Lauren is sick...AGAIN

Last night Lauren just wasn't feeling good. When I put her to bed she was up off and on and just not resting well at all. I ended up sleeping on the couch because I knew it was going to be a long night and didn't want to keep Paul up. Around two this morning she woke up and she had a fever. From then on she slept for 30 minute intervals and just couldn't get comfortable. I took her to the doctor and she has an ear infection. Her regular doctor wasn't there today, so we saw another one in the practice that we had seen before. She is a very good doctor and leaves no stone unturned. She checked her for strep, which came back negative. She sent another swab to the lab just to make sure and gave her an antibiotic for her ear infection. She said she should start feeling better in a couple days. We knew this was going to happen at some point. I hate that she is getting sick so often, but I guess that is what happens when she has been kept in a bubble with no sicknesses for 18 months. Her immune system has to build itself up. We hope she starts feeling better soon.

Here is a video of the girls that Paul took this weekend. Lauren just loves her big sister. In fact, this morning when Kristen woke up I was holding Lauren. As soon as she heard Kristen's voice she lifted her head and smiled the biggest smile. I know I have been slacking with the posts and pictures, but I promise to get back on it for May!

Bathroom Crisis

Last week we had a crisis occur in the Harris household. I was taking the sheets off the bed to wash. Kristen and Lauren were upstairs with me. I thought nothing of them going into the bathroom and then the door closed. When I finished up I went to open the door for us to head back downstairs and it was locked! I thought, no big deal. I told Kristen to unlock the door. She said she didn't know how. I walked her through the process and could hear her at the doorknob. She still couldn't get it unlocked. I went and got a bobbypin and tried to unlock the door that way. It wasn't working so I went and took the inside ink tube out of a pin. Tried that...it didn't work. Paul had forgotten his phone at home, so I couldn't call him. After 10 minutes of trying to get them out of the bathroom I finally called my dad to come and help. By this time Lauren was not happy. I think she was wondering why I was on the otherside of the door and not coming in. Kristen was not worried in the least. Everytime I would tell her to try to unlock the door she was either brushing her hair, getting a drink of water or washing her hands. Right before my dad arrived, as I was looking for some other instrument to rescue my children from the bathroom, I heard the door open and Kristen came out with a big smile on her face and said "I did it! I helped you!" like I was the one that locked them in the bathroom. It was so cute...how could I punish her for that.

Busy Once Again

This past week was the first week since Lauren has been home that we did not have either a doctors appointment, weight check, occupational therapy or speech therapy. However, on Friday I ended up taking Lauren to the doctor. I guess we just can't stand a week of being appointment free. She started developing a cough on Wednesday and I thought it was pollen related. By Friday she was not feeling well at all, so I decided to take her in. She had a slight fever when the nurse checked her temperature. It hadn't been up when I had checked it. I was happy to be able to get an appointment with her regular pediatrician. She said her lungs sounded a little congested and wanted to do a breathing treatment. I had been giving Lauren her albuterol thinking it was pollen related and would help her. The doctor was concerned that it might be pneumonia, but if the crackling in her lungs cleared up after the breathing treatment, we were just dealing with a respiratory cold. Lauren hated the breathing treatment. It was very different than the albuterol we give her at home, but her lungs cleared up after it, which I was so thankful for. We were sent home with directions to do a treatment every 4-6 hours for 3 days. While she is eating better and overall seems to be feeling better, she still has the yucky cough. I called her ped today and she said to continue to give her the albuterol 3 times a day for another 3 days. Lauren's big issue is she can't clear her airway like a child with good lungs, so her cough seems more persistent and worse. Paul and I had planned to go away for the weekend for our 6 year anniversary. I felt like a bad mother leaving Lauren sick, but my mom and dad were watching her and I knew she would be taken care of. I remember being sick and all they would do for me to make me feel better, so I knew we would come back and she would be better and very spoiled! We took Kristen to the circus on Saturday, which she started out being very interested, but then wanted to go home. I guess once you have seen one clown, person jumping in the air and elephant you have seen them all. After that we dropped her by my mom and dad's and headed to Shenandoah Virginia to a cabin in the woods. It was such a peaceful and relaxing time. The cabin we rented was beautiful. The irony was it was right beside the train tracks and we have train tracks right behind our house. There was just no getting away from those trains! While one comes by our house every 30 minutes (sometimes closer together) on this track we only saw 4. We stayed Saturday and Sunday and came back on Monday. We went to Luray Caverns, fishing, shops, a garden maze and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows on the fire pit at the cabin. It was a much needed vacation. While we enjoyed ourselves, we were very happy to come home and see our girls. Lauren had started trying to walk while we were away. Of course, those little milestones have to happen on the one weekend I am away from her. It is more memorable because we were told that was something she would never do. I was so happy when we came back to see that. We did have an appointment with her developmental doctor today and he said she looks great. If she is walking by her next appointment, which is in August, he is going to release her. One less specialist will be great. As far as the MRI goes, it is up to us whether we want to have it or not. He said that it isn't a bad idea to get a look at her brain, but not something that is important to her care plan because she is doing so great. That being said, I don't think we will have it done. She would have to be put to sleep and there are risks for that. There just isn't any reason for us to put her through anything else. God is in control and no matter what the MRI would show, he has planned her future...not the doctors.

Here are some pictures of the circus and our trip.

Easter

We had a great Easter. Although the week leading up to it and the day of was very hectic, we still had a good time spending it with family. The Easter bunny hides their baskets just like he does eggs and Kristen was afraid that the Easter bunny himself was hiding. Once we convinced her he wasn't she was happy to go find her basket. Here are some pictures of the girls on Easter.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had an Easter egg hunt at our church today. Kristen really had a fun time. Here are some pictures.

1st Haircut

Kristen got her 1st haircut today. We went to Divas and Dudes. It was such a cute place. She got to pick out the car she wanted to sit in and then pick out a DVD to watch. At the end she got a hair clip, stamp and sucker. They did give us a nice print out of a before and after picture saying that she got her 1st haircut on April 2nd. We also got a little lock of her hair. Her hair looks a lot better. Here are some pictures. I highly recommend this place for young children.





It was a very busy day for us. We had lots of errands to run and didn't get home until this evening, but we still had time to color Easter eggs. Here are some pictures. Tomorrow we have an Easter egg hunt at our church that we are going to. Kristen is very excited!










Lauren eating goldfish while Kristen colored Easter eggs.

Easter Bunny Blues

We went to see the Easter Bunny today. The girls were all dressed up in their matching dresses. Kristen was very excited...until she saw him. She knew that we were taking Lauren to the doctor after seeing the Easter Bunny so she said "Okay, lets go to the doctor now." She didn't sit on his lap so I stuck Lauren on there in hopes that once she realized where she was we would have already got a good picture. Well, that didn't happen. She took one look at the Easter Bunny and was immediately very upset. So this is the picture we ended up with.




This was the only picture I got of Kristen and an Easter bunny

On a happier note, Kristen finally got to go fishing. She was very excited and enjoyed it for all of 5 minutes and then wanted to do something else. She is a pro at casting and reeling it back in. Here are a few pictures from a much more enjoyable fishing trip.


Here is Kristen with her fake smile and fishing pole


Kristen fishing away


Kristen and Paul


Paul and the fish he caught. I felt bad because it wasn't a good picture at all, but with holding Lauren and making sure Kristen didn't take a leap off of the dock...this is what we got.


This was the best picture of the day. Kristen and Uncle Dee fishing off of the dock. Priceless!