God's Magic Wand

Campbell is our most curious child. She questions everything, asks why, why why? and is never satisfied with the first explanation. When she asks questions, I try to start with the simplest answer and expand if she needs more information.
Over the weekend we were in the car and she asked if the sun was in Heaven. She had several more questions about what else was in Heaven and what I thought Samantha (our kitty) and Eddie (Oom Pete's Dog) might be doing. Then she asked how you got to Heaven and she meant physically. This question I did not have an answer for and God takes you there did not satisfy her. She got really quiet for a minute and then said "I guess He use his magic wand". Why didn't I think of that? We tell her that God can do anything, so he must have a magic wand. I love life through the eyes of a three year old.

Home Sweet Home

After eight days we are finally home! Brandt was discharged this morning. He is fever free, the drainage from his neck is clear and his appetite is returning. He started oral antibiotics last night and is managing to swallow the capsules. One dose of the horrible tasting liquid was enough to convince him that a capsule was not so bad. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow with the ENT to check his incision and change the dressing and then we will follow up with our pediatrician on Friday. We are definitely on the downhill side!
Thank you again to all you for all of your thoughts, prayers, calls, messages, emails and texts. I know that I have not returned them all, but we appreciate them all so much!

Today is a New Day

Today is Saturday and Brandt is making good improvements. The drain was removed from his neck this morning, he continues to be fever free, the swelling is almost gone and his mood is much improved. He is not asking for pain meds and is eating better. As long as he continues on this path, we should be able to go home tomorrow.
We are all more than ready. My summer plans did NOT include 8 days in a hospital room with the other kids being bounced between family.
Thanks for all of the positive thoughts, prayers, calls, texts and emails. You all make a difference!

Brandt on Friday

The surgery went fine and Brandt did great. They were able to drain the fluid and clean out some of the tissue. The put in a drain so that they will be able to flush the area today and tomorrow, if fluid continues to build. The drain will remain in place until the area is clear. He will remain in IV antibiotics for the next couple of days, then switch to oral before he can go home.
Right now our best guess is that we might be able to go home Sunday, but probably not until Monday.
He continues to hang in there and take everything like a champ. He is pretty well medicated for the pain, but is not complaining. We have have to change his neck dressing later this afternoon, so i may have another update then.

Thursday Update Two

We are scheduled for surgery at 7:30 tonight. The will aspirate the fluid and put in a drain to allow it to continue to drain. He will remain on IV antibiotics and in the hospital until at least Sunday. More updates after surgery.
Thank you again for all of your thoughts, prayers, messages and calls.

Brandt Day I Don't Know What...

Brandt has made no improvement since yesterday and ran a fever again last night. We had another CT scan this morning, which showed that fluid is starting to collect. The fluid is starting to migrate towards his airway, not blocking it, but moving that direction. Our ENT is in surgery all day, but will come by later today and will probably take him to surgery later tonight or tomorrow morning.
Draining the fluid will give us a sample to culture and determine exactly what the infection is. They can then change antibiotics, if needed, to better fight the infection. We will be here at least one more day, I anticipate a couple of more. They are going to want to make sure that the IV antibiotics work and then that he responds to the oral version just as well, all of which takes time. They did have to move his IV line today because his hand was swelling, so it is in his right arm now. We are going to run out if IV sites soon.

He is still taking everything like a champ, although he is ready to go home and today has started asking when we can go. Campbell is having a difficult time with all the bouncing around. She has been spending most days at Josephine and Fifi's and then nights at home and she is begging to just stay with mommy, which breaks my heart. She and Blake are both getting plenty of attention, but I am still feeling torn between them all. More when we have it...

Brandt Part 4

Brandt continues to hold steady. His fever has been under control since 5 pm yesterday. Tomorrow they will rerun his white cell count and his sonogram. If his white cell count has continued to decrease and there is still no fluid and his fever is still under control, they will try the switch from IV to oral antibiotics again. We will probably be here at least two more days, but he is making progress.
Thank you to everyone for all of your calls, emails, texts, thoughts and prayers! We love you all.

Brandt Part 3

The sono showed no fluid so we are back to IV antibiotics for 2-3 more days. He still has a fever and several inflamed lymph nodes in the neck, but he is improving. The ENT will redo the sonogram in 2 days to see if fliud is forming or the nodes are decreasing in size. So, it will probably be at least Friday before we go home. We will see all three docotrs again tomorrow, so if something changes, I'll update everyone again.

