My kids are danger magnets

My kids are danger magnets. I swear they are! Lauren keeps injuring herself; Amber keeps getting attacked by nature and Holli…. Well, she’s just a hurricane of drama. This past month alone I feel like I’m teetering on the brink of disaster. From the husband’s impending layoff (and the date that changes weekly) to the kids and their “issues” to drama at work and my own health difficulties… there are times I wonder if I’ll have any sanity left by the end of the year or not.

Let’s start with Holli. She’s seven now, but sometimes she comes across as three and sometimes she acts like she’s 15. The other day she wanted to know why she only got one piece of miniature chocolate and I took 2 pieces. I said, “Because I’m older than you.” She put her hands on her hips and replied, “Do you really need that second piece? It’s just gonna make you fat.” Then an hour later she was throwing a major tantrum because I said no more television that night. Throwing herself on the floor, screaming, kicking, hitting… I just want to go to my own room, lock the door and never come out again. Developmentally, I just don’t see a lot of progress. Academically, she’s doing great, socially- not so much. I worry about her a lot. So much so, we’re taking her to a developmental specialist.

Lauren seems to be slightly danger prone. She’s injured her fingers, her toes, her knees, her head… She’s had her arm wedged in a drawer, she’s been tangled up her in tricycle, she’s fallen off playground equipment and furniture. If she’s not careful she’s going to end up in a full bodycast before she hits puberty. She’s just rambunctious and I know that eventually (at least I hope so) that she’ll develop a more cautious side as she grows up – I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.

And Amber… this poor girl keeps getting attacked by wildlife. The biggest and most dramatic was the whole camel incident and now just this week: yellowjackets.

Earlier this week, while the weather is still nice, the kids took a walk and somehow either got too close to a ground nest or the yellowjackets had been disturbed by someone before them, but a small swarm came after the kids. Amber got stung on the pinky finger and Holli ended up with stings on her back. In fact, we took her shirt off in the house to treat the stings and discovered two yellowjackets were still up the back of her shirt. Now, they were loose in the house.

One was caught almost right away and trapped, ironically enough, in a honeyjar. I spent the rest of the night armed with a Swiffer broom, ready to pounce the second I found it. Of course, while I was looking, Holli offered helpfully, “It’s black and yellow striped.” Umm… thanks.

My husband found it the next morning getting drunk off of Coke & Diet Coke cans in the recycling bag. He said it was fat and lethargic. Well, that’s what you get for sucking down surgery sodapop all night long.

Another story I have to share from this summer: Back in June, I’m in the house doing laundry because I’ve got someone telling me they have no more underwear… and Lauren comes running in from outside and she says, “Amber stuck.” I go, “Amber stuck. Amber stuck where?” “Amber stuck behind gate.”

We have no gate.

 I’m running outside making Lauren show me exactly where Amber is. Apparently she went next door while the neighbors are gone and somehow managed to open their gate to the backyard. Then she went into the backyard and closed the gate thereby locking her inside. She is SOOOOOOOO lucky their big barking dog is penned on the back porch. Had he been free in the backyard Amber could have been SO hurt.

I am furious. Partly at Amber for going over there and partly at me for not watching more carefully. So no more house cleaning for me if the kids are outside. Either that, or I’m tagging them with bells so I can hear where they are at every moment of the day.

And finally, something overheard at our house: “EEEEEEEWWWWW! That is not a pet!” My comment upon discovering Lauren and Amber petting a dead baby mole in the front yard.

Amber & the Stinky Camel

This past Saturday my husband decided to take the kids to a petting zoo while I was at a bridal shower.  I think my kids are magnets for trouble.

Here’s what happened in his words:

So we arrived, parked the van, and we walked over. The had some goats, and donkey, and a camel. Now none of the girls had seen a camel up close before, so once they were done looking at the donkey, we went to the camel pen. All of the girls marveled at how big the camel was. So with me and Amber on one side of the pen, and Lauren and Holli on another side, the camel starting turning away from us, going back for more food. Suddenly, without warning, the camel decided to do number two. It must have had an upset stomach or something, because what came out was VERY wet and smelly.

When it hit the ground, it splattered everywhere. Luckily, it missed Lauren and Holli. Me and Amber? Eh, not so much. Large spots of camel crap went from head to toe on Amber, and nailed my shoes and pants. I took one look at Amber, and the look on her pace was one of bewilderment, disgust, and anger. “I WANNA GO!!!” she yelled (and at this point, I didn’t blame her…she looked horrible and smelled just as bad). I got her over to where the cleaning station was, only to find there were no paper towels anywhere. Amber was on the verge of tears at this point, so I found the guy who was in charge. He sent his wife to get more paper towels, and he started cleaning the camel crap off Amber’s face, arms, and legs. I was trying to get it out of her hair, without much success. He was trying to be all friendly and everything, but Amber was having none of it.

