Author Archives: Abbie

Ceili Rain at Nine Months!

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She’s drinking from a cup, on her own!!
Eating Big Girl Food…she refuses baby food and wants only what we’re having…none of this ground up with a hand blender, nope.  She’ll take it in very small pieces or whole (Don’t worry, we were right there…it’s a pizza crust).
She’s also pushing herself up from laying down to sitting.  Despite being sick most of December, she’s still a great baby.  She isn’t crawling but prefers to either scoot on her bottom or roll around.  She is also enjoying walking holding onto hands…still a little shaky with this but enjoying it none the less.  She loves being up where she can see what’s going on and if she’s in a room with her brothers and sister and they leave, we all know about it!
Here’s her stats from her nine month check up:

 17 lbs 1 oz (20%)
27 1/4 inches long (40%)
17 1/2 inches head (60%)

Now, if you’re trying to compare…she’s dropped off in her weight and height (percentage wise)…but she’s proportionate.  Dr. B. is not concerned and, like I’ve been saying, said she was just petite and going to be a little smaller than her siblings.
On a sad note, Ceili Rain has pretty much weaned her self from nursing.  She started to drop and refuse (and I mean flailing arms and yelling when I tried) two feedings at the start of January and cut back to one feeding a couple of weeks ago and then has pretty much started sleeping until we all get up (7 am) and not really interested in nursing then (like a few sucks and then grins and laughs and looking around and then refusing to go back on).   I know a lot of it has to do with the pregnancy.  Because of my hormones my milk supply is changing and some women even have a decrease in milk.  The flavor can change as well.  I believe that is the cause of a lot of her disinterest.  Because she’s not quite a year and to prevent her from becoming anemic, we’ve had to switch to formula and give that to her during meal times.  Thankfully, she’s not really minded drinking that instead of water and has been guzzling it down the past few meals.  I’m very grateful that it’s only for two months.  I was praying we would make it to one year, but alas, God and Ceili Rain had other ideas!  Because she had such a dramatic drop at the beginning of December, I was prepared for her to stop nursing before a year.

Now, while we were there, Liam had his four month check up and shots.  Here’s his stats:

Weight:  36 lbs (50%)
Height:  39 1/2 inches (40%)

Believe it or not but he’s not small at all!  He’s actually tracking right on the growth curve.  Dr. B said that there are just so many obese kids that he looks small compared to them.

And, while we were there, I asked Dr. B to listen to Zoe.  She’s been hacking like a smoker for a little over a week and it gradually got worse two nights before we had to go to the doctor’s office.  Dr. B listened and heard the beginnings of pneumonia in her chest.  So, now Zoe’s on an antibiotic.  She’s doing much much better.
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God at Work–Baby Ryker Update

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This afternoon Ryker Waller’s blood pressure started to get very low.  Prayers were sent up even more.  Doctors were unable to give her any other meds to help with the blood pressure.  Praising God…He said Yes and has allowed her blood pressure to stabilize.  Her lungs and heart have remained steady throughout the night and day.  Please continue to pray for this little baby.  If you are a facebook fan, you can go to my profile page and see a video of Ryker’s Super-mama, Keeli,  reading her a story and if you’re half as emotional as me…grab a box of tissue.

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Prayers for Baby Ryker

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Ryker Elise Waller was born Thursday not breathing.  She is the daughter of a girl who’s father coached on the same staff as my father.  After performing CPR, they realized her abdomen was hard and proceeded to take her to surgery and remove a tumor the size of a fist.  Bleeding was a major issue at the time but now, the concerns are on her blood pressure, breathing, kidney function.  The bleeding has slowed down.  Through the magic of Facebook our family has been able to keep up with how Ryker is doing.  Current status is:  She is maxed out on her meds.  Her veins are blown making IVs near impossible to put in to administer meds. 

The doctors have stated there is nothing else they can do.  So, the family and friends are continuing to pray to the Great Physician.  She has and will always be in God’s hand for His glory.  This is day four of her life and her parents are continuing to pray that her lift will continue and her story will be able to bring glory and honor to God.  She is remaining strong and is fighting for her little life.

Please pray for this dear little one and her parents, Keeli and Dwain, and all their family who is surrounding them.  I will post as soon as I get updates.

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Baby #6 Update-12 Weeks

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Today was a regular ol’ prenatal checkup.  And by regular, I mean nothing unusual happened, oh, except, we were able to hear the heartbeat with the doppler!

That was one of the sweetest sounds after all the issues at the start of the pregnancy.  We are truly grateful for another healthy baby and are praying this pregnancy will be “normal.”

