January 2012

Can we talk about how it is January 31st and tomorrow it will be February? Where did all the time go? Seriously. Let's highlight some of the exciting things that happened to us this month.

{Visit from the Sheppards}
Sarah and Braden Sheppard were in town visiting family the first of January. They came to our house for a visit. It was soooo much fun to catch up with them and meet the newest born baby from each family. Jackson and Gavin had a fun time playing in the backyard. We were able to get a few select photos before they lost interest in the camera. It had been a long time since these little guys played together! We were also able to get one reluctant photo of Braden holding Stetson, and Troy holding Clara.

{Playing with Dad}
Troy had yet another dream rotation this month. Heavenly Father is sure taking care of me this year. He went in every day at 9:30, was usually off at 4 pm and came home for lunch almost every day. Heaven! We all enjoyed that extra family time.

Can you tell how ticked she is about the headband visor? Poor girl. She still has to wear headbands. ;)

{The Phoenix Zoo}
Last week some of my friends let me bum off their season zoo passes. Yes! We had a great time. But I was ex-hausted by the time we were leaving. Jackson was just a little hyper frolicking around the animals. Chasing him was craziness. Kindi took Clara (who slept the whole time, angel baby that she is) in her stroller and I took Colt in mine. Jackson and Colt were most entertained when I "went fast." Ha ha. They always seemed to make this request when we were going uphill though. Don't worry, they were able to get in a few crazy rides. Thanks for the super fun park day friends!

The caravan. Between us there were: 5 moms, 10 boys (one still in utero) and 1 baby girl. Clara was certainly outnumbered!

Checking out the lions.

Feeding the birds Jackson's PB&J. This was definitely a highlight of the day.

Proof Clara was there.

We had an up close and personal encounter with the chimpanzees. It was pretty awesome.

Jackson trying to run away from me into the zoo wilderness. He actually climbed halfway into an animal habitat at one point. Awesome.

Chasing a peacock.

Pestering the peacock further.

Michael Crum. Jack Wahlstrom. Andrew Crum. Colby Peterson. Jackson. and Colt Wahlstrom. These boys are quite the exciting bunch!

{Where's Mitt?}

Back in 2008, when dear Mitt Romney was running the first time, Troy donated to his campaign. He used his "personal monies" -- the name we jokingly use for our monthly allowance because it is so small and insignificant. I couldn't believe Troy used his money to donate to the campaign. I have teased him about it ever since. What is funny is that Mitt has sent Troy letters updating him on his campaign ever since. I'm pretty sure Mitt has spent more on postage to our house than Troy ever donated. A few weeks ago, Troy received a little card with Mitt's face on it. So you can carry it with you to show your support? Ha. I'm not sure the purpose exactly. I laughed and told him I thought that was the dumbest thing ever. Don't get me wrong, I love Mitt. But really? A card to put in your wallet? Are we 5? Troy admitted I might have a point but then told me I was probably just jealous that I didn't have one. So our game of hiding Mitt began. He taped Mitt to the wall in the hallway and it about scared me to death when I came around the corner. I moved him to a different wall. And so Mitt has traveled all around our house. Troy even put Mitt in a ziploc bag and put it under the bar of soap in the shower once. It's been pretty intense around here peeps. We take our games seriously.

Clarita Update

Clara deserves an update. Our little lady is doing well. Here is what we have been up to lately... Much to our delight, Clara learned to smile. The first tried and true smile came right around her two month mark and now she's a pro at the skill. She has also become a pro at coo-ing. It's pretty much adorable. I'll have her in my lap while I'm doing something and then catch her staring at me. She waits until you look at her and then she flashes a big grin and coos. It is incredibly endearing and lovely. Sometimes when she coos, she scares herself. Her eyes get big like, "Who made that noise?!" Funny. She is such a sweetheart.

As far as health concerns go, we're doing okay. My mantra is that it could always be worse, but she has taken a few steps backward as of late.

Right now her heart is doing well. We've begun seeing the cardiologist just once a month which is good. We will be doing echocardiograms every other month from now on. The last echo showed no change in the size of either hole in her heart. We are hoping and praying that the holes will close on their own. I have faith that Heavenly Father will take care of us, however things turn out. Right now the plan is to do surgery between 6 and 9 months.

Little Clara (or Clarita as we like to call her) isn't being the greatest eater right now. She was doing so great and then about a month ago she got a cold and her average feeding amount started to drop off. We stopped adding the formula to the breastmilk to try to get her to eat more. She started showing more and more signs of reflux. We've been trying a drug called Rantitidine that neutralizes stomach acid and therefore decreases pain. It hasn't helped much. Now we are waiting to get into a G.I. specialist. We go next Wednesday. It has taken about 2.5 weeks to get in for an "emergency" appointment. Kind of frustrating. When they called to schedule the appointment they told me they would be seeing Clara for "failure to thrive and reflux." :( Failure to thrive. I suppose that is the medical label for "not eating" and "not gaining weight." Still made me sad though.

Clara really hates the medication. She holds it in her mouth as long as possible before either gagging it down or spitting it out. She swallows it maybe half the time. It also makes her drowsy which decreases her eating if we give it right before eating... quite the complicated process. We've learned a few tricks though. If I can get the bottle in her mouth and get her sucking on it and then not move at all, we can get her to eat 3 ounces without stopping if no gagging occurs. If I stop for any reason-- to adjust the bib, answer the phone, she'll decide to be done eating. Once the edge of her hunger has been taken off, she doesn't want anymore.

