So much to say

So much to say, yet so little time. I really have no idea where time goes.

Last weekend Amy (nurse) and I took the kids to Trigs since they were having there pumpkin fest. We did not go last year, but always have loved to have Zak take his picture by the scarecrow to see how big he is getting. 

Steeling Mom's Sun Glasses.. Cool Dude!

Playing with the pumpkins..standing all by himself!

Callie checking out all the colors. Last year she was to sick to go out and enjoy October

Humm.. That might be bigger than me!

Two feet Tall!

Just because I am cute

Through all the fun Callie once again had the poops.. For a week. Last Sunday she seemed like she was getting a cold. She was still on her nebulizer (breathing) treatments. I just felt it might be a long few days. By Monday afternoon she had a fever, and I knew for sure she was sick. Monday night she had 8 loose stools and we knew that was not good. We went to the doctors on Tuesday and asked for stool studies and wanted to make sure her lungs sounded ok. They said to keep up with the nebulizer treatments and did give us a stool kit to take home. Wednesday the kit was brought back, Thank you to our nurse for collecting the mess over night. By Thursday we had a call and she was positive for c-diff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_difficile

Basically a bacteria infection from to many antibiotics. She was put on meds right away and so far they seem to be working. She is slowing getting back to normal. Friday she started to have more issues breathing again, and she had a little wheezing. We just were not comfortable going into the weekend with her being sick so we took her to the pediatric walk in. The doctor thought it was viral, but was concerned why her breathing was not getting any better so she put Callie on an oral steroid. She has been getting a little better. We go in tomorrow to meet with our doctor for a follow up.

As for Zak, he has a major ear infection. We started to treat it with the typical drops that he gets and it just did not seem like it was working. The drainage smelt awful. By Friday he has some blood coming out his ear. We talked to ENT and he was put on an oral antibiotic as well. Hopefully he will start to improve soon.

He did have a good week at school. On Thursday his class went to the local grocery store since they were learning about the marketplace. He was having fun picking things off the shelf :) He also pushed his wheelchair by himself meaningful!! Way to go Zak!!!.. The report is he is a little more right dominant, but at this point any pushing is great. We are so proud of him. He got another gold star at school!

Thursday night Chris and I went to Nigburs to meet with Debbie. She was at the house the week prior to see our style. She showed us some things in the store to get a better idea of what we liked and who we are. She is amazing! She has such great ideas and really has taken an interest in the Build From the Heart project. I strongly suggest going to visit her and the staff at Nigburs! I am not saying that just because they are helping with the project, but I sincearly mean it.

By Friday we were all feeling exhausted. The night was a long night for me as my throat was throbbing. I figured we were all just going to share the fun cold that was going around. I was at the clinic for a followup for me so I asked the doctor to look at my throat... sure enough I had tonsillitis. Ahhh. No wonder my throat hurt. This really has gotten to be a routine thing for me lately.

This weekend was spent trying to get things done around the house. Christ got the gutters put on the back of the house on Saturday. I went grocery shopping when he got in and also picked up a movie from the Red Box. Whom ever thought up that idea - it was a great one. We watched the Experiment.

Today we watched the packers game and had some close friends over for dinner.. the Golbach's. It has been so long since we have been able to spend some time with them. It was so nice just to catch up, but really where does the time go?

Here is another picture from the week. Zak helping Callie make sure she get her nebulizer treatment. What a nice brother to help out.

Zak Crawling.. or should I say running since he saw me take out the camera

And the House!! What an exciting week. Among all the running around I could not wait each day to get home and see the progress.

This is on Thursday afternoon. The footings were in and walls were poured. 

Chris checking this out.

This week they are going to back fill and I am not sure what else. Check back for an update! 

Tomorrow night we are meeting with the whole interior design team. They are an amazing team. I cannot wait to see what this meeting brings. 

