Prayers Answered!

Guess who is at home in her own bed and sleeping soundly? Callie was discharged from the hospital this evening. Just in time to go home, get a dose of tylenol, take a bath and go to bed. It was the quickest and most peaceful she has ever been while falling asleep. The day was amazing. She had a great time playing before surgery. She acted like she owned the hospital. She did well during surgery. It only lasted about 20 minutes and everything went as planned. The doctor told us that once he removed the tonsils he realized how large they were, and they were huge, especially for someone Callie's size. Once I could be with her in recovery, she did nicely. (She was a little spitfire giving two nurses a doozy of a time before I arrived). Once back in her room, it looked like Santa had visited. Callie had a new blanket, a tub toy and a new baby doll. That was quite a surprise. I think it is one of the perks of having a December surgery.

At 11 AM she received her first dose of heavy duty pain meds and it did not have the desired effect with Callie. It kept the pain at bay, of course, but instead of making her drowsy so she could get some rest, it made her goofy/hyper/restless and generally very very funny. I was exhausted, having to keep her in bed and attached to her pulse oximeter and IV. After that dose wore off, we switched to plain tylenol and that is all she has had. She has not complained of anything hurting. She has played, sung, talked, and been in a great mood all day. And most wonderfully, she has been drinking from a cup since surgery. She has been really thirsty and drank more today than I have ever seen her drink. It only totaled a couple of ounces over the course of the entire day, but that's still an improvement for her.

This evening we asked about the possibility of changing our plans and going home, rather than staying the night as originally planned. I didn't think the medical staff would go for it but everyone involved in her care thought it was a fine idea. It probably helps that we are only 5 blocks from the hospital. So we came home and Callie went to sleep. The only problem is I can't hear Callie breathing/snoring from the door like I always have. I have to go into her room, place my hand on her chest or under her nose to make sure she is breathing. Oh well, I think I can adjust.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers today. Please keep them coming. I figure her pain will eventually get worse, but it would be incredible if she sailed right through the rest of her recovery.

Here are a few snapshots of Callie today:

When she first got up early this morning, she decided she really wanted to wear her tutu. Not sure why. Maybe she thought it matched her pajamas.

Daddy stretched out in bed next to her to watch cartoons while waiting for the nurses to get everything set up.

Once she got changed into her hospital clothes, we took a walk down the hall. Next to the nurse's station are some whimsical decorations that Callie liked.

She enjoyed hanging out under the big tree and playing with Frosty the Snowman (not part of the normal decor, of course, but still a hit). Until she actually went back for surgery, she thought the hospital was a grand place to be.

Surgery for Callie (again)

Callie will be admitted to the hospital at 6:15 tomorrow morning (December 15) to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. She will stay overnight for observation and hopefully we will be back home Thursday.

This is, by far, Callie's easiest surgery from a medical standpoint, but this is the first surgery where she has some realization of what is going on. Childlife specialists will be working with her and we have prepared her as well as we know how. She can tell you she is going to the hospital to have the doctor take out her tonsils (which she will then show you) and then she is going to watch movies. I think she is actually pretty excited about it. We will have to see what she thinks tomorrow.

We were in Minneapolis today for her NICU follow-up visit. It went really well. Callie was given some OT/PT tests and she worked really hard. She scored at her age level or a little above in every category. The doctor was thrilled with how great she is doing. We talked a little about the need of taking Callie to a feeding clinic in the next year. For now, we are going to keep working with her and see what difference, if any, this surgery makes.

Thanks for checking on us and if you could remember to pray for Callie tomorrow and for the next few days, that would be fantastic.

Callie Medical Update

Callie had her three year appointment last month and it went well. Callie is still tiny but is growing and is proportional. The doctor was quite supportive of our new plan to try Callie on blenderized food as her formula. I plan to blog on that later. While she was examining Callie, I asked her to look at Callie's tonsils because I thought they were quite large. The doctor was quite surprised with how large they are and referred us to an ENT to see what he thought. He too, thought Callie's tonsils are quite large and in her case, too large. He didn't even need a tongue depresser to see them clearly. And when she gags, they actually touch. The doctor asked if Callie sleeps well (never), if she snores (very loudly, all the time), and he already knew about her gagging issues when she cries and coughs. He thought it would make sense for Callie to have her tonsils removed. So, next week, that is what we will be doing.

