thought Rylee had to stay too.

We're home!

2010-07-31T18:57:00.000-05:00

We're all home! We were discharged late this morning. The first thing we did was head over to Babies R Us. We needed to get her some infant Tylenol and Motrin as well as diapers, a baby shower gift and a couple things for the new baby that we needed. A while ago, Tylenol was recalled. Neither Babies R Us nor Shopko sell any kind of generic brand since all of Tylenol brand is still off the shelves. We ate our favorite place, Texas Roadhouse, and headed out of Madison. We stopped at Target before leaving completely to see what their selection looked like. TADA! They had their generic brand. We got them and headed to Cassville. Rylee and I fell fast asleep. I mean, I was drooling I was that tired. We both slept the entire almost 2 hour ride there. I could've curled up on my in-laws couch, I was still tired! Troy beamed once when we walked in. He went crazy!! He spent the entire day with Grandpa who gave a good report. But once we got there, he turned into a little monster of sorts. I remember watching my sister's kids and them being good as gold for me, then when mom and dad took them they were ready to pull their hair out. NOW, I completely understand! I missed that kid though. He curled up next to me on the couch and fell asleep. He slept there for the rest of the time we were there and then entire way home. He had fun with grandpa and grandma. Grandma came home from work while we were still there and he wanted to meet her at the door. Troy and Grandpa went to the Farmer's Market in the morning. They had to cross the train tracks. Troy told us this and that they had to hold hands to cross the train tracks, "Papa did that". Needless to say, he had fun. There was a little incident with a bath last night. Troy didn't like that bath and he let them know it! I think Grandma and Grandpa were worn out and probably happy to see us go! Grandma made him a quilt for his 2nd birthday. It's big enough to fit a twin bed, which he'll be moving into soon. The front has dump trucks and fire trucks and cop cars, it's adorable. But the back is Thomas the Train! Troy still won't show me the front or even let me touch it. It's his Thomas the train blanket. Kris thinks that it's hilarious how much he loves the quilt, only for the back side. I really like the front side and I guess since I make his bed, the front will be up! I'll post some pictures of our last couple of days and the quilt later!

Rylee update

2010-07-30T16:25:00.000-05:00

We had to get up by 4 this morning and considering that it was closer to 1 before we crawled into bed, we're tired! We had to wash Rylee's hair and tummy with this special stuff that helps remove germs on the skin. It's red and stinky. We also gave her a sponge bath so she would be nice and clean. Before we went to bed, we packed our bag and gathered everything that we needed for an overnight stay. On the ride to Madison this morning, Rylee and I slept while Kristopher drove. I can't tell you how good it felt to know that we had a bright and early surgery time so Rylee didn't have to sit hungry all morning or even all day. She was happy with everyone, all the nurses and doctors. At promptly 7:45, the RN and anesthesiology team came to get her. The RN brought her a princess wand so have with her when she rode in her princess carriage, or better known as a crib on wheels. At 8:45, Dr. A came by the room and let us know that they were all finished with surgery. It was indeed the valve on the top of her head that had malfunctioned. They simply replaced that piece and it started draining again. He said she would be taken to recovery in about 10 minutes so it wouldn't be long before we would see her. At 9:15, Kristopher started pacing the room, at 9:45 the RN stopped by to let us know that it was taking Rylee a long time to wake up from anesthesia, at 10:15 we were finally taken back to see her in recovery though she had yet to open her eyes she was a little more stable. I can honestly say that those 2 and half hours were the longest in my life, especially the last hour and half. Kristopher said a couple times, "come on I just wanna see my baby girl". Once she decided to wake, she woke! She woke happy and smiley and obsessed with the monitors. When the shunt was placed the first time, it didn't take her near as long to wake up and she was whiny and miserable! This time, completely different. She was outgoing with the nurses, kept flipping around in her bed, climbing on pillows...and happy. Last time, the night time was extremely difficult as I stayed with her was awake for the majority of it. This time, it's only 4 o'clock now, but she was hasn't cried yet, has taken a 3 hour nap (that Kris and I both took part in!), eaten a couple bottles and played a bunch with some toys. Right now she is sitting on Kristopher's lap, cuddling and watching Nick Jr. She has taken this well, much better than Kris and I expected. Her O2 stats and blood pressures were really funky when we first went back to recovery. The anesthesiologist said that her vocal cords closed when they started to give her the sleeping gas so they switched it up a little and gave her some more to relax those cords. That could be why it took her a while to wake up. Her O2 kept dropping to the low 90s but mostly hung around 95-96. Her blood pressures were 80s over 20s and are now low 100s over 40s. Her temps have been perfect 98.6°F. As it stands right now, we are expected to go home in the morning. They just want to observe her overnight. Kris and I are both planning on staying in the room with her then heading towards home in the morning. We are hoping to get out early and then we may head the Tomah direction to meet our new nephew and go to Cassville to pick up Troy. We miss him like crazy but from the sounds of it, he's been busy playing. Grandma said they ran to the market today and on the way back home, a train came through town. He couldn't get to Grandma to hide behind, so he just told her "that scared me". He absolutely loves all trains but the real ones, apparently. He's hanging out with Grandpa tomorrow morning so a trip to the fire station may be in order! I am excited to just get home and cuddle these babes! However, I will miss the ice machine that is right outside our door. I have been eating/crunching lots and lots of ice this pregnancy so to have an ice machine right out the door, I am in heaven! And it's the soft, airy ice too. As soon as I have time, I'll post some photos of Rylee! Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes for her. She's doing great!

Please pray for Rylee

2010-07-29T23:53:00.000-05:00

Rylee's GI doc called us on monday. We played phone tag until Wednesday afternoon. Her thought was that they didn't check Rylee's head circum. when we were there on Monday and wanted it to be measured. She and Shirley were looking at measurements in the past couple months and noticed a large increase in size. I rushed Rylee into Dr. C's office, he measured her himself and faxed her neurosurgeon the measurements. Today, neurosurgery called and wanted to see her right away. We took her to the UW hospital's Radiology department first for a quick brain scan the over to the AFCH Peds Specialty clinics to see Dr. A, her neurosurgeon. He hadn't seen the images yet and pulled them up while in the room with us. It was abundantly clear that from April to today there was much more fluid. Her shunt is no longer working. They told us when they placed it in September that there was a chance this would happen. We decided to come home for the night since surgery is for tomorrow. I had some work to finish up at work, we needed to do something with Troy and pack for ourselves. My in-laws are off tomorrow which worked out really well and said they would take Troy. So while I was at work, Kris took Rylee (Troy came with me) to the store to pick up a few things for Troy's stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We then ate supper and headed right up to Cassville to drop Troy off. We stayed up there until after 10 in hopes that he would get tired and we could help put him to sleep. No such luck! We just got home 11:42 pm and had 3 new messages from the AFCH on the answering machine. We told them to call my cell number not home so we missed every call. Thankfully the 3rd message was full of all the info we need for tomorrow. When we left the clinic today we didn't know when surgery would be, praying for early in the morning to avoid an overly hungry little girl. Thankfully, surgery is at 7:45 am, we need to be there at 6:15 am. It's going to be a late bedtime, early rise and LONG day! Hopefully, everything goes as planned today. Since it is so early hopefully there are no 3-4 hour delays like when the shunt was placed. She will be admitted and spend the night there tomorrow night, along with Kris or I or both! Please pray they find the area of the shunt that isn't working and it's an easy fix. Pray for only a little shaving of her hair and not her entire right side! I am extremely thankful that we caught this now, getting it fixed and after an extremely stressful few days, week rather, I am still pregnant! Speaking of pregnant, I am aunt again to a beautiful little boy. He made his timely entrance early yesterday. I can't wait to meet him! Welcome to world, Sawyer.

GI and nutritionist update

2010-07-26T21:09:00.000-05:00

If you ask the ladies I work with, I was full of hard knocks this morning before I took Rylee to her GI/dietian appt. I vowed I was not leaving that place until we got some decisions made, no more of this "come back in a month" crap. Well, guess who's going back in a month? We are. Were decisions made? Nope. We did discuss stuff like the feeding tube. As of right now, if Rylee doesn't gain a decent amount of weight in the next month, than the GI doc will intervene and place a feeding tube. Rylee is down an ounce in 6 weeks. DOWN AN OUNCE! WTF? She has thrown up 3 times in the last week, but even then that wouldn't affect her weight enough to result in a loss. She is more active but in order for her to result in a loss, she would need to literally be running full speed from the time she wakes to the time she goes to bed for the last 6 weeks and considering she can't even "crawl" that's not the case. If you took the amount of calories that Rylee gets in 1 day and gave that to a "normal" baby doing comparable activity, that child would be extremely rolly poley. For whatever reason, Rylee doesn't seem to absorb those calories. 6 months ago, Rylee weighed 15 lbs, today she still weighs 15 lbs. Her entire rib cage and all the vertebrae of spine stick out. It's gross. What's even more disgusting is that she looks this way and we spend hundreds of dollars a month just to feed her and for what? This is what is so damn frustrating. There is a message on the answering machine tonight from the GI doc saying she and the dietian thought of something after Rylee and I left today. So I will call her in the morning and find out what she has to say. Hopefully whatever it is, is cheap and easy and WORKS!

One other little tidbit of news, I caught Rylee taking a small crawl ON TAPE! See? I squeal in it so turn your volume off!

Finally did it!

2010-07-20T19:08:00.000-05:00

Kris and I have tons of insurance. Insurance is a gamble which in our case has paid off enormously! I met with our insurance agent about a whole life insurance policy for Rylee. The reason we are pursuing only Rylee is strictly because of her health. Troy is a happy, healthy little 2 and half year old boy. We have each child as a writer or is it rider, I don't know, under Kris's life insurance policy. It would be enough money to cover the cost of a funeral and that's it. We're not setting out to make money off our children if they were to pass. However, we are pursuing a whole life policy for Rylee because right now, today, she is not having any "life threatening" problems. Those have passed. BUT, what if in 5 or 10 or 15 years, something does happen with her heart or lungs or kidneys or brain and becomes a life threatening issue. Or what if she is diagnosed with a life threatening disease like cystic fibrosis or cerebal palsy. Today, she is a globally delayed 18 month old girl who is disabled as a result. I was told by my agent that "just because she is disabled doesn't mean that it's life threatening and doesn't mean that she is uninsurable." We went for a standard dollar amount for a whole life 10 policy which means that in 10 years the policy is paid for. With this policy, up to 7 times throughout Rylee's life she will be given the option to purchase additional insurance. My hope is that one day Rylee will have a family of her own and [knock on wood] never has to use it! All I did today was apply for her. Now, it's up to the insurance company to decide.

