Friday, April 27, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Three Months Old!
Today Cassandra is three months old already! Hard to believe!!
We finally bumped her up to size 1 diapers and I started putting her in size 2's for overnight-and sometimes she pees so much that she overflows them! Most newborn clothes sadly have been put away.
She's still eating every 2.5-3hrs during the day now. Typically she wakes up 1-2 times overnight. She had one night that she slept 12 hours straight without getting up!
She has started a morning nap that starts anywhere between 9-10am. Some days it lasts a half hour and some days it's longer (one day was 2 hours!). I'd say the average is about 45mins or so. The rest of the day she naps on and off....it's mostly short cat naps though. The nice, long naps are pretty rare!
Let's see...this month she made her first trip to Buffalo, had her first Easter, and survived Mommy going back to work!
She has also turned a corner this month in that she is much easier to put down. She is content to sit and watch things now, where before she wanted to be held all.the.time. So that has been a big help! She is much less fussy and is smiling and "talking" a ton these days which I just love!! She has also found her hands and they are constantly in her mouth. The drooling is out of control these days too-she'll soak your arm in no time!
Here are her pics for the month....the challenge was keeping her hands away from her mouth!
These are my favorites:
And as a refresher, here are Avery's 3 month pics!
We finally bumped her up to size 1 diapers and I started putting her in size 2's for overnight-and sometimes she pees so much that she overflows them! Most newborn clothes sadly have been put away.
She's still eating every 2.5-3hrs during the day now. Typically she wakes up 1-2 times overnight. She had one night that she slept 12 hours straight without getting up!
She has started a morning nap that starts anywhere between 9-10am. Some days it lasts a half hour and some days it's longer (one day was 2 hours!). I'd say the average is about 45mins or so. The rest of the day she naps on and off....it's mostly short cat naps though. The nice, long naps are pretty rare!
Let's see...this month she made her first trip to Buffalo, had her first Easter, and survived Mommy going back to work!
She has also turned a corner this month in that she is much easier to put down. She is content to sit and watch things now, where before she wanted to be held all.the.time. So that has been a big help! She is much less fussy and is smiling and "talking" a ton these days which I just love!! She has also found her hands and they are constantly in her mouth. The drooling is out of control these days too-she'll soak your arm in no time!
Here are her pics for the month....the challenge was keeping her hands away from her mouth!
These are my favorites:
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Avery's Recovery
Avery's surgery was 11 days ago now.
It wasn't the easiest road to get to where we are now.
She did awesome in the hospital-never complained about pain, took her medicine like a champ and had 8 popsicles the day of her surgery.
If only things stayed that good!
Before they left the hospital the day after her surgery, Avery started to not want her medicine. This was a HUGE struggle with us all throughout her recovery. They wanted us alternating tylenol and ibuprofen every 3 hours. She was resisting it so much that we just started doing ibuprofen every 6 hours like directed. But the problem with that was that by the time the 6 hours were up, she was in quite a bit of pain and would just be flat out miserable. She really needed to take the meds every 3 hours, so we bumped her back to every 3 hours. We got her the liquid form of both and I tasted them myself-they're not bad! I have no idea why she didn't want to take it, but it was really a fight. We started by using the syringe for the first few days, then something happened that we literally had to pin her down and shoot it in her mouth. She would get so upset that she made herself vomit! She has never done that before! So then we started letting her drink it out of the dosing cup and threatened if she didn't, we'd use the syringe. That seemed to work for the most part. After a few days of her nonsense, I picked up some chewable ibuprofen. She loves taking her chewable vitamin so I thought it was worth a shot. We told her they were "special vitamins" and she had a choice of taking that or drinking the liquid form. She chose the chewable every time which was good. And she didn't think it was medicine. The only problem was that I think it hurt her to chew it. It took me a long time to figure that out but every time she took it, she would burst into tears. She wouldn't say what was wrong, but you could tell she was in pain. I think her jaw was really sore and the chewing was just too much for her.