All About Callie

Callie Elizabeth was born on February 11, 2009 at 11:17am at St. Joseph Hospital in Marshfield. She weighed 4lb 13oz and was 17in long, what a little doll! Mom was only 37 weeks, but defiantly ready to meet her precious daughter. Since she had a c-section prior, Callie was also born by c-section after a night of laboring at home.

At birth Callie was also not able to breath through her nose just like big brother Zak. She was diagnosed immediately with having choanal atresia, the nasal passages did not develop and she would need surgery to correct it. She was admitted directly to the NICU. At 6 days old the surgery was a success; the doctors drilled a new airway and used plastic stints to keep the passage open so it could heal. For three months she had stints in her nose to keep the airway open and allow her to breathe freely. On May 14, 2009 Callie had the stints removed and has been breathing wonderfully since (with a bit of suctioning still). We also learned at birth that Callie had a heart Murmur that the doctors will continue to monitor - several days later she was diagnosed as having Pulmonary stenosis, again just like her big brother. It got slightly worse around 2 months old, at 5 months old it was significantly worse. (about a 60% murmur). The doctors continue to follow her closely. For the first time at 12 months old we were told her heart stabilized at a grade 70 murmur. We pray it will now get better just as Zak's did. Only time will tell.

During Callie's newborn screen she was also diagnosed with a Thyroid disorder. He thyroid is slightly smaller than it should be. She takes a daily medication to monitor this and we continue to be monitored by the doctors.

Callie has also had some feeding issues along the way. She likes to eat, however it does take her a while to get a bottle down. The issue with this is it takes her so long to eat she is actually burning more calories than she is taking in. She is on a very strict feeding regiment now to hopefully allow her to gain weight. Finally at 8 months old we decided she needed a feeding tube to help with the growth - we just needed to make some decisions. Since Callie was also diagnosed with severe GERD at 2 weeks old, which basically meant she had really bad acid reflux or heart burn, she was treated immediately with medication. Although she still spits up once and a while, it seems to be working. She had an endoscopy (a look at her esophagus with a camera) which is normal at a glance, but does show some mild aggravation. We decided she should have the same surgery as Zak where they wrap the stomach around the esophagus to prevent the reflux and place the feeding tube at the same time. Callie showed a significant gain in weight, but not a significant change in length. We will continue to monitor this. At age 2 a decision can be made if she needs growth hormone.

When Callie was 4 months old she had some internal bleeding. She was hospitalized for 4 days to run tests and evaluate. Although we never got an answer we are thinking a bone chip from her nose may have gotten swallowed. This healed on its own. She was anemic for a bit after, but continues to show improvement.

At 5 months old Callie had eye surgery for Ptosis, a condition in which under-developed muscles do not allow her eye lids to raise properly. The surgery connected her eye brow with her eye lids so now she has control over the lids and can see much better. It was a very minor surgery. Callie has also been monitored for additional fluid in the brain. After an MRI it was determined she was need to have a third ventriculostomy to help the fluid drain. This surgeries were done at the same time. The brain surgery was given a 50% success rate. During the surgery she ended up having an external drain put in since there was blood in the fluid. She spent a few nights in the PICU. Callie recently had an ultrasound for her follow up and there is concern about the fluid in her brain. They did another MRI to determine if the surgery was a success or if she would need a shunt. Unfortunately the surgery did not work and Callie needed to have a programmable shunt placed. Thankfully she has been doing great!

Callie has an unbalanced Translocation (46, XX, der(3)t(3;6)(p24.2;p21.1) which we continue to learn about. Doctors believe this will cause Callie to have some mental and physical disabilities, but we are determined to give her the care and education she needs. To date we have only learned of one other family in the world with the similar unbalanced translocation which we have been able to speak with a few times.

Callie is a joy to be around. She loves her attention. She is a feisty little girl.. we know who is going to be running the house! Big Brother Zak likes to check her out and pull on her Arms and legs. We are so thankful to have another little miracle in our life.