Rylee has also been eating more baby food. She didn't want to eat the butternut squash tonight at supper nor did she want to eat much of the bananas at breakfast. We have also seen her up on hands and knees a lot lately. Tonight she almost got herself into the sitting position and with a little help from me, she got there. Right now, I am off to play with the kids. My ankles and feet don't look much like ankles and feet more like one big ball on the end of my leg. Serious swelling going on today. It's certainly humid outside and I was on my feet quite a bit today so I am relaxing...chores will wait until tomorrow!

Changes and Ultrasound update

2010-07-16T13:37:00.000-05:00

Jessie, Rylee’s occupational therapist, has decided to take a new approach to how she does the therapy with Rylee. Rylee seems to be more stimulated and energetic when Troy is around so Jessie is going to start incorporating Troy in therapy. Together, they will introduce stacking blocks, putting toys in a container, etc. while learning to share and take turns at the same time. I think this will also help Troy understand how to play with Rylee better. Right now, he thinks that he can sit on her or pick her up or rough house with her. Now at least he’ll know that he can’t constantly take toys from her because he doesn’t think it’s something she can have, now he’ll know she can play with those toys. I think this will benefit both of them.

Today, Tammy the program coordinator came with Krisann, the speech therapist, to discuss the swallow study and increasing the frequency of Krisann’s visits. Together, Kris, Tammy and Krisann decided that it would be best for her to see Rylee twice a month instead of once a month. I couldn’t attend this meeting today because I had an ultrasound but more on that in a second. Now, each therapy, PT, OT and speech will come 2 times a month each. A lot of things they work on overlap so they’re not needed much more than that.

As for my ultrasound, today could possibly be the second worst day of my life. I had the ultrasound to put my nerves at ease and turns out that’s not the case. Baby Klauer #3’s nasal bones are still visible. This is a big indicator that there is a chromosomal abnormality of some kind. I really don't want to go through another chromosome disorder. It's reeked too much havic on our family already. And I don't want to see another one of my children have to work so hard to get next to nowhere. This also has changed our minds completely about stem cell banking. Unfortunately, if the baby does indeed have a chromosome abnormality than those stem cells would be no use to anyone. For that reason, we are not banking them. However, all his/her organs are the right size, in the right place and has the right number of each and the brain is free of excess spinal fluid. So those are positives. Right now, we just have to wait to do the microarray genetic testing after he/she is born. Ann, the ultrasound tech, looked everything over and did ask if I wanted to know the gender of the baby…I didn’t even hesitate when I answered NO! Dr. B said that in 3 to 4 weeks we can have a birthday. At 36 weeks, the baby is full term and depending on what’s happening in 4ish weeks, we’ll start this kiddo and get him/her out, get him/her tested and go home. I am miserably pregnant but measuring at 32 weeks. Baby is long and my big ol’ belly is entirely full of baby. I have gained a total of 18 lbs so will come under the 25-35 lb normal weight gain range. That is perfectly fine. And baby is still in head down position so we are definitely locked and loaded for birth. I have placed more urgency on that to do list I have been talking about.

I would like to see all that stuff done before baby gets here! An extra motivation to that to do list is we’re having a little celebration at our house on August 1st for my mother-in-law and father-in-law. We’re celebrating their anniversary and my mother-in-law’s BIG birthday. So Kris’s parents, brother and 2 of 3 nephews will be coming for food, fun and cake! Hopefully it’s nice out so they can play in the pool or outside. So my goal is for Kris and I to get the major things checked off our list by then so we can relax the last week or so before the baby arrives.

Our schedule for August and September is plump and full. One of my best friend’s baby shower is the middle of August which if this baby comes in 4 weeks, I’ll be in the hospital for. My sister is due around the end of July, friend Carolyn is due to have a baby the 23rd of August and my sister-in-law in due around August 31st. My dad’s long anticipated wedding is September 4th and if I have this baby a couple weeks before hand I will definitely be busy helping a lot more with that. We have some open houses for my family sometime in that area. We are going to be missing my mom’s family get together due to my dad’s wedding but we have my mother-in-law’s family reunion the 3rd week in September. Then October 1st, RSV season starts. Since we’ll have a newborn baby and Rylee, we’re definitely staying home more this RSV season, requiring more hand sanitizing and much stricter on the cold symptoms. So from October 1 to April 30, we’re pretty much going to stay home and enjoy one another. And just like last year, we are not making any promises to attend an festivities over the holidays. We are also hoping for a place of employment change at our house. One that will have us all home together much more, much higher pay, cheaper insurance so please pray!

To bank or not to bank....?

2010-07-15T19:32:00.000-05:00

Currency banking is my thing, obviously! But that's not the kind of banking I'm talking about. Kris and I have a very limited time, like only a week, to decide if we are going to bank our baby's cord blood. Hydrocephalus and Developmental delays have been "cured" by those precious stem cells. Those are what make my baby "disabled". These stem cells may help her live a more "normal" life. And what if this little wiggle worm I'm carrying has the same or some of the same problems as Rylee? It's a gamble. However, just like everything, it may not work. We may bank them for nothing. But in our case, the odds are with us that we'll be able to use them. The catch is the cost to bank them....ouch! The cost to bank them now is about 3.7% the cost of not banking them and needing them later. There is a lot of controversy over banking stem cells. I did not get pregnant to obtain these stem cells to "fix" my sick child. In the movie, My Sister's Keeper, those parents do. This is however, the only shot we have at this. In 6 short weeks or less, we either bank them or not. We have no other chance. We are not and cannot have anymore child. So this is it! Do we do it or do we just throw them away? Right now, if I had the money to bank them, I would do it in the blink of an eye. I do think that we could get the money to do it. It's doesn't cost an arm just maybe a toe. Seriously, it's not terrible just not chump change. I want to bank them. I want to have them in case one of our 3 children need them. What would you do?

Continuing to see progress

2010-07-12T00:16:00.000-05:00

This weekend was meant to clean out the garage. Our intentions were good on Saturday morning. We packed our old TV and some other junk to drop off at the thrift shop. Just so you know, thrift shops don't take televisions. I didn't know that otherwise I wouldn't have let Kristopher packed that big ol' thing into the back of the car just to have to unload the thing. So somethings are gone just not everything we wanted. And the garage is definitely not clean. Not even close. It's on that to do list that I told you about last time just not done yet. It has to get done before baby comes.

Speaking of baby coming...my ultrasound is Friday!! I am excited to see him or her and hope there are no surprises. I have been having some major contractions this weekend. They're not painful just annoying. They're sporadic so no need to worry about them right now. This baby is definitely a wiggle worm. It just won't stop moving. That's probably why I am still awake at 11:30 pm. I can't seem to get comfy in my bed so I have taken residency on the couch. Kristopher and I sat down this morning and decided on who we want to ask to be godparents for this babe and we're so excited to ask them in next few weeks. Next weekend is my friend Carolyn's baby shower. I am extremely excited for that. I haven't seen her since she's been pregnant nor have I seen my friend Dana (who is due in early October) or my friend Annie. And I get to see those 3 lovely ladies next weekend. I sure hope this week goes by faster than last week.

Troy Thomas is funny! He talks nonstop and says some of the darndest things. For example, he opens the door just to make sure the "blue car" is still there and says "blue car here mom. cool cool carseat in there". We got him and Rylee a blow up pool on Saturday. We filled it, took naps (well lack thereof but desperately tried to get him to sleep instead of constantly talking about the pool) in hopes the water would warm up in the sun. No such luck. After supper we went out to run off the very last of his energy. The water was still cold but he still splashed around. Rylee didn't care for it much and was more than content to sit on my lap and laugh at him and daddy. Troy also has manners down pat! He says "please" "thank you" "your welcome" and "excuse me" at appropriate times most of the time without being reminded. Potty training has been easy peasy. He enjoys the potty. He sometimes even gets mad when his bladder goes dry and says "i want more!" #2 on the other hand, is more private. He still feels more comfortable with the diaper than the potty when it comes to that. He's just 2 and a half and I am sure he won't got to Kindergarten in a diaper so it definitely hasn't been hard core potty training. Maybe when I am home after the baby comes, we work more consistently on it but as of right now, it's when he wants to do it. We do make it fun. We sing songs. His favorite lately is The Wheels on the Bus. Rylee also loves The Wheels on the Bus. They both have taken to books lately. Troy loves the pictures. Most of the time, he's took excited to let me read the book word for word so sometimes if the book isn't memorized, I make the stories up. He now has started to tell his own stories. Most of the time, I don't exactly follow the story but I am sad and happy in the appropriate times. Rylee got a hold of a cookbook today. She ripped an entire page out. When I told her no, she turned, looked at me and smiled like she did something good.

Today, we seen her pull herself up on her hands and knees more. She still hasn't figured out that it would be much easier and faster to just move those hands and knees and she hasn't figured out how to do it. She desperately wants to. She rocks back and forth just can't go forward. She can cruise in her walker. Troy, Kris and my feet have been victims of that many times. She stands up and walks. It think that walker itself is more for security than anything. Just wait until she gets those braces in a few weeks. We'll really have trouble on our hands then. We'll have to get her new shoes. She's got such tiny, narrow feet that a pair of size 1 wides will probably do it. I am really not even sure what the doctor will say or what we'll walk of his office with. Speaking of doctors, Troy went to see Dr. K his ENT doc about his tubes. It was just a 6 month post op check up. I didn't go, Kristopher took him and Rylee because I have been missing a lot of work for appointments in the past few months and didn't feel like I was necessarily needed for this one. Kris said that Dr. K seemed more interested in Rylee than Troy. Oh well. We just had her hearing checked at the development assessment and it was fine. Dr. K wants to see Troy back in 12 months and if the tubes haven't feel out by then then they'll remove them. However, Dr. R said a few weeks ago that one was already starting to come out of place. At that appointment in 12 months, I think that we'll also have Rylee seen since he thought it was such a big deal, just to make sure. With all the trouble that we had with Troy's ears and ear infections, I am surprised to say that Rylee has only had 1 in her almost 18 months. Knock on wood I guess! She also has not shown that she is allergic to anything unlike her brother. Therefore, I think that we have all areas covered, seen experts for all types of things so Baby #3 should be easy in that regard. Baby #3 will hopefully be the one that is easy, medically speaking. I think that Baby #3 will definitely be difficult in his/her own way considering this pregnancy and how hard and difficult it has been thus far.

