The Stove... The Stove... The Stove is on FIRE!!

On Friday, Shane made Cheesecake and afterwards decided to self-clean the oven. He switched it over to self-clean and we sat down on the couch to watch a movie. Our eyes started to water so he went to check on it and smoke was billowing out the burners on the top. We tried to turn it off but it went into lock mode and we couldn't. Shane unplugged it and moved it out into the middle of the kitchen. It was still smoking. He tried to open it and the handle broke off. When he did get it open a little, flames shot out...time to call the fire department!!!

So with lights and sirens, they showed up. The fire chief was the first to get here. He came in the house, walked into the kitchen, walked by the smoking stove in the middle of our kitchen, looked at our dishwasher that was just finishing a cycle and said " Dispatch, disregard, it is just the dishwasher" then he turned around and said "Dispatch, we have an oven fire, send 'em over".

Anyway, they took the stove outside and pryed it open and put out the fire. The kids slept right through it. Thankfully, we have a hallway that goes to the back of the house and after opening all the windows in the front and closing the doors to the back, none of the smoke went back to where they were sleeping.

We are thankful it was just the oven. It was probably 15-20 years old. We now have a nice one with a ceramic cook top. Shane is in heaven!

Follow up

Macey did really well for her bronchioscope on Thursday. They were looking at her throat to check for damage due to reflux and were checking her vocal cords since her voice sounds raspy and is very small. The ENT doctor said it looked much better than he expected and we are now going to follow up with a speech doctor. We do that in a month. She already has a speech therapist that comes to our house weekly. Hopefully we can figure out what is going on.

Laney is much better since the change to the fancy formula. I am so glad we found something that works. She is much happier. It is a formula for colicky babies and babies with problems processing protein.

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat, Halloween school pictures and other miscellaneous pictures from October. Enjoy!

No happy medium

Macey and Laney went to the doctor for well visits this week.

Macey is 20 1/2 pounds (below the chart for her actual age). She is continuing to slowly gain, so it is okay. She is still on the high calorie pediasure which helps. She is still trying to catch up.

Laney is above the chart she is so big! I think they need to make a new chart because technically it is impossible for her to be above the 100th percentile. It just doesn't make sense. Anyway, she is doing a little better. She is now on soy formula and is happier than she has ever been.

Bottom line... they will be in the same size clothes soon.

Update... will add pictures later.

Thought I would update on how everyone is doing...

Laney is miserable...
She is getting huge. I bet she is 15 pounds now. She wants to eat all the time. I think she may have colic, reflux or lactose intolerance as she is never happy. I have tried several formulas and they all have different reactions, but all leave her miserable. The latest thing I am trying is soy formula. I should know by tomorrow if that makes any difference. I just want her to be happy!

Macey is happy...
We had Macey's OT evaluation today and she is doing really well developmentally. She was getting extra help with Feeding (for gagging and coughing while eating and drinking)... sorry to be gross! Anyway, she no longer needs the help and has successfully graduated from Occupational Therapy... Yeah!

She is still in Speech Therapy (2 times a month) and is possibly starting physical therapy for her feet turning in while she walks. In speech therapy she is learning sign language and she has added many new words to her vocabulary. She can now say da-da, ma, duck, some, this, whatisit? ba (for baby, ball and bye) and can sign eat and more. Her voice is still so soft sometimes it is hard to tell if she is saying something or just babbling.

This brings us to the ENT. She is getting a scope done on November 15 to check out her vocal cords to see if there was any scaring from the surgery last March. We are hoping they see that her vocal cords are getting better and the reflux medication is working and there is no further damage.

Other than that, she is walking around and playing like a typical 1 year old. She loves to play with Jerry and pester her miserable sister.

Jerry is amazing...
He amazes me every day. He now attends pre-school 3 days a week in the mornings and is loving it! Tomorrow is his sharing day and he is bringing his buzz lightyear and woody toys to share. Last time he took his buzz lightyear space ship.

Today we were talking about how long it takes to drive all the way across the country and I told him it would take 3 days non stop to drive across the US to where Uncle Bill lives in Seattle (is that right?) and he said "3 days? That's 2 nights!" Amazing!

Tonight when I was tucking him into bed he said... "I wish I had 6 legs and 6 arms so I could hug everyone!" How cute is that?

Song from school

Here is another one... this is for you Uncle Jerry.

What Jerry learned at school

Hopefully this works... I have never posted a video before.
Here is what Jerry has learned at school.


It looks pixelated... I will have to work on that.

Blast off!

At Grandma Patsy's house she has a shower stall in her basement. Jerry thought this would be a great space ship and asked Grandma to count down for him to go to outerspace. She counted for him and he blasted off. After landing, he opened the curtain, stepped out, and said "What? No aliens... How'd I end up in Canada?"

Jerry started soccer. He loves it, although he doesn't quite get it yet. In tonight's game, we had to keep telling him which goal he needed to kick the ball to.








kick off!












Who said sitting on the bench wasn't fun?

Meet my baby sister

Laney Elizabeth was born on Friday, August 10th at 5:48 pm
She was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 21.5 inches long

I'm back!! Can you believe it?

Well, this summer has been very busy, but fun. Macey is doing great. Jerry is having fun playing with friends and having a carefree summer. I am very pregnant... just a couple of weeks from my due date!












