Friday, February 27, 2009

Rolling Into Strange Places







Lately I walk into a room and find Carlee and Kalee in the strangest places. I honestly do not know how Kalee gets her head under this chair but this is twice now that I have found her this way. Seriously it is hard getting her out so I'm not sure how she gets her head under the chair. As you can tell this is her spot to go. I caught her there again but moved her before she had a chance to get under it again.
Carlee's favorite spot to go is under the bed. I let them play in my bedroom while I'm getting ready. I found her peeping out from under it the other morning.
All this and they are only rolling into these strange places. I can only imagine where I will find them when they start crawling!!!
O and by the way, I only leave them alone in a room for a few minutes at a time without checking. They are fast little rollers!!

And It's Off








Tuesday the bandaid finally fell off. And I mean it literally fell off!! Since placing it on Friday she did not let us touch it. When she took a bath or shower, we would wash down to it and below it. She was so afraid of it hurting or bleeding when it came off. Tuesday night when Jeffrey was helping her put on her pj's, it fell off when he pulled her shirt off. She came running in to me to show me that it was off before Jeffrey put on her pj's. She was glad it was off. I was afraid that she was going to have a fit when it finally did come off. She wasn't too excited about the bruise that remained but was fine when I told her that it would go away in a few days. Now the bruise is gone and her stay in the hospital is a distant memory!

Bike Riding







Halle loves to ride her bike. The past couple of days have been a little warmer so she's been riding it alot lately. She enjoys riding between our house and Jerry and Debbie's. If we ever need her to go down and get anything from their house she just hops on her bike and goes.
She is starting to out grow this bike so she is already insisting on a new one for the summer. She has requested one with a kick stand!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