“What’s your name?”, he asked.

“NO!” she said. “I WANNA GO! STINKY CAMEL!”

By that point his wife showed up with some napkins. “I don’t think she is going to tell you her name,” she said.

So we got Amber cleaned up as best we could, and then he offered if she wanted to pet the baby goats. “NO!” Amber exclaimed, “I WANNA GO! STINKY CAMEL!”

By that point the guy apologized to me, and I told him the she had had enough. So I gathered all three kids up and got them into the van. Despite Amber being cleaned, she (and I) smelled horrible, so I called Sara (who didn’t follow us there), and told here to get PJ’s, a nighttime pull-up, and a towel ready. “What happened?”, she asked.

I told her, “You’ll just have to see it to believe it.”

On the way home all Amber could talk about was the stinky camel, and all three girls were happy to see Mom at home. After Amber and I showered, we took the girls for ice cream. Before we got out the door, Amber stopped, looked at me and asked, “No stinky camel?”

“No,” I said. “Just ice cream. No stinky camel.”

Poor Amber. I don’t know why these things keep happening to her…

Adventures in Hospitals ~ February 2008

Today’s Guest Blogger:  My husband, Jeff. 

I’m sure that 99.9% of people in this world do not relish the fact of having to go to the hospital for anything.  As far as most people are concerned, and especially men, if something were to come up, you would just hope that it would go away on its own.  Lord knows I have been to enough hospitals over the last year to last me a lifetime.  Sometimes though, it cannot be helped.

So yesterday I took the twins to the hospital.  Wasn’t an emergency or anything.  Amber had an appointment for an upper gastrointestinal scan, or “Upper GI,” in hospital speak.  Got there, found a parking space, and strolled the twins in.  I got Amber checked in, and was told to have a seat.  So I sat with the twins, played with them, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Soon the mind begins to wander.  You look around at the other people who are there and wonder…why are you here?  What’s wrong with you?  Does your walker double as a lethal weapon?  People from all walks of life, young, old, white, black, asian, hispanic, doesn’t matter.  Just by looking at them you can tell that they don’t want to be there.

Even I didn’t want to be there.

Soon we were called back, and were escorted to the radiology department.  Once there, an x-ray technician ask to have Amber put into a gown.  No problem there.  I was about to go in when the tech said, “You will have to stay out here with your other daughter.”  I was kind of apprehensive about this, but realizing that I could not leave Lauren by herself (who was asleep at this point) I sat outside in the hallway and waited.

And waited.

And waited.  I think doctors have the patent on making people wait.

You know those scenes in the old movies?  In the basement of some castle, a light flashing from a laboratory and hearing the screams of the poor innocent woman, all the while the evil doctor is laughing?

Fast forward to now.

I’m sitting out in the hallway, outside of the x-ray room.  I’m hearing Amber scream at the top of her lungs.  The “X-RAY IN USE” sign is flashing.  I decide to call the other half.  She tells me to be quiet for a moment, so that she can hear the blood curdling screams of Amber.  “I can hear her.  Oh, poor Amber,” she said, which is quite amazing in the fact that (1) it is over my cell phone, (2) I was about fifteen feet away, and (3) it was thru a solid wood door.  In fact, I think the whole hospital heard Amber.  Frankly, that wouldn’t surprise me.

Meanwhile, Lauren is still sleeping away.

The tech finally comes out with a tear stained Amber.  “Feed her,” she said, which sounded more like an edict than a request.  “We’ll be back in twenty minutes to do more scans so that we can see how the formula percolates.”

Great, now my daughter is a percolator.  Not a patient.  A percolator.

I fed her, and they came back and took her in for more scans to see how she was “percolating.”  There was more screams, more flashing of the “X-RAY IN USE” sign.  I was about ready to go in there and say “Enough is enough.”  Seemed to me Amber had suffered plenty at this point.  But the doctor came out and said that they were all done, and that Amber could be dressed.  Amber gave me the “get me the hell out of here” look.  I got her dressed, and we left for home.

When we got home, I fed her again, and put her in her bouncer, where she took and hour and fifteen minute nap.  Poor child.  Don’t blame her.  That was a rough one

Alas, though, another appointment survived.

Can’t wait until Thursday.

Physical therapy screening.

Ooh, that ought to be fun.

WW

Who am I?

Who am I?