Jerry with his best friend Lexi at the Toledo Zoo













Handsome Jerry and his other best friend Cousin Gary at the unbirthday party! (he made me put the handsome part in)













Macey exploring the sandbox












Macey and her new buddy Ben at our 4th of July cookout (he was born just a month before her)













Macey got in the chair all by herself. Macey is happy. (caption by Jerry)












Macey and me... I put Macey in the bucket all by myself but she is too heavy. The day was Wednesday. (caption by Jerry)

Wacky Wednesday

We had our pre-school home visit this afternoon and the pre-school teacher was chewing gum. Jerry proceded to inform her of the dangers of chewing gum...
"When you chew gum, you get gum disease"

You just can't make this stuff up!

Pics from March, April & May

Happy Unbirthday!!

Getting back to Normal

Macey is doing much better. We had a repeat scope of her throat on May 2 and it looked good. There were a few red areas that the surgeon was concerned about. He thinks all of our troubles were caused by reflux, so she is now on 2 reflux medicines as well as the breathing treatments for her lungs. We go back to the surgeon at the end of this month for a check up. Hopefully, we will have good news from him.

Macey's official "due date" is tomorrow (May 15th). She will officially be a year old if you go by her adjusted age. She is getting so big. She is now walking around furniture and finally saying ma-ma!!!

I am having trouble posting pictures, so I will try again later.

Finally Home!!!

I have waited a long time to post this!! Since my last post, Macey was taken via plane to Cincinnati Childrens Hospital where she stayed a week. They had a special treatment they thought she might need for her severe pneumonia. Fortunately, once there, she turned around and got much better. I came back to St. V's in Toledo with Macey on the flight back this past Friday and she just got to come home today. She is still really tired, but seems happy to be home... just like the rest of us! Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.

A brighter day

Yesterday, Macey did not have a good day. She was having trouble weaning off of the oxygen. She has pneumonia on one side of her lung, so that is challenging things. Yesterday evening, she seemed to turn a corner and was much more stable. The main goal today is to reduce her need for nitric oxide (that helps open up her lungs) and the oxygen. Her pulminologist said once we get her off the ventilator, she will be able to fight the pneumonia better and get her home!! I really like him. I will update as soon as anything new happens.

Still recovering

Just a quick update to let everyone know how Macey is doing. She is still on the ventilator so things can heal up. They are thinking of removing it on Wednesday. She had a small throat infection over the weekend that is looking better after two types of antibiotics. It has been a waiting game for now while the area they fixed heals up. I will let everyone know when the vent comes off. They said it could be another week in the hospital after it is removed. Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers.

Out of surgery

Macey did well with her surgery. They first did another scope to see what was going on. She had scar tissue from the ventilator that they were able to remove without doing reconstruction. They then put in a stint to keep her airway open and put her on a ventilator so the area can heal. She will be on it for a week and in the hospital for another week afterwards. They will do another scope in a few weeks following the time she goes home. We will have to watch her closely for any signs of breathing trouble. We are relieved she is doing well. She is currently sedated and resting comfortably. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

In the hospital

Well, it's day 6 in the hospital... for those of you who have not heard, I will update. Last weekend Macey started to make heavy breathing noises while crawling. I kept an eye on her and Monday night into Tuesday, I could hear her breathing pretty much all the time. I made an appointment to see our family doctor on Tuesday and he sent us for x-rays. They said she has pneumonia (which was not the case). Anyway, we were sent home with some antibiotics and breathing treatments. Wednesday came around and things got worse. Her breathing was more labored so I called our doctor and he said to go to the ER and have some blood drawn and check her out. We went back to the hospital where she was in the NICU at just in case she would need to be admitted.

When I got to the ER, she was seen right away. No waiting for the baby who is breathing horribly!!! There was an instant swarm of hospital people around her and they were testing everything possible. She was sent for a chest and neck x-ray then to get a CAT scan. The results showed swelling between the spinal cord and throat. We spent 8 hours in the ER before being admitted at 11:00 that night!!! What a long day! After admitted, she was put on steriods and antibiotics as well as many other breathing treatments to try to reduce the swelling. By friday, her white count had gotten much better but her breathing (although better) still sounded horrible. We spent the weekend waiting a little longer for the swelling to completely go away but there was little change. She had a bronchioscope done Monday which showed two possible reasons for the labored breathing. One looked possibly like a cyst which would be easily removed by laser or cutting it out. The other is much more serious called subglottic stenosis which is a narrowing of the throat below the vocal cords. This damage would have been caused by her being on a ventilator when she was first born. She is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday the 27th at 10:15. They will then do a central line, then another scope to pinpoint the exact problem, then surgery to correct it. If it is a cyst or something else similar, the recovery time will be 3-4 days, but if it is the subglottic stenosis, it will be reconstructive surgery and she will be here for 2 more weeks, the first being on a ventilator and sedated.

All of this is still sinking in and is a lot to handle at this point. We are trying to focus on the end reasult... a happy Macey with no breathing trouble! I will update when I get a chance after the surgery tomorrow. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

My First Birthday!!!

Macey got a birthday cookie this year. As you can see, she enjoyed it completely.

We are going to have a party for her after RSV season is over (sometime in May). We kept her big day pretty low key this year. What a difference a year makes! This time last year, she was just 2 pounds, couldn't breathe or eat on her own and now...just look at her! She went for a eye doctor appointment last week and they said her vision was perfect. It seems like we worry about something and the next day or week, she tells us "Who said preemie??? I'm a big girl and I can do it!" She is such a miracle!! We have been so lucky.

Here are a couple of pictures of Jerry after the blizzard. We got about a foot of snow. Jerry loved it!!

Macey is doing okay. She is getting over a stomach bug that she got at the doctor's office when we went for her one year well visit. That has to be where she got it because we haven't really been out and about (to avoid the germs!!!). Figures. She is otherwise doing good. She weighs almost 17 pounds and is crawling and pulling up on things. She can say da-da. I will also be uploading pictures of her first birthday.