hayden | This is my norm

Dec 11 2007

My lists are NOT that bad!

Once again, sorry blogworld. I’m so behind on here! I’ve been fighting off pneumonia, visiting my girls and trying to get ready for the week that is ahead of us.

Let me recap the weekend. Friday morning I took Hayden to the doctor to get whatever we needed to take care of her cough and fever. Found out we had a pneumonia which was RSV again. Twice in her life already and of course at the worst time ever. So we got her a shot, put her on a steroid, a decongestant, two breathing treatments every 4 hours and Tylenol for fever, as well as an antibiotic. We had to make a chart just to keep up with all of it. Within 24 hours she was fever free and on the road to clear lungs. We are still coughing but not contagious and believe it was just a bacterial infection, which her body responded to the antibiotics quickly and she is much better already. Thank the Lord!

Anyway, so we get home on Friday from the doctor and I get a call from the NICU telling me that Ella is suffering from strictures in her intestines, as a result of scar tissue from having pneumatosis.
They are wanting to do surgery as soon as it is confirmed that she does not have an infection, which would delay surgery. We had to wait 48 hours on the blood work for that confirmation. So BJ and I hurried down to the hospital hoping they wouldn’t change their mind before we could get there and do surgery suddenly. She received two blood transfusions due to severe anemia (just like her mommy) and when we got there she was so pale and her tummy was extremely bloated. BJ and I stayed at the Ronald McDonald house for the night and visited the girls several times. I was able to feed Preslyn by bottle and had a lesson on “active feeding” which is how to feed a preemie who does not yet know how to suck, swallow, breathe. It was very tedious and poor girl and I were not working so well together. BJ did a much better job the next day.

Anyway, skip to today…surgery still on hold, they confirmed that Ella has two infections both stemming from her PICC line in her arm, which was helping her to not have to be stuck repetitively to receive IV fluids, blood, antibiotics, etc. So they had to remove that and do a line in her head. This was a horrible thought for me, as I had seen a baby have this done on my last visit to the hospital and I almost lost it and it wasn’t even my own child. They even had to shave part of her hair off. (the nurse said she saved if for me and I didn’t even ask her to). They also did a test on her heart because they thought they heard a murmur again, but the echo came back clear. (Praise the Lord again!)

Now for Preslyn, last week BJ and I took our class to be educated in infant CPR as well we took our car seat education course to learn how to properly secure a preemie. Surprisingly, we did learn stuff we didn’t know in that. Preslyn looked so tiny in the car seat.

But she passed her car seat test, today she had her synagis shot and her hepatitis B shot and now she ready to come home!! She is back to full feeds and finishing them beautifully. So we are going on Wednesday to pick that chick up 🙂 🙂 🙂 Whahhooooo!!!!!!!!!!

As of today Preslyn is 5lbs. 3oz. and Ella is 5lbs. 4 oz. and both are in level 2 for the time being.

This morning Hayden and I decorated a gingerbread train for a diversion for both of us. We had so much fun although I think we had more green icing on us than on the train.

“I don’t know about touching this icing stuff, Mom”

ok fine…I’ll try it

here goes nothin’

yummmm i love it!!!

A few recent Hayden stories:

Hayden by her first Christmas tree to help decorate….pardon the dorrito face 🙂

The other day we were driving in the car, Hayden is on her steroid which makes everything far more dramatic in her little life, so Hayden says to me,
H.”What you doin mommy?”
M. “Making a to-do list.”
H. “NOOOOOOO MOMMY (while SOBBING her eyes out) Don’t MAKE A LIIIISSSTTTTT!!!”

Bj and I lost it laughing so hard.

The next one was while we were all three up in her room right after she woke up one morning, she starts walking down the hall but hadn’t had her diaper changed yet. BJ called to her and Hayden answered back…” I Can’t HEAR you!!!” ( oh brother….she is way to young for that)

Last story. Apparently Hayden has decided to assume the Rachel Rakes way of addressing her parents, even from a tender age of 2. This morning I woke up to Hayden calling me on the monitor…”Mommmyyyyyyyy…………moooooommmmmyyyyyyyyyyyy….LIIIIINNNDDDSSSAAAYYYYYY……..
LINDSAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.” I couldn’t believe it. Then several times today she talked to BJ using his first name instead of Daddy.

Nov 30 2007

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hayden, NICU week 4

Bring her home, baby!!

So the girlies are back together again! Ella got moved back to her sisters side yesterday! We are so excited to get to go see them side by side again. It makes our visits so much easier. Ella is 4lbs. 8oz. and Preslyn is right behind her at 4lbs. 7.2oz. They are just growing like little weeds now.

Preslyn got moved into an open crib today, which is another step toward coming home to us! Now all we have to wait on is her to get up to 8 bottles a day and right now she is at 2. So she is coming along quickly! I’m hoping in a couple more weeks she will be home. That would be wonderful. Hopefully big sister Ella will be home soon after her as well. She is supposed to be in an open crib in the next few days as well.

