Tiny Blessings

Long Coming Update

2011-01-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

Wow its been forever since I have posted, seems like time just passed by so quickly and life got very busy. We have since last post moved, Caitlin has started school and we had another new addition to our family!!! Nathan William was born on August 23,2010 8 lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long!!!

Nathan at 4 months old

So lets start on my baby girl Caitlin!! Shes doing so good!!! We have truly been blessed by her outcome. We weren't sure what the road was going to hold for us when she was born, we had heard so many bad stories and dr's gave us such a gloomy outcome. We had also heard good stories to which gave us some hope and most of all our faith in God has gotten us over so many obstacles for sure!! She is now 5 years old! Gosh its crazy to think of it, it went by so quick and so much of it seems like such a blur. I am so thankful to be where we are now Thank you Jesus!!
Caitlin is still my little polly pocket she is 40 1/2 inches and 29 lbs. She has so much energy and is super silly. She loves to make weird faces and try and get you to giggle. Her and Dillon are best friends and she is totally loving her new baby brother. She loves to add ish after things like sparklish, coldish, warmish ect... she says actually a lot lol and she likes to say dontcha know after sentences to like shes from Alaska or Nebraska.
Caitlin did get approved for special education for 5 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. I am hoping that this will help bridge the small little gaps for her and then she will be able to attend regular school this coming year for kindergarten. Its really just for a few little things that she is needing some extra work on. Sometimes she will have some trouble with her comprehension and processing. She is a visual learner so she needs to see things how they are done and get a good feel for it. She also has a hard time sometimes getting out an answer when put on the spot. She just clams up and will stare at you and you can not get a word out but we are working on that. I have definitely seen some major improvement since starting school. Just alone in her drawings even. Before she would just draw a circle and a quick scribble for mouth and eyes, now her pictures have so much more detail and shes adding more things like a sun ,grass and colors of clothes. shes catching up nicely! Other than that her health is great we haven't had any major medical issues and in fact it seems like she hasn't even got sick to much either besides the small little colds here and there.

So for whoever is still reading our blog or just found our blog and you have a preemie don't give up and lose hope although you do hear of alot of bad outcomes there are also good outcomes. You would never be able to tell that Caitlin was a preemie by just looking at her besides her being a little smaller but even that she has some friends that are very healthy full termers that are about same size as her. I truly believe for us that God has been there with her every step of her journey and he has blessed her unconditionally.

Now for Dillon! He is 7 now and in just a few more months going to be turning 8, I can't believe it my babies are growing up, makes me sad, time is going by to quickly. He is doing so good also, he is doing really well in school and getting so big. He is up to my chest, I wonder if he will outgrow me by the looks of it I'm thinking he just might . He also loves his baby brother and has been such a big help to me. Nathan gets a kick out of seeing Dillon and Caitlin. They can get him to giggle so quickly. Dillon is my second set of hands when I need help and can carry the big guy around for me when I need him to. Dillon still has the biggest heart and I love him to pieces. He also has quite the sense of humor and is a total goofball at times.

Now For Nathan , we were super blessed again with another pregnancy! I have to admit I was very nervous during the first and second trimester of my pregnancy. With everything we went through with the girls pregnancy. It took me a good while to really enjoy my pregnancy, even though I had faith it was going to be ok I don't think you ever completely get over a big event like what I went through with my girls. I constantly had what ifs and I just know I prayed so hard everyday that God would just bless us with a full term healthy pregnancy and boy did He!!
I went to 39 weeks and 1 day with Nathan and he was definitely a healthy boy and still is! I did have a cervical cerclage put in at 14 weeks and I was on progesterone shots from day 1 of pregnancy until weeks 13 then on the other progesterone (p17) shots from week 16 till week 37. I think it helped a lot as well. I did rest up here and there but I was pretty active at times also.
I have to say that Nathan is such a happy baby. He always has a smile on his face and just hangs out. Only time he gets fussy is when he wants to munch down. He is a chunk butt also. Weighing 19 lbs already at only 4 months. Its weird to think my 4 month old baby is only 10 lbs away from Caitlin! Total opposite from what our last experience was.

Well there it all is alot has happened since our last post but all good things. We are still chugging along and doing great. Glad I was actually able to take some time and update. Wish I could have updated more but things have just been so busy it's been hard to keep up.

Still Here!!!

2009-02-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

Here's Charlie!!!

Caitlin and Hannah!!!

Were still here!! Its been super hard to update part lazy, part just plain old busy.

Were searching to move to buy something and Caitlin and Dillon have been wild animals!!!

There isn't anything Caitlin can not so now. She is doing super great and Thank God we really haven't been sick!!!! Caitlin is officially potty trained accidents here and there but for the most part we are done!! yeahhhhhhh. Dillon is doing really good in school looks like math is going to be is super talent. We also got a new addition to our family , We got ourselves a dog!! What were we thinking I have no idea but he's here and he's here to stay!!! His name is Charlie and I love love the way Caitlin will say his name.

Its normally no no Charlie

You so silly Charlie and charlie no biting with a big smack on his face lol

There isn't anything Caitlin can not say she talks to me like a little adult its the cutest and the things she will say sometimes is hilarious!! She also has herself some good ol attitude and will let me know what she thinks quite bluntly!! Also our last weight she was 24 lbs and I want to say 35 inches?? I normally write these things down right away and I totally spaced out. still petite but very healthy so I ain't worried in the least bit.

So that's it for now wanted to write really quick.......

Pictures Pictures

2008-12-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

Grandpa and the kids

Picture of Grandma Alice

Oh yes and I forgot to mention this. Jesus went to pick up Dillon from school this was a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. I got a call from the office from Jesus saying he cut his lip right before school ended on some rainbow steps from a little boy who was picking them up and Dillon was running and ran right into him anyway they said he might have needed a couple stitches and we should take him to his Dr. Ok so Jesus took him to the Dr thinking a couple stitches and walla nope Dr had to end up sending us to a plastic surgeon because the cut was so big so i met Jesus there and ohhh my I didn't think it was that bad. Hid lip was cut from inside out totally split open so 9 stitches later and a couple more from the outside and we get this;0) plus side I found my self a plastic surgeon for me later on, ya know when things start going in the wrong direction !!!

So this will just be pictures since I am so behind so here is from Thanksgiving

we had a fun time with lots of family then mom decided to do the midnight madness and did not
stop shopping until 1 in the afternoon so yep that is more then 12 hours of shopping!!!!

Caitlin's First Day of Ballet!!!

2008-11-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

Baby girl is a little shorter then the rest ;0)

Caitlin's potty chair

So again I have been meaning to update our blog but kept putting it off and putting it off.