I am done babbling now. It now 12:15 am and I think I have been watching more ET than typing. Right now is the Jake and Vienna battle, ha! Good night all!

Girl with a personality

2010-07-08T19:40:00.000-05:00

This little girl we have thinks she can outsmart us. Well, she's right! That's exactly what she did today to us while Marcy was here for PT. She fussed the whole time we sat in the living room observing her and Marcy, who by the way was floored by her little antics from last week at the development assessment and the little stunt with the entertainment center. After her fussing and throwing little tantrums, I thought it would be best if we all just left the room and let her be with Marcy. Troy and Kris made themselves breakfast and I left for work. Kris said that towards the end of the hour she started acting like she was tired. She rubbed her eyes and the whole 9 yards. Marcy wondered if she woke early today but actually she slept in a little until 6:30! Marcy left at 8:30 and I talked to Kris at 11:30. Miss Rylee was still awake and happy. Hmmm...we definitely got played today! We're onto her and her tricks!

Today, I made her appointment for her SureSteps. She will be measured and fitted on July 19! From what I understand, her feet are malformed due to lack of muscle tone and over pronation.

Rylee's feet are exactly like the far left foot in the picture. I am excited for her to get some braces and help straighten this problem out while we are toning her legs and feet.

We also have to go to GI on July 26, IFSP with the therapists and Tammy on August 4, see Genetics on August 16, and have a her 18 month well child check up on August 19. Then we can have a baby!

Oh, the best thing happened at supper tonight. I decided to try carrots and cereal with Rylee tonight. She ate almost the entire jar of carrots and put a huge dent in the cereal I prepared for her. Then ate her entire 5.5 oz bottle. I am amazed at what this girl put away tonight. AMAZING! I just want to sing "Oh Happy Day!"

As for me...I am extremely uncomfortable, mostly at night. Kristopher has been asked to rub my back more and more. I don't think that he likes doing it very much (he absolutely never offers) so I only beg when it really hurts. I know for this reason, he is just as excited for this baby to come as I am! Baby is starting to get the hiccups a lot and body parts are hanging out in my rib cage. From the hiccups, I can tell that he/she is in the head down face down position. We're locked, loaded and ready! Next week, I have to have an ultrasound to check the baby's anatomy. I am not finding out the gender just making sure that everything is the correct size and shape and all fingers and toes are accounted for. The size of the baby will also be a factor. I had an 8 lb, 9 oz baby before and can't do it again. My anatomy simply can not handle a baby that size! We're so close to the end but yet so far away! There is still some cleaning I want to do around here before the baby comes and finish up some odds and ends. If it gets done, it gets done and if it doesn't it's not the end of the world.

A long awaited day

2010-07-05T09:03:00.000-05:00

Today is July 5th! Do you know what this day means? Statewide indoor smoking ban started this morning at 12:01 am! Rylee's chronic lung disease and the affect of second hand smoking to both our children and ourselves, has restricted where we go. Living in rural Wisconsin there are many places that still allow smoking indoors. There are ways for businesses to get around this like having an opening of at least 25% wall space for open air flow. Regardless, many of the places we would like to go, don't have that as an option. A couple of our favorite local cafes allowed smoking therefore we could never go there. This ban will make Wisconsin a healthier state!

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July everyone. We are celebrating today and tomorrow at home. It's not suppose to be the best weather. Yesterday we packed up the van and celebrated with family and friends. My dad's soon to be wife Deb's sister Denise and her fiance Tim threw a party at their vacation home on Lake Mendota in Madison. The food was amazing! Denise literally had a storage container FULL of cut fresh fruit. There were brats and hamburgers for lunch with all the fixings like pasta salad, potato salad, veggies and fruit, desserts. For dinner there were steaks, fixings and desserts. They had 5 enormous coolers full of every kind of beverage...a variety of beers, pepsi and coke products in small bottles, water, vitamin water...it was crazy the lengths they went through to have 50 of their family and friends over. The house was gorgeous. At 9:30, everyone grabbed a spot in the yard to watch the Rhythm and Booms fireworks. Those were awesome. We couldn't see a few because of some trees in the way but all in all, it was a blast. We got some sun and some mosquito bites. We stayed the night in a hotel more for convenience of not having to fight the traffic and driving home at 11 at night. My dad and Deb reserved 3 hotel rooms. During the party, Deb's son Robbie and daughter Casey showed up unexpectedly. My dad, Deb, Casey and Deb's granddaughter Kristen stayed in a room, Deb's other daughter Amy, her boyfriend Terry and Robbie stayed in another room. While me, Kris, Troy, Rylee, Scott and Aubrey took the 3rd room. It was a gorgeous hotel. Troy and Rylee were awake for most of the day with 1 nap on the ride to Madison. Thus, at 10:30 we had 2 tired kiddos. Thank goodness for blackout curtains. The kids woke at 7 and we decided to take a dip in the pool then. We were back and showered by 8. The pool was cold and neither Troy nor Rylee enjoyed it at all! This was Rylee's first time in the pool. Troy hates the pool, always had. We have to find a program around the area that has some kind of pool introduction course to help make them more comfortable with water. We packed up and went out for breakfast, then headed home. We thought about a trip to the zoo but we have a certain 2 year old who's ears apparently quit working sometime late afternoon yesterday. We were tired of having to deal with that and decided that going to the zoo would probably be more hassle than anything and we didn't have our stroller. I am sure they have ones to rent there but Troy's attitude was what made the deciding factor. It was a quiet ride home as Troy, Rylee and I all slept the entire way. The van is amazing by the way. It fit so much stuff in there. We packed a medium sized cooler, suitcase, pack n play, 2 adult bag chairs, 1 child bag chair, portable highchair, bag of linens, bag of food, 2 life jackets and a plant all in the back...we didn't have to fold a seat or anything. That's amazing! We will definitely never outgrow this vehicle.

Rylee's Development Assessment

2010-07-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

Rylee's assessment was scheduled for 8:30 this morning at the UW Waisman Center in Madison. Originally, we were going to take Troy with us. Last week, after talking to Grandma Klauer, we decided to send Troy to spend the day with her instead of having to get up early, sit quietly for 4 hours while Rylee got all the attention, and have to sit in the car for 3 hours. Grandma had stuff to do at home so she took Troy on Thursday evening and he spent the night with her. He had quite a busy day of dragging all the toys upstairs and watching/listening (or covering his ears from what I am told) to the trains. It was much better for him than having him come with us. We were able to focus on Rylee and the therapists and paperwork much easier without him there.

Last night, since it was just Rylee and I and we didn't have anything we HAD to do, I decided to take her to a movie that I have been wanting to see. She fell asleep halfway through and was the best baby when she was awake. About the time that she fell asleep, I started having some contractions. Those contractions ended up being every 3 to 4 minutes lasting 1 minute consistently from 9 until 11 ish. At 10, I ate to get some food in my empty belly and by 11 the contractions had slowed way down so I was able to sleep. But once Kristopher got home an hour later, I was up again with identical contractions. They were painful and powerful. Those lasted until 2 am, when I was so exhausted I finally fell asleep with the help of a back massage from Kristopher. I woke often until I got up at 5:30 am. Those contractions lasted throughout the much of the day. They seemed to be worse when my stomach was empty. As of right now, I have only had a few this hour and the baby is wiggling around like crazy. Hopefully, those real deal contractions hold off for another 5 or 6 weeks at least.

We arrived at the Waisman Center early today to schedule the genetics appointment. August 16th was the earliest we could get in. I was tickled pink! I am so glad that we don't have to wait another 3 months! Afterwards, we got Rylee checked into see Dr. Iyama. Rylee went with Dr. Douglas from Audiology first. She passed the hearing screening. She did have some trouble with the low tones but even I could hardly hear them if I wasn't paying attention. She sat on my lap throughout the entire screening. Her eardrums and middle ear are clear of fluid. We'll follow up with them again in the future. Then she played with OT. She sat in a highchair and they did a variety of exercises with her. Jessica our OT would've been floored by what she did with them. When they handed her blocks she instantly picked them up and started to bang them, smiling all the while like "I know exactly what I am suppose to do with these!" After that, we went to our original ice cold room where we fed her and waited for PT. PT brought in a tumbling mat with them for her to hang out on the floor as well as a box of toys. Dr. Iyama came in as the PT was just starting. It was getting to be Rylee's naptime so I kind of figured she wouldn't be the most cooperative. Poor Marcy, our current PT, has been working with her for months to get on all 4s and try to crawl on her own. And she's been trying to get Rylee to put herself into the sitting position. She has never crawled on all 4s or been able to get into the sitting position before. She did it today. She had a smile on her face and looked at me with like "see I can do this when I wanna". Little turd! Marcy is going to have a cow when she hears about this next week. Dr. Iyama did the speech part. Each different therapy categorized her at a different age.

OT placed her at 10 months compared to her 14 months adjusted age
PT placed her at 7-8 months compared to her 14 months adjusted age
Speech placed her at 6-8 months compared to her 14 months adjusted age

Dr. Iyama and PT decided that orthopedic shoes were what was best for her. They signed the prescription and we already have a new message on the answering machine to schedule her fitting. We've been concerned about her feet and the way they roll inward so far so this is nice to finally get someone to help us take care of it. At this point, it's a problem with the lack of muscle tones in her feet and legs so there will just be shoes, no breaking or cutting involved!

We are going to redo this assessment in 6 months. Hopefully she grows 6 months in 6 months. Thus meaning that 6 months from now they place her at an age with an additional 6 months. I.E. OT placed her at 10 months now, hopefully 6 months from now she is placed at 16 months.

Dr. Iyama also fully believes that Rylee's delays are a result of the Chromosome 6 deletion. Even the hairline deletion like hers, can cause huge problems. She explained that if 1 chromosome has too much or too little than it throws off all equilibrium in the brain. Thus resulting in delays. Kris, Troy and I do not have the deletion therefore, it's pretty much a given that that is why she has the delays as a result of the deletion. Genetics is a fast growing study. We have Rylee's deletion registered with the CDO. The particular test that Rylee had done, the microarray test, is new, within the last 2 years, for clinical use. Thus being the reason that we have limited to no information about her deletion. Hopefully, Genetics will shine some new light on us when we visit with them next month. Overall, the appointment went well. Time will tell!

2010-06-29T19:18:00.000-05:00

Life is starting to get crazy around our house. Our kids are growing like crazy. We have the much anticipated development assessment on Friday. Hopefully it all goes well. We also have to meet with the genetics clinic to schedule an appointment! Awesome!