On Monday evening we will head to Minneapolis for Callie's annual NICU followup appointment. She will have some OT/PT evaluations and then we will meet with one of her NICU doctors. I figure our topic of the day will be Callie's lack of eating and the possibility of doing an intensive feeding program with her. Then Tuesday we will head back home and surgery will be here in Fargo on Wednesday. This will be her first, and hopefully last, surgery in Fargo but I feel very comfortable with the doctor performing the procedure. He know's Callie's history and is going to take every precaution necessary. We will actually be spending the night in the hospital so they can watch her carefully to make sure she does well after surgery.

This is Callie's first surgery where she actually understands some of what is going on. We have watched a pre-op DVD multiple times to try to help get her ready and we talk about what is going to happen. I still figure there might be some freaking out on surgery day. Three is a difficult age to reason with.

Though we aren't excited about yet another surgery, we are hopeful that this procedure will help Callie. She is a horrible sleeper and hardly ever sleeps soundly. We are hoping that once her tonsils are removed, an unobstructed airway will help her fall into a deeper, more peaceful snore-free sleep. When Callie gets upset and cries, she often gags and depending on when she last ate, will throw up. It would be absolutely wonderful if the gagging was a result of the large tonsils and this behavior would cease after surgery. That would really help me in my daily struggle of trying to keep massive amounts of food in Callie's body.

One of the good things we have in our favor for this surgery is Callie's Mic-Key button. Kids often don't want to eat and drink after surgery so dehydration can be an issue. Luckily, we will be able to feed Callie and keep her well hydrated.

Happy Day, Callie

I waited so long to write about Callie's birthday because I was hoping to have some pictures to post of it. But out of my two photographers for the night, there are not really any good pictures of Callie's special day, so I will have to paint verbal pictures for you.



Callie was quite excited about turning 3. Her slogan for the day was "Happy Day, Callie!" It was never "birthday." She loved telling herself "Happy Day." Her one request for her day was balloons. Callie is really not up-to-date on her cartoon characters and animated creatures but she does know who Elmo is, so her theme for the day was Elmo. I decorated with one Elmo balloon and quite a few other balloons and streamers and Elmo plates and napkins. Callie's face glowed when she saw all the balloons and decorations just for her special day.



We had a great family party. We knew Callie wouldn't care to eat her cake so I made Jason's favorite cake since I neglected his birthday. Callie loved being sung to and requested that we sing to her multiple times. She had a little help from her brother blowing out the candles and then she surprised us all by licking icing off the candles.



Callie received a mound of gifts. From toys to cds to books to clothes, Callie thoroughly enjoyed opening all of her presents. It was the most involved she has been with her birthday. I am thinking Christmas this year is going to be a lot of fun!

Play Clothes

Today after Callie was dressed for the day, she sat down to play. Then she looked up at me and said, "Shoes off." I told her it was fine, she could take her shoes off. After she accomplished that, she said, "Socks off." She proceeded to remove her socks and leg warmers. Then she stood up and said "Dress off" and immediately started unsnapping her dress. There was no point in stopping her, but I was curious as to why she needed to now remove her dress, so I asked. Her response? "I play better." Well, there you have it, folks. The correct way to play for the day is in a diaper and t-shirt.

**Should I also mention the sky was dropping 11.5" of snow while she was happily undressing?

The Forgotten Birthday

I originally had grand plans for Jason's and Callie's birthday. Since they are only a few days apart, it was going to be one large party. And since Jason was going to be 33 and Callie was turning 3, it was going to be very convenient for decorating (add one three for Jason, remove it for Callie). The only problem was I ran out of time, and Jason got the raw end of the deal. I don't think he really minded, though. Jason's birthday is on Halloween so we spent the morning at church and the afternoon at Trunk-n-Treat handing out candy to over 1500 kids and the evening handing out raisins and Scarrots to neighbors. I actually forgot it was Jason's birthday until we were going to sleep that night. Oops. We had a small party the next day so I at least acknowledged his special day. I did make up for it by getting Jason a scope for his rifle - just in time for deer season.

And just in case you are wondering what Scarrots are, here's a picture. They're baby carrots, packaged to look like Halloween candy. Nothing's scarier than vegetables on Halloween! And yes, we really did hand these out. I am anti-halloween and anti-candy. What's funny is kids thought they were junk food so they were the first to go. I admit, there were probably a few disappointed kids but maybe there were some happy parents. I wonder if we will have any trick or treaters next year...