We are all done getting evaluated from the school district and we will have our meeting next week but I have some what of the just of it. Caitlin is done with services as of December 13th, and she will not be going into the school district for special education. She is measuring age appropriate and above on some things I will exactly where she is at when we go into our meeting but the school psychologist said she was a miracle and how well she is doing with what a fun cute little girl she is which we already know of course!!! I am super proud of Caitlin she really has been such a blessing. She has proven so many Dr's and people wrong and I just am so so proud. It has been ups and downs getting to this point but she has always won every battle and will continue to do so. She is a fighter. I am actually excited once she is fully done with group because we get to have more quality time and we will be doing some fun things to keep her going. We plan on doing library 1 x a week for story time. We have passes to a science center and she is going to be doing ballet/tap 1 x a week. Today was actually her first day of ballet/tap dance and she loved it. She walked in like she knew what she was doing and caught on very quickly. She was so excited to do ballet. We have been talking about alot and signed her up on Friday. she has not stopped talking about it since. When she woke up from her nap today I told time to get ready for ballet and she jumped out of bed and couldn't wait. She looked so so cute. She was a bit tinier then everyone else but she did just as well!!!

Also another big deal is that Caitlin is potty trained about 85%!! We got her a vintage potty chair off Craig's list with a tray and she took to it and walla she still has accidents here and there but for the most part she does great. It just came from one day to the next and yep I do think the potty had the touch. I'll post a picture.

Everything else is good. Dillon is doing really well in school and every Friday folder he has its always good reports so yay for Dillon.

Oh and yes one last thing Caitlin and Dillon now have a bunk bed. Yep Caitlin has retired her cute little toddler bed. It was bitter sweet for me I felt a little sad moving it out of her room. I miss my little girl. I had moved into the living room to get it out of the room while Caitlin was at school and when she got home she said ahhhhhh man mommie!! Looooook my bed here it no go in here mom it go in my room. I had to tell her no because we are putting your big bed in and then she said ok. Caitlin sleeps on the bottom and Dillon is on the top. They look so cute in it. Caitlin looks like a little peanut in it but they love it. I will have to take some bunk bed pictures for next post.

Oh yes and by the way there ain't nothing Caitlin can't say anymore. My favorite saying is when she sees something either she likes or not so much likes she says "Ohhhhh myyyy GOSH, Mommy Loooook"and then will explain what it is that we are suppose to be looking at. Also she told me the other day when she didn't get her way "ughhhh that not fair and criss crossed her arms looking down" oh yes and my favorite one was while we were shopping for ballet clothes it Dillon and Caitlin were having the time of their lives not listening to me and being loud so I said knock it off you guys I have had it and Caitlin mimicked me and said I've Had it!!!" yep like I said ,nothing she can't say. Huh and Dr's said she wouldn't be able to speak but that's not what God says he showed them!!!

updates a long time coming

2008-10-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

I have definitely slacked on here that's for sure!!! Just been keeping busy with Dillon an Caitlin. Dillon has started getting homework and we have been reading lots. Caitlin has been attached to my hip and is following me everywhere I go right now. She has her fazes. Sometimes she wants only daddy but right now its mommy faze. We went to the Dr on Thursday to get our flu shots and Caitlin weighs 23 lb 6oz so we are gaining and keeping steady.

We have started to do the whole school district process. Once Caitlin turns 3 she gets released from early intervention and then the school district has to take over. A few months back I was really sad to be leaving her global program knots in my throat and everything. I am going to miss her being where she is at right now. She loves it there. I think though I have had time to process it and I am still super sad but I think I am getting a little more better and coming to terms with it. So a couple weeks back we had our first appointment with the school so they can let us know what things were going to happen and all the evaluations she was going to get then once that is done we will see what she will qualify for. So far we have had our school nurse visit and our speech visit. Caitlin got tested on so many things. She didn't get completely scored yet we will find out where exactly she is at once we have our final meeting but the speech therapist did say some what of where she was at. For some of the expressive she was testing at about 24-29 months which is not to far off but for some of her receptive language she was able to get some of the stuff at a 4 1/2- 5 yr old level!! That's my smart girl. So over all she is doing good just a little work to be made and that's all. Also the school physcologist( the one who is basically in charge of the whole shabang) came and watched her on Friday at her global program I of coursed voiced some of my concerns about some of Caitlin's social skills. Now don't get me wrong when Caitlin wants to socialize she definitely can but a lot of times she will get real quite and sometimes will get nervous and her little palms will sweat. Well on Friday she showed none of that at all she was as happy as can be talking and being super silly. Kids always have a way of making you look like you have no idea what you are talking about and love to make you look stupid lol its happen to me a gazillion times but that's OK!! we have another meeting on Tuesday so they can asses her for development and then we are going to get assessed for occupational therapy and adaptive P.E once that is done we will know where we are at. She turns 3 December 14th so we have about a month in half left for everything. I am thinking we will most likely get speech services but not sure if we will get anything else. Caitlin is super smart and doing exceptionally well. I really don't have to many concerns for her. I think she is going to do great in school and whatever she sets out to do. She might need a little extra help here and there but overall doing great. As far as her socializing I think maybe she is just shy like her mommy. Caitlin has to really be comfortable with the person before she will shine her true colors which is super happy,energetic,hyper, silly, always jumping around and just so much fun. Now if she isn't comfortable with someone then she will shut down a little and won't really speak at all and gets really nervous. There are some people she is comfortable around right away and some people its takes awhile. I think its all in approach with her. She needs to be really talked to and to be handled gentle once she warms up to you then you can play rough with her but she has to be comfortable.

Now Dillon on the other hand doesn't need to time to warm up really he is easy going kid that can handle almost any situation. He can meet the person for the very first time and will find something to do with them. You can throw him with a new group of people and he is just fine
he just wants to do whatever they are doing. Dillon's new thing right now is asking everyone what their names are. We can be across the street from someone and he will say hey hey whats your name? He does it in the stores,parks, anywhere. I am trying to really teach him about strangers and not everyone is nice but he just loves everyone.

Nothing much else going on but just seem to be really busy with the kids lately, they have kept us super busy just wanting to play and read and do anything they can. We got a pass to a science center for the year and we have been doing fun stuff like that to.

I have been a little relaxed on picture taking lately so I am going to have to get busy doing that again so I can put some photos up soon.

P.S Post about potty training

2008-09-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

Quick post to ask for any good tips on potty training!! I would love to really start potty training Caitlin. I got her favorite candy's (peanut m&m's) as a reward and we will put her on the potty but I need help. I of course know the basics and what to do but anyone at all have good advice on what they did or are doing?? Would love some feedback!!!!!!

