Great day...

What a day!!!!

We had a home visit with the nurse. Last week, Emma weighed 14 lb. 10 oz. This time she weighed 15 lb. 6 oz. Awesome improvement!!!! The formula must be helping. Anyone that has extra Enfamil coupons, please send them my way.
So then she is just playing around and she is standing by the trunk. She turns and starts walking to the nurse...she took 4 steps. I could not believe my eyes. I think my jaw hit the floor. : ) Then she crawled over by the door and stood on the rug for about 10 seconds all by herself not holding onto anything. Little showoff!!!!! I've never seen her do any of that. I'm so proud of her. She really is a fighter and she proves it everyday. I love good days and steps forward. Keep them coming Emma!!

Getting excited...

I'm getting excited to see family - Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm really having fun this year finding presents for people. : ) We have some surgeries coming up. Alyssa's ear surgery is now scheduled for December 21st at 3:30 p.m. Her reconstructive plastic surgery is still scheduled for Christmas Eve. I'm trying to think of a good present to give her in the hospital. Let me know if you think of any good ideas.
Emma and Olivia's surgery for their eyes is January 7th.

We started Emma on two breathing treatments and we are hoping this will help her lungs. She has lost weight...we are now at 14 lb. 10 oz. So we are starting her back on formula. Frustrating but we will do what it takes. She is growing length wise so that is great news!!!

Olivia just woke up from her nap so I must get going.
Love you all and thanks for being with us along this journey. We have appreciated all of you and your prayers and support. We couldn't have done this without you.
Love,
Bethany

Surgery, surgery and more surgeries...

We had Alyssa's cleft clinic last week and found that she has fluid behind her ears and is not hearing well because of it. She will need her 5th set of tubes put in and we have it scheduled for December 14th as of right now. She will also be having some reconstructive plastic surgery on Christmas Eve. This will take 3 1/2 hours and she will have to be very careful for 3 weeks not to bump her nose and lip.

Today I took the twins to the eye doctor. They both need surgery and that is scheduled for January 7th. They have blocked tear ducts. So we have 4 surgeries within the next two months.

Ending with that, it has been a long day and I'm tired.
Good night to all!
Bethany

Museum

Last weekend we had a bit of a breather. I think that is really what we needed. We took the twins to my parents and Mike and I took the older two to the Children's Museum in Indy. It was really great and I think the girls just soaked up our attention. Then we stayed in Kokomo for the weekend for Tom's birthday party.

I guess sometimes I just need to break down to feel better. Letting all those emotions and stress out probably helped.

A few updates...Alyssa's eye is not improving so she will be fitted for a contact next week. She will wear this along with the patch. So we'll see. We are down to our last options. Emma is up to 14 lb. 13 oz. I'll be very glad when she breaks 15 lb. They will be 1 and a half years old on Nov. 22nd. Olivia is 22 lb. 13 oz. So they are exactly 8 lbs. apart. I hope that Emma starts walking soon. They will be back in a short while to evaluate her again and we might have to start up therapy. We'll see...

Enjoy the pictures!!

Unload..

So I'm just going to unload. I had a biggest loser moment...not that I lost a lot a weight (I wish). But every week everyone cries on the biggest loser. Today as I was running I just felt all these emotions surface. How did I get this way? So I was thinking about why and was just overwhelmed. It's like all this stress has been built up and it all just came tumbling down. I realized that I eat a lot more and worse when I'm stressed about my kids health. Which only leads me into more of a downward spiral. Not getting breaks that fill my tank so that I can give to my children and husband what they need is not helping. So part of what has been stressful lately is I think Emma is losing weight. We ran out of formula and the dr. said it was o.k. to do whole milk. Well, she is not drinking as much and I've tried to mix it and put it in her old bottle but it is not mixing well. So I went out and bought another can of formula and she is taking it. But we can't do formula forever. I just don't know. The H1N1 scare is now keeping us out of the nursery at church and I can't put the in daycare at the gym so I can have some time to myself. Frustrating!!! This whole insurance thing...with OSF not being in our network as of 6 months from now.....we will have to switch all our drs. Alyssa's eye appointment is tomorrow and I know it's going to be worse. Since school has started, she hasn't been able to wear her patch even 1/8 of the time. All this responsibility is so overwhelming. Then I see my cousins with their 8 year old who have had tons of surgeries his whole life. And I think how do these people have the strength to keep going? How can I have the strength to keep going? Some days I think someone else could probably do a better job. And then a lady from my neighborhood just came to my door and asked if we would put our Christmas lights up early and let others know too. Their neighbor's boy is dying from leukemia and only has til Christmas if he can make it that far. So they are seeing if everyone can put up their lights so he can see them every day. So I guess that answers my question. With tears streaming down my face... I would keep stressing every day if it meant that I could have my girls with me one more day.