I’ve been questioning myself asking who I am, where is my life-path leading me and why the hell does it seem like forever to get there…

Why is it when my leg  is seriously hurting bad and I lay down on the sofa for some relief… all three kids have a built-in radar that must scream “Mommy’s horizontal!” and they all 3 burst in the room like a bull in a china shop and jump on me, climbing to each of their favorite positions – one on my chest (which makes it hard to breathe) one on my bladder (which means I have 10 minutes until I will need to pee) and one on my knees (which means both legs will now fall asleep and I won’t be able to move when that bladder urgency kicks in).

How can a man who can whip up devine creations such as death by chocolate pie, towering flavorful cakes and the best to-die-for chocolate chip cookies cannot follow simple directions on the back of a package of Hamburger Helper without swearing and asking me to come in every two minutes to “See if I’m doing this right…”

Is it wrong to serve popcorn as a main dinner course?

The other day I was teaching my oldest daughter how to make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and I seem to recall using this phrase: Always spread jelly with a spoon because jelly falls off the knife. Spoonage gives you maximum jellyage. This leads me to believe that maybe I watched one too many Buffy the Vampire episodes while pregnant and stagnant.
And finally……when one twin is constipated, it’s a really bad idea to give prune juice to the other twin too.

Those are just some of the things I ponder.  Usually at 2 in the morning.  While my husband snores next to me… and usually in my ear. 

The twins are going to be 4 this month.  FOUR!!!  I still remember when they were teeny-tiny fragile little things.  Now I’ve got the dynamic duo of destruction.  I kid you not.  They were actually pulling apart the door frame one night.  I shudder to think what they were planning to do with said door frame once they had it in their hot little hands…. 

And of course, this month, Amber goes back in for another ultrasound.  This time Lauren gets to go, too.  It’s a yearly thing.  The specialists have ruled out that she has Beckwith-Wiedemann, too, but it’s a precaution since they are identical twins.  This time I get to go, too since we have both girls.  This should be a ton of fun….. NOT!

7/7/07

 My girls were transferred from Doernbechers to a different hospital -St. Vincent’s- this one a little further away, but the NICU is a lot nicer and quieter and they are very close to being downgraded to the Level 2 nursery. And the best part is now they are co-sleeping! I took about a hundred photos of them yesterday but I think this one is one of the more precious ones. Nothing says twins like double yawns.

 The doctors think they will be here for at least 2 to 3 weeks then possibly they can be transferred (again!) to the hospital close to us.

9/16/07

 My babies are FINALLY home. They came home on August 23rd. It’s been pretty wild so far. They have totally different personalities and it’s been quite an adjustment, especially for big sis Holli (who turns 3 next month!). Here is a picture I took of them in their Pack -n- Play. Amber is on the left and Lauren is on the right using Amber as a pillow.

Snuggle Sisters

My husband has returned to work and this is my 2nd night of doing both day and night feedings. Needless to say I am suffering from sleep deprivation. So much so that it took me several hours to realize that Holli was wearing a different shirt this evening than the one I put on her this morning. Apparently sometime when I was napping, my mother changed her shirt and I never even noticed. Sigh. Tell me that this gets better… and soon.

9/17/07

 The twins are  11 weeks (3 weeks corrected age)

They weigh:  Lauren is exactly 9 lbs and Amber is 8 lbs 4 oz.

I think one day I may one day regain my sanity.

I’m Baaaack!!

I never really did go away for good- just a little hiatus while I recovered from my recent back surgery. Add in some colds, Christmas, leaky window issues, money issues, car issues and squabbling children issues… I just needed to go AWOL (and a little crazy) for a while.

Holli is 6 and the twins are now 3 ½ and in preschool for the first time this winter. Which means, of course, they are bringing home every cold and ick-bug imaginable. And, of course, in the process of learning to share, they have “shared” every single ick-bug with me. This last one was a doozy- sick for 2 weeks… and counting. The husband catches nothing. The butthead.

Anyway, even through all the sickies and drama there’s always laughter and our home seems to be full of it… for one reason or another. Whether it’s Lauren’s burps that can be heard throughout the house or Amber’s insistence that our cats are dyslexic and say “yuum” or it’s Holli streaking through the house, shaking her booty and singing “I’m a nekkid child”, there’s always something happening.

My kids are constantly cracking me up. For example:
* One night, in the middle of eating dinner as a family, this is what Holli started talking about:

“Mom, I have something to tell you. One of the cats didn’t bury their poop and I could smell it all the way in the other room.”

