SOCIAL MEDIA

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Its been a minute

Well, maybe a bit longer then that!
Time is a thief.
AND OH MY, has it been a crazy a year.
Today marks, one year.
One year since we closed on a home that had a huge hole in its cedar shake shingle roof.
One year since we purchased a 2nd home, not knowing if the 1st would even sell.
One year, since we  REALLY knew what we were getting into and really prepared ourselves for a long haul of a serious fixer upper.

What I hadn't planned on?
Delays in permits and contractors, resulting in living ONLY upstairs in the fixer upper with 4 kids.
363 days ago our first house had an accepted offer. So we knew we would have about 2 months before we would be moving in to the new house.We knew that meant we could potentially be moving into studs and subfloor. 
And thats EXACTLY what happened. 
What a whirlwind it was. Craziest thing?
We survived.
This is the first time we were in the house. Before any demo at the back of the house.

This is what the kitchen looked like shortly before we moved in.
The only difference when we moved in was that the tile Matt had jack-hammered up on the main floor was cleaned up.
This is the 3rd bedroom, Ruby's room. When the permits got pushed I knew there was no way we could live upstairs with this second story bedroom exposed. I mean really, the mom-fear was intense.
Matt and I drywalled and finished this by ourselves right before we moved in.
And when I say moved in, I am referring to the fact that all six of us moved into the upstairs of the "new house".
Every morning I run down to the basement where I had a simple set up of fridge and microwave to pop pancakes and breakfast sandwiches in the nuke for a couple minutes then carry it back up 2 flights of stairs. Of course we had the coffee maker set up in the master bedroom, I mean of course right?

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Tiny Lil'Helmet Head

Of course I think my Rue is cute. 
But then you smush her chunky cheeks into this helmet and I just fall in love all over again. 
Part of it is because my heart is hurting for her and I want to just hold her close, squeeze her and tell her how much I love her to the moon and back. So I do. Then she pinches my cheek or tries to pull my ear off :) Gosh, I just love her. 

She is doing really well. Today is post 24 hours and I feel like she is exhausted. I don't know if its possible for the band to exhaust her but between the extra, but small, weight, along with all the sweating I think it can. You may not believe me, but REALLY the sweating is amazing. That a tiny little girl could have so much sweat coming off her head is profounding. Her hair is all wet and matted down when I take the helmet off and the helmet is speckled with droplets of water. She hates when I put the helmet on. Thats the worst part. After she is her usual Rubes. She has not been a good tummy girl. She sleeps on her tummy but playing on her tummy she has never been interested in, she prefers to sit. Now with the helmet, she hates being on her tummy even more. This is a problem as at this age being on your tummy is key to growth and hitting key milestones. 

The older girls don't seem to be too fazed by Ruby being in her helmet. However, when I take it off for her breaks, Peyton always finds it and sneaks off with it. I haven't figured out why or where she's going, but I kind of thing she wants to put it on her baby! The outer part of her helmet is a sold plastic life material. It apparently is begging to be tapped on as I find my husband tapping on it anytime he is holding Ruby!


Monday, August 22, 2016

The Things They say...

Ellee
"So I was just thinking...in my head."

"Hey Mom, if you just eat a lot of food, you know like a whole bunch, then you can just have another baby!"

Peyton
*Praying at dinner after the local festival*
"God, thank you for food. Mama, and Daddy. Peyton, Ellee, and wooby.. For dragon roller coast, bwoo bicycle, and Jesus. Amen"







A little bit kinda Busy Ruby Update

It seems the past weeks have been go go go. Oh and I wish it would slow slow slow. Its been a lot. With numerous doctors appointments and things to accomplish, along with multiple visitors and Ellee starting school (Yea, I know. But thats for another post) 
At the end of July we knew we needed a head CT done for Ruby. This is the first step to complete to confirm that she has no other cranial issues just shape problems. They specifically were looking for  craniosynostosis. This is early fusing of plates, but as presumed, she got the all clear. But that wasn't before an insane 3 week long process of trying to get her head CT completed.
We booked it the last week of July. I arranged to have Matt come with me, found a sitter for the girls. I had been forewarned by a friend that they sometimes sedate. Well we get there, I go in, they say they don't need to sedate. GREAT! But then the tech reads the order, talks to the radiologist, then decides they can't do the test because she definitely needs to be sedated since they need a very clear image for diagnosis. Great. So they tell us to go home and they'll call us. One day. Two day. Three day-I get a call and they just haven't got an order (basically a prescription) from her pediatrician for sedation. So you know the run around, I make a call here, a call there, and back and forth. Then finally we're good. I can book. But, not until mid August because they have to coordinate the scan with the pediatric unit and so on. Sheesh.


Day off finally comes. She has to be NPO for 6 hours prior to the scan. She did so amazing considering. I was so worried she was going to be so upset. She did surprisingly well. But she was done by the time we finally got her on the table. IV'd and all. She was screaming and flailing. Then they gave her the meds, and she calmed right down and stared at me like a unicorn straight out of fantasy world. It was bizarre to say even the least. I was quite concerned because I thought they were going to put her right out, but they did not explain the process to me very well. They basically give her the utmost smallest dose of meds, and add as needed. She responded quickly and well to the smallest dose and didn't need to be put right under. THANKFUL.
Now we are back on track for her helmet. Shell be fitted next week, and delivery will happen the first week in September. 
Amidst all of this had her assessed by a physical therapist and also by early intervention. She'll be completely assessed this Thursday by another PT as well as Developmental therapist. So in the meantime I've be persuing etsy and other sites looking for something cute to add to her "melon" gear. :) 




Friday, July 22, 2016

Ruby Jane...and her big noggin'

