Terrific Two's

Yes, the terrific two's are here.  I actually think they start at 18 month and continue till 3 1/2. Ashley is doing a lot better.  No more visitors, she's staying in her bed at night, and potty training is done.  It took a mere 3 days and she's done a great job.  She loves being a big girl.  She even got a princess little scooter to celebrate her success!  Ash also loves to climb.  The little monkey uses stepping stools to climb on top of the trash can, then to climb on top of the counter then shimmies all the way around the counter tops to the candy cabinet.  She works quite stealthily.  

Her loves of the week:  watching Little Bear, Barney, the freaky Teletubbies and the even freakier Booh-bah, singing the song from Dumbo "Baby Mine", "I Love You" from Barney and "5 Little Monkeys".  She loves staring out our window and watching the "alligators" in the pond in front of the golf course.  

Austin got to start playing outside this week.  He loved enjoying the sunshine.  We've even had our first few outings since his surgery.  He's doing great.  If he's not drinking his meal, we're on soft foods and he'll sometimes get food stuck in his esophagus.  He feels panicky because he can't swallow his own saliva and he beats on his chest and says, "I'm having a heart attack!"  It's scary, but slowly he'll gag and drink water and things go down.  We just have to be so careful with him.  Poor guy's gone from 59lbs to 51lbs and has lost 15% of his body weight.  He still is our little husky guy!

Austin's preschool teacher Mrs. Burch came by this week to do a little home-schooling and to make sure he wasn't left out of any crafts/activities.  I was so touched by this!  Again, we're so thankful for all the love and support we've received for Austin and his recovery.

Jonathan came back from Kuwait this week.  He's been busy finishing up what seems like 1000 employee evaluation reviews (EER's) for his staff which has taken all his time.  We did go to Gravelly Park and watched the planes fly overhead.  My good friend Cheri and her girls came to visit from Florida this week and we had a lovely day together (of course we ate at Chipotle!)  I miss you Cheri! You need to  come back.  I also had a farewell lunch with my sweet friend Lynn and her kiddos who are moving to Moldova.  I'm so sad she's leaving VA.  Good luck Lynn!  I miss you already.

I love it that May is almost here and the grass is getting so green.  I love the sunshine!

Have a great week!

Angie

 

Poop

This week Ashley has been acting out in a big, bad way.  Grandma was still here, Austin was getting SO much attention and Mommy and Daddy have been in and out.  What about Ashley?  So she thought negative attention was better than none.  So 4 days in a row, during nap time, she took off her diaper and pooped on the floor.  She did try to clean herself up, but then smeared it ALL OVER!  On dolls, ground into the cream carpet, etc.  We had to replace our steam vac for this job.  Poor Ash.  Now things are getting somewhat back to normal again, she's calmed down a bit and there haven't been anymore violations.  

Because of the previous crime scenes, today I started potty training Ash.  She's doing great.  Phew.  Today I did give tons of attention to Ash as every 15 minutes I put her on the potty.  We even dressed up as a princess and put sparkles on!  I think princess undies are a great motivator for Ash as well.  We made fruit loop necklaces and homemade orange playdough (thanks Erika for the recipe!)  Things were great till Austin came up and rained on our parade.  Ash thought it was just a mommy and me day.  She looked at Austin and screamed at the top of her lungs OUT!  Needless to say, Austin joined the fun despite her objections.

We had so much fun with Grandma and we miss her so much.  Having mom here during such a turbulent time was not only helpful to watch Ash so we could dote upon Austin and help him eat/recuperate, etc, but moms are such a source of emotional strength.  I'm so blessed that she came up to help.  I love you Mom.  Pictured is G-ma making tapioca pudding with Austin!  Or as Austin calls it, "taffy-oka" pudding.

Austin is doing a bit better each day.  He still hasn't been able to go outside and play.  The weather's been beautiful too.  I felt so bad as the neighborhood kids were playing outside, and Austin was looking out the window and said, "It's okay that I can't go out yet.  Slow and steady wins the race."  And he has been slow and steady and healing great because of it.

Poor Austin has been eating a diet of very soft, liquidy/bland foods.  It shocked us when he pronounced to everyone, "I need something greasy and sweet."

Finally, Austin said he wanted to use "spicy" toothpaste (mint).  I told him great.  I put Crest on his brush and after he spit it out and took a big inhale in, his face looked surprised.  I asked if he was okay and if it was too strong.  He said nonchalantly, 'No mom, now the girls will think I'm spicy and hot'.  Too funny!

I hope the rest of the week's potty training is as good as it was today!  Wish me luck!  Jonathan's in the middle east.  Why does it always seem while potty training a kid the hubby is always out of town?!?? 

 

Have a great week!

Angie

We're Home!

Austin came home from the hospital on Friday night.  He stayed there from Tuesday till Friday and that's a day or two shorter than what we'd thought he stay!  Austin was doing so well and doing all the things that he should have been doing and more to go home.  So we made it home and it's so nice recuperating at home, as a family.  Austin is recuperating very well.  He's slowly eating a soft diet and moving around.  He's very slow, but he's moving.