Needless to say, I wasn’t really much in the mood to eat right then.
* And Amber…. during naptime, she unzipped her sleep-n-play… yanked her diaper totally off…. and zipped her sleep-n-play back up. Grandma found her sitting in her crib, playing with her diaper when it was time to get up
* Lauren comes to me after she fell down and says,

“I bonked my head.”

Me: “You want me to kiss it and make it better?”

Lauren: “OK”

I kiss the forehead. “There, does that feel better?”

Lauren: “No.”

Apparently I no longer have the magic healing kiss.

* Holli constantly makes up reasons why she can’t stay in bed. One night she comes downstairs and I say,”Why are you out of bed?”

Holli says, “Why is there a rooster crowing?”

“Because it’s a nighttime rooster. NOW GO TO BED!” Who says I can’t be creative late at night?

* So for dinner Saturday night we went to a Chinese place (and Holli had a hamburger) It was pretty big so we cut it in half. Afterwards she insisted she wanted the other half taken home for lunch the next day.

The next day, I take the hamburger out of the fridge and put in a plate asking my mom about how long should I nuke it so the bun won’t get too hard?

Holli shakes her head and says, “No! I want it like this!” I asked, “Cold?” and she nodded. So I let her take the hambuger. She takes a big bite and her face just melted. Her jaw dropped open and I could see the burger in her mouth. I say to her, “If you want to spit it out, go right ahead.” She goes to the garbage can and spits out the cold hamburger. Then she comes back to me and says, “You can warm it up now.”

Sometimes we don’t need the kids to ensure hilarity:

At Christmas Jeff gave me this fancy alarm clock, all modern and sleek. You can set it to wake you up with an alarm, radio or your favorite CD. I like the radio best since that annoying “beep-beep” usually makes my head hurt. And I’m not a morning person at all. This fancy clock will wake you up at an automatic “low” volume setting then gently increase in volume until you are fully awake. Sounds great, right?

Umm, no.

I set the alarm for 6:15 and at the radio setting.

At 6:15 the thing goes off FULL FREAKING VOLUME to some loud, bouncy, rock song!

We are both bolted awake. Jeff sits up flinging his arms and I nearly fall out of bed. I’m hitting the alarm button which, according to the directions, is supposed to shut the alarm off. But it’s not working. Jeff is saying, “turn it off!” I’m yelling, “I’m hitting the damn button and it’s not working!”

Pull out the manual and yep, it’s saying “to turn the alarm off, press the alarm button” I’m still pressing but by now it’s very hard and I’m practically beating on the clock.

Jeff now has the booklet and reading and I’ve got the clock in my lap and I’m hitting every freaking button including the snooze alarm and nothing it working.

FINALLY, I hit the “stop” button for the CD player and it finally shuts off.

I muttered something about trading in my “smart” clock radio for a stupid one with a manual volume control as I stumbled out of the room.

And finally, a song all of us Moms can relate to.

(Sung to the tune of Wonder Pets)
The twins…
The twins are screaming….
The twins…. they won’t hush up!

Where is Daddy when you need him?
Where is Daddy when you need him?
Where is Daddy when you need him…. Hurry up!

1/30/08- 2/12/08

1/31/08

 Well, it’s been an eventful week so far & we’re not done yet!!

Yesterday we saw the Genetics Drs and they decided not to do a biopsy on Lauren to take cells for analysis. After a physical exam they see no reason to subject her to that- thank goodness. They believe that yes, the girls are identical and the reason that one has BWS & the other doesn’t is because of an unequal splitting during the twinning process. Lauren does have the abnormal chromosome gene that is causing the BWS in Amber, but not enough to actually have BWS herself. But still, just to be on the safe side, they want us to take Lauren in with Amber & have the U/S & blood draws every 3 months on both at the same time. So…

Next blood draw is mid-February & we’re going to have blood drawn for a Zygosity test to determine once & for all whether they are identical or fraternal! The Genetics Drs want to start photographing the girls and possibly use their information for a study because these are first twins they have ever had in their office that were identical but only one had BWS. They call our girls a “medical phenomenon”!  Our case has even been sent to the Mayo clinic for evaluation. What next???

Amber has an appointment this morning with a speech therapist/feeding specialist to see if the way she eats might be contributing to the air bubbles. Then on Monday she sees a radiologist to take an upper GI scan to check for blockages in her intestines. Then on Thursday both girls visit the physical therapist for an initial screening and to get assigned a therapist to come to our house. And we’re still in the process of trying to hire a nanny. (The girls we have interviewed so far seemed to be turned off on caring for an infant with as much medical issues as Amber has. Now we’re looking for a nanny who is more focused in the medical fields. Someone who wants to be a doctor or work with children in a medical capacity.)