Dillon's First Day At School and more.....

2008-09-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

Crazy girl!!!!!

Just before walking out the door for first day!!!!

Quick pictures before we leave for school!!!
Dillon right before going into class
Caitlin giving big brother hugs after he is done with school
All done with our first day of school!!!!!!

Dillon's first day of kindergarten was on Wed September 3!!!
He did great. Of course he did. He does great with anything. He does not have trouble with changes at all. You can put him in any situation pretty much and he adapts really well. He likes his school and his new teacher. I don't think he is quite getting the whole school thing though like that this is a forever thing now and he has to go. The other day he said can't he just stay home with me today and I said nope you in with the big boys now its mandatory stuff now. He'll get the hang of it soon. then today when I told him its a school night and tomorrow its school again he got excited. However he rather buy lunch then take it , I didn't think this faze started yet but I guess it does so we have made lunches much more exciting for him now and told him that he could buy lunches every Friday. See we met in the middle !!! Can't wait to see how much he is going to learn this year and what a difference one year will make.

Onto Caitlin now. We went for our check up with the endocrinologist on Thursday. Went good, Caitlin weighs 22lb12oz and was 34 inches long. But..... because now she gained the couple inches in a short time now we have to test her to make sure she is not growing to fast. Its hard its to slow one minute then to fast the next. I don't get it but its OK rolling with the punches. I understand the reasoning behind it. And its only precautionary because if a child grows to rapid as well then it can be early signs of prematurity which can make other things come along faster such as even bone growth and can make the bone pallets close to early and actually stop more growth later on. Its all complicated sometimes but I get it. We do have to have some more labs drawn on her which I really hate doing but I have to say she is such a champ she really is.

Not development wise she is doing well. Like I say probably in all my post her talking is getting better and better by the day. She talks alot and ask alot of questions such as what's that, what's that noise and ect....... She ask if certain people are coming and its funny because just watching her say that it looks like she puts so much thought and concentration in that sentence. She will look at me and if dad isn't with us she will concentrate and ask me "Mommie, Daddy coming too?" then normally I will say no daddy is at work then she goes ohhhhh daddy at work?? and the end of her sentences is always higher pitched. Another thing and her it comes is I think terrible two's have hit us and they have hit us hard. She likes to tell me no, likes to run for me and thinks it is hilarious, will tantrum with the best of them. Likes to do everything opposite of what I tell her and get brother in trouble at times. Will not stop asking for what she wants until she gets it as well. she is determined and girlfriend knows what she wants!!Oh and yes can't forget to mention that she thinks she is a break dancer. Everywhere we are all of a sudden she will just get on the floor start dancing and then go on her hands and start throwing her feet up in the air waving em around like she don't care ohhhh ohhhhhhh.

3 more months till December then Caitlin will be 3. She will start getting evaluated through the school district soon to see what her needs will be. I have already spoken to one of the directors and asked for certain things to be looked at and evaluated so that she will get the things that she needs help with so we will see.

Well that's about it for now still same old stuff for the most part just getting older and bigger. Oh one accomplishment we made over the weekend was Caitlin was able to eat apples!!! she had three slices yesterday without spitting them out. She ate the whole slices!!3 slices!!! This is a major deal for us because as much as she loves those darn things she couldn't quite figure out had to swallow those little puppies. So another milestone marked off!!!

Fun in the sun

2008-07-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Caitlin Caitlin Caitlin. she has been talking so much lately. I love listening to her little voice. She has a few different ones. She of course has her normal cute little voice, then she has her oh so tiny cute voice whenever she sees something cute or she talks to her baby doll or just a baby. she says really tiny and pitchy, Hiiiiii Babyyyyy!! or Ohhhh how cuteeeee!!!! Then she has her monster voice and says raghhhhh I going to get youuuuu!!!!!! Then her Other voice of anger which normally says STOP Diddon!!!!! Leave Me Adoone Diddon!!!!!

I have to say i had a my favorite moment yesterday. Me and Dillon went to go pick up Caitlin from group and her speech therapy and she saw Dillon and said "Hi Diddon!!!"I missed you Diddon in the cutest voice then she grabbed his hand and said I wubv you Diddon!! Ahh talking about heart melting that has to be my favorite moment and its so cute because Dillon will say the same stuff to her sometimes when we pick her up and I love love it!!!!

We have been trying to do some potty training and its coming along so so. She has gone poopoo a few times in the potty and peepee and gets super excited but she is not crazy about the whole idea of ditching the diapers and going full force with it. The good news is that I have time. At first we thought that once she gets dismissed from early intervention we would put her in preschool so at 3 they have to be full on potty trained but I think we are going to ditch preschool for now and I am going to try to work on a lot of stuff with her and have some bonding time with my little lady. Since October she has had therapy 3 x a week for the first month and then after that she has had it 4 x a week so I kinda miss her then. I love the program she is in right now. She gets so much help and she has achieved so much since she has started these services. A total 360 actually. I am already starting to get choked up about her leaving in December when she does turn 3. She gets so much special attention there and it is just so much fun for her. I love all of her therapist there and Caitlin has an absolute favorite that she has grown extremely attached to ( Therese!!!) so once it is time for her to go I am going to be balling like a baby I get very emotional and attached. I think sometimes it is much harder for the parents who get attached to their therapist because these are the people who have helped get your children to where they are at and you appreciate them so so much that you just end up loving them so much but then you wonder what its like on other side because they see so many children. She has come a long way since then. Especially her eating has been a lot better. She still pockets and will have trouble chewing but she can definitely eat a lot more variety of things.

I was actually thinking back from day 1 of Caitlin's life and we have had so many Dr's that I never even knew existed. so here is the line up

NICU Dr's so we had about 7 different ones at different times of course along with nurses

PDA ligation Surgery Dr

Then her Ophthalmologist Dr who did her ROP Surgery

Also we get seen every 6 mos from another Ophthalmologist for her eyes to keep track of them

So then we of course have her Pediatrician

then remember the good ol kidney stones we had so we had a nephrologist and a urologist Dr

we went through 2 of the nephrologist Dr's because the first one we had I didn't care for to much.

We have a Gastroenterologist Dr

then we saw one ENT Dr again not crazy about him so we went with another and loved him

we also have a Endocrinologist Dr Who we love as well. Have to say this Dr is awesome and very on top of things!!

then we have our genetics Dr and I think that is all.

