Finally. . . An Update

It's sad to think it's been over three four months without an update on here. I'd like to say that it's the idea that no news is good news, but it's more that there's been so much going on it's been hard to find the time to even think about this blog, much less time to post on it.
Without being too lengthy  (nevermind, it's really lengthy--just deal with it or ignore it), I'll try to recap the rest of the summer and start of fall, especially since I try to use this as a journal of our lives. Unfortunately, pictures will have to come later since they're on my computer and I'm not currently using it. But if you don't like to read the writing, stop now and just stay tuned for a picture update to come shortly, hopefully.

July
We thought our major stress levels were going down a bit, since Declan's latest surgery was behind us and the only current stress was trying to sell the house. Unfortunately things changed very much very quickly in the month. My aunt Mel (aka Auntie M, babysitter/daycare extraordinaire) had a heart attack, and due to the location of the blockage causing the attack, required open heart surgery. Following surgery, we learned she had a major stroke and has been facing a long recovery from that. She is now home and doing well physically, but she lost all communication skills and is currently working on relearning how to speak and write. Because of this, I had to frantically search for a new daycare for the kiddos, which with Declan's high maintenace requirements was much more stressful than a normal daycare search, which I imagine is difficult enough. We did manage to eventually find someone who was willing to give Declan a try, and although there have been a few bumps in the process, overall it has gone okay, and the socialization has been great for Callum, even though we all miss Auntie M.'s skills.

August
School started August 1, and it was also supposed to be the beginning of a new start after the difficult end of the summer. Unfortunately that wasn't to be the case. Lola suddenly became ill the night before school started, and Scott planned on taking her to the vet after work the next day since they didn't think it was anything major and seemed like some sort of flu type bug. Instead, after work she was essentially unresponsive, and while they could not make a definite diagnosis, none of the options were good, and so we had to put her to sleep.
On the positive side, towards the end of the month, we finally got an offer on our house, and after a counter, we accepted. It was actually a pretty easy offer, and we were able to get what we hoped out of the house. So the rest of August was spent working on packing and starting to get things nailed down for the new house.
We did take time out to enjoy Declan's first birthday, which I hope to devote more time to in a separate post.

September
The craziness just kept on going. September 6 we closed on the sale of our house--yay! Having the house on the market for just over three months is really good for this market, and the closing was nice and easy (we didn't have to do a single thing to the house following the inspection). The next day we headed down to Louisville for Scott's sister's wedding, and were gone all weekend for that. It was a good time, but exhausting because Declan wasn't feeling his greatest. We made it through, though, and had a good time celebrating, even if we had to focus more on Declan than the reception and were concerned about getting home after being gone all weekend to pack.
Moving week, everything kind of fell apart, and looking back, I'm just amazed we even survived. We had to be out of the house by Thursday, so Scott was going to take Monday off to pack and take Declan to his cardiology appointment. Instead, Scott ended up with a fever, and Declan started getting worse, so I took care of Declan while Scott alternated packing and resting. Somehow through the help of amazing friends and family we were able to move our stuff, all while Scott still didn't feel the greatest and Declan was recovering also.
We thought we were finally in the clear  and could spend the weekend unpacking at my parents' house when I received a phone call from Scott at school on Friday of that week letting me know Declan was being taken by ambulance to the hospital because Sally, our daycare provider, thought he was having febrile seizures. The long and the short, after a weekend in the hospital and a 24-hour EEG (at least I think that's what it's called), not to mention my first ambulance ride, we think it was a combination of being sick and extreme reflux that caused a seizure-like response in him due to pain. He did test positive for a flu bug. So far we haven't had any more problems, so we're crossing our fingers that it wasn't seizures and they won't happen again. Oh, and he also had four teeth pop through within a week of each other, so this could have contributed to the issues, too.
Somehow after that, we managed to make it through the rest of the month and they started work on our house!

October
This month went much more smoothly overall (either that, or I've learned to tune out all of the bad things.) The house building has gone well, and they have worked really hard on it. I had two weeks off for the new balanced calendar, which was nice. Declan had hand surgery the first week of break, which amazingly only took about an hour and we were only at the hospital a total of four hours, start to finish (hopefully I'll post pictures soon updating this, too). Then he had a GI scope the next week to check his reflux and potential other isssues (which turned out pretty well overall) so it was a busy break. At the end of the month, we celebrated Callum's third birthday!