Over the last 4 years Kris and I have grown up tremendously. We've made little us' who are our entire world. In the last 4 years we have went through a plethora of vehicles. The ones that I primarily drive have changed from my sporty little Pontiac Sunfire

To our first brand new "family but still sporty" vehicle, the Jeep Compass Sport

And now to our new extremely family friendly Dodge Grand Caravan SXT

It doesn't have all the frills like a sunroof or heated seats like the other two vehicles had but it does have 3 rows of seats

and a radio, 13 cupholders, tailgating seats, and it's a Stow N Go!

It will fit Troy, Rylee and Baby #3 who will be here in 9 short weeks...

Life right now is great. It's positive and full of love! We're ready to meet this babe (especially me)!

She did it!

2010-06-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

Today was a huge day at our house. First we did the last thing we needed to before Baby #3 comes...we bought a new vehicle. Now we'll all fit comfortably so we're ready! Secondly, Rylee pulled herself up on the lower part of our TV stand. This is a huge milestone for her. Kris walked into the livingroom with Troy and ran to grab his phone to capture this moment. AMAZING!! I think I am on cloud 9 right now. And lastly, it's official...we have a 2 and half year old boy in our house! Happy Half Birthday Troy!

Great loss and sadness

2010-06-24T22:04:00.000-05:00

On June 14, my coworker Karen and her husband Dave were in an accident. They had just started their 2 week motorcycle trip out west. They were in Cody, WY when something terrible happened. I am not sure of all the details but Karen was bumped and bruised and broke her wrist. Dave, however, ended up being taken (with Karen at his side) by medflight to St. Vincent's in Billing, MT. He was taken into surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain. Unfortunately, Dave would never wake up. He was breathing on his own but he would never wake, never know his family again. It was a grim 6 days for Karen. She was faced with an awful decision. However, Dave passed away Sunday, June 20th as a result of this terrible accident. He was away from home. He was on vacation.

Karen is an extremely strong woman with thick skin when she needs it. Tonight at his wake, I seen her break down. I seen the faces of their two boys. I seen the tears in the eyes of everyone who loved and cared for him and his family. Parked outside the Funeral home doors was his beloved street sweeper that he drove to keep Platteville a clean city. I didn't know Dave well but I do know Karen and how much she cares for him. My heart absolutely broke when I seen her tonight. And in all her misery and pain, she asked how I was feeling. A tragedy like this makes you think "what if that was me?" I depend on Kristopher a lot. I lean on him when I need to. He's my very best friend. He's the first person I want to share a story with. He's the first thing I see in the morning. He makes me feel safe and secure. To hold his hand, makes me fall head over heels for him all over again. I can't imagine losing him before I'm 50. I can't imagine my life without him. I don't even want to think of what that life would be like.

Rest in Peace Dave.

Below is his obituary from the paper.


David L. Cammack

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- David L. Cammack, 51, of Platteville, died Sunday, June 20, 2010, at St. Vincent Health Care Hospital, Billings, Mont., from results of a motorcycle accident.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 25, at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Platteville, with the Rev. David Flanagan officiating. Burial will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Sinsinawa. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Melby-Bendorf Funeral Home & Crematory, Platteville, where there will be a scripture wake service at 3:45 p.m. Friends also may call after 9:30 a.m. until the time of service Friday at the church.
He was born on Sept. 23, 1958, in Lancaster, son of Clarence "Casey" and Lois (Baker) Cammack. He graduated from Platteville High School in 1976 and attended Southwest Tech in Fennimore for two years.
He married Karen Budden on Aug. 25, 1984, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Sinsinawa.
He worked for the City of Platteville in the Street Department, where he was an equipment operator and mechanic. Prior to that, he worked at NAPA, in Platteville.
Dave enjoyed the outdoors, fishing, hunting, camping, boating on the Mississippi, cars and riding motorcycle. He was an avid Packers, Badgers and NASCAR fan.
Surviving are his wife, Karen; two sons, Casey and Jacob, both of Platteville; his mother, Lois Cammack, of Platteville; a brother, Clark (Joyce) Cammack, of Platteville; a sister, Kathy (Steve) Millar, of DePere; father and mother-in-law, Jim and Arlene Budden, of Cuba City; brothers and sisters-in-law, Janet (Donald) Godfrey, of Denver, Colo., Gary Budden, of Cuba City, Judy (Dave) Kelly, of Prairie du Chien, Kevin (Janet) Budden and Randy Budden, both of Cuba City; a great-niece, Natalie Grubba; and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his father, Clarence, on April 19, 2008; and a brother-in-law, Brian Budden.
Memorials may be given to the David L. Cammack Memorial Fund.

A little explanation

2010-06-23T18:47:00.002-05:00

I have had quite a few complaints about my bloggy hiatus. I decided this was what was best for me and my family. I hurt feelings in my "Yesterday" post. That's not the intention of my blog or me as a person. So, I have decided to cut out all of the random ramblings of everyday life in this blog and stick with the more important things.

Today was a big day in our house. Many days with appointments are. Today, Tammy, the Birth to 3 program coordinator came with our OT, Jessica. Jessica would like to start visiting Rylee twice a month rather than once. She will come weeks opposite of Marcy, PT, because their therapies overlap quite a bit right now. Tammy has decided to come with Krisann, Speech therapist, in her July appointment. Krisann does therapy here once a month. However, now we need feeding therapy 2 to 4 times per month as suggested by the Speech Pathologist who did Rylee's swallow study. I think they will decide to have Krisann come once a week instead of once a month. At this point in time, that is how we need her. That means our visits double each month.

Tammy also talked with us about Rylee's feedings. She was appalled at the cost of the feedings. She is getting a bunch of our paperwork for some county/state programs to help cover the extreme cost of feeding Rylee. Rylee's feedings consist of:

4 oz Pediasure
2 scoops of Duocal
1 (1.1 oz) packet of Simply Thick (honey consistency)

We do this 6 times a day. She gets this cocktail every 3 hours. Her first bottle and last bottle of the day, we also add 4 mL of Pantoprazole for acid reflux. There is definitely some time involved in making her feedings. She tires and fills easily. This cocktail ends up being about 5.5 oz after everything is added. The Simply Thick dilutes the Pediasure therefore that is why instead of 1 scoop of Duocal we are now adding 2. That means we use double the Duocal! The daily cost to feed Rylee breaks down to:

3 bottles of PediaSure (which is half a package) $5.50
6 packets of Simply Thick (a case consists of 100) $3.36
12 scoops of Duocal (1 can lasts a week) $3.18
Total daily cost: $12.04

Therefore, you can understand how pricey this one child is to feed. This doesn't include cereal, baby food or snacks like puffs. Hopefully, one of the programs will cover this added expense. From my understanding, they will most likely cover the cost 100%. LOVELY! I am anxious to get that ball rolling.

Tammy and the therapists started coming to our home last August. So in early August we are going to have another evaluation with all 3 therapists and Tammy.

Right now, we are looking forward to having the development assessment at the Waisman Center. Our medical histories went out to the Genetics team today. I am in the process of organizing Rylee's 1400 pages of medical records before I turn the 1 hard copy I have over to the Genetics. (I am making copies for my own personal benefit!) In July, we have 6 days where we have nothing going on which includes 2 saturdays and 2 sundays. There are appointments galore in July and our August is filling fast! September will be the month of rest! I want to enjoy this little wiggle worm growing inside of me. And I want to be able to transition the kids to having a new little baby in our house. Neither one seems to be overly interested in the belly. However, Rylee has lately taken notice to the belly and hits it every chance she gets. All in all, we are doing great around our household. We are taking the negative and turning it positive. Instead of dwelling on the fact that we will never have a "normal' little girl, we are going to embrace the "special" little girl we have. I was told by a wise woman a few weeks ago that "Special children are only born to special mommies." I am not a "normal" mommy anymore, I am a "special" mommy! Not many moms can say that, I am a lucky one I guess.

A big change

2010-06-14T23:34:00.002-05:00

I have decided to take a blogging hiatus. You wanna know what happening, pick up the phone and call or email. But for right now, The Sweet Things in Life, is on hold.

Sunday not so funday

2010-06-13T18:00:00.000-05:00

Today, has been an odd day. I think we stuck all our ambition into yesterday and didn't leave much for today. This afternoon, Troy, all to easily, took a nap. Upon awakening, he was whiny and felt warm. The rest of the afternoon he has been quiet, flush with fever, a little whiny and pretty much glued to Kris or my lap. He won't say whats wrong with him. He batted at his a little while watching some TV and when he was eating a cheese stick he stuck his finger in his mouth and moved all the cheese to the other side. So I am not sure if it is his ears or a molar coming in. This afternoon has been pretty quiet around here but this morning we hit those closets hard. We switched everything from the closets to it's new home. Some was boxed up, hung up and put in a bag. Our "new" closet is definitely smaller than the old. I purged through my clothes and shoes. I rid my self of 2 garbage bags full of shoes and I still have 43 pair. That's awful right? My thought is I have to wear nicer shoes to work however, I do wear lots of flip flops during the summer if they coordinate with my outfit. (Which I have at least 1 pair in every color imaginable). There are definitely shoes that I forgot that I even had. I also rid myself of many tops and bottoms. All the clothing and shoes will go to our local thrift shop for someone else who needs them. There is still a bunch to be done but we'll do that throughout the next couple of days. Rylee has therapy on Wednesday and Friday this week and an appointment with the GI doctor and nutritionist on Tuesday in Madison. I have an appointment Wednesday at the same time as Rylee's therapy session to have my glucose test. Busy week for me and Rylee. Kris and Troy will stay home on Tuesday while I take Rylee to Madison. We don't all have to go to the appointment and I prefer to go myself. Technically, I am officially home bound until Baby #3 comes. I can go to work but I can't travel outside a 50 mile radius of Dubuque. My thought is that I am going to Madison, which is where I would go if my water broke anyway, so Madison is exempt from that 50 mile rule. Tomorrow marks 28 weeks, 5 days. Scary day for me because that's the exact day my water broke with Rylee. I just want to be at 36 weeks, the "safe zone", so I have less to worry about. As for the rest of tonight, Kris and I are going to snuggle our babies, tuck them safe in their beds and probably finish up putting things away. As for right now, I made Ham, Au gratin potatoes from scratch and beans for dinner and chocolate pudding for dessert. Enjoy your Sunday night, I know I will.