Brandt Take 2

We will definitely not be going home today. Brandt's fever is still spiking up, his neck is swelling more and his white cell count is not decreasing as fast as it was. The ENT came earlier today and ordered a sonogram of his neck. The pediatrician, ENT and infectious disease specialist all feel that there is puss developing in the lymph node, which is preventing the antibiotic from working as well as it was. Depending on what the sonogram shows, they will decide the next course of action. If there is puss, they will have to drain it, which will require surgery. It is a minor procedure, but because of his age, they sedate will him. The ENT will do it and will also remove the bead from his ear at that time. Draining it will give them a sample to culture and determine exactly what the infection is. Then they can change medicines if needed. Until then he will remain on IV antibiotics and fluids with Motrin to control his fever and pain. He is still hanging in, taking it all like a trooper. He does not complain and really only cries when they draw blood or stick his fingers. More updates when we have them.

Brandt Update

For those of you we have not called, emailed or texted, Brandt has been in the hospital since Saturday day night. He woke up at 2 am on Saturday morning crying with a stiff neck that was swollen on one side and 101 fever. Will took him to the ER and they said it was a swollen lymph node. They got home around 6 am. He rested most of the day, but was still not feeling well. By late afternoon, his fever was higher, the swelling was worse and he could not move his neck. I took him back to the ER and they admitted him. Sunday we saw the on call pediatrician for our group and a pediatric infectious disease specialist. They ran several blood tests, a strep test and countless other tests. All the tests have come back negative and the infectious disease specialist feels it is a strain of staph.
He is on IV antibiotics and should be switching to the oral version tonight or tomorrow morning. He needs to respond to the oral version as well as the IV version and his fever has to stop spiking up in order for him to be released. He also has to drink plenty of fluids. He had a saline IV and was not drinking, so they stopped the IV.
All of that said, he may get to go home on Tuesday, Wednesday if his fever does not improve. He has been very brave through everything. Very little crying, no complaining, taking the needles like a champ. I'll post an update when we know more tomorrow.

Smiles

Hamstie, the Stunk and Making Three

Campbell seems to be getting an unfair amount of blog time lately, but she is saying and doing so many funny things that I just don't want to forget any of them.
Her latest toy fascination is Littlest Pet Shop, also sometimes known as Littlest Kittiest Pet Shop. I used them as bribes to potty train her, she got them for Easter, she asks for them every time we pass Toys R Us. If you are not familiar with these, they are plastic bobble headed little animals that sort of resemble actual animals, in a cartoon way.
Last week at her ballet rehearsal, she was a little skeptical about the whole process and needed a little incentive. It was a little intimidating since we were in a new place, in her new costume and they took the girls at the door to go backstage - no parents allowed. I promised her that if she did a great job, we would go get a new Littlest Pet Shop afterwards. When we went to get it, she picked out the skunk. Later that night she had all her animals spread out and was introducing the "stunk" to everyone, including her favorite, the hamster, which she calls Hamstie. Hamstie and the stunk are now best friends. She also warned Daddy to watch out or the stunk would stunk on him.
Here is Hamstie. The stunk is currently hiding.

She has also been practicing making three, in her own Campbell way...

Ballet!

Here is the video from Campbell's recital rehearsal. We were not allowed to bring cameras to the recital. I know the cinematography is excellent, I'm thinking of a second career...

Just Dance...Our Petitie Ballerinie

Saturday was Campbell's first ballet recital. She has been counting down the days and asking if it was time to wear her costume since we got it. Here are pictures, I'll post the video from rehearsal as soon as I get the right cable to connect the video camera to my laptop...


Lined up and ready to start rehearsal


Campbell and her BFF, Brooklyn


After the recital Saturday


Our three babies

Divalicious

Sitting by the pool with a drink and a snack while her nails dry. Yes, she is three.

Blake at Two Months

Blake had his two month check up today and he is quickly going from our little peanut to our chunky monkey. He now weighs 12 pounds, 9 ounces, which is a two pound gain in one month. He is 23 3/4 inches long (he was 22" last month). He is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight, but only 50th for his head. Brandt was the same the length at this age, but weighed 13 pounds and 14 ounces. Campbell weighed 13 pounds, 4 ounces and was 23 1/2 inches.
He also got 3 shots, which he handled pretty well until we got home. He has started running a fever and is pretty cranky, but it should all pass in the next 24 hours.
He is starting to smile and talk. He looks for you if you talk to him and likes to hold your shirt while you hold him. He is super strong and stands while you burp him and holds head up and looks around. He had the longest eyelashes and we think he is just adorable.
He is sleeping better at night, with one long 4-5 hour stretch and then back to the 2-3 hour routine. At this point, I'll take it! He takes a long nap during the day too, but prefers to sleep in the swing, just like Brandt. At night he still sleeps in our room. I know, suckers! Brandt slept with us for one night and Campbell never spent a single night in our room. We thought they made too much noise in their sleep. So we let the grunter sleep with us for two months. Oh well, he's the last one, what can I say? They are only little once right?