She really wasn't into eating or drinking much either. Like I said, in the hospital she had 8 popsicles the day of surgery. She didn't touch another one until almost a week later! The day she got home she didn't have much, although around bed time she requested Ramen noodles and mac n cheese-she had several bowls of each! We were impressed that she ate that kind of stuff the following day! She had days that she ate ok, and days where she barely touched a thing. I stocked up on popsicles, pudding, applesauce, ice cream, and jello for her thinking she'd have a field day eating all of those "treats" and she really didn't want anything...it was bizarre! If someone asked me to have ice cream and milkshakes all day long, I wouldn't turn them down!
Drinking was tough too. They wanted her to drink a quart and a half of fluid a day! Which to me seems like a ton. I know she didn't drink that much at all. We were trying to pump her with juice for the calories. She normally doesn't get juice to drink so I thought she'd love it and she really had no interest. She wasn't supposed to have milk for the first few days, but once she was able to, she really pounded that down. Luckily she drank enough that she wasn't dehydrated-she was always peeing and had tears when she cried so we did ok.
The first 3 nights I think she woke up several times overnight. Gabe would try giving her medicine, but most times she wouldn't take it-which is why I think she woke up repeatedly overnight. She had a few nights of sleeping through with no problem too.
They did tell us days 5-7 would get worse again because that's when the scabs come loose. They were right-she definitely took a turn for the worse again those few days and again was waking up at night.
It seemed the worst parts of the day were first thing in the morning, after her nap and bedtime. I'm guessing after sleeping her throat was just really dry and it made it more painful. And it seems usually when you're sick that you always feel worse at night too.
We did have a few rough moments when I was home alone with both girls. Avery just got very clingy at times and had her meltdowns and sometimes they were at the exact time that Cassandra was crying or eating or something like that. It definitely was a stressful last week off of work!
Avery really had no desire to get dressed or go anywhere at all. Most days she was glued to the TV watching her Minnie Mouse video (I'm extremely sick of that thing by now!). It was hard at times to get her to do anything else but that. We bought her some coloring/sticker books and she really didn't even want to do that!
I'm glad to say though that yesterday and today she seems much better and more like herself. We got her out of the house a little bit the past few days which is good. She's eating better now and just seems happier and close to normal.
We've also noticed that she doesn't seem to snore much anymore which is great! I think her voice changed a little bit though. It sounded very different the first week after surgery. Now it sounds closer to what it was, but I still think it's a little bit changed too.
Well, I go back to work tomorrow and she goes back to daycare so hopefully all goes well with that! I think she's ready for it!
It wasn't the easiest road to get to where we are now.
She did awesome in the hospital-never complained about pain, took her medicine like a champ and had 8 popsicles the day of her surgery.
If only things stayed that good!
Before they left the hospital the day after her surgery, Avery started to not want her medicine. This was a HUGE struggle with us all throughout her recovery. They wanted us alternating tylenol and ibuprofen every 3 hours. She was resisting it so much that we just started doing ibuprofen every 6 hours like directed. But the problem with that was that by the time the 6 hours were up, she was in quite a bit of pain and would just be flat out miserable. She really needed to take the meds every 3 hours, so we bumped her back to every 3 hours. We got her the liquid form of both and I tasted them myself-they're not bad! I have no idea why she didn't want to take it, but it was really a fight. We started by using the syringe for the first few days, then something happened that we literally had to pin her down and shoot it in her mouth. She would get so upset that she made herself vomit! She has never done that before! So then we started letting her drink it out of the dosing cup and threatened if she didn't, we'd use the syringe. That seemed to work for the most part. After a few days of her nonsense, I picked up some chewable ibuprofen. She loves taking her chewable vitamin so I thought it was worth a shot. We told her they were "special vitamins" and she had a choice of taking that or drinking the liquid form. She chose the chewable every time which was good. And she didn't think it was medicine. The only problem was that I think it hurt her to chew it. It took me a long time to figure that out but every time she took it, she would burst into tears. She wouldn't say what was wrong, but you could tell she was in pain. I think her jaw was really sore and the chewing was just too much for her.