Productivity

2010-06-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

Kristopher and I have been productive today! Friday afternoon, Kris fed Rylee some chocolate Pediasure. However, she threw it up on the carpet and a quilt. Our carpets are nasty from Rylee puke. There are times when she gives no warning and just throws up. Which means the vomit most likely goes on the carpet. We do scrub the carpet but it needs a good shampooing. Last night, I had a baby in my belly who must have been uncomfortable because he/she did not stop moving all night. From 3 to 5, my whole body practically shook when I was kicked, punched, head butted. So needless to say, I was awake. I was thinking about that living room carpet and when we could shampoo it. I was going to clean out the kitchen cupboards and rearrange those and maybe the same in the bathroom. But as I thought about it, that's a job that could wait another week. That chocolate pediasure vomit had to come out of the carpet soon. As a mother, the #1 thing that I have learned is that chocolate stains EVERYTHING! It would be silly to rent a shampooer and only do the living room carpet. So I talked to Kris in the morning. We have a space issue in our house. We have no room for a new baby the way our house was set up. Kris and I are hogging the big bedroom while the kids have a smaller room they share. We decided that switching rooms was in the best interest of everyone and it would maximize space. In our big bedroom we had our big bed, dresser, computer desk and chair, bookshelf, 2 endtables, Hope chest at the end of the bed and quilt rack and we still had plenty of room in there. In the kids room, we had 2 cribs, dresser and hutch, piles of toys and all that baby stuff and they were squished. So today our mission was to clean all the carpets and move the bedrooms around. Each bedroom has double closets however, the one in the big bedroom is, well, bigger. However, Kristopher never had a place for his work clothes. He didn't want them taking up space in the dresser and we really didn't have the room in the dresser for them so most of the time they are stacked next to the closet door. In the smaller room, there are these deep shelves tucked in the corner of the closet which will work perfect for his work clothes. As of right now, the bedroom carpets have been cleaned and are dry, the furniture is all moved in our rooms and put back together. Rylee woke a little bit ago mad because she was hot so right now, we're all taking a break. Then Kris and I will move the living room furniture over to the entry and shampoo that carpet. In the morning we will move the furniture back, return the shampooer, go to church and come home to put away the rest of the mess. We still have to switch the closets over, move the kids names (we painted the letters of their names and hung them over their closets) to their room, go through some junk we boxed up, and make sure that we have a home for everything that we absolutely need. Our "new" smaller room is definitely smaller. All that made the move was the big bed, dresser and 1 end table (Kris made that one and has another one to build yet, our other 2 are going to Thrift shop). The Hope chest is the only piece of furniture we are not quite sure where that will go yet. The computer desk has been moved back out to kitchen/dining room area (it's a big room, so there is plenty of room!) while the bookshelf is staying in the big bedroom to house the kids books and a few of ours. The kids toys will be more organized in their "new" room because there are shelves across the bottom of the closet we used to house our shoes that will now house their toys. We had piles and piles and piles of clothes that simply didn't have a place to go so I went through those today. I boxed up the clothes that are too big or small or out of season, made a pile of those that need to hung up (since there is more room for that now) and a boxed up the clothes that are too small. I also organized their drawers before putting them back in the dresser. Their "new" room is an ivory color and we still have to put trim up in there. That's been on the to-do list for quite a while. Eventually we'll get around to it. Our "new" room is a color called "dipped in honey" which is a brighter yellow that we painted (it used to be blaze orange with the ABCs stenciled as a boarder) right before I got pregnant with Troy in hopes of having a baby one day. Kris's mom made us a quilt for our wedding of yellows and blues since those were our wedding colors so the color works with our linens. Right now, their room needs some tidying but all in all it's a nice set up. Another baby will easily fit in there now. Troy also got moved out of his crib and back into his big boy race car bed. He was excited about that and even napped in there late this afternoon. I didn't get any before shots of the rooms but I will definitely take some after photos tomorrow. I love productive days like this. And it feels good to get rid of junk that we didn't need in the first place.

China

2010-06-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

Over at Kelly's Korner she is having a Show Us Your Life day. Today is SUYL is on China Patterns. My china is a passion of mine. I absolutely positively love our dishes! I have 11 place settings and none are the same color. They're bright and amazing! I also have things like a bread plate, salt and pepper shakers, pizza platter, pitcher...the list continues on and on and on! I have a little creamer with a duck on it! And Troy received a matching bowl. I have Fiestaware by Homer Laughlin.

I don't have the 3 latest colors...Ivory, Chocolate or Lemongrass. The next color out will be Papricka. But that is what birthdays and christmas are for! There are also all the retired colors that I don't have. By the time I pass, my poor children will have to divide up or sell all my Fiestaware. The following is a blurb about FiestaWare from the Homer Laughlin website on the history of Fiestaware.

Fiesta^®Dinnerware was designed by Frederick Hurten Rhead in 1936 and is now among
the most collected china products in the world. As originally designed, the line featured art deco
styling and bold, bright colors. The product was discontinued in 1973 and reissued in 1986 with
new contemporary colors to mark its 50th anniversary.

Fiesta^®Dinnerware’s styling complements a wide range of decors.
The fifteen bold colors complement one another as well as a wide range
of interior palettes. Over 50 items in the line provide maximum service options
and ensure consistent tabletop styling. The plate’s coupe shape allows maximum food
plating surface; sculpted concentric rings highlight and frame the food presentation.
Alpha Alumina added to the body enhances durability and provides superior heat retention.

Yesterday

2010-06-10T06:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I had a bad day. Unfortunately, you had to read about it. I try to keep my self-pitty parties to a minimum. It's hard for me, just like any other parent, to watch my child go through something that I can do nothing about. I have no way to help her. Rylee and Troy, as well as the baby kicking around in my belly, are my children that I love very very much. I can't imagine my life without them. I am doing the best that I can to handle what has been thrown at Kris and I. I was told by a physician that my child is "disabled" though not clinically diagnosed, she is disabled by being globally delayed. She is delayed in every sense of the word. I said yesterday that I would give anything for her to crawl to me. The truth is, no one can say for sure if that will happen. No one can tell me if she will walk or talk or write her name. That would be hard for any mother. Any mother being told their child is "disabled" would feel like their world was falling apart just like I do, right now. I love all children and I love my family. Other children's progression in life is a double edged sword for me. All those milestones in a little person's life are big deals. I completely understand a parent's desire to share the news. And I care about those accomplishments. BUT, my child isn't reaching those milestones. And no one cares about that. My children and husband are my number 1 reason for getting out of bed everyday. Right now, other children's accomplishments are more towards the bottom of my list. I don't know how to process that success of others right now. I know that had the roles been reversed, each mother reading this would feel the same way that I do. It's best for me and my sanity to not have that to deal with. I have enough to worry about and having a constant reminder of how "disabled" my child is sucks. Yesterday, I wrote a post where I was pissed off at the entire world. At that moment, I was and this is my blog so I can do that. I know many children who are/have been excelling and many parents and grandparents who are excited to tell me about it. I have 5 new babies coming into my life soon and I know that eventually at least one of those babies will surpass Rylee. One of those 5 babies is my own, who could very well surpass her. I can't even comprehend at this point in time how I will handle it. I do know that no matter what, I will not discourage this baby from excelling and progressing at his/her own rate but rather embrace it. I have put all my blood, sweat and tears into Rylee. And knowing that 5 babies will soon enter this world already much better off than Rylee is a hard thing to even think about. It was brought to my attention that I was singled out on Facebook late last night. Apparently, my feelings are no concern of this person so I am not going to dwell that part. It pains me that my "poor me" moment lead to that childish act which in return drug far too many people into something that was meant to be nothing. Kristopher and I are trying hard to handle this everyday stress efficiently and rid our lives of that kind of negativity. My children are happy and I refuse to have one negative person around them. I don't deserve malicious acts for posting personal feelings on my personal blog. In past posts, I have wrote if you don't like what I write on my blog, don't read it. I am extending that to this post and future posts. Yesterday, I was stating, again, for the record that I didn't want to know about other children's milestone accomplishments simply for the fact that it drives me crazy knowing that Rylee is that much farther behind her peers. I definitely could've stated it a different way than "rubbed in my fucking face." I apologize if any one person felt I wrote that post towards them because that was not my intention at all. I, again, was having one of those "poor me" moments like everyone has. Unfortunately, it upset one person which in turn extremely upset Kris and I. I am not apologizing for what I write on my blog because it's my blog. I again want to restate my disclaimer that this is my blog and if you, personally, have a problem with something that is written, don't read it.

Just can't catch a break

2010-06-09T19:43:00.003-05:00

**Edited to add:

Dear Dodds Family, please keep an eye open in your emails. We are taking Rylee to UW Hospital-Waisman Center Genetics. However, before we can schedule an appointment we have to fill out an enormous packet of family medical history. Rylee has a rare chromosomal abnormality, as you are aware, and we are trying to find out how this is affecting her now and in her future. We're hoping for some more insight as to why she has quit growing and put a stop to this. Our baby is slowly withering away and we need your help. All information obtained will be used strictly for the use of Rylee's family medical history and all will be confidential. Thank you!

Love,
Mary**

**Updated to add:

This was my pitty party post. I am done now! I try to keep these at a minimum. Thank you for being my friends and family. I really do love and appreciate you all. I did sock all the negativity to the laundry. It felt good and my laundry got done.

Love,
Mary**

We took Rylee to UW Hospital today for a Swallow Study. I was thinking last night, "I wonder if I can even go into Radiology with her?" Originally, I was going to take Rylee to Madison by myself while Kris stayed home with Troy. We didn't want to have to wake them both up at the crack of dawn to be at the hospital by 7:45. And that way Kristopher would get to stay home and sleep in with Troy as well since he doesn't get to bed before 1:00 am. I talked to him on his lunch break and we decided that it would be best if he came along just in case I couldn't go back. That meant that we also had to take Troy. Regardless, we would've had to get him up early so he came with us. As it turned out, I wasn't able to go back in Radiology with her so Kristopher did. Troy and I stayed in the kid friendly waiting room. It took over an hour for the entire thing start to finish. While, we were waiting for them to finish, a couple walked in with their baby girl. Many of her features resembled Rylee. It makes me wonder if the answer to what Rylee "has" is right under everyone's nose but no one sees it. Anyway, that little girl was next to see the same doctor Rylee did and have the exact same procedure done.

