What a beautiful ride

It's been a really long time!

2011-10-30T12:59:00.014-04:00

I can not believe it has been over a year since I last updated this blog. I suppose now with Facebook, I keep everyone updated there now. It has been a very fast and wonderful year for sure filled with so much I am not sure where to start.

I guess I will start with Megan, she is amazing! She turned 8 years old in June and is now in the 3rd grade. It still amazes me how quickly she has grown up. She is a straight A student, at the end of second grade she was reading at a 5th grade level and this year she is just doing amazing in school. She does dance twice a week, ballet and jazz, which she loves. She is also continuing on with Brownies, which I am a leader of her troop. She is just an amazing young lady who is growing up so incredibly fast.

Mike & I are doing well. Mike graduated back in December 2010 with his MBA from NC State. We were so happy for him to be done with that, of course work picked up quite a bit...so all that extra time at home I thought he would have was gone! But no complaining here, we are very thankful that Mike has a wonderful job that he enjoys and provides us so much. We actually did quite a bit of traveling this year. We took a few days away just the two of us to Key West, FL in March 2011 and although it was a disaster getting there (long story), the days we were there were wonderful! We then made it up to Buffalo in May for my very good friends wedding. It was so wonderful to spend time with my friends and see two beautiful people get married, but the weekend went by way too fast! In July we were able to go to Las Vegas with Mike's work conference and it was fantastic!!!! A fabulous adult week away with the kids at home with my parents!!! It was amazing!!!

Just a few weeks ago we took a fabulous family vacation to Disney World. We stayed at the Polynesian Resort right in Magic Kingdom and it was beyond fantastic!!!! We all had such a great time. The kids did amazing and made memories to last a lifetime for sure! I have included some pictures below!

Now as for Mr. Michael! Well, can I just say, the kid can eat!!! Yes, I said it and I finally mean it!! After spending 5 difficult years trying to get this kid to eat and be willing to try new things, everything has just come together and he actually likes to eat!!!! We started feeding therapy again this summer with our favorite speech therapist Laura, and she has been amazing. He had a lot of week muscle tone in his mouth and just did not chew efficiently. It took him almost 3 times as long to chew up a piece of food as it does you or I, so he would get tired or bored easily and not want to eat...well, after lots of therapy, he is doing amazing! He is actually up to about 37 lbs now, which for a kid who hated to eat for all these years and was only 4 lbs at birth, I say that is pretty amazing! We also restarted his prevacid for reflux, so that has made a big difference as well. Just over all Michael is doing amazing! His speech has come so far, it is just amazing!

Michael was in the pre-k class at the elementary school last year, and although he could of started kindergarten this year, we decided to hold him back a year. Just give him that extra time to catch up and really be able to succeed in school. Thankfully, we were able to get him a spot in the pre-k program again this year at the elementary school and he is doing fantastic! He is really matured and come out of his shell and the teachers are just blown away by how much he has improved since last year. It makes me feel so good knowing I made the right decision for him. All he needed was more time, and that is exactly what we gave him! Now he talks non stop sometimes and eats all the time, who is this kid and what happened to Michael? LOL!!!

On to the medical front. He sees his urologist once a year and at the last visit in April everything looked fantastic! His kidney is beautiful (he only has one) and functioning perfectly!!! We will continue to go to the urologist once a year just to make sure everything continues on the same road just to be safe. He also sees the Orthopedic doctor once a year to check his scoliosis, and everything is stable, even with these growth spurts he has had over the past couple years, so that is wonderful news! He sees his GI doctor every six months, and we go next month. They just want to monitor his growth and see how the reflux is doing.

Now on to the serious front with his cardiologist. Now lets remember that Michael had 2 open heart surgeries and 3 cardiac catheterizations before he was 1 years old....that was 4 years ago already. We go to the cardiologist every 6 months and are so used to hearing the same story after Michael gets his echo done, "everything looks great, see you in 6 months"....well, that wasn't the case in July at our last visit. When Dr Milazzo pulls out the markers and starts to draw diagrams to explain things to you, its never a good sign. Essentially, Michael is growing so great, that his pulmonary artery can't keep up with his growth. It's a double edge sword, you want him to grow, but he is growing so much that his artery cant keep up. So right now he is getting too much blood flow into his right lung, which over time will cause damage to Michael's lungs and we want to avoid that. So Michael has to head back to the cath lab in the coming months to open up that artery, either by angioplasty or placing a stent in there. We go back on December 2nd and will find out more then. We knew that these were the issues we were going to face with Michael, but it still isn't easy hearing it.

So please keep Michael in your prayers for continued growth, health and healing and for his upcoming cath. I will try to update this more often!

Happy 4th Birthday Michael!!!

2010-08-18T15:36:00.006-04:00

I know I am a little late here, we were at the beach with not much access to the internet.

I can't believe that 4 years ago, on August 8, 2006 at 2:42 am this amazing little miracle entered our lives. He was so small, only 4 lbs 5 oz, 17 1/2" long, and so incredibly sick and fragile. No one knew the extremely difficult road ahead of us with Michael, but somehow, with the support of amazing parents, family and friends, we have come so far and Michael is doing amazing! To date, Michael has been hospitalized a total of 10 times. He has undergone 2 open heart surgeries, ECMO (heart/lung bypass machine) for 5 days after his first open heart surgery, 3 cardiac catheterizations, 4 other major surgeries along with being hospitalized for pneumonia for 8 days, turning blue at home when he was only 5 months old, and stomach bug dehydration issues, and then add on the countless tests, blood draws, MRI's, x-rays, etc., it is really amazing all that this little boy has been through in his life. Yet he is still the happiest, sweetest most amazing little boy I have ever met!
It's amazing when I look back at these pictures...I am reminded just how close we came to losing him on more than one occassion and I can't even begin to explain to you what that does to a mother.

Watching my little boy fight so hard is truly heartbreaking.

And yet, despite all of that, here he is today! An amazing, healthy and happy little boy who I adore and am so incredibly and deeply thankful for.

We celebrated Michael's birthday at the beach again this year! It was really a great time! He is a true fish and LOVES the water. We did so much at the beach this year and the kids really had a blast...it was nice to get home!!!

We took the kids fishing and actually caught one small fish that the pelicans ate!

Michael loved his chocolate birthday cake! The kids helped me make it and Michael picked it out!

We even went on jet ski's and the kids loved it!

Michael went for his 4 year physical today and did great. He now weighs in at 31 lbs and is 38 1/2" tall. It's the 10th% for both. Michael has stayed on the same growth curve now for the past year which is great. The fact that he has grown 3 inches and gained 2 1/2 lbs is exactly what the average 4 year old has gained this past year. So YEAH for Michael growing! It's just that the average 4 year old boy is 40" tall (I forget the weight he said), so Michael will probably always just be on the small side, which is fine with me! I would rather him be too small rather than worrying about him being too big which comes with its own risks and complications to life even for "normal" kids!

Michael is starting all day pre-k on Sept 1st and we are so excited! He will be receiving speech therapy 3 x a week while in school and hopefully occupational therapy 1 x a week. He is going to be fully evaluated once school starts and they will actually even do an IQ test on him which I thought was very interesting. He is certainly a very smart kid, just behind on his expressive communication skills. I love the fact that he knows all of his letters, counts to 20 and knows all of his numbers 1-10, all his colors and basic shapes...he loves to color and cut with scissors, all the things that typical 4 year olds do. He loves to write his name with chalk on the chalkboard too! I should of given him a shorter name though, Michael is a long name to learn to write! :)

Cardiology Update!

2010-07-29T11:19:00.004-04:00

WOO HOOO!!!!!! Our appointment this morning with Dr. Milazzo went fantastic! Michael is currently 38.6" tall and weighs 30 lbs 2 oz. WOO HOO!!! His blood pressure was wonderful and everything looked great! Dr. Milazzo examined him and said he looks and sounds fantastic! We had to get an echo and EKG done while we were there. Michael was a perfect little boy while the echo was being done, they put in a Dora video so of course Michael was happy! His echo looked fantastic! The conduit is wide open, his pulmonary arteries are wide open, it doesn't get better than that!!!! WOO HOO! Dr. Milazzo said that based on his echo, he expects Michael to get AT LEAST another 3-4 years out of his conduit minimum. We will continue to go every 6 months to see Dr. Milazzo because Michael had such an incredibly rough start to life and they are a little more cautious with him, but overall, he is doing extremely well and Dr. Milazzo couldn't be happier!!!

Talk about a huge sigh of relief! Michael is just an incredible little miracle who continues to surprise, amaze and take my breath away every day. I am so incredibly lucky to have this little boy in my life!

Almost August already.....

2010-07-24T15:34:00.008-04:00

This summer is literally flying by! I can not believe that in two weeks from tomorrow, my little boy will be 4 years old! How in the world did that happen? So much has happend and changed in 4 years, it seems like an eternity ago that he was born, yet he is still my little baby and I can't believe he is this big boy now. Crazy!

This summer has been flying by literally. Megan has been busy with her summer camps and playing with her friends. She has become quite the expert little swimmer and she loves going to the pool! It is so great to finally see her become so confident with swimming and not be afraid of the water. We go to the neighborhood pool quite often, especially since it has been so hot! Megan starts school in 5 short weeks and she can't wait to get back! I have a 2nd grader now! Makes me feel old! Megan really loves school and does so well that it makes it very easy! She had her 7 year physical a few weeks ago and she is up to 47.1 inches tall and 48 lbs, perfectly healthy and wonderful!!! She goes to get her eyes examined in a couple of weeks and we will see if she needs a new prescription for her glasses.

Michael is still getting speech therapy two days a week along with occupational therapy one day a week. I am so very thankful that we are able to get him the services that he needs. He is such a smart little boy and it is amazing how quickly he has caught up on so many things! I have to say that he is completely potty trained and has been accident free for quite some time now! He wakes up dry every morning and does so well all day long! It certainly took a lot longer with him than it did with Megan, but success has been met!!! He is a very active and happy little boy, even though he drives me insane at times, but that is what boys do right! :) Michael has his 4 year physical coming up in a couple of weeks and this coming Thursday we have his 6 month check up with the cardiologist...please keep Michael in your prayers for a very healthy report on Thursday!

We have been trying to stay busy this summer by hitting the pool and some day camps, but it has been kind of nice to just relax a bit. Mike & I spent a week in Vegas at the end of June and had just an amazing time! It was a total escape from reality and so incredibly nice!!! I can't wait to do it again next year! :) Mike is gearing up for his last semester at school and will finally graduate with his MBA in December! Can you tell I am excited! It has been a long two years, but so worth it!!!! We are going to have a nice graduation party for him!!!

Here are some recent pictures, enjoy!

This picture is at Marbles Museum, Michael loved it!
Here is the fish he caught!
Michael and all the girls!!!

Michael, Megan, Daddy & Grandpa playing golf!

Grandpa giving some advice! Megan giving some advice back to Grandpa!

3 generations!

Daddy helping Michael out - have to start them out young!

Look at that swing!

4th of July fireworks!

Michael's new favorite food is corn on the cob!

Michael's new swimmies!

Megan's pool party!

Happy birthday sweet girl!

Megan's Birthday & HUGE RELIEF

2010-06-17T12:52:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was Megan's 7th birthday! Can you believe it? I certainly can not! Megan is truly the most amazing little girl I have ever met! We celebrated by having a great dinner together as a family and some cake and Megan got a new bedding set for her birthday. She is having a birthday party at the pool on Saturday with some of her friends, I will be sure to post pictures later!

Things have been very busy for us here! Megan is participating in Girl Scout Day Camp this week. It goes from 9 - 3:30 everyday and she is really having a blast! She comes home with so many crafts and activities that they did during the day and she is meeting a lot of new friends. Next week it is on to golf camp at NC State for 1/2 a day, lets just say daddy is really looking forward to her doing that one! Megan has also started to take a golf class once a week at The Preserve at Jordan Lake golf course. The class is taught by real LPGA teachers and she is getting a set of LPGA golf clubs as well (that was her other gift!). This class will continue until October. She is officially done with 1st grade and is my rising 2nd grader now! She is really just amazing! We go for her 7 year physical next week!

Now, for the HUGE RELIEF part of my post...back in April Michael had his 1 year follow up visit with the urologist...I didn't post about this because I was a bit upset and didn't want to talk about it...well, during that ultrasound, there was a strange mass that showed up on his bladder, something that hadn't been noted before. So the doctor wanted us to come back in 2 months to repeat the u/s and see if it was still there. If it was, this would not be good...it could mean a tumor in his bladder. If it was still there, Michael would have to be taken to the OR and scoped and biopsy this mass to find out what it was. I have tried really hard to not think about this for the past two months (it has not been easy). Well, this morning we went back to the urologist, thankfully Mike came with me. During the u/s, Michael had drank a big glass of water, well, it made his bladder nice and full and easy to see, yes, see the mass that was still there and unfortunatley, it measured a little bit bigger than it did in April...so needless to say I was not very happy. We went next door to see the doctor and after waiting what seemed like forever, we finally got to see the doctor......he was all smiles! He said that the area in Michael's bladder was all fluid filled, not a solid mass...if it had been a solid mass it would be a tumor, but a fluid filled mass indicates that Michael has a ureterocele....what that means essentially is that there was a blockage in Michael's right ureter which caused the ureterocele and most likely caused the damage to his right kidney so it could not form properly, which is why Michael does not have a right kidney. During the u/s it showed that the cysts that were there for his right kidney are no longer there, it is just empty fluid filled space (strange right!). Anyway, the doctor looked back at all Michael's old films, including the CT scans, VCUG's , etc., and he says that this has always been there, it is just much easier to see when Michael's bladder is full. We don't have to see the urologist until next year, they will continue to monitor this area, but it is nothing we need to worry about at all...of course if Michael had a right kidney, this would be cause for concern and Michael would need a procedure to correct this, but since he doesn't have a right kidney anyway, we don't have to do anything! YEAH!!!!

So now that I am feeling so much better!!!! On to the next issue that comes up right! :) Our kids certainly like to keep us on our toes! Michael is taking a nap now and I am going to lay down myself, I am exhausted!!!!

Ortho Update

2010-06-01T10:43:00.002-04:00

Michael had hsi 9 month Orthopedic appointment this morning...I can't believe it's been 9 months since we have been there! It was a great appointment. Michael measured in just under 38", he didn't want to hold still, so we didn't get a very accurate measurement...but he did weigh in at 30 lbs again...so he is growing though! We had his x-rays done and got in to see the doctor right away. As we had prayed for, everything is stable. His scoliosis curve is stable and has not changed much at all in the two plus years we have been coming to see Dr Fitch, so he is comfortable in letting us come once a year now. Also, his leg length discrepancy is still stable...that right leg is about 1/2" shorter than his left leg (which we think was damaged during his first cardiac cath when they tore his femoral artery and he almost lost his leg) so if that continues to grow like that, he eventually wont need but a small lift in his shoes and it shouldnt cause him any problems! But again, these things are just issues that have to be monitored and pray that they dont change, or if they do change, they change for the better! So we wont see Ortho again until June 2011!! WOO HOO for good news!

4 years ago this month....

2010-05-27T18:06:00.004-04:00

Our lives changed more than I could ever begin to imagine....we found out 4 years ago, this Thursday before Memorial Day weekend that the precious little baby boy that I was carrying had a life threatening complex congenital heart defect. From that day on, our lives would never ever be the same. All the things that you normally worry about when pregnant went out the window and life was filled with doctors appointments, tours of the PICU at Duke Hospital, cardiologist fetal echos, meeting with the heart surgeon who explained to us that our baby would require open heart surgery shortly after birth and spend about 3 weeks in the hospital, but that he had a good chance of survival.........good chance of survival.....good chance of survival. Four little words that we clung to for dear life. Our little boy has done more than survive...he has truly defied the odds that were so dramatically stacked against him! How in the world did we ever survive those months, those weeks, those days, those minutes. Crazy when I sit here and think back over all the things we have been through with Michael, 5 weeks premature, 2 open heart surgeries, ECMO for 5 days, 3 cardiac catheterizations, 4 other major surgeries, a total of 10 hospitalizations all in his first 2 years of life...my God, how does anyone survive that, let alone thrive!!! And that is exactly what Michael is doing, he is thriving! He is an amazing, wonderful (most of the time! hehe!) smart, wonderful little boy! He is truly a miracle and I thank God for him every day and am so truly grateful for all he has taught me. Life is truly a gift, I know a lot of people say that and think that they know what it means, but truly, each and every single day is such an incredible gift and I am very lucky to have such an amazing family surrounding me!

It's May already....

2010-05-04T13:09:00.006-04:00

I can not believe it is May already....the weeks are literally just flying by! Things are good here, just busy! Michael is into his last four weeks of preschool this year! It is so sad because this is his last year at his current preschool since he will be at Megan's elementary school in the fall doing the pre-k program there. It just amazes me how fast the time is flying by! Michael is doing fantastic! He is all boy, thats for sure! His favorite activity lately is to watch the digger in our next door neighbors yard (they are putting in a pool) and he will just sit in the yard and watch it all afternoon! We spent a weekend out at my parents house and had such a nice time. I love that my kids know their grandparents so well, something I never had growing up!
We went out and hit the driving range while at my parents (they live in a golf course community) and it was so nice! The kids had a blast!

It is so nice that the warmer weather is finally here...the kids had a great time playing in the little pool outside!

So not too much going on, just day to day life! Megan has done fantastic in school and I can't believe her last day of 1st grade will be on June 10th and then I will have a 2nd grader...making me feel kind of old! She really is an amazing and wonderful little girl. I am so incredibly thankful for her every single day!

Michael is in full time day underwear - WOO HOO!!! I put him in pull ups over night still, but he wakes up dry every single morning...so that is more for me than for him! He has grown up so much this past year...he really is no longer my helpless little baby boy...he is all about doing everything himself and heaven forbid you try to help him! He is truly a little miracle and amazes us every day by how much he has overcome in such a short period of time. We are so incredibly thankful for him every single day! We have no idea what the future will bring, and maybe that is what Michael was supposed to show us...we are such planners and with him, you really have to live each day to the fullest and be so thankful for each day because you never ever know what will happen tomorrow.

GI Update

2010-03-31T16:06:00.002-04:00

Michael had his 6 month GI appointment this afternoon and it went great! Michael weighed in at 30 lbs even (9th%) and is 37 1/2" tall (13th%). The doctor was very happy with his growth, he is staying right on his own growth curve and progressing right along! We are going to keep Michael on the pediasure for now, the doctor sees no reason in stopping it since Michael is growing so nicely. The best news is that we don't have to go back for 1 year!!! The GI issues that Michael had as an infant (reflux) have all resolved themselves and he is growing so nicely and steadily that we don't need to be monitored so closely anymore. WOO HOO!!! Michael is probably always going to be on the small side, which is not a bad thing! Rather a bit small than too big and have a long list of complications associated with that. So way to go Michael!!!