She really wasn't into eating or drinking much either. Like I said, in the hospital she had 8 popsicles the day of surgery. She didn't touch another one until almost a week later! The day she got home she didn't have much, although around bed time she requested Ramen noodles and mac n cheese-she had several bowls of each! We were impressed that she ate that kind of stuff the following day! She had days that she ate ok, and days where she barely touched a thing. I stocked up on popsicles, pudding, applesauce, ice cream, and jello for her thinking she'd have a field day eating all of those "treats" and she really didn't want anything...it was bizarre! If someone asked me to have ice cream and milkshakes all day long, I wouldn't turn them down!
Drinking was tough too. They wanted her to drink a quart and a half of fluid a day! Which to me seems like a ton. I know she didn't drink that much at all. We were trying to pump her with juice for the calories. She normally doesn't get juice to drink so I thought she'd love it and she really had no interest. She wasn't supposed to have milk for the first few days, but once she was able to, she really pounded that down. Luckily she drank enough that she wasn't dehydrated-she was always peeing and had tears when she cried so we did ok.
The first 3 nights I think she woke up several times overnight. Gabe would try giving her medicine, but most times she wouldn't take it-which is why I think she woke up repeatedly overnight. She had a few nights of sleeping through with no problem too.
They did tell us days 5-7 would get worse again because that's when the scabs come loose. They were right-she definitely took a turn for the worse again those few days and again was waking up at night.
It seemed the worst parts of the day were first thing in the morning, after her nap and bedtime. I'm guessing after sleeping her throat was just really dry and it made it more painful. And it seems usually when you're sick that you always feel worse at night too.
We did have a few rough moments when I was home alone with both girls. Avery just got very clingy at times and had her meltdowns and sometimes they were at the exact time that Cassandra was crying or eating or something like that. It definitely was a stressful last week off of work!
Avery really had no desire to get dressed or go anywhere at all. Most days she was glued to the TV watching her Minnie Mouse video (I'm extremely sick of that thing by now!). It was hard at times to get her to do anything else but that. We bought her some coloring/sticker books and she really didn't even want to do that!
I'm glad to say though that yesterday and today she seems much better and more like herself. We got her out of the house a little bit the past few days which is good. She's eating better now and just seems happier and close to normal.
We've also noticed that she doesn't seem to snore much anymore which is great! I think her voice changed a little bit though. It sounded very different the first week after surgery. Now it sounds closer to what it was, but I still think it's a little bit changed too.
Well, I go back to work tomorrow and she goes back to daycare so hopefully all goes well with that! I think she's ready for it!
Friday, April 13, 2012
33
As of yesterday at 2:34pm, I'm now 33.
The day itself was uneventful. Avery is still recovering from her surgery so we didn't even leave the house. My Sister-in-Law and her two kids came over for awhile to visit so that was nice. It lifted Avery's spirits a little to play with someone besides me! Gabe brought home some yummy cupcakes after work and that was our little celebration! I got to spend the day with my girls and that's all that matters.
On Tuesday my Mom came out for a visit for my pending birthday. She brought along a yummy cassata cake:
She got me a few nice shirts and a gift certificate for a pedicure (can't wait!). My Aunts sent along "The Hunger Games" trilogy and I can't wait to dig into those either!
I had a few nice days though so I can't complain. Another year older.....woo hoo!
Cassandra was excited to rock a new outfit though!
The day itself was uneventful. Avery is still recovering from her surgery so we didn't even leave the house. My Sister-in-Law and her two kids came over for awhile to visit so that was nice. It lifted Avery's spirits a little to play with someone besides me! Gabe brought home some yummy cupcakes after work and that was our little celebration! I got to spend the day with my girls and that's all that matters.
