Happy New Year!

Things have been very busy over the last few months. We are ringing in the new year in quiet style at home, as I have to work tomorrow. Cassidy is getting over her first cold\ear infection of the season. Meanwhile Makenna has just started round one of antibiotics for her first ear infection, along with a perforated ear drum. That being said she isn't nearly as impossible as she was last winter. The girls both enjoyed a wonderful, present-filled Christmas. Cassidy got a Barbie Dream Townhouse, as tall as she is, a new camera and a baby doll she had been asking for. Makenna got some nice toys too, although on a smaller scale, Magna Doodle and a Toy Story spiral car race set and her very own bumble bee pillow pet. We are trying to make the best of school vacation, but Daddy has been sick for half of it, so things are pretty boring around here.
Cassidy has been doing great in school, garnering 3 awards already in her education career. Makenna has been growing in leaps and bounds and is talking alot and signing so many words. Aside from her own communicating, the things she is able to understand from others is astonishing. She hears words in conversations around her and then acts on them. For instance Cassidy and I were talking and mentioned something that might scare children, and Makenna let out a big growl. Another time I had mentioned I thought Makenna was getting a cold and she let out a shivering sound. She does new things that surprise me everyday!

Overdue

We have been very busy over the last few months, so let me apologize for the lack of posts. Makenna has finally started walking! HOORAY! With the help of Early Intervention and her natural progression of growth, she hit her strides about a month ago, taking her first steps on her 15 month birthday. We were hopeful she would start to walk by the time we went to visit Auntie Wendy & family in Georgia, but she decided to put it off, but only by a week. She is now cruising, okay, running all over the house without hesitation! It is so good for us to finally see her able to move around freely! As I mentioned, we did take the kids on their first flight to Georgia, and low and behold they both behaved so well, both on the plane and while visiting Bob's sister and her family. Now on to the biggest news, Cassidy started Kindergarten last week. She is so excited to go everyday and not giving us any trouble, or having any separation issues! On Friday she was awarded a good choice award, allowing her an extra afternoon recess, with one child from every class in the school! We are so proud of her! We are getting ready for her 5th birthday party this coming weekend. For this she has chosen Disney's Princess and the Frog theme. Can't believe she is almost 5, where does the time go?

With July on our doorstep we are in full summer mode. Cassidy has completed 2 weeks of swimming lessons and has lost her fear of pools larger than one mom can blow up. We also found out that Makenna LOVES the pool and is also quite fond of the beach. Finally after 13 months we can add 2 things to her list of favorites (in addition to food, of course). Cassidy did attend Kindergarten open house during June and is excited to go to school in September. Makenna has made it clear to us she is marching to the beat of her own drum, she has finally begun to pull herself into a standing position and has taken a few cruising steps, although she is still pretty wobbly. We have some assistance from Early Intervention coming in once a week but Makenna really doesn't let the therapist do too much with her, rather she cries whenever the women touches her, or makes an movements in her direction. Originally we were told it was important for Kenna to crawl in order to help with her stability and balance when standing\walking, but it seems clear to me now, she will never do anything more than her modified scoot-crawl. It is very similar to her original version of scooting, but now she does keep one knee bent and she sits on the other leg, really quite a sight! As long as she is happy, we don't care!!!!

June

As we enter June we have finally seen Makenna hit some milestones. Due to the colic, reflux and multiple ear infections she is delayed in some of her gross motor skills. She does qualify for Early Intervention and we will be meeting with them this week to write a plan for her. Around her first birthday she finally started rolling over and being able to get off her belly if we place her down on the ground. Within a couple weeks she finally was able to get herself to a sitting position from laying down. She still is very wobbly when standing and is no where near being able to stand on her own. She has pulled herself to a standing position once, a week ago, but hasn't done it again after that day. We hope with the help of EI she will be much more steady on her feet and obviously hope her first steps are not far off. Gross motor was the only area that showed a significant deficit (they marked her at 7 months), all other areas she was right on target.
Cassidy is very excited for her swimming lessons to start this week. We signed her up for 2 weeks of beginner classes and will assess her need for future classes upon completion of these. Gymnastics is winding down and her showcase is June 15th. We attended OPEN HOUSE for Kindergarten last week and Cassidy can't wait to start in the fall. We can't believe she is already old enough to attend Kindergarten but we are eager to see her knowledge base grow, even more rapidly once she starts school.

Life......