So lets count them

So that is 12 Dr's not including the different Nicu Drs so adding the 6 more of them that is 18 Dr's Caitlin has seen in her lifetime!!! Crazy!!! that is in less then 2.5 year lifetime.

I have to say though that I feel 100% blessed with our baby girl She has been so strong and such a fighter. She is so happy all the time full of this most beautiful laughter and so funny. She has the cutest personality and is filled with so much life. We have been extremely blessed by how well she has turned out. We do know a lot of preemies that do not have it as easy and who do have a lot of disabilities. There are times that I will get a little down because of her eating or minor things that come up with Dr's or what not but I always end up remembering well you know she isn't able to do this just yet but she will and she can do all this other stuff so well. I have to remember to keep my faith and know that everything is going to be ok.

When I first ruptured with Madilyn I was told by a few Dr's that I should terminate my pregnancy and that my girls were not going to survive and that I had a big risk of even an awful infection that could lead to possible death for even myself. Also that if my girls were to survive that possibly they would not be able to walk, talk, and see. So many things were against us and we defeated each and every single odd. I am so glad I did not listen to the Dr's because then we would not have Caitlin here today. I am very sad that I lost my daughter and I miss her so much. But I feel so happy Caitlin is here and that she is walking and talking and she can see and sing and dance and even tease brother!!! I often wonder how the girls would be together and how things would be but I really try not to dwell( which can be hard of course) on it and appreciate what I have right now I have 2 kids who need their mommy and not just half but all of their mommy. I am so thankful to God every single day I get with my children and realize how extremely blessed we are to have our family. Dillon as well he is such a beautiful little boy also filled with so much energy and the hugest heart. He is funny and kind and very animated.

He also cracks me up every single day. the things he can come up with make me laugh so hard. Kids are so innocent and can say the funniest things and have the biggest imaginations, its neat just to listen to what they have to say and how they view the world.

Ok so just some fun pictures of the kids. It has so far been a nice summer and all though we have had some hot days we have had some really nice beautiful weather where its not to hot and with a bit of a breeze. Its been in the mid and higher 70's which is perfect to me. I am sure we will be getting some hot ones coming soon!!!!

Gastro Appointment

2008-07-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

These photo's crack me up because Caitlin actually has a full belly

You hardly ever see her with a big belly. But we have been having this

more and more lately now that she has been eating a little better

it is a very full belly!!!!!!!!

We had our Gastro appointment last week to check in on Caitlin. We had made it the month before because we had started to have concern for Caitlin's weight. Last month she had only weighed 21 lbs 6 oz. It was a concern because since November she had barely gained around 1 lb. Well all of a sudden she just started putting on this weight. We had got her to gain almost 2 lbs by the time we had her appointment. So here is her weight and height

23lbs 5 oz and 33 1/2 inches long!!! Yeah no G-tube. That was actually a possibility and we were nervous but the Dr was so happy with her weight and just her overall being. She saw Caitlin jumping around, talking, laughing and said that she just doesn't look at numbers she looks at the whole entire picture. Caitlin is catching up and she said she is just petite and coming from just being 1 lb 4 oz she is doing really well. We are still on Periactin which is such a big helper. It really does help with her hunger.
I am so glad we didn't have to G-tube because yep that idea was brought to our attention again which was super frustrating.

OK so other then that we are just waiting on our results from the genetics Dr which has actually got me a bit frustrated because I found out that he is only in 1 office 1 day out of the month and then in another office 1 more day out of the month then doing procedures and emergency room the rest of the time so it definitely makes it hard to get our results a lot sooner. I think her testing will show everything normal but if something were to come up i am not sure if we will continue on with this Dr or switch to someone else who has more time in their office. We will see.

On other news everything is still pretty much the same with both Dillon and Caitlin. We have been going to the beach a lot more since it has been pretty warm out. The kids love it. Caitlin has been covered in the sand and Dillon has been in the water the whole time playing in the waves and catching sand crabs with daddy.

Dillon is going to start kindergarten in less then 2 months and will be doing 2 different vacation bible schools during the summer. They are each for 1 week and it is like a little summer camp sort of thing. It will be nice for him to do that because I think he has been getting a little bored here at home since being out of preschool.

Caitlin has around 6 more months before we are released from her global program and her other therapy sessions. I am sure i have mentioned it but she goes to her group(global)program 3 days a week which is 2 1/2 hours long then gets an additional hour of speech therapy and another hour of occupational therapy of course broken up a bit so that's about 9 1/2 hours of therapy a week for her. I love where she goes. All of the therapist are so awesome there. Its very clean and open there and i am going to miss it so much!!!!!I am already starting to feel sad knowing it will all come to a close soon. at 3 years old kids get let go of early intervention and then from there if they need any more services then that's when you have to go through your school district so I think come October we will start having her assessed to see what she needs to be ready to transition in December. Me personally I am not really sure what she is going to qualify for. she has seemed to really caught up to being age appropriate. If she needs anything i would think maybe a little speech but that's it.

We have already found her preschool that we will be putting her in come January. It will be at Dillon's school which is nice having them both there. They will of course have opposite schedules but the reason I like this preschool program so much is because searching around at quite a few I noticed that there was a lot of free play. Well I really don't need to pay for free play when she could do that here. The school seems very structured and Caitlin needs that. Also they said that they would be able to help her going to the bathroom, all the other schools said they would not be able to. She needs to be potty trained by 3 years old in order to go to preschool. so that will be something else we are going to need to work on. She has gone poo poo 2 times so far in the toilet but that's it. We will sit her on the toilet a lot but I just don't think she is ready yet and I don't want to rush her. We will do it when she is ready not for anybody else. I am setting a goal by October and hopefully she will be ready because I think it will be a little easier for her to concept the whole idea and it gives us 3 months to try to get her potty trained. But again if she is not ready then we will have to put preschool on hold until she is, but I think she will be able to.

That's about it. Nothing else has really changed much for us at this time so till next time.

Here are some pictures of us at the beach. We should have some good 4th of July pictures soon.

