December 2006

Our little man still isn’t eating much but seems much more himself today in terms of mood and wanting to play. Thankfully the weather has gotten somewhat warmer (although so dry it makes your skin and lips just crack) so going for walks and running around the backyard is easier. Trent loves playing with the football and basketball in the backyard while Sophie is more drawn to the dog food. Always individuals I guess. We try to get them outside as much as possible. Sophie is also good at letting us know when she wants out by going to the front window and saying “outttside”. I can’t wait for the day when Trent has more to say. His continued quietness worries me. The distance between their speech continues to grow everyday. He so wants to talk though. He gets so excited by his balls and trucks and wants everyone to know what he’s saying. Their other favorite thing is their new blocks, puzzles, magnetic toys and Sesame Street DVD. The first thing they want to do in the morning is play with their toys and the Sesame Street DVD has turned out to be the ultimate relaxer for them. They also watch the doodle boops and Baby Einstein cartoons but seeing Sesame Street again (its been years for me) made me realize how incredible Sesame Street is compared to other children’s shows.

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Our poor little man continues to feel under the weather.  We’re now starting to get a little worried since he really hasn’t eaten much in the last 4 days and just isn’t himself.  He tries to play but just doesn’t have much energy.  He just wants his blanket and to be held.  Depending on how tomorrow morning goes, a call is definitely in order to the pediatrician before we start the next holiday.   We just want to make sure he doesn’t lose the weight he’s worked so hard to put on.  I miss seeing our happy little man.
Tonight we put the babies in their pjs and took them to ring out 2006 by going to the celebration of lights at Vasona Park.  It’s this incredible demonstration of light displays that you drive though.  Even though Trent isn’t feeling great- he was just over the moon looking at all the innovative displays with the lights.  Sophie girl on the other hand managed to the sleep through the whole thing.  I guess we now know the magic ticket for her- just put her in her pjs and drive.  She seems to be doing a little better sleeping though with the seizure meds.  It’s a fight in the morning and evening to get her to take it but we haven’t had any episodes and although she’s still sleeping in the swing- I’m beginning to wonder if we might be ready to try getting her back into the crib again.

Today we started Sophie girl on the seizure meds. 5 days @ 1 ml 2x a day, 5 days @ 2ml a day for 5 days and then 3ml 2x @ day going forward.  We’ve marked all the dates on the box, in my daytimer and on our big family calendar. Lots to remember and organize. Sophie has our number though.  The woman who always drinks her entire bottle had no interest in it this morning after she saw me put the meds in it.  Smart lady.  Going forward we’ll just shoot them directly into her mouth like we do to for Trent’s reflux meds.  It’s hard not to be nervous though.  Immediately after she got her direct dosage tonight- her balance went south and she was stumbling around.  As soon as I pointed it out Aaron he held up the box and said, “ It causes dizziness”.  (A al calm down mommy- everything will be fine).  Packard called today and her EEG is scheduled for January 11th.  Part of me wishes the test would be negative – since seizures sound so scary.  The other part of me hopes that it does show seizures so we can have a definitive answer about what’s causing her “episodes” and treat them.
Thankfully whatever caused the Keene illness yesterday has resolved itself and the 4 of us are all new people.  Woohoo!  It’s so hard for the babies to be confined to the house and even though it was totally windy today, we bundled them up in their coats, mittens, and hats and took them for a walk.  Trent is so enamored by the wind.  He just loves to have it blow in his face. He gets the biggest smile on his face when it happens. Maybe we have a meteorologist in our future. Although he doesn’t love his hat and constantly takes it off his head- Sophie is more than happy to keep her’s on.  I think she just doesn’t want to ruin the look- along with her matching mittens.  Leave it to my daughter to be the one who sits in her wagon and claps when she sees the UPS truck.  Clearly she knows he’s got fun things in his truck.  She and the driver even wave at each other.  It was so fun to watch.

