Superstar is turning into a hoss--20 lbs 12 oz my friends which puts her in the 10th percentile for the first time in a LONG time (she was 25th at birth and been barely hanging in the 5th forever)!  I have been eagerly anticipating her nutritionist's visit all week as she's been feeling and looking bigger and whoa mama, is she!  We put her on a new "blenderized" diet at the end of August and apparently it is agreeing with her.  We had some issues after the first week (her gut nearly shut down) but girlfriend figured it out and gained 17 ounces in less than a month and that's with 3 solid days of not keeping anything down when she was having trouble with it.  Her respiratory rate is still real high too so she technically shouldn't be gaining--no one tell her that ok?Can you tell how stoked we are?!!  I seriously thought she was going to go to Kindergarten under 20 pounds at the rate she was going.   
She looks SO good too--great color, a little fuller and just so stinkin' cute!  I swear if her pulmonologist calls on Monday with bad news about her test results I'm just going to laugh at him.  His nurse called me late Friday to say she didn't have any news for me because he wanted to spend more time going over them before he called me--I'm guessing that doesn't mean they were fine but seriously, how could she be doing so well if she's in trouble?  Her echo is on Thursday, I'm hoping for no news there.

 

We went to the Plano Balloon Fest at the crack of dawn this morning.  Nate, Audrey, and I enjoyed it; apparently the boys weren't so impressed, we were walking back to the car and Jason says, "so, I didn't like that".  PUNK.  The Kedroski's are in town this weekend so we'll be hanging with them tonight, good times AND I get to cuddle their 4 month old who was born on Audrey's birthday this year--can't wait!!!  Finally, props to the Skinny Cow gang for all losing weight the second week in a row!  I'm FINALLY on board with finding my body after letting wine, chocolate, and yummy food overtake it this year.  I weigh more now than I did when Audrey was discharged from the NICU and nearly what I weighed just before delivery, YEEK!!  It's coming off though and I'll be ringing in 2008 as a smaller me!  Nate is on board too and in  tribute to my man JT, says everyday that he's "bringing sexy back"--wish him well.

 

PS  any tube feeding moms, PLEASE ask me about the blenderized diet if you don't know about it, it's made SUCH an impact on Audrey--she's gaining weight, she's hungry for real food, she looks great--I just can't say enough about it (it is a pain compared to formulas but SO worth it)

She did well today, thanks to everyone who wrote or called or sent positive energy our way.  The little capillaries around her eyes are all busted from crying so much and she took a 4 hour nap and went to bed early, but it wasn't as bad as I anticipated.  She really is a tough cookie--the tech commented at least three times about her strength and fight!  They gave her a gift at the end which always seems to mean that she either charmed the pants of them or they felt bad for what they put her through--I think it was the latter today.  We've gotten several gifts from the various hospitals we've frequented over the past 16 months, everything from stuffed animals and blankets to books and toys.  Today was the first time I was actually able to write a note of thanks though as the box had a sticker on it with the name of the foundation from which it came.   I wrote the family of Hunter Crumpton a note telling them how big Audrey's smile was when given the toy they donated in their son's name, I hope it brings them a smile too. 

Sheesh, I don't know what to say.  I've come here several times with stories to tell, thoughts to share, or feelings to vent but just leave again to wander off and visit y'all who have sites or try to catch up on email or whatever.  I'm not sure why.  I think I've formulated 20 or so entries in my head about various things--from Jason's sick day a few weeks ago to Audrey's developmental testing to my new bedroom to Allie day last week to whether or not I'm a helicopter parent to the tears the video linked here spilled from me--but they've all gone unwritten.  Oh yeah, Stacy tagged me too (without letting me know, I had to find it on her site a few days later ) and I'm still formulating that post in my head--There's just too much random stuff about me I guess to narrow to to eight!

Anyway,  I don't have any great reason for my absence, but I'm back and hoping to make a dent in the list blog entries floating around my head soon.

 

All is generally well here.  Both Ethan and Jason are back in school; Ethan is loving first grade and Jason likes snack at his new preschool.  That's what I get from him everytime when questioned, "what was your VERY favorite part of school today?".  Apparently they have cookies everyday too (that's not what the snack schedule says, but that's how he remembers it!)  He goes MWF for 2.5 hrs and you'd think I was torturing him by making him have lunch with me everyday (last year he went for 5hrs and had lunch at school).  He's such a nut. 

 

Audrey is doing great, showing signs everyday that she has a bit more of Jason's personality than Ethan's which should give me more than my fair share of grey hair.  There is always something with her though and her latest is sending us to Children's on Monday for a Ventilation/ Perfusion Scan.  She had a routine chest x-ray on Monday which was concerning to her pulmonologist. Her left lung looks as if it's not getting adequate blood perfusion.  He even said that the little girl trying to terrorize his office doesn't match the picture the film was showing but he would feel better getting more info.  She's had a few things that we'd already brought up to him before looking at the film that we had noticed (her respiratory rate has increased lately and she's sweating a lot more) so we're going to go through with all the testing (an echocardiogram and infant lung function test as well as the VQ scan).  I hate doing them though as her fear of health professionals has escalated ever since the ENT "removed mucus plugs" from behind both her eardrums in July--it was NOT a fun procedure for her.  I feel pretty confident that they're just going to show that her left lung is pretty pitiful but she's kicking butt despite it.  Of course there could be something else going on too, so that's why we are going through with them.  Think of her Monday morning if you would as she's not going to be sedated but rather strapped down for all scans (20 - 30 minutes worth) and she's getting an IV.  It's not going to be her ideal morning, my stomach hurts just thinking about it.  We won't have results for a week though as her doc is out of town, hopefully the techs and radiologist won't have their poker faces on and I'll be able to get something out of them.   I'll let you know--really, I will; I'll be back on here before a month goes by, I swear! 

 Until then!

Jenn

 

PS  We had a FABULOUS morning at the HFC 5K and even more fun tonight at the barbeque/swim party, but that's a whole other blog entry floating in my head--Jen, thanks for hosting a rocking party and Jenny, the 5K was AWESOME, HFC Rocks!