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

2008-06-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

Long time no post. Its been almost 2 months since I haven't posted. So sorry. Reason behind it is laziness and being super busy with appointments. Caitlin has had quite the appointments lately. We had a weight check a bit ago and Caitlin was still on the low end just barely in the 21 lbs mark so our Dr decided that it would be a good idea to see an endocrinologists. What is that you say for some who don't know they are specialist that work with hormone levels. We had to get a full blood panel on Caitlin to rule out she was not missing her growth hormone. The Dr we are seeing is awesome I have to say. She is very patient,understanding, very informative and when I need to call her and ask her a question she calls back in like 5 minutes!!! So we took Caitlin in we went over her growth curve ( Caitlin is not even on the growth chart)and all that fun stuff. We did a weigh in on her and Caitlin was 22lbs 3 oz and just right below 32 inches tall. So we had to go in and get about 7 vials of blood work and a bone x-ray to see how all of her levels were and if her bones matched up with her age. 2 weeks later we go to see our results and everything came out normal. Bone X-ray is normal and she is not lacking her growth hormone. We are a little high in the estrogen level but that will be something we will keep an eye on.
Caitlin had lost about 13 oz in weight though in two weeks so then she went down to 21.6 lbs. She had been sick though so we were blaming it on that and we were having a tough couple weeks of not eating that much. But the good news of that is we had to go for Dillon's 5 year old check up and of course I always bring Caitlin so we can have a weight check and Caitlin went right back up and then some. She weighed at 22lbs 12 oz so she gained quite a bit. I started adding whipping cream again to all of her cups of milk for a little extra boost and it sure did help!!!

Dillon's 5 year check up went good as well. He passed his vision and hearing test and weighed 48 lbs and is 44 inches tall. However he wanted to kick the Dr's butt once he saw the shots. He was really trying to get away and even tried punching the Dr a couple times but once he got them he was OK and he got ice cream for being such a big boy.

OK so we are also going to be seeing a genetics Dr in a couple weeks for a bit more stuff and also we will be having to see our gastro Dr again at the end of the month. We will see if her weight is really a big issue. The good thing is that the endocrinologists says that at least Caitlin is very healthy,happy and very energetic and that's a great sign even though she is on the small side. We were almost having to really talk about growth hormones to help her in the growing part. Her Dr is possibly predicting that Caitlin's height at grown age will be about 5'1 or so give or take. To me its not so bad. I can't imagine giving her shots every single day for who knows how long just to get her to grow a few more inches and Dr agreed as well. She said we can just keep an eye and see how things are going and Caitlin is still really young so we still have time to intervene if absolutely necessary.

So mentally Caitlin is doing really well. She is actually speaking sentences now. Sometimes not so clear but she is trying. One example of a sentence is Diddon hit me ( Dillon hit me) she is quite the tatta teller now. She is able to tell me now when she is hungry and when she is full its really cute. Also she can tell me things she wants like apple or grapes.

Dillon is getting ready to start kindergarten in September so we are trying to prepare him for that with practicing our letters and numbers. We are most likely going to be putting Caitlin in preschool when she turns 3 because once she turns 3 she gets let go of early intervention and I don't want her to go with a gap in between school because I don't want her to fall behind. So downside to that is Caitlin needs to be fully potty trained by 3 years old. We are working on it here and there but she doesn't find much interest in it right now. We did however get her to poopie on the toilet the other day cause I was able to catch her right before. Mental wise though i am just not sure if she quite gets it yet but i am really going to be going full force on it probably come October. She will be closer to 3 and I think she will be able to comprehend a bit more. So that's about it. I don't like going this long without posting because I feel so behind now. Will post once we have our other Dr appointments though.

Oh almost forget to jot down. Caitlin is an offical big girl now. We have moved from our crib into a toddler bed. We got it a couple weeks ago and she loves it so much. She looks super cute in it. The funny thing Dillon never liked his toddler bed. I could not really get him to sleep in it he just didn't like it. Caitlin loves her bed. She sleeps super good in it for night time and day naps. I wasn't sure if I would have trouble with her getting out alot but she stays in it really well. I haven't downloaded pictures of her bed yet but will hope to do that in the next few days.

OMG and another thing almost forgot to add. We got us a kitty cat. Poor kitty has not been left alone since the day I brought him home. He is truely loved by the kids. Dillon carries him around all over the place on his shoulder like the cats a baby and Caitlin has down a few picking up herself.

Just some mumbo jumbo

2008-04-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

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After Bath fun!!!

2008-04-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Finally footage of Dillon riding his bike!!!!

2008-04-13T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of Dillon riding his bike with no training wheels!!! What a big boy he is turning!!
I can't believe he is going to be 5 years old next month!!!! He is growing so fast but he is always going to be my baby!!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bye -Bye Bottle

2008-04-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

No more bottle or teetaa we call it
On Thursday we made a big step and said no more bottles cause we are a big girl now!!!
We got a couple balloons(however one popped on our way out) so we could send our left over bottles to heaven for the babies could have them. We threw the rest in the trash and waved bye!! I basically cold turkey Caitlin ( mean Mommy) but it was the only way to do it I think. Caitlin depends so much on her bottle still that its really hard to get her to eat. Also if she is on it to long it can delay her speech as well as her chewing skills so we decided it was time.
She was getting about 3 bottle a day still-
1 in the morning 1 right before nap time and one before bed.
How's it going so far?? Actually great!!!! the first night without it she remembered that her bottle was all gone and kept saying about the balloon and all gone. We tried from a cup she had a couple sips. Second day Friday morning she asked for it and I reminded her that it was all gone she said OK and took a cup , she drank about 4-5 oz. She ate breakfast that morning, she never eats breakfast!!!! She ate lunch super good at group and still came home and ate even more!! Big step for us!!! Last night I offered her cup again and she drank almost the whole thing from a cup!!!! This morning again she asked for it but I gave her a cup instead and she drank a little bit.

even though she has asked for it a couple times she hasn't cried for it once. So we are doing super good!! Way to go Caitlin!!!!

Here are our pictures of bye- bye bottle!!!

Pictures!!!!

2008-04-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

Hospital Day( updated version)

2008-04-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

Ok so finally I am able to write something really quick. We have been busy and then a little lazy here and there to ;0)
Well Some of you are wondering why the hospital pictures well here it is. When we went to our ENT appointment for follow up after our sleep study and adenoid X-ray we didn't get the best results. We found out that Caitlin's adenoids were very enlarged as well as her sleep study showed that she was having sleep apnea 7 times per hour so in other words her tonsils as well as her Adenoids were obstructing her breathing. Also Caitlin still had some fluid in her ears so instead of putting tubes the Dr decided to just drain out her ears while getting her tonsils and Adenoids taken out. We had our surgery on Monday march 31. It was a little nerve wracking but we made it through. Caitlin had a great time before her surgery at the children's hospital they were really nice and she got to see a dogie and ride around on a little car. When they gave her the relaxing medicine she got so funny. It was like she was a little drunk girl she would not stop smiling or laughing it was hysterical!!!!

we got to the hospital about 6:30 am and she was off for surgery about 8:40 it lasted about an hour and when the Dr came back he said she did really well but her tonsils and her adenoids were a lot bigger then what he thought and if they would have been any bigger it could have completely obstructed her breathing!!!! she had a hard day after recovery and the next couple days was quite sore but once we actually got home form the hospital she seemed to do a lot better of course. We only had to stay one night to monitor her and keep her hydrated. We almost had to stay 2 nights because she was having trouble eating and drinking but good ol dad got her to drink 4 oz before we left and that was good!!! So all in all she is doing great now. We go for our follow up in a couple more weeks to see how she is doing.