6 Months

Right after returning from Alabama, we had Sadie's 6 month doctor's appointment. Compared to Callie, we think Sadie is HUGE. Unlike her sister, she has fat rolls and dimples in all the right places. Sadie is perfectly proportional but the doctor thinks she is going to be petite. Sadie weighed 14 pounds 9.2 ounces which is in the 17th percentile. She was 24 3/4" tall which is in the 13th percentile. Others might consider Sadie small, but we think of her as "pleasantly plump." As far as development goes, everything seems right on track with the little girl.

Now that I am writing this, Sadie just turned 7 months old. She is still our laid back, happy little friend. She loves to smile and laugh. She is a good little sitter and even though she is not crawling, she is quite mobile. I remember months of months of Callie sitting in the same place, but not Sadie. She will roll and squirm and move until she finds what she wants. It is really fun to watch.

We have also started solid foods with Sadie. I held off as long as possible but when she started waking up in the middle of the night hungry, I realized she needed something besides milk. I think since we waited later before starting solid foods, she had time to watch us eat. It was amazing how quickly she took to eating and can do so without making a huge mess. We are still in the experimental stage, but we haven't found anything she does not like. Tonight we fed her apple and sweet potato yogurt and that might be her most favorite food to date. She ate the entire 4 ounce containter and wanted more. It is really fun to feed a child who enjoys eating.

We are still here...

We really are here and are fine and dandy. We just had to hit the ground running upon returning from Alabama and we really have not slowed down. I am thinking we have to make it a few more days and then it will get a little easier. I have a lot to update and I thought about cramming it all in one post but I really wanted to take my time and focus on a few of the things that have been happening around here. So that is what I plan to do. But you will have to wait a little while longer. It's the second week of deer season and I am off to see if I can get my first buck.... I'll be back soon, though.

Travel Down South

Well, I (Jason) found the camera. Thought I'd upload several photos of our trip to the Heart of Dixie. (That's Alabama, for all our friends from the Upper Midwest.)

We left on a Wednesday afternoon after Wyatt got out of school. I drove, Kelli rode shotgun, Sadie, Callie, and Granna took the middle seat. Papa was in the back seat with Wyatt, and Shika was in the back with the luggage. Things were a bit snug, but we all fit.

Driving through the night, we made it to Nashville, Tennessee Thursday afternoon. We ate a late lunch at Chick-fil-a (yum!) with Papa's brothers, and then went to Uncle Carl's house. Friday was a day of resting. We mostly just hung out and visited, and the kids got to go to a park for a while. Our friends Snotter (Scott) and Vanessa (who's great with child) drove over from Chattanooga for a quick visit, and my parents drove up from Birmingham to spend the night.


Here's our family with Snotter and Vanessa.

Then, on Saturday, I ran my first ultramarathon. I'd never run 50 miles in one day before, but I did then. Kelli, the kids, my parents, Uncle Carl, Aunt Suzie, and their daughter Elizabeth spent the better portion of the day driving all over Nashville to see me at aid stations. What great support! It took a little less than 12 hours, but I felt really good when I finished.

Wyatt got to run the last 100 yards or so with me, so he was pretty excited about it.

Here we are crossing the finish line together.

After supper, a shower, and supper again, we hit the road to Birmingham, Alabama. We all slept late on Sunday. That's a lie. I slept late. Everyone else got up on time. Sunday afternoon we went to the thriving metropolis of Ohatchee, Alabama for a Medders get-together. We saw aunts, uncles, and a thousand cousins. The Medders clan make for a big bunch of folks, you know.

On Monday, we went to Montgomery to see Kelli's sister and her husband. While there, we ate lunch at a little place called Pizza Perfect. If you've never eaten at Pizza Perfect (it's part of Montgomery "culture," so you probably should, you know) just imagine a low-cost pizza buffet in a filthy building. Seriously. The building was filthy. I felt like K-Mart would've been a cleaner environment to consume approximately 73 slices of pizza. It was tasty, though.

Also, we caught a possum while in Montgomery.

Here I am taking a self-portrait while holding it's tail. Don't ask me why. It just seemed like a good idea at the time.