The results of the Swallow study were immediately available. They put barium in her food that Kris fed her and watched it go down through her throat to stomach. As it turns out, some of it doesn't make it to her belly but rather into her lungs. Now think of how it feels when you swallow something and it goes "down the wrong tube". It's not comfortable and you end up coughing like a maniac until you're not choking anymore. It doesn't feel good. That is how this little girl feels during every feeding. This is called aspirating. Dr. H concentrated her Pediasure to a nectar consistency. She still aspirated with that. Then Dr. H concentrated it to a honey consistency...no aspiration. Now, for every bottle and feeding has to be the consistency of honey. That makes it so thick that we have to slit the nipples of her bottle much like a nipple used when feeding cereal through a bottle. We are to use a product called SimplyThick. Therefore, that tacks on another $120 a month to just feeding Rylee. With Pediasure, Duocal and now Simply Thick, we are up to about $500 a month just to feed Rylee. We still have to feed ourselves and Troy and in 2.5 months, we'll have another mouth to feed. We just can't catch a break. Something has to give. I fear that eventually we're going to have to live in a cardboard box under a bridge and walk to work.

I am just sick and tired of all this. I want to wake up from this bad dream. I want to take Kris, Troy and Rylee and run away from all of this. But running away won't fix it, it'll just follow us. I hate the amount of paper work that I am constantly filling out that says the same things over and over and over again. I hate having other people's kids milestones rubbed in my fucking face. I have done my best to separate myself from having to deal with that stuff. I wish that Rylee could crawl and eat baby food. I would give anything just to have her crawl to me. I can't deal with others lack of sensitivity or common sense. But I dwell on it. It eats me alive and I just don't understand why it keeps happening. I would never ever tell anyone who has a "disabled" child how much more my child has progressed than theirs. Never! My feelings are hurt and I'm pissed off about it. I try to keep the peace and I try to "just ignore it" (like I have been told a million times) but I can't. I am human. And I am afraid one of these days I am going to blow and it's not going to be pretty and I'll say things I don't mean and will regret. That is what I am trying to avoid. Unfortunately, my husband is in the same boat as me. His feelings are hurt and he's internalizing everything and he's dealing with everything just like me. Together, he and I are alone and I very much feel that way. I just want a break! Just one stinkin' little break. Is that so much to ask? APPARENTLY IT IS! Thanks for reading my complaints. I am now going to take out this negative energy on folding a load of laundry that just got done.

Oh ya know

2010-06-06T19:22:00.000-05:00

I have some free time right now so I thought I'll write a post for my blog. But I really don't have anything to write about that's overly interesting. I ended up not going to the doctor on the 3rd. After some resting overnight, the contractions mostly quit. It was the 3 again, I am tellin' ya. It was also a day of celebration on the 3rd. Kristopher and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. I love him! He sent me "4 roses for 4 wonderful years". We also got a beautiful arrangement of flowers from my dad and his fiance Deb.

Yesterday, I had to work from 8 to noon. It was my weekend. I don't have to do it again for another 8 weeks. After work, I went grocery shopping. Everyone who knows me well, knows that I absolutely HATE grocery shopping. I never used to mind it but now it's the worst chore. I hate it so much that I try to do the majority of my grocery shopping once a month. It ends up being a even bigger trip but I only have to do it once per month. I make a list of meals, determine what ingredients I need and then buy them. After that I went home and spent some quality time with my husband and kids. I love those kind of nights.

Today, we were summoned awake at 4 am by a little girl named Rylee. She fell asleep the night before 45 minutes earlier than usual. So at 4 am, she was ready to play. We brought her into bed with us and let her "play" between us while we slept some more. Sadly, all 4 of us were up at 6:30 am. Daddy made
wafflers" at Troy's request. While we were getting ready for church, Rylee was doing her army crawl around the house and was in the kitchen. Kris was watching her and she ended up getting herself up on her hands and knees. I seen it with my own eyes. It was freakin' awesome! Before church we stopped to visit my grandma. We haven't been into see her in a while. She was quite excited to see us. Troy showed us that he knows how to drop kick balls. He's pretty good. The kids were pretty well behaved during church. We came home and decided to work some more on our house. On Memorial day, we put up shutters on our house. It looked awesome. Today, we painted the front and side doors. The side door is just an ivory on the outside and white on the inside. The front door is the same midnight blue as the shutters on the outside and white on the inside. We also filled the holes on our Adrinodack chairs but didn't get to sand them or paint them today because it started raining a couple of times. I posted some pictures of befores and afters. Enjoy!

This picture was talking on April 18, 2009. Our house has looked like this since we bought it in September 2006. It's a sad sad sad photo. I never realized how bad it needed something done to it.

This picture was taken on Memorial day. The shutters make a huge difference. We still needed to paint the chairs and the door and add some more mulch around the shrub we planted.

The door is painted. It was currently sprinkling when I took this photo. The chairs are in the garage unpainted and we still have to get more mulch for the shrub but all in all this is a huge difference from what this poor house looked like. And if you look in the big window, you may see someone peeking out from her high chair.

I took her photo as I was walking up to the house. She was playing with a toy while we were ate supper. She was enjoying herself so much that we just left her there while I took a photo and Kris helped Troy.

Oh my gosh there will be 3

2010-06-02T18:36:00.000-05:00

I just started to hit me that in a few short months, hopefully (fingers crossed), I will have 3 children. I will have 3 children 33 months apart. Apparently 3 is my number! Fingers are definitely crossed that this babe stays in there for at least 10 more weeks. I have been having some major contractions lately. Some hurt, some don't. I hate this. They're extremely uncomfortable. The last couple of days they are have been accompanied with some cramping. And the baby is definitely low. I am being kicked and punched down low and not high like last a couple weeks ago. My entire day consists of bending and lifting kids or carrying $500 bags of quarters (which are heavy!). And in 2 weeks from today, I am going to see Dr. Mehta. Dr. Mehta delivered that terrible news last time I was 28 weeks pregnant. I don't want her to do it again. It was that 28 weeks appointment that she told me my water had broke. To say I am little uneasy to go to the appointment is an understatement. I am contracting now and all I am doing is sitting at the kitchen table in comfy clothes at 6:30 pm. I have probably had at least 20 contractions today. I am sure there isn't much going on but I am going to call tomorrow. If they can maybe prevent a premature baby, I am going to let them do it. I hate to call. I don't want to go on bedrest. And that is what I am most worried about besides the fact of a high risk of premature birth. But, I have to do what is best for the babe and that would be go and make sure all is well. Hopefully, I go back to work afterwards. Cross your fingers! Maybe since tomorrow is the 3rd, it'll bring me luck.

Vacation of 2010

2010-05-31T19:09:00.000-05:00

We did it! We took a vacation. Starting June 9th, I can't go anywhere. I am pretty much home bound, which I am kind of a homebody so that will probably be fine. I found myself wanting to be home this weekend instead of on vacation. Is that terrible? Our vacation was small. It was not too far from home. And we didn't really rest but that's vacations are, right?

We went to Milwaukee. I have only been to Miller Park in Milwaukee never anywhere else that I recall. We took the kids to the Milwaukee Zoo and a Brewer game at Miller Park. We spent 2 nights in a hotel, Residence Inn Brookfield-Milwaukee.

At the zoo, we saw many animals and birds and reptiles. There was a Dino expo that opened that day but the line was a half mile long so we didn't wait for it. I know Troy would've loved it though. We walked around the entire zoo. It was definitely warm. We sprayed sunscreen on the kids well. BUT, mommy forgot herself. I got a little toasty on the arms and my shoulders. Didn't hurt, just looks pretty red. At the end, we rode the train. Troy absolutely loves trains so we knew that was a must. Turns out that was his favorite part of the zoo as well as Rylee's. We had 2 sleeping kids when we got to the hotel to check in. By the way, we the Elmo harness you will see on Troy is one of those things like a leash. We got one but never used it until this zoo trip. It worked well. I hate to think that I hooked Troy on a leash but it was better than losing him at the zoo among the zoo of people. He was so excited that he didn't want to hold our hands just run onto the next thing to see. I am extremely glad that we had it.

Sunday, we went to watch the Brewers. We ended up leaving after the 6th inning. It was 95° out according to our car. It was way to hot for Rylee. She was starting to act really funny and was barely wetting diapers. Troy was restless. Kris took him over to the Kids Corner. On the way back to our seats, he fell asleep in the stroller. Kris called me and wanted me to come to meet him. I did and we decided it was time to leave. The kids were way to hot and tired. On the way out to the car, Rylee fell asleep as I carried her. Back at the hotel. We changed into cooler clothes. We left the kids in their diapers to cool down. Later I ran to Applebee's and got dinner to eat back at our hotel. While I was gone, Kris gave Troy and Rylee a bubble bath. They were clean, full and ready for bed by 8. It didn't take long for everyone to be asleep.

The kids slept in until 7:30 this morning. It was wonderful. We got up at 8 and headed over to the gatehouse for breakfast. Our hotel had one of the best continental breakfasts. Sunday morning there was eggs, potatoes, sausage and biscuits and gravy as well as make your own waffles. There were tons of topping to go on everything. They also had the standard bread, bagels, danishes, cereal and variety of beverages. It was nice. After breakfast, we went back to the room and packed/cleaned up. We gased up and were on our way home by 9. We got home at 11:45. It felt good to be home.

This afternoon, we headed over to my dad's new house and he and Deb watched the kids while Kris and I went to menards. We were only gone for a half hour. In that half hour, Troy tired my dad out. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. On the way home, Troy crashed out too. So my dad wore him out as my he wore my dad out. All in just a half hour! We are almost done landscaping the front of our house. It looks a little gaudy right now because all the plants and garden are out in front. It's the area for the best sun/shade combo. We put up the retaining wall around our dogwood shrub and mulched around it, but still need more. Good thing that stuff is super cheap! Our garden is blossoming. I think our radishes will be ready to harvest soon. We also have a pepper on our pepper plant. We put up the blue shutters. There used to be shutters there but the past owners took them down. I am not sure why because it just looked dumb without them. And we still need to sand and paint our Adrinodack chairs that we made and trim down that lilac bush (it's more like a tree right now).

I uploaded a bunch of pictures to my facebook. Here's the link: 2010 album

On other news, my little brother Scott starts his internship tomorrow. He is going to be living with my aunt Lisa and Uncle Jeff for the summer. His internship is to strength and condition the UW Badgers football and wrestling teams. He's going to be so busy. The experience will be awesome. I hope he enjoys himself over the next 3 months. Next fall he'll finish up school with a 5 credit class. Then onto grad. school maybe. He'll have to think about his options if he's offered a job at the end of the internship. Scott is quite the perfectionist so I have no doubt he will make the most of this opportunity. And thanks to my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jeff he has a place to crash at the end of the day. He was kind of worried about what he was going to do about a place to live. It's great that he will be living somewhere comfortable and safe.