Things I have noticed so far since surgery is that
# 1- she can actually take medicine a little bit more easier(before she would gag and choke really easy)
# 2- She actually ate some steak the other day and swallowed it!!!!!
# 3- today she took a couple bites of hamburger and actually swallowed it!!!!
# 4- normally she will snore but I would really notice her super loud if she fell asleep in the car. well she fell asleep in the car and she didn't snore!!!!!

These are all great things!! I am hoping that not only it cured her sleep apnea but also it will help her a bit with eating and her speech which is what is suppose to happen as well.
Also within the next couple weeks we are going to be working on operation weening our bottle. Yep finally no more bottle. It is going to be very bittersweet for me. I think it is time for no more bottle but I am going to miss it as well because whenever she has bad days she will at least take a couple bottles during the day. her bottle give her a lot of extra calories but on the down side of it keeping her on the bottle can delay her speech as well as continuing to improve her eating skills. We are still working on eating with Caitlin and with her not having the bottle she is eventually going to get more hungry and not depend so much o her bottle. Its going to be tough but we will do it ;) When we went to the hospital last Monday we got a weight on Caitlin she was 21 lb 6 oz and was 32 1/2 inches long. We have gained !! yeahhh we might have lost a few ounces or so since our surgery due to not eating to much but we are going to make our way back up!!!!

On the way to the hospital

waiting for our surgery to start

This is Caitlin on relaxing meds. She was so funny. She just kept smiling and laughing at everything

On the way to getting wheeled out for Surgery

After surgery in recovery

trying to eat something but having a hard time

Yeahh!!! Going Home!!!

We are Home now and happy as can be!! free at last!!!!

Great day!!!!

2008-03-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

This is Caitlin's Favorite thing to do is put stickers on her face!! She loooves and I mean loves stickers. She will stick them all over herself but her face being her favorite!!!!!

Today was a great day!!! First off Dillon is an official big boy!!! Today Dillon learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels!!!! I had to go run some errands so I told Daddy today's the day you are going to teach Dillon how to ride his bike( Dillon was non stop asking so we said OK)So I was gone for about an hour or so and when I came driving down the street there was Dillon riding his bike all by himself!!!! What a big boy!!!!

Then one of our therapist from Caitlin's school and her daughter surprised us today and came over and brought the kids Easter presents !!!! I loved it so much and hey, any adult conversation is definitely welcome( you stay at home moms know exactly what I am talking about!!)I was just so happy because it was totally unexpected and the kids were so excited and loved it so much and had so much fun so Thank You Therese, We love you!!!!!!

Then We got another surprise from my best friend a little bit later. Yesterday was my birthday so she came over today to surprise me with my favoritist ice cream Cold stone creamery and a gift!!! I don't think she has ever gotten a surprise over me before but today she did, Thanks Friend, Your the best!!!!!

OK so tomorrow is our ENT appointment along with Caitlin's hearing test. Keep us in your prayers!!! I think she is going to pass the hearing test with flying colors so we shall see. We will find out how the sleep study went and the results from her X-Rays of her Adenoids.

I will post tomorrow and try to get some big boy bike pictures up also!!!!

Sleep Study update

2008-03-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

This is Caitlin pocketing her food. Nice big ol ball. I don't remember what she was eating here but this is our everyday. Sometimes she does great other times she forgets she has anything in her mouth

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had Caitlin's sleep study last Wednesday. It was quite the evening.

First off I have to say we had an awesome tech. He was super patient and super friendly and playful with Caitlin. He kept commenting on Caitlin's behavior saying that she is one of the best baby's that have come for a sleep study. When he was getting all the wires and attachments and putting them on Caitlin she was being so good and letting him do what he needed to do.

We got there about 8 pm and were taken care of right away. I wish I would have brought my camera to take pictures of everything she had on her but I didn't so once she was wired up it took me awhile to get her to fall asleep. She is used to going to bed the same time as Dillon and they normally fall asleep together. So about 10 pm she finally fell asleep but kept coughing we had another cold.

so she fell asleep for a little bit but then guess what happened!!??? She was coughing and then ended up throwing up all over. I felt so bad for her. She had wires all over her, she was throwing up it was such a bummer. I am glad she did as well though because that is how Caitlin is able to get alot of her mucous out(sorry I know gross)

The tech came in and was so good. He just kept handing me towels and comforting her and me as well. I always feel really bad when this happens in public or what have you because I feel like people get so grossed and don't understand as much. He asked if we wanted to try another day I said no because to be honest Caitlin gets a lot of colds right now. I can't wait for summer time because we have been sick so much this winter. So point being I could have rescheduled for another time but there would not have been a guarantee she would be 100% healthy

We were already there it was late and I knew since she did throw up it wasn't going to happen again and she would do alot better.

So we had to take off all her wires change her into another set of pj's and start from square 1

by the time we got her all done it was probably close to 1 am.

She slept a little bit better but would kind of toss a bit here and there and so I had to make sure that she would not get tangled up so I got about maybe an hour of sleep.

so didn't go quite as I had hoped for but because we had a very patient and understanding tech I felt good.

we find out her results of her sleep study this Friday as well as her X-Rays for her Adenoids

We also do our hearing test this Friday as well. So we should know if we are going to need surgery or not.

Other then that we are doing great!!! Caitlin seems like she is really starting to put words together. She says I don't want it and she tells me what she wants. If I sneeze she will say Bless You Mommy, I say Thank You she says Welcome!!

When I come to get her from somewhere or when she wakes up she says Hi mommy!!!!! or Hi Diddon!!!! She likes to talk on the phone and loves to pretend to put on make-up. She loves to test you as well she will look right at you while she is doing something naughty and smile.

Dillon is doing well to. Since we have moved all he wants to do is play outside and ride his scooter. He wants to get a skateboard because everyone else has one so that's one thing we are debating on.

I leave them alone for 1 second!!!!