Also, on other news, Michael has been doing really well with the potty training! He has been wearing underwear the past couple of days and has not had any accidents! So it looks like we may have turned the corner!!! I am so proud of him for all that he has accomplished despite his extremely difficult start in life! He is quite the little miracle! I sometimes have to remind myself of that when he is driving me totally insane with his typical 3 1/2 year old boy behavior!!! :)

We are preparing to celebrate Easter this weekend with my parents and brother and are really looking forward to this amazing weekend! The weather is going to be gorgeous and we have so much to be thankful for! It is hard to believe that Michael will be 4 years old in just a little over 4 months now...crazy how fast it is going by!

Spring is in the air....

2010-03-26T13:41:00.004-04:00

It is so hard to believe that it is almost April already, man, this year is certainly flying by!!! So much to catch up on!!! Life here is going along pretty well, with a few small bumps in the road, but it is going and going fast! Where to begin...Megan will be 7 years old in just under 3 months now...how the heck did that happen? She has just started her last quarter of 1st grade and is really thriving in school! She is so incredibly smart, reading at a 2nd grade level and just excelling at everything!!! She is staying very busy with dance class every Saturday, we are getting ready for her end of year recital!!! She is also pretty busy with Daisy Scouts, which as you know I am a co-leader...it has been fun, but a lot of work, but well worth it! We only have 5 more meetings left and then she will become a Brownie next year! She has also mastered riding her two wheel bike with no training wheels and being able to start and stop on her own. She loves it for us to take her on the tabacco trail for a nice long bike ride and now that the weather is finally getting nice we can actually do that! Megan has lost a total of 8 teeth so far and we just had a trip to the dentist yesterday, unfortunately, Megan has a very small mouth (which is shocking considering how much that kid can talk!!) but there isn't a lot of room for her new teeth, so it looks like down the road she will have to have some of her baby teeth pulled and braces are just about 99% certain for her future!! Better start saving now! We can't really complain considering how healthy, happy and wonderful she is!!!!

Michael has finally mastered riding his tricycle and has gotten really good at his two wheel bike with the training wheels! It is so cute to watch the two of them ride around the cul-de-sac on their bikes!

Mike, Michael and myself spent last week in Cincinnati to get some help for Michael with his pooping issues and by golly, we did it! Michael, knock on wood, is staying clean and dry in his big boy underpants and he is so proud of himself!!! I still put him in a diaper overnight (which is more for me since he wakes up every single morning completely dry) and he wears a pull up to school right now because I am just not brave enough for him to go in underwear...but wow, so happy for my big boy!!!

While we were in Cincinnati we went to the aquarium, the zoo, the children's museum, a train museum and just had a lot of fun! It was a great week and we are just so happy with how well things worked out for us while there!

In addition to wearing underpants, Michael's other exciting news is that he was accepted into the Pre-K program at North Chatham School, which is where Megan goes to elementary school. We are so incredibly happy and excited that Michael will be able to attend there in the fall. It will be a big change for us all because Michael will be in school all day, everyday starting in September rather than only 4 mornings a week at the church preschool he is at now. The program is excellent and it will allow Michael to receive his speech therapy (3 x a week) and occupational therapy (1-2 x a week) right at the school without me having to drive him back and forth all over the place next year, which is what we are doing now. The program is very structured which is what Michael needs...he needs less bible stories and more educational activities...not that the church preschool isn't fantastic, we loved it there and will certainly miss it, Michael just needs more than they can provide. He does have special needs and requires more than what the church preschool can provide. So we are very happy and excited for the new school year!!! Plus I will get to drive both kids to the same school and pick them up each day at the same time! What on earth will I do with my free time next year? :) I am sure I will find something to do!!!

So that is our update for now. Mike is still working very hard at work and on his MBA, he graduates in December and we all can not wait!!! It is getting really old, fast!!! This summer wont be slowing down thats for sure...we are going to Las Vegas for a week in June. Mike has to go for a conference so I am going with him and leaving both kids with my parents for the week (Thank God for my parents!!) and my two friends are going to come out for a couple days to hang out with me!!! Then in August we are planning our family beach vacation and of course then school will start back up at the end of August!!! As they say, the older you get, the faster it goes!!! :)

CHD Awareness month

2010-02-19T19:03:00.003-05:00

Did you know that February is CHD awareness month? Did you know that CHD's are the #1 birth defect? Amazing how common heart defects are and we were lucky enough to have Michael brought into our lives. It has never been easy, no one ever said life would be, but man, that little boy of mine has showed me and may others the true meaning of strength, courage, faith and most of all love. He is a true miracle and I am forever grateful for him and so proud to call him my son!

We had our 6 month cardiology appointment with Dr. Milazzo this past week and it went fantastic! Michael is now 37 1/2" tall and weighs in about 29 lbs. In the past 6 months he has grown 2" but only gained about 6 oz, but the fact that he grew 2" in 6 months is amazing and he isn't losing weight, so this is all great news! They were able to do an echo of Michael's heart and got a lot of great pictures, thank goodness for Dora videos! Dr. Milazzo said that everything looks great and is wide open. His conduit is functioning perfectly! He does not have any hypertension in his right ventricle (problems he had as an infant) so all in all it was a fantastic appointment. We will see Dr. Milazzo again in 6 months for a recheck. I don't believe that we will get away from the every 6 month apt for a long time only because of Michael's history and things can change very quickly. Dr. Milazzo was very happy with Michael's growth and development and he truly amazed everyone by how great he really is doing!

We are working very hard on potty training still and it is going well. Michael is staying dry and clean, for the most part all day long. He is usually waking up dry as well, which is fantastic! The big thing is that he still isn't really telling me when he has to go, I just put him on the potty and he goes...so we are working hard on that. Michael has got to be 100% potty trained by the end of August when he will start school again. Right now in the 3 year old class he can sort of get away with it, he wears pull ups to school and has not had an accident yet. (knock on wood).

Speaking of schools, right now Michael is registered to go back to the church preschool 4 mornings a week next year for 3 hrs a day...I never expected Michael to go to kindergarten at the age of 5 given his history, but he is so smart and really is catching up so quickly it is amazing! His is still slightly speech delayed, but really doing amazing! So I was talking to his speech therapist (he gets it free at Megan's elementary school twice a week right now) and she recommended the pre-k program at the school. It is an all day program that goes every day, so it will be a lot more for Michael, but it is very structured and very educational and he could very well be ready to start kindergarten then at the age of 5 plus then he will continue to get his speech therapy there during the day so I wont have to be driving him back and forth for speech. Mike and I are meeting with the director next week, but from the research we have done it really looks like a fantastic program. We have already filled out the application and will find out in a couple weeks if we got in. It will be a huge step sending Michael off to school full day every day next year, but I really feel like it will be the best thing for him. He needs more structure and educational things rather than going to chapel every day like he does right now at the church preschool. I have been praying a lot about this and know that God will guide us in the right direction and do what is best for Michael.

February already!

2010-02-04T11:15:00.006-05:00

How is it possible that it is February already? I just can not get over how fast the weeks are flying by! Life is positively boring, which is wonderful!!!! Things are going very well (knock on wood) and life is just good.

The kids are doing wonderful! Michael is growing and thriving and we are working really hard at potty training! He is waking up most mornings completely dry and clean, which is just amazing in and of itself! He still isn't telling me when he has to pee/poop, but I sit him on the potty every 2 hours and he goes most of the time. He has a fear of public toilets though, which I really hope he can overcome soon! He is doing fantastic at school. He is all registered for preschool for the fall in the 4 year old class (can you believe he is almost 4 already, I know I can't)! He will go 4 days a week, Mon-Thurs from 9:15-12:15, with the option of being able to stay a couple of those days for 1 extra hour for lunch bunch. His eating has gotten a lot better, so by then I hope he can stay a few days and see what happens. I have no clue if he will be able to start kindergarten at the age of 5, so we will just wait and see what happens. He is so smart and an all around great little boy! He knows all of his letters and can count to 15, even in spanish. We are starting to work on writing his letters now, but he loves to color! We are so incredibly blessed with how well Michael is doing. He is just thriving and growing and it is amazing to see where he is considering where he started!

Michael had an apt with the neurosurgeon this morning (he did the tethered cord surgery back in Dec '06), I am embarrassed to say that we were supposed to see him once a year and the last time we were there was April '07. Oops. Anyway, Dr. Fuchs said he looks fantastic and we don't have to see him anymore unless something comes up! WOO HOO! Another specialist off our list! Michael did weigh in at 29 lbs and is 37 1/2" tall! WOO HOO!!!

Megan has lost both her front teeth now, that comes to a total of 5 teeth lost so far! She is just amazing me every day! We had our second parent/teacher conference and she is just thriving in school! She is reading at a level 19/20 which is a mid second grade level and on her math assessment she got all of them correct! The teacher says she is just doing fantastic! She is such a sweet, smart and wonderful little girl and I am so incredibly blessed to have her for a daughter!
She is a fantastic big sister and loves to help with Michael...she read to him while he was on the potty!
We had a big snow storm come thru last weekend and gave us about 5" of snow...of course it was so cold that the kids had 3 snow days, it was crazy!!! But we had a great time playing in the snow and sledding down the hill!
I was lucky enough to get to go to NYC with Mike for a few days! It was a great trip! We got to see my best friend Kirsten and her wonderful family and little boy Ben! Oh, he is so cute! We only got to spend a few hours with them, but it was great! I was able to go to The Empire State Bldg and then do some shopping and walking around on Monday. Monday night we went out to a great dinner and I had apple ravioli, it was so good! Then we went and saw Chicago on Broadway with Ashlee Simpson as Roxie, it was a really great show! Then it was back home on Tuesday! Thankfully my kids were wonderful for my parents and I am so thankful to have them so willingly take care of the kids for us!

Michael has his 6 month check up with Dr. Milazzo (cardiologist) coming up in a couple of weeks so let's all pray for a great check up! I know that without all the prayers for Michael he would not be here today doing so fantastic!!! Thank you!

Christmas has come and gone.....

2009-12-13T18:49:00.003-05:00

Way too fast if you ask me! I can not believe that it is mid January already! I had not posted recent pics on the site in a while, so thought I needed to update some xmas pictures!

We really had a wonderful Chrsitmas this year! We just stayed home and relaxed! Trying to potty train Michael, which is a VERY slow process!

The kids were way too spoiled at Christmas, Michael got a train table and Megan got an American Girl doll...like I said, spoiled! Mike had that week off between Christmas and New Years and we just got to stay home and relax before all the crazy stuff started up again!!!!

2009 was a pretty good year all in all...Michael was not hospitalized at all in 2009, the first time ever in his life that this has happend during an entire year! Let's pray to God that 2010 is even better filled with lots of health and growth!!!!

December already!

2009-11-30T19:13:00.004-05:00

Wow! I can not believe that tomorrow is December 1st already! Time is just flying by! I realized that I have not put any pictures on here recently...I guess with facebook now, I dont post on here as often!

Life is going well, just busy! Thanksgiving was wonderful! It was so great to have my parents and Mike's dad and Holly down here for a few days! The kids loved having all their grandparents around them and I just loved having family with us! The dinner turned out just fabulous and we all ate a lot!!!! Mike got up early Friday morning and did some Christmas shopping and got some awesome deals!!! I can not wait for Christmas morning! It is so great since Michael is finally at an age to understand the concept of getting presents! I just can't wait to see the look on their faces Christmas morning!

Megan had no problem lounging on her papa!!!

Of course my parents come with their three dogs (all small poodles!) and the kids love it! This black one, Molly, actually used to be our dog. After Michael was born we sent her on vacation to my parents house because I just couldn't handle her barking....and well, she never came off of vacation! At this point, she has lived with my parents for over three years now and she LOVES the life...no kids trying to hold her or grab her and she just gets to sleep at home...when she comes here to visit, she doesnt really like all the attention she gets from the kids! :)

Megan has finally learned how to ride her bike without training wheels! She is doing fantastic! I am so proud of her!

We had a great couple of days off from school and work and really enjoyed our Thanksgiving together. We had so much to be thankful for this year and hope that life continues to go as well. Since I have not added pictures in a while, I thought I would add a few from the past couple of months.

Here is my mom with the kids....and Coco of course!

Michael actually fell asleep on the floor of the kitchen he was so tired!!!

Michael loves his soccer class and is doing wonderful! The last session of class he didnt do as well, listening to directions was not his best skill...but he has come a long way and he loves soccer! We hope to work up to the class where he takes himself and Mike & I can just watch from the stands!

Here were the kids on Halloween! We had a fantastic time!! The kids loved trick or treating and got lots of great treats! I had fun hanging out with my neighbors and then went to a neighbors house for a party...it was wonderful!!!! We are so lucky to live in such a wonderful neighborhood with great neighbors!!!

We actually went to a corn maze a week or so before Halloween...the kids had a blast! We went on a hay ride and got to see some cows and then do the corn maze....the kids really had fun and it was a great family afternoon!

Mike took Megan to her first NC State football game! He won tickets and did a daddy-daughter afternoon! They had a blast! Megan's favorite part - the marching band!!! :)

Holidays are coming.....

2009-11-25T10:31:00.003-05:00

I can barely believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving day 2009! We have just so much to be thankful for this year! Life is pretty good and I am so thankful for every day! First, we get to spend Thanksgiving with family...my parents are coming in today, my in-laws are coming in tomorrow and my brother will be here for dinner tomorrow! The kids are SO excited that we will get Nana & Papa and Nana Holly & Papa all here under our roof to spend Thanksgiving with! I have spent the past few days decorating the house, getting our Christmas tree up, making homemade Christmas cookies - yum! And getting the house all clean and ready to go! I can't wait to have everyone here to celebrate with!

This has truly been a very blessed year! The last time that Michael was in the hospital (knock on wood loudly!) was last October when we were dealing with the nasty c-diff junk. He has been healthy, for the most part, and growing and eating! Did I mention he is eating! He is feeding himself mostly now (which is HUGE for us!) and he is talking up a storm. He is just getting so big and grown up, it is almost bitter sweet...we worked SO incredibly hard to get him to where he is now and now I see that my baby is gone and I have this little man here before my eyes, he is truly a miracle child. Now if only we could get him potty trained! :) But oh well, given what this kid has beent thru during his life, if he is potty trained late that is ok!

Megan is just blossoming into such an amazing young girl. She is sweet and smart and just so caring and loving, I couldnt be more proud of her. She is doing fantastic in school and absolutely loves 1st grade. We had our parent/teacher conference and of course heard such wonderful things about Megan. She is an advanced reader, and loves math and science. She is just doing wonderfully. I just can't believe that my baby is in 1st grade already and just growing up so incredibly fast!

Mike has been very busy with school and work....he should graduate next December, so only 1 more year to go and we both can't wait till he is done! He has managed to keep all straight A's in all his classes...I am so proud of him!

I of course spend most of my days driving to the bus stop, Michael's school, driving home from school, driving back to the bus stop, Michael's speech therapy twice a week...why is it that I put so many miles on my van? :) I am so lucky and thankful to be able to do what I do and stay at home with my wonderful kids. It isn't always easy, or wonderful, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

So this Thanksgiving I will hug my kids a few more times than I normally do and be so grateful that we are home, healthy and all together. I will also be praying for all the families who have a sick child in the hospital and can't be home during the holidays....please pray for our friend Eithene who has been in the hospital for the past few months and still no end in sight....and for our friend Benji who is also stuck in the hospital right now...these families are amazing, so please keep them in your prayers while you spend your Thanksgiving home with your family.

So much to be thankful for....

2009-11-13T09:47:00.004-05:00

I apologize for not blogging sooner...I cant believe I haven't posted anything on here since August...that is just insane! I guess now that Facebook is so popular and I update that so often that I forget to update the blog. So much has happend since I last blogged and the kids are getting so big!

I will start by saying that I am so incredibly proud of my beautiful little girl Megan...she is just amazing. 1st grade is going fantastic for her! She is really blossoming into this independant, amazing little girl. Megan is reading at a 15/16 level, which is where she needs to be by the end of 1st grade and yet she is already there. We had her first parent/teacher conference and the teacher just went on and on about how great Megan is. She is very smart and she loves math and reading to most. She has a lot of friends and is really enjoying school and loves to go everyday! She is taking a dance class every Saturday morning, it is a combination class of jazz, tap and ballet and she loves it! They will have a recital at the end of the year and I cant wait!!! She is also doing choir at church. We go every Wednesday afternoon for 45 minutes and she is actually singing at church service this Sunday morning! Our other activity that we are starting is Daisy Scouts. I have become a co-leader and we formed a new Daisy Scout troop. It was the only way to get Megan into a troop was by becoming a leader because the wait lists are so long. It is great though, I am leading the troop with two ladies and their kids were in preschool with Megan for 3 years, so the kids now have something to do together again!

Michael is just amazing us daily! His speech and vocabulary has just exploded! He is really catching up so quickly! His eating habits have greatly improved, although we are finding his favorite foods are potato chips and chocolate - great! :) Michael is doing wonderful with preschool...he goes three mornings a week and he just loves his teachers and friends! The teachers say he is doing a fantastic job and is very happy at school. Michael is also participating in choir at church, his class is only 30 minutes, but I get to leave him there and he does wonderful. He loves singing songs, there is just nothing like your 3 year old singing Jesus Loves Me!!!! Michael also does Lil Kickers soccer class every Saturday morning with Mike and he has really improved! The first session of classes he just wanted to run around and jump on the ball, now he is actually listening and following directions and he has a great kick!!!

As you can see, we are keeping pretty busy here. Mike is crazy busy with work and with school and will hopfully graduate next December with his MBA and I can't wait!!!! It amazes me how quickly the time is going by. I have so much to be thankful for this year...I have an amazing husband, two beautiful and amazing children, great friends and a wonderful family and there have been no hospitalizations in 2009 and I pray to God it stays that way for many many years to come!!! As always, please keep Michael in your prayers for continued health, growth and happiness!

Such a proud mom here!

2009-08-21T11:39:00.002-04:00

We had Megan's open house at her school last night and Megan is in the 1st/2nd grade combined class! There were cut backs at the school (like all schools) and they lost two teachers, so with the number of kids, they had to combine one 1st/2nd grade class and one 3rd/4th grade class. They picked the very best teachers to teach theses classes and hand picked the students. Megan was one of the children picked to be in this class. I am not that surprised since Megan was already reading at a 1st grade level in kindergarten and absolutely loves school! She loves homework and especially math and reading. It just confirms what we knew all along, that Megan is truly a very smart and amazing little girl!!!! We are so proud of her! Her first day of school is on Tuesday and she can not wait to go!!!!

Michael doesnt start school until September 9th, and his open house is on September 3rd. I can not wait for his teachers to see him! He has come so far since last year. For a kid who did not talk at all only 1 year ago to talking non stop now, it is truly amazing! Michael is a walking miracle! He is a little sponge picking up on everything! It still amazes me that he knows his letters and counts to 13 now, we are still working on his colors though! What is even more amazing is that I really have not worked with him on his letters/numbers or colors and he knows them already! I always figured he would never start kindergarten at age 5 and would absolutely need pre-k, but now, who knows...he could really surprise us all and be totally ready for kindergarten at age 5....I am just truly thankful for how healthy and smart and amazing he is, especially considering his very difficult start to life!