I can’t even remember the last time I had any mom-alone time! The few & far between times I get to go out to lunch I stare at the cocktail menu & dream of the day I get to enjoy a nice Sangria again.

 2/1/08

 The only true schedule Lauren & Amber have is bedtime & wake-up time. 7:00 pm, they are fed and put to bed- usually Amber is out within a half hour; Lauren maybe a little longer because she plays with her pacifier on some nights and loses it in the dark. They sleep through the night (thank goodness) and wake up anywhere between 9-10 in the morning. After that, forget it. They won’t nap at the same time (well, hardly ever) so it’s kind of hit and miss right now.

They usually nap sometime in the morning and then nap late afternoon, but not consistently. But we have to do physical therapy exercises with Amber so we get her really stimulated in the afternoon and a lot of times she is too hyper to nap again until bedtime (the main reason she now goes down so easily.) I can’t wait until I can get them to nap in their cribs at the same time each day. Right now they cat-nap either on the floor on their fuzzy blankie or in the vibrating bouncer

2/1/08

 It seems lately that all I ever have is bummer-stress type news about my girls so I am so happy to finally tell about a funny thing that happened yesterday.

Picture the scene: I’m on the sofa feeding Amber. Holli is sitting in the chair next to me munching raisons; Lauren is in her bouncer & starting to whine because she wants her bottle, too.

Holli jumps up and says, “Mommy- I can feed Lauren!” She picks up the bottle (we’re using Avent bottles w/ a #4 nipple for Lauren) and points it at Lauren who is now gazing up at her big sister. Holli is standing directly between me and Lauren so I can’t see what’s going on but then I hear this.. “Whoops- uh-oh.” Holli steps back and points to Lauren. “Look Mommy- she spilled!”

Lauren has squirted formula coming down from the top of her head, all the way down her nose- to the chin and a semi-circle across one cheek, across the lips and to the other cheek. Lauren is looking at me completely wide-eyed now. I’m trying not to laugh as I ask Holli to please use the paper towel and wipe all the formula off of Lauren. Holli takes the paper towel and starts rubbing vigorously. I’m all “Wait- softly, gently pat!” Holli pats all right- the whole bouncer is bouncing away. Holli steps back again, hands me the paper towel and says, “I can’t feed her; she’s too big.” Lauren now has this completely stunned look on her face.

Hurricane Holli strikes again

2/8/08

 Well, let me start by saying that I am tired of doctors, therapists and paperwork! Yesterday, we had our meeting with the counselors with the state of Washington and now little Amber is now classified as a “Disabled Child” with the state. We picked out a facility where she will be attending special sessions for physical therapy & eventually speech therapy. (Lauren will be attending with her since they are twins!) The main focus right now will be P/T because Amber can’t lift her arms over her head at all, her legs are stiff & hard to bend and her shoulder & left wrist tend to “pop” when you try to pull her up into a sitting position. So she can’t push herself up very well when she lays on her tummy, which means no ability to roll over. Lauren is thisclose to rolling over from tummy to back. Yay Lauren.

My girls are not so much thumb-suckers but fist-suckers. You should see them try to cram their entire little fist into their mouths. Lauren still needs her binky to calm her down, but Amber will suck 4 or 5 times loudly then spit it out- when I say spit I mean that thing just flies.

Holli is into this “Naked Phase” right now. Last night, I was feeding Amber & I hear Holli playing with the cat scratching post in the other room (it has a little bell on top of it that the cats play with)- I get up to check on her because she had been too quiet for about 20 minutes & here she is playing with that darn bell completely naked! I asked her where her clothes are and she says, “upstairs” very calmly like it’s nothing. Luckily she put her training pants in the garbage instead of leaving them somewhere fun for me to find later.

Sleeping: both twinks sleep through the night now but it’s murder trying to get them to nap during the day. They maybe get in a half hour in the morning, and if I’m lucky a 20 minute nap in the afternoon. Most of the time though they start to nap an hour before bedtime. It’s either that or they rub their eyes and whine a lot. Last night I put them down at 6 pm because my head just hurt way too much to listen to all of them & miraculously they went to sleep almost right away. And of course, once the twinks went to sleep, Holli was a quiet little angel for me until her bedtime.

2/12/08  Nervous Breakdown Alert

 You know the old saying, it can’t get any worse, right? Well, it got worse….