On Tuesday my Mom came out for a visit for my pending birthday. She brought along a yummy cassata cake:
She got me a few nice shirts and a gift certificate for a pedicure (can't wait!). My Aunts sent along "The Hunger Games" trilogy and I can't wait to dig into those either!
I had a few nice days though so I can't complain. Another year older.....woo hoo!
Cassandra was excited to rock a new outfit though!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Adorable
This little girl melts my heart.
Love the way she fell asleep...
She loves watching her bear mobile these days (that's what she's looking at here):
I could listen to her all.day.long.
Love <3
Love the way she fell asleep...
She loves watching her bear mobile these days (that's what she's looking at here):
And this is one of my favorite stages all because of this:
Love <3
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Happy Easter (for real)!
Happy Easter!
Of course today isn't really Easter for us since we celebrated last weekend....in fact, it really wasn't mentioned in our house at all today!
We had a very low key day since Avery is recovering from her surgery.
We lounged around most of the morning and then my in-laws came over to visit in the early afternoon for awhile.
I went grocery shopping around 5pm and it was great...the place was dead! What a great time to shop! We ended up having cheeseburgers and french fries (takeout from 5 Guys) for our big Easter dinner tonight!
But we spent the day with our girls and each other and that's all that matters!
I had to throw in this pic from earlier in the week. Avery was taking these little window cling eggs and decorating Cassandra with them! Too funny!
I hope you all had a wonderful day! Happy Easter!
Of course today isn't really Easter for us since we celebrated last weekend....in fact, it really wasn't mentioned in our house at all today!
We had a very low key day since Avery is recovering from her surgery.
We lounged around most of the morning and then my in-laws came over to visit in the early afternoon for awhile.
I went grocery shopping around 5pm and it was great...the place was dead! What a great time to shop! We ended up having cheeseburgers and french fries (takeout from 5 Guys) for our big Easter dinner tonight!
But we spent the day with our girls and each other and that's all that matters!
 |
| "Somebunny Loves Me" |
I had to throw in this pic from earlier in the week. Avery was taking these little window cling eggs and decorating Cassandra with them! Too funny!
Friday, April 6, 2012
Surgery Day (again!)
So yesterday was the big day....
Avery had surgery #2....her tonsils and adenoids taken out!
We were up early....we had a 7:15am arrival time with an 8:30am surgery time. We got there a few minutes late (yes with 2 kids you're never on time, especially when you have to wake both of them up in the morning!) and they took us almost right away.
We went to a triage type area and there were a bunch of kids already there. One was crying pretty much the entire time we waited and I'm glad it didn't freak Avery out!
She was awesome as usual! They had a nurse come over and check a few things on her-temp, blood pressure, oxygen levels. Then another nurse came by with some arts and crafts which was really cute. Believe it or not, they had her decorate her mask that they used to "knock her out" for surgery! She put stickers on it and chapstick inside to make it smell good. She got to decorate an Easter egg and use a magnadoodle. They were really great with her.
The anesthesiologist came by and talked to us and then her ENT doc came by as well. The anesthesiologist came back and opened his arms to Avery and she happily jumped in his arms and away they went! Not a tear or sad face to be had. She watched us as they walked away and didn't make a peep. She's amazing I tell ya!
Then it was back to the waiting room for us, which I think is the hardest part.
After about a half hour, they said we had a phone call from the doc from the operating room. Of course that freaked me out a bit, but he just called to say that they were all done and she did great. The adenoids got taken out as well since they were huge and we'd be able to see her shortly.
A nurse came out to get one of us to be able to see her. I ended up going back. They took me to where she was and a male worker (not sure he was a nurse) was holding her in a rocking chair. She was crying an odd cry like she did when she came out of her eye surgery. I took the guy's place in the rocking chair and just held her while she cried. A nurse brought her a popsicle and I was surprised that she ate it right away! She had some moments of being in and out of sleep and some moments of crying really hard too. At one point she really let out a scream and they gave her some morphine in her IV and then she passed out. I have no idea how long we sat there, but they eventually brought Gabe and Cassandra back so that we could get transferred into her room upstairs (since she's under the age of 3, they keep her overnight to monitor her).