Hayden on the other hand is having quite a rough time lately. She is one big barrel of accidents. She has come home from school the last several times with a new bruise or a busted lip. She is just struggling to stay up on her feet. I think she must be growing right now and her body is a little uncoordinated. She is running so fast lately which doesn’t help her falls at all.

Once again…I have pics that I need to upload 🙂 Back to watching Beauty and the Beast with my biggest baby girl.

Oct 01 2007

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hayden, hospital stay

Day 5

hello hello…

its me, the captive being held hostage at the hospital 🙂 The nurses always joke with me because I don’t wear the hospital gowns and so I don’t look like a patient. So when I go on walks in the hospital they always warn me to come back. I’m one of the only mom’s on my wing that can even leave their room so I am thankful for that. Most of them are on strict bed rest for one reason or another.

So I can’t believe I’ve already been here for 5 full days. They keep me pretty busy. Seriously. My morning starts at 6:30 every morning and then is filled with a series of doctor visits, nurse visits, then then bring my food, then they clean my room and then monitoring. By 12 I am pooped! They do bring me entirely too much food in this place. I am never finished with my first tray before they are bringing me another one! Most of it is relatively good though, so at least I’m not being loaded up with gross stuff. One of my night nurses must have it out for me to gain as much weight as possible because every night she works she always brings me an ice cream at 12am. She says its just to keep me happy…lol. I laugh at her and tell her I’m going to get nice and fat if she keeps it up.

I got my blood tests back and my thyroid is fine and my heart rate is just being classified as pregnancy induced tachycardia. They are just monitoring it and making sure it doesn’t get severely elevated. But the last day or so, it has been lower so that is a relief. I did fail my hemoglobin tests (as well as another one, can’t remember the name of it) and therefore am anemic and am now on iron. As well I am having some KILLER indigestion. Wow, I feel like my esophagus is literally on fire. The stuff they gave me for that I almost puked up it was so gross, but it seems to be helping.

Hayden and BJ got to come up this weekend and have a sleepover. It was so fun to get to see them and spend time with them. I painted Hayden’s fingernails and toenails, which she loves, and we watched Shrek and played Princess Memory. Hayden slept with me in my bed and she was a cuddler to the max. She could not sleep unless her leg was over me somehow. I loved it. It was so hard to see them go. I think it was harder this time then it was initially. Hayden kept saying, Mommy come to my house. and when I’d say I couldn’t, she would say PLEAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEE. Breaks my heart.

I want to be there so bad, but this is what is best for our babies right now. I can’t wait to look back on it instead of live it. BJ has really picked up the slack and is doing a great job being Mr. Mom and Dad while still maintaining work and even squeezing in a guys night 🙂 I’m sure we will both learn so many new things through this experience and be better people and parents in the long run.

oh one last thing before I hit the sack…for all you ladies out there. If you have gotten the new Mary Kay catalogue, you must check out the quad eye shadows. They are so great. I have tried both of them and love them so much. They are great colors for any person and can be dressed up or down. If you haven’t gotten the catalogue yet, you can look at it online at my website www.marykay.com/lindsaymunson. Just let me know if you want anything or place an order through my site and I will get it filled for you.

Well I need to hit the sack….night night 🙂

Sep 08 2007

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23 months, dancing, hayden

These boots were made for DANCING

http://img.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v730/munsons/DSCF2220.flv

Hayden is so excited about her birthday party 🙂

Aug 16 2007

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hayden, sick

Just a quickie

I keep forgetting to post that Hayden has been sleeping in her big girl bed at night now for 11 nights with no problems at all. 🙂 Still in the crib for naps, but we are making progress!!!

We are all under the weather with summer colds so pray for us if you think of it. The babes are kicking away lately and I saw my belly move today for the first time….in two different spots. 🙂 Pretty cool! Tomorrow is 20 weeks!! The end is nearing! I can’t believe our babies will be here sometime in the next 14 weeks. That is amazing. We are working hard on names so if you have suggestions throw them on out there 🙂

I had my last appointment with my regular OB this week and it was kind of sad to go, but I know the new doctors are going to take great care of us. I was measuring at 21 weeks…so just a couple of weeks ahead, which they said is amazing that I am not way bigger for twins, but that I am gaining just enough to allow the babies to grow how they should and for me not to overgain! That is the goal 🙂 My weight gain total is 9 lbs. Which is not bad for being at halfway of a regular pregnancy!

Tootles 🙂

Jul 09 2007

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21months, boots, hayden

These Boots were Made for Walkin’

Hayden got some new cowgirl boots over the weekend for her upcoming 2nd birthday party hoedown. She loves them and has been walking around in them all day. She also got her first pair of school tennis shoes for the fall. She is growing up so fast!