New Love

2010-05-28T22:55:00.002-05:00

I love music. Always have and always will. I can't sing worth a hoot. Kristopher can but I can't. I only hope that our kids inherit Kristopher's musical talents. Anyway, Kristopher introduced me to this Youtube protege, Tyler Ward. He covers a bunch of music. I am not a Justin Bieber fan but I like his make of the song "Baby". However, I like Tyler Ward's version better. Justin Bieber - Baby (ft. Ludacris) - (Tyler Ward cover) Go to Youtube and look him up. He's a bunch of his own originals on there. It's amazing. I envy his talents. And his mom kicks butt on the keyboard! Taio Cruz Ft. Ludacris - Break Your Heart (Tyler Ward cover)

Enjoy!

Taylor Swift - The Way I Loved You (Tyler Ward, Julia Sheer acoustic cover)

Terrible 2s

2010-05-27T20:19:00.000-05:00

The last couple of days have been "terrible 2s" days. I think I am losing my voice from hollaring at Troy. Yesterday and today, he apparently forgot to turn his ears on. I am not really sure what his deal is. But he's hasn't been very well behaved at all. Yesterday, I thought that I would take them grocery shopping at Walmart. It was meant to be a quick trip. I had made up a list before hand and everything. It was not quick. I said "No, Troy sit down" a lot. Upon arriving at the check out, my 2 year old sees the rides and games area and proceeds to start screaming like bloody murder and scrambling to get out of the cart. I have never been so embarrassed. I was that parent with the kid that screams and you can hear them across the entire store. Yup, me. I had a terrible day at work and then a terrible trip to Walmart. PLUS, I didn't get half the things on my list so I have to go shopping again. We are going away for the weekend and I need that stuff to take with us. LOVELY! Upon arriving at home, all I did was hollar at him. He's been having a problem keeping his hands to himself lately. He thinks he can slid Rylee across the floor or sit on her or hit her or slap her belly.

Tonight has been a little less than last night but Rylee has screamed out 3 times and Troy has been right next to her, "sssshhh"ing her.

I decided to let them stay up tonight. Rylee has been waking up at 5 the last couple mornings and everyone is tired of it. So, I am going to let her play herself out and see what we get in the morning. Troy is currently watching one of his favorite shows, Wow Wow Wubbzy, and then it's off to bed for him. I did finally get my laundry started so I am sure the rest of tonight and all night tomorrow I will be doing laundry. UGH! I hate laundry.

On another note, after many many days of projectile vomiting, she puked. She not only puked but she silently puked in the Kris's car as he was taking her and Troy to the babysitter. He thought he could smell Chocolate Pediasure. He pulled over and checked on her. Sure enough she was covered in it. She was wearing a dress that she had never worn before. Tara, the babysitter, washed her up, rubbed her dress out, and put her a clean, dry outfit. We have a huge bag full of her clothes at our house. Now I have another outfit to add. We're really not sure why she pukes. BUT, she's going to have a swallow study done on June 9 or something like that.

My buzzer on the dry just roared at me so I guess that means I should go fold some clothes. Good night all!

Sundays and I have a love/hate relationship

2010-05-24T20:41:00.000-05:00

I love the weekends. It's the only time during the 7 day week that I get to spend with my husband. We get to do what we want whether that's a lot or nothing at all. Saturday night, Kris and I got to watch a movie together. We watched Lovely Bones. I read the book years ago during a trip to California to see my brother-in-law graduate Boot Camp. The book was good from what I remember but I just couldn't handle the movie. It was actually freaky. I didn't care much for the movie. It wasn't my type of movie. But I got to spend it with my husband and really that is all that matters. Sunday, we had a bunch of plans. We got most of them done. The laundry pile is still calling my name but the chairs are built, the rock retaining wall is put in, as well as the mulch, the lines on the clothesline are changed, the ceiling fan is up and running, my mini roses and sunflower are repotted to bigger pots and the pantry door is on and closes. We also went to my mother-in-law's quilt show. I am not a quilt connoisseur or anything, but I love her quilts. She showed us the fabric that she got to make Troy a 2 year old quilt. We have a lot of fun pointing out things like cookies and fire trucks on his 1 year old quilt. So I am excited to see what his 2 year old and Rylee's 1 year old quilts will look like. Troy was pretty well behaved. We told him not to touch the quilts and for the most part his listened. After we walked through the quilts, we were standing and talking to Kris's mom while Troy ran in circles around us. Then Kris's dad pulled up on his motorcycle. We pointed him out to Troy and asked who that was. To which Troy replied with a big grin on his face, "Grandpa". He loves his Grandpa Klauer or as we call him at our house Grandpa with the trains. We had a great weekend. I found out that my friends were having a get together Saturday night on saturday so I unfortunately couldn't go. I would've loved to but home was where I needed to be. I will eventually get to hang out with my friends. Hopefully, before all the babies are born. I really wanna see Dana and Carolyn's baby bellies.

Tonight, I did something I have never really done before. I used our grill. I did it and all by myself. I haven't had much luck with our grills before, but I did tonight. I made burgers and a couple hot dogs. Needless to say, they turned out great! Enjoy the photos from our weekend!

Troy enjoying a icy pop in the 90° weather

Kris making the Adirondack chairs

Troy enjoying one of the chairs. They still have to be filled, sanded and painted

Rylee was left inside so she decided to come find us

One last toothy smile and a wave good night!

The 80's

2010-05-23T08:45:00.000-05:00

"The 80's" is a wonderful phrase isn't it?! I mean I was born in "The 80's" and there was great music made in "The 80's" and the weather is perfect when it's sunny and in "The 80's". "The 80's" are wonderful for many reasons but mostly the weather. Yesterday was a perfect day, weather wise. I was excited for yesterday because the weather was suppose to be so GORGEOUS! But when I got up, my excitedness wore a little when I saw the dense fog. We decided that we would pack up the kids and go to Menards. Today, it's suppose to be a little less gorgeous and a little more HOT! And this week is suppose to be a scorcher. We really don't wanna turn the air on yet, will if we have to but don't wanna. AND, we have been really wanting to switch the kid's bedroom light into a ceiling fan. We got the perfect sized ceiling fan, light combo for their room. It's a standard white ceiling fan, nothing fancy for $20. This will help keep them cooler during slumber. We also wanted to look at remnant doors. We got one when we first moved to this house to put on the entryway closet door. It was "damaged" but we put the damaged part inside. Well the outside of that hollow door was damaged over the winter. It cost us $1, 3 years ago so we weren't out much at all. It's a small door, 24", so we thought we'd take a look to see what they had. They had a 24" hollow door for $2 that was damaged on one side and did not have a hole drilled for a handle. There was a solid, 6 panel door for $10. We're not sure why this door was in the remnant pile. We couldn't find anything wrong with it. Plus all the other doors in our house are 6 panel doors AND there was a hole for the handle. We chose the $10 door. While in the door section, we picked up another spring thingy for our storm door (you know the 1 that the wind keeps catching) and Kristopher is going to try and fix the door. The old spring thingy busted once from the wind and needed to be replaced. We also got a door handle set for the garage side door. One day, Kris went to open the door and all he got was half the door knob in his hand. Easy fix! I got a couple tomato plants and a couple pepper plants. We got the edging stones for around our mulched area and another bag of mulch.

I planted my plants while the kids napped and Kris mowed the grass. I painted my console table and new door and stained the end table, desk and ladder table. Kris started to make us an Adirondack chair. The plans were confusing so I had to draw out the cuts on the boards before he cut them. It should be awesome when it's done.

Today, we are going to my mothrt-in-law's quilt show in dubuque. Then, I am hoping to get the ceiling fan in the kids room, pantry door on, attack my mountain of laundry, get the edging stones in and the extra mulch spread around, plant my rose bush that I got for mother's day (really not sure where that's going yet) and hopefully get the chairs finished so we can just relax outside later. Lots to do and it's already 74° out at 8:30 am. Oh well, maybe the door will be on sooner than I thought. Troy can't keep his pickers out of the pantry. Kris is moving it through the house right now, he said "this is a heavy door" now Troy is whispering "heavy door, heavy door." I'll post photos later of our improvements around our home. It's fun!

Good day all! Enjoy the weather and catch some sun!

WOOHOO!

2010-05-18T19:21:00.000-05:00

Rylee had her appointment with the GI doc at AFCH. We also seen the dietian, who never did anything she was suppose in the last 4 weeks. I am not even going to start on how worthless I think the dietian is. Any how, Rylee's weight today was 15 lb 0.9 oz. WTH, right? My thoughts exactly. She has lost 8 oz since April 27. She did have a few days of the flu but it wasn't terrible. However, we are going to be trying some new things and avoiding a feeding tube for another month! We're really trying to make it to the end of summer by "floating" by until Pediasure releases their new product 1.5. Rylee is on Pediasure 1.0 right now which is 30 k/cal and the 1.5 is 45 k/cal. So we are going to increase her Protonix to 4mL twice a day instead of once. We are also going to add this powder called Duocal to her Pediasure. This increases the amount of calories she receives per ounce since Pediasure's 30 isn't enough. The only way to get the Duocal is to order it online from a supplier. I went onto the website that the dietian gave me to order the stuff, no way insurance will pick this up. I registered as a new customer and immediately received a $20 off coupon in my email. I did some math to figure out how long a can of Duocal would last us which would be a week. A case is 6 cans. So 6 weeks for a case which costs $133.50 and has free shipping. So that's $22.25 a week plus the cost of the Pediasure which is about $40 a week. I'll take $60 a week over $165 for the Vital Jr. But today I used the $20 off coupon so I got the case for $113.50, which is $18.91 a can. I was happy about that. That was awesome. So I ordered it. It should be here in a week.

As I said before, we don't qualify for WIC because of our income. However, I have never applied because of this. I learned today that we may be eligible because of Rylee's special needs. She is a child with special needs. WIC covers Pediasure if prescribed which we can easily get the prescription. The maximum benefit is 18-19 cases per month or 30 oz per day. This would cover our Pediasure cost or at least some of it. WIC is a supplemental program not a pay for all program. I guess we'll find out when I talk the WIC people. So that's that when it comes to Rylee's appointment today.

On another note, she puked today at daycare. She hasn't thrown up since Sunday. I could easily get used to a few days of no vomiting!