And here, I've got the possum on a pitch fork. That's just how cool life is in Alabama. You can stand on your sister-in-law's back porch with a possom on a pitch fork, and nobody even thinks anything of it. :)


After a couple of days in Montgomery, we returned to Birmingham (and got to change a flat tire on the way - yippee!). We spent an afternoon at Aunt Sandy's house. What's it like at Granna's sister's? Imagine opening a Southern Living magazine and stepping inside. That's life at Aunt Sandy's.


We made our way back to the hilltop where I grew up. My parents have turned the place into a carnival of sorts for the grandkids.


We tended the honeybees. Wyatt got the only almost-full-body coverage. The rest of us could only cover our heads and hope for the best.

We played with sparklers.

We rode a zip line.

We went on a hayride.



We rode a battery powered jeep.

And we laughed and laughed.

The trip back took an eternity, but it was worth it. All in all, it was a great trip!

Catching Up

We just got back from a great trip down South. We got to see parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, and assorted friends. It was quite the adventure - Jason, Kelli, Wyatt, Callie, Sadie, Papa, Granna, and Shika the dog all piled into one vehicle, along with enough luggage for a 10 day trip. And just think - it's only 1300 miles. One way.

As soon as we find the camera, we'll get some pictures and narratives uploaded. There's some good stuff to share. Unfortunately, our photos are currently lost in the abyss that is our stack of items to unpack. Since the camera is still in hiding, here are some non-related photos from a few weeks ago that never got uploaded:


We use cloth diapers - the Bum Genius brand. We're big fans. They were all hanging on the clothes line in the back yard a couple of weeks ago, and we thought it would make a cute picture. The diapers come in all different colors, and really are quite simple to maintain. If you ever want to hear a sales pitch for them, just let Kelli know. Bum Genius should hire her as a marketing person with as much as she promotes them.


Just a quick photo with Jason and his favorite two- (almost three-) year old. She's come a long way since November 2007.

And even though we're obviously biased, we still think Sadie is the cutest baby in the world.

Yep, she's pretty stinkin' cute...

Oh my...

My son ate a rock today. At school. During naptime. One minute it was in his shoe. The next minute it was in his stomach. Supposedly, all the other details are a bit blurry. The only explanation I could get was "I didn't mean to swallow it." Hopefully the GI issues he is currently experiencing will keep him from ever magically getting a rock in his stomach again.

Weekend Project

Jason thought it would be fun if I blogged about things I do when I am not pulling out my child's tummy tube or cloroxing school lockers. I really enjoy crafts - mainly those involving material.

This weekend I had a chance to refinish some chairs. I have been wanting a new chair to put Callie's booster seat on, and I thought a matching chair for Sadie's seat would nice. A week ago we were leaving our house and noticed that our neighbor had 4 chairs on her lawn with a sign reading "FREE - Please take all 4." So I did.

Using leftover paint from a previous project, material remaining from the kitchen curtains I sewed and less than $5 worth of materials from the hardware store, I made the chairs quite functional for our house.

This is one of the chairs right off the neighbor's lawn.

It was a little worn from years of use.

Here is a finished chair with a fresh coat of paint, new foam, new material and a few extra screws to make it more sturdy. What you might not be able to tell is there is also vinyl covering the new material. Not the most aesthetically pleasing thing, but highly practical considering two little girls are going to be learning to eat in these chairs.

Callie looked at the chairs and said, "I like. Eat." I guess that works for me.

What a Day!

Do you remember the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Well, I had one of those days this week. Like Alexander, I was pretty convinced that Australia was the place to be, rather than Fargo, ND.

We started the morning by walking Wyatt to school and then getting home to get Callie and Sadie fed and dressed for the day. We drove to speech therapy and due to massive amounts of construction around town, I tried a new route. Bad idea. It was a stretch of road where if you were stopped at one stoplight, you would be stopped at all the stoplights. Even though I left home in plenty of time to get to therapy, we arrived right when the session was supposed to be starting. I went to get Callie out of her carseat and she puked. Thankfully it was mainly on her jacket, which I just took off. During Callie's session, while I was talking to another therapist, Sadie decided to spit up. Lovely, considering this is the child who hardly ever spits up. At least in true Sadie form she laughed after she did it.

