The Polar Express

We got to see my Grandma and Grandpa for just a short time this week before they headed back home and my Grandpa gave Will one of the best presents ever.  Will has really been enjoying watching the Polar Express at home and gets really into it.  Grandpa made Will his own Polar Express folder complete with an Honorary Driver certificate and 6 tickets for him to hand out for the Polar Express. 

Will had so much fun handing out the tickets and then going around and pretending to punch everyone's tickets.  He even made all of us get up and dance during the serving of hot chocolate and at the end when the elves sing and dance.  Every time Tom Hanks says "In the name of Mike"  Will stops and says hey that's my dad's name.  He would walk around the room and say "All aboard".  This is something at least I will always remember.  Thank you for such an amazing gift Great Papa!!

Here is Will hanging out with both Papa and Great Papa. 

Christmas 2011 Take 1

This Christmas has been a great one and continues to be. Mike and I have 2 healthy happy children so we couldn't be happier. This year and last year we were home on Christmas Day and we are trying to start some of our own family traditions. Of course, on Christmas Eve we go to Church but I wanted some other traditions. We had a wonderful Christams Eve Day watcing Christmas movies and playing games.  Here is something else we tried this year.....






Roasting Marshmallows by way of the fireplace on Christmas Eve Day!! (Even though it was 50 degrees out we had to light a fire)

I am quickly realizing that when you have 2 kids you will hardly ever be able to get a good picture of both at once. Here is my attempt at a good picture in front of our tree before I gave up.

I guess I will have to get used to cropping and cutting.  Here is my hambone and my princess!!

Here is our family picture in front of our Christmsas tree!!!    Ummmmm.... I think we need a new tree!!  HeeeHeee!!!  The tree we have is the one I got 10 years ago when I lived in a condo.  It is only a 6 ft tree and when your husband is 6'4 posing in front of the tree........that just doesn't work.  I didn't realize how small our treee was until I saw this picture.

It looks like someone was a very good boy.  There were 2 things that Will wanted more than anything this year.  He wanted a bat cave and a firetruck that shoots balls.  Santa decided to make him sweat and didn't leave either gift at his house but he did leave lots of other cool toys.

Emma was most excited about eating all the wrapping paper.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from this year.

After our little Christmas we headed to Mimi & Papa's for Christmas with them and the girls.  The kids got some great stuff and we had some good family fun.

Here is my little elf and the all important bat cave that Santa brought!!!

Here are all 4 of the kids together!!

We are now off to Kansas for a 2nd round of Christmas and some more family fun!!

Day of Baking

Today was a day of baking.  We had Kali, Ava, Aunt Jen, Mimi and Papa out for some fun.  We started with sugar cookies.....that we made from scratch.  Probably not the best idea with little ones as the entire kitchen was covered in flour by the time we were done.  We all had fun and that is what matters.  We made 2 batches of sugar cookies and then we made 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies and a gingerbread house.  We then sent the kids outside to try and burn of the sugar that they had eaten throughout the day.   We are just missing one thing.....snow!!!!

The finished product!!!

8 Month Photo Shoot

My  mom found this adorable outfit from Mudpie and I just had to get some good pictures in it!!

I love how she is staring at the camera in all of these shots.  I also love that both my kids were born on the 14th, it makes a lot of things so much easier.  

 I think we have finally hit the 15 pound mark.  Emma is in 3-6 month clothes and is starting to grow out of some.  We have tried on a few 6-9 month clothes but she just swims in them.  She is in a size 2 diaper and there is no point discussing socks or shoes cause they never stay on.  She is definitely on the move and although she still isn't crawling she can definitely get to where she wants.  Food:  we are still strictly breastfed and the only food I can get in her is by using her mesh thing.  She will eat just about anything using it and her favorite food is frozen yogurt.  She is down to 2 good naps a day with some car naps if we are out and about.  She goes down around 7:00 p.m. but still wakes up a couple times to eat.  I am working on weaning her off at night but it is a process when I am completely exhausted and I know how to get her to fall asleep right away.  I just need some willpower (or earplugs)!! 

