Catching a Quick Breath

What a whirlwind the last week and a half has been!  We have been doing lots of traveling and visiting family, and I think we are now bordering on exhaustion.  We spent a little over a week in College Station, spent yesterday at home doing laundry, and then today we left very early to drive to Lubbock for a doctor's appointment.  We will be leaving for Austin tomorrow, and are looking forward to spending New Year's with Rob's dad and family.  I think we are coming home on Friday, and Rob will go back to work on Monday...we will have spent 3 days at home out of his two week break.  Throw in the ugly stomach bug that Rob and Bethany had the day before Christmas Eve, and the nasty head colds that Bethany and I now have, and we've had a full holiday.  I think Rob needs a 'vacation from his vacation' so he can recover before going back to work!

We spent today in Lubbock (about 3 hours from here) at Brooke's pediatric urologist appointment.  We are more than pleased with her doctor, and feel confident that she knows what she is doing and will take excellent care of our Fancy Pants.  She was absolutely wonderful with Brooke, and I could not believe how talkative Brooke was.  She normally totally ignores doctors, but today she was telling her all about her Christmas presents, her favorite color, her school, her sister...she went on and on.  While reviewing Brooke's test results, she let Brooke be in charge of the mouse to the computer, telling her where to click to bring up the pictures...that definitely got her on Brooke's good side!

It turns out that Brooke's reflux is a bit more complicated than we originally thought.  She went over every image from Brooke's test (over 70 of them) and explained what she was looking for in each one.  The reflux is based on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the worst.  Brooke's pediatrician had told us her reflux was a 3 on both sides, but cautioned us that the urologist would have a better idea of how to rate it.  As it turns out, the urologist said she is grade 4 on the left and grade 3/4 on the right side.  She also said that she thinks Brooke has double ureters on both sides (we originally thought she only had a duplicated system on the left), but is only refluxing in 3 out of the 4 ureters.  Additionally, the tests showed that Brooke's reflux is very sensitive on the left side (where two ureters are refluxing) and that any amount of pressure on her bladder is causing the urine to back up into her kidneys.  Because of that, her left kidney is a tad swollen, but not enough to be too concerned with.  Her doctor was pleasantly surprised to find that there is no scarring on either kidney, which is great news!

Our immediate plan of action is to give her 6 months on antibiotics, and then retest with another VCUG and renal sonogram. Additionally, she is starting  on a stool softener to keep any additional pressure off her bladder, and will be drinking tons of fluid and taking lots of bathroom breaks.  Currently, Brooke can go all day without a bathroom break-her ureters drain the urine from her bladder so quickly, she doesn't have the sensation of being full until she has taken in a lot of liquid.  Her doctor labeled this as dysfunctional voiding, and it's high on our list of things to work on.  

Based on today's discussions, her urologist is recommending surgery to correct her reflux.  She has a few things working against her (duplicate system, low pressure reflux, high grade reflux, dysfunctional voiding and her age), and her doctor said that the odds of her outgrowing this are very slim.  We have her follow up appointment scheduled for June 11, and she will have her tests done in the morning before we meet with the urologist.  If there is no improvement, or if she has a breakthrough infection while on the antibiotics, we will go forward with the surgery (hopefully during the summer before she starts kindergarten).  If there is an improvement and her reflux is less severe, then we will keep her on meds and retest in 6 months.

 We are glad to have a plan of action, and are hoping for no new infections and good news in July.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and enjoy a great New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Jingle and Jangle

We had some unexpected visitors this month, and they have been up to no good!  The morning after we decorated our tree, we woke up to find two elves, Jingle and Jangle, on our couch, with a note that Santa had sent them to play until Christmas.  

We never know what they will be doing, and the girls have been so excited to check on them in the mornings.  They must have been homesick, because we found them emailing Santa one night.