I have to go to the doctor tomorrow. A regular OB checkup. I was thinking today, how laxed I am this pregnancy. I mean I don't even know how far along I am unless I counted the weeks on the calendar. And I have no idea if this kid can hear me talking or react to light. I have spurts of energy here and there. For the most part I feel alright. My right side goes numb a lot. I get kicked about 90% of the time on the right side. All my pain is on the right side. My pubic bone is another story. I am starting to believe it's fractured or something. I have never been in so much pain ever. If I get into bed, 9 times out of 10 I have to have Kris help me get out. And even then there is a lot of pain. This pregnancy has definitely hands down been 200 times more difficult than other pregnancies. It's rather miserable to be honest. I am looking forward to August when this kid will come out. And I was watching a newborn baby on TV the other day and got the itch to hold this babe. BUT, I don't want to hold him/her before 36 weeks!

Weekend?

2010-05-16T18:53:00.000-05:00

What the heck happened to the weekend? It's gone. It literally disappeared. And now we don't get another one for 5 days. **Sigh** It's been a relaxing weekend but we didn't spend much of it at home.

Friday night, Troy, Rylee and I went to eat at Uno's with my brothers and sisters and their families. Then we stopped at home to pick up some things and change into jammies and headed over to my sister, Carmen's house where everyone was meeting to hang out. I put a pair of velcro sandals on Troy. He took them off twice before we left home to go over. I had to stop and get some gas. When I got back in the car his sandals were off and laying on the floor. Our conversations went like this:

Me: "Troy, who took your sandals off?"
T: shrugs "don't know"
Me: "Someone did it, I think Troy did."
T: quiet for a minute "NO, Dad did it"

Well you see the problem with this is, dad was at work 15 miles away from us. I couldn't even scold him for lying because I was laughing too hard. He was serious too. At Carmen's house, he played hard. We didn't head home until after 11 and once home, I turned on Sesame Street hoping he would calm down and go to sleep. Rylee and Troy just sat talking to each other and giggling and kicking/hitting eachother. Rylee finally gave in and fell asleep at 11:30. I followed suit shortly there after. Kris said that Sesame street was still playing on the tv when he got home but we were all asleep at 12:18. Troy couldn't have been asleep for more than 20 minutes. Amazing how he could stay awake that long.

Saturday we got up and cleaned out the Jeep. We wiped down the inside which needed it something awful. While we were doing that we decided that it was a great day to go look at vehicles. Our Jeep seats 5. However, there is no way we're going to be able to fit 3 carseats in our car. So we looked online before we went. We're looking for something that we can have for a while therefore, low miles and able to accommodate 5 people and stuff. Kristopher and I are not van people. We never ever have wanted a van, desired to drive a van, look at a van. However, we decided to look in the price range we thought would be the best for us. Our goal is to lower our current payment by $100. We have a hefty monthly Jeep payment. At the time we bought the Jeep, we didn't have kids and could easily afford it. Now, an extra $100 a month would be nice. So we decided to look at vans and SUVs. A lot of SUV aren't 3rd row and those that are are out of the price range. We came across a van. We decided we would not go lower than 2007 (which our Jeep is) or go for more miles (our Jeep has quite a few miles). We also decided that the frills that the Jeep has (which aren't many...heated seats, power sunroof...) were not necessary. We just needed a vehicle to get us from point A to B. We came across a Chevy Uplander. It was a 2006 but had less miles than our Jeep and it had a DVD player in it. The DVD player we could live without but we actually didn't mind the look of the vehicle. The milage was still high but we decided we could look at that one. Then we came across another Uplander, I don't remember the year 2008 I think, with less than 20K miles, a DVD player, E85 capable and we liked the color. It cost a little more than the other Uplander but was still in our range. We decided to test drive that one. It was a very nice vehicle. It drove well and the inside was great. I am a huge cupholder fan. I am not kidding you, the front seats had 6 cupholders, the middle 2 seats had 4 cupholders and the way back had 2 cupholders. 12 cupholders for a vehicles that's meant to fit 6 people. AMAZING! It was a nice vehicle. We had the guy run the numbers for us. He low balled us on our trade. We actually owe $800 more than the trade would be. So we're going to keep looking. We have all summer to look.

Then we used a gift certificate we had to go to Huhot. It was good! Then headed to Menards to look at grills. Our grill which we keep covered in the garage at all times rusted out. I am not sure how it happened. We looked online to see if we could get the replacement parts for it. It would cost us over $150 for the parts. So we decided to look at grills and if we didn't find anything for less than we would have to get the parts. That grill was rather large for us. We got it at the end of the summer when they had it marked way down on sale a few years ago. I looked at Walmart last time that I was there and found a different brand grill for $94. We looked at Menards and found a better grill for $99. It's only 2 burners and the sides fold down, leaving us with much more room in the garage to store it. The old grill took up way too much room. It was huge. So we got it. It nice and it will work for us. The brand is a better quality.

Today, we got up at 7 which is sleeping in for us. Kristopher made breakfast of eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. Then we got dressed and headed towards Cassville to visit Kristopher's parents. We were going to be early and they wouldn't have been home. So when we were going through Platteville, I called my dad and we stopped and visited with them. My dad and his fiance Deb got home Saturday from a trip to Florida with her granddaughter Kristin and we wanted to see how their trip was. Then we headed to Cassville. We had lunch with Kris's parents and hung out playing hard all afternoon. It was a good time.

And now it's quarter to 7. Dinner is done. We have 2 kids to bathe, one that just sliced his lip open from falling into a bucket of toys, and then bedtime.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-10T19:39:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommy's. In my personal opinion, being a mommy is wonderful. It doesn't matter if you're a mommy to a human child, dog, fish, cat (ahem, not a cat lover myself but there are those out there that do love those creatures). I am lucky enough to be the mommy of 2 human children, 1 mildly active fetus, 3 angel babies and 2 hounds. Kris and I lent my brother my camera for spring break, well he still has it. The thing was a Kodak piece of garbage. It ate batteries like crazy. The amount of money that we have spent on batteries for that camera alone could've bought a brand new one! The camera we had before was a Sony Cybershot. We loved it. It worked wonderfully. But we got the Kodak right before Troy was born because we'd had the Sony for a long time and it was outdated. So, Kris and I decided that instead of getting each other something useless or something we didn't want, we decided that our Mother's, Father's and Anniversary gift to each other and from the kids would be a new camera. And there were the best sales on those this weekend. So together we picked out a new one. Another Sony Cybershot. It's nothing spectacular. We just want to take pictures of our family so it will serve it's purpose. We didn't need the video capability because Rylee got a Flip from her godparents for her Baptism. And let me tell you, you need a Flip. I don't care who you are, where you live, what you do...you need a Flip. Those are amazing little pieces of art! And our daughter has one. For example, because of the Flip I was able to get Rylee clapping for the first time on camera. I got a video of Troy talking to me. Which leads me to another very interesting topic...2 year old brains and communication. Troy has shown quite a bit of interest in the potty. We've jumped on that bandwagon, but he just can't figure out that he needs to tell us that he needs to go potty before he goes. He tells us as he goes. Work in progress...anyway, he always says "I'm pooped I'm pooped Momma" when he really means he just piddled and his diaper is wet and he wants a new clean dry one. However, the last couple of days, he has decided that he can remove his diaper on his own. He simply takes it off, leaves it and walks around in the buff. He enjoys being naked to an almost unhealthy degree (well, not really but I can imagine him taking his honeymoon or vacation to a Hedonism Resort in Jamaica or somewhere like that). Today, we asked him if he was "stinky". He said no and then not 10 minutes later comes out to the living room, infront of Kris and I, says "I pooped" and takes his messy diaper off. Thankfully, it didn't make a mess all over. But that's just 1 example. He also has taken off in his speech. It's amazing what a 2 year old thinks of. He talks a lot about "jew bock" which is a juice box. He also has conversations with us. It's nice! He knows his manners. He burped not once, not twice but three times at the dinner table tonight right in a row and said excuse me when he was done and covered his mouth. He will say "please" and "thank you" and "your welcome" when prompted. It's fun being a mommy!

Take a look at my Mother's Days!

Mother's Day 2007

Mother's Day 2008

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day 2010

My niece, Jalyn, turns 7 today. Happy Happy Birthday Jalyn. Enjoy a couple of my favorite pics of her!

It's been one of those days

2010-05-06T20:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I got a call at work from Tara our babysitter. Rylee threw up and was running a temp of 101. So 30 minutes early, I left work to pick them up and take them home to nurse Rylee back to health. Today, she was still running a temp. Troy started running a temp. Troy has had an upset tummy this afternoon. And Rylee has thrown up twice since 3 o'clock this afternoon. She is getting worse instead of better. She can't keep the tylenol down now. We have a temporal infrared thermometer. It's been saying that her temp has been 104 all afternoon. Right now she is flush with fever and very warm. She just threw up in my bed so I stripped her clothes and am letting her laying in a diaper to cool her down a little. She is having some labored breathing which could be due to her stuffy nose. However, her spirit is true to Rylee. She is happy and talking to me about her "dadda dadda dddaddddaaa" while smiling and playing with a purple soothie. Diapers continue to be wet. No stools yet today. I am afraid there probably won't be any #2s from her without a little coaxing. It's been a couple days since she has had any vomiting. so I hate to see it come back. However, I am fairly certain that a stomach bug is making it's way through our house. At about 7:30 I started feeling really yucky and have tossed my supper twice already since. It's amazing how kids share everything with each other and their mom. Next week is finals week for Kristopher so if this could bypass him that would super! It's 8:46 pm, Troy has been asleep for an hour, Rylee is all cleaned up from her vomiting (which included her latest dose of tylenol) and currently rubbing her eyes vigorously. So her and I are going to close our eyes and hope/pray for an uneventful night!

The death of the 10 day old planter

2010-05-04T19:45:00.000-05:00

The wind has been terrible here all day! Our front storm door has been the victim of the wind of few times before therefore it doesn't close properly anymore. Well the wind caught it while I was out watering my plants and garden. That darn wind broke my planter that I got 10 days ago. See?

That darn wind is also reeking havoc on my garden. See?

However, our gigantic lilac bush is taking it just fine!

And our red twigged dogwood

And Troy likes it too (see what I mean by big area to fill, hopefully that dogwood does the trick!)

When I picked up Troy and Rylee today, I noticed Rylee wearing a pink dress. I thought, I know she has worn this dress before but when...

This is Rylee today (I was doing laundry, don't worry I don't let my kids play on dirty clothes all the time!)

This is Rylee last August at a high school/college friend's wedding. She still fits!

She has the same smile! Now her hair is longer. That's probably all that has really changed!