3 1/2

I can't believe Will is already 3 1/2.  Here are some of his current stats.  He is 42" tall and is 39 lbs.,  he wears size 11 shoe, size 4 pant and size 5 shirt.  Will is full of life and energy.  If only I could bottle it up and use it for myself.  Will's imagination has just taken off and it is so much fun to just listen and watch him play.  He is a wonderful big brother and truly loves his baby sister.  We are just starting to get into the sibling rivalry stage as Emma becomes more mobile.  Will loves to play with his trains and loves making forts and houses.  He loves being the star of the show and loves to put on shows for us and will gather us and sit us down and say "Ladies and Gentlemen....introducing William Horn" and then he will do some sort of silly trick or show.  Right now Will goes to preschool 3 days a week but only 1/2 days.  He is always very excited to see me just after lunch until recently when he would rather stay with his friends then go home.  I think I will stick to my guns till next year as they grow so fast already.  He is still a pretty good eater and we don't have to hound too much.  Right now he would rather snack than eat a meal.  He always says "I'm not hungry, I just want a snack".
He is learning so much each and every day it just amazes me.  He can recite the alphabet and count from 1 to 15.  He can write a W...working on his name.  He can completely dress himself, go to the potty, wash hands, put dirty dishes in the sink, make his bed, put dirty clothes in the washer and many more things.  He is just growing so fast.  I can't wait for the rest of this year as my big boy heads for the big #4!!!

Silly Will!!!

Here are some pictures of my wonderful, energetic, crazy and wild 3 year old boy!!

Thanksgiving Recap

I can tell it is December as I have not had a chance to play on the computer in quite some time. Here is an update of what went on the last weeks of November. Will had his first school party and we both had so much fun. He had cupcakes, decorated cookies like turkeys, played pin the feather on the turkey, made playdoh and had story time. He had such a good time but I think I had more fun being there and just watching him interact with his classmates.

Immediately following Will's school party me and the kiddos headed to Kansas for some quality family time.  We did several fun things but it wasn't quite the Thanksgiving we were hoping for because my Grandma (GiGi) ended up in the hospital and was acutally there the entire week.  My mom and dad were at the hospital a lot and we went up to visit her several times.  One of the fun things we did do was go the Bass Pro to see Santa with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Sean, Matt, Angela and Sydney.  Will and Sydney had a blast and Will was having too much fun with all the activities he couldn't bother with Santa. 

The whole week we stayed at Sarah and Sean's house and had a lot of fun.  Sarah and Sean hosted the party for the annual KU vs. MU game.  This is the last year for this game and being we have a divided family this is quite the rivalry. 

The Tiger holding the Jayhawk!!

Will & Aunt Sarah having fun!!

Our 14lb Turkey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7 Months and Sitting Pretty

Emma is doing wonderful and I hope that all our scares are far behind us now.  She has finally hit the 14 pound mark.  We were making great strides in introducing solids before we hit the hospital.  Ever since then with all the forced oral meds and everything she won't let me get a spoon near her mouth.  She just closes her lips and if I do manage to get some in she spits it right back out.  For now we have decided to just breastfeed because that is the most important anyway and solids are mainly for fun right now.  She does love this mesh thing you can put foods in that they can suck on.  We have done lots of frozen fruits and might start trying other things too.

Emma is officially a sitter.  She can sit for 10+ minutes at a time.  We are scooting and she is starting to really enjoy her walker.  She is starting to babble and "talk" to us.  Her hair is finally starting to come in and yes it is still red.  Sleeping has been really bad ever since the hospital and she is waking every 2-3 hours but that it how often they would come and poke and prod at her.  I guess I might have to try some sleep training here soon:(

She is still in 3-6 month clothing and we have a jacket that is 0-3 month.  We are starting to finally fill out the clothes but we have quite a while before we graduate to 6-9 month.  She is still wearing a size 1 diaper.  I tried a size 2 but she kept leaking through them so we went back to the size 1.  She is going to be petite!!

Will and her get along great and she is just enamored with him.  Will is starting to not like her playing with his toys but it's not too bad right now.  I am just truly enjoying being at home with my little ones and watching them change and grow!!