Last night I was so close to having my first nervous breakdown ever. Last week we had to repair our Subaru for a whopping $450.00; then Sunday night our water tank that pulls in & holds our well water sprung a leak and became a waterfall. We were filling & dumping a 1 gal container every 10 minutes. We called several 24/7 plumbers and discovered that 24/7 doesn’t mean diddley-squat. After about 5 numbers we found someone who said sure, they could come out for $300 & no guarantees because all the parts stores were closed. But if we shut off the water & called back first thing Monday morning, we would be put at the top of the list. So Sunday night, the water tank was drained & our pumps turned off. Sooo, Monday morning, we call that plumber & guess what? First on the list means “somewhere between noon & 2”. Umm- not gonna work with twin babies in the house. So we were back to calling plumbers again. I think we went through 7 of them before we found someone who would be out within the hour- but by then it’s almost 10:00 am. Plumber replaced some valves so we’re out another $250.00. There went what little savings we had built up.

THEN, we get a phone call from Jeff’s step-brother. Jeff’s stepmom had a major stroke. She can’t communicate, move, doesn’t really know where she is, etc. She has a DNR order & won’t go to the hospital so she’s at home, waiting to die. The hospice nurse said my MIL has probably just days left. It’s just one non-stop downward spiral.

So last night, I’m dealing with a MIL’s approaching death; exhausted from mopping up a minor garage-flood, Amber has a cold with a non-stop runny nose that she keeps choking on and then to top it off, Holli wakes up at 2:15 deciding it’s morning & she wants to get up & play. She’s making so much racket that she wakes up both twins. Amber is upset, can’t get back to sleep so I have to feed her. Lauren takes her cue from Holli and decides its time to play. The whole time I was in the room with her & Amber, she kept looking at me, squealing and wiggling. After I left the room, she & Holli would “shout” back & forth to each other. Holli would shout and stomp around in her room, then Lauren would squeal & laugh. Meanwhile, I’m under the covers, a pillow over my head wondering if there was enough Butterscotch schnapps to make me forget I ever had kids. This lasted until 5:00 am this morning. I had to get up at 6 to get ready for work.

I am so close to a nervous breakdown- if one more thing goes wrong I think I’m going to be like Holli, run through the house totally naked screaming bizarre words until someone comes to take me away.

Oh, and in between all this craziness that is my life, Lauren learned to roll from her tummy to back. When I tried to coax Amber into doing it as well, she looked at me like I was bonkers- which I probably am at this point.

1/9/08-1/29/08

1/9/08

 Amber and Lauren both can now recognize their names. I pick them up so we are face to face and I say their names in a sing-song voice and now they light up at the sound of it. Lauren is laughing now, Amber won’t be too far behind.

Actually I’m pretty excited- Amber can roll from front to back (with some minor assistance) and Lauren can roll from back to front (with some minor assistance) but neither one will try the other way yet. Interesting.

1/11/08

 Lauren has been sleeping through the night for almost 2 weeks now and finally- I think Amber has broken through. Last night was the 4th night in a row that she slept through the WHOLE ENTIRE NIGHT!

 1/15/08

 We took our girls to a physical therapy appointment just to check on their developmental progress and it turns out that little Amber is being referred to the Early Intervention Program so we can have a physical therapist come to our house and work with her. She’s still too stiff in the legs, she’s not trying to turn over, she’s still clentching her fists too much, etc.. etc… There are days it seems like everytime I turn around Amber needs something else.

We took her last week to a medical team so they can evaluate her macroglossia (enlarged tongue) and decide whether or not to perform surgery on her to reduce the tongue and when to do the surgery. We’re still waiting to hear back what their final decision is.

My 3 year old has decided she can no longer sleep with just a nightlight. Every night she gets out of bed and turns on the table lamp in her room. If I turn it off after she falls asleep, she will wake up late at night and turn it back on again. Anyone else had a toddler who went through this? We’re going to go to Ikea on my day off and look for something larger than a nightlight but smaller than the lamp she wants on all night.

We’ve decided to hire a part time nanny soon since I had to return to work full time- they are short staffed and desperately needed me back. I’m sure that will be a help and hopefully we can find someone we like.

1/22/08

 What a weekend this has been!  OK first… Lauren has decided she no longer wants to go to bed at night. Saturday night she ate 7 oz, then layed in the bed and wailed this cry that sounded like a siren. We babied her, rocked her, begged her and finally fed her again an hour later and she took another 8 oz! Good lord, she is going to be a chunk if she keeps this up. Last night it was Amber who woke up at 2:45 am, ate 6 oz., wailed and wailed and fussed; fed her again at 5- took another 5 oz. and still wouldn’t go back to sleep. She was awake from 2:45 until 6:30 this morning. I am so tired. Now she’s crying everytime she breathes in and her chest is making a rattling noise- she’s had one bad chest congestion that forced us to take her to the ER to help her breathe, I hope we don’t have to do that again!