The Longest Summer

We are two days into summer and if it continues like this, it may be the longest summer ever. Here is our summery:
2 doctor visits for well checks
3 vaccinations and one finger prick from well visits
2 kids running fever
1 missed birthday party because of fever
3 cranky kids trapped in the house because of fever
1 three old who played DS for at least 6 hours today
1 six year old banned from Hulu and You Tube after he started asking questions about Kim Kardashian

Yeah, it's going to be a long summer!

Pokey

When I was little my very favorite book was The Pokey Little Puppy. So much so that when I got my first cat when I was about three I named her Pokey Little Puppy. Somewhere along the way my mom managed to convince me that Pokey was a great nickname for her. I still love the book and love to read it to the kids.
One of my favorite blogs to read right now is Cake Wrecks. If you need a good laugh, take a look at her blog http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. By far my favorite post is this one: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-brides-have-no-budget-or-taste.html
I can spend hours laughing, reading and looking at her pictures. Sometimes you just have to wonder. On Sundays she posts pictures of fabulously beautiful cakes. Imagine how excited I was to see this last Sunday:

Blake may have to have a puppy first birthday party!

It's Over

Today was the last of school. It is now official, we no longer have a kindergartner - he is a big first grader. He is so excited to be finished with school and out for the summer. I am excited that we don't have to battle getting up in the mornings, getting dressed and getting everyone in the car to get to school. I am not sure what we are going to do all summer with everyone at home. I have managed to schedule nothing for summer activities!
Brandt had a great school year. He reads like a champ, excels at math, has learned all sorts of science facts, knows enough about the computer to erase all of Daddy's itunes and has made more art projects than I will ever have room for. He finished the the year with all checks on his report card, never had to move his choices clip from green and would have perfect attendance, except we let him miss school the day Blake was born.
On Monday there was an awards/graduation ceremony and he got a Mighty Mathematician award for his love of math. I hope he continues to love math and always does well with it.
Today we ended the year with a really fun end of the year party. We played games, ate popsicles, signed field day shirts and gave Mrs. Webb an end of the year gift. We are going to miss all of the friends we made this year and we are really going to miss Mrs. Webb! She has been the best teacher we could have ever asked for.


The first day of school

The last day of school

We love you Mrs. Webb!

My Little Helpers

Blake is 8 weeks old now and in the last 8 weeks I have watched Brandt and Campbell grow up so much. They stand ready to get his binkie, his blanket, his burp cloth, anything I might need. They are happy to go get water for mommy or answer the phone if I am feeding Blake.
Yesterday Campbell, Blake and I went to the grocery store and were running short on time when we got home. I put away the cold stuff and left everything else scattered across the kitchen floor while we rushed out the door to go get in the carpool line. When we got home I had to feed Blake before I could do anything else. While I was feeding him, Campbell said "I will help you Mommy, I will do the groceries." Our usual routine is that I put away the groceries and Campbell gathers up the bags and puts them in the pantry. She proceeded to unpack all the remaining groceries, put them in the pantry, pick up all the bags and put them away. She is so big!

Some Things I am Just Not Ready For

I have always known as the kids got older the questions they asked would get harder to answer. I anticipated some questions while I was pregnant with Blake and some more during delivery. We did get a few. Typical "How did the baby get in your tummy and how is he going to get out?" Luckily they were satisfied with God put him there and the doctor is going to get him out. I thought we were doing a pretty good job.

Last night I was making dinner and Brandt was playing with one of Campbell's Barbies. He was doing karate chops with her, so I wasn't too worried. Out of no where he says "Mom, her clothes slipped off and her boobies popped out". Trying not to laugh, I said "Sure, four pieces of Velcro popped open and her clothes accidentally slipped off. Time to put the Barbie away". And that was the end of it - until bath time. I had Brandt and Campbell in the bathtub and Blake in the baby bath on the counter. I was bathing Blake and they were playing. All of the sudden I hear "Campbell, can I play with Ariel's boobs?"
(And this Ariel doll has a permantley painted on seashell top)
I am so not ready for this.

Then again when Christi and I were in first grade, we played Kissing Bandits at recess.