Ladies and Gentlemen.....Introducing William Horn

The Star of the Show!!

Will had his very first school program.  They did it early in the season to get it out of the way because everyone else has their programs in another month or so.  Leading up to the program I would talk to other moms and they would ask if Will had been practicing because their child had been practicing every night.  Will, on the other hand, would not tell us anything.  He said it was a secret and we would have to wait.  So we did.....it was worth the wait!!  I have to warn you. I laughed until I cried. I hope you enjoy it

Entering and waving to mom and dad

"This is the day" & "In the Beginning"

"Trust and Obey"

"My God is So Great"

Here are the songs that just his class sang:
Zacchaeus, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Little Miss Muffet, Proverbs 17:17

All clear!!!!! And we're off...........

We got the all clear from the doctor's and the biopsy results came back normal. Yay!!!  I know that we we really didn't think they would but you still kind of hold your breath until you get the results.  Emma's pediatrician basically said she doesn't want to see us again until her 9 month check up so we are shooting for that too.  It is kind of weird to go from something so major to not going to the doctor at all. 

I forgot to mention that she cut her first two teeth while in the hospital. They are the 2 bottom front teeth.  She is officially "scooting" now and Will's toys are her number one target.  Here is a video of her on the move.

Yay for Lymphadentitis staphylococcus aureus!!

Weird title...but as you read on you will understand.  I wanted to let everyone know what has been going on as I am sure some of you may have questions and so I don't have to tell the story over and over.

The last couple weeks have been an emotional roller coaster that we are still on but it is finally slowing down.  I will start with the beginning of October.  On Tuesday October 4th Emma came down with a fever of 103.  Her fontanel (the soft spot) was a little enlarged so we did some blood work and everything came back normal so there was no reason to worry too much and we believed she just had a virus.  She ran a high fever for 3 days and then on Saturday the 8th the fever went away and she presented with a rash.  (Typically a clear sign it was a virus). 

She was then completely fine and we even had her 6 month well check on October 14th where she received a glowing healthy report.  Everything continued to be fine until Wednesday October 26th.  Emma awoke to a large mass on the right side of her neck.  Panic set in and I got her into the pediatrician right away.  The mass measured 3cm by 4cm.  Initially the doctor thought it was an enlarged lymph node but those are ususally only the size of a pea, Emma's was the size of a golf ball.  The thought at the time was a bacterial infection.  Emma is completely fine otherwise except when you touch the mass.  There is no fever or other symptoms.  The doctor did briefly mention tumor but said the chances of that were so slim she just wanted to calm my fears.

That day we proceeded to do lots of blood work, a chest xray and an ultrasound of the mass.  Everything came back normal except she tested positive for Roseola (we assume was what she had at the beginning of the month and was still in her system).  The doctor went ahead and prescribed an antibiotic just in case and said that it should go down but I was to follow up on Friday.  On Friday the mass had not changed so we were then prescribed yet another round of antibiotics. Emma is now on 3 doses of anitbiotics a day. 

We go through the weekend with no change and then Monday the 31st we are in the doctor's office first thing.  The Pediatrician decides this has gone on long enough and we need a CT Scan and to see an ENT.  She asks if I have a preference on ENT's and it was decided that we would go to the person who could see us the soonest.  The way it worked out best was for us to go through the ER @ St. John's Mercy and proceed from there.  It took us quite a while to do the CAT scan as you can't ask a 6 month old to sit still so they needed to sedate her and Emma is just as stubborn as I am so she fought it for quite a while. 

Finally around 12:00 she fell asleep and we were able to do the scan.  A few minutes later the doctor came in and said it looks like an abscess and they will have to go in and drain it.  Not the best diagnosis but not the worst.  Ten minutes later our world came crashing down on us.  The doctor came in again and told us they got the radiology report back and it looked more serious then they had thought.  It looked to be a tumor and due to the size and location it could not be removed but they would schedule her for a biopsy.  Within minutes we had ENT's, oncologists and a chaplain in our room.  Mike and I had no time to even digest the information before they were talking about how fierce this tumor looked and how when they do the biopsy they would like to go ahead and put in a shunt to administer future medicines. 