One morning we found them getting some exercise...by climbing up our Christmas tree!
And another day they were playing hide-and-seek...we finally found them in the stockings.
These silly little elves are always up to something.  One morning we found them eating candy and drinking soda in the living room...that's a big no no!
Brooke is ready to send them back to Santa, she says they are not good listeners and they are starting to get on her nerves.  Bethany loves them, I think she wishes she could be their partner in crime.

A Conversation With Bethany

Bethany:  I want to wear my cupcake shirt today, it's pink, my 'favowit'.

Mommy:  Okay, grab your pants and let's get dressed.

Bethany:  I don't LIKE those pants, they don't match my shirt.

Mommy:  They do match, see the cupcakes on the bottom?

Bethany:  They not pink, my 'favowit', they don't match.  I don't want them, I want pink pants.

Mommy:  When you get bigger you can pick your clothes, today you can wear these pants.

Bethany:  But I AM bigger....I drink 'owange' juice and grow strong.

Mommy:  (hiding a laugh) Put on the pants and we'll get some more orange juice so you can grow even stronger.  

Bethany:  (after getting her pants on)  Ohhhh, I am so 'prettiful'!  Do you like my pants?!?!

Life with an almost-3-year-old is always entertaining!  

Endless Imagination

Meet our new friend, 'Cuppy'.  I finished wrapping the last of our Christmas gifts, and Brooke was quick to snatch up the cardboard roll left from the wrapping paper.  After she added a clown wig and a pink flowered hat, she named it 'Cuppy' and announced that we had a new friend that was sleeping over.  She carried that silly thing around until bedtime, and her and Bethany had such fun giggling and talking about their visitor.  What silly girls!

Mother's Day Out

As much as I don't like to think about it, Brooke will be starting kindergarten in the fall.  She is absolutely thrilled, the elementary school is two blocks away, so every time we leave the neighborhood she talks about turning 5 so she can start school.  I'm hoping the spring and summer drag by...it just doesn't seem like she should be that old yet!  Since she has been at home with me forever, we decided to enroll her in a Mother's Day Out program that several of her friends on our street attend.  We wanted her to have a chance to experience a classroom setting before actually starting school, and she was so excited when we told her she would be going to 'school'.  

She will be going twice a week starting in January, and she has been going the last few Thursdays of this month.  She wakes up on 'school' days ready to go...she is all bundled up and waiting by the door before Bethany and I are even dressed!  She has really enjoyed it so far, making new friends and doing lots of crafts and projects.  The first day was a little long for her, when I picked her up she asked why I left her there so long and said that she was exhausted...and judging by her crabby mood she was telling the truth!

 I've enjoyed spending some time alone with Bethany, although she is a bit confused as to why Brooke is not with us.  She asks repeatedly 'is it time to pick up my sister?' and really does miss her playmate.  We met Rob for lunch yesterday, and she was upset that we weren't going to pick up Brooke first.  I thought she would enjoy the individual attention, but I guess I'm not as exciting as Brooke is!  She does tell me 'you are my best mommy ever' so I guess that counts for something...

Slowing Down

A friend brought a copy of Twilight to the hospital, and I read a little, but was too distracted to really get into it.  I like to read a book start to finish without stopping, so I tucked it away until I could focus, and yesterday was that day.  It was cold and dreary outside, so I declared it a pajama day and the girls were thrilled that I let them take over the living room with their toys...I normally try to keep their mess confined to the playroom!  I spent the afternoon alternating between reading, watching puppet shows (courtesy of Brooke) and dressing babies (Bethany still has trouble with that).  I finished the book right after Rob heated up some leftovers for dinner, and decided I would go pick up the next book in the series after gymnastics today.

I needed a few things from Sam's, so I grabbed up the second book while we were there (they didn't have the third or I would have gotten the rest of the series) and after we had lunch we settled back into our comfy clothes and blankets for another relaxing afternoon.  The girls really enjoyed being silly together, and they especially enjoyed making messes and having special snacks.  It was rainy and cold again today, so the low-key afternoon fit nicely.  I read my book a little, played wii with Brooke for a while, read books to the girls, played baby dolls...just enjoyed the afternoon.  I was reminded again how well they play together, and it felt nice to overlook the chaos around us as the toys were slowly overtaking the house.