November
Nothing major has happened so far this month, which for us is quite exciting.We've been plugging away at picking out things for the house and checking on it. My goal is to update this at least more often than once every four months so I don't have to do such lenghty posts just to catch up.

Summertime and Surgery

Brotherly love

Here it is, late June, my summer is almost half over, and I feel like I haven't even processed it starting yet. Hence the usual slowness for updating. Declan has hit the big nine months, although at this point, he's already almost ten months old! We're still seeing good developmental improvement out of him, and I have been able to add a few more foods back into my diet, which is great. I've even gotten to go out to eat for the first time in over three months, so that was a huge deal for me! I definitely now have a new appreciation for people who deal with food allergies on a regular basis, and now know to be more aware and cautious of what ingredients are in our food in general.

Nine months!

On the downside, Declan had surgery last week, but on the upside, he's doing well overall recovering. For those unaware, this was a planned surgery--he has had bad kidney reflux (Basically we've learned gravity just doesn't work on this child--he has been dealing with both that and acid reflux. So we know never to hang him upside down or everything will probably fall out!) and had been on antibiotics for the last six months to avoid getting UTIs in hopes he would grow out of the problem. Unfortunately, the meds weren't working well enough and he's had several bad UTIs--his most recent one was a strain the hospital hadn't seen in about five years, which is saying a lot since they're the third best pediatric urology department in the country. Plus, a recent test showed he hadn't grown out of the problem at all. He had the surgery last Thursday morning which took about three hours, and after dealing with a rough night of him being in pain, he recovered well and got to go home on Saturday. This was the shortest hospital stay we've had with him, so it was rather odd (but good!) to be home so soon. He had a stent (drainage tube) coming out below his incision that was taken out yesterday, but other than follow-ups, we're hoping the surgery has taken care of the problems and he can be off of antibiotics completely in a few months.

Pre-surgery

All fixed and sleeping

standard hospital life

crazy sleeper

back to the good life

Not to leave Callum out, but he is as busy as ever. My parents are working on having an extra garage/barn built, and he has had a lot of fun playing in the dirt piles. Today he got to watch them unload the supplies--he loved it because he got to sit in the cab of the semi and pull the horn and was also able to sit inside of a little scoop. Also, while Declan was in the hospital, Callum went on an adventure with my brother and got to ride the Thomas train. So we'll probably be hearing about that for the next six months.

Oh, and because we've been a bit bored around here with nothing to do, we've also put our house on the market. We have always talked about eventually buying land and building. We figured it would be in a couple more years, but the timing works out best right now, so we put our house up for sale at the end of May. Yes, we're crazy, but I just remind myself that when we're sitting in our new house that we completely chose, it will be worth it. We close on the land next week, and we have a builder picked out and ready to start the blueprints, so all we need to do is sell our current house. So if you're looking for a new home, let us know and maybe we can work something out :).

First time swimming!

Plugging Away

Happy Baby

It's hard to believe it's already May. As a teacher, I'm usually very cognizant of this month because I start to feel the push of winding down the end of the year. Maybe it's the four days of ISTEP testing, maybe it's the strange weather, or maybe it's the trying to keep up with a two-and-a-half year old and an eight-month old who has an entourage of doctors and appointments. However it's happened, it's almost the end of the school year and I haven't even begun processing it!
In general, it's been a pretty good last month at our house. Callum is as busy as ever, and in the last few days we've noticed his two-year molars popping through. He's done really well with it and we've hardly noticed. He was a bit under the weather yesterday and today, which meant me spending a night curled up on the chair sleeping with him. While it wasn't the most comfortable position, he's so rarely a cuddler that I didn't mind, except for his need to wake me every so often to tell me a story (which included everything from recounting everyone who went to church on Sunday to the fact that he got to see a monorail train on PawPaw's computer last week). Silly boy!
He did also hit his half birthday milestone. Since I haven't done a Hey Hey picture in a while, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to get one. Sitting still just wasn't in his vocabulary.

Speaking of milestones, Declan also hit eight months! He's up to 14 lbs, 1/2 ounce, and the doctor was really pleased with his weight gain. While he's still below the curve, he has moved up just a tiny bit. She said she would like to see better height gain, but Declan was screaming his head off while the nurse attempted to record his height, so I'm unsure of the accuracy.