Cardiologist Update

2009-08-18T16:35:00.002-04:00

The Apt. went wonderful!!!!! Michael of course still weighs 28 lbs 4 oz and is still 35 1/2" tall...kind of reassuring that this is actually his correct size since it has been that was 3 times now at three different doctors offices! Michael had an EKG and an echo done and both tests look fantastic! His heart function is perfect and everything looks great! We could not ask for it to look any better than it does right now! Dr. Milazzo expects that if Michael continues to grow the way he is, etc., that we can probably expect to need the conduit replaced in about 5 years from now, when Michael is about 8 years old. Not bad! He has no restrictions at all and is now just a healthy and happy little boy doing all the things 3 year old boys do! What a fantastic day today has been!

I am not sure if I mentioned this before but Michael is going to be taking a soccer class starting in September. It is a parent child soccer class that meets every Saturday for 50 minutes...Michael is so coordinated with kicking a ball, etc., that I think he is going to do fantastic!

Orthopedic Update

2009-08-18T10:25:00.002-04:00

Michael had his appointment with the orthopedic doctor this morning and it went great. He measured the same as yesterday at the pediatrician, which makes me feel good...28 lbs 4 oz, 35 1/2" tall....the great thing is that since Michael was at the orthopedic 6 months ago, he has grown 1" and gained 3 lbs!!! That is a wonderful growth in 6 months! YEAH Michael, I guess the periactin is working and it shows how healthy Michael is that he is growing!!! We got the x-rays taken of Michael's back and he did great, no crying and it was pretty uneventful....We went in and talked to Dr. Fitch and Michael's scoliosis is stable. It is still at 20', it has been at 20' for the past two years, and Dr Fitch said that if we were going to see it get worse, we would of at least seen some sort of a change with the past 6 months since he has grown so much. So all very good news! Dr Fitch doesnt want to see us for 9 months now!! Woo Hoo!!! Our next Apt is not until June 1st 2010!!!! He said at that point if it continues to stay stable then we will be able to push the apts out to once a year. He said that long term as long as the scoliosis stays where it is, there is NO reason for any intervention/treatment. And as far as his right leg being slightly shorter than his left, it is from the knee down to the foot that is the short part by about 1/2" and the lift on his shoe corrects that nicely...but as long as that continues to stay stable then we wont have to have any treatment/correction to that either! We just have to pray that Michael continues to grow and the difference not get any worse! YEAH!!! So now on to the cardiologist this afternoon and pray we get as good news!!!! Will update later!

3 Year Physcial!!!

2009-08-17T12:31:00.003-04:00

Michael had his 3 year physical with the pediatrician today and it went fantastic! Michael is a true miracle, despite all that Michael has been thru in his life, he is healthy, happy and is age appropriate in just about every single area!!!! AMAZING!!!!

Michael weighed in at 28 lbs 4 oz (15th%) and is 35 1/2" tall (10th%) so he is still pretty perfectly proportionate which is fantastic! The doctor was very happy with his overall growth, health and development! All the questions that they ask you, can you child do this or do that, Michael does it all!!!! It is simply amazing, God's hands have certainly healed Michael and we are so incredibly thankful!

I was comparing Michael's growth over his first three years to Megan's first three years and found something interesting.....

Birth Weight & Length Age 3 Weight & Length Total Gain
Michael 4 lbs 5 oz 17 1/2" 28 lbs 4 oz 35 1/2" 23 lbs 15 oz 18"

Megan 6 lbs 8 oz 19 1/2" 30 lbs 37 1/2" 23 lbs 8 oz 18"

So if my math is correct, Megan, a perfectly healthy child and Michael, a child born with a long list of medical issues and premature, in three years, they have grown almost the exact same amount....18" and 23 plus pounds! I just find that amazing!

It was just so awesome to be at the doctor and for him to say he is perfectly healthy (so to speak) and doing everything that a 3 year old should be and is doing!!! We even talked about potty training, since it is not going well for us...Michael holds his pee and just refuses to go on the potty...so next week when Megan is in school we are going to try to focus on potty training and hope it works! But the doctor even said, boys are harder to potty train and especially given Michael's medical issues it is not surprising that he is not trained yet. So we will keep working on that one! Wish us luck that tomorrows appointments go just as well and we get great news too!

Picture Time!

2009-08-16T18:05:00.007-04:00

We were all dressed and getting ready to go to church this morning when I decided to call Portrait Innovations to see if we could go and get our picture taken...well, they had an apt 30 minutes later and I took it! I know, crazy right...but the session was fantastic! The kids had a great time and we got a lot of great shots!

I stand corrected, Michael counts to 13!!!! He was sitting at the dinner table tonight and had a cracker he had broken into smaller pieces and he sat there and counted out the pieces up to 13!!! Mike and I were so impressed! Here my kid knows his upper case letters and counts to 13...there is certainly no doubt in my mind that Michael is very smart!!!!! Wish us luck the next two days, we have his pediatrician apt tomorrow and then the orthopedic and cardiologist on Tuesday!

Mommy brag time!

2009-08-14T14:17:00.002-04:00

I usually just talk about Michael's health issues here but I have got to take a few minutes and brag about him...bear with me!

Michael knows about 80% of all the upper case letters! Yes, it is true! Mike was playing with the wood blocks with him the other day that have letters on them and Michael was naming all of the letters.....I have to say that I can not take the credit for Michael knowing his letters...he LOVES to watch Wheel of Fortune!!! My parents got the kids into it and they love the show! But Michael actually learned his letters from watching this show! And he is really good! I was shocked that Michael knew his letters, I can not remember how old Megan was, but I remember working with her on her letters...Michael just knows them! He also finally can count to 5 using all the correct numbers, we are almost to 10, he misses one or two!

He loves being read to and his favorite book right now is "Green Eggs and Ham"!!! Of course that was one of Megan's favorites as well. He is just so darn smart and the language is just exploding out of him! He is just truly amazing!!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Michael Jacob!!!!!!

2009-08-08T15:33:00.007-04:00

Happy Birthday my sweet, amazing, strong, miraculous and truly a gift from God little boy! It is so hard to believe that it was 3 years ago that you entered our lives and changed them, forever. This has been the best year yet for you! Only hospitalized twice this past year for dehydration and the worst thing to happen this year was dealing with C-Diff for 6 months.....that was some NASTY stuff right there! But man, Michael, you never lost your smile or chearm! You truly are one amazing little boy!

Michael is about to start preschool, three mornings a week from 9:15-12:15 and he will start to get speech therapy thru the public school system twice a week for 30 minutes. Although, not sure how long that will last...his language has just exploded! He just barely qualified for the speech services and I would bet that if they tested him today he would not qualify! He has caught up to age appropriate on all things and it is amazing! His eating has really improved as well. He is feeding himself a lot more and loves strawberries! He is a true miracle considering all he has been thru....so lets see, in the first three years of his life, here is the run down of things....

-5 weeks premature, weighing only 4 lbs 5 oz
-First 12 weeks 1 day of life spent at Duke Hospital
-2 Open Heart Surgeries
-5 days on ECMO after first heart surgery and spent 7 very long weeks on the ventilator after that first heart surgery
-3 cardiac catheterizations
-4 other major surgeries
-10 hospitalizations total
-countless tests, x-rays & procedures

And yet, after all that, he is just your typical little boy who loves playing outside and is just the happiest, sweetest, strongest and most amazing little boy you would ever meet. He is a true, living, breathing miracle!

I love you baby boy more than you can ever begin to imagine and I am so incredibly thankful for each and every single day with you!!!! Here is to this next year being even better than the last, full of HEALTH, happiness and love!

We spent this past week at the beach and the kids had a blast! Michael loves the water and enjoyed throwing rocks into the ocean! He is really fearless and would walk right into the water, so different than Megan was at this age! My parents even came out for the night and enjoyed the aquarium, beach and Michael's birthday with us! It was really a wonderful and much needed family vacation! We hope to be able to do this again next year!!!

This week should be a pretty easy week...just getting ready for Megan to start 1st grade in two weeks and Michael to start preschool in four weeks....the following week will be full of doctors appointments. Michael has his 3 year check up on the 17th with his pediatrician, then on the 18th we see the orthopedic doctor in the morning and the cardiologist in the afternoon. So a very busy two days! Please keep Michael in your prayers for continued health and growth and for really great appointments!!!

What a fast summer this is turning out to be.....

2009-07-16T16:35:00.007-04:00

I can not believe that it is the middle of July already...the days/weeks have literally flown by! I thought summer vacation was supposed to be relaxing! HA!!!

So Megan had her 6 year check up...I am happy to report that she is perfectly healthy and wonderful! I forget exactly how much she weighed, but she is around 42lbs and I forget her height...but I do remember that the doctor said she is in the 35-40th% for both height and weight...so she has dropped off from the 50th% but thats perfectly fine. She did then go for her eye exam at the eye doctor and it turned out that she needed glasses. So here she is! She needs them for reading, tv, computer, and school, so pretty much most of the time, but not for just playing outside. Here are just some recent pics of the kids playing around!
Megan in her beautiful, pink cape that Nana Aldridge made for her, she just loves it! My mom is so talented! We went to the pool on July 2nd and had a blast! Michael is such a fish in his life jacket...he loves to swim on his own! So different than Megan was at that age!

Me & My babies! They are such great kids!

This past weekend we went out to the beach for the day...it is so great living 2 hours from the beach! We went out for the day and the kids had a blast! Megan loved to go out in the water and play in the waves, so different than last year where she was still scared of the water & Michael had a blast digging in the sand and getting all dirty, such a boy!

Here is a video of the kids swimming!

All in all things are going very good here in the Morris house! Megan has been staying busy with gymnastics camp this week, she goes everyday from 9-12 and it is a fun thing for her to do! Next week she has vacation bible school at church and I have volunteered to be her class guide, not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to that! :) She has about 5 1/2 more weeks until 1st grade starts and she is so excited! She is just growing up so fast!

Michael is doing great as well...just all boy! I swear he gets more bruises than I can even begin to count and I swear one day someone will call child protective services or something on me!!! But he is ALL boy thats for sure! Nothing seems to be able to slow him down! He only has three more sessions for speech and development therapy thru the CDSA before he ages out! Can you imagine? He will get the month of August off then we start speech therapy in the school system, but this way it will finally be free for me! YEAH! He will be going to preschool three mornings a week starting in September (Mon, Wed & Fri) from 9:15-12:15! I can't wait to see how the teachers react to him when they see how much he has changed and how much more he talks now! We are working on the potty training and it is a very slow go! He was doing great with the poop, but the past couple days we are dealing with constipation again...ugh! Never ending right!

I am off to make dinner now...Mike is at school tonight and the kids are getting restless!!!! I will try to update more often! God bless!

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!!!

2009-06-16T06:36:00.002-04:00

Our precious baby girl was born June 16, 2003 at 1:25 am weighing in at 6 lbs 8 oz.......how is it possible that this happend 6 years ago already? The years have gone by so incredibly fast!
We had Megan's birthday party on Saturday at the pool and it was a huge success! Megan had a fantastic time with her friends and got some wonderful presents. It just shows what an amazing, caring, wonderful and kind little girl we have. We are so proud of her and so very lucky to have her in our lives!

What a busy week....Meant to post this last month!

2009-06-13T06:32:00.007-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates here, but the days just seem filled and I never have time to sit down and update! So where to start....Megan had her kindergarten graduation and it was wonderful! I can not believe that my baby girl is a rising 1st grader already! She is just simply amazing and growing up way too fast! Her report card was excellent and she is reading at a 13/14 level (which is mid to end 1st grader level!) and we are so proud of her! School is now out for summer, but we will be trying to keep her busy! She has started swim lessons again at our pool...she is just afraid to put her head in and afraid of the deeper water, so we need to work past that! She is also going to be starting a new dance class called Broadway Kids at a new dance school in July...it will introduce jazz and tap and she is very excited to try this after the past year and a half of ballet! She will also do vacation bible school the end of July at church and then August we will go to the beach for a family vacation! So lots to do!

Michael LOVES my IPOD and loves to listen to the music!!! So funny!

Of course then he likes to put on my sneakers after I work out of the treadmill!!! Megan & Mike went to the Home Depot for a little workshop where Megan built a little box! They had a fun time together, some daddy/daughter bonding time!

As for Michael's update, he is doing fantastic!!!!! He is eating so much more and willing to try so much more! Yesterday for lunch I just gave him cut up American cheese and bologna and he actually picked it up and ate it himself...I know, not a big deal for most people, but this is HUGE in our house since I am usually always stuck feeding him everything! Yesterday he also tried watermelon and finally tried some vanilla ice cream and then said "MORE" with a big smile on his face!! That was truly a first!!! It is just so amazing to see him to do these things! Language is coming along also...yesterday morning he was standing by the backdoor and said "I want outside please" For us, this is huge!

Megan is officially a kindergarten graduate, complete with ceremony and certificate! I am such a proud mommy! She has grown and changed so much during her first year at school and she is just so smart! Her final report card has her reading at a 13/14 level, which is where she needs to be by the end of first grade! Totally awesome! She is so excited about becoming a 1st grader!

Life is good!!!!

2009-06-01T19:03:00.007-04:00

Those three words pretty much sum up life right now! Life is good! It is hard to believe that it is June already! My baby girl is about to turn 6 years old on the 16th! Crazy how fast the years have gone by. Her last day of kindergarten in on the 10th and then she is out for the summer. Megan is going to be taking a new dance class this summer called Broadway Kids, it is an introduction to tap, jazz and musical theatre. It just sounds like a lot of fun and something new for her to do for the summer. We also will probably do some swim lessons again since she is just not swimming still, unless she can touch the bottom of the pool! We have had a great week here, the weather is gorgeous and getting hot! We are just really enjoying life!

We went to the pool on Sunday afternoon the kids had a blast! Michael LOVES the pool! There are slides at our neighborhood pool and after a few times, Michael was going up all by himself and coming down all by himself, one of us just stood at the bottom to help him out...he is certainly NOT afraid of the water. He doesnt care at all if his head goes under the water! He is such a boy, fearless!

The worst part about the day was trying to leave, he just kept saying more pool! More slide! It was so cute! We will be going to the pool this afternoon after Megan gets out of school, it is supposed to be 90' today!

Tests Results.....

2009-05-31T13:21:00.002-04:00

NEGATIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I got an email this morning from the Infectious Disease doctor who has been so incredibly helpful to us during all this C-Diff crap and she just sent me an email this morning that Michael's C-Diff test results came back negative! This was from the poop sample we took up last week on Wednesday! Now let's just keep our fingers crossed and the prayers coming that it stays that way and we have once and for all finally gotten rid of that nasty nasty bug!

I will post more this week, but Michael is down for a nap now and then we are off to the pool for the afternoon!

God Chooses A Mom for A Disabled Child

2009-05-27T20:11:00.003-04:00

God Chooses A Mom for A Disabled Child
by Erma Bombeck
________________________________
Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by socialpressures, and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will becomemothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicappedchildren are chosen? Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting hisinstruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, heinstructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.

"Armstrong, Beth; son; patron saint, Matthew.
"Forrest, Marjorie; daughter; patron saint, Cecelia.
"Rudledge, Carrie; twins; patron saint.... give her Gerard. He's used toprofanity.
"Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicappedchild.
"The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."
"Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a handicapped child a mother who does notknow laughter? That would be cruel."

"But has she patience?" asks the angel."I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea ofself-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independance. She'll have to teach the child to live in her world and that's not going to be easy."
"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enoughselfishness."The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"God nods. "If she can't seperate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, there is a woman I will bless with a child less then perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will nevertake for granted a 'spoken word.' She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations.
"I will permit her to see clearly the things I see --- ignorance, cruelty,prejudice --- and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side." "And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in midair.
God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

GI apt update

2009-05-27T14:38:00.002-04:00

Michael is now 35 1/2" tall and about 27 1/2 lbs...he is on the growth chart for kids his age for both height and weight he is between the 10-25th%, the doctor did not give me a specific number, just the range...but said he is perfectly proportionate and they are very happy with his growth. We started the Periactin last week (appetite stimulant) and it is working wonders! Michael is eating so much more and really willing to try more things! It is wonderful! His new favorite food is kiwi!!! We have also started feeding therapy again and his therapist was great with him today. She said he has a week and a bit immature chew, but with therapy we will be able to fix that! During the visit this morning to GI we met with the nutritionist about Michael's diet....she suggested that since he is getting roughly 70% of his daily calorie needs from pediasure (about 24 oz a day of pediasure, which 24 oz of milk a day for a child his age is totally appropriate, pediasure has 30 cal per 1 ounce which is a lot)...so she suggested that we try to replace one can of pediasure a day with whole milk. Our ultimate goal here is to get Michael onto a regular diet consisting of milk rather than pediasure. So we will see if by replacing the can of pediasure with whole milk (which has I think 20 calories per 1 ounce instead of the 30 cal per ounce) we will see if Michael will take more calories from solid food and still be able to get the proper nutrition. We actually have an appointment up at Duke on June 11th with the urologist, so we will see the nutritionist then as well to do a weight check and see how Michael is handling the change. Overall I am very happy with the apt and so thankful to have Duke Hospital right there. Oh, we did take a stool sample with us to check for C-Diff...although Michael is having no symptoms, we need to know if he is still positive or not. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer that the test comes back negative!

Last day of 2 year old preschool.....

2009-05-21T14:07:00.007-04:00

Here is my baby on his first day of preschool back in September 2008....

My baby boy has finished his first year of preschool and has graduated from the 2 year old class! He will have the summer off and then start in the fall again in the 3 year old class going three mornings (Mon, Wed & Fri) a week from 9:15-12:15. The year has gone by so incredibly fast and Michael has done so well this year. He has gone from a little bitty baby boy into this full out, head strong, independent, amazingly well adjusted little boy who by looking at him would never in a million years ever guess that he has been through anything close to what he has dealt with during his short life. He is a true miracle and blessing! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful preschool, Megan went there for 3 years, and now Michael!

Michael has grown and changed so much this past year!

Michael's other big change is that he is now in a big boy booster seat at the table with us instead of in the highchair. He loves it! All these changes in the past few months, he is really growing up so quickly!

We met with his feeding therapist yesterday morning and the appointment went very well. She said that Michael looks great, but that his chew is still a bit weak/immature...so we are going to start weekly feeding therapy again to help with that. We are also meeting with Michael's GI doctor and nutritionist next Wednesday to go over Michael's diet. He currently gets 3-4 cans of pediasure a day on top of what food he eats...and I am not sure if that is too much pediasure, etc., we are also talking about starting periactin again to try and stimulate his appetite again since his eating has gone down lately...although, it could just be typical toddler behavior, that is why we need to see the doctor and nutritionist. I absolutely love our doctors and support staff up at Duke...they are all fantastic and so willing to help us out. I think the only doctor who I didn't like is the orthopedic surgeon, his bedside manner sucks, but he is the absolute best in the area so if Michael needs surgery down the road I want to be with him.

