Cami and Crew: Our Story and More: Catch Up-Halloween and November

I should be cleaning my house but I decided before Christmas I wanted to post about Halloween and Thanksgiving…and then Christmas came and went and then the new year came and went…we had a relief society meeting this past week and one of the mini lessons was on journaling…and I told myself I really wanted to update what happened the last half of the year…I just like being about to go back and look and this is more for my future than anything

Halloween

This was a fun year for Teddy; my mother carved pumpkins with him and they made spiders out of chocolate and pretzels...

This year for Halloween Teddy was a train conductor and Macy was a ballerina; nothing fancy…we had our ward trick or treat on Tuesday the 29^th and then went over to our friend’s neighborhood on Halloween. Teddy had a fun time with his bestie Gardner and Aunt Ashlee joined us and helped carry Macy.

My parents went to North Carolina this year; I had wanted to go but was not able to get off work and it was nice to be able to be home as well. The other reason I wanted to go to Charlotte was because my nephew Braden was getting baptized on the first of November. Ashlee flew up there that Friday; the kids and I almost drove that night to be there Saturday morning but it just did not work out and I was glad I did not make the trek at the kids started getting sick and it probably would have been LONG.

RED NOSES...RED EYES

November ended up being a LONG month; Macy got sick, I think she got the tummy bug that had been going around; she could not keep anything down, I got some pedialyte and fed that to her through a syringe for a few days and she was just not getting any better and she was losing weight fast; I finally made a doctor appointment for her; they said they could not be sure but she seemed like she had the virus. They said I should try some soy formula and see if that would help; she did tell me if it did not help they could call in a reflux medicine the following week but wanted to try this first. I kept thinking that if I only had breast milk then it would all be okay; it was at this time that I started having thoughts again that I was not good enough for my daughter and what not; I went through this when my milk did not come in when I had Teddy and how I thought I was not going to get the closeness and love that comes from the connection of breastfeeding and what not; I got out of my pitty party and we tried the soy and it did not help, I called the Doctor and told her and she prescribed Zoloft and it helped for two days and then stopped working (a lady at church said the same thing happened with her child)…she by this time had lost a pound and still was not keeping the soy down.

The second week in November both kids started showing signs of head colds and it got worse and worse; one Saturday night I called my sister and asked if she would come over and look at Macy, she was really lethargic and not responding great; her breathing seemed okay but I just wanted her opinion. She came to the same conclusion as me and told me what to look for…she did okay the weekend but they both just seemed to not be getting better…I brought them in again and both had ear infections and bronchitis…poor kiddos, they got put on antibiotics and steroids and another week went by

He spent most of the time on the couch like this!!! Not my active little boy...I knew he was not feeling well

His eyes were so swollen

You cant tell by the pictures but here were too; and she never falls asleep like this but she spent a lot of the time sleeping; she was not my happy cheerful girl

The night my sister came over; she was so lethargic!!!

They wanted me to try more solids; she seemed to do okay, but did not like it too much!!!

They wanted me to come back for a weight check for Macy the following week and she was down another half a pound; she had her well visit scheduled for the following week and so we held off doing anything that day to try and see if she would gain weight.

We went in for her well visit the week before Thanksgiving and she was down again; she was now 7 months and weighing in at what she was at three months; I was worried about her…they diagnosed her with FTT (failure to thrive) and wanted me to head to the hospital to run some tests. I had Teddy with me at this appointment and luckily my husband (whose work is 5 minutes form the Dr.) was able to take him while I went to the hospital. We had to go up to Orlando to Winnie Palmer Children’s Hospital and not the new Nemours Children’s Hospital (which you can see from the Dr’s office) because our insurance does not have a contract with the hospital yet, they are still negotiating; we found this out after our ER visit and week stay with Teddy earlier in the year. We got up there and waited for the registration and then waited for the GI doctor to do an upper GI, she had to drink the barium and we watched it on the screen; the test showed that she has some delayed emptying and reflux; the doctor kept moving her around while he watched on the x-ray machine and it finally started emptying a little and then how it should; it just took longer than normal; O wish I could remember at what position she was when it started to empty because she still spits up a lot.

They also did some lab work; the sweet nurses did a good job of getting her pricked and taking the blood. They also wanted a urine sample; at this time she had not eaten for like 5 or more hours so I fed her in the waiting room; they had attached a little baggie to her and told me when she did pee to just go in the bathroom and take it off and put it in the container and turn it in…it took a while but she finally went a little and we left; they told us they would contact our Doctor with the results; the doctor had prescribed a different reflux medicine; prevacid and we picked that up; they did not have a generic brand of what they had prescribed so it was really expensive and one for 15 days; I will do anything to get my little girl feeling better but sheesh...Sunday and Monday were okay, she still was not keeping a lot down but she seemed more alert than she had in a while.

The last couple of months Teddy also started showing interest in the potty; for some reason he called it the poo poo baba...I started letting him wear underwear and would just try and help him go every 15 or so minutes to try; he did good for a few weeks but that has died down and he has no interest anymore =( We will try again in a few months

I bought a double stroller; I did some research and choose this one; the foot rest was a little small for Teddy but it was nice overall; the kids have not enjoyed it and that makes me sad; I might return it if they do not come to like it

This is the before and after; Teddy was semi happy at first but then halfway down the block was freaking out...and Macy was crying the whole time...needless to say, I hurried home...haha

Teddy sat in the driveway after I put the stroller up and just called our for Ahme...he could have sat there all night if I would have let him

We went shopping one evening to try and find my husband some new pants; we found a train book for Teddy and it was a lifesaver in the dressing room; he just read and read while Macy girl and I just sat and played =)

Teddy has such a fun personality; he loves his daddy; they are always coming up with new fun games and they love making forts. He loves getting into Macy's things and loves cars...he is such a cool kid!!!