So sweet--holding Squeaks's hand

Sitting by himself!

Otherwise, he's doing well overall. He's still in therapy (and will continue to be probably until he ages out at the age of three), but we're seeing some good progress! However small they are, I'm just excited to see milestones in the right direction. He's been eating some baby food--he's up to cereal, bananas, sweet potato, applesauce, and prunes and seems to like them all. I've been able to add corn back into my diet--yipee (if you think corn isn't a big deal, check out the labels next time you eat and see what all has corn starch or corn syrup in it)! I tried eating eggs, and that didn't go so well, so they're still out.

On Sunday we had Declan's baptism finally. Well, it was actually a recognition ceremony, but we'll consider it his baptism. He was officially baptized on Scott's birthday, right before his heart surgery. We didn't tell most people because 1) we didn't want to scare people in thinking the worst of the outcome of his surgery, and 2) we wanted people to treat his recognition like a baptism so he could have a normal moment in his babyhood. We actually tried doing this ceremony in November, but since most of the family was really ill, that didn't work out. It turned out beautifully this time!

Callum is working on his photography skills. He set this photo up all by himself and then pushed the button to take the picture:

Posing with Squeaks

 Callum's also a whiz with musical instruments. We'll be setting up his tour dates soon:

Random Easter pictures (we didn't get any good family ones--Declan was exhausted and hungry after church, and then we got too busy to go back and take ones).

 

Everyone always asks how Callum is doing with being a big brother. I think these pictures say it all:

 

Lucky Number Seven

Seven months!

Big brother had to join the fun!

 Declan has made it to the lucky seven month mark. Instead of focusing on the medical stuff (like another UTI causing him to be under the weather or the not-so-exciting urology visit yesterday), we'll focus on the milestones and funny things instead!
*He can roll from his tummy to his back, and even did so for the doctor at his six-month visit.
*He likes tummy time, and is doing a great job holding his head up and starting to push onto his elbows a bit.
*He thinks getting clothes changed is hilarious, which is such a bonus for us.
*He likes to smile at strange sounds, and usually starts smiling or laughing when Callum is crying.
*He's starting to bat at toys and does a good job at grabbing them.
*So far he has had rice cereal, applesauce, and yesterday he tried bananas. He wasn't too sure about the bananas, but he didn't spit them out. He has done a fabulous job with quickly grasping the concept of eating off a spoon.

*Although we have been working on him putting toys in his mouth, his favorite things to eat are his hands. 

*He can't quite mimic blowing raspberries yet, but when he's in the right mood, he'll stick his tongue back at us when we do them to him.
*We always know when he's about ready to fall asleep in his bouncy seat or car seat--he always sticks his right arm up and stares at it to help him fall asleep.

The hand is up--almost asleep

*He got to feel his feet in the grass for the first time the other day and loved it. He also loves being naked, too, so he's going to love summer weather!

Six months (well, almost seven!)

Six months! I promise these are different photos than last month--he just happened to be wearing the same outfit both times.

Life is plugging along pretty well here at the Green house. We've had a few ups and downs the last couple of months, but overall mostly ups, so we're pretty pleased. Declan started to have more feeding issues that we had to deal with--it started with him hunching over a few times like he had stomach pain, but it was just a bit so we thought it was a temporary thing. Then it progressed into full on gagging, heaving, screaming, discomfort, and a general all-around irritated kiddo. It got to the point in just a couple of days to where he wasn't really eating and we feared he was becoming dehydrated (a replay of what we saw in November, but this time adding in the gagging). We debated for a while, but then finally broke down and took him to the ER because he was in so much pain and we worried about him not having enough liquids in him. With his past history, we also wanted to be certain it wasn't something major we were overlooking. After a stomach x-ray and some labs, we were sent home with a diagnosis of a stomach bug--they didn't seem too concerned by his symptoms. We followed up with the pediatrician and then were sent on to a GI doctor. She diagnosed a probable milk protein allergy, but to determine for sure, they recommended I either cut out the top 8 allergenic foods (plus corn) or have Declan go on a prescription formula. Given all of our feeding issues, we hated to switch things up even more, so the choice was a new diet for me. Plus, from the research we've done, the formula could easily cost several hundred dollars a month. So we've gotten creative with eating since right now I cannot have dairy, soy, wheat, seafood, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, or corn, and those are pretty much in any processed food. 

