Ode to Healthcare Insurance and Welcome Spring!!!!

Oh my goodness what a month March has been at our house! It all began March 5th when I was admitted to the ICU here with an abscessed tooth that was causing my face to swell quickly, with my airway also at risk. I had surgery to remove the abscess and was on the ventilator for 2 days after surgery until some of the swelling decreased and I could breathe on my own again. I remember bits and pieces of my time in ICU, but thankfully, not all of it. The kids did very well the 8 days mom was away at the hospital. They were well taken care of by Grandma and Grandpa K, Grandma G, Aunt Kari, Uncle Mike and Aunt Teresa and of course Dad. While I was in the hospital I was hearing of how Kylin wasn't eating (nothing new), throwing up (nothing new) and was super fussy (uncommon). Everyone thought she was teething and so they just medicated her with ibuprofen and Tylenol. I got home on Tuesday March 13th, but before I was discharged, I got a call at the hospital from Dad saying that "Kylin's Mickey button had "popped" out". He was panicked! He took her in (our insurance won't pay for us to have a spare one to replace it) and the doctors helped Dad to get the button back in and sent them on their way. I got home on Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday evening we had Kylin in the the Walk-in clinic, where she was diagnosed with tonsilitis and prescribed antibiotics. Her breath was horrid, but that's not uncommon when she is throwing up more frequently, but it continued for a couple of days so I knew it must be her throat and possibly teeth that were bothering her so much the past few days. After 24 hours of antibiotics, she was like new again and smiling continually!

Look at me eat!!!!

Getting brave!

Haircuts make me crabby....

Today is my first day here alone with kids, and so far things are going well. I am able to keep up with them and I'm not feeling completely exhausted yet. Hopefully everyday will continue to improve and we will be back in our routine.

It's bright out there!

Kids' update:
One week away and things seemed to change for both kids....

Kylin is eating so well lately (except when she was sick for those few days). She is showing excitement about eating and she is open to trying new things, and her gagging seems to be improving. Her amounts are nowhere near "normal" what dietary intake should be, but we are also still feeding her Pediasure (she drinks 3-4 oz and we tube the rest). She only will drink Vanilla Pediasure and we get the stuff with extra fiber and that seems to help clean out the system for the next meals to come. At her walk in appt. last week she weighed 18 lbs. 9oz, so I was very excited. It seems we have spent the entire winter below the 18 lb. mark, but she is definitely changing that. YEAH!!!! She still doesn't seems to have walking on her agenda, but she stands unassisted for periods of time, and now has gotten really talented and claps while standing. Dad and I have told her that Easter is her goal to start walking, so that she can find her basket from the Easter Bunny. She has the most hilarious crawl, and while our families were here, I continually heard comments about her means of getting around. The best to describe it is that she crawls like a baboon. She uses her hands and one leg and drags the other leg under her, and boy can she move. Sometimes she even makes a fist out of one of her hands and has a toy in the other and then she goes. She is getting great at imitating sounds she hears, so I am hoping that the words are soon coming. If she hears "lalala", "moo", hiyiyiyi" etc., she imitates and gets so excited when we praise her. She is becoming very brave and less fearful of our steps in our house, so she has to be watched carefully. She used to climb up, go play in her room, and then crawl to the top of the stairs when she wanted down. Now she is beginning to climb halfway up and then tries to sit or stand on a step in the middle. Very dangerous! She bonded very well with all of her relatives, especially with both of her Grandma's. I finally bought both kids real rubber soled shoes this weekend, and Kylin likes her shoes, but she won't stand when we have them on her so far, she just keeps trying to sit down as she is unsure of what to do with them on.

Preston is very busy exploring the world both inside and out. Yesterday, we put his new shoes on and he went walking outside for the first time this spring. Wow did he love it! We have a slope in our driveway and he took off going down it, had some good momentum going and of course fell down. He giggled, got back up and went again. He found his first puddle and fell in it also! Preston seems to have figured out Kylin's name, and he is calling her "Dyne". He finds her pacifier and he walks over and says "Dyne" and crams it into her mouth and Kylin just smiles from ear to ear. Pretty fun game they have going on together. Preston is getting very good at following commands to go get toys or objects across the room and bringing them to us. It is so fun to see the word association falling into play, now we just have to get the him to use his words to say what he wants. We have been signing words like "more", "drink", "eat", "all done", etc., and Preston has decided that patting the right side of his head means drink--we comply and give him his cup and it seems to satisfy his request. Preston is officially weaned from the bottle and now only uses his cup. He has taken security in snuggling with blankets for comfort and easily gave up the bottle. He is getting very good at "sharing" with his sister at times, by going to the toybox and bringing her a toy and handing it to her to play with. Preston bonded very well with Grandpa K in the last week, but I think Grandpa K bribed him with Oreo cookies!

We have our Synagis shots again this week (only 2 left for this season). I hope to get accurate weights of both kids so that I can report that.

The weekend prior to me being admitted to the hospital, we had our babysitter Kim give Kylin and Preston their first haircuts. Kylin didn't have much to cut, except a few little long one's around her ears, but Preston got alot cut off and now he looks like such a big boy.

Mid haircut (Mom didn't get very good pictures)

Yesterday morning we went out for brunch with Grandma G, and this was probably the 3rd or 4th time we had taken the kids out to eat at an actual sit-down restaurant. It was interesting!! Preston ate very well and I couldn't keep up with keeping his mouth full of food. Kylin showed great interest and started with 1 big cracker. Her mouth got dry, she gagged and then threw up all over. Preston finished off our nice breakfast-out with a very smelly diaper and we all went home full (except for Kylin). They love the people watching and it's so good for all of us to get out once in awhile, we just have modified what defines a nice meal out-to-eat.

I am so confused this week with my kids' schedules. We had a pretty routine daytime/nighttime schedule, but while I was gone everything changed. We turned the clocks ahead and my kids are sleeping in. Preston has been waking anywhere between 7:30 and 8am and Kylin usually rises around 9am. Preston had been getting up at 5:30-6am, so it is so nice to sleep in. Both kids must be experiencing some growth right now, because they are sleeping from 8:30pm through the night and then taking 1 1/2 hour naps (1-2/day). We have been calling Kylin the teenager, because of all of the sleep that she desires lately. Mom returns to work later this week and Kim will return to watch the kids, so hopefully we can resume our lives as they were.

Our favorite hiding spot under Kylin's bed (it's great for privacy to make messy diapers)

Hopefully my next post can be short and sweet and "uneventful", unlike this one. We are counting the days until Uncle Mike and Aunt Teresa become parents!!!!!

HAPPY SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!