Pneumonia

Baby Tess has pneumonia. She has been sick since Sunday with a cough and runny nose, but it never seemed bad enough to take her to a doctor. We just tried to give her whatever you're allowed to give a baby of 9 months (just about nothing) and hoped it would pass. Thursday night, she got a low grade fever and my parents didn't like the way she was wheezing. She was still really bad the next morning and my worried mother took her to urgent care as soon as it opened. They took her to the hospital in an ambulance to be admitted.

It turns out that she not only has pneumonia, but two ear infections as well. We knew she was miserable, but Tess is such a good natured baby we had no idea it was so bad. She's been in the hospital since yesterday morning and there's a good chance she'll have to spend another night there. To make matters even more fun, she's sharing a room with a younger baby that has RSV, which is very dangerous to infants and very easy to spread. The other baby cries about every 15 minutes and its mother keeps their tv on all night. It's a good thing my parents like hospitals so much...

Oh, and the hospital they're at is within walking distance of Tess's birth mother, so my parents have had the pleasure of entertaining her hysterics while trying to care for baby Tess.

Here is a picture of Tess in the hospital that I'm just copying from my mom's blog post:

You can't really tell but she's strapped to a gurney waiting to be taken to the ambulance, the poor thing.

Birthday Celebration

Today, we celebrated Ki's birthday. He was very happy and eager to blow out the candles on his birthday brownies:
Then it was straight to the presents:

He had a lot of fun despite the concerned look on his face. Happy 2nd Birthday, Ki!

On Thursday, my dad had surgery to fix his nose. He broke it as a teenager and hasn't been able to breathe properly ever since. He gets to wear a fun nose pad for a bit, but I think it's worth it. He's already commented that he can breathe through both nostrils better.


In pregnancy news, my stomach is getting a lot bigger. I'm hitting chairs and counters while trying to make quick turns. My brain still thinks that I should be able to turn sharp and skinny corners. It has not registered the fact that my stomach is much larger than it use to be. It's a little annoying.

Same Day Update!

Ki is home! He came in happy and active and is currently sitting content on Amy's lap watching Planet Earth. He also is drinking pediasure, ate a piece of my twix, and is asking for water! :)

This was his "smile" when I pointed the camera at him.

Happy Late Birthday

Yesterday was Hezekiah's 2nd birthday. We are going to wait to celebrate, though, because he is in the hospital.
Ki got an infection Sunday morning and was taken to the hospital. It turns out he has E. coli. He was reacting well to the antibiotics and we thought he would get released yesterday, but his fever spiked again last night. Now we're hoping he can come home sometime today.
I've gotten to spend a lot of time with Tess since Mom and Dad have been at the hospital so much. She is still adorable. Here is a video her watching the clip of herself laughing:



In other news, Jeff and I finally got a new car! It's a 2007 Mazda 3 and we're very happy with our purchase.

After spending 3 exhausting hours at a Toyota dealership, we went to Carmax. I don't think we'll go anywhere else now. The dealership was absolutely miserable. We found a car that we kind of liked and they tried to hard sell it to us then and there, even after we told them multiple times that we wanted to try a few other places first. It was really dumb. We partially bought at Carmax just to spite them and their stupid selling techniques, but it really helps that Carmax doesn't try to pressure you into a purchase.

Baby Watch

I have three babies to report on right now:
1.) Hezekiah
Ki has just finished his 2nd round of chemo and it is hitting him pretty hard. It seems that nights are the worst for him. I understand there is a lot of throwing up and diarrhea. I'm a little glad I don't have night shift with him. I'm fairly useless when he throws up or has a toxic poo. I've been sensitive to smells and gagging noises. Being pregnant is sooo much fun.
Ki tends to sleep a lot because he is so exhausted from hospital visits and the toll the chemotherapy takes on his poor little body.

But he also likes to play with Amy

And he even ate a starburst today!

He says "Owie" a lot and rubs his chest where the port is, but he loves to be held. When he wants someone to pick him up he says, "Hold you" and puts his arms out to be taken. He likes having books read to him (he really likes to turn the pages himself) and he really loves playing catch. He still has to be on the TPN at night since he doesn't like eating so much, but it is only at night so he can still move around during the day.
We have some really good news from Ki's last doctor visit. It looks like his tumor has shrunken dramatically! We hope he can have the surgery soon to remove it.

2.) Michael
Mike is doing just fine and loves to kick baby Tess when she falls asleep on my stomach. She doesn't seem to notice or care. We have some more fun ultrasound pictures of him though. This time you can tell that it's a baby! It looks like he is holding his fist above his head -first open, then close.



3.) Esther
I got permission to post pictures of Tess as long as I don't give her real name. Be prepared for the cutest baby ever. Honestly, Jeff and I would be so happy if our baby is even half as cute or good-natured.