One Sick Little Girl







It all began last Sunday. Normal day, we had gone to church, kids played, kids took a nap, and back to church. After church we went to my dad's house. Halle and Sydney played with Bev's grandson, Tucker. All seemed fine but my dad commented that he thought Sydney was going to be sick. He said that she looked pale, and she was quiter than normal. Boy, did my dad's prediction come true!!
When we got home the girls and I made a pallet in the toy room and decided to watch one of their new movies that they had gotten for Valentine's Day. There was no school the next day and I was off because the office was closed for the day as well. While we were watching the movie the girls wanted some milk. It wasn't 30 minutes after drinking her milk that Syd got sick for what turned out to be the first of many times she would vomit.
Sydney and I were up every 30 minutes that night for her to vomit. And bless her heart she made it every time to the bathroom!! The next day I kept thinking that the vomiting would stop. She was vomiting about every hour on Monday. Monday night when she ate or drank anything she would vomit.
On Tuesday she seemed some better so I decided to leave her with Debbie and go on to work. I called regularly and Debbie said that she was sleeping alot. She vomited a few times that day as well. Plus she began having some diarrhea.
I kept thinking that this was just a regular virus and that she would get better, but it was becoming clear that it wasn't the regular stomach virus. So Tuesday night I decided to call the doctor. I was put through to the answering service who said to make sure she using the potty and that she could bend her neck forward. I had been monitoring her urine output because I knew dehydration was a big factor of the virus that had gone on for days now. She was still using the potty so I still wasn't too concerned at this point.
That night I also decided to use some phen syringes that I had gotten from a friend so she could rest. I had used some on Sunday night but it clearly wasn't working so I had stopped. Some doctors have told me that it's best not to use them and to just let them get the virus out of their system. At this point I was desperate and used them.
She did sleep all through the night and the next morning seemed better. She woke up Wednesday and wanted something to drink. I gave her something and immediately up it came. She vomited 3 times before we could turn around that morning. The last time she could not even raise her head up off the couch to vomit in the trash can. Her nails looked purple as well. At this point we decided she needed to go the doctor.
Our appointment was at 9:30 and by 11 we were in the hospital. Dr. Greene took one look at her and said that she needed some fluids. I, of course, was by myself but by the time we left the doctor's office my brother was there.
Sydney's nurse for the next two days was one of my friends from high school, Jil Stuard. Sydney however does not consider her a friend. Getting an iv in a little one who is dehydrated is no easy task. It took two tries and lots of screaming and crying to get it in. Sydney went from saying get me out of here to I want my daddy to hold me momma to I want to sleep in the car and finally to go now (talking to the nurse) while they were putting in the iv. The nurses placed her arm on a board and taped it good so it would not come out. However we did a few issues with the iv which resulted in it having to be untaped and retaped and finally placing two boards to stabilize it. All of which Sydney hated. Halle was there when they were having to do this so her and Brandon went outside the room. While out there she told him that she wished she was the one that was sick. He asked her why and she said because of that, the screaming. I thought how precious that was and how that truely shows sisterly love even at such a young age, that Halle would be willing to go through the pain just so her sister wouldn't have to. Thank God we did not have to redo the iv.
After running some tests it was determined that Sydney had rotavirus. I have never seen her so sick!! She slept so much in the hospital, and did not want me out of her sight. She had lots of visitors and received several get well balloons. She continued to vomit a few times on Thursday and have diarrhea which resulted in us staying Thursday night in the hospital.
Friday she was better so we got to go home. She tried to talk the nurses into letting her leave with the iv. Since they had to take the tape off once already she knew that this was not going to be a good thing. Once again she cried and screamed and said that she just wanted to go home. They placed a band aid on her arm once they were finished. We had to replace it before we left because her little arm bleed so much. She still has it on her arm because she thinks if we take it off that her arm will bleed again. No amount of explaining has gotten her to take it off yet.
When we got home she took a much needed bath. She played for about an hour in the bath. After her bath she took about a 3 hour nap. Then she went to sleep about 8 and slept all night.
Yesterday she felt much better and played more like herself. She is still holding her right arm that had the iv in it like it's broken. She is doing most things with her left hand like coloring. We will see how long this lasts. She may turn in to being left handed all due to the iv!!
We missed church this morning just because she is still having some diarrhea. The doctor said that this could lasts for several days. We are avoiding all dairy products for about a week. She has to return to see Dr. Greene March 6th which works for me becauses that's when the twins will be due for their RSV shots....never a dull moment!!
I'm so thankful that she is better even if it took staying in the hospital for two nights to get her that way. But I swear I had just payed off our hospital bills from the twins stay last week!! I hope to not see another hospital for a long time!!!
In case you are wondering why no pictures from the hospital, my battery was dead so I couldn't get any.

First Word


Carlee and Kalee are officially talking. Now I know they are probably not associating the word with me but still it's their first.
They have started saying ma ma ma. Halle and Sydney both said da da da first so this makes me so happy.
Carlee is also growling alot these days. I'm not sure what this is all about but it's really funny. Now if Halle gets confused on who is who she just growls and whoever growls back, she knows that it's Carlee.
Both of them are also laughing out loud more and more these days. It's so cute because they get tickled over anything or nothing. The other day Kalee just started laughing. I wish I knew what they were thinking.
Carlee and Kalee spent the two nights that Sydney was in the hospital with Nana and Pawpaw. I had been away from them one night prior to this. Nana reported back each day that they made it fine through the nights, good thing that they sleep well at night.
They were very excited to see their momma on Friday. The just grinned from ear to ear when they saw me. I was very glad to see them as well. Don't you know poor things wondered where their mom and dad had gone?!
Praise God, Carlee and Kalee have not gotten sick. At each well baby check, they get the rotavirus vaccine so the nurses told me if they happen to get it that it will not be too bad. Sydney has been doing great at staying away from them and not touching any of their toys.

