Teagan's Latest Surgery

Long time no blog!

Life has been busy for us this past month. We moved into our new house last weekend!!! Everything about it is wonderful. It's beautiful, functional and so easy to live in! The kids love having their own rooms and everyone is sleeping very well. Our yard is big and we're living outside everyday now that the weather is perfect. Besides unpacking and setteling into our new digs, we've been RELAXING! What a concept! It's just so nice to hang out and play with the kids and not worry about keeping the house spotless for "showings". The other house hasn't sold yet, but we're still hopeful. In all, we have taken the stress level down a notch or two and it feels great.

My main reason for blogging today is because Teagan had her 5th laser surgery yesterday. Everything went very well and the nurses at Gillette Children's Hospital are so kind and caring. Teagan never remembers being there before since she is so young still, which is why our doctor pushed us to start at 6 months of age.

So, after her 4th laser treatment, in March, I wanted to document the recovery process and create a slideshow to remeber everything she's gone through. Her surgeries are going very well and we are amazed and thrilled to see such wonderful results. Teagan's Craniofacial Surgeon is very happy with the results and the birthmark continues to fade as expected after each surgery.

Check out the slideshow, but know ahead of time that it may be a bit shocking if you haven't seen her face after surgery before.

Feeling Fine

The kids are back to normal and everyone is feeling happy and healthy this week.

Our house has been on the market for 2 weeks now. We continue to have 2-3 showings each day! Yesterday was our first day without a showing and it was a much needed break. As wonderful as it is to have so many people looking at our house, it's been pretty stressful keeping the house clean. The feedback about the house has been nothing but positive. AND...This Saturday one couple will be coming back for another showing to make a decision between our house and one other. Cross your fingers!

Here are some cute pictures from this morning:

Now for a flashback-

compare those to the pictures taken exactly one year ago by Lisa Quinlan:

105.5

Cal's illness has improved significantly over the past week on antibiotics and we were able to stop the nebulizer treatments.

Teagan, on the other hand, took a turn for the worst this week. After 3+ weeks of dealing with this nasty cold Teagan developed a fever of 104.2 degrees on Tuesday night. We were very freaked out by the high temperature and called the doctor at 3am. They said she would be fine and we should double the dose of Motrin and come into the office in the morning. On Wednesday morning we were back at the pediatrician's office for the 3rd time in a week with Teagan's fever at 103.5 degrees. As we guessed, our doctor confirmed ear infections in both of her ears causing the high fever. Teagan is prone to ear infections and often has standing fluid in her left ear (our doctor thinks it may be related to her birthmark somehow).
So we filled another antibiotic prescription that morning and gave it to her right away. All day and into the night her fever hung around 103-104 degrees. Our doctor said to keep on alternating between the Motrin and Tylenol, and we didn't need to worry about her temp unless it reached 105. And at 105 or over she would need to get to the hospital.

We reluctantly went to bed Wednesday night with the baby monitor turned up high. At 2am Teagan started crying. Nick got her out of bed as I grabbed the thermometer and the Motrin. She felt like she was boiling. We instantly knew she was way too hot and we started to panic. Then she started gagging and throwing up. We were so scared. We quickly took the temperature (rectal temp, because it is most accurate) and watched the temp rise higher and higher. It hit 105.5 degrees.

Without a word Nick got his coat and I got Teagan dressed and they were in the car on the way to the Children's Hospital. Nick was more calm and in control. I was in panic mode and couldn't stop crying. When a body temp passes 105 there are usually very serious, life altering side effects. Seizures are common with temps over 105 and there can be irreversible brain damage at and above 106 degrees.

At the hospital the doctors gave her stronger fever reducers and a shot of her antibiotic. Her body responded well and her temp went down to 104. By 5am her fever was near normal, amazingly. Nick was able to bring her home shortly after that. (Daddy of the year!)

Teagan is still recovering. She has been weak, lethargic and off balance for a few days. Tonight she was seeming more like herself again. She's going to be fine.



Here are some things we learned that we can pass along:

-you should alternate Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours to keep the fever down if over 102.

-never put a cool/cold rag on someone with a fever, this only makes the body temp rise more. the rag should be warm because it's only for comfort, not meant to break the fever.

-call your pediatrician if the fever is 102 and up, and go straight to the hospital at 105 degrees

-try to remain calm. you will not be helpful to your child if you panic (lesson learned)

100 Posts

This is my 100th blog entry! I hope you all have enjoyed the past 99 blogs. Blogging has been a lot of fun and most of all I love looking back over the past year and a half of blogs. We sure have been busy.

Speaking of BUSY...wow, we've been pushing ourselves to the limits. We successfully put our house on the market on April 15th, which was the goal we didn't think we'd hit. Nick has his realtor's license so we are listing the house ourselves, which is a lot more work than we thought, but we did it! It hit the market at 6pm on Wednesday and on Thursday Nick called me at noon to let me know we had 4 different showings scheduled starting at 3pm!!! Nick was at work so I had to clean/clear the entire house by myself with 3 kids following behind undoing all my cleaning. It was CRAZY! People just shouldn't sell houses when they have kids. Period. This is stressful. All I do all day is follow the kids around picking up behind them in fear that Nick will call and tell me to vacate the house for a showing. My adrenaline starts pumping when Nick calls. Will there be a showing? Could there already be an offer? He actually just called to let me know we have 2 more showings this weekend. We are shocked and jumping for joy that there is so much interest in our house, especially with our horrible economy! Wish us luck, I'll keep you posted.