The babies have had a tough couple of days. We had so hoped that they would both be totally healthy for Christmas but … we just didn’t get there. Sophie girl seemed to be on the mend on Christmas Eve day but then Trent started to feel ill. No fever but just feeling punk. I think he’s getting his molars and those big teeth are definitely taking their toll. Sophie though did her best to entertain my sister’s family and Grandma and Grandpa until she finally just couldn’t stay awake and fell a sleep in her high chair. After much rocking by Grandma, Trent finally just crashed. Poor little guy- he just wanted to be held- trying to play with his new toys but having a hard time getting into it.
Christmas morning brought lots of musical toys, a great push toy from Grandma and Grandpa Godlewski, two motorized scooters from Grandma and Grandpa Keene, lots of puzzles, Cds, blocks, talking Elmo, dollies, balls and much more. My babies are so blessed to have so many people of care about them. Of course at first they were more into the boxes but once we got stuff out for them- they were beyond thrilled. Hours and hours of playing. Trent still wasn’t feeling a 100% but his new toys certainly were a welcome distraction.
Last night we went over to our friend Lisa & Henry’s for Christmas dinner. Lisa put on the most incredible feast! Sophie was SO busy and as much as I tried to stay right behind her- she did find her way into Lisa’s china cabinet (thankfully just breaking one glass) and Christmas decorations shelf. I felt so bad –in just the blink of an eye she got a way from me. I fear we’ll never be invited back. Trent preferred to snuggle with his dad though and watch the animal show on their wonderful silver screen.

Unfortunately this morning Sophie work up ill (vomiting) and by early morning- Aaron and I had it too. We were almost relieved though that we got it too so we could kind of rule out and issue with her head. Wow that was so hard. I just lay on the couch with Trent while Sophie hung out in her swing and Aaron stayed in bed. Thank goodness our neighbor Jenifer came over with her son Charles (Tia) and got both babies dress and fed. I finally decided to just lie on the floor in their room and watch them play. Unfortunately neither felt like playing and the 3 of us just curled up on the carpet together and slept.
I think we’re now on the upswing though and the worst seems to be over. Once again my neighbors to the rescue. It’s so nice that we can just call them and say “please go to the store for us. We are so lucky.
I can’t wait for the babies to be 100% healthy so they can thorough enjoy all their new toys. Hours and hours of enjoyment!
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Our little Sophie girl has had a tough two days. Both babies have been fighting a cold but yesterday afternoon she got much worse (we had actually thought she was getting better). Unfortunately we had our neighborhood progressive party and Sophie wasn’t able to enjoy. We brought her to our neighbor Lisa’s house thinking she’d perk up (where appetizers and drinks were) but she just wanted to be cuddled and was passed from through the parents trying to comfort her. Finally I brought her home. My neighbors could tell I was concerned since she was acting so lethargic and immediately two of the mommies were at our house to help (we were also the next stop in the party). Our friend Tamara rocked Sophie for a while and then she went down in her swing for the rest of the night. Our house was filled with people and she just slept through it all. We were so disappointed she missed the party.

Trent on the other hand had the time his life. At Lisa’ house he went after appetizers and chased her sons Michael (another toddler) and David throughout the house. Once back at our house he couldn’t get enough of all the little girls (we have five under the age of eight) and the presents. He was given a very nice Tonka trunk by one of our neighbors who picked his name in the exchange. He was SO thrilled when Aaron put it on his highchair.

Sophie got animal basketball and although we had to open it for her- both babies have enjoyed it today.
I got up early and went to finish my holiday shopping (7am-ish) and by the time I got home- Sophie was back napping. She then spent most of the day just lying in my arms – either in the rocking chair or on the couch. Every time I tried to put her down she just cried and cried. Although she’s got a nasty cough and her eyes look like she doesn’t feel well she’s not running a temperature. Very odd. We had hoped to take them to see our local Santa but it was clear Sophie wasn’t up for it and we wanted to focus on getting her better for Christmas.

Trent clearly knows when she doesn’t feel well and gave her a wide berth today so I could just hold her. He was so good about playing by himself and understood that he needed to hang out with Aaron outside while I held her inside. Aaron was trying very hard to put together the grandparents gifts. -while entertaining Trent. The babies got a great push toy from my parents and two riding toys from Aaron’s folks. Tonight I took a short ride around the backyard on one of them. Very cool. We’re now hiding them in Aaron’s car in the garage.

Hopefully Sophie will be back to her old self tomorrow. We so want them both to enjoy Christmas. I’m quite sure it’s a cold but we just worry about her so much. We can just never tell what’s going on.