1/23/08

 We ended up taking Amber in to Urgent Care because the poor thing was just so miserable.  Apparently she had a mild ear infection and an air bubble in her tummy about the size of a golf ball that she had been unable to burp out!!! The Drs found it on an X-ray and had to stick a tube down her throat to her tummy to let the air out. Within 5 minutes of this procedure, Amber was all smiles.

It’s always something, isn’t it…

1/29/08

Well, apparently we are not done with Amber and her air bubbles. Yesterday she was fussy, but no more fussy than she has been on other days. She ate well, napped, and went to bed just fine. Slept from 7:30 to 12:30 am with no issues then suddenly at 12:30 she woke up just screaming. I tried feeding, burping, cuddling, etc- nothing. Everytime I laid her back down she just screamed like she was in pain. Finally DH took her to Urgent Care at 3:30.

After some X-rays, the Drs discovered she has air bubbles in her intestines. Lots of them. They don’t know how to get them out either. She’s being referred to a specialist at Doernbechers. Hopefully she can get in this week. For now she’s back at home. We have to feed her just 4 oz every 2 hours to see if she can move those bubbles out on her own. We have no idea why she’s getting these. Don’t know if it’s a preemie thing (but why now?), a formula intolerance (again, why now?) or if it’s related to her BWS. Hopefully we’ll know more soon.

11/3/07-12/23/07

11/03/07

I have had the absolute worst week ever. It takes 2-3 hours every night to get the girls to go to sleep, Amber is a 3 hr feeder- every 3 hours she has to eat, and Lauren will go until about 3 am before she wants to eat, but then she’s up super early ready to play.

My 3 year old developed bronchitis after losing her voice- she started with a 102 fever and after medicine it popped up to 104.7 plus she was throwing up everything- medicine and water, so she was getting very dehydrated. I ended up taking her to Urgent Care at midnight because she was doing so poorly. We ended up staying most of the night. Currently her temp. is back to normal but she’s hacking away in her bed, calling out for me in her sleep. I try to give her some water so help the coughing, but she hits my hand away- she’s not even aware that I’m there. Poor baby. Then came the topper…

With Amber’s multiple doctor appointments every week for her Beckwith-Wiedemann and Holli’s illness, Lauren was kind of overlooked this week. She kept giving me one big wail during the night but then would fall back asleep so I didn’t think much of it. It’s been really cold here in the mornings with frost on the ground so I’ve been keeping the twins in sleepers all the time so they can stay warm.

 Yesterday I had Lauren in my lap and for once I had changed them into a non-footed sleeper with just socks. Well, you know babies never keep those darn things on. I noticed Lauren had little fuzzies between her toes so I started picking them out, telling my husband the girls missed their last bath with everything that has gone on. I tried pulling this one black fuzzy and Lauren screamed. I pulled again and she screamed again. I looked at her toes carefully and her middle toe was swollen. She had something wrapped around the middle of her toe and it was cutting off the circulation to her toe! We tried to cut it off, but it was really dug in deep. So I had to take her to the Emergency Room. She had to have 2 shots in her foot to numb her toes so they could remove hair! It was my hair (more than likely) wrapped around her middle toe and the toe next to it. The doctor said that it was common and they see it a lot. Babies have actually lost their toes that way! Lauren’s foot is now all bandaged up – she looks like a clubfoot. I removed the bandages earlier tonight to check on it- we’re supposed to watch for infection now- and her poor foot is all black and blue, but at least the toe is starting to return to a little more normal looking.

So to make this long and painful story short- check your babies toes frequently!

 12/5/07

 My 5 month old, Lauren, has reflux and she’s on this special medication that has to be refrigerated and given 30 minutes before feeding. I can’t mix it with formula and I do have the little quirt needle but now Lauren has discovered that she can hold the medicine in her mouth and spit it back out (with force, I might add) before I can massage her chin to make her swallow. Oh, yeah, and I have no one to help me give her this medicine so I’m on my own here.  She’s supposed to take 3 ml each night but for the last two nights I can barely get 1 ml down her.

AURG!

 12/21/07

 Things are so crazy in my world- I’m not sure how much longer I can handle it without getting fitted for a straightjacket and visiting the little rubber room. Although I might actually get some sleep that way.