In addition to house stress, we have sick-kid stress. All 3 kids caught a cold two weeks ago. Ethan always picks these illnesses up at school and brings them home for the rest of us. Well, Ethan got over his, Teagan is almost over hers, but Cal's cold has become nastier. The month of April is a very sickly time of year. Just when Spring arrives, and you think you've made it though the sickly winter, BAM the worst of the illnesses hit. Last year at this time Cal and Teagan were in the hospital with RSV. Luckily, Cal doesn't have RSV this year. But he does have Bronchialitis. We have to force him to sit for 3 nebulizer treatments per day and he's now on a strong antibiotic. Hopefully this is the last cold of the season and we can enjoy a healthy summer. After all, we've suffered through multiple ear infections, colds, strep throat, flu, Rotavirus, and more (times 3 or even 5).

Again, why do we live in MN in the winter?

Poor Cal...

Ethan and Teagan watching the nebulizer show...

Teagan came over to check on Cal and give him a hug...
Or, she just wanted to get closer to touch nebulizer...

Our New Home

Last Fall we realized we had outgrown our current house. All 5 of us have been sleeping in only 2 bedrooms upstairs. Teagan and Ethan have been sharing a room and Cal's crib found a permanent place in our bedroom. In other words, the past year has been sleepless. When one baby is crying, or Ethan has a bad dream, or especially when someone is sick (which has been the case all winter) then everyone wakes up. So, as much as we love this house and have put a lot of work into making it perfect, we decided to make a move. It made more sense financially to move than to sink more money into our house by adding more bedrooms. So, that began our search for our new home.

On December 15, 2008 we bought our new home. It was a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom house. It is only 5 blocks away from our current house. We won't have to move away from the things we love about our neighborhood.

Here are the BEFORE pictures...

The day after closing, on December 16th, we tore the top off the house...

Here is the progress over the past 5 months...
Everyone should be sleeping well in our new 4 bedroom house.

Our deadline has been May 1, 2009. We hope to move into our new house next month! Here is what the outside looks like as of April 4th...

In the meantime, we've been working our asses off getting our current house ready for the market. The FOR SALE sign will be in the yard on April 15th. We are fairly hopeful as home sales in our area have been steady and prices are back on the rise. Wish us luck and spread the word. :)

Walking Gifts

We have walkers! It official. They don't crawl anymore. They walk. We have 2 walking 13 month olds. And it's true what they say- twins walk in opposite directions. We've enjoyed a few nice days this week with no snow on the ground and the temp in the 50's. Ethan rides his bike and Cal and Teagan walk around the block. Although, I've realized the smartest thing to do when taking these guys on a walk is to put one twin in the stroller and let one walk. Then let them switch.

A couple months ago we bought Cal and Teagan presents to give to them when they started walking. Today they got to open their gifts.

They loved walking around the house with their "animal backpacks" on. They walked around the house for an hour with the harnesses on and they loved it. Now that they're comfortable wearing the packs we'll head outside tomorrow. We'll see if we make it to the corner.

Let's get walkin'!

Paradise Island

You know, I thought we were out of our minds to take 3 kids, two of which would be forced to sit on our laps, on a 4 hour plane ride to another country. Plus, according to airline regulations, 2 lap babies can't be seated in the same row. Does that sound like torture or what?! We would have been split up. That's when we called in reinforcement. Auntie Shalene came to Cozumel with us! She was a lifesaver. We had a 1:1 ratio of adult to child on the flight and that made a huge difference.

Still, for weeks before we left I was second guessing our decision to go to Mexico and expecting the worst on the plane- crying, screaming, pacing the isle of the plane, and fearing nasty looks and comments by other travelers.

It turns out, if you expect the worst the outcome can only be as expected or possibly better. There was plenty of pacing, calming bored, tired and unhappy babies, and entertaining a tired Ethan with ear pain on the plane. Overall, it was slightly better than the worst we expected. We survived the day of travel and it was worth it!

We had perfect weather, 80 and sunny every day. We played at the beach, swam in the pools, snorkeled and swam in the ocean, ate the best food every day, and tipped back a few shots of tequila. Oh, and we enjoyed a little Wii during our down time, or drunk time. Bob managed to bowl upside down after he fell off the chair and somehow I twisted my ankel getting a strike. There are plenty more stories...for another time.

Teagan and Cal were walking all over the place. Teagan did laps around the pool. Cal was a fish! The boy loves the water.

Ethan loved swimming every day, playing soccer on the beach and feeding the ocean wildlife. And every morning at 7am asked us, "Do you want to play Wii Mini-Golf?"

Nick and I got to relax as Bob, DR and Shalene took over a lot of the childcare duties. And the kids had a great time with thier "Gamma & Bompa" who they hadn't seen since Christmas. We all had a wonderful vacation on paradise island.

Here are a few of the best of the 200 pictures I took:

30

happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear meee, I am now 30.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and the lovely singing. I've had a great birthday weekend already with friends and family and we're headed to Mexico on Friday for more celebrating.

Watch out Cozumel- Hurricane Walton is coming...