I was kept away from updating the blog recently due to Bob's mother's illness and subsequent passing. What a strange 4 months it has been, full of ups and downs and highs and lows. Just after Thanksgiving Wynne was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. Due to her poor cardiac history, chemotherapy was taken off the table and with the tumor (4x6cm in size) in the right middle lobe surgery wasn't an option either. She chose to fight with radiation and began treatments just after the 1st of the year. The MD said she would only need 20, spread out Monday thru Friday for 4 weeks, with a break in between weeks 2 & 3 if the side effects were too much for her to handle. She seemed to be making fine progress until the end of January when she was experiencing alot of shortness of breath and wheezing. Hospitalization followed for 4 days along with a diagnosis of pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium) and she was then put on Motrin to decrease the swelling. Back to finish the last 2 weeks of radiation and about 7 days after her final treatment the SOB returned. Another hospitalization followed, this time with acute renal failure brought on by the Motrin and also pneumonia in the right lung. It was at this point that she was sent home with VNA services to help keep an eye on her and to act as a bridge up until the point she would need hospice care. She remained home and fairly stable one week, but as I was holding out hope she would rebound it became clear her breathing was getting much worse and she was having extreme difficulty sleeping and was remarkably weak. She signed on to hospice care on Friday March 5th, but never told us. Thinking she was unaware of what she had done,(and not understanding she may have known all along) we decided it was good to have them on board for what was expected to be a long ride, plus the decision to admit her to hospice would not need to be made by Bob or myself. We were told on Tuesday March 9th that she was definitely in the range for hospice admission, meaning she likely had less than 6 months, but with her underlying health conditions, any issue could exacerbate her already weak heart it could be as close as 1 week to 3 months. On Thursday that week we had to call hospice again because of her difficulty breathing, she even seemed worse than on Tuesday. Thursday night she ate dinner and seemed much the same as she had for the last 7 days or so. Little did we know that would be her last night with us. Bob had difficulty rousing her on Friday morning, I suspected it was due to her new pain medications. After consulting with a nurse friend, who thought her breathing was apneic and her body was diaphoretic (excessively sweating) she suggested we call hospice as her condition seemed to take a drastic turn. Needless to say, hospice agreed and we moved into comfort mode for the rest of the day. After all, we needed to keep her with us until her daughter could get in from Georgia. After a 1hr delay and Friday night Boston traffic we made it back here at 705pm. She died a mere 45 minutes later. Almost unbelievable to look at it now, but a few things really stick out in my mind.
Wynne was a homebody, maybe even a recluse. She very rarely left the house and when she did, she was always in a rush to get back. The social worker had a talk with us on Wednesday about needing to place her in a long term care facility, because her needs were so great, and with the 2 kids at home, we surely would be overwhelmed. Wynne told the SW that she was worried about Bob and would he be ok without her. Once he reassured her that everything would be fine, that he just wanted what was best for her, she relented and agreed to be placed. Knowing that he would be ok and that she was going to have to leave the house if she stayed on this earth another day, I believe, is what set the wheels in motion. Perphaps a little out of character for her, but I truly believe waiting for Wendy to arrive was the last piece of the puzzle. We had a very calm day at home, after the initial shock dissapated and we had a steady stream of visitors over her last hours. Sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, sister in law (Aunty Pauline and Uncle Moe) and even my family came to say goodbye. Although she couldn't respond to us, I truly feel she knew everything that was going on that day. And even now, I feel as though she is quite happy with the way her life ended on that day just over 2 weeks ago. Hard to believe already that much time has passed. Her 70th birthday would've been Monday. So on that day we are going to the cemetary to release some balloons and then will meet up with Bob's brother Jimmy and his family to have dinner and a little birthday cake.

I was really going to post some new pictures tonight, but realized I still have them all on my camera and not downloaded yet. So just a black and white update tonight and the pics will follow later this week. Since my last post we have been very busy with ear infections. Makenna has battled them most of the winter and had a really tough stretch from the last week in January through the 2nd week in February. I am happy to say she hasn't had one in 3 weeks and has been at her happiest in her short life. As I type this she is crying out from her crib, she went to bed with a fever and is a little under the weather, but no ear infection to speak of (yes she was checked at the MD today.) The rest will have to wait....