Luckily we were in a room by ourselves which was nice. We decided to keep Cassandra with us. We were told she wouldn't be able to be there and our plan was to take her to my in-law's at some point, but honestly the staff was great about her being there. They never hesitated having her in the pre-op area or up on the floor, so it was great. Had we had a roommate, I think we would have taken her to my in-law's, but since we were alone, we just decided it was easier to keep her there with us.
Avery spent most of the day in bed. She was hooked up to an IV most of the time so she really couldn't get up. They had it in her foot so she wouldn't put her foot down or anything. Taking her to the bathroom was quite the chore! She was in good spirits and watched some TV, the iPad, read books, played with her Minnie, etc. She had probably 8 popsicles over the course of the day and was drinking juice like a champ. She really did great keeping herself hydrated! They brought her meds every three hours and she was great taking those too! Her surgeon came by around 5 and said all looked good and he said at that point that the IV could come out!
Cassandra and I stayed until around 6:30 or so and then we headed home for the night since I knew she'd be getting fussy for bedtime. Gabe and Avery went down to the playroom just before we left and she was happily coloring when we said goodbye to her.
Gabe said Avery has been up since 4am today! They ended up getting discharged very early this morning-around 8am or so, which was earlier than I expected!
So far all is going well....she's starting to resist taking her medicine though which isn't fun and I know she's not feeling too hot because of it. Here's hoping she has a speedy recovery and is back to her normal self soon!
(and I didn't take any photos this time-didn't think of grabbing my camera at 6am yesterday!)
Avery had surgery #2....her tonsils and adenoids taken out!
We were up early....we had a 7:15am arrival time with an 8:30am surgery time. We got there a few minutes late (yes with 2 kids you're never on time, especially when you have to wake both of them up in the morning!) and they took us almost right away.
We went to a triage type area and there were a bunch of kids already there. One was crying pretty much the entire time we waited and I'm glad it didn't freak Avery out!
She was awesome as usual! They had a nurse come over and check a few things on her-temp, blood pressure, oxygen levels. Then another nurse came by with some arts and crafts which was really cute. Believe it or not, they had her decorate her mask that they used to "knock her out" for surgery! She put stickers on it and chapstick inside to make it smell good. She got to decorate an Easter egg and use a magnadoodle. They were really great with her.
The anesthesiologist came by and talked to us and then her ENT doc came by as well. The anesthesiologist came back and opened his arms to Avery and she happily jumped in his arms and away they went! Not a tear or sad face to be had. She watched us as they walked away and didn't make a peep. She's amazing I tell ya!
Then it was back to the waiting room for us, which I think is the hardest part.
After about a half hour, they said we had a phone call from the doc from the operating room. Of course that freaked me out a bit, but he just called to say that they were all done and she did great. The adenoids got taken out as well since they were huge and we'd be able to see her shortly.
A nurse came out to get one of us to be able to see her. I ended up going back. They took me to where she was and a male worker (not sure he was a nurse) was holding her in a rocking chair. She was crying an odd cry like she did when she came out of her eye surgery. I took the guy's place in the rocking chair and just held her while she cried. A nurse brought her a popsicle and I was surprised that she ate it right away! She had some moments of being in and out of sleep and some moments of crying really hard too. At one point she really let out a scream and they gave her some morphine in her IV and then she passed out. I have no idea how long we sat there, but they eventually brought Gabe and Cassandra back so that we could get transferred into her room upstairs (since she's under the age of 3, they keep her overnight to monitor her).
Luckily we were in a room by ourselves which was nice. We decided to keep Cassandra with us. We were told she wouldn't be able to be there and our plan was to take her to my in-law's at some point, but honestly the staff was great about her being there. They never hesitated having her in the pre-op area or up on the floor, so it was great. Had we had a roommate, I think we would have taken her to my in-law's, but since we were alone, we just decided it was easier to keep her there with us.