After Callie's session, she told me she wanted to be fed. Since she hardly ever tells us this, I most definitely agreed to feed her on the way home by way of her feeding tube. I had the feeding pump sitting beside me for the drive home and everything was going well until a UPS driver tried to pull over on top of me. Scary. I had to stop the feeding early because air got in the line and it the pump quits working and alarms when there is air present. We arrived home and as soon as I took Callie out of her carseat she started crying. It took me a second to realize why. My child was losing massive amounts of milk out of her stomach. I looked back up at the carseat and yes, sure enough, dangling from her feeding tube was her Mic-Key button. Oh wonderful. Apparently it IS possible to jerk that thing right out of her stomach.

I didn't panic because I have changed out her button numerous times after the old one wears out, but this was clearly not a "scheduled" change. I was little ticked with myself. I grabbed Callie and put pressure over the hole in her stomach to try to keep some of the milk in and to keep air out. I grabbed the no-longer-in-her-stomach button, then tried to gather my thoughts to figure out what to do next. You see, Sadie was still contentedly sitting in her carseat and I needed two hands to get her out. Unfortunately, my hands were kind of full at the moment. So, I went next door and got our neighbor to see if she could watch Sadie while I replaced Callie's feeding tube. She and her grandson came to help and I took Callie inside to replace the button.

I was a little frazzled and for some reason did not have everything I needed in one place so it took a few trips up and down the stairs to get all the supplies needed. Once I had everything, the button refused to go in. Callie was stressed and had tensed up her stomach muscles which made it practically impossible to replace the button. I couldn't get her to relax, but at this time I hear Sadie outside screaming like I have never heard her scream before. Nice. I run downstairs and outside only to realize Sadie, "Little Miss Happy Pants" has stranger anxiety. What a wonderful way to find out. But I still can't get her because I have to get the hole in Callie's stomach plugged up.

So I call my mom, the RN, to see what options I have. One is the emergency room, but I really don't like that one. The other is to try to get Callie to relax so the button will go in. My mom gets on the phone with Callie and she relaxes and within a few seconds, the button is in. So now I can go rescue Sadie. As soon as I take her from the neighbor, Sadie laughs. It took me a while to settle down but both girls went down for naps pretty easily.

So after a couple of hours of down time, we walk to get Wyatt. I pick him up and he is wearing short sleeves. When he goes to get his long-sleeved shirt out of his backpack, little twigs start falling on the floor. I just assume he picked them up while outside playing until there I notice a piece of his shirt is matted around a larger twig. I then realize this twig is actually a grape vine. So Wyatt and I engage in the following conversation.

Me: Wyatt, where did the grape stem come from?
Wyatt: Snack time.
Me: Did you not eat the snack I packed for you?
Wyatt: Yes ma'am, I did.
Me: But, Wyatt, I didn't pack you grapes.
Wyatt: Yes ma'am you did. Remember? Like the first or maybe the second day of school.
Me: Wyatt, you did NOT eat those grapes today, did you?
Wyatt: No, ma'am.
Me: Well, where did you get them from?
Wyatt: My locker.
Me: Wyatt, do you have more food in your locker?
Wyatt: Yes ma'am.
Me: Wyatt, show me your locker.

At this point he takes me to his locker and pulls out the blanket he uses for rest time. Sure enough, there on the bottom of his locker, is a handful of smushed, moldy, wrinkled grapes, a moldy half of an apple, and an open baggy of stale trail mix. Wyatt's teacher thankfully had a clorox wipe I could use to clean his locker and we had a lovely discussion on how moldly food can make us very sick and we never store leftover food in our locker.

Wyatt's excuse for the stash of food? "Mom, you've been packing me too much food." Well, then Son please bring it home so I can see I am packing you too much.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful but bedtime could not come soon enough this day.

Catching Up

It's been a couple of weeks since the last update, but we've done several fun things in that time span, and Kelli's been pretty busy, so I thought I (Jason) would take a few minutes and be the blog updater-person for a bit. Here's a quick rundown of the highlights:

On August 29, Fargo hosted "Streets Alive." It was a citywide opportunity for families to walk, jog, ride bikes, rollerskate, propel wheelchairs, or otherwise commute throughout the city sans automobile. Five miles of main streets were blocked off throughout Fargo and Moorhead. Since Sadie was too small for the bike trailer, we let Wyatt be the only one to ride his bike while the rest of us walked. (Sadie's not AWOL; she's stretched out in the back of the double stroller in the photo.)