Winter Break '09


This past week Halle's school was out for winter break. With Sydney being sick for most of the week, I feel like I barely saw Halle all week.
She had a good time spending time with family most of the week. She spent the night with Nana and Pawpaw, Uncle Brandon, and Gran and Papa Rick.
She enjoyed spending the night with Nana and Pawpaw. She rarely does this since we are so close to them. She normally just spends all day down there and then comes home at night. She did not want to catch what Sydney had so she decided to spend the night as well this time.
She had fun with Uncle Brandon. This was her first time to spend the night with him. She had an appointment in Texarkana on Thursday so she rode down to Texarkana with JoJo and mamaw when they came to see Sydney. Uncle Brandon took her to her appointment for me on Thursday. He is such a good uncle. The nurses commented when we left the hospital how attentive he was with my children.
She stayed with Gran and Papa Rick two nights, one night at Hope and one night at the river. She got to be Papa Rick's secretary on Friday. I'm sure she sold lots of insurance!
Friday night at the river she enjoyed cooking hot dogs and roasting marshmellows. She wanted to stay another night but I was ready to see her and made her come home. However, as I'm typing this she is at the movies watching Coraline with Gran and Papa Rick.
I think this week Halle got over her fear of staying away from home. She had a good week, and the best part is that so far she has avoided the illness.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

All Dressed Up







We had a few extra minutes this morning before church so I took a few pictures. Love how the girls look in their Sunday best....

Carlee and Kalee's 1st Valentines


Carlee and Kalee enjoyed valentine's day. We all bought them little toys. Gran and Papa Rick also got them a new jumper. Kalee loves to jump. Next year they will get to enjoy the candy part of valentines but for this year they missed out.
Notice how well they are sitting up. They are getting better at this everyday.

Syd's Valentine's Day


Sydney enjoyed valentine's day. She loved her balloon we sent her.
She celebrated valentines at Ms. Jamie's on Wednesday because that was the last day she went to her house. Sydney enjoyed putting stickers on her Dora valentines for her friends. It was so cute watching her carefully picking out each card for each friend.
Ms. Jamie gave her a sweet card with money in it along with some candy. She also gave Halle a nice little card as well.
Gran and Papa Rick gave Syd tons of clothes, dvds, and lipstick. Nana and Papa bought her a Dora swinsuit and a Tinkerbell hat. We also gave her a necklace.
Most of all Sydney has enjoyed the candy. I have had to limit her....

1st Grade Valentine Party





Halle had a valentine party at school on Friday. We spent Thursday night making out her Brats valentines. She also gave her classmates heartshaped candies and valentine pencils. Everyone passed out candy and then the kids stuffed themselves.
Everyone had to bring a drink for the party. As Ms. Kesterson was passing out the drinks she told the boys and girls to be very careful opening the drinks and to put the lids back on the drink if they were not drinking it. But of course, it was only about 5 minutes into the party and someone had spilled Dr. Pepper everywhere.
It so fun to see her interact with her friends. Of course I couldn't get any of the boys to take photos. I did manage to capture John Patrick giving the girls bunny ears....very typical for boys that age.
Sydney also enjoyed the party. All the kids gave her some candy too. She thought she was as big as them. She liked sitting in the chairs like a big girl.
Halle received several things for valentine's day this year. One of her friends gave her a purse with candy and a stuffed bear in it. Gran and Papa Rick gave her tons of clothes, lipstick, and dvds. We sent a balloon to school and got her a necklace that she can change out the charms daily. Nana and Papa got her earrings and a stencil kit. She also received some candy from a boy in her class. He gave her something last year as well. I do have to admit that her daddy did handle it better this year but I think it was because he had prepared himself this year that she might get something... Lots of years left of this!!

Finally....


The twins are finally holding their own bottles now. Granted rarely have they held it for the entire 8 ozs but they will hold it for most of it. This is a big accomplishment!
The picture was taken when they were taking their first bottle of the morning....don't they look precious in their pjs?!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

