Clothes....Clothes....Clothes

The time has come to change out the clothes for the kids. I spent all of the morning and some of the afternoon noon packing up summer clothes and pulling out fall and winter clothes. I think the part I dispise the most is the total mess my house is in until I can get things in place. And ofcourse the laundry that comes with it because I wash everything before putting it away. The kids did good and kept themselves entertained most of the time. I made a list of the things I still need for both of them for the winter time.



Kristen playing dress up while I switched the clothes out.





Lauren sleeping in Kristen's bed while I switched the clothes out.









Lauren went to see the pulminologist yesterday. He said she sounded good and looked good. Hopefully if we keep her illness free this winter we won't have to go overboard next winter. Her lungs are still very underdeveloped so that is why it is still very crucial to keep her healthy. Plus any sickness would most likely land her in the hospital and would delay the growth of new lung tissue. He said if she did good this winter he didn't see any issue with Kristen being able to continue to go to church and maybe start a preschool next winter. She will get her RSV shot again this year. I have to call tomorrow about that.

The dietician was very pleased with her weight gain. They want Lauren to be in the 90% for body/weight ratio. This has nothing to do with the growth chart, just with how porportioned she is. At the last visit on August 11th she was in the 80%. At this visit she was in the 89%. They want her to gain around 20 grams per day which is a little less than an ounce. They estimate that since she has gotten her tube in she has gained 19.2 grams per day.

Here are a couple more pictures I snapped during the week.

Lauren sitting up all by herself.

Kristen and Lauren watching T.V. together. The cutest thing about this picture is that they are holding hands.

Lauren eating. She has just realized she has a tongue.

Kristen in her dress up shoes. She loves to put these on and clank her way around the house. What a girly-girl.

Another Cake

Yes, I made another cake for my dad's retirement party we threw for him today. He will be officially retired on September 31st. I can't remember how many years he has put in at Dupont, but it is a lot. He was there years before I came along. We are so happy for him!

So, as my sister and I discussed doing a party I thought...I will do another cake. I know people are going to get tired of me making cakes, but oh well. They are getting them whether they like it or not. So I looked on the Wilton website and found the cake I wanted to do. It was a big cake, but I enjoyed doing it. I practiced some new techniques from videos of cake decorating I had seen online and overall I think it turned out pretty good. The writing is what is the hardest part. I put in 10 1/2 hours on the cake, spread out over three days. Below is a picture. I also put a picture of the girls I took this week after nap time. I have been pretty lazy on the picture taking, but I have all winter to snap away.

Two Teeth

I am very happy to announce that Lauren has two teeth coming in. Woohoo! You can feel them and see them poking their little way out. She has done good with getting them. She hasn't been fussy, which is why it surprised me. I thought she was never going to get any teeth. I could just see us fitting her for little miniature dentures. I am hoping to get a picture of them when they grow a little more.

Appointments

Lauren had two appointments this week. On Monday we went and saw Dr. Monasterio, her developmental doctor. We are still putting the MRI off until Lauren is 2. He was very pleased with her progress. He asked if she was crawling and I told him that crawling was one milestone she had not hit. He said crawling isn't a milestone for all babies. Some just skip right over it and start walking and he wouldn't be surprised if Lauren is one of them since she doesn't like being on her stomach. He said overall she is doing things socially, verbally and interactively that a 8-9 month old baby would do and that he doesn't see her being far behind at all. He thinks that she will be caught up by the age of two especially now that she has the g-tube and will start gaining weight. Overall, the appointment went good and we don't go back to see him until December.

Today we went to see Dr. Kessel her GI doctor and the doctor who did her g-tube surgery. What an appointment! Once I got back into the room and was waiting for the doctor the fire alarm starting going off. The nurse came in and told me that we needed to evacuate the building because it was a fire drill. I thought...no big deal. I'll just get on the elevator and ride on down to the lobby and go out the building. Then Dr. Kessel came around the corner and said we needed to get out of the building because it wasn't a fire drill. The nurse told me to get Lauren and my purse and leave my stroller and head for the stairs. Major anxiety at this point. So after going down 7 flights of stairs and being behind the slowest people in the world, we made it out. During this time Lauren was very unhappy with the noise from the fire alarm and once we got outside the fire truck was just pulling in and that made her even more unhappy. Well, we were finally able to go back in the building and let me tell you, the worst part of it all was waiting in the crowd to get back on the elevator. I finally just sat down and waited until everyone had gotten on the elevator. Well, there was no fire...thank goodness. The sprinkler system started going off on the 3rd floor which caused the fire alarm to go off and the firemen had to come in order to give us an okay to get back into the building. Dr. Kessel was nice enough to come see Lauren even though there were two patients in front of her. She said this would be a fast appointment anyways, and I was happy because I was afraid that at any minute the fire alarm would go back off and we would have to repeat everything all over again. She was pleased with her weight gain, which she weighed a whopping 13 pounds! She said she was very pleased with the weight gain and miss Lauren is almost in the 5% mark on the growth chart! We go back on October 16th to get the "button" put in. It will be done in the office. She said just to give her some tylenol before hand. She did say it would hurt, but they would put some numbing medicine on it and would be really fast. I have to say I am very pleased with the g-tube and think it was the best decision for Lauren. I also feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I am not constantly having to think about food and calories to try and get her to gain weight. Life is much more pleasant.