I know it's because it hurts. She will squirm, arch her back, and sometimes just cry. She does better if I hold her straight up. Sometimes we have to sit like that for a while after she's done eating. If we try nursing before the bottle, she eats less because she is tired. So I'm trying to pump as much as possible to keep the milk coming as nursing is happening less and less often.  The doc wants her to be eating 4 to 5 ounces per feeding. Sometimes I'll spend an hour trying to get her to eat 3 or 4 ounces. It can be frustrating. But once again, it could be worse right? There's not much more I can do. I can't force feed her. That ends in the entire feeding coming up all of her and me. Not pretty.

Sigh. Anyway, all of this is to say that eating isn't going so well right now. So that is our focus. I'm grateful Clara is at least still gaining weight each week, it's just not an ideal amount. We bought a baby scale and weigh her weekly. Lately she has been gaining 3 ounces per week. Depending on who you talk to she should be gaining between 5 and 6 ounces per week. We need a stronger reflux med. It seems insurance wants us to see a G.I. specialist before we can get it. So see a specialist we will. I'm excited to see what she says.

Speaking of specialists. We have a really awesome week coming up. From Feb. 6th to Feb. 14th we will have 5 doctors appointments. 5 appointments in 8 days. Clara will see: the Cardiologist, the G.I. specialist, the Pediatrician, the geneticist, and receive her last Synagis shot for RSV. It's going to be intense. Luckily I have LOTS of friends who are being extra kind to watch Jackson for me. That's a huge help. I'm gearing up for Monday. I'm sure I'll have another update after our appointment marathon. For now, enjoy these lovely pictures of our pretty little girl...

Adorable bath towel made by the lovely Christy Dalling. So cute!

I've been meaning to get a picture of this for a while now. Clara came out of the womb doing the "talk to the hand" pose. This girl has some spunk in her! The other night Troy and I were talking about her pose. She was asleep on my lap. I asked Clara if we'd be dealing with some attitude from her later. And then I brushed her face with my finger. The hand immediately went up. I did 3 or 4 times and each time the hand came back up. Troy and I were dying laughing. She does it most when you're messing with her as if to say, "Not now mom."

Why Jackson Is Awesome

Jackson is pretty awesome. This is why, this is why, this is why he's fly...

He helps mom wash the all glass surfaces in our house. His stipulation for offering his services is that he must hold the Windex bottle. He must also spray at least three more times than what is actually needed for the job.

Jackson stores his "batman guys" for easy access. Example here: the handles in the entertainment center. I also find said "batman guys" hanging out of the top of partially open cupboard doors. Their little arms sticking out as if greeting me hello. It makes me smile every time I find one of his little cars or figurines in a random drawer or cupboard. It does not make me smile when he expects me to find them once they've been hidden in an unknown place. Why does he think I know where he left them? Silly boy.

Jackson is starting to participate in coloring activities for more than 3 seconds. Proof of his skills are below. He is excited to show me his pictures or "colors," as he calls them, when he gets home from our co-op preschool or nursery. Jackson and I hang them proudly on the fridge.

We sure love the little man. He really is fly. Enough said.

Little Known Fact

You may or may not know this fact about me: I can't smell. It's true. Okay, well it's not completely true. I can smell a little bit, otherwise I wouldn't be able to taste anything right? But my sense of smell is extremely muted. I inherited it from my Dad. (My mom has a razor sharp nose, she smell things a mile away.) I can't smell things unless they are both very strong and very close to my face. Sometimes this is a good thing. In nursing school, I couldn't smell too much during unpleasant activities like changing adult diapers, suctioning trach tubes, etc. That was a plus. Most times though, the muted sense of smell gets me into trouble. Take cooking for example. Can't tell if it's burning. Like really truly. When Troy and I first got married, He would tell me from the other room that our dinner was burning. While I, who was standing directly in front of the stove stirring the pot, had no clue. Ridiculous. I've learned a trick that helps considerably. I lean over the pot and wave my hand above the food so the smell wafts up into my nose. Then I can at least get an idea of what our food is smelling like. It sort of makes me feel like a witch hunched over her brew... but it gets the job done. Most of the time.

Sometimes things still burn though. Today I managed to burn chicken. In the crock-pot. Awesome. It wasn't totally in-salvagable. (Is this a word?... it should be.) But it's going to be dry and probably not very good. Sigh. I couldn't really smell the chicken until it was already burning. That's what I get for putting it on high. (My crock pot reaches record high temps.) The bottom of the pot was covered in burned chicken juice, so I immediately put in the sink to soak. Maybe not the brightest idea. Because when the cool water hit the hot pot, a loud crack happened. Awesome again. Hopefully the pot survives this event, because the crock pot is my best cooking friend. Especially right now.

Dinner: 1. Me: 0.

Ha ha. Tonight's Enchiladas are going to be so special. Ha ha ha!

More NICU Pictures

While Clara was in the NICU, the social worker at the hospital got us in touch with an organization called "Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona." They are a wonderful resource. The founder, Gina Johnson, visits every family with a new Trisomy 21 baby in the greater Phoenix area. That is completely incredible to me. She met us at the NICU and talked to us about all sorts of things. And she came bearing gifts-- like a whole gift sack full of books about Down Syndrome, and a toy for Jackson which she said was to be used for "brownie points." It was very kind of her. The information was all a little overwhelming, but I'm sure I'll get around to reading up more when I'm ready. Right now, we're just focusing on the basics, like eating, but I'll talk more about that in another post. For right now, I just wanted to post some pictures Gina took of our NICU stay. I thought she got a few fun ones and I want to remember those first few weeks since they were so crazy and I didn't process much. According to Troy if you've seen one NICU picture, you've seen them all-- which may in fact be true-- however, I'll post them anyway, for memory's sake.

(I know I've been completely delinquent about posting to our blog-- My goal is to catch up this week. We'll see how it goes.)