2008-03-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

Yep this is what happend at dinner time when I left them alone really quick
They decided to throw food at each other and Caitlin thought it would be a great hair and face mask. The table got it, the wall got it, and Dillon got it. Then after I am trying to figure out just where to start, Caitlin decied to throw Dillon's Chocolate milk on the floor. ;0)

ENT

2008-03-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

ENT report -
Will try and post some pictures for later but wanted to jot this down before I forget

We took Caitlin to see an ENT last week but weren't to happy with him. He recommended Caitlin get an Adenoid x-ray and he wanted her to go back on her reflux meds the Zantac, as well as her Reglan plus some nasonex. Whenever I would ask him questions about anything he told me he just wouldn't really give me an answer so basically I walked out of there with no conclusion. The reason we are seeing an ENT is that Caitlin's gag reflux has been really bad lately. If you give her meds just a pinch to fast (which isn't fast at all but for her it is) then out comes a coughing attack which then leads to a whole bunch of vomit. She sips the water wrong same thing happens, anything can set off her gag. Which you would think of course it does but its super slow for most but fast for her. Her chewing is still not all there but we are working on it. Caitlin can't eat things like chicken or gummie stuff. Chicken just balls up and she ends up spitting it out and gummie snacks , well they just don't get chewed. She does well with some crunchy things but she still likes to pocket her food and then you have ask her for it and out it comes.
OK back to ENT reasons. Also Caitlin has been quite the snoring gal. She is pretty loud I must say and also she does breath through her mouth alot. So those are the reasons for seeing good ol ENT. OK so this ENT guy we saw I just didn't trust him with Caitlin he seemed to cocky and I tried to imagine him doing surgery on Caitlin and that was a NOT!!!!!
So end result of him I didn't put Caitlin on those meds. Until I had a full reasoning why then I wasn't going to go there.

OK so fast forward to this week. We saw a different ENT and looooved him!!! He was awesome. He went through everything in perfect detail and did more of a thorough exam on Caitlin. He checked her ears really well even used like a little air thingy to really open them up and get a clear picture. She does have fluid in her ears which seems like most of the time she does but we always thought it was because she was sick and during this winter was pretty much all the time with some kind of cold. We are also getting an Adenoid X-ray but I felt more comfortable coming from this Dr and the reasons why. Caitlin is also getting a sleep study done as well as a hearing test. See told you he was good. He just wants to do everything to see whats going on with Caitlin.
So I think her hearing is good because she does respond really well but you never know.
So if Caitlin's Adenoids are to big then we would possibly have to remove them and also we may be having to put tubes in her ears so they would drain properly. we will find out in 6 weeks which seems like forever but I am sure it will come fast. I am not sure when the sleep study is going to be because I am having to wait for them to call me to see when to schedule that.
About the Reflux meds we maybe would have to put her back on but he actually gave me reasons for that and didn't blow me off. But he said we would wait that one out for our next appointment and go from there.

Caitlin is doing really well other then that. She is happy all the time and sassy girly girl. The other day she was putting her leg on Dillon and Dillon wasn't in the mood so he kept telling Caitlin moooove , so Caitlin did and as she did she looks at Dillon and says BABY, yep she called him a baby. Super funny. Also today Dillon was bugging her this time and she told him so clearly Go Away. She speaks alot with us some of the stuff she says is so funny. Sometimes you can't always understand her but she can some how get her point across. The funny thing is she won't really talk to anybody else. When we are at public places like church or when she is at group she is kind of mute. She won't talk to much, so maybe she is shy who knows but I wish she would talk a little bit more.

On the therapy front. we did just get approved for an additional hour of speech therapy.
So now we do her global program(which works on all skills) 2 1/2 hours 3 x a week then we have an additional hour 1 x a week for just pure OT that includes feeding therapy. Now on top of that we are getting the extra hour of just speech so we should be doing super good in no time

Dillon is having fun at our new house. We just moved this last month to something a little bigger and there are tons of kids on our street so all day Dillon wants to be outside playing on his scooter and bike with his new friends.
So that's it ,that's whats going on will update when we find out more about all of our appointments and will try to post some pictures later on

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!

2008-02-13T20:52:00.000-08:00

Lots of pictures!!! Caitlin's hair is growing a little
more. We are finally able to do pigtails yeah!!!
Also here are some pictures of Caitlin's new doggie!!! She got a Valentine's gift from one of our favorite buddy's at Caitlin's group program. One of the therapist there is so good to Caitlin and totaly adores her. She is really great and defintly has Caitlin's heart too!!!! So Thank You so much for our Doggie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember this outfit????!!

2008-02-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

Look what I found. Caitlin's first 4th of July outfit.

Can you believe it can still go on her!!!! Its a little tight but she could still wear it !!!!

The size of this outfit is preemie size also ;0)
Of course we can't let her walk around like that but it was cute just to dress up in!!!

Look at the difference. The old picture was from July 2006 and then the new pictures are about a year in a half later

Sick again!!!!!

2008-02-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

Caitlin and Dillon watching Cailou

Baby Girl is sick again. We have been fighting this cold forever it seems.Caitlin will get better for a few days then all of a sudden its back. We went to Peed on Tuesday and we have a repitory infection so Caitlin is on Zithromax and oral liquid steroid to help her lungs out a bit. xopinex also for her neublizer machine. Dillon is starting to get a little bit sick as well. Fun fun. Caitlin has thrown up a couple times as well in the last couple days my poor baby. Wed we attempted to get her to her group program because it seemed as if she had been feeling better then wammm right when we pull up puke mania!!!!!!! Back home it was.

We did however weigh out little peanut and we are 20 lbs 7 oz. She is such a tiny girl but she is full of life and energy!!! She is really putting words together, when you tickle her she belly laughs and says "it tickle"also she calls out for Dillon alot now to. Last night Dillon came to sleep with me because he wasn't feeling to good and I just knew she would wake up late at night noticing he wasn't in the room( they share rooms) how I knew this is because awhile back Dillon had a sleep over at his friends house and Caitlin was up all night crying for Dillon. So sure enough at 3:38 am Caitlin was crying for Dillon this is how it goes "Diddon, Diddon, Diddon" so I had to move Dillon back to his bed and all was fine. Funny huh but pretty darn cute.
Other words he is putting together is "Diddon hiiiit me" "More please" stooooppp it , Datt Scur mee, I love listening to her.

We are moving soon. Yipppeeeeee. Closer to Caitlin's school and close to Dillon's new preschool which will be really great. so lots of packing to do soon.

2008-01-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

Down below are quite a bit of pictures. I finally posted some from Christmas day and also while Caitlin was sick. Her tonsils were really swollen and she had to be on some antibiotics for her eyes because they kept on leaking a bit of gunk from them yuckk I know. Caitlin was not eating for a good 2 weeks but she is getting right back on track!! We have her sitting at a big girl table now and have moved the high chair out.