My babies are 6 months old today! Yippie- and they had started this month to sleep through the night- well, okay, taking turns sleeping through the night. One night Amber would sleep all night, the next night it would be Lauren’s turn. I guess I was most happiest was that even though one twin would wake up wanting food, the other would sleep right through the commotion. Yay me. Unfortunately, now they both have colds so it seems like we’re back at square one with multiple wake-ups. We had to buy a humidifier so they could breathe and I would be sucking out the mucus like every 4 hours (isn’t it amazing how much snot is in one tiny little nose?) but they would still be uncomfortable. Finally Amber had to be buckled in her bouncer and she has been sleeping there for the last few nights- what a difference that made! Now I’m just trying to fight off this stupid cold- just in time for Christmas! Oh, yay. Oh, and I’m turning 35 on Monday. Hmm- exhausted, sore, with a cold- Happy Birthday to me!

I wouldn’t trade in my girls for nothing- but there are times… especially after Amber has screamed continuously for 4 hours straight. Doesn’t that child get hoarse? I swear she has the lung capacity of an opera singer.

Lauren has to go to physical therapy now. She’s developed what my doctor called a “Lazy neck”. See- she had been developing a flat spot on her right side so we were told to encourage Lauren to look left more. Now she only wants to look left and when you sit her upright, her chin rests kind of on her left shoulder. She doesn’t want to lift her head and look around. She can- she just doesn’t seem to want to.

Anyway, some good news- Amber’s ultrasound for the tumors came back negative- no tumors- no abnormal growth! Next U/S is in March. Holli has started playing with her sisters finally. She has discovered a willing audience when she dances crazily all over the living room. And the twins like to watch her move.

Now we just have t figure out how to survive this next year. I work part time now, come home and take care of 3 kids from 2 pm until 9 pm when everybody finally gets into bed and then Jeff takes care of 3 kids from 6:30 am until 2 pm each day when he crashes into bed then he gets up at 8:30 pm and goes to work at 10:00 and works the graveyard shift. We hardly ever see each other and it feels like we’re both working double jobs with little sleep. At least he gets more sleep than I do. If the kids sleep at night so do I. If they don’t, neither do I. I’m cranky all the time and I wish desperately that we could afford to hire some help in the evenings, but there’s just not enough money. I wish I could quit, but then we couldn’t afford to keep our house. So, things just have to get better in the New Year, right?

12/23/07

 My girls are 6 months (4 months adjusted) and they sleep in the same room but in different cribs that are placed side by side. They are used to each other’s screaming so lately, Lauren falls asleep fairly quickly but Amber can take sometimes 2 hours to go down. She screams and Lauren sleeps- thank goodness.

If you put them in the same room, they might wake each other up for a while, but eventually they will get used to each other. For us- it wasn’t a choice, they had to get used to each other because there was no other bedroom available for one of them to move into!

These days they take turns sleeping through the night. One will do it while the other wakes up for a late night bottle, then the next night they completely change roles. I can’t wait for them to decide to STTN at the same time!!

Holli vs. the Baby Powder

So this past Saturday night, Holli didn’t really want to go to bed.  It was obvious since she kept coming downstairs several times with oh, so important things to tell me, give me just one more hug, need to go potty, etc.  We finally order her to go to bed and do not come out unless she’s pottying, and that she needs to use the bathroom upstairs.

 I’m sitting on the computer downstairs working on the pictures from Thanksgiving and pretty soon I start to smell baby powder.  My first thought was, “Baby powder?”  This was very quickly followed by:  “Baby powder!  Holy f***ing *****!”  I run upstairs as fast as I can and fling open the bathroom door to find Holli standing in the middle of the bathroom looking like a sugar cookie…. a very scared sugar cookie. She was covered in baby powder.  On her clothes, on her legs, arms, and especially in her hair. 

 There is baby powder ALL over the bathroom floor, in the sink… COATED in the sink…. and my deodorant bottle is open and the stick pushed almost all the way out.

 I marched her downstairs saying over and over, “Holli, how could you?  You go show your father what you did!”  I’m angry.  I’m furious.  I’m also trying not to laugh.  After having a serious talk with her about why she played in the baby powder, we told her we had to get her in the shower.  Now the screamfest can begin.  Holli hates taking showers with a passion.

 Of course, before the shower, I absolutely have to take pictures of the destruction. 

The sugar-cookie poster child

Not only did she dump it on herself, she rubbed it in like shampoo!

 Now, as I’m helping her get her clothes off, I realize that it’s not all baby powder on her.  Her legs are coated with MY deodorant, topped nicely with powder.  I swear she used almost a quarter stick of the stuff.

 We get into the shower and wash her thoroughly, Holli screaming and crying in my ears the whole entire time.  This is not how I like spending my Saturday nights. 

 After she’s clean, we ask her again, why in the world did she do that?  Her answer?  “I thought it was a toy.” 

 We put her back to bed and proceed to drink.  Double shots of buttery nipples. 

 I fear the day the twins start doing crap like this.