The video is only a few seconds long, but it's hard to show all of her cuteness with just photographs.

I love that laugh!

To Grandmother's House We Go

My last day of work at the Excel Eye Center was December 31st. It's weird to think that I don't have a job anymore. I gave my two weeks notice in preparation to go to Colorado for a little while to help out my parents. Excel was really nice about everything and even had a going away lunch for me where they served french toast. It was great! I hope it doesn't take too long for them to fill my spot.

Jeff and I left for Colorado late Sunday night after I got back from my cousin Matt's wedding in Spokane, WA. Jeff was amazing and drove pretty much the entire way while I slept. We got all the way to Vail, CO when Jeff pulled off the highway for a quick rest stop. I woke to Jeff yelling "Crap, crap, crap!" before we slid headlong into a snowbank. Thankfully, the snowbank was thick and frozen over or else Jeff and I would have slid right over a small cliff.

We couldn't get the car unwedged, so Jeff called our insurance for a tow truck. We didn't know exactly where we were, so Jeff walked the rest of the way in the bitter cold to the rest stop to try to get a mile marker for the tow truck.

A few minutes after he had left, I saw lights coming over the hill behind us. Hoping they would see the car and help us out, I turned on the hazards. I watched a snow plow come around the corner and then watched him try to turn to miss our car. He was able to turn the plow, but he continued to slide down the hill sideways right towards me. I grabbed the driver's seat and hung on as hard as I could as he smashed into our tiny Rio.

Once again, the snowbank saved our car and kept me from going over the edge of the cliff. I was shaken up but felt okay enough to get out of the car. I wanted to see if the plow driver was okay. When I got out, I saw Jeff coming back around the corner where the rest stop was, and I could hear the plow driver reporting the incident. Jeff wrapped me in the blanket we had in the car (I had stupidly not grabbed my big coat from home and was just wearing a thin jacket) and sent me to go wait at the rest stop while he sorted things out.

We hit the snowbank at about 2:50am. We finally drove away from the wreck in the tow truck a little after 6am. Jeff was absolutely exhausted and we were both freezing.

Our insurance sent us and the tow truck to Evergreen, CO, about 80 miles away. Our truck driver, Matt, was a very nice guy but the cab of his truck was very crowded and it was a long drive. Once we finally got to Evergreen (about 7:50am), we dropped the car off at the auto body shop and grabbed some breakfast at the gas station next door. The shop called us back and told us the car could take up to two weeks to fix if it wasn't totaled. Thankfully, they were also a Hertz rental, so we rented a car and drove the last few hours to Colorado Springs. It had been a long and awful morning. We got out of Evergreen after 9am and got to the Springs between 11am and 12pm. When we got there, we slept until 4pm.

I am so grateful that everyone is okay. Jeff took me to the hospital yesterday to make sure Michael was okay. He hadn't been as active and I hadn't felt "right" since the accident. I was such a relief to hear his fast little heartbeat and feel him move as soon as they strapped him down with the belt and heart monitor (I guess he didn't like it because he kicked the monitor a lot). They did a blood test to see if the baby's blood and mine had mixed. There was a little mixing so I got a RhoGAM shot. Overall, the visit took more than 3 hours. It was worth it, but we were very happy to get out of there.

I am feeling a little sore from whiplash, but nothing serious. I'm making another appt to get myself checked now that we know Mike is fine. The one who suffered the most through all this was our poor car. It is going to be totaled, but at least we own it so we won't be losing any money.

Finishing Up the Year

2009 is gone. During the last few weeks of December, Jeff and I were able to celebrate 2 weddings, 2 birthdays, our 2nd Anniversary, Christmas, and New Years.

Two of my cousins, Mike and Matt, decided to get married within a few weeks of each other and Christmas. Mike chose the 19th for his and Heather's wedding, while Matt and Stacey went for Jan 2nd (technically in the new year, but I am posting it here with all of our other major celebrations). The weddings were a lot of fun and it was great to be able to add another 2 people to our large- but ever growing- family.

Jeff and I flew to Colorado for Mike's wedding and stayed for our 2nd year anniversary and my younger sister, Katie's, birthday. Jeff was also finally able to meet my Granny Veronin and Uncle Matt! He's never met anyone from my dad's side of the family before. It was great. I haven't gotten to see them in years either.

We had to leave before my big sister, Mary's, birthday on Christmas Eve, but I think she managed to have fun anyway.

We flew home for Christmas and celebrated on our own Christmas Eve before going to Jeff's parent's house for Christmas day. We got to shoot off rockets and eat awesome food.

For New Year's Eve, Jeff and I went to Wingers with friends and then hung out at our house to ring in the new year.