Utah trip 2010

Just a few pictures from our trip.

They had the same outfits so we made them twins.

Beau is 3 months and Taevin is 6 months in this picture.

We did a photo shoot at home with Tj, Shaylee and Beau, my parents and the kids.

Here are a few pictures from that. Areya and Aniela in the outfits my mom got them.

Thanksgiving 2010

The kids and I got to spend Thanksgiving in Utah with my parents, 2 of my brothers and their families and 2 of my cousins and their families. We had dinner in a cabin at Hill Air Force Base and then played games. It was so much fun getting together with all of them. Damian and Matt both had to work so they stayed in Illinois.

Saturday evening we went up to Morgan to have dinner with the cousins on my dad's side. It was so fun seeing all of them. It has been such a long time since I saw them last. I can't believe how big all their kids are getting. The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins.

I am so thankful for the time I got to spend with my family.

I am thankful for my husband and children.

I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and to have it in my life.

I am thankful for all the many wonderful blessing we have in our lives.

Sleep

I love watching my girls sleep. Not only do I enjoy the peace and quite but I love to see where they will end up at the end of the night.

Here are a few examples:

She fell asleep while doing her breathing treatment.

I think I have one of her sleeping while sitting at the counter and one of her under the bed/desk.

Taevin 6 months

Taevin is 6 months. Can you believe it?

He is now 12 lbs 4 oz which is not on the growth chart but he is slowly getting there.

He has started eating baby food and loves it!!

Halloween 2010

Here are some pictures from our Halloween fun this year.

We carved pumpkins with Uncle Matt and also some friends from church.

Some of our fun Halloween decorations.

Yummy Halloween cookies that we made.

My little Sweet Pea

Queen Areya and Pirate Aniela

How cute are they!!!!

Daddy's little monster.

We decided not to go trick or treating because it fell on Sunday instead we did trunk or treat at the church on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and the girls got more then enough candy.

Girls dance performance

Areya and Aniela took dance last spring and had their performance while I was at the hospital with Taevin so I wasn't able to go, but while looking through some pictures my in-laws took I found these so I thought I would post them.

This the girls with their teacher Miss Cathy. They loved having her for a teacher and miss her and dance class so much. We are so sad that she and her family moved away.

Just a quick update on life

I know I haven't posted for awhile but man we have been busy. Let's see Aniela started preschool, my friend Sara came to visit, doctor's appointments for Taevin and my brother Matt moved in.

Aniela's first day of preschool

Ready for round 2

We are doing home preschool with some friends from church. There are 6 kids and we take turns teaching 2 days a week for 2 hours. I had the first week which went great. We decided to have one of the mom's help out and man am I glad, there's no way we could all 6 little monkeys alone. With potty breaks and each one finishing projects at different times. Lots of craziness but also lots of fun.

Sara and I at the Blackhawks game

They lost in the last 25 seconds of the game

My really good friend Sara came for a visit , it was so much fun to have her here. We met at Lagoon just over 10 years ago. She is one of those friends that you can just pick up where you left off the last time you saw/talked each other. While she was here we went to Navy Pier (kid free) and went for a ride on one of the ships. After that we had lunch and headed home so I could make it to cub scouts. The next day we went (again kid free) to the Willis Tower, (formally known as the Sears Tower) had some lunch and then to the Blackhawks game. They lost in the last 25 seconds of the game but it was still fun.

They next few days we just hung out at home, played with the kids and caught up. It was so nice having an adult conversation with a girl. Don't get me wrong I love talking to my hubby but he's not much of a talker so I was in heaven staying up late with Sara and just talking. On Friday she had to go home, sad, but was 5 minutes late getting there to check in and they told her that they had already sold her seat. So not cool but it gave us one more night together so I wasn't to upset about it. (I guess I might have been if I were Sara since she had to pay the $150 to change flights) Thank you so much Sara for coming to visit me! I had so much fun! I love and miss you!

Taevin & Areya

Taevin had an appointment with the GI doctor this month. His reflux is so much better, he still has his days but i'll take it. She was a little concerned because he only gained 10 oz in a month. At his appointment he was only 11 lbs 12 oz so she has us fortifying his breast milk with formula. She also want us to talk to the endocrinologist to make sure there is not some other issue.