February RSV Visit







I've been a little busy lately...wonder why?! So sorry about not posting lately.... I had pictures from our January RSV visit but I just decided to post the latest.
In January Carlee weighed 15 lbs 4 ozs and Kalee weighed 15lbs 9 ozs. Now this was less than their 6 month check up weight but you have to remember that at well baby checks the girls don't have to get undressed or have a dry diaper. Since the RSV dosage depends on weight we have to get a good accurate weight which means no clothes dry diaper.
Yesterday I took the girls for their February RSV visit. Carlee weighed 16 lbs 12.5 ozs and Kalee weighed 17lbs 4 ozs. The nurses can't get over how much they have grown. They remember when they came in for the first visit weighing under 5 lbs. That seems ages ago!
Carlee and Kalee each got 3 shots. Since they weigh so much they have to get two injections for the RSV, and they also got their 2nd flu shot. Poor things are old enough now to realize what's happening. Kalee was first and she just saw Ms. Kaye and started crying. Carlee started crying then too and both didn't stop until both were finished. Thank goodness Ms. Kaye is quick with those shots, and it only takes a few seconds.
My brother came to the rescue once again. They always think he is my husband, which we are quick to correct! Ms. Kaye is learning though as soon as she said dad, she realized he was uncle.
A good uncle at that!! I thought I was going to have to go it alone with the twins and Syd but our appointment was at 1:00, and my brother didn't have to be anywhere until 2:00. The good thing about having a 1:00 appointment is fewer people in the waiting room and in and out quick. We were out of there by 1:30.
Sydney as always covered her ears when the babies were getting their shots, made sure the appointment was not for her, and got her sucker from Ms. Kaye. She likes to take pictures too so she took the picture with Brandon, the twins, and me, which explains why the camera is pointing up at us.
Hopefully we will only have 2 more months of our RSV visits.

Carlee and Kalee Sitting Up







Carlee and Kalee are now sitting up. They were 7 1/2 months when I took these pictures about a week ago. Carlee needed a little help with the boppy then. Now she is doing just as well as Kalee.
If you look closely in the photos you can see towels on the counter. Carlee has the pink towel and Kalee the white one. They are about to out grow the little bath tub. Kalee splashed water clear across the kitchen the other morning.
Too cute seeing them sitting up, next mile stone.....crawling!!

Daddy's 32 Birthday


Jeffrey turned 32 on Groundhogs day. Halle got him candles but only 12. She said 32 might burn the house down! We had a good time eating steaks and shrimp at his mom's house.
32 seems young to me and I guess really it is but I remember when I was Halle and Sydney's age looking at my parents thinking they were old!! That seems so funny now.

Sydney's Battle Scars


I know I've said it before but Sydney is accident prone just like her daddy. Jeffrey and I went to the horse races a couple of weekends ago with some friends. We left the big girls with Jerry and Debbie and the twins with mom, Rick, and JoJo.
When we got home, I noticed the scratch on her cheek. She told me that her nana scratched her while playing a game a Chuck Cheese as the girls call it. I saw the other one on her chin but I honestly thought that it was marker that would come off in the shower. The next morning I looked closer and realized that it was a scratch too. She said this happened when she fell off the coffee table upstairs at nanas.
Of course the next day was church so I had to take this picture to show her battle scars. Everyone asked what happened to her. I said her nana!! I told Debbie that she couldn't keep them anymore if this was the way she was going to send them back to me. It didn't seem to scare her at all.... wonder why?! :)
Oh and the headphones are a must in the car. I couldn't get her to take them off even for the picture.

Halle's School Project


Halle had her first school project which took us most of the weekend to complete. The first grade studied dinosaurs for a week, and then they had to complete a dinosaur habitat. We had a hard time finding dinosaurs but at last we found them at the good 'ol dollar store... love that place. The teachers sent a note saying that we could just use dinosaurs that we already had at home. I found that hilarious because we all know I just have spare dinosaurs laying around my house of 4 girls!!
Halle was happy with her creation. I had warned her that mommy was not very creative but after it was complete she said, "see there mommy, I told you that we were creative." We used real moss that we hot glued down and made mountains out of spray foam that dad had at the hardware. It was his idea and Halle loved the way they turned out. The mountains turned out well and Halle even painted a waterfall down one. It did turn out amazingly well. She said that only two students looked better than hers. One had a volcano that really erupted and the other belonged to a girl who Halle says that her mom is an art teacher.
It was good fun quality time with Halle but you better believe I'm saving it for the next three coming up!!! :)