Prenatals were drawn…and we discussed a lot of things with Dr. J.  One of the things was the subchorionic hematoma…because I didn’t have an ultrasound we don’t know if it’s been absorbed or if it’s still there.  However, he stated that with the fact that I have had zero issues that would be connected with a hematoma and the fact that it was really small, I should not have any problems to worry about with it.  The placenta is now strong enough to deal with the hematoma if it’s still there and my body were to pass it.

Because I have an awesome doctor and he knows I’ll let him know if something is wrong, I don’t have to go in for another seven weeks.  Which means, next appointment is ultrasound time and, prayerfully,  we’ll find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl!  Woohoo! 

Stay bundled up.  Zoe’s praying for two inches of snow tonight!  I hope she gets a “yes” on that prayer request!

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Mark and the TP Saga

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Mark is volunteering with the Kindergarten Awana Sparks this year.  A couple of weeks ago, I believe all the leaders got together, laughed a maniacal laugh, and chose to reward children who said a lot of verses.  The reward:  toilet paper to TP the Awana leader of your choice.  Mark was one of the ones selected.  Looks good on him, no?!

Ace was so proud of his mummy daddy.

Ace’s friend K, was pretty pumped about getting Mr. Mark as well.
*These were taken with Mark’s phone so please excuse the quality but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to post pictures of Mark and toilet paper!*
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Happy Birthday Liam!

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Ignore that ruff lookin’ mama in the background…it’s been a rough three weeks.  Rather, let’s focus on that adorable little boy who’s holding up those four fingers!  Liam turned four after Christmas.  It was a long time coming, too.  He was deeply hurt that we were not celebrating his birthday when we celebrated Zoe’s.  But, finally, his birthday rolled around!  Now, we had the party on Saturday with a couple of friends…don’t worry, I’ll include those pictures soon.  The original plan was to leave on his birthday and travel to visit family for Christmas celebrations and then have a party with cousins that included a “treasure hunt.”  However, with all going on with the baby, we felt we needed to stick close to home just in case we needed to make a beeline for the hospital, etc.  So, a simple celebration on the birthday day…and then party on Saturday.

Mark picked up an ice cream cake with the kids the night before.  Don’t worry, I made a cake for Saturday…just couldn’t get off the couch on Monday night.
 
From Uncle B & Aunt B and cousins!
The Sunday before his birthday before celebrating Christmas with Ge and Granddaddy, Liam and Zoe opened gifts from them.  That look on his face was the same look as he opened all his gifts this season.  Very serious.  He was a focused little boy concentrating on getting all the paper off.  Once it was off, he was all smiles.
Oh yeah, mini golf clubs!
He can wear them like a backpack and proceeded to do so….and got stuck in several places.  That would be Ace (or Zoe…I’m not sure) flipping off the back of the loveseat…not a dead kid…I promise.  And Liam getting stuck between the piano and the temporary home of the loveseat.
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Sickly Days

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It seems that illnesses in kids are just popping up all over the place.  I have two high school classmates who have children in the hospital due to illnesses…fevers, croup, unnamed…lots of yuck and praying for them.

Two of our own are down and out with illnesses as well.

Josiah has had a cold for a little over a week, and two nights ago he woke up at 1:30 with a barking cough.  If you’ve had a child with croup you know what I’m talking about.  I called Dr. B in the morning and asked the nurse if I should bring him in since he was not feverish and did not have stridor (a sucking/gasping noise that children make when they are trying to breath in air…related to the croup).  She still wanted to see him. 

She walked into the exam room and saw Ceili Rain’s still yucky nose (after being on an antibiotic for a little over three days) and said she would check her again.  She got a brief history on what’s been going on with her since she didn’t have her chart and then checked her ears and her chest.  I knew it was rattling when she continued to listen to her for a long time.  Not only rattling but wheezing as well.  She put Ceili Rain on albuterol and said that she most likely had RSV.  Now, don’t freak out.  RSV is a dangerous cold virus in young infants and children with other illnesses.  Ceili Rain is pretty healthy (ear infections aside) and was happy and bouncing.  Dr. B obviously didn’t feel she was wheezing enough to need a nebulizer (which gets the medicine to the kid more quickly than the liquid…I believe)…so we’re in the clear.  We just have to give her the meds every 8 hours…which means we have to wake her up. She’s such a good sleeper that I don’t think it’ll phase her much…we shall see.  I had told Mark when her temp went up on Saturday that I thought it might be RSV, but wasn’t sure.  Dr. B had put her on an antibiotic when I called on, Monday, to let them know she was still running a fever and it got over 101 (I had already talked to Dr. B on Sunday about our requirements for me to bug her again).

Josiah sounded clear, but she went ahead and put him on an antibiotic and told us to call if he got more croupy.  He sounds like he’s been smoking for 20 years!  His voice is all raspy and hoarse.  He’s not acting like he feels 100% either.

I’m very shocked that we have five children and this is the first time any of ours has had RSV.  We are truly blessed to have healthy babies and kids!

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