Michael's PT came out on Monday and was SOOOOO happy with Michael and all that he is doing. She only comes out to kind of monitor him, we got a new lift on his shoe and she needed to make sure it was ok. Anyway, some exciting news she found, Michael has certainly grown taller lately, and from her just looking at him, his scoliosis looks A LOT better! Almost non existant! I will be excited to go to the orthopedic doc in August for the x-ray and see if it truly has gone away. You really can see a big difference when you look at his back, it looks very straight! Which is awesome news! Hopefully he is growing out of it, if that is possible!!! Lets keep the prayers going and fingers crossed that it has corrected itself! :)

Another school year coming to an end.....

2009-05-18T19:46:00.004-04:00

It makes me so proud of my kids to know all that they have learned, accomplished and grown so much during this past year, it is truly amazing. Megan is finishing up kindergarten and has done beautifully! Michael's last day of 2 year old preschool is on Thursday and he has just flourished this past year! For a child who didn't speak in September, to now be able to not only talk, but get his wants and needs across is just simply a miracle! Michael is just this true and utter miracle walking and talking before my very eyes. He is just as sweet as can be, and a total mama's boy! It warms my heart just to see how wonderfully he has grown, despite his very difficult start to life. He is so incredibly strong and willfull and is truly blessed and a gift from God.

Megan is the most wonderful and amazing little girl anyone could ever wish for. She is so smart, caring and thoughtful and such an amazing person. She has dealt with everything that Michael has gone thru so amazingly well, a lot of that has to do with what an amazing mother I have! I told my mom today that she needs to come move in with me for three months to do whatever it is she did to Megan, do it to Michael now! :) My beautiful baby girl is about to graduate from kindergarten and move on to 1st grade! She has grown and changed so much from the start of the school year...she is reading a mid first grade level books, and just loves to read. She reads me books at bedtime now and it is fantastic listening to her read! It blows me away the things that they have learned in kindergarten and I have no doubt in my mind that she will do fantastic in 1st grade as well.
This summer Megan is starting at a new dance ballet conservatory here in Cary. It is closer to our house and it will be the next level for Megan. The school we were at the past year and a half was a great begining, but Megan loves dance and is ready for the next level. So this summer she is taking an 8 week class called Broadway Kids and it is an introduction to jazz and tap. Up until this point she has only done ballet, so this will be something fun for her for the summer. Then for next year she can decide to either go back to ballet or continue with jazz and tap. Megan is also going to be doing a week of vacation bible school at church in July and then in August will be going to the beach for a few days for a family vacation. A guy that Mike works with just purchased a brand new beach house at Carolina Beach and the house is gorgeous and he is allowing us to stay there! I can not wait!!!! The kids will love being at the beach and it will be nice to have a few days just the four of us to spend some nice family time together.

We are getting ready to celebrate Megan's 6th birthday!!! We are having a pool party for her on the 13th with some of her friends from school and the neighborhood! She is so excited! I can not believe she is turning 6 already!

What a wonderful Mother's Day

2009-05-11T12:34:00.006-04:00

Mike surprised me on Mother's Day by taking us to a strawberry farm and picking strawberries. It was wonderful! The day was a bit cool, but great for picking strawberries! I got to sleep in and then got some great cards and lots of hugs and kisses! No breakfast in bed for me since I am on a diet (I have lost 10 lbs so far, 10 more to go!), but we had a great picnic lunch out after strawberry picking then came home and I got to take a nap! It was wonderful!

Michael seemed to really enjoy picking up the strawberries and eating them...of course, he would only eat half then give it to Mike and then take a new one and start all over! :) So cute!

Megan was really enjoying them as well! It really was a fantastic day! I am so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing husband and two wonderful children in my life. It has not always been easy, to say the least, but I am so lucky!

I have not updated on here in a bit there is a lot to fill in. Last Thursday I went to Michael's preschool for a Mother's Day brunch and it was great. The kids got up and sang two songs, although Michael had more fun jumping off the steps rather than singing, at least he stayed up there and smiled!!! It was hard to get pictures though... Michael only has two weeks left of preschool and then he is out for the summer. He could go to summer camp, but has to be potty trained, and as of right now, he is not.

Michael's vocabulary is just exploding...it is crazy! He loves to watch hockey and asks to watch hockey now...great right! His poop issues are, knock on wood, under control and doing fantastic! He is pooping one to two nice poops every morning and again, knock on wood, no sign of C-Diff...we will have to test him again in the next couple of weeks sometime and go from there. Michael's feeding issues though have been a really frustrating thing for me again. He can eat perfectly fine, but I think it is all just a control thing at this point. So yesterday I didnt "force" him to eat...I offered him food and waited to see what happend...needless to say, yesterday, he did not eat...we did not even give him his milk to see what happend...he got plenty of water to stay hydrated though...this morning he fed himself about 3/4 of the container of yogurt and low and behold this afternoon for lunch he fed himself a couple of strawberries cut up and a piece of bread with cream cheese on it and a cup of milk....he had no issues, other than just eating slow...so we are starting feeding therapy again. His first apt is next Wednesday. I think some of this is just typical 2 year old behavior and trying to take control. I think until he is old enough to really understand, feeding just may be a struggle.

Other than that he is doing great! We got him some new sneakers and sandals, he is in a size 7 now. I hate that kids shoes are so expensive, but he is worth it!

Last weekend Mike & I were up in Buffalo for a few days...Mike's grandmother passed away and we drove up for the wake and funeral while my parents stayed with the kids here. It was such a crazy trip, 12 hrs in the car each way and then fit in a wake and funeral, not a vacation by any means...well, on the day of the wakes in between the two, the Morris clan went across the street for dinner (this was Mike's dad and two brothers with respective wifes, kids and their spouses, etc.) the majority of the Morris family was there well, as we were eating dinner we heard a loud bang, like an explosion, and as we looked up, a truck had drove into the tree in front of the restaurant.

We were sitting in there right behind that big window on the right...had the tree not been there, this story would have a very different ending. The driver of the truck died. Needless to say, there was a lot to talk about at the next wake service.

Life is so precious and can literally be taken away in an instant. We really feel as though Mike's grandma was watching over all of us and keeping us safe.

It is hard to beleive that the days and weeks are going by so fast. Mike is in California now, he left this morning and wont be back until Friday. We are planning Megan's birthday party in June, she is having a pool party at our neighborhood pool so I am getting all the invites together and out, etc. Mike & I will be heading to Texas for a few days the end of June, unfortunatley we wont be making the VACTERL conference in PA this year. June is filling up fast. We are also planning a beach trip in August for a few days. Mike's boss has a brand new beautiful beach house that we can use for free, just have to pay to clean, etc., and we cant wait! We are going from August 5-8!!! Just in time for the kids to start school the end of August...Megan will be going into 1st grade and Michael will be in the 3 year old preschool three days a week!

We love the sun!

2009-04-28T16:19:00.003-04:00

The weather has been absolutely beautiful! I love NC weather! Although it has gone from cool to hot, but I love it! Things are going pretty well here in the Morris house. Michael is growing and changing every single day! He has so many words now I don't think I can count them all. He says please all the time now when he wants/needs something and it is so cute! It seems that he has just had this huge breakthru with talking! It is awesome! Michael is eating very well also. His new favorite food is lettuce? Yes, I said lettuce! He loves it! I eat a salad at least once a day and one day Michael just kept asking for it, so I gave it to him and he loves it! No dressing or anything, just a piece of lettuce! This kid really amazes me!
The weather was so warm over the weekend, in the 90's, that we got out a little baby pool and the kids had a ball! Michael loves to dump water and he and Megan had a great time!
My little model over here! She is just getting so grown up and totally gorgeous!!! She is almost done with Kindergarten if you can believe it. She only has until June 10th and then school is out for the summer. I will then have a child turning 6 on June 16th and about to start 1st grade! AHH! How did the time go by so fast?
We had our first meeting with the school system about transitioning Michael out of Early Intervention and it went well. Michael just barely qualifies for speech therapy with the school system. The test that they follow, if the child scores below a 79 they qualify, well, Michael scored a 77...like I said, just barely qualified. We will meet with them again in August to set up our speech schedule with the school system. Who knows by then, Michael may not need it at all.

Michael is doing fantastic, pooping is going really well, and overall, he is just a healthy and happy and stubborn and independant little two and a half year old boy! It is amazing and wonderful and frustrating all at the same time! :)

On a much sadder note, we got word this past weekend that Mike's grandmother was not doing well...she was in the hospital and Mike went up for the weekend to see her. We got word last night that she has been transferred to hospice on morphine to keep her comfortable, she has cancer and not expected to last very long. Please pray for her comfort, peace and for the family during this difficult time. Mike and I will be heading to Buffalo for a few days for the wake and funeral when the time comes and my parents have agreed to stay with the kids here in NC.

Michael loves Gymboree

2009-04-21T13:28:00.004-04:00

I didn't get a chance to post the pictures yesterday, but Michael LOVES Gymboree! Mike came with us yesterday and got to see first hand how much he enjoys this class!

I LOVE warm weather!

2009-04-20T16:16:00.002-04:00

I love the warmer weather and hope it finally stays for good! We had a fantastic weekend enjoying the beautiful weather outside. Michael has, knock on a lot of wood, not shown any signs of C-Diff. It is possible that the test was a false positive and right now all we can do is wait and see and watch for symptoms and retest in a few weeks. Michael is really getting big, he has graduated to a size 4 in diapers!!!! The 3's were just getting way to small on him and I tried on the 4 and wow, what a difference. I thought he would be in size 3's forever, but he is getting big and moving up in size! I know, kind of silly, but it makes me so happy to see him move to a bigger size finally! When you have struggled for so long with weight/growth with a child, seeing them actually grow is just amazing!

We had a great morning today at Gymboree...Mike came with us to see for himself and it was great. Michael just loves that class and I am so glad we finally signed up for it. He has school tomorrow and Thursday and then Friday is therapy, but other than that, pretty boring week for us!

In a week from today we will be heading to the early intervention office to start our transition from early intervention into the school system. Early Intervention only goes to the age of 3, so Michael will no longer qualify as of August 8th...Can you believe it, my baby is turning 3 years old in only 3 1/2 months!!!! Where the heck has the time gone? Anyway, we will have our meeting Monday at 1 pm and Michael should qualify for speech therapy in the school and we are shooting for twice a week. It will be awesome because, if he qualifies, in the fall he will go to preschool in the 3 year old class three mornings a week and then twice a week we will be able to go to Megan's elementary school for speech which will finally be FREE and I can volunteer in Megan's class while Michael has therapy. It is going to be great! Michael's speech has really improved, it is amazing! At speech this past Friday his therapist went over the evaluation with me and it was pretty much exactly what I expected....he is testing about an 18-21 month level for expressive language, and age appropriate for receptive language....not bad for a kid who when we started speech in September was only at a 6-9 month level for expressive language. We are so happy with his progress and he is adding words every day it seems. He loves to name his body parts and it is so great for him to ask for what he wants. Now if only I can get him to say please without asking him to say it!!! :)

Still Positive.....

2009-04-18T12:07:00.002-04:00

If you can believe it...the doctor called yesterday afternoon and said that Michael's stool sample came back positive yet again for C-Diff. However, he is not showing signs of C-Diff so we are just going to "wait and see" what happens. It is slightly possible that this is a false positive and we don't want to treat him if he isn't having symptoms. They sent orders over to the pediatrician and there is an order at Duke Hospital that if we come in with bloody diarrhea that they will start to treat immediatley for C-Diff instead of having to wait for another test. Let's pray for the best that this was a false positive. As long as he shows no signs we will retest him in a few weeks and go from there. This morning I have yet again torn the house upside down cleaning everything with bleach/water mix and pray that this does it. Please keep Michael in your prayers.

Quick Update

2009-04-17T07:21:00.002-04:00

I didn't get a chance to update last night after Michael's appointment, so I wanted to post a quick update now.

Michael LOVES preschool. He had school yesterday morning and he just walks right in, says bye bye mama to me and goes to play. The teachers say he is just blossoming before our eyes. I swear preschool was the best thing I could of done for him this past year. He has really grown so much. I will be so sad when school is done the end of May.

After school we had Michael's appointment up at Duke. With his clothes on, but no shoes, he weighed in at around 28 lbs, I didn't get the exact kilo and the nurse said he was about 28 lbs...he has gained 1 kilo since our last visit to infectious disease and that is fantastic! He is about 35" tall...so he is growing! The doctors were so impressed with how well he looks and they did a full exam on him. They took the poop sample and should be calling me sometime today with the results. Let's pray for a big fat negative and that we finally got rid of the C-Diff for good! I will post when I know!

Where to even begin.....

2009-04-09T14:37:00.005-04:00

Life is so very precious and you must make the most of each and every day. One of our VACTERL friends passed away very unexpectedly. Little Sam would of celebrated his 5th birthday this month and literally a bump on the head took him to heaven. He will certainly be missed. Please say a prayer for Sam and his family who are dealing with so much right now.

Spring is in the air...now if it would only stay nice! Mike has this great ability to grow grass and our lawn is the envy of all the neighbors!

Life is good. Michael is doing amazing! He loves his toddler bed and is doing fantastic in it. He was certainly ready to get out of the crib. My baby boy is growing up so fast.

I took him for a hair cut and he got a big boy cut...it is just so much easier to do in the morning! And he looks so cute and grown up now!
Such a ham!!!
We spent Easter with my brother and his family and my parents in Virginia. Megan had a blast playing with her cousin Lauren. We really need to make more time to go and visit them. The kids all played great together. We even went ice skating Saturday night and Megan did great, thanks to Uncle John!
Michael really is doing fantastic. He is talking more and more each day and just amazing us! He is growing up so fast! He is eating pretty well and growing. We have an appointment up at Duke tomorrow afternoon with the Infectious Disease doctors. Michael has been off the Vancomycin since April 1st and knock on wood, the poop seems to be ok. So let's all say a prayer that the C-Diff is finally gone for good! I will update tomorrow after the appointment. We of course will have to wait another day after to see what the test results say, but think positive! I am off to get the kids lunch and then we are heading up to the museum for the afternoon with some friends...:)

So proud!

2009-04-02T10:07:00.003-04:00

I am so incredibly proud of my baby girl....she is amazing! We got Megan's 3rd quarter report card (yes, can you believe she is 3/4 of the way done with kindergarten already!) and it was fantastic! In the reading area she is at a level 9/10. I wasn't exactly sure what this meant so I wrote to her teacher and this is what I got back this morning -

"In kindergarten the state divides each grade into recommended reading levels that each child should be reading at. Third marking period of kindergarten the state would like all children to be reading a level 1-2 and a 3-4 by the end of kindergarten. The recommended reading levels for first grade is 5-6 at the first marking period, up to a 15-16 by the end of first grade. Megan has already begun reading first grade level books. She is in a reading group in class who are also working on first grade books. There is no "highest level" in kindergarten. As long as she keeps making progress, we keep working on knew reading skills and harder reading levels. I have no concerns about Megan right now. She is becoming more confident and out-going. She is much more willing to ask for help when she is nervous or has made a mistake instead of crying. All the kids love her and she is always so kind and caring for the other students. She is the sweetest little girl."

My baby girl is amazing! She is growing up so incredibly fast and growing into an amazing person! I can't believe that in just two months she will be turning 6 already and then will start first grade in August.

Finally...some sun!!!

2009-03-30T14:20:00.003-04:00

There is finally sun here in NC and I love it! We have had so much rain lately it has been horrible. I mean, we need the rain to avoid a droubt again this summer, but come on already....enough is enough. I am ready for sunshine and outdoor weather! It is hard for me to believe that it will be April in just a few days...crazy how fast the time is going by!

Things have been really good here....Michael has discovered that he LOVES strawberries and blueberries! He eats them right up! It is awesome to watch. He LOVES Gymboree! We go now every Monday morning and he absolutely has a fantastic time. I am so glad we signed him up. Preschool is also going fantastic! I swear, putting him in preschool was one of the best things I ever did for him. It was so hard at first when he cried, but he has totally gotten over that. On Thursday he walked right into class and said "bye bye mama" and went on to play with his friends and toys. I am so sad that there is only class until the end of May, and then he has all summer off. He will then start back in September going three days a week in the 3 year old class...how crazy is that? I blows my mind that he will be 3 years old in just a few short months. He just amazes me every single day!

We are getting ready for Easter and spring break, and hopefully it will be nice weather. We are planning on going to my brother's house in VA...Megan can not wait to go and play with her cousins and it will be so nice to have them all together...having the 5 of them running around will be fun (I hope!).

We heard from Dr. Weiner's office and Michael has an appointment on June 11th. We also have an apt in two weeks with Dr. McGann with Infectious Disease to check Michael out and test his stool to make sure the C-Diff is finally gone for good. I have no idea what they will do if it isn't. We have been dealing with this crap, literally, since September. It sucks! So please, keep Michael in your prayers that this C-Diff is gone.

Great news and some not so good news.....

2009-03-23T19:30:00.003-04:00

Michael had his check up with his nephrologist (kidney doctor) today. First, we had to go and have an ultrasound done to check on Michael's kidneys. Michael was born with only one functioning kidney, the other was polycystic (meaning it was only a bunch of cysts and never formed into a kidney - which actually without this problem we never would of found out about Michael's heart defect until after birth). Anyway, the ultrasound was so easy. They put in a video of Elmo and Michael just laid there watching it...it was great! We then went upstairs to see the doctor. We first of course had to get vitals and the big news is this....Michael weighed in at 26 lbs 4 oz and is 35" long! He is in the 10th percentile now for both height and weight! I am just amazed, although I knew he was growing, he is getting so heavy, I never expected him to actually be on the growth chart now!!!

We then saw the doctor and went over the ultrasound...everything is GREAT! The kidney that was just cysts has now completely disappeared (which is what we wanted!) We had to monitor Michael to make sure the kidney shrunk and disappeared rather than getting larger and then needing to be surgically removed...but yeah, it shrank and is gone now! Michael's good kindey looks FANTASTIC! It is growing so nicely and totally making up for the fact that he only has one kidney...his bladder looks fantastic! Since he has had two VCUG's in the past two years that have both been normal, based on the wonderful u/s, we no longer have to see the nephrologist! So that is one specialist gone off the list!

However, on to some somewhat bad news....We now have to go and see the pediatric urologist, and the funny thing is that his name is Dr. Weiner!!! He is the best pediatric urologist in the area...anyway, we have to go and see him because Michael's testicles have not dropped. He may require surgery to correct this, but we really wont know anything until we meet with the urologist. Apparently this is something that is not uncommon, so it's certainly not the end of the world. I refuse to "research" this online until I talk with the doctor...I am not going to get myself all worked up and upset over something that might not even be the case...we wont know anything until we meet with Dr. Weiner. So we wait for his office to call me to make the appointment.

Michael had Gymboree class today and LOVED it! He is signed up now to do the Gymboree play and learn level 6 class...it has kids 29-36 months and it is wonderful. Michael had so much fun and it is great to do something fun with him! Tomorrow is picture day at preschool, so hopefully we will get some nice pictures! Other than that, not too much else going on. It is hard for me to believe it is almost April already, crazy!

My big boy.....