Grandma is doing great with Ashley.  She's keeping up just fine and cooking, etc.  It's so nice to have Mom here.  She's here as an emotional strength for me and to hold down the fort and watch Ash. Both kids have loved having Grandma here.  Ash's favorite is to wake G-ma up every morning!

Ashley however is not doing too well.  She's acting out because Mom and Dad have been in and out of the hospital, Austin's bee gone, we just don't know what's going on.  So Ash has been a little out of sorts.  Not napping, taking her diapers off and smearing poop all over her room, and waking up at night.  Not good.  But we're trying to give her lots of attention now that we are home.

Jonathan and I are hanging in there.  We're just so thankful for Austin's surgery going well.  And again thankful for our family and friends that have supported us!  THANKS GUYS!  We feel strengthened by all your love.

Angie

ps-Austin told us today that there's  a special place he wants to go for summer vacation called "Chanukah"  He said "it's very magical."  Also, he's all into Ben 10 (a cartoon superhero kid) and Ashley gave him a Ben 10 watch as a welcome home gift.  He wears it all the time.  Now, they're new best friends! 

Successful Surgery

Austin's surgery went perfect.  Thank you all so much for your prayers.  What a blessing.

It lasted 4 hours and he first had a bronchoscopy.  The ENT said his trachea was in bad shape and that it was so inflamed due to chronic/severe stomach acid always in there.  The good thing is, it was being fixed as we spoke by a group of different surgeons!  By tying off his belly, it'll stop the acid from coming up and destroying his trachea/esophagus.  He said there could be scar tissue damage in his trachea so he still may always sound a little "gravely" but a lot of it is reversible.

Then the stomach surgeons came out and said that the surgery went great.  He had a large hiatial gap that they sewed up as well as tying the upper stomach around the esophagus to close off the stomach from any more acid coming up.  They put a tiny tube in his esophagus so they wouldn't sew it too tight, then removed the tube.  He will not be able to belch or vomit so there will be some life-changing things we'll have to get used to, but it's worth it.  

Austin came out of anesthesia fine.  He's on morphine but still is in pain.  He says, "it feels like I'm bleeding and having a heart attack" :(  But he's such a fighter!  That's all he knows and he's so brave to go through all of this.  Jonathan and I have been extremely emotional throughout all this!  You never want to see your child in pain.  But mostly we've been so overcome by gratitude that we feel for how wonderful the procedures have gone.  

Children's Hospital has impeccable Doctors, but isn't in the best part of DC.  We shared a room in ICU last night with 3 other kids and their parents (a 6 month old crying baby being one of them).  Lights on all night, loud doctors, etc.  But we received excellent surgical care by nationally reknowned surgeons.  

Austin goes to the pediatric unit today and will stay there the next 4 days and nights.  Jonathan and I are doing shift work.  We relieve each other every day at 7pm.  Grandma LaBarbera and Ashley are having a blast here at home together.  Ash misses Austin and always asks where he is.

Thanks again for the love, thoughts, prayers from all of you.  We felt them and are overwhelmed with gratitude for this successful outcome.  

Surgery

I can't believe that TOMORROW Austin has his fundoplication stomach surgery!  My nerves are beginning to set in.  At a bright 5:45 am we'll be at DC Children's Hospital.  The procedure is 4 1/2 hours long and we'll be with Austin 5 nights and will come home Sunday.  We know that he is being watched out over and that the surgery will go just fine and that this is something that needs to be done so he can just concentrate on having fun and being a kid!

We want to THANK all of you for your prayers, thoughts, emails, calls and love that we've felt from you.  It's times like this that we feel strengthened and buoyed by the support and strength of our family and dear friends. 

I'll keep you posted on how things go.  Please continue the prayers!  

Spring Break '08

There haven't been any posts for a few weeks because we spent 3 weeks in Charleston, SC and Gainesville FL.  We had a great time visiting our Uncles, friends and Grandparents!!  Our adventures included: going to a hockey game, getting Brusters ice cream, Krispy Kreme, Charleston Outlet malls, yummy steak, the zoo, UF Baseball game, Aveda salon, singing in sacrament, BBQ, going fishing, cookouts, and southern Blue Bell ice cream.  Ashley loved playing with Buddy and Happy and Austin loved playing with the hose and squirt guns.  They both loved playing toys with Uncle Ray and Uncle Grant!  

We had a wonderful time and enjoy our spring breaks each year immensely!  It's sad that this is the last year that Austin's in preschool and that we can take off weeks at a time to play with our grandparents!  

We made the 13 hour trip up from Florida on Friday the 4th.  I drove the entire way in one day.  Ouch.  Thank goodness for DVD's in the car.  Mom drove up with me and is taking care of Ashley this week while Austin is in the hospital.