Today was filled with doctor’s appointments; Trent was such a trooper since none of the appointments involved him. The first appointment was up at the neurology clinic for Sophie girl. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had both babies at an appointment and now that they’re walking, they are even busier than ever. Neurology is a whole new ball game. The doctor we saw was very knowledgeable and pleasant but extremely clinical. Most of the Stanford docs are professors and doctors, and some favor more towards being doctors but in this case the doctor definitely was more on the professor side. The appointment consisted of a neurological exam and evaluation. Sophie did so well responding to all his requests commands and provided quite a demo of her vast vocabulary. Like I said, he was pretty clinical, but after a while I can tell he was almost charmed by Sophie girl.

The net though was that given her history, what he’s read for her medical files (I was impressed that he had obviously read through everything prior to our appointment), and his conversations with Dr. Edwards, he does believe she is having seizures. He said there is a slim possibility that she’s having childhood migraines, but he really didn’t seems to think that was what was happening. Our plan is to have her start on seizure meds tomorrow (Long’s had to order the meds). We will then see him again in clinic in 3 months, and do an EEG in January. He’s just concerned that we will go on with these episodes while we wait for the EEG appointment and would rather address the issues now rather than wait for a test that could be inconclusive. I was so glad Aaron was able to attend; he got there just as Trent was trying to escape from the exam room. We were reminded how glad we were that we did doorknobs instead of handles when we remodeled our house 2 years ago. Door handles just scream “open me” to toddlers.

My original plan was for us to take them over to Stanford Mall to see Santa after the appointment, and we did but is was 48 degrees and raining. We waited for a bit, but it got VERY cold so we decided instead to have them visit the Willow Glen Santa this Saturday.
Our second appointment was at the pediatrician. Both babies have had colds, and I had called to ask if we could give Sophie a neubulizer treatment. The doctor though wanted to see her first since the neubulizer was originally prescribed for Trent. I’m not sure what is wrong with me. I parked in front of the doctor’s office and it looked so close that I didn’t see any need for our stroller. However, between getting their jackets in the car, unbuckling them separately, and trying to get them out of the car, it was so much harder than I thought. I ended up chasing both down the street at separate times, we all fell on the wet ground together, and then I picked them both up under my arms. The front door looked so close and in the end it was like reaching the top of a mountain. I must of looked a site when I got there as a lady opened it for me, exclaiming that I more than had my arms full. Thank goodness no one had a video camera. I made a complete and utter fool out of myself.
All that for a thumbs up on using the nebulizer on Sophie and a recommendation to use bendryl to help her congestion. Kind of wishing I could’ve stayed in the car and phoned it in.

It’s taken me a long time to get here but I’m finally at a place where I don’t stress about the babies appointments, my work schedule, tweaking our childcare and getting it all to line up.  For weeks I was worried that Trent had speech today at 11:15 and its suppose to be my at home morning.  I’ve scheduled their physical/early intervention therapy and speech on this day so I could easily participate.  Unfortunately Apple is getting ready to go into MWSF and the prep began today. Since it wasn’t my meeting- I no choice but to be there- butt in seat.  Thankfully Jenifer was able to change her schedule to be here either (with her son Charles no less; totally making the babies day so, she did speech therapy and then I did physical therapy in the afternoon. The therapists STRONGLY recommend that parent participate but sometimes it’s just isn’t something I can do.  The mommy guilt is so strong.  As nervous as I can about changing the schedule- Jenifer is so accommodating and happy to be with them.  We are so blessed.
Carol, our physical therapist that sees them once a month was THRILLED at their progress.  She taught Sophie to do summersaults.  Of course our daredevil girl loved them.
Tomorrow evening we’ve arranged for one of our former babysitters Lauren  (who’d gone off to college but is now home on winter break) to watch the babies so Aaron and I can go to Toys R Us and get Santa gifts.  We’re planning a music player so they can dance, a climbing toy, a music box like our therapist used to have – and we’ll so what else we can find.  Aaron has several ideas about things he’d like to get them.
Thursday I’m taking Sophie up to the neurology clinic to try and get to the bottom of her “episodes” Once again if feels like a strategic maneuver.  We’ve now decided I’ll take both babies at 12:15 and that its easier for Aaron to go across the bridge from the East Bay and meet us from his office.  He can then hear what the doctor has to say, take one baby and then we can go see Santa together as a family.  I just want the day to end fun – so that Sophie doesn’t think seeing people in scrubs always means a crappy day.