2009-03-18T19:57:00.002-04:00

Michael went PEE PEE in the potty today! Twice! It was a big day for him today! This morning he went to his first Gymboree class and had a fantastic time! We are going to try the Monday class (it is an older age group than the one today) and see how he does and then I will sign him up for a class...he literally cried No Mama No Mama when we had to leave! I then took him to get his hair cut, he was starting to look like a mop head! Then we got home and had lunch and he went down for a nap...when he woke from his nap he was completely dry so I put him on the potty and in a couple of minutes, he peed a lot! And he was so proud of himself. Then tonight before his bath he sat on the potty by himself and peed again! Time to start trying to potty train him now! I can't believe all the changes in the past week...I dont know if I am ready for all this. Trust me, he would still be in his crib right now had he not decided to try to climb out....and now showing such an interest in the potty and actually going pee pee twice today...he is just amazing! I need to go to the store and buy some training underwear for him now and go from there. I wasnt planning on trying to train him until the summer, but hey, it is worth a shot now!

Life is very good....

2009-03-16T15:53:00.002-04:00

My baby girl is no baby anymore....notice the big hole in her bottom teeth! Yes, she lost both bottom teeth on Friday. One she lost at school and we have no idea what happend to that tooth...the second one she lost at home while brushing her teeth. The toothfairy was WAY to generous and left her $20 for her two teeth. She actually wrote a letter to the toothfairy about her lost tooth. Obviously the tooth fairy didnt know what he was doing when he pulled out that $20 bill!!!!!! Megan is just so proud of her missing teeth, and you can actually see the new teeth just about to pop thru. I can not believe my baby has grown up so fast and will be 6 in just a few months. Crazy!

I am almost scared to write this...but...things are going really well here with Michael! He has done FANTASTIC with his toddler bed. Last time we tried the toddler bed a few months ago it was awful....he was waking during the night crying by the door...but not this time. He sleeps very well all night long!!! YEAH!!! Climbs right into bed at night and he loves his bed. Although it was a bit sad realizing how fast my baby boy has grown up. It amazes me how he was just so ready to be done with the crib now. That is Michael, he always decides when it is time for something! I am so proud of what a big boy he is!!!

Michael has also taken an interest in the potty. He loves to sit on it and last night actually sat on it and read a book for about 10 minutes....of course nothing came out, but it's a big step in the right direction! When you ask him where the pee pee goes he says "potty" and he knows!!! It is just awesome! The kids really are both doing fantastic. Michael's poop issues have been doing great and I pray that this weaning of the vancomycin is working! He is on to every other day of the medicine and will start every three days tomorrow. Next Monday we have an apt with the nephrologist (kidney doctor) to get an ultrasound to check on the right kidney(which was just cysts when he was born and has no function at all) to make sure it is still shrinking...then we will see the doctor for his yearly check up. I have no concerns really because Michael pees fantastic and if there is anything I have learned is that pee is GREAT!

I also signed Michael up for a Gymboree class...I think he will really love it. We just have to decide if he will go on Wednesday or Monday mornings...we are going to try out both classes and see which one is a better fit for us. I am so excited to go on Wednesday and hope he will love it too! Preschool is going fantastic! He loves his class, teachers and his friends. It is so fantastic to see him in class! We only have just over two months of school left...it is done the Thursday before Memorial Day. Then he will have all summer off and start back in September three mornings a week in the 3 year old class...luckily we are getting the same teachers, I love them and they are fantastic with Michael!

Oh Lord Help Me!!!!

2009-03-12T15:41:00.002-04:00

Michael just got up from his nap and I go into his room to find him......climbing out of his crib! UGH! How in the world! So long crib, hello toddler bed! Please pray that he stays in his toddler bed tonight with no problems!

We tried the toddler bed a few months ago, but he just wasnt ready....let's pray he is now since I can not have him climbing out of his crib and hurting himself.

Cruise and kids update!

2009-03-12T13:36:00.006-04:00

I find it so hard to believe that it is the middle of March already....where the heck is the time going? Mike just celebrated his 34th birthday yesterday! How did we get old? :) 34 used to seem so incredibly old and far away, and yet, here we are! Poor Mike finally caught our cold (I was sick before we left for our cruise, but I was fine during the cruise) so Mike had a rough night not being able to sleep last night...add in that he worked all day and had school all night...not exactly a great way to celebrate your birthday! :)The kids did fantastic for my parents while we were gone. They just adore my mom and are always so sad when they leave. Megan always asks me why Nana can't live with us? Hopefully one day they will be able to move closer to us and we can see them more often. Although we are so incredibly lucky and thankful that we get to see them as much as we do. My kids will actually grow up knowing their Grandparents!

Michael has become a HUGE fan of Elmo these days. It is so cute hearing him say Elmo and asking to watch an Elmo video. He is eating well and growing! The outift in these pictures are from his birthday, they are 24 month pants and shirt and he hasn't been able to wear the pants up until now...they would just fall right off of him and they were way too long! When I weigh him on my scale with no shoes it says 26 lbs even....but who knows the exact amount, all I know is that I am happy that he is starting to fit into more of his big boy clothes!

His C-Diff seems to be under control. We are in the process of weaning him off the Vancomycin antibiotic and it seems to be going well. He gets it every other day right now. I just pray to God it is gone and stays gone forever! He has become so much easier these days, if only we could keep the dam C-Diff away!

Michael's teachers also informed me of what a big boy he is...he has changed so much since the start of school. He gets right involved with everything the class is doing, participates in all the activities, loves to pain and color and use the glue sticks and of course loves playing outside and has a great time with his little friends. Of course the teacher told me today that he is certainly NO fragile child by any means...he gets right in the middle of everything and loves to rough house with the other boys!

So our cruise was FANTASTIC! It was so nice to get away for a few days with just Mike and I...we so needed it. There was so much to do on the cruise, but we also had a lot of just laying around and resting!

The first day we had to have a practice drill...we all put our life jackets on and got to stand on deck for a while...fun right! The rest of the afternoon we sat in the hot tub and had some nice drinks and relaxed. On Friday we got to go all over the ship...managed to go rock climbing, inline skating and then just lay around at the pool the rest of the afternoon. Saturday morning we arrived in Cozumel, Mexico, and we actually slept right thru the docking...we signed up for an excursion in Mexico...we got to ride segway's to the beach and then go snorkeling...it was amazing and tons of fun! We saw so many fish it was incredible. The water was so blue and crystal clear. After our segway ride back to the ship we just did some shopping and by the end were just exhausted!

We did manage to hit the casino on the ship a few times and I won $200 at the quarter slot machines! It was so exciting!

Every night when we would go back to our cabin the staff would always have a towel folded into some animal shape...here is a monkey, there was a frog one night..so cool.

There were a ton of places to eat, but the main dining room at night was just beautiful and we got to eat with the same two couples each night. They were great people and it was a lot of fun.

Of course they take every opportunity to get you to buy pictures they take...and of course how could we resist.. That is our ship in the back.

Friday night was formal night and it was so nice. Some people went all out in tuxs and formal gowns, but it was really nice getting dressed up and having dinner.

Of course they had a bunch of different backgrounds to get your picture taken at...it was almost hard to decide what pictures to get.

We would totally go on a cruise again in the future. It was so much fun and so much to do, but enough time to just relax and sleep! I got some great nights sleep there! So now back to reality! The weather was gorgeous here while we were gone, but now it is going to cool off again and rain...yuck. I am so ready for the warm weather to get here and stay here!

Here is a cute video of Michael from this morning.

Boys...ugh!

2009-02-27T12:41:00.002-05:00

Michael is ALL boy!!! Sometimes, I don't know what to do with him! Last night after dinner I was cleaning up and Michael was standing behind the kitchen chair pulling it toward him, making it rock....I repeatedly told him not to do it and even physically moved him away from the chair twice. I finished cleaning the table and as I turned around to grab the napkin holder to put back on the table, CRASH...CRYING...BLOOD! Michael had in the blink of an eye managed to pull the chair backwards and it fell down on top of him...he had a red mark on his forehead and cheek and managed to bust his lip....Between all the tears, the snot from his nose from cying so much, all the blood from his lip and of course I had a wet paper towel in his mouth trying to stop the bleeding Michael was almost to the point of choking! What a night! I tried to put ice on it, but of course Michael would have none of that so this morning he has a nice fat lip! Boys!

Yesterday Michael also had his second visit to the dentist and he did remarkably well. Megan and Michael both had their 6 month check ups - I can't believe it has been 6 months already! Anyway, they both got called back and Megan went right back and into the chair, she didn't even notice that I wasnt standing with her...I was with Michael. He sat in the chair and watched the movie they had playing and he let the hygenist brush his teeth with the tooth brush and he did not cry...he loved playing with the mirror and the little flash light she had! It was really cute. The dentist then came over to check out his teeth and they look really good. However, he has a small dot on his front tooth...it has always been there...it is hard to say why it is there, whether it be from a medication he had as a baby, iron supplements he had to take because he was anemic the first year of his life, some sort of trauma to that tooth...who knows. Anyway, the dentist wants us to come every 3 months for a flouride treatment to help keep the tooth strong. Other than that, he did great. He got his sticker and walked out of there so proud of himself and saying bye bye to everyone! It was so cute! I got a picture of him in the chair, but only one since I was afraid he would climb out of it and get hurt!

Michael has also been fighting a little cold the past few days...it had not progressed into anything other than a slight cough, but this morning, that changed...he only has the raspy cough, but nothing else...so hopefully this is the worst of it and he gets better. We cancelled play therapy this morning because the more active he gets the worse he sounds...but we did have speech therapy and he did fantastic! It amazes me how much he has improved in only 6 months...he went from a kid 6 months ago that said nothing and all he did was grunt and now he has words and makes animal sounds and really tries to immitate now...it is amazing. And the 45 minute sessions go by so quickly because Michael does everything...when Amy first started to come, it was a very LONG 45 minutes!!!!

We are going to have a busy week...this weekend we need to start packing for our big trip and get the house all ready for my parents to come, get the grocery shopping done, etc. I can not believe we leave in 6 days for our cruise!!! I am so excited and can't wait for Mike & I to have some alone time with no kids to interupt!!!! YEAH!!!

It's Amazing!!!

2009-02-24T19:07:00.007-05:00

Michael actually sat on the potty naked tonight all by himself! I tried to get a picture of that, but by the time I got the camera he just wanted to get in the tub! I have had the potty seat in the kids bathroom for a while now, but Michael has had absolutely NO interest in it what so ever! But every day I ask him if he wants to sit in it and we sing a song "pee pee in the potty"....well, tonight I was getting him ready for his bath and he was all naked and while I was getting the water ready I turn around and he is sitting on the potty all by himself! He had the biggest smile on his face! This is the first real interest he has had in the potty! I hope the trend continues and we actually get some pee pee on the potty now...of course, now I need to run out and get some new potty seats with the splash guard for little boys! Obviously I have no idea where the original ones went to since Megan never used them! :)

Of course since I couldn't get a picture of Michael sitting on the potty naked, after his bath while Megan was in the shower he was sitting on it and didnt want to get off so I got a couple of pictures! So yeah, the big news here for Megan is that she loves to take showers now! It is so wonderful for me because I no longer have to bend over a tub with two kids! Megan does everything herself, just needs a little help making sure she gets all the shampoo out of her hair! My baby is certainly growing up fast! In less than 4 months now she will be 6...ugh!Michael is still a big ham...he loves to watch Mike and it is so cute because he sees Mike put his hands in his pockets and talk on the phone, so this is Michael putting his hand in his pocket, even though he doesnt have a pocket on these pants (which by the way are a size 2T) and he is pretending to talk on the phone! He is certainly his father's son!

I spoke with the doctor from the Infectious Disease dept at Duke yesterday, she called me last night. They have decided to try a new approach to Michael's C-Diff problem...we are going to try to wean him off the Vancomycin to see if that makes a difference. So he has been on it for over 2 weeks now, and pooping great and eating great! YEAH! Anyway, over the next few weeks we will slow down from 4 doses a day to 2 a day, to 1 a day, then every other day, etc., until we are done, and this will take until April 1st. Then we will go back to see the doctors the first week of April and have his poop tested again and see if that makes a difference. I pray it does! It is so nice to have him poop normally again (or at least his normal!).

The next week and a half is pretty crazy for us...Mike is finishing up with exams from school (he is getting his MBA) and of course work is super crazy! So Mike and I are taking a much needed vacation! We are taking a cruise next week! We are going from Ft. Lauderdale to Cozumel, Mexico on a 4 night cruise on Royal Carribean cruise lines. I can not wait! Mike & I really need a break away and are so thankful we are able to do it now. Of course when we get back, Mike goes right back into school full force and work! So this will be our only opportunity to go anywhere and hey, if there is anything that Michael has taught us is that life is short and you have to enjoy today! I just got my passport in the mail today (I had to renew it since my old one expired two years ago...oops!) so we are all set to go! YEAH!

2009-02-17T12:08:00.002-05:00

How is it possible that it is Tuesday already? The days are just literally flying by! We had a wonderful weekend. The weather was still nice so we got to do a lot outside and we went out to lunch on Sunday and the kids had a great time. Michael had more fun throwing everything on the floor, but hey, what can you do with a 2 1/2 year old right! Megan enjoyed the word search with Daddy!
Of course Megan had her Valentine's Day party at school on Friday and looked like a big valentine from head to toe!!! Michael's party was on Thursday and he had a great time. It is so funny to go into Michael's class and watching him sit down and want his snack first and then go around and try to eat everyone elses! Who would of thought!!!

This morning we had Michael's 6 month check up with Dr. Fitch (orthopedic doctor) and it went really well. Michael, according to them, is 34 1/2" long and 25.8 lbs (with a dry diaper, onesie shirt and socks on). It is amazing how Michael can hold his weight when the darn C-Diff isn't causing problems! Anyway, the appointment went really well and we left actually happy if you can believe it. Michael had x-ray's taken and his scoliosis is stable, the curve actually measured less this time than last time which is a good thing. As far as that goes, the doctor said "See you in 6 months". Michael does have a slight leg length discrepancy, his right leg is slightly shorter than his left leg (as explained to us, this is because of his right femeral artery being torn during his first cardiac catheterization when he was only 1 month old) Anyway, the discrepancy is still very minor and with Michael wearing a slight lift in his right shoe keeps him "level". We will continue to monitor this as he grows, but based on where we were 6 months ago and now, the difference appears to not have gotten worse. If the discrepancy stays less than 1" then Michael will be able to have an outpatient surgery to slow down the growth of the other leg - this will be done around age 12. If the discrepancy gets great than 1 1/2" then we will have to discuss a more invasive surgery of lengthening his shorter leg. We can't worry about that now because we have no idea what will happen over the coming years. Worrying over something we have no control over will get us no where but more grey hairs and more stress. Overall the apt was really good, Dr. Fitch answered all our questions and we are pretty happy with the report.

The rest of this week should be pretty easy...Michael had to miss school today, but he will be back on Thursday. Have I mentioned how much Michael loves preschool! Last Thursday when I took him to school, he just walked right into class and started playing with his friend. Usually when I would drop him off the teacher would hold him for a little bit (he wouldnt cry, just wanted to be held), but not anymore! Mr. Independant is coming out!!! He is just growing up so incredibly fast! Oh, and the cutest thing, he is talking so much more...he loves to say "Hi Dada" and it is just adorable. The fact that he is putting two words together is actually a big deal. I am sure he will need speech therapy for a while, but it is so wonderful to see the progress that he has made in such a short time. He loves to watch Dora and repeat all the things she says, it is so cute! His eating habits continue to improve and he loves to eat most of the time! He is a true miracle!

Thankful for the little things....

2009-02-12T19:53:00.002-05:00

The Duke Children's Hospital Radiothon has been going on the past couple of days and of course, Duke holds a very special place in my heart...without Duke Hospital, Michael would surely not be here today. Anyway, listening to all the parents tell their own stories of their incredible children it just really touched my heart. Michael is a true miracle, God's most incredible gift. Life has been so very difficult the past two and a half years, this is true, but also there have been the most amazing times. I was looking at Michael today at his Valentine's Day party at preschool and there he was sitting at the table making his craft, then eating his snack and drinking his juice box and just being an amazing little boy, I almost cried watching him. Two and a half years ago this little boy was fighting for every breath, every moment, every touch and here he is today doing so amazingly well. He is just the sweetest and most amazing little boy who totally owns my heart, and he knows it too! He is feeling really well...the Vancomycin has really worked, yet again, and he is back to drinking and eating well...yesterday he actually had grapes, cut up of course, and he loved them! He fed them to himself and just did fantastic! If only we could keep this dam C-Diff away he could actually gain some good weight here! Anyway, my point of tonights post is just to say how thankful I am for my children. Every single moment is truly a gift. You really have no idea what will happen tomorrow, even with a healthy child.

Some much needed good news!

2009-02-10T09:51:00.002-05:00

Michael had his 6 month check up with Dr. Milazzo (cardiologist) this morning. I can't believe that it has been 6 months since we saw him, it is crazy how fast the time is going by! Well, Michael was his usual handsome, charming and adorable self and Dr. Milazzo just ate it up! Anyway, they weighed Michael naked and he is 24 lbs 6 oz today...it is amazing to me how much his weight can fluctuate when he is naked to when he has clothes on....so on that front, he is off the chart again with his weight which kind of stinks...but oh well...he was around 34 1/2" tall...so he is long and skinny! Dr. Milazzo listened to him and said he looked and sounded great. We then had an echo done by Dr. Milazzo and he said his heart function looks great, the conduit is wide open, and you couldn't ask for things to look any better than they did today. He expects Michael's conduit to last at least another 5 - 6 years from now, unless Michael has some radical growth spurt which I doubt! We go back in 6 months for his next check up. Now if only we could get rid of the C-Diff and keep it gone life would be really great!

I am speechless at this point.....

2009-02-06T10:56:00.002-05:00

C-Diff Positive as of this morning......:(

The past week and a half Michael has been having more watery stools and I attributed it to the fact that he wasn't eating very well because he is cutting a molar and his tooth/gums looked so sore. Well, Sunday was the last time I gave him his laxative, yet the poop still has been watery....yesterday morning he woke up covered in poop...so he got a bath and I collected the poop - fun right! I sent an email to the Infectious Disease doctor that we saw in December letting her know what was going on. She called me and had me bring Michael into the clinic at 1:30 yesterday. Michael was so happy for the doctors and showing off of course...the doctors were really hopefull that this was all just viral...but alas...I got a phone call at 10:30 this morning saying that the samples were positive for C-Diff. Michael has been started on Vancomycin yet again and the ID doctors are going to be researching and discussing options for Michael and will get back to me next week.

I just don't know how this continues to happen....Michael had 4 negative C-Diff tests the month of January at different times and yet now we are back to square one...it makes no sense. Michael has stopped the Prevacid back in December....I give him Activia yogurt every day with Culturel for Kids every single day....The playroom has been completely cleaned,etc., what is going on here. I just dont understand this at all.