Along the route, there were a variety of stations to learn more about health, wellness, and physical activity. Wyatt gave the art of hula hooping a try.

He decided that it looked much easier than it really was.

It was a gorgeous afternoon, and we all enjoyed walking/biking/strollering around town together. There were hundreds of people out and about that day.

My parents came to town last week, and we spent lots of quality time together. Kelli decided that she wanted to make some homemade marshmallows, so we gave that a go. They made a HUGE, STICKY mess, but once they got into the pan and sat for a few hours, they actually turned out quite nice. The only problem is that they were so tasty, we ate them all before snapping a photo. Trust me, though - topped with a little toasted coconut and dipped in some semisweet chocolate, they were amazing.

Amazing, yes. But also very sticky and messy to clean up...

We also took advantage of the weather with Moms and Pops and went for a long walk last weekend. Passing by the playground, we had to stop and let Wyatt and Callie check out every swing and slide in the area.

Then, on Labor Day, we partied hard with a good old fashioned shrimp boil - potatoes, fresh corn, onions, sausage, and shrimp all cooked together in a big pot and dumped on a table covered with newspaper. It was delightful!

A lot of goodness packed into the past two weeks, if I do say so myself.

Prayer

Callie decided to bless our food for us tonight.

She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands and said "God, boo" while uncovering her face.

It was priceless!

1st Day of Kindergarten

Wyatt had his first day of kindergarten yesterday. It was a huge day for him and possibly an even bigger day for me. Besides my time spent on bedrest and with Callie in the hospital, I have been with this little guy every day for the past five years. Wyatt was THRILLED to be starting school, and even though it was bittersweet for me, I was very excited for him.

I think it is in the How to Be a Parent handbook, that you must get a picture of your kindergartener on the front porch on the first day of school.

It is a much better smile in this picture.

Jason was able to go into work a little later, so he was able to walk with us. I love that we have neighborhood schools, so we only have a short walk to school.

Wyatt gets a locker. He initially just stuffed everything in the locker, so we had to remind him that he needs to unpack his backpack first.

Wow, he is grown up.

Not the best facial expression, but here he is settled in his desk and ready to work. I tried to get him to use crayons but he insisted on using markers...until his teacher came by and told him it was a crayon day.

Wyatt had a great day at school, and I survived. I was a little teary after I left since his parting words were "I'm not so sure about this." He was joyful when I picked him up, though. He described his day as "fun" and his teacher as "a lot of fun." He enjoyed eating lunch in the lunchroom (he told me I packed too much food), he had a rest time (though he did not sleep) and he got to play on the playground (but he didn't get to play for a really long time because lunch took so long). He told me that he would love to go back.

Wyatt's prayer last night was "Thank you God that I can go to school now."

The boy was up at 6:45 this morning ready for the day. School doesn't start until 8:40. I was not ready for the day. He was a little timid this morning but ended up having another great day. Hopefully his passion for school will last for a while!

The Boy, the Girl and the Babe

The Boy.

Yesterday he decided it would be a great idea to make a pair of headphones. He proceeded to make said pair of headphones, except he called them "earmuffs." He even proceeded to make up a song including the lyrics "I am listening to earmuffs, listening to earmuffs, listening to earmuffs." We informed him that it made no sense that he was listening to earmuffs but he really didn't care what we thought and continued with his song. Well, during the time he was making his headphones and singing his song, I refused to be amused. His sisters thought it was perfectly delightful and both were squealing but I played the serious mom role. You see, my son made his lovely earmuff/headphones with Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty. It is similar to silly putty but is much stickier and becomes even more sticky as you play with it because your body heat warms it and makes it very pliable. Well, the boy decided to stick a blob to his left ear, string it across the top of his head and then stick the remaining blob in his right ear. Well, because I was serious mom, I did not take a picture of th headphones intact, but I did take a picture of the aftermath. Wyatt had a lovely time with his earmuffs and his song but when it was time to remove his creation, there was a slight problem. His body heat had melted the goo to his ears and hair. Jason tried first to help the boy out, but to no avail. When he came to get my help, I had to get a couple of pictures before helping him out. And yes, he is completely Thinking Putty free, now.

The Girl.

It all started with an "Uh-oh. Mom, Callie is chewing on something that she shouldn't be but I don't know what it is." What is it you ask?