On a more positive note, the new diet seems to help. Given the problems we've had, I'll gladly do it if it means Declan's eating well and gaining weight. Although I'm hoping to reintroduce foods back into my diet slowly to observe reactions to narrow down the problem, and I definitely look forward to doing that soon! Weight wise, he's doing well. He was 12 lbs., 12 oz. at his developmental appointment last week, so this is a huge gain--he's still not on the charts but is following his own curve quite nicely.

Look at those fat rolls! He's definitely getting quite chubby.

And speaking of food, Declan is now eating some baby food! We had tried rice cereal a few weeks ago, but suspended it following the diagnosis, and just reintroduced it a couple of weeks ago. He's now had that and also applesauce. We've struggled with food for so long with him, I was afraid this would be a new hurdle, but he's taken to it like a champ and seems to enjoy eating so far. Such a huge relief!

Pardon the Halloween bib. Declan was feeling festive.

I don't want to leave Callum out, since he is probably the most vocal person in the house--he's doing well, also. He's loving all of the warm weather and begs to be outside as much as he can. He still talks up a storm, and his language usage is astounding--well, most of time. Expect a future post on his random comments. Oh, and he absolutely adores his little brother.

Five months (and one day)

As of yesterday, Declan is now officially five months old! He's still a tiny peanut, but we love him dearly.  I wanted to get some happy pictures of him since he generally is quite pleasant, but by the time we got the big kiddo to bed, this one was pooped. Plus, he seems to often be camera shy and gets super serious whenever the camera comes out. Oh well. He's still a cutie patootie, and he's finally looking bigger than Squeaks!

 

November, December, and some January, too!

Life around here has been extremely busy, and we've been in survival mode the last few months to get through it, so needless to say the updates have been sadly neglected. I'm way behind on posting monthly updates of Declan, and I told myself I wouldn't forget since Scott and I both know what it's like to be the second child. Unfortunately, though, he has so many little extra needs that there just isn't enough time in the day. So here's a quick rundown of the last few months.
November:
-I went back to work the week before Thanksgiving, which was both good and bad. I was ready to be back among adult life that wasn't revolved around medical issues, but I wasn't ready to give up taking care of Declan full-time. I was so fortunate to have that much time off, though, and it also was a big deal because in all honesty I wasn't sure if Declan would make it through everything to be around and well-enough for my return to work.
-Declan had a four day hospital stay, which of course had to coincide with my return to work, making for a really crazy and emotional week. We were having major feeding issues, which we've determined were a combination of severe acid reflux, an intolerance of formula (we were fortifying his milk with Nutramigen--that stuff is super-disgusting), and some lactose intolerance. Since then feedings have been going much better.

Three months old!

-Callum had his first real sickness ever. We all somehow, except Declan, thankfully, got some terrible stomach type bug and were wiped out the weekend before Thanksgiving. We're very thankful to have made it two years without anything more than one fever.
-Big boy bed! We switched Callum out of the crib and into a twin bed, and he loves it. He's finally started slowing down having to play in it non-stop and show everyone that comes, although it's still a favorite hang-out. He likes to take people in there and pat it, saying "Look. Isn't it beautiful?"

Uncle Andy got to babysit one day!

December:

Four months old!

-We made the rounds at Christmas and Callum had a blast. Declan was generous and let Callum open most of his presents. We spent a bit of time with both sets of grandparents and great-grandparents, plus the rest of the family.

Family Photo

 

A Christmas banana--best stocking gift from Mamaw and Papaw!

 

January so far:

- We're hoping to decrease Declan's feedings. He's been gaining weight slowly but steadily and eating really well overall. Right now, though, he eats every three hours at 2:30, 5:30, 8:30, and 11:30, both a.m. and p.m. And no, we can't rotate feedings right now to get more sleep because I pump while Scott feeds. Getting rid of one feeding overnight will be like heaven to us!

-Unfortunately we were sick again at the end of December into the beginning of January. I ended up with a sinus infection, Scott a sinus infection and double-ear infection, and Callum an ear infection. Fortunately Declan avoided it again. Hooray! We're now much better, but the frequent feedings are taking a toll since we're normally hardly ever sick.

Some random pictures, some of which are really old:

 

Sleeping Beauty

Bath Time Fun

Hangin' with Carrie