Allergist Update

2009-02-02T20:01:00.002-05:00

We went and saw Dr. Land, a pediatric allergist with Duke...he is actually in the same office as Dr. Milazzo (cardiologist)...anyway, he was wonderful! The appointment went great. To start with, Michael is 34" tall and is 25 lbs 6 oz and that was only wearing a new dry diaper! We went and talked with Dr. Land for a while, going over history and what happend that day that Michael had that allergic reaction. Dr. Land did some tests on Michael, and you know what, he is NOT allergic to peanuts...or nuts of any kind! The only thing that came up very mildly (he did a scratch skin test) was dogs, which I already knew he was allergic too (I am allergic as well so not a big surprise here)...but they tested Michael for a lot of things and all were negative. Dr. Land feels that when Michael had that allergic reaction (we may never know exactly what set it off), but that since Michael was on an antibiotic for the C-Diff and his body was fighting that infection, he may of had something viral going on or he just came into contact that he obviously had a reaction too, but we certainly cant test for everything in the world here...so it is good to know, no peanut allergy! We will keep the Benadryl handy just in case and the epi pen just in case...but I pray it never happens again and it was just an isolated case.

Another week gone by....

2009-01-29T14:02:00.005-05:00

It's amazing how fast things change in a week! Last week we were playing in the snow with everything shut down...then over the weekend we were outside playing on the playground with just vests on and having a ball with no snow in sight!

It has been an up and down week for us...some huge things are that Michael is completely independant on his straw cups now! It is awesome! I am so happy of this huge accomplishment and so proud of my little man! And to think two years ago the doctors wanted to put a feeding tube in him...look at him now!

Megan is growing up so fast and has been asking to get her ears pierced for a while now...well, Sunday afternoon we went to the store and got them pierced. She was so brave. She cried a little but did so well and when I asked if it was worth it, she said YES!

Of course now she wants to wear her hair up everyday so she can show off her ears! She looks so cute! We are so proud of her...we got her report card for the second semester of school and she did fantastic! She is reading ahead of where she needs to be and just such a bright and amazing little girl. We are so proud of her. It just amazes me how quickly it is all going by...she has completed half of kindergarten already and in just over four months she will be turning 6 years old! How is that possible?

Michael is cutting a molar, so his eating has been very irritable. His eating has gone down a bit because he doesnt want to chew anything...I pray it is just because of his teeth hurting. Of course, I have to remember that he is a typical 2 year old who some days just doesnt want to eat a lot, but then makes it up the next day by eating everything!!! Today he tried some string cheese and really liked it!

I know that everyone thinks that thier child is the cutest they have ever seen, but my goodness, just look at that face! He has the face of an angel...God sure knew what he was doing with him...no matter how frustrating or difficult it has been, you just look at that face and melt....and Michael knows it!

On to some updates with Michael now....he is doing fabulous with preschool. Today he walked right into class and started playing with another little boy and when I said bye to him, he just looked at me and then turned back to his toy! He loves school. His teachers are fantastic and I couldn't be happier. I had to register him for next year already...he will be going three mornings a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:15-12:15 and if I want, he can stay on Wednesday for an extra hour for lunch bunch. Megan did that and loved it, but we shall see how it goes next year.

We also met with our coordinator with EI (early intervention) and have started some of the paper work to graduate from the program and move on to the school system. Can you believe it? The EI program only goes until the child turns 3, which is only 6 months away! The great thing is that we are taking full advantage of all we can now...Michael is getting speech therapy, developmental therapy and we just had him evaluated by OT yesterday. He has a very mild delay so we qualify to get OT for him in the house now too. I have no clue how they really come up with the score, but the normal range is 90-100 and Michael had an 82...so very mild, but enough that we can get the therapy now. When going over our goals for Michael I told the women that my goals for Michael is to get him as close to age appropraite as possible by the time he is 3. We believe he will still need speech therapy, but he can get that thru the school system for free. I will just have to drive him to the elementary school for it, which is nice since I can volunteer for Megan's class while Michael gets therapy.

It is really amazing to see Michael today and where he was two years ago...he has caught up by leaps and bounds and has really made a lot of progress in the past six months. He now does animal sounds when asked of a cow, dog, pig, dinasour, sheep, duck and a horse. Six months ago my son didnt make a sound and only said uh hum with his mouth closed...so he has made huge progress! I cant wait to see what the next six months bring!

This weekend Michael has his first little friends birthday party to go to...so that is exciting! On Monday, 2/2, he has an apt with a pediatric allergist at Duke, on 2/10 he has an apt with Dr Milazzo - it has been 6 months since we saw Dr Milazzo! And then on 2/17 we have an apt with the orthopedic doctor. And of course then at the end of the month, 2/26, both kids have to visit the dentist...this will be Michael's second visit to the dentist. He has really become a good tooth brusher and he loves to brush his teeth...he does pretty well letting us brush his teeth too. So that is the upcoming important apts for February. Please keep Michael in your prayers for continued health, healing, growth and great appointments!

Winter Fun!!!!

2009-01-20T09:40:00.003-05:00

The kids finally got to use their snow pants and boots that we never used in Buffalo!!!! Yes, that says 5" and it is still snowing out! Megan was so excited at the thought of snow, she of course was up at 6 am!!! By 6:30 she was so ready to go out and play in the snow, but it was too dark! We were out there at 7:30 this morning and lasted until around 9 am before I was too cold to stay out any longer!

The kids really had a great time making snow angels and going on the sled...Mike went up to the store last night and got a couple of sleds! It was so much fun!

It is still snowing out there now and actually is coming down pretty hard right now....it has already covered up all our sled tracks! I am sure we will be out there again a little later...I am just to cold right now!

I am SO HAPPY!!!!

2009-01-19T15:09:00.003-05:00

NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE and NEGATIVE!!!!!

That's right everyone, Michael's latest C-Diff tests have all come back NEGATIVE!!! That is a total of four different poop samples all tested for C-Diff and ALL are NEGATIVE!!!! The pediatrician just called me and I am just about to cry tears of joy! I just pray to God that it stays away for the rest of his life! I don't ever want to deal with this again! I am so happy!

We had a great weekend with our friends Keri, Barry and their little man Lex and it was great. The kids had a great time playing with Lex and it was so nice to visit and catch up! I wish we didn't all live so far away from eachother! But they promise to come down when it gets warmer!!!

Michael is doing fantastic! He is drinking fantastic out of a straw sippy cup!!! He drinks all his milk out of it and he is drinking juice, which is amazing in itself since he was never a big drinker, but now, he does great! He started saying Uh Oh really clearly now and it is so cute! He actually said bye dada this morning and it was great! I know, most kids his age are talking up storms full sentances and all, but this is a huge accomplishment for Michael! I am so proud of him!

We are very excited because we may actually get some snow here in Raleigh tonight and tomorrow...Megan is so excited! We didnt have any snow when we went to Buffalo last month, so hopefully the kids can use their snow pants and boots and play in snow tomorrow!!! :)

2009-01-15T14:13:00.003-05:00

What an incredibly fast week it has been. I hate to even say it, but things are going well. On the poop front, things seem to be dare I say, normal, or normal for Michael. The poop we took up to Duke last week, both samples, are negative for C-Diff! YEAH! We are going to do one more test and when that comes back negative, then I will try to relax a little. Now if only Michael would poop at home so I can take the sample in to get tested! :) It really amazes me just what a wonderful little boy Michael is. He has been thru so much in his short little life, and yet he is just as smart as can be and so loving and funny! His teachers tell me what a pleasure he is to have in class. This morning he actually walked into class with NO tears at all! He didnt even give me a hug. He was so excited to go into class! I didn't know if I should laugh or cry! I am so proud of him! I like to watch thru the window a little bit and it really is amazing to see him playing with the other kids and just doing all the typical two year old stuff! All the work we have done over the past two years has really paid off!
It has been a nice week. My parents were actually in over the weekend, and we always love to have them here. My brother's birthday was over the weekend so we had a nice dinner and cake together...it is so nice to be able to celebrate birthday's with our family now! And of course Michael loves it when they come with their dogs! I think the dogs are so happy to leave though!!! :)

Megan decided that she wanted to try to wear her hair with no bangs...she of course looked so cute, but I personally like her better with bangs, she looks so grown up here!
The kids play so well together! Here they are dancing together in the hall! It is just so cute to watch them!
Of course my little man is just as happy as can be!

Megan took this picture of Michael and I...the first one came out a little better, but Megan had her hand over the flash so it was too dark!!
And here is Michael trying to wink at me! I can't believe he can actually wink!!!

This week has been pretty easy. Our PT Dora actually came back from maternity leave and came to see us on Wednesday. It is great to have her back. She is just blown away by Michael and his progress! We have speech and play therapy tomorrow morning. It has really been a nice week. Michael has also learned, maybe I should not say learned but decided to finally drink his milk out of a straw sippy cup. He is so spoiled that I normally have to hold his milk cup for him and basically pour it into him for him (a sippy cup with no valve), well, finally, he is doing it out of a straw cup now and I pray it continues that way!

I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but Michael, he LOVES the vacuum cleaner! It is so funny! He will pull it out of the closet and has figured out how to get it to lean back and pretends he is cleaning! Of course I caught him doing this the other day!

We are preparing for a really cold weekend...tonights low is supposed to be 19' and tomorrow's high is 32'...that is really cold for us! If it is going to be this cold, it would be kind of nice to get a little snow since we didnt have any on our visit to Buffalo after Christmas. Keep Michael in your prayers for another negative C-Diff test and that we all stay healthy!!!

Update from yesterday's apt...

2009-01-09T07:45:00.003-05:00

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday...I honestly feel like yesterday's apt was almost a waste of time. We saw a different Infectious Disease doc and honestly, he was just a waste of time. The only good thing was that I took in two poop samples and I should get a call today with the results. The other good news is that Michael gained a little bit of weight...he is now up to 11.4 kilos or 25.13 lbs, but of course that is with his clothes on, no shoes though. Now that he is over the age of 2 they dont weigh them naked anymore. He was also 34" tall I think. So the kids is growing which is great!

So we go in to the exam room and the PA comes in and she was nice, but just seemed a bit off to me...cant really explain it any other way. We talked about the past three months of this c-diff crap and that now he is pooping normally again and seems to be ok. Then the doctor comes in...I tell him (on the advice of the previous Infectious Disease Doc) that I have been giving him the Dannon Activia Yogurt daily and the Culturel for Kids daily in hopes that it would help keep the C-Diff away. He actually said to me, there is no proof that doing that actually helps...WHAT? He went on and on...he didn't even exam Michael. Just said that we will see what the test results show and go from there. Then he says that Mike, Megan and I probably all have C-Diff as well but just arent showing symptoms.....he was not mean, but man, he just was not positive about anything at all...WTF? So today I wait and see what the results show...it should be sometime this afternoon I get the call.

Of course after all this, Michael did not poop at all yesterday and this morning had a big blow out...it was so gross. But It wasnt diarhea, but I of course am all paranoid now that he still has C-Diff...ugh. I just cant take it anymore with the C-Diff...please, pray that it is gone for good.

"Quacker"

2009-01-08T11:09:00.002-05:00

Yes that is right...Michael says "Quacker" now for cracker!!! This morning he wanted some fishy crackers (I swear he is going to turn into a fishy cracker!) but he goes over to the pantry and opens up the door and points the the box of goldfish crackers and says "Quacker"!!! I was like, what! And he said it again and I just started jumping up and down for joy saying YEAH and he was so happy and proud! It was awesome!!!! The speech is really his only area that he is delayed in, but it is coming! I feel like he is just going to start talking so much just like Megan! I would say he has a good 10 words that he says now...I know, not much considering he is almost 2 1/2 but he has made huge progress! Do you know that in September before he started school and speech therapy he had no words...he pretty much just grunted for everything! Now at least he has words and he actually tries to talk and repeat what we say! It is awesome! That kid just amazes me every single day!

We are headed up to Duke this afternoon to meet with the Infectious Disease doctor again about the C-Diff...please say a prayer for Michael that it is gone and stays gone. It has been over a week since his last dose of Vancomycin and knock on wood his poop is normal again. He is eating the Dannon Activia yogurt everyday and getting the Culturel for Kids daily to help keep the good bacteria in his gut to keep the C-Diff away. It is just so nice to have him back to normal! I will post later with an update from the doctor...oh, and some exciting news...Duke Hospital opened their Pediatric Cardiac ICU yesterday! It is the first Pediatric CICU in North Carolina! In the future when Michael needs his next heart surgery, that is where he will go....hopefully, that is not for many many many many years to come!

Where does the time go!

2009-01-07T08:03:00.002-05:00

This morning I found out that Megan has two teeth that are wiggly! My baby girl is about to lose two of her teeth! How can she be old enough for that? Then I remember, my little baby girl will be 6 years old in June! That is only 5 months away! UGH! The time has gone by so fast! I know everyone says that, but my goodness, it really has! She is also already 78 days into kindergarten! She is half way done! Crazy!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-02T13:18:00.006-05:00

I can hardly believe it is 2009 already! Where the heck did the year go? And why is it that each year seems to go by faster than the one before? Well, since I haven't updated the site since before Christmas, I will start there.

Christmas was wonderful! My parents came in for a few days, which the kids just loved! It is so wonderful when they come. Unfortunately, Michael still had his nasty cold so we spent Christmas Eve at the doctors office and then going to get a chest x-ray to make sure he didn't have pneumonia. Thankfully, no pneumonia. So the doctor gave him steroids to help and it really did help. We never made it to church Christmas Eve with Michael so sick and me so tired after running around all day to the doctors, etc. Christmas morning was wonderful!

The kids were completely spoiled, of course! Megan got a lot of craft things and a few games and new princess sheets and comforter for her bed, along with some new clothes.
Michael loves his worker hat and tools, but his favorite gift by far was....

The Vacum cleaner!

We also got the kids some balls and blew up the old kiddie pool and the kids loved it!

We had a wonderful dinner and my brother came over...it was really great. Then of course we had to pack up for our big trip to Buffalo. Mike left early morning on the 26th by car and the kids and I flew. Mike's car ride was very easy and took him 11 hours. Our flight left at 5:30 from RDU and we had a lay over in Newark...the flight was easy, but by the time we got to Newark at 7, Megan was exhausted...when she gets tired, she gets winey. She ended up sleeping on the floor at the gate waiting for our next plane...then on the plane ride to Buffalo, she slept for most of it. Michael of course was wide awake and as happy as can be...we hit a lot of turbulance and I hated it...Michael LOVED it!!! We finally made it to Buffalo around 10:30 and got home and to bed by 11:30. Of course, the kids all had to be up at 6:30 the next morning right! Did I mention that by this time Megan had come down with Michael's cold...so I had two kids coughing up a storm! It was great!

Saturday morning we went over to my friends house and got to see everyone...it was great. The kids had a ball, and all got along so well. It had been over three years since I have been to Buffalo and we were able to get a group photo..it was wonderful! I wish we could of stayed longer!

Saturday afternoon (after Michael's nap) we went to Mike's dad's house and had dinner with the family...it was great. We got to finally meet Katie's (Mike's sister) fiance and Ryan's (Mike's brother) girlfriend. It really was wonderful. We opened gifts and had a wonderful dinner.

We were so tired when we left...we got the kids to bed and I actually went to Applebee's with some of the girls. I was exhausted, but so glad I went. It was worth it! Luckily, the kids slept in until 8 am the next day!!! Thank God for small miracles right! So we had a really slow start to Sunday. By the time we all had breakfast and showers it was after 11 am already. We stopped by our friend Keri's house (she lives the street over from Mike) and said good bye to them and then headed to Mike's dad's house. We had lunch and Michael took a nap. Then when he got up we headed over to Mike's Grandmother's birthday party. It was so great to have the Morris Family together and see everyone. The kids had a great time playing with all the cousins and it was great to catch up with everyone. We didnt get home until after 8 pm and of course were exhausted yet again!

Monday was our last day in Buffalo and it was just as busy as the other days....of course we did take some time for playing!

Monday night we went out to dinner and it was great....We discovered that Michael loves pretzel sticks!

But by the time we left, Megan was so tired she fell asleep in the car....

Michael did not...

Tuesday morning was our last morning...we packed up the house and Mike left in the car for the ride home. Mike's dad drove us to the airport and we got home around 5 pm. The kids did great on the plane!

All in all, the trip was wonderful, but exhausting....we didn't get to do all that we wanted to do or see everyone we wanted to see...that's what happens when you only have 3 days to do things and you have two small kids who keep you from doing all you want! :) The funniest thing about our trip, NO SNOW! Yep, that's right...after all the preparing for it...the snow pants, boots, etc...NO SNOW! It was unusually warm the entire time we were there and then the day we left, that night it snowed! Go figure right! I don't know when we will make it up to Buffalo again, but it was such a great trip! A great way to start in the new year!

Michael's cold is gone - YEAH! Megan's cold is just about gone! Michael is pooping normally and all done with his 21 days of Vancomycin...we have his next apt with Infectious Disease doc at Duke next Thursday...so pray that we have finally beat it and it stays away forever! Thank God my kid loves yogurt!

Looking back at 2008, it was not a bad year at all...Michael was only hospitalized twice and they were both for dehydration....so it is amazing how strong this little boy is and how far he has come! Please continue to pray for Michael for continued health and healing and for a great and healthy 2009 for us all!

Just in case you thought we weren't prepared for Buffalo....

2008-12-22T15:03:00.002-05:00

Just check out the kids!

It's begining to feel a lot like Christmas!

2008-12-22T11:13:00.005-05:00

Not Really!!! This is what we did on the 19th of December! It was in the upper 60's!!!!!The kids had a blast outside, but it really doesnt feel much like Christmas, at least weather wise!

I just had to post this picture of Michael from last Thursday getting ready to go to school. He is just getting to be such a big boy and loves school! I am so glad that I put him in there this year. I was so scared, given what he has been thru, but he is just your typical 2 year old and having a ball!

Michael has decided his new favorite thing to do is this....he is such a boy!
Thursday afternoon we had our apt up at Duke with the infectious disease doctors in regard to Michael's never ending C-Diff. So here is the latest....we have discontinued the use of his Prevacid.....we are giving him the Vancomycin (antibiotic) for 21 days rather than 10 days he had the first time. We are also giving him probiotic Culturel once a day (several hours before and after his dose of vancomycin. We are also giving him the yogurt with the probiotic in it. I have cleaned everything in the house with strong disinfectant! Cleaned the entire playroom. Cleaned his crib and mattress and furniture. I washed all his sheets again in my sanitary cycle of my front load washer (it washes in extra hot for 1 hour and 50 minutes!)....we go back to see the doctor on January 8th to bring a poop sample to get checked and see how he is doing. I pray to God that this works finally and we can get rid of the C-Diff for good!

Of course, poor Michael has come down with a cold. It is just your typical kid cold, runny nose and cough...of course with Michael, he always sounds a lot worse...so when we checked in at the hospital, the receptionist was a little worried and made us put a mask on Michael...needless to say, he didnt like it!
Once we got into the exam room, he was much happier!

Michael was of course a big flirt with the doctor and it was so cute...she kept saying, gosh, he is just so cute! And Michael just kept on the charm!