My thoughts were how in the world did we go from an abscess to a possible tumor to assuming this tumor is cancer.  Mike and I were devastated and didn't quite no what to do.  We were scheduled for biopsy Tuesday morning at 11:00 and because Emma was having no other symptoms they gave us the option of admitting us overnight or going home.  We chose to go home.  Best decision in the world. 

As we were getting ready to leave the hospital we got a call from our pediatrician who had been briefed on everything and was not liking the direction things were going.  She actually was encouaging us to start over at another hospital first thing in the morning (even though she was the one who sent us to the first hospital).  Initially I didn't like the idea of starting over worried that we may be wasting precious time but after speaking with her several times and going over things she was easing our fears saying that with all her experience it is very rare for a tumor to present this way and she is leaning more towards an infection of some sort.  She said that she would have us directly admitted to St. Louis Children's Hospital and would have everyone come and see us that needed to.

We were admitted and in a room by 9:30 Tuesday morning.  We were admitted to the Oncology wing which wasn't very reassuring but I knew that we were at one of the best Children's Hospitals in the United States.  All I could do was pray.  We had several doctors come and evaluate Emma and at about 2:00 we got the word that they did NOT think it was a tumor!!  Praise the Lord!!  It was an abscess and they would have to go in and drain it.  By 3:00 Emma was in the OR and she did just fine.  The went in and drained it and did do a biopsy just in case.  She had a drain in for 2 days to drain out the rest of the infection.  The infection did test positive for staphylococcus aureus in the lymph nodes.  This is not anything to mess around with but compared to what we were looking at earlier we were estatic.

We are now home and just enjoying our family and thanking our lucky stars because this could have gone very differently.  We are thankful that our pediatrician was watching out for us and trying to advise us as best she could.  We are thankful for Mike's parents who kept Will while we were with Emma.  We are thankful for my parents who were there offering support.  We are thankful for the Doctor's who took great care of our little baby.

We still have follow up appointments both Monday and Tuesday and we don't have the biopsy results back but we are confident that nothing will come of it.  What caused this whole thing we may never know.  It was kind of a perfect storm of events.

This just goes to show you how quickly your world can change forever and how you have to be thankful and enjoy every minute God gives us on Earth.  We ask that everyone continues to keep Emma in their prayers.

Lesson #2: when you are not comfortable with what doctor's are telling you, you can get a second opinion.  Thank God we followed our Pediatrician's advice.  I cringe just thinking about where we would be had we continued to move forward with the initial diagnosis.

Even with everything she has been through she is still smiling.

Here are us girls modeling our St. Louis Children's Hospital shirts!!

This is after the fact.  You can see the lump (it is half the size of what is was).  The incision is about 1 inch long and we are to leave it open to the air as much as possible to allow for continued drainage.

Hug your babies.  Life is so precious!!

Happy Halloween (a little belated)

This is a little late but I wanted to get some pictures up. We had a busy October and went to the pumpkin patch not only for Will's field trip but also with the family so everyone could enjoy.

 

Here is a picture of our pumpkin creations!!

                                                                          My Sunflower

My Woody

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday Will went on his first field trip. He went on his first bus ride too. His pre-school went to the Pumpkin Patch and he got to do everything from roasting marshmallows and eating smores to hayrides to tractor rides and finally picking out his own pumpkin. I think I was more excited than he was but we both had fun and I am looking forward to many more fun activites just like this.

There are a couple pictures of his entire class below.  There are a total of 8 people (4 boys and 4 girls)

WeddingTime!!

On October 1st my cousin Joey got married and we all had a blast. It was a beautiful wedding.

Congratulations Joey and Courtney!!!

Here are some pictures of everyone having fun!!

6 Months Old!!

6 Month Stats:

Weight:  13 lbs. 6.5 ounces (10%)

Height: 26 1/2" (75%)

Head Circumference: 41.8 cm (25%)

 Emma is doing great and is perfectly healthy.  We have started to introduce real food to her and so far we have been successful with bananas and green beans.  Believe it or not but I am actually making her baby food.  I had every intention to do it with Will but never got around to it.  With Emma it has been real easy, I just grab a banana puree it and viola!!