We also saw the people at the 22q 11.2 (DiGeorge) clinic this past month. I thought that this would have been a really important appointment but it ended up being a waste of a drive to Chicago, our time and money. They did the routine check (height, weight, listen to the heart and lungs) checked to see if all his medications were the same as they had listed then told us that we are doing and seeing every one we should be. Asked if we had any question and then sent us on our way. So pointless!!!

We continue to have the developmental and speech therapists come twice a month. Taevin is a bit delayed on meeting his mile stones but that is to be expected with the DiGeorge and his late start. He can roll from his back to his side and his side to his tummy. He reaches out to grab things and can hold on to them. He still has to be fully supported to sit and gets tired very quickly. He has started pushing up a little on his arms while on his tummy but does not get them fully extended. We tried spoon feeding but he still isn't ready for it.

We were able to get his RSV shot approved and he will be getting it once a month for the next six months. Next month we see the Neonatologist and follow up with the Endocrinologist. That's all we could squeeze in before we leave to Utah. When we get back well have to see the pediatrician.

The girls with Uncle Matt

Areya with Matt's dog Champ

My older brother Matt and his dog Champ moved in with us this past week. He has been having a bit of a hard time and needed a new start. It has been so nice having him here. I am so glad to finally have some family close.

Damain's mother went back to Poland this week. She has been here since May helping us with the kids. The girls still go down there every day looking for them, they are really going to miss her. The other nice part about having her here is that the girls have both picked up some Polish, to bad I can't say the same for me.

Next month the kids and I are going to Utah for Thanksgiving. We will be there for 10 days. I am so looking forward to this trip.

Beau Golden Voss

Ok I am a little behind on posting this (only by 6 weeks) but better late then never.

My younger brother Tj and his wife Shaylee welcomed their first child into their family on Aug 20, 2010.

Beau Golden Voss

6 lbs 10 oz

19 inches long

Congratulations to both of you! You're going to make great parents. I can't wait until November when I finally get to meet him.

7 years

Happy 7th Birthday Areya!!!

Where does the time go? I'm sure it was just a few years ago that I had her, not 7! Wow, it blows my mind to think that she has grown up so fast. Just this week she was telling me about a boy she likes. Hold on, she can't be old enough to start liking boys already, i'm not sure i'm ready for this stage. The boy she likes, that likes her too, is named Joey and it turns out that they have the same birthday. So while making his birthday card she asked me for a pictures of herself. I asked her what she wanted it for and she said it was so Joey could put it on his night stand next to his bed.( Funny right!) I was also informed that I had to leave her hair bows in because he liked them and wanted her to keep her hair like that for his party. (It cracks me up to listen to her) That night at Joey's party his mom told me that Joey has liked Areya since last year and that he told her "Areya makes my heart full of love."

Here is Areya with the help of Aniela opening her presents from mom & dad.

My very talented and amazing friend Tina was sweet enough to make her a Hannah Montana cake. (all while taking care of her 4 little ones) Areya loved it and Tina did a fabulous job, thank you again!!!

This is what she woke to birthday morning.

On Saturday we had a party for her with some friend from church and school. We had cake and ice cream, lots of junk food, a pinta and gifts. The kids had fun running all over the house and of course were way over loaded with sugar but they all had a great time. Thanks everyone for coming and for the gifts. It was fun having you over!

Thursday, which was Areya's birthday, I took the girls in for check ups and flu shots. Due to the high risk for Taevin the immunologist wanted us all to get flu shots and this was the only day I could get both girls in at the same time. What a great way to spend your birthday, right. Well, both girls are healthy and doing great.

Taevin also had a doctor's appointment this week. He saw the cardiologist. They did an EKG and listened to his heart. Every thing checked out great and we don't have to see him again for 3 months. The doctor did suggest that we look into getting Taevin the RSV shot. This shot is very expensive and he would need it every month until the end of RSV season. I hear they are around $1200 per shot. Not all insurance companies will cover it so we are looking into it.