 Our sweet little gem. She has the softest cry, even when shes super mad. She has been through so much for her 6 months. I can go through her amazing birth story another day. At 4 weeks old she started to break out. My babies had never had baby acne, and always had great skin post birth, this was quite new for me. At first, I thought, oh just that baby acne the little ones can get. But it would come on so quickly! And it worsened, and worsened, and it started to bleed, and sort of puss. It was horrible, and worst of all, it was all over her poor little cheeks and face. I could take away most of the redness with breastmilk. After each feed I would just soak ever spot that I could find in milk. And it helped! But it didnt fix it, I decided I should get her looked at, maybe she had an allergy to something in my milk. The doctor said it was eczema. But if it was an allergy to food, she would have it on her body as well. So I treated it as I was told. Still no improvement, worse even. So I went back to only breastmilk treatment and shed the creams and ointments. Then I started rewashing everything in new detergent. To shorten this up, a few days without the cozy in her carseat and her favorite blanket, along with a chat with a friend at church, led me to believe it was a contact allergy, and I had narrowed it to polyester. We still keep polyester away from her and don't allow it to touch her. The eczema cleared up!
At 6 weeks old she was breathing very rapidly and had a mild fever and cold. After some advising from the on call pediatrician I found myself in the ER with her at 11 pm on a Monday night. Everything came back clear, thank the Lord. 2 weeks later at about 8 weeks old, she still wasn't over the cold. She was coughing and had such awful congestion it was making her vomit. I tried to not get super concerned but after 2 days of some scaryness I decided I needed to get her checked out and went to urgent care.  She was admitted to the hospital. I watched in horror as they tried and tried again to IV her and even blew veins. So terrible on such a little thing. But she got the treatment she needed. Their concern was that it was pertussis. I never heard back if it was but for the hospital stay they diagnosed it as bronchiolitis, scary in such a little one, and treated her as if she had pertussis as well (they actually send the sample out of hospital to be tested so it takes awhile). We came home but it still took a week for her to be much better!
 Fast forward to today. Ruby has a head tilt. I had noticed and did minor things to try and correct her preference. She has quite the noggin', in the 98% as far as size. I would tilt her head straight or try to get her to look the other way. Set her down for tummy time, or sit her up-she sits unsupported now. But to no avail no improvement in the past month. Then over the weekend, I noticed her eyes. One looks more open then the other, and one ear, it sticks out more. What was a mild concern for her preference turned to major concern. It was obvious to me, maybe to no one else, but as her Mama I could see, this preference was becoming a problem. Its called a torticollis.

You can see the tilt to her right side, and  also if you look closely, her right eye looks more widely open then her left, which looks like it has a bigger eyelid. And her left ear seems to be sticking out.

It can happen because of positioning in the womb, or maybe it has happened to Ruby because she has such a big head, and such a small body. Either way, it has tightened and strengthened the muscles on one side of her neck and weakened the ones of the opposite side. Imagine trying to stretch your calf muscle, every time I try to turn Ruby's head the non-preferred direction, shes uncomfortable. With the torticollis, comes the problems with her head. Keeping her head in a preferred position and direction results in a head that is not correctly shaped. Its called plagiocephaly, or brachycephaly, depending on how you look at it.
She keeps her head 99% of the time tilted to her right shoulder. We have it caught in good time that there should be no lasting muscle effects, but she will be getting physical therapy to help get the muscles worked. The shape of her head and how it is off-setting her features is also of concern .To correct this secondary issue caused by the torticollis she will be in need of cranial band. AKA. helmet. To say I am not looking forward to the 3-5  months, 23 hours a day of helmet may be an understatement. But, I  have faith the Lord knows my sweet Rue better then I and He knit her together just so right down to her inner most being.
 From the front, the usual head tilt. You also can see the mild left ear sticking out.
This is not a direct above shot so it doesn't quite show the protrusion of the left side and flatness of the right very well. But you can note the overall flatness of the back of her head, almost creating a square look, this is the brachycephaly.

Ellee's 5th Birthday

I have so much catching up to. From Pey's 3rd birthday up until the present. But here's where I'll start!

Our Ellee is 5! An amazing 5. She was always such a sassy little toddler. I think some of our family and friends can vouch for her interesting antics. Whether it be snagging some of the "holy bread" post morning church, or plastering hard wood with diaper cream, all the way down to unwinding several rolls of toilet paper. Somewhere amidst all her little fun and games, she really grew up on me.
Much to my chagrin, she loves watching the food network. Particularly 'baking shows' she call it. She still adores pink and purple, and princess is in her vocabulary. She is a sucker for a fancy dress, any thing she deems beautiful. Amidst her sweet girly side, I see her feisty-ness still. She was totally willing to take out the other soccer girl when she was racing for the ball and she has no shame in revenge; funny or not, we're working on this! Haha! She isn't the most sensitive child, but I can tell she is sensitive to other people. If someone says or does something unkind she can really be quite a heartbroken child, if its her sister however, well revenge it is. :) She is so witty too. She knows the rules and somehow can coax Peyton so she really has no fault as she was not the one crossing the lines, its all a technicality which she is completely in tune with!
I look back on the pictures of her an yearn to go back and kiss her sweet cheeks. It makes me so excited for the future with her too, and even to see Ruby grow!



 Everytime Elle is instructed for a picture she always struggles to smile normally, her school pictures are going to be FAB! ha.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

The Things they say...

"Mom you have glasses! Can you be my teacher?" -Ellee

"Wooby (Ruby) has pickups."
"Say Hicc-ups, Peyton."
"Pick ups."
"Hi-cups"
"Hi-pickups."
(I give up.)

*Matt doing pushups*
*Peyton sits on Matt's back*
*Matt continues pushups*
"Uncle D! You wan wride? Come sit D!"