This weekend was pretty busy...Saturday we went to Megan's dance class....she is getting so good and really loves it! I am actually going to look into a dance studio closer to the house that is a bit more structured.

We then took the kids to McDonald's for lunch and they loved it. It was so nice feeding Michael just a cheesburger and fries (I know, really healthy right!) but he was just like any other kid there! Amazing me every day!

Sunday we went out to the NC Zoo and had a great time! There was no one there! SO all the animals were out and it was great! The kids really had a blast!

Of course on the way home (it is an hour car ride) Megan fell asleep, but Michael, nope, not even for a minute...he was quite grumpy when we got home (he had gotten up that morning at 5 am! He is just not as good a sleep as Megan was/is) So Mike and Michael were watching football and it was just so quiet in there, I went to take a peek, and this is how I found them!
Today it is pretty cold out...only around 34' so since both my kids are sick, and Michael is quite the grump (he is cutting a molar) we are staying at home and trying to recover (and I am trying not to lose my mind!). We are getting ready for my parents to come in tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with us and then we leave for Buffalo on Friday. I am flying with the kids and Mike is driving. He can make it in 11 hours and we need a car up there with all our stuff. We are so excited because there is lots of snow there and we are going to take the kids sledding! It will be cold, we know, but so worth it! So please say a prayer that the kids get over their colds ASAP and that our trip to Buffalo is smooth and easy!

Here is a picture that Papa Morris sent us of the front walkway to their house....the snow they ordered for Megan & Michael has arrived in full force!!!

9 more days until Christmas!

2008-12-16T19:40:00.004-05:00

Can you believe it! I have been shopping like crazy and it has been fun! The kids are SO spoiled! I swear every time I go to the store I find something else great to get for the kids! Mike has cut me off now! But seriously, the kids will do very well this year and they are so incredibly excited to be going to Buffalo this year. Yes, the day after Christmas we are going up to Buffalo for a few days. We will get to see the Morris family....Mike's sister Katie and her fiance' will be there in addition to Mike's brother Ryan and his girlfriend and there will be a big birthday party on Sunday for Mike's grandmother where the entire Morris family will be, some of them have never met Michael. We will also get to visit my sister and her kids and finally meet baby Jessica. Plus we hope that there will be a little bit of snow for the kids to play in and go sledding! Although, not enough snow to delay our travels!

We have been having some pretty crazy weather here in NC....it has been warm, up to near 70' and then today was cold and yucky, but it is supposed to warm up again tomorrow..doesnt really feel like Christmas!
This past Thursday at Michael's school they did a little Christmas show with the 2 year old classes and it was so cute. The kids got to hold up a donkey face on a stick (wierd I know but the kids loved them!) and walk around the sanctuary singing songs...it was cute. Michael had a great time, but I didnt get many pictures.

Michael is really loving preschool. He has really started to bloom in there! Of course he has the typical two year old manipulation down just like Megan did at that age. He walks into school all happy, puts his snack in the cubby and helps hang up his coat and bag then gives me a hug and kiss all smiles, then when he goes into the class he starts to cry and the teacher picks him up...as soon as I am out of sight, he immediatley stops crying and starts playing! I will watch thru the window and it really is amazing! Kids are so smart! They really know how to get to their mom and dads! It is great when I pick him up and he comes running all smiles and gives me a big hug! And then hearing from the teacher how great he did at school....it really gives me the reassurance that I did the right thing putting him in preschool. I was so nervous, given all Michael has been thru and being a bit on the small side and a bit behind other 2 year olds, but he is doing fantastic and really thriving there!

Friday was a busy day...I volunteered in Megan's school for the afternoon which was fun..then we went to Mike's work Christmas party...the kids had so much fun. They had lots of crafts for the kids to do, plus lots of food and of course Santa.

Megan loved getting to see Santa!!!!
Michael, not so much!!!!

After the party we noticed how red Megan's eye was so we called the doctor and got an apt for 5:45...Mike took her and she ended up having a bacterial infection in her eye...kind of a form of pink eye. So she is on eye drops now and it has all cleared up! Saturday morning Megan had dance class then a birthday party to go to.

Michael is doing so much better, the Vancomycin is certainly doing the trick. We have stopped his Prevacid..forgot to mention on here that another mom did some research and told me that kids who take Prevacid (or other PPI's) can have an increased risk for C-Diff. I called the GI who did some research and found it very interesting...so we stopped the Prevacid and Michael has tolerated it fantastic. He is really eating great! He has even started to eat, shall I say, "normal"...I mean, he usually would take 5 minutes to eat one cheerio (no kidding here) he would take little bites to eat one cheerio...now, he puts the entire cheerio in his mouth and eats it and moves on to the next like it was nothing! I know, normal behavior for most kids, but this is huge for us! We see the Infectious Disease doctors on Thursday up at Duke and the pediatrician wants to test his poop in a few days to see if the C-Diff is gone. On top of all that, Michael has come down with a cold...just your typical runny nose and cough, but it sucks!

Now that I have written a book I will go...but I wanted to also post a new video...Michael's latest thing is tackling his sister. Yes, my delicate, fragile, sick little boy is all rough and tumble and anything but fragile these days!!! I hope you get a laugh out of it! Wish us luck on Thursday and pray that the C-Diff is gone for good and Michael gets over his cold fast!

So much going on.....

2008-12-10T14:12:00.006-05:00

I can not believe that Christmas is only 15 days away! So much has been going on and I still have yet to finish shopping...ugh! Well, at least I made some Christmas cookies, well, the dough anyway for the cut out sugar cookies...and I had two great helpers! Michael had a great time helping me stir!

And by the end, Megan had more fun trying to lick the bowl clean more than anything else!!!!

Of course Michael still wanted to stir in the bowl even though there was nothing left in it....

Megan's hand just kept getting in his way!!! So he pushed it out of the way!

And then laughed about it!

But Megan never missed a beat....she got her finger in that bowl and she loved it!!!

Michael is just so happy!

So I got the dough ready and this afternoon we will cut out the cookies and bake them and hopefully get them frosted tomorrow or at least by the weekend! Now that Mike has finished his first semester at Grad school and actually has some time, we are going to finally put some lights out on the front of the house...Megan is so excited! She says all the neighbors have lights, why dont we? :) Of course, it is kind of hard to get into the spirit of Christmas when it is close to 70' today! Of course that wont last, but it is nice for a change because it has been so cold lately!

On to Michael....so we have been having poop issues again, what else is new right! Well, last week it just about drove me crazy so we went to the pediatrician and gave poop samples (never in a million years would I have ever imagined that I would be scooping up so much poop out of diapers and putting it in cups to take to the doctors office - ugh!) Anyway, by Friday I was getting a bit anxious and still no word from the pediatrician so I called the GI doctor...his nurse Faye is AMAZING! Needless to say she was like, we need test results before we can treat anything...yesterday morning Michael woke up and had blood in his poop so of course I scooped it up yet again and put it in a container...called the GI doctor when they opened and Faye had me bring the poop right up to Duke Hospital for testing. This morning I got a call from Faye, Michael has tested positive again for C-Diff. So we are Vancomycin for the second time now and they got us an appointment with the Infectious Disease doctors for next Thursday the 18th at 2 pm to find out what the hell is going on. We have been dealing with this since the end of September. He has gone thru two doses of Flagyl and now this is his second dose of Vancomycin...I am just about to lose my mind over these poop problems. So please, say a prayer for Michael that this dose of Vancomycin gets rid of the C-Diff for good and my baby can feel better.

However, just in case you wonder how this is all affecting Michael...he is still his happy self...just check out this video!!!

24 Days until Christmas!!!!

2008-12-01T12:55:00.005-05:00

I am just amazed that Christmas is so close and I hardly have any shopping done yet! We spent yesterday afternoon/evening taking pictures at our house to use as the Christmas card. My brother came over to take the family one. I love Shutterfly.com, I just uploaded the pictures I liked and I ordered my Christmas cards and some prints of the kids pictures. It is silly to go to a professional studio and get pictures when the kids came out so great on these! And the nice thing about shutterfly is that you can remove the red eye and put boarders on, etc., so I cant wait to get them in the mail in about a week.

I love this picture of Megan! I ordered a 11x13 to hang it on the wall to replace the one from last year.

The kids really did a great job with the pictures! It was hard to decide which one I liked the best!

I feel so incredibly blessed to have two of the sweetest and most wonderful children a mom could ever ask for. Yes, the first two years of Michael's life were very difficult to say the least, but he is doing fantastic! Look at that smile, you never in a million years would ever think Michael had been thru anything.

I just love how Megan and Michael love eachother! They play great together (most of the time!) and it is just great! I am so glad that they have eachother!

So much to be thankful for.....

2008-11-28T20:54:00.002-05:00

Wow, I can not believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone already and we are now in the count down to Christmas! What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had with so much to be thankful for. We got to eat in our dining room in our new house, first time since we moved in that we actually used it! My parents and brother came over and it was wonderful.The weather was so nice, sunny at around 60'! The kids had a great time playing outside on the playground in the afternoon. The food was wonderful and of course we all ate too much and were sound asleep by 9:30!

We have just so much to be thankful for this year. Michael is just your typical two year old with an amazing big sister! He loves to eat, but he has to feed himself! Tonight he ate 1/2 of a cheese burger for dinner, stabbing it himself with the fork! It was great to watch! He is starting to repeat so much more and is really trying to talk! He now is repeating animal sounds and it is just so cute! I think with all Michael has been thru, it just makes you appreciate these accomplishments so much more.

Michael loves to play in the kitchen!
We put up our Christmas tree yesterday afternoon...the kids loved it and it was a lot of fun! Only one ornament broke, so I think that is pretty good!

Michael really enjoyed hanging some ornaments!

No big surprise here, both kids LOVE the computer!!!!

How cute am I?

Finally....

2008-11-22T14:04:00.005-05:00

Our computer is finally working...I have been going thru withdrawl I tell you!!! So anyway, yes, the computer was not working and we are back up thank goodness! Where to start...Things are going really well.
Michael is such a boy in every sense of the word...Sometimes I am not sure what to do with him. He loves to climb on and in everything as you can see! Mike and I are going to try to get him into a Gymboree class starting after the new year....I think he will really enjoy it.

Michael is really doing fantastic. He is eating up a storm and just growing so quickly. When we were at the doctor last week, with his clothes on, he weighed in at 25 lbs 4 oz....so I am pretty happy with that! We got a call from his GI doctor on Monday and since Michael finished the Vancomyacin antibiotic for the C-Diff, the doctor wanted us to test his stool again to make sure it had cleared. So we provided another sample on Thursday...Friday evening about 6:30 pm we get a call from the pediatrician (we did the test with the pediatrician since he is closer than driving to Duke) anyway, I got pretty nervous thinking it was going to be positive again (even though all the diarrhea has stopped and we are back to constipation - fun) and guess what, Michael is negative! He has finally cleared the C-Diff and everything is normal! YEAH! We did a happy dance thats for sure! After dealing with that for the past two months, I am so incredibly glad it is over! Of course thru it all, Michael was always and is always the happiest, sweetest and most wonderful little boy. He loves to hug and is such a mama's boy!

On other big news with him, he has slept all week in his toddler bed at night and for naps and done fantastic....I think we will give it one more week and as long as he continues to do well, the crib will be gone. My babies have grown up so fast!Megan is doing fantastic! School is going great and she is learning so much...she loves to do homework and the teacher commented to us about how wonderful her drawings are...she is very artistic! She is loving her ballet class on Saturday mornings and I think we may look to put her in another activity in addition to ballet next year...just not sure what yet!

Michael is doing fantastic at preschool...It really is one of the best things I could of done for him. He loves preschool and playing with the other kids and all the activities they do. It amazes me how much stuff he brings home each day when he is only there for 3 hours.

Michael had speech therapy Friday and it went fantastic! He is making so much more babble and noise and the therapist was so impressed. He imitated everything she was doing, even though he couldnt say the word, he made the sound and it was great. He made the "c" sound for cup and it was just really a wonderful session. I talked with her about the visit to the ENT about Michael's tongue tie and she completely agrees that his tongue tie is a non issue at this point. He can stick his tongue out far enough and he actually has started to lick the top of his lip which he hadnt done before...we have been doing a lot of sticking out his tongue in the mirror. So I am confident in our decision with the advice of the ENT and two speech therapists (his speech and feeding therapists) that there is no need to put him thru another surgery when it just isnt needed. I think at this point if he wasnt making as many sounds as he is I would be more concerned, but he is just taking off like a rocket and I am sure we are going to have a lot of words coming soon!

Finally, we are getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving next week with my parents and brother and then get ready for Christmas. We are actually even planning a trip to go back to Buffalo for a few days after Christmas to visit family and friends since we have not been there in over 3 years now. Of course, we reserve the right to cancel the trip if there is too much snow up there! But I am off to buy the kids snow boots and snow pants so they can enjoy the snow and hopefully there will be some when we go!

2008-11-17T19:47:00.003-05:00

It is so hard to believe that another week has gone by so quickly.....the days just go by so fast and the kids certainly keep me busy so I dont have as much time to update this site as I would like too.....

Megan actually took this picture of Michael & I

My beautiful girl

Last Thursday Michael had his Fall Festival day at preschool.....the kids had a ball. Let me first start by saying Michael is doing just fantastic at preschool. He loves it! He walks right into his class, and although he does look back at me and give me a sad face which totally breaks my heart, as soon as I am gone, he is happy as can be! He doesn't even carry his doggie around with him anymore. He only holds it those first few minutes after drop off, then it stays in his backpack. He is just your typical two year old having a great time at preschool.

Anyway, the Fall Festival day was fun...the kids got to play in fake leaves and rake them up...why is it that every single boy flocked to the rake like it was the first rake they had ever seen? It was really something...the girls really didnt care too much, but every boy had to get his turn with the rake and Michael was no exception thats for sure!

He made that hat all by himself! He was so proud!

His turn with the rake!

Michael and Megan enjoying a snack after school

Michael is just such a happy boy

Michael did have an appointment with the ENT this afternoon to evaluate his tongue tie.....needless to say, trying to get a 2 year old to stick out his tongue on command, not an easy task to say the least! For about 15 minutes the doctor, nurse and I tried everything in our power to get Michael to stick out his tongue...he finally did and he was so happy then and wanting to play, while the rest of us were just exhausted at that point! Anyway, the good news is that Michael is slightly tongue tied, however, he can stick his tongue out far enough and moves it laterally enough that the doctor doesn't feel that anything needs to be done. I was concerned that the tongue tied was delaying his speech, well, she told me that a true tongue tied child would still be able to talk, but would be more difficult to understand, especially with words with the "th" because the child wouldnt be able to move their tongue forward enough to make that "th" noise...so since Michael just doesnt talk, it really is just him deciding not to talk at this point, not because he can't. And I am ok with this answer...this is what his feeding therapist (the one we liked and worked wonders for Michael in just a few sessions) told us. Michael is very smart, I kept telling him at the doctors office if he would stick out his tongue then we could go home and that is what got him sticking his tongue out! :)

We have our speech therapist Amy coming to our house on Friday...I have decided that I am going to give her one last chance...she is so nice and really tries with Michael, but I dont know if being at home is just to distracting for Michael, but it is difficult to keep him engaged...yet when we did OT and Feeding at outside offices, he did great....so after Friday I will decide and probably call up Laura (the feeding therapist who also does speech) and see if we can get in with her. I really dont want to waste any time. I just know one day Michael is just going to come out with complete sentences and blow me away!

The sunset from our back deck was just so beautiful the other night, Mike had to take some pictures....yeah, it is ugly right!

The rest of this week should be pretty uneventful for us, we hope! Michael has school Tuesday and Thursday, play therapy on Wednesday morning and speech on Friday...we are having our picture taken on Wednesday evening at church for the church directory and hopefully if the pictures come out really good we can just buy those and skip going to another studio for family pictures this year.

Did I mention that Megan is doing fantastic in kindergarten! She is just so smart and amazes me every day. Tonight at homework she had a math sheet where she had to add and subtract and she zipped right through the problems! I am so amazed by her and so proud. She is such a great big sister and it is so wonderful to see Michael and Megan actually play together now....Michael just wants to do everything Megan does. It is so cute! Man, they are just growing up way to fast....it seems like just yesterday Megan was a little baby and now she is 5 years old...ugh!

My Big Boy....

2008-11-11T12:38:00.004-05:00

We got Michael a toddler bed and he has taken his nap in it the past couple of days with great success. Last night we tried to put him in it for bed and he went right to sleep great, however, at around 1:30 am he woke up crying and when Mike went into his room, the poor little guy was sitting on the floor just inside the door...it was so sad. We put him back in his crib after that. But we will try again tonight. He is sound asleep right now in his toddler bed for his nap.

I just can not believe that he is big enough to go into a bed already.....my baby is growing up so fast. It still amazes me sometimes to look at him and realize just how much he has changed. He is no longer this sick, fragile, helpless little baby boy....but he is an amazing, strong and tough little boy who is just as typical as the next, but with such an amazing and strong spirit....He is a true miracle and gift from God.

Michael is doing fantastic. The new antibiotic is working great and he is back to normal...of course now this morning I had to start the Little Tummies laxative again since he stopped pooping, blah. I hate that. But at least that is easier to deal with than the constant diarrhea! Michael is eating everything in sight these days! His new favorite is apple slices! It amazes me to watch him eat them! He loves mac and cheese (which of course he has to feed himself with the fork and does a great job!), he also enjoyed a cheeseburger and fries the other night! He does fantastic with juice boxes and knock on wood, I got him a new straw cup that he is doing really well with. He is basically eating everything and anything!! It is amazing to watch! He is babbling and trying to talk so much now....I just cant wait until the words really start to make some sense! :)
He loves to sit and color with Megan while she does her homework!

This is his new straw cup and he is eating a fruit chew thing from Gerber...it is like a fruit roll up and he loves them!

The kids both have off of school today and we spent the morning at the park and are going back this afternoon...it is just to nice to stay home! And with the rain coming by Thursday, we know that we dont have many more beautiful, sunny and somewhat warm days left before winter really hits! So we plan to enjoy it! This week is pretty easy for us...tomorrow he has play therapy, Thursday he has school and Friday speech therapy. Did I mention that he is doing fantastic at school! Last Thursday was the first day that he didnt carry his dog around with him...he only needed it for a few minutes at drop off and then was fine the rest of the day. He is starting to play with the other kids, rather than off in the corner by himself, and the teachers tell me that he loves music class and that now at snack time he is actually eating, rather than just looking at the other kids. It makes me so happy to see Michael so happy and thriving and just developing so normally!!!! I never thought we would ever get to this point...I know I say that a lot, but every single victory is just amazing and I want to celebrate it all with Michael! :)

WOW is all I can say.....