Jul 05 2007

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hayden, July 4th, twins

July 4th and other ramblings

We had a wonderful 4th!! We went with a group of our pals to the Astros game where they STUNK IT UP! Oh it was horrible. They had $1 hot dog day though so we all pigged out on those for sure. Then we came back and hung out and watched Madagascar and ate pizza. Then we did fireworks later that night. Hayden loved them for about 10 minutes and then she was more interested in climbing back and forth from the front seat of the car to the back. She was kind of bored. After the fireworks we were just sitting around and poor Hayden was up way past her bed time and then she got struck with the worst case of gas ever. She couldn’t control it and had all of us laughing our heads off because of how loud it was. Poor thing.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a single picture of the whole day so I’m sorry 😦

One cute story:
I was holding one of our friends little baby and Hayden was sitting right beside me giving her kisses and pointing out her body parts. Well then one of our friends came up and took the baby from me and stood there beside me for a while holding her. Well Hayden was staring at him with this frown like “Why would you do that” so finally he gave the baby back and Hayden smiled and said “thank you” to him. It was hilarious! She is practicing to be a great big sister.

Speaking of the twinsicles…..I am officially in my 2nd trimester!! Whoohoo!!! I’ve gained 2 lbs. total which is nice, but my stomach is already sticking out and rock hard. I’ve been feeling some swooshing around every so often and I’m sure that will continue and increase really soon. I’ve been feeling much better, had a few headaches and just sore tummy, but other than that I have no complaints 🙂 I go to the doctor Wednesday and that will be to the specialist, so we are looking forward to what he has to say and HOPING that we can get a definite answer on what these kiddos are. I’m still banking on boys. I’ve been looking at bedding and found the cutest bedding for them if they are boys and I can’t wait to start on their nursery. I want to get everything done early so in case I should have to be on bedrest at anytime I will be prepared! Only 20 more weeks to go!! I’m almost halfway there!

May 09 2007

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hayden, Peggy

Introducing PEGGY

This past weekend one of my childhood dreams came true for Hayden. I had it in my head years ago that I wanted a duck. A sweet little yellow fuzzy duck that could live in my room with me and be my pet. I bought a bird cage for my soon-to-be pet and was all set. Or so I thought.

If you look hard you can see that one little yellow duck in the cage…yes that was the dream pet I had.

The confusion happened when I kept saying that I wanted a baby chick. You know the ones you see in cartoons that are so cute and little and yellow, yes that’s the one. Well in my head it translated to growing up, staying little and cute and somehow transforming into a completely different animal. A duck. Yes, I wanted a baby chick that would live forever yellow and fuzzy so it had to be a duck. I guess it never crossed my mind that I just needed to envision a baby duck.

Well the day finally came and my parents took me to the place that I was to get the aforementioned superhero transformer animal. I walked in and saw a grown “chick” which is a Chicken for those of you who have brains that actually do work and you already know that chicks grow to chickens; baby ducks to big…ducks. Well the chickens were of course, ugly and scary and not pet-like whatsoever. I think I ran out and never looked back and that was the end of my pet duck/chick dream.

So this Easter the dream resurfaced with adult-like undertones. Basically I got my chickens and ducks straightened out. I wanted to get Hayden her own duck for Easter…no not to keep in her room in a little bird cage, but in the pond on the property out front of Bj’s parents house, which happens to be walking distance from ours. So Sunday after church we headed out to Trading Days at the fairgrounds which to me seemed like a bunch of non-rodeo quality animals and puppies and kittens all lined up for us to choose from.

So we walked up and down the rows, and pet the bunnies, saw the baby pigs (they wagged their tails at Hayden, it was adorable) , looked at the ducks and the baby ducks, saw the scary chickens ( yep, still ugly and not pet-like) and finally we saw her…..

See the deal was Mr. Munson was getting some ducks too, so he had picked out 7 ducks. They were all pretty much black or gray and looked similar.

So I wanted to get Hayden a duck that looked totally different so she could spot it from the rest of them. So we saw this big, pretty, white duck and I knew that was the one. ( OK, so it was the only white duck on the premises, but she was THE ONE) We paid a mere $10 for her, which for some reason surprised me that it was that cheap, but I don’t really know what I had in mind that it would cost.

Anyway, so we brought home all the ducks and let them out into the pond. Then we named her…Peggy.

Apr 24 2007

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24 hr. Watch, Alexis, hayden, Kemah, Sean

CARNIVALE
(That sounds like the Italian pronunciation in my head)

Recently we went to Kemah for Bj’s brother’s band, 24hr. Watch. They were playing for this Christian music weekend with Big Daddy Weave. It was pretty cool and they did really good!!

We went with my brother and his girlfriend Alexis and had a really fun time.

Hayden got to ride her first carnival rides and she was so cute. She kept squealing on the miniature ferris wheel and then on the carousel she wanted to keep going again and again. Very fun!!

The funny thing is that about halfway through the day I realized that Hayden and I were dressed EXACTLY alike…same colors, same everything…lol.
I didn’t realize it at home because I was wearing a hooded shirt over my clothes for a while since it was sort of cold.