15 month checkup...

This will be quick...gotta get ready to pick up Alyssa from Kindergarten.

Olivia is right on the money. Caught up completely. Is in the 50% with her height and head, 15% with her weight. 20 lb. 12 oz. She is doing well.

Emma hit 14 lb. on the nose!!! I love to see that next number. Seems like we have been in the 13's for awhile. She is not on any chart - not even premee. But she is growing and doing well and has her own chart going on. We still have her on Enfacare for the extra calories. It seems to be helping. She is really doing well. And she has grown a lot in length so that is good.

Anyway, must get going.

Small Wonders Miracle Walk

http://jmpradio.com/pods/gd/Podcast0817/POD_4_082009.mp3

This link is to hear the radio interview I had yesterday promoting the Walk. All proceeds go to the NICU. Our family is one of the two ambassador families this year to raise money for the walk. If anyone would like to contribute to the cause, you can send the donation to me and I will take it that day. Anyone is welcome to come attend. Here is the link below of the registration form if you want to walk. All are welcome!

http://www.childrenshospitalofil.org/top/foundation/Small+Wonders+Walk.htm

We are very grateful for our miracles!!!

Trip to the ER, Home makeover and 1st day of school

So much has happened since my last blog. Life is crazy and fast! What to share first....

Well, Mom and Dad went to Africa 3 weeks ago. Alison and I and a lot of help from family and friends, made over Mom and Dad's kitchen and bathroom. So these are before and after pictures. Mom was very surprised and that was fun to see.

Loren fell off the furniture that she shouldn't be climbing on at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Kokomo, hit her head and we got to take a lovely trip to the ER. Loren got 8 staples in the back of her head. We get them taken out Friday. Mike and I could definitely say we've seen our fair share of hospitals and ER rooms. Now we're just curious....humm....wonder what this hospital is like?

Alyssa started school today and was very brave. She LOVED every minute of it and is very excited to go back tomorrow.

I have been asked to do a radio interview about our experience in the NICU on Thursday. Should be interesting/fun...not sure yet. I hope that we can send a message of gratitude and that we can touch people out there that have been through what we have.

Oh yea, and I found out that I have hypothyroidism. I have an underactive thyroid. I was glad to figure out what was wrong with me. I have had the hardest year having energy and strength, my hair falling out, trying to lose weight and not succeeding and just struggling to get out of bed every day. So I had some blood work done and this is what they found. My thyroid was damaged during my pregnancy. I had almost all the symptoms, I just didn't know anything about this. So they started meds and I'm hoping we are going to get back to normal sometime. They said it should take about 2 months. So I'm trying to be patient. But I'm so glad to know what the problem is so that we can fix it.

I think this is all for now. :)

Starting to walk...

Yes, Olivia has taken a few steps on her own. She is 100% ready she just would rather crawl most of the time. Most of the time she walks, she is unaware that she is. It's funny!
Emma has taken huge progress in her eating. She is now eating solids. She has 8 teeth which help in the process. She is the strongest I have ever seen her. She stands up and is a fast crawler. It will be interesting to see how long it takes her to walk. By the way, I'm not encouraging any of this (for my sake). :)
Anyway, things are going well here. Everyone is healthy and that is so wonderful!!! Alyssa is all ready for kindergarten and I think I am too.
Well, I'll keep you posted but there is not a lot going on at the moment. Alyssa has her cleft team appointment in November so I'm very anxious to see when we start the next process - which will be with her mouth and teeth. She has already lost one tooth and is growing one in its place so it might be time to get things going. We'll see...She asked for the first time ever if she could put on her patch today. I said yes and asked why. She said "I just don't want to always be like this". Break my heart. Sometimes I do get frustrated ...like ..."Can't she get a break?" It's enough to deal with her heart and her cleft stuff, can't her eyes just be fine? Frustrating...

So...I'm registering Alyssa for Kindergarten today. I don't think I'm ready. Although it will be nice to have a much quieter house. But I'm hoping Loren will take over and start talking some. Not for the noise sake but for the communicating sake.
Emma has done amazingly since she was discharged from the hospital. Has 6 new teeth and is eating very well. I don't know how much she weighs. She is pulling herself up to a standing position and is crawling very fast! I'm so grateful for her health right now.
We just had an eye check up for Alyssa. No improvement. So frustrating!!! She has even worn her patch for some long days...9 and 10 days...oh well, he is content with the fact that her eye has not gotten worse. With school starting, we can only patch once she gets home at night. So our time is limited. We have 3 more years to try and get this eye working. Once she hits 9, it's set.
Olivia is almost walking. Not ready for that either. :) She is a very sweet, squishy girl. Did I mention she talks a lot?!?!!
I must feed these people now. Must go.