2008-11-04T18:40:00.003-05:00

Check out this video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtxlv6Hoerw

Monday update

2008-11-03T19:47:00.002-05:00

I took Michael to see his GI doctor up at Duke this afternoon in regards to his nasty poop issues/C-Diff that wont go away yuck. Michael was generous enough to produce a wonderful diaper for the doctor while we were there, so that is being tested for all sorts of stuff...The doctor also consulted with Infectious Disease doctors in regards to what is going on with Michael...they decided to put Michael on Vancomycin for 10 days...it is a strong antibiotic that should get rid of the C-Diff and nasty poop. It is awful tasting and Michael hates getting it..wonderful for the next 10 days, 4 times a day right! The doctor also gave us some Cholestryamine Packet...I am supposed to give him 1/2 a pack once a day after the antibiotic is done...it is supposed to help give his tummy good balance with the bacteria that should be there (if that makes sense!). So pray that Michael gets rid of this nasty poop issue and feels better.

The really good news at the doctor today was that he is growing! Michael weighed in at 25 lbs and is 33 1/2" tall....I was so happy to see it! I mean, I know he is getting tall...just about all of his 18 month clothes are gone because they are just too small...the only thing he can wear are a couple of 18 month pants...everything else is 24 months...so I am one happy mommy!!!!

Two years ago today.....

2008-11-01T09:54:00.005-04:00

Michael came home for the very first time in his life!

After spending the first 85 days of his life at Duke Hospital, we finally were able to bring Michael home...little did we know what the next two years would bring, but wow, what an amazing day that was! And what a true miracle Michael is!

I have not had a chance to update this sight in a while (our laptop broke) and of course we have been very busy...To try and sum up the past week or so here it goes...We walked in the Heart Walk and we raised $675 just from our friends and family...I say that is a big success!

There was even a fire truck there...the kids loved that!

On to the medical stuff....we made it to the allergist on Monday and Michael had to go thru some tests...it turns out that the only thing he is allergic to is peanuts...which I find hard to believe since he has had peanut butter - and the horrible mom I am, I tested it out on Wednesday and gave him peanut butter on bread and he had no reaction at all. So I dont know what exactly set him off at school that day, but we now have an epi pen jr and benadryl with us and at school at all times in case something like that happens again. I really felt like the allergist was no help at all. Thats another story though.

Michael's last day of antibiotics for the C-Diff was two Monday's ago...well, two days later the diarhea started again...we went to the pediatrician, dropped off more poop and got more antibiotics...big surprise, the doctor called on Wednesday and said that he tested positive again for C-Diff...great. So we have an appointment on Monday (yes, I said Monday in two days!) with Michael's GI doctor at Duke to see what else we can do. It is just horrible, my poor kid has been dealing with this for over 7 weeks now...and it sucks!

Michael did have a little cold going on and it is funny and sad in a way that my kid loves to get a breathing treatment....he gets all happy and excited just to wear the mask now...crazy!

Now on to some good news....feeding...Michael is doing FANTASTIC!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you...he has just taken off. He out right refuses baby food, he wants literally everything on my plate, and not just a little bite, he wants the entire thing!!! He is eating everything now...we have been working a lot to strengthen his chew by chewing on a nuk brush and a vibrating teether (I know my kid at 6 months would never put a teether in his mouth, but now at 2 he loves to do it!!! ). We met with the feeding therapist on Tuesday and she watched him feed himself cut up green beans (with a fork) tofu, peaches, cheese and some crackers, etc., and she just looked at him, then looked at me and said "I dont really think there is much more I can do for him"!!! We have been discharged from feeding therapy...of course I will stay in contact with her about Michael's progression and if I have any concerns at all I will call her and get in to see her...but wow, after all that work to find a therapist and Michael just took off on his own...that is my kid alright!

We are still working with a speech therapist weekly and that is progressing as well...he is babbling so much more now and really trying to repeat what we say...he says "bye bye" "ball" "all done" so it is coming along...he will need speech for a while I am sure, but hopefully by his 3rd birthday he will really be talking and you can understand him!

Halloween was great...the kids had a ball carving the pumpkin!

And of course Michael is a total boy and bruiser...I dont know if I will survive him! As you can see he has a bruise under his eye...that went away and last night he pulled a drawer out in the kitchen and it caught the corner of his eye, so he has a black eye today...great right! And if you cant tell, in his right hand is a pencil and in the left hand is a knife!! Yes, that is a knife!!! No harm came to him at all, but nearly gave me an instant heart attack!!! Here is my beautiful Cinderella and Superman!

We absolutely love our neighborhood....these are just the kids on our block!!!! We have the best neighbors in the world I think!
Michael got the hang of getting candy pretty fast...and his bucket shows all he got!

Wow, that was a long update....I will try not to let it be that long again! Tomorrow is the apt with the GI doctor for Michael so I will let you know how it goes...please say a prayer for Michael that this all gets cleared up!

Sunny but cool....

2008-10-20T13:17:00.006-04:00

This morning it was a very cold 38' here! Brr.... I cant remember the last time it was that cold! It is supposed to hit near 70' this afternoon, but it is cold out there this morning!

I swear it is next to impossible to get two young kids to both look at the

camera at the same time...

Or if they are both looking in the right direction, one of them is in the middle of blinking!

We had a wonderful weekend and can not believe it is Monday already! Friday night Mike and I got to get dressed up a bit and go out by ourselves while my brother watched the kids for us. It was just so great to get out by ourselves for a few hours and come home to kids sound asleep in bed! Saturday Megan had her dance class and Mike took Michael grocery shopping! I got to go to the neighbors house in the afternoon for a "girls brunch". It was great. Some of the ladies from the neighborhood got together and we had a great brunch and it was wonderful. On Sunday we did the American Red Cross Heart Walk...we raised $675! It was a beautiful and sunny day! Of course here we are back to Monday and Megan is in school and Michael is taking a nap now.

Michael had feeding therapy this morning and it went great. I dont know what it is, but his eating has just taken off. He wants everything we are eating and wants to try everything...which is so fantastic! His favorite food is cheesy rice from rice a roni, but these days he is eating tofu, waffles, vegetables from the can, and pretty much anything we are eating, he is eating now. Not sure if I posted this last week, but we went to McDonald's last week after choir at church and Michael actually ate some cheesburger and drank some chocolate milk shake! It is amazing to see him show such an interest in food, especially given all the feeding difficulties we have had since day one. So anyway, our new therapist is fantastic. She watched Michael eat all sorts of things this morning and said that he has all the skills, but his chew is a bit weak, hence the difficulty in chewing food properly. So we will be working on this, but he has come so far on his own, she even said we probably wont need much therapy...right now we will do weekly, but that wont last long until we are down to every other week. Michael is also babbling a lot more and it is great to hear all the new sounds come out of his mouth. He is really taking off!

Of course it is cold and flu season and Megan has a cold and this morning Michael woke up with a runny nose...after C-Diff and then the allergic reaction last week, cant this kid get a break! But he is just still his happy and wonderful little self. The rest of this week Michael has preschool on Tuesday and Thursday and Wednesday Kathleen our play therapist will be here and Friday morning Amy his speech therapist will be here...so it is never a dull moment here! My parents are planning on coming this coming weekend to help celebrate my birthday...yep, I will be 33 on October 23rd! How is it possible I am in my 30's already? :)

If it's not one thing it's another.....

2008-10-16T13:58:00.004-04:00

Michael has been doing fantastic since starting his antibiotics...he is so happy and the poop is under control...although we still have yet to give him any laxatives because he is going on his own. So we shall see what happens there. His eating is going great (knock on wood)...last night after choir practice at church Mike stopped at McDonald's for dinner...when we got home to eat Michael just cried at the baby food I pulled out and refused to eat it. He ate some french fries, some cut up cheesburger, some roll and had a little bit of a chocolate milk shake! I couldnt believe how he was eating and chewing everything up without gagging or choking! It was amazing to watch! He went to bed around 7:30 last night and I heard him make a little noise around 5:30 am but I didnt get him until around 6:30 since I thought he went back to sleep. He was so happy this morning...I got him dressed and he had breakfast - a scrambled egg and applesauce and his pediasure. After breakfast I noticed that he was rubbing his one eye...I didnt really think anything of it, thought maybe he just got something in his eye, but he looked fine. So we got to preschool and Michael was all happy and smiles. He walked right into his class, but then cried for a minute when he realized I wasnt coming in with him. Fast forward a couple of hours and I get a call from the preschool. The director Melody was calling to tell me that Michael seemed to have a little rash on his cheek and that he was rubbing his eye and she wanted me to come to the school...I really thought it was no big deal, so I wasnt rushing or anything....I was about 2 minutes from the school when my cell phone rang and it was Melody again asking where I was....She told me that they would meet me outside. I got to the school and parked my car, and as I was walking up to them I saw Michael's face....it was all red. He had broken out in all these red hives all over his face, his ears were bright red and he looked a little swollen.....when I was holding him he sounded a little like he was wheezing...so I called the pediatrician and took him right over. By the time we got to the pediatrician 5 minutes later, Michael was starting to have a hard time breathing and his entire face was bright red with hives all over it and he looked swollen...the nurse came right out and got me and put us in a room and a doctor and three other nurses all came right in....I got his clothes off and saw that there were hives all over him, mostly his face, neck and arms, but they were on his chest, legs and feet. They gave him benadryl and got a breathing treatment started since he was so wheezy. They checked his pulse ox and his O2 stats were 92%, a bit low for him, but still ok. After the breathing treatment and another few minutes he really started to look much better. His 02 sats were back up to 98% and by the time the doctor came back to look at him, he was all smiles again and you could tell he felt a lot better.

He obviously had a severe allergic reation to something...we just have no clue what. The teachers did not see him get bit by a bee or anything like that...he has no bug bits anywhere on him...They did not see him eat anyone else's snack. He did not have anything out of the ordinary. The only thing that is new this past week is that antibiotic that he is on to treat the C-Diff...my mom thinks maybe that is it, but he has been on it since last Friday and I cant imagine it would take that long for an allergic reaction to hit? Anyway, we now have to keep benadryl at school and we are getting an epi pen just in case. I made an apt with a pediatric allergist for October 27th and we will get tested for anything and everything to find out what he is allergic to. Allergies are pretty common in kids with VACTERLS, but Michael has never had any type of allergic reaction to anything....so this is all new to me and a bit scary. I can handle the hives, but the difficulty breathing was pretty horrible. Hopefully we can find out what he is allergic to and avoid it! I took pictures of him with my phone so now if I can figure out how to upload them here I will so you can see how horrible he looked.

Oh Happy Day!!!!

2008-10-14T13:32:00.002-04:00

What a wonderful and amazing day today is! Michael is doing fantastic! This morning Mike took him to preschool, I was at the dentist having a crown done - yuck! Of course Michael cried a bit when he dropped him off...but he had a great day at preschool! I got there a bit early and watched thru the window and there was my big boy playing and happy and it just warmed my heart to see him so happy! When I picked him up his teacher went on and on about how great he did, no crying except at drop off, and get this, for the first time ever at preschool, Michael ate a snack!!! Can you believe it! I know, not a bit deal for most parents whose kids eat, but this is new for Michael. He usually just sits there and watches the other kids during snack time, but today, he actually ate some crackers and drank some juice! YEAH! He was just so happy when I picked him up and I know that putting him in preschool was a great decision for him! We got home and Michael ate a great lunch and is now fast asleep in his crib. I just had to stand there and watch him sleep for a couple of minutes, he is so cute!

What a day!

2008-10-13T19:43:00.004-04:00

Michael is doing fantastic! He is truly on the mend from the nasty C-Diff junk....it is amazing how antibiotics are clearing this up! The past two days Michael has not had a blow out in the morning, which means it has been two wonderful mornings of not having to change sheets! After three very long weeks of dealing with poop and changing sheets every single morning, the past two days have been amazing! :) Michael is really feeling better and looks so good!

We met with our new feeding therapist, Laura, this morning and it went great. She was wonderful and Michael really liked her. We pretty much just talked most of the time about Michael's extensive history and then he went into the diaper bag wanting a snack (which is amazing in itself for a kid who never wanted to eat!) anyway, he sat there eating fish crackers and Laura watched everything he did. We had him sticking his tongue out for her and everything! She was very impressed with Michael and said that more than 1/2 of the work is done already...he has his reflux under control with the prevacid, his sensory issues have been worked out, and he is actually showing a big interest in food and trying new foods so a lot of problems that most kids face are far behind us! She said that it looks like he has the skills, just has some weakness and needs to learn a few things, but she is really optimistic that he will do great. I really feel like he is on the cusp of a breakthru and we just need the right person to guide us. Michael really is showing such a great interest in food the past few days...his favorite foods are rice (rice a roni four cheese rice!), any kind of pasta noodles, crackers, and today he ate tofu and loved it! He also enjoys scrambled eggs! He basically can eat anything that is soft foods, we will work on the harder things! Tonight he ate a can of spaghetti-o's and he chewed on a hard carrot stick and had some roll in addition to his 8 oz can of pediasure...I couldnt get over how much he wanted to eat! Hope it stays this way!

Michael heads back to preschool tomorrow after missing all last week, so we shall see how that goes. When I asked him if he wanted to go to school he said uh huh and got all excited when I asked if he would play on the playground at school...that is his favorite part! He is truly a little miracle and I feel so incredibly blessed by how well he is doing. I never thought we would ever get to this point.

Michael loves to "work" just like his daddy...notice the calculator is Michael's phone!

We finally have an answer!!!!!

2008-10-10T08:19:00.003-04:00

I received a call about 10 minutes ago from the doctor at Duke Hospital...the poop sample that Mike took in yesterday morning has tested positive for C-Diff. Finally, an answer!!! I am so happy!! I know, crazy to be happy about your kid having C-Diff, but you just have no idea...three weeks of poop issues and no clue why they are happening and now Michael's poor bum is turning red and he is just not comfortable...and now we will just put him on an antibiotic and it will clear this all up! I just am so happy and relieved to finally know what is causing this. How he got it, I dont know. He has not been on any antibiotics and until Tuesday he has not been in the hospital (typical ways to get this). So who knows, but who cares at this point...we found the problem and it can now be corrected! YEAH!!!

I hate hospitals....

2008-10-09T09:27:00.002-04:00

What more can I say. Anyone with a child who has been hospitalized knows what I mean. They suck! Michael did not sleep very well at all...every time he would fall asleep someone would come in for something...it was crazy and we are happy to be home. Although, we are no closer to finding out the problem than we were two days ago, we just know that he is hydrated now and we know the major things that are not causing this problem.

Yesterday morning the doctors told me that they just wanted to do an ultrasound of his abdomen and if that was normal then we could go home with the tests results pending from the poop and blood cultures. Well, we finally got the u/s done at 2 pm and by 4 pm still had not heard from the doctor. Finally around 5 pm the nurse comes in and tells me that she just talked with the doctor and that they want one more poop culture before we can leave (Michael had just did a big poop 30 min earlier and the diaper was already thrown out). I was MAD to say the least! The doctor finally came in a good 30 minutes later and told me that they needed to test him for C-Diff. I told her that test was already done...well, apparently the lab did not test for C-Diff. I was furious! How could that happen right! Apparently the ER did the order for the C-Diff test but they did not get a poop sample until Michael was admitted and the poop came from his room, not the ER. So the wonderful lab people did not put two and two together and never tested all the poop we had sent for C-Diff. Hello, when a little kid comes into the hospital for diarrhea like this, the first test should be C-Diff. UGH!! I was mad! I basically tore this doctor a new one and said I wanted to take Michael home. They agreed to send us home with some containers to collect the poop in and bring it back to be tested. We got home last night and between last night and this morning we got enough poop and Mike drove it up there this morning. He gave it to the doctor I yelled at last night, who was very helpful and apologetic. I felt bad afterwards for yelling at her since it really was not her fault...I was just so mad. The concerning thing is that he is still having the same poop issues and there is still blood in his poop. He looks good and is happy and eating and drinking, but I am really staying on top of his hydration. He is sleeping now after sleeping 10 hours straight last night!

So now we just wait and pray that the poop results will show something to explain all this and they can give an antibiotic or medication or something to fix it. This not knowing is rediculous. Please pray for an answer and for healing for Michael.

We are home....

2008-10-08T21:11:00.002-04:00

Michael is finally sound asleep in his own bed and I am exhausted. I will post tomorrow all the details...

waiting....

2008-10-08T15:50:00.002-04:00

They are testing Michael for C-Diff among a ton of other things....it just takes time to get the results back. They took more blood, urine and poop so we shall see. We also had an ultrasound of his abdomen and are waiting on the results of that. The doctor said that if the u/s comes back normal then they will discharge us tonight since there is no reason to keep us here since Michael is eating, drinking, peeing and pooping....and when they have the results from the tests they will let us know at home. I hate that this is happening, but I will be happy when we are home and we figure out what the heck is happening!

Tests and more tests....

2008-10-08T10:25:00.002-04:00

So they are testing Michael for lots of stuff....he had a pretty good night last night, but at 1 am had a HUGE poopy diaper that was so bad that the sheets had to be changed and Michael had to get a bath...yuck! Unfortunatley, there was also blood in his poop now....not a good thing. The poopy diapers have all continued to have blood in them....so the doctors are now talking about what tests they want to do next...they are talking about doing a CT scan of his abdomen...still waiting to hear what they will do. The good news is that his white blood count which was high in the ER has come down....everything else is normal. Michael is tired and crabby and of course the minute he falls asleep someone comes in...I hate hospitals. At this point though we have to stay here to figure out what is going on.

10th hospitalization....

2008-10-07T21:10:00.002-04:00

Michael has been admitted to Duke Hospital today. He has been having some major poop issues for almost three weeks and it is not getting any better. This morning he just looked off to me so I called the pediatrician and took him in. By the time we got to our apt at 10:30 Michael was looking pale and just not right. The doctor was at a loss and said that Michael was boarderline dehydrated and that I needed to take him to the ER....so off to Duke we went. We finally got back into a room around 2 pm and after four sticks finally got an IV going. They drew blood, cath'd him for urine and are waiting for poop, all of which cultures are being sent and looking for anything and everything to find out what is causing this problem with Michael. The ER attending doc says it sounds like he has some kind of infection, his white blood count is up which means his body is fighting something. Michael was pretty miserable after all this and poor baby would cry any time the door would open. He finally fell asleep on Mike for a little while and after a bag of IV fluids he looked so much better...I even had him laughing! I left around 6 pm to get Megan from a neighbors house and Mike is spending the night. I will be back in the morning after I put Megan on the school bus. I dont know what we will do if Michael has to spend another night, but we will deal with that tomorrow.......Please pray for Michael that we find out quickly what is causing this problem and that it is an easy solution and we can go home asap!

2nd post today, but I am so happy!

2008-10-03T14:02:00.002-04:00

Michael had speech therapy this morning and it went great! Michael actually said "ba ba"!! I know, not a big deal to some, but Michael has never said that! It was amazing!

Of course then the feeding therapist came, and well, I am not happy with her. She just doenst have the kind of experience or expertise that Michael needs. So now again in search for a feeding therapist and I came across, I hope to be, a really great one! She is highly recommended and her specialty and expertise is in feeding issues. The great thing is that their office just moved and she is literally 5 minutes if that from my house! And it will only cost me about $20 to go to her! So YEAH I am so thrilled and excited right now. I just have to get rid of the feeding therapist that is coming to my house...

This is so true.....

2008-10-03T10:33:00.001-04:00

Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.