She is still nursing every 3 hours and still won't take a bottle but I am not that worried about it.  I know in the coming months she will be nursing less and less and I will just enjoy her "neediness" for as long as it lasts.  Emma is really close to sitting up but we are not quite there.  She is in 3-6 month clothing but still swims in most clothes.  We can still wear a few 0-3 month outfits.  I have people ask me all the time if she was a preemie but she is just petite and that is just fine. 

Priceless

It is moments like this that you want to remember forever!!

5 Months Old!!

According to my rough calculations Emma is 12 lbs. 6 oz. and 24 3/4" long. She is still a very happy baby and is still breastfeeding for all her feedings. I have actually tried to introduce the bottle but she refuses to take it right now. We have also introduced a little cereal to fatten her up. We started with oatmeal and she wouldn't eat it at all. I then introduced barley and she actually loves it. So for right now we are sticking with the barley because it works. She is starting to get a day time schedule. We actually get a good morning nap right now but the afternoon is still spotty. She goes down really good at night. I put her down between 7:30 and 8:00 and she is down for the night. She wakes up around 4 am for a feeding and then gets up again @ 7 am. I am very happy with that schedule right now!!

Here is a picture of both Will and Emma at 5 months!!  Do they look like brother and sister or what????

Vacation Time

As parents you want your children to experience the things you did as a kid and you look forward to sharing those experiences with them.  At the same time you quickly learn how much work and how exhausting it is to take a vacation.  The days of a relaxing vacation are long gone.  Mike and I may have been a little too eager for this long of a trip with a 4 month old and a 3 year old but we all survived and had a good time.

We left on Friday August 26th for our 10 day road trip.  Our plan was to head to the cabin in Osceola, MO for the weekend and then to Branson for 4 days and end up at my grandparents at Table Rock Lake.

We had a great time at the cabin and the boys got to do some fishing and boating.  Will went on some treasure hunts and went through an entire package of caps for his cap gun while shooting at all the wildlife.  This was probably the most relaxing part of the trip because there was nothing else but us and the wilderness.  We had a few issues like the bed breaking in the middle of the night, the AC going out (luckily we had just the guy to fix it), no tv, flat tire on the tractor, and Mike getting electrocuted!!!  These are the trips we will remember for a lifetime. 

We left Osceola Monday morning and went to the Safari drive thru zoo which is just east of Springfield.  We have driven past it 100 times and decided to finally go.  We saw all sorts of crazy animals and will had fun just sitting in the front seat and feeding the animals.

One of the crazy animals we saw was this zedonkey, a cross between a zebra and a donkey.  First time I have ever seen one!!

After the zoo we headed straight for Branson and stayed at the Grand Country Inn which had an indoor and outdoor waterpark a lazy river and a baby area.  This was one of my backups if the weather didn't cooperate.  We picked the perfect time to head to Branson as it was their least busiest time of the year other that the dead of winter.   We enjoyed having a waterpark to go play at after being out in the 100 degree temps.  Even Emma got in on some of the action.

We spent 3 nights in Branson and 2 days at Silver Dollar City.  We were able to do all sorts of things because there were no lines.  In Branson we rode the ducks and Will even got to drive, Mike and Will rode go karts and bumper boats, we also went miniature golfing.  We even contemplated going to the Dixie Stampede but decided to wait a few years.  At Silver Dollar City Emma went on her first carousel ride, Will went on all sorts of rides in the kiddie area.  He even went on Fire in the Hole and the American Plunge, which didn't go so well.  Of course we had to get picks in the giant Rocking Chair at SDC.  I know somewhere there is a picture of me in that chair when I was Will's age.

Here is a picture of a very terrified boy.  He said he really wanted to go on this ride but I think it was a little too much for him!! 

After all this fun we still had plenty more to do.  On Thursday we headed to my grandparents who live in Shell Knob, MO off Table Rock Lake.  We had a nice time with all my family.  It is so nice to get some quality time in.

Here is some pictures of my babies with their loved ones.

Will had a blast  swimming in the lake, tubing and trying to surf on a piece of driftwood!!