Taevin is still having some issues with reflux but it is so much better then before. We did have to go back to smaller feedings more often (every 2 hours) to help with the reflux so we will have to keep a close eye on his weight. He did finally made it to 11 1/2 pounds (at 4 1/2 months) which is low but not low enough to cause alarm. I was talking to my brother and his baby at 1 month old is 9 lbs 10 oz. If he keeps growing like that he'll pass Taevin up.

A few more hair styles

This one is my favorite so far. It turned out really cute. I was informed that Areya's friend at school (her crush) really likes it too and wants her to keep it like that all the time.

I have been having so much fun doing her hair. I wish I could do some of these on my own hair.

Hair

There are a few ladies at church who do their girls hair so cute. I asked them where they get their ideas from and they told me about some hair blogs. So I have been trying to do some thing fun and different with Areya's hair every day before school. I have come up with a few of my own ideas but have also gotten plenty from the blogs. So far I have only done her hair the same twice. Mornings are so crazy that I only got pictures from 2 styles.

Areya is trying to grow out her bangs and this has been a great way to keep them out of her face. With her short hair I am a bit limited on things I can do but I guess it's good practice for when it grows out.

Here are the links to some of the hair blogs:

www.princesshairstyles.com

www.babesinhairland.com

Adopt A Do

Doctors, Doctors and more Doctors 2

It's been over a month since I posted about how Taevin is doing. We have been to so many appointments that I lose track. Let's see, since my last medical post (the end of July) we have seen:

*Early Intervention

*Speech (5 times)

*Developmental therapy (2 times)

*2 different GI doctors

*the Immunologist

*the Otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose and Throat)

*the Pediatrician

and he is scheduled to see the Endocrinologist next week, the DiGeorge clinic the following week and the Cardiologist at the end of the month. (with a few others in there some where) He has also had Labs drawn twice. I have been one busy mommy. Lucky for me only a few of these appointments are in Chicago.

So after all these appointments I bet you're wondering how he's doing. Taevin is doing great, better then we could have ever hoped for.

Early Intervention came and did an evaluation to see what extra help he might need. We decided on Speech therapy to help with feedings, help vocalize more and help increase sound volume. He also has a Developmental therapist who comes and works on meeting mile stones. They each will come to my home twice a month to work with him.

As of right now we also see the speech therapist from Children's every 2 weeks until the EI one is up to speed. We found out that Taevin was aspirating on the thicken milk as well so we had to increase the amount of thickener. We are still working on tongue control, keeping a good seal and pacing during feedings. He is now up to 4 oz every 3 to 4 hours.

We had a follow up with the GI doctor and they said since he was gaining weight that they did not feel it necessary to put him back on the feeding tube. Thank goodness!!!!!! He has been doing better since being put and the Zantac but still has awful episodes. I'm not loving this GI doctor so I got the name of one from a friend and decided to try her out. She took him off the Reglan (which can causes Parkinson's like behavior) and put him back on the Prevacid. We'll see how he does on these. We're scheduled to see her again in a month.

Our visit to the Immunologist was very positive. Even though Taevin is missing his Thymus gland he seems to have a full T Count. They want to see him back in 6 months to recheck his levels and in the mean time he has to stay away from live virus immunizations and everyone has to get a flu shot. The girls are going to love that.

I don't know if you remember me talking about Taevin's weak cry and loud breathing but we went back to the ENT to see if there was any new information. They put a scope down his nose to get a look at his throat. They said it was very red and swollen most likely due to the acid reflux. They were not able to get a look at this vocal cords due to the swelling and extra skin that is growing around them. They are still not concerned with the loud breathing and they feel is cry has improved. We are scheduled to go back in 3 to 4 months for them to try again.

At the Pediatrician we finally had his 3 month check. He looks good and is growing. He now weighs 11 lbs 2 oz and is 23 1/2 inches long. This puts him in the 10th percentile for both his height and weight. He also got 4 immunizations. We go back in 2 months.

The labs he got drawn were for his appointment next week with the endocrinologist. She has been keeping an eye on his calcium levels. As of right now he is still taking a supplement 3 times a day and we are hoping to ween it back some more at this visit.

I think that's all........

It amazes me that I can keep all this straight. So many doctors and so much information, but with such great feed back I couldn't be happier.