A Sharpie lid. Lovely. Considering the pen part of the Sharpie was not attached. So we started questioning the little girl. "Callie, where is the marker?" silence. "Callie, the marker. What did you do with it?" silence. "Callie what else did you write on?" With this, she looks down at her body, and lets out an "Uh-oh."

Yep. There was a tell-tale black mark on her hand. "Callie, besides your hand, what else did you color on?" silence. Well, Wyatt and I decided we were not making any progress with the girl so we decided to search the immediate area for the marker and anything else Callie might have colored on. A few seconds later we found this.

A Sadie diaper with now a lovely sharpie drawing on it. After about five more minutes of searching we came up empty handed. No more drawings (a good thing) and no sharpie (a not-so good thing). I am happy to report a few days later I found a dried out sharpie under the breakfast nook in our kitchen. What could have been quite disasterous ended up being relatively funny, al beit, nervewracking at the time.

The Babe.

Sadie is not doing anything particulary funny these days but we are stil completely smitten with her. She is the happiest, most joyful baby I have ever met. She is a lot of fun to be around.

Minneapolis

We started out our week with a family trip to Minneapolis for a pulmonology visit for Callie. We arrived in town a little early so we could catch up with our NICU friends. Sunday afternoon we were able to spend a few hours with a precious family whose son was born a few days before Callie at 23 weeks. He is doing wonderfully now and we had a wonderful time watching the kids interact while the grownups did 6 months worth of catching up. Wyatt's observation for the visit was "Mom, that was pretty neat that Samuel could talk. How did he know how to do that?" So we got to explain that technically his sister should be talking like that and one day she will. Sunday evening we had a lovely dinner with one of Callie's primary nurses. Callie showed off her new skills and just showed off in general.

Monday we met with Callie's pulmonologist. He was genuinely thrilled with how well Callie is doing. He told us that Callie has had one of the rougher courses he has seen in his 15 years but that she is doing remarkable. It was really neat to see a doctor's face light up with pleasure over how Callie is doing. Since Callie has not been sick since coming off oxygen, we still don't know how her lungs will handle a respiratory sickness but we are hopeful she will get through it just fine. Since she is doing well, we don't have to see the pulmonologist again for a year! That sure beats the days when we were making monthly trips to Minneapolis.

It seems this summer Callie has hit a growth spurt. If you take a "normal child" growth chart, Callie is now on it for length. But when I say on it, I mean barely and I think only if you make your circle large enough when charting. Due to her increased tallness, we now have to catch up with weight. She has been around the 25% for weight to length ratio but that has fallen off and is no longer on the charts. Callie is still around 20 pounds even though she is getting massive amounts of calories each day. The doctor isn't worried about it, but wants us to keep an eye on it. Callie can still frustrate us with her feedings. It has been a chore to get 200 mL in her at one time, and as I wrote this, 3 1/2 month old Sadie just downed 270 mL right before bedtime. So it remains a challenge to feed Callie all the calories and volume she needs. So we will keep pushing and see how she does and try to get some more fat on the girl.

What Happens When

What happens when there is a chubby little girl who nurses all day and then decides she only wants a bottle before going to bed at night? Well, the daddy gets the job of giving the bottle.

What happens when that daddy has had a busy day and is extremely tired? Well, he falls asleep while giving the nightly bottle.

And what does the chubby little girl do when her daddy falls asleep? Well, she falls asleep, too. After all, the bottle is no longer in her mouth thanks to the daddy who has fallen asleep on the job.

And what about the mommy who has the daddy and the chubby little girl who have both fallen asleep? Well, she gets to get up at 2 AM to nurse the chubby little girl who normally sleeps through the night because she never finished her nightly bottle.

The River

One of my favorite summer places is Buffalo River State Park. It is only about 30 minutes from the Fargo-Moorhead area, and the kids have a great time there. In the past, I would go by myself with the kids but now that we have added a third child to the mix, I am not comfortable with that kid to parent ratio. Plus, the boy swims as well as a rock and Callie is fearless in the water. From year to year Jason forgets how much fun it is, so every summer I have to do a lot of convincing to get him there. A few weeks ago, after much convincing, Jason gave in and we spent a few hours at the river. And not surprisingly, Jason realized that it still is fun.

Callie working hard.

Wyatt taking a break long enough for a picture.

Sadie's idea of workng hard.

It was a pretty hot day, so Sadie is sleeping on a blanket covered ice pack.