Another month already!

Time flies.

I told Kelli that we should probably update the blog since it's been a while. I logged in and realized it's been a month already since the last post. Time moves in a hurry.

Here's what we've done over the past four weeks or so.

Kelli and took a birthday/Christmas/anniversary trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul. It was nothing fancy by any means - two nights at a hotel (Priceline!) and a lot of just hanging out sans children. But it sure was fun.

While there, we got to see A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. It was a great show - very entertaining. It took place at the historic Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Here's Kelli standing out front. Fancy place, huh?



And here's a shot of Garrison Keillor himself, with his trademark red tie and red shoes.



While in St. Paul, we also got some candy from Candyland. In case you can't read the sign, it's been famous since 1932. Homemade gumballs, jawbreakers, gummis, suckers, sours... I felt like a kid in a, well, candy store.

Prior to the show, we wanted a meal. Being on a tight budget, someone had suggested Mickey's Diner as an option. When we walked by, I knew we had to go in. It was very cramped inside, and crowded. The food, however, was cheap, greasy, and DELICIOUS! I noticed the cook had a metal kettle on the griddle and he'd pour out of it to grease the griddle prior to putting food down. I assumed it was some cooking oil. He also had a GIANT pile of hash browns that he'd dump a little of the oil into once in a while. It was only later that I discovered he was refilling the kettle - with giant spoonfuls of LARD! One hundred percent, pure lard. No wonder those hashbrowns were so good!

The next weekend, Kelli started helping Wyatt dig out igloo of sorts in the front yard. Here he is in the early stages, having dug in a bit from the sidewalk. Later on, I helped him with the tunnel so that it went about ten feet back into the pile of snow, then turned to the right and came out in the driveway. Now it's a popular hangout for the kids on the block.

My parents came to visit about a week and a half ago. We had a good visit. They ended up staying an extra day because of the bad weather that cut across much of the midwest. It was nice having them around. The kids love to play with them, and vice versa. They'll be coming back for Sadie's birthday, and Wyatt's. In the mean time, we've been munching on gifts they brought us from Alabama. It's things you can't get in Fargo - Golden Flake cheese curls and butter cookies - the ones with the holes in them that we'd stick on our fingers during vacation Bible school. If you're from Birmingham, you're nodding your head right now. If you're from Fargo, you're probably scratching yours. Those are good cookies, I tell you.

Earlier tonight, Wyatt wanted to help make supper. Kelli had made him an apron that she gave him for Christmas, so he had to wear it.

He helped butter the bread.

Here's a tip:

If you let your five year old butter the bread before you heat it in the oven, you'll have PLENTY of butter! In fact, you might even have to wring out each slice before you put it on your plate. If nothing else, the boy is thorough. He covered every square inch of the bread. Every. Square. Inch. Paula Deen would be proud. Maybe he's practicing to be a cook at Mickey's Diner...

Callie

Callie has been doing really well since her surgery. She never showed any sign of pain after the procedure. I gave her tylenol for the first few days just to keep any possible pain at bay, but when we asked if anything hurt, she always told us "no." I don't really understand how my child can have something cut out of her throat and never exhibit any form of discomfort.

Callie's sleeping has markedly improved. I hoped that when she started getting a good night's sleep she would stop headbutting, but that is not the case. I think she headbutts less and for shorter periods of time but it is still incredibly annoying when she does it.

(If you didn't know about Callie's headbutting, it's something she does almost every night. It's a self-stimulation thing that's possibly related to her having been a micropreemie. Some other kids do it too, but it occurs more often in preemies. It doesn't do any harm, but sure irritates everyone within earshot. She bangs her head repeatedly for several minutes on the mattress and grunts loudly while doing so. How that actually helps her fall asleep, I have no idea. Maybe it just helps her wear herself out so she's more tired. Anyway, it's something she's done for a long time and should eventually outgrow. At least it's getting better)

We have once again put Callie and Sadie in a room together. It is going very well. We have had a few instances where the girls had a screaming competition to see who could be louder and endure longer. (Sadie is definitely louder but Callie has more endurance). For the most part, though, they sleep peacefully and seem to enjoy being in a room together. Sadie can now reposition without waking Callie and Callie can puke without waking Sadie.

Callie has done better with keeping food down since her surgery. She no longer gags and vomits every time she cries. In fact, we have noticed it is more difficult for her to gag herself on purpose. Aside from all the water and juice she drank the day of surgery, she hasn't really improved in that area. She will still drink small amounts but can easily get choked if she swallows too much. Now that Sadie is feeding herself beginner foods, Callie is more interested in trying to do the same thing. She can eat a handful of puffs or easily dissolved finger foods and she will often take Sadie's if she doesn't have any for herself.

Callie recently tested out of her verbal goals for speech therapy so we are now working twice a week with a therapist on eating. Somehow we will get through to Callie that eating can be fun and pleasurable and I still think that one day she will get it. On Friday I watched her from an observation window at therapy and she was happy trying to munch on puffs and pretzels. When the therapist worked with her on chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, bbq sauce and french dressing, it was incredibly interesting to see how uncomfortable and uneasy it made Callie to try to even touch those foods.

Now that Callie is 3, we have moved her up to her new Sunday School class and she absolutely loves it. She sings, does crafts, has a story time, and plays games. There is more structure than her previous room and she is really doing well. It is still all new to her and she is pretty cautious with it all but she enjoys going and is in a great mood when we pick her up.

Callie's verbal language continues to explode and she keeps us laughing a lot. The other day Wyatt did something to make her cry and Sadie found it amusing. Callie looked at Sadie and said, "Stop laughing Sadie-bug. It's not funny. Stop laughing." ("Sadie-bug" is our occasional nickname for Sadie. It seems to be Callie's permanent name for her sister.) During bathtime, Sadie is fascinated with Callie's mic-key button. I often hear, "No, Sadie-bug. Leave my mic-key button alone. Mommy, Sadie-bug's grabbing my button." She is my little informant who will let me know when Sadie is eating paper or playing in the dog bowl or when Wyatt is doing something he shouldn't.

Christmas

We had a wonderful ending to 2010 and a great start to 2011.

All three kids were a blast this Christmas. Wyatt enjoyed opening presents for himself and his sisters, Callie yelled and squealed with every gift and Sadie tried to eat all the wrapping paper she could.

We were very low key with gifts for the kids this year, but by the time they recieved presents from two sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and assorted other family members and friends, they had stacks of presents to open.

Some of Wyatt's gifts were a train table, guitar/drum/keyboard lessons, a litebrite and a construction kit where he can saw and hammer and build with pretend wood.

Callie's gifts were more therapy related. She is now the proud owner of a therapy trampoline, a child sized medicine ball, and an assortment of chewy toys (associated with speech therapy). She also received a doll and gymnastics lessons.

Sadie would have been fine if we had just given her boxes and paper and bows but she did get a few new toys and clothes.

Christmas day we decided to make the jump and move Callie to a big girl bed. Callie has been sleeping much better since her surgery and we knew at some point we needed to do it. We were a little nervous about how it would go, though. We had been talking about it for a while and Callie watched as we converted her crib into a toddler bed. When bedtime came we tried it out and Callie did WONDERFULLY. She climbed in bed and stayed there all night long. We were amazed when she stayed in bed the next morning and waited for us to come get her up. Jason and I were expecting her to try to escape and pull out her feeding tube in the process but she didn't. Callie seems to like her new bed and continues to do well each night. Now if we could just keep her from grunting loudly in the middle of the night and waking up her sister...

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!