The month of Decemeber has gone by so fast! I am happy to report that we are all healthy. Makenna has been on Zantac for 2 months and has really responded well. She has been peppered with ear infections and also had 2 teeth come in since mid November. I am happy to report she is turning a corner, leaving her old crabby self behind. We celebrated by getting her ears pierced! We are now working on sleep training and tonight is night 3. I am refusing to give her a bottle during the night and to this point we have been successful. She had previously been waking at least twice a night after going to bed at 730pm and waking for the day around 630am. The last 2 days she has woken up but has cried herself back to sleep and slept until 730am.
Cassidy is still her cheery self. She had a great Christmas getting more presents than she needed, that is for sure!! Her 2 favorite seem to be her new Barbie scooter and her leapster. She is "scooting" all over the house practicing for spring. Happy New Year to all!

Quick Update....

Makenna was put on Zantac 10 days ago to treat suspected silent reflux. She had many symptoms such as arching her back and screaming loudly while being burped. In addition her overall fussiness has been a constant throughout the first 6 months of her life. We discussed with the MD over the last few months and finally decided enough was enough. After 1 week there was not much difference. Low and behold as we approach the 2 week mark I am happy to report that she is making great strides. She had her best stretch of time over the last 5 days with minimal screaming, almost no back arching and lots of happy moments and smiles. As of today she has her first tooth coming through on the bottom middle, so she is a little fussier today. That being said the last 5 days have been so nice that I am kicking myself for not trying it sooner.

Having 2 kids is proving much more demanding than I had ever thought possible. Perhaps too much time has passed since Cassidy was so dependent on me (us), that I forgot what it was like to have a baby. Makenna is a very demanding baby, triple what Cassidy was. She is a sweetheart when she is happy but her moments of happiness are fleeting, at most 10-15 minutes. Occasionally she can stretch it out to 30 minutes, but for the most part she cries after 10 minutes of any one activity. She has the most powerful cry too, like someone is hurting her, every cry. There is no soft whimper, every cry comes with a rigid straightening of her body along with an arching of her back and tossing of her head. We are beginning to think something must be wrong with her. Some type of underlying condition causing her to be uncomfortable more often that not. She is growing fine, weighing 18lbs 9ozs at an appt for an ear infection on Wednesday. She has a beautiful smile and big blue eyes that will make you forget the last extended cry fest. I just keep waiting for more time to pass, thinking if she could just sit up, maybe she'd be happier. If she could just roll over or maybe even lay on her tummy without spitting up, any of these might make her happier. For now I'll just keep waiting and building up my biceps from carrying her around during her crypisodes.
Cassidy is really understanding when it comes to Makenna. She has sacrificed a lot of Mommy time so I can care for Makenna. I hope someday soon she'll be able to play with her sister and re-establish our relationship to where it was before Makenna was born.
Two little Cassidy stories from today.....
Me: "Cass,it sounds like you have a lot of boogies today."
Cass: "Yeah, Mom, I do," SNIFF SNIFF "I just need to sniff them back in, then I can swallow them and they turn into yucky spit and then I spit them in the toilet and that's how I get rid of my boogies." "Did you know that Mom?"

Me: "Cass, do you want McDonald's tonight?"
Cass: "I only want it if they have My Little Ponies still." "Do they Mom?" "Only if they have ponies."
WE PULL UP TO THE DRIVE THRU...
Cass: "Oh my goodness Mommy, they have Strawberry Shortcake." "I think I might die!"
"I love her!"

 
 
 
 

I know it has been awhile since my last post. Here's the short version. Makenna is now out of her swaddle at night and last week she started teething so the nights have been yucky. I think it is a combination of both and hope sleeping through the night returns once she has cut some teeth. She is talking like crazy, mostly when we are in the car and has started to use the Exersaucer. She is still fussy most nights after 5pm, but we have just started cereal so hopefully she will do better with a fuller belly. She weighed in at 15lbs 12ozs at her 4 month appt and was 25 inches long.
Cassidy is doing well, increasing her vocabulary more each day. She is going to start gymnastics hopefully next month, so that will give her an outlet for some of her excess energy. She will be 4 in 2 weeks, I can't believe that much time has gone by already. It seems like just yesterday we were hitting baby milestones with her.

 
 
 
 

My last Friday of maternity leave.....I will be glad to go back to work however, Makenna has had the best week of her short life. She has been sleeping through the night of the last 11\12 days and is on a great napping schedule. It makes it so much easier to get things done around here. She has started to sit in her little BEBE POD, the small green chair that helps her to sit upright without falling over. She is talking, cooing and smiling all the time and whatever angst I was feeling earlier this summer has all but vanished. We have even heard a few short laughs!! Cassidy is excited to return to Mary's on Monday with Makenna in tow. Hopefully she won't drive Mary crazy (I mean Cass).