So, we have no more appointments until October. I have decided, with all the colds and flu going around, to go ahead and start keeping Lauren indoors. So, she will only be going to doctor's appointments until next June. So, for those of you who come an visit, here are some things to keep in mind.

-Don't visit if you are or maybe sick, have been sick or have been around anyone who has been sick.
-No children please. Kids in the public school system or around other children in general carry many virus' and bacteria that can be very harmful for Lauren to catch.
-If you visit, please wash your hands and sanitize as soon as you enter even if you won't be holding Lauren. Please do not touch her hands. They go right in her mouth.
-Anyone visiting will have to have a flu shot.

You might think we are going overboard, but this winter will be another critical winter for Lauren and our goal is to keep her healthy.

Sitting Up

Lauren is now pretty much sitting up all by herself...woohoo! I never thought I would see the day. She is still a little wobbly, so I haven't had the confidence of just placing her on the floor by herself, but she is doing so good. I hope to snap a couple pictures this week to post. She enjoys the freedom of being able to play with all of her toys. She has two appointments this week. We go see her developmental doctor on Monday and on Wednesday we go to her GI doctor for a weight check and a follow up appointment. I think she has gained weight.

Kristen is still not doing good with potty training. I have figured out that if I ask her to go she will not go, so I have to let her do it on her own. On a good day she might go to the bathroom three times a day. I hope to conquer the potty training soon! She has been saying her own prayers at night and at dinner and she is so cute. She says "Thank you for my food (even at bedtime), thank you for my sissy, thank you for my Mommy, thank you for my daddy, thank you for my Kristen, Amen". She just started thanking God for herself. Tonight at bedtime she did thank God for her Ketchup and her cup. It is the random things that she says that I love.

I did bake and decorate another cake for my Dad's birthday. I have posted a couple pictures. I think I might check into taking a beginners decorating class at Michael's. I have really enjoyed doing it.

Christmas Shopping Already

Yes, you read the title correctly. I am determined to get my Christmas shopping done by November. We went and got the girls Santa presents done today. All we have left for them are stocking stuffers and a couple gifts from Mommy and Daddy and gifts from each other. They have such neat things and Kristen is getting to the age where she is fun to shop for. I wanted to by everything I put on my list, but had to narrow it down quite a bit. It is harder to buy for Lauren because she has gotten all of Kristens old toys and Kristen had a lot. We were able to find some things she didn't already have. They both already have so many toys that I have debated on putting them both in the same room and using one room as a toy room.

On another note, we are slowly working Lauren up on her night feedings. Her goal is 40ml per hour over a 10 hour time frame. She is not able to tolerate that just yet so last night we had to move her back down to 35ml. I hope she is able to get back up to the 40ml before we go back and see Dr. Kessel. I am very anxious to see how much she weighs. I think she is starting to look bigger to me. Well, we hope everyone had a good Labor Day.

Lauren is home

Lauren is finally home! We got home yesterday around 5:30 and boy is it good to finally be home. Lauren is doing good eating and we were able to increase her back up to her 26 calorie per ounce formula last night. She is tolerating the night feedings very well. She is getting a continuous feed at night for 10 hours. We go back to her GI doctor in two weeks. She likes to grab on to the tube so I am so scared she is going to pull it out. Kristen was so happy to see me yesterday and kept hugging me. She was also very excited to see her sister. Thank you all for you prayers. God has truely blessed us yet again with a successful surgery.

Lauren before surgery.

Lauren's little bracelet.

Lauren after surgery. Not feeling too good.

Lauren the day after surgery. She is such a happy girl.

Lauren's name tag on her door.