Avery spent most of the day in bed. She was hooked up to an IV most of the time so she really couldn't get up. They had it in her foot so she wouldn't put her foot down or anything. Taking her to the bathroom was quite the chore! She was in good spirits and watched some TV, the iPad, read books, played with her Minnie, etc. She had probably 8 popsicles over the course of the day and was drinking juice like a champ. She really did great keeping herself hydrated! They brought her meds every three hours and she was great taking those too! Her surgeon came by around 5 and said all looked good and he said at that point that the IV could come out!
Cassandra and I stayed until around 6:30 or so and then we headed home for the night since I knew she'd be getting fussy for bedtime. Gabe and Avery went down to the playroom just before we left and she was happily coloring when we said goodbye to her.
Gabe said Avery has been up since 4am today! They ended up getting discharged very early this morning-around 8am or so, which was earlier than I expected!
So far all is going well....she's starting to resist taking her medicine though which isn't fun and I know she's not feeling too hot because of it. Here's hoping she has a speedy recovery and is back to her normal self soon!
(and I didn't take any photos this time-didn't think of grabbing my camera at 6am yesterday!)
Monday, April 2, 2012
Happy Easter (for us)!
Yesterday we celebrated Easter.
Avery is having her tonsils removed later this week and we knew she would be in rough shape for Easter. Luckily, she's young enough that she doesn't know when the holiday actually is, so we decided that yesterday was really Easter. We wanted her to be able to really enjoy it and eat the candy, etc. so that's why we decided to do that.
We got up in the morning and got the girls all gussied up:
Gabe's parents and his sister and her family all came over around 11 for brunch. I made an egg/sausage casserole and bought bagels and pastries. His sister brought a fruit salad and cupcakes and his parents brought a french toast casserole and some bacon to cook up. We had more than enough food!
After brunch, the kids played in the basement while we hid some easter eggs for them. Here they are coming up and getting their bags to start the fun!
Avery finding an egg!
Owen and Bianca searching for eggs:
Then once they found them all, they opened all of their eggs to see what they got!
And I had to get a family photo since we don't get them taken very often! Don't mind the mess on the couch-haha!
The kids went back in the basement to play and my in-laws hauled in their baskets from them-they got a lot of nice things!!
Once everyone left, we put Avery down for her rest time. That was when the Easter Bunny came! He left them more eggs and some nice baskets! Cassandra's is on the left, Avery's on the right!
We had a very nice day! Avery had a blast looking for the eggs and her baskets and of course eating some "treats"! Happy Easter to us!!
Avery is having her tonsils removed later this week and we knew she would be in rough shape for Easter. Luckily, she's young enough that she doesn't know when the holiday actually is, so we decided that yesterday was really Easter. We wanted her to be able to really enjoy it and eat the candy, etc. so that's why we decided to do that.
We got up in the morning and got the girls all gussied up:
 |
| out of the 5 I took, this was the best believe it or not! |
Gabe's parents and his sister and her family all came over around 11 for brunch. I made an egg/sausage casserole and bought bagels and pastries. His sister brought a fruit salad and cupcakes and his parents brought a french toast casserole and some bacon to cook up. We had more than enough food!
After brunch, the kids played in the basement while we hid some easter eggs for them. Here they are coming up and getting their bags to start the fun!
Avery finding an egg!
Owen and Bianca searching for eggs:
Then once they found them all, they opened all of their eggs to see what they got!
And I had to get a family photo since we don't get them taken very often! Don't mind the mess on the couch-haha!
The kids went back in the basement to play and my in-laws hauled in their baskets from them-they got a lot of nice things!!
Once everyone left, we put Avery down for her rest time. That was when the Easter Bunny came! He left them more eggs and some nice baskets! Cassandra's is on the left, Avery's on the right!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)