Normally, it's hard for me to fight the urge to clean up behind them as they are playing, or to bite my tongue when they are cutting paper into a million tiny pieces (that I will later be picking up out of the carpet), and it's especially hard not to throw the last remaining tub of play-doh in the trash (seriously, how did Brooke trick me into buying a play-doh ice cream shop...the mother of all messes!).  Today was different though, I was relaxed, they were relaxed, and we enjoyed it!  I didn't flinch like normal when they found the trashbag of stuffed animals in the closet, instead I 'oohed' and 'aaahed' with them when they pulled out no less than 100 long lost friends.  We tucked them into bed tonight with every single one of those stuffed animals (along with all of Bethany's babies) and just laughed at the sight of them.

What a perfect reminder the past few afternoons have been to me...a reminder to slow down and really be present in the 'right now'.  Who knew a couple of pajama days could be so good for the soul?

Hello Again!

It's been a while since we've posted, and my mom (nicely) told me to update the blog because she's tired of seeing the same old post at the top.  Not much has changed with Brooke, her pediatrician has submitted a consult request with a pediatric urologist in Lubbock, and we are waiting on them to schedule an appointment.  Her test results showed grade 3 reflux (it is rated on a scale of 1-5) on both sides, so she is on antibiotics until she either outgrows it or has surgery to correct it.

We spent last week in College Station, and had a great time visiting with family.  We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents' house, and had a ton of people join us!  The girls loved playing with their cousins, and we enjoyed catching up with relatives.  Rob hasn't seen most of my family in a couple of years, so it was nice for him to be there during the holiday.  We had planned to travel to Austin that evening to spend Thanksgiving dinner with Rob's family, but a minor turkey carving incident cancelled those plans.  My mom insisted that Rob should carve one of the turkeys, and what started out like this...

...ended up like this. 

 The electric knife managed to slice his finger right across the knuckle, so we headed off to the urgent care clinic for stitches and a brace.  He wasn't feeling like driving to Austin and back, so we watched the game at my parents house while the girls ran wild playing with Shaley and Talan.

My mom and I spent the next day shopping.  There weren't too many things we saw in the black friday ads that we really wanted or needed, but it was still fun to get up early...we were at the store at 4am, and spent 8 hours shopping.  It was also my birthday, so Rob brought the girls to the mall to pick out a gift.  They were too cute, telling me they had a surprise.  As we walked by the cookie store, Brooke told me not to look over at my cake...so much for surprises!  After a full day of shopping, it was the perfect dessert to go with our thanksgiving leftovers.

 We came home late Sunday evening, and spent Monday doing laundry and cleaning the house.  Tuesday evening Rob pulled all the Christmas decorations out of the attic, and the girls were so excited to decorate the tree.  I opened the container of ornaments, and they went to town.

I was tempted to leave the ornaments where they hung them, but that would mean only the bottom two feet of our tree was decorated, so I spent the next day spreading them around a little.  We also set up our christmas village and nativity, which the girls were very impressed with.  We haven't set them up in a few years, I was scared the girls would break them, so this is the first year they've really seen them.  We've already had one small broken piece, and we found a dickens village person visiting the manger of the nativity, but they are enjoying it so I guess it's okay.  They are also obsessed with one particular set of ornaments, and I keep finding them laying around on the ground.  My mom has given them the hallmark year ornaments since they were born, so they each have a set.  I keep telling them they aren't toys, but they don't care, they play with them anyway.  The first year is a kitten in a stroller, which they push all over the house (Bethany's is actually missing a wheel now).  I'm just hoping they survive this year and the novelty will wear off before we put them on the tree next year!