March for Babies

Friday afternoon, Kynlie, Locklyn, my mom and I loaded up and went to Bismarck to participate in March for Babies. We walked on Sanford Children's Team (formerly MedCenter One.)

It is always so fun because we get to see so many of Kynlie's AMAZING nurses and of course the one and only Dr. Ocejo!

 After the walk we ate lunch provided by Subway, had some cake in honor of March of Dimes' 75th birthday and awards were handed out.

I was very surprised and proud when I heard Kynlie's name called for the award for Top Walker for raising the most money. Sanford Children's team

We raised $1266, just a little short of our $1500 goal but are still very grateful for everyone's generosity in donating to a cause so very close to our hearts.

We are so thankful for March of Dimes because without their lifesaving research, Kynlie might not be here with us today. We are also so grateful for Sanford Healthcare's amazing Birthcenter and NICU team for all the great care and support we received from them.

Here's to walking so that one day ALL babies will be born healthy

Jamaica Mon

The middle of February we went to Jamaica with 3 other couples.

It was a kid free trip, my first in a year and a half!

 We relaxed, hiked up a waterfall, snorkeled, scuba dived, golfed, ziplined, bobsledded, cliff jumped and parasailed. It was a perfect trip

We were in a tropical paradise and it was cold at home!

Cuddles

With all of our sicknesses, there is a lot of cuddling going on.

Even Sterling is taking advantage of the girls being not so crazy!

 Two sleeping beauties on the left- the one on the right- not so much!

Our bed is full in the morning, Kynlie comes in our room  at about 4 and goes back to sleep

Locklyn wakes up at about 5 and falls back asleep on me

Sterling is sleeping at my feet, Neil is on the other 2/3 of  our queen sized bed.

It is really too bad that I just bought a new Temperpedic mattress, because I would really love to have more kids, but there is no way we can fit another person in that bed and there is NO way Neil will let me buy a king sized bed now!

Sick

We are sick around here

The girls are sick

I am getting sick

I am sick of sick kids

 Little miss Locklyn got an ear infection the middle of January

Had a pre-op appointment last Monday for tubes

Got tubes in last Thursday

Yesterday was diagnosed with RSV and an ear infection

Kynlie has RSV and a double ear infection

Yesterday afternoon she had a fever of 104 and was puking

She slept all afternoon, ate supper and went to bed

 She puked while she was sleeping on the couch

Then she wanted to sleep with mom and dad

She puked on her pillow so she moved to mom's pillow

Puked on that so she moved to dad's pillow

She puked on that so when we got upstairs she was cuddling with the dog.

We are on antibiotics, steroids, ear drops, nebulizers, tylenol, ibuprofen and cough syrup

I had to create spreadsheets to keep track of everyone's medicine

How often who gets what, dosage, last time it was given,

This morning, the girls are definetly feeling better

Mom, not so well

Mom is really upset about this because we are going on a tropical vacation soon, very soon

Mom is now on antiobiotics and steroids

Mom needs this vacation

 

Bittersweet

Yesterday was the end of over a year long chapter of our lives. Almost every week for the last year and two months, the girls and I have drove to Dickinson on Thursdays for Kynlie to go to speech therapy. We were set up with a great pathologist and Kynlie and Valerie worked great together.

 

Not long after Christmas, Valerie told me that Kynlie had met all her goals and that she had no concerns with Kynlie any more and that we could work on getting Kynlie discharged from speech. I asked her if we could take a break and maybe make an appointment in 6-8 weeks as Kynlie likes to do great on things, then regress. Valerie thought that sounded great. Thursday was our last appointment with Valerie. She said Kynlie did wonderful and she think she will continue to make progress daily.

 

As nice as it is going to be not having to drive to Dickinson weekly, I will miss seeing Valerie and all the great ladies at RehabVisions and I'm sure for a few weeks I'll think I have to rush getting ready Thursday mornings to get the girls out the door. This is definitely a chapter I am glad to close and honestly thought we would be doing it for a few more years as when Kynlie started going last December, the only word she would use was "Deeda." Now the girl never shuts up!

Perfect

Tuesday the girls and I headed to Dickinson for Locklyn's rescheduled 12 month doctor appointment. The doctor told me something I already knew, she's perfect!! She weighs 23 lb 6 oz and is 30" long. Her height, weight and head are all in the +75% on the growth charts.
She has 12 teeth, enough hair for a cute little pony tail, says mama, dada, hot, owie, puppy, shakes her head yes and no and uses sign language for "more and all done." She will be walking soon, she starts to take walking from wherever she's standing, then gets excited and falls down.
She's sleeping through the night again, finally, which cut out another time of her nursing. She's now down to nursing before bed and hopefully will be done with that soon!
The poor girl had to get 4 shots, that were pretty tramatic for her, but she got a sucker, then everything was all better. Then she had to get her finger pricked to check her iron levels, but she still had her sucker so she didn't even flinch or cause a fuss when they poked her and were squeezing her finger to get the blood.

Kynlie also had speech that day and Valerie is still amazed at how well her speech is doing. She even said that next week she doesn't have enough to work on for a full hour so we will cut her session down to 45 minutes. Then, we will be done! I can't believe that time has already come.

Since I am no longer working on Mondays so Kynlie's not getting her daycare time and we will not be going to Dickinson on Thursdays, we will have a lot more free time so I am hoping to get a few playdates scheduled and we will start going to story time at our library so she will get a little more kid interraction.

D Day

I hate to jinx my luck, but at speech on Thursday, Kynlie's speech path brought up discharging Kynlie from speech therapy! Kynlie's speech has been great lately and last week, she met her last 4 goals and Valerie said she doesn't really have anything else to work on with Kynlie.

Since Kynlie has  a great history of doing really well in an area and then regressing, I asked Valerie if we could maybe take some time off and then see if Kynlie continues to progress like she has been and Valerie thought that sounded like a good idea. We will continue to go through the end of January,  then she will put Kynlie on hold. We will take off February and March and go back and Valerie will re-evaluate to make sure Kynlie is still where she needs to be. She said it is hard to get insurance to pay if Kynlie is discharged and then needs to be seen again, that's why she will get put on hold. If at any time I have any concerns, I can call and they will get Kynlie in right away.

It will be nice not having to drive to Dickinson once a week, but, I am not working on Mondays anymore, then take away going somewhere on Thursdays, my weeks might start to get long!

From Dickinson, we went to Bismarck for Neil's follow up appointment for his PRK surgery he had in May and his vision is perfect. Kynlie had a follow up for her surgery she had in March to straighten her eyes and the doctor was very impressed with how everything looks. Her left eye used to slightly turn out and Dr. S said that the only way he noticed the turn out was when he was measuring the angle of her eyes. Her vision has not gotten any worse either so that was also great news.

We don't have to go back for 6 months. Neil and I were talking about it on the way home and not quite 3 years ago when we brought Kynlie home from the hospital, weighing 5 lb 3 oz., we had to go to Bismarck every other week, now we are down to every 6 months. She has made such great progress considering where she started out.