Caitlin's classes are going really good. it seems like she is speaking quite a bit more and eating alot better then she was. Other then that everything still the same as always.

I thought I had put Caitlin's weight from our last appointment but I didn't so her weight is 20 lbs 5 oz and I think she was 30 1/2 inches long. Dr was happy with the way things are going and we will do another weight check in about 5 months. I am sure we will be in there sooner of course we litterly went back 2 days after our routine check up because of Caitlin's Cold and tonsils. That's always fun , well that's it

2008-01-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

2008-01-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

2008-01-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

2008-01-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

2008-01-19T18:40:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

2007-12-29T19:00:00.000-08:00

Dillon and Caitlin were in a Christmas play this year and then the following week after their play they went up front at our church and Dillon was the drummer boy and Caitlin rang the bells

I love watching them do these things. It just really makes me think how blessed we are. We had a great Christmas this year also. We weren't sure how it was going to turn out with Jesus still off work from his broken collar bone but our Church really blessed us this year

and the kids did not lack anything!!!

I will upload pictures from Christmas next time. I have been getting behind. It seems like we have not been home a lot lately with everything going on and the holidays. Caitlin is doing great in her group program she goes the 3 x a week plus an extra day for an hour so they can really work on feeding with her. I am really starting to see a difference in Caitlin. She is actually eating more now and we have not even been giving her medicine(periactin). Yesterday she ate a lot of spaghetti with turkey meat and was actually chewing and ate within like 5 minutes. I was amazed. Today she ate really well too!! She seems like she is starting to chew a lot better. We have been stimulating her mouth before she eats so we have this chewy string thing that she chews on 10 times each side of her mouth and then we massage her gums and all around her mouth for sensory. This really does help. She is still small but she looks like she is growing and getting taller a bit. Yeahhhh. Dillon is doing great to. He is my funny guy always keeping us laughing. Once Jesus goes back to work we are planning on putting him in some music lessons. Both of the kids looove music. They love to sing, dance and make lots of noise. Dillon wants an electric guitar so bad so we will see maybe for his birthday!!!!!I can't believe he is going to be 5 in just another 5 months!! Boy time sure does fly by.

Look who's 2!!!!

2007-12-14T15:46:00.000-08:00

Caitlin with her God parents

Today is Caitlin's Birthday!!! Happy Birthday Caitlin
We did a little dinner for her last week. Lots of fun.
We have our Dr appointment next week so we can see how big Caitlin is
getting.

2007-12-03T20:07:00.001-08:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Just Pictures

2007-12-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

Madilyn's Grave Site

2007-11-28T18:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Madilyn

2007-11-27T21:42:00.000-08:00

Today is Madilyn's Birthday
Happy Birthday my sweet girl
This year is alot easier then last year. Not that it ever gets easy but we are in a much better place this year and I really try to focus on what we do have and how blessed we truly are.Caitlin is healthy and a happy little girl that God has blessed me so much with and of course my sweet crazy boy Dillon. Its amazing though that we weren't sure that we would even be able to bring Caitlin home and here she is about to turn 2 years old. I am thankful that the girls did not have the same birthday as it would probably be a bitter sweet day for me. I am glad that each of them has their own special day because I know it is very hard for alot of the other mommies of surviving twins when they have the same day and like I said making it bitter sweet.
We went to go to Madiyln's grave site today and of course is very decorated by Grandma. I took some pictures but will have to post them tomorrow. Daddy and the kids sang Happy Birthday to Madilyn and Dillon and Caitlin left some toys for her.

OK so on a lighter note as I am writing this Caitlin is coming up to me saying I want apple and then I ask her you want apple she says NO then crosses her arms and looks down(very funny) OK so it sounds more like this Ugh Annt abble . Her No's normally mean yes we are still working on that with her. She normally will nod yes when she wants something but still here and there she will say NO very firmly it is funny.

Ok well thats it just a Big Happy Birthday to my angel Madilyn , we love and miss you very very much!!!!!!xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo

2007-11-21T22:26:00.000-08:00

Click on this link below

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9571328922

Mommm, Look at Caitlin

2007-11-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

Look how we found Caitlin. She climbed up her stool and just decided to hang out in the sink and brush her teeth. Caitlin's eye exam was today and it went good. Caitlin still has astigmatism but it isn't to bad. Also Caitlin's left eye was kind of shifting inwards but the Dr said that it looks like it has straightened itself out and doesn't seem to be a problem. Yeahh Thank You Jesus!!!We have it very easy compared to most preemies. I have read so much on other preemies who are not doing so good or have more issues then we have so it really makes me appreciate and take it all in how awesome Caitlin is doing. We go for our 2 year check up next month so we can see how well she is growing!! I can't believe she is going to be 2 already. When things happened before she was born we weren't even sure if we were going to be able to bring her home. We are truly blessed

No G-Tube!!!

2007-11-16T12:32:00.000-08:00

So I guess I totally forgot to update her blog from our apt last week . Thank goodness I had a comment to remind me lol I love hearing feedback from everyone so those who comment thank you very much!!! I love all of the great advice.
OK so No G-tube for us!! Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh. Caitlin weighs 20 lbs 1oz and is 32 inches long. So we are getting there!! The Dr was so great. She said considering she was a 24 weeker and only 1 lb 4 oz when Caitlin was born she is doing excellent. She just gave me some advice for some extra calories and told me to keep her on her bottle for at least another 6 months and continue to add the whipping cream to it. The great thing about that is I just found a organic whipping cream at Trader Joe's that also has an additional 10 calories so it is 60 calories per tablespoon ( yummy) I was really happy with the Dr and how she made me feel. She said I was doing an excellent job and Caitlin looks great.

I am just bummed about how the development clinic Dr always makes me feel. She made it seem as though Caitlin was way to small and she should have been caught up by now. Last 2 x she told me how Caitlin's pupils weren't the same size and every single time I have mentioned to her eye Dr he says there is nothing wrong. Thank goodness we are released from development clinic. i love going because we get to see all of Caitlin's old nurses and visit but I always leave feeling so bad once I have actually met with the Dr there . Thank God I have a great pediatrician and other Dr's who are really positive and great with Caitlin.

OK so I will try and post some pictures later , sorry for late update on the G-Tube

G-Tube?????????????????????

2007-11-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

Kind of a quick post here . We ended up having our developmental clinic on Wed and it started out super!! We saw our favorite nurse Diana and Caitlin was totally showing off. She was so cute using alot of her words and saying thank you and byeeeee I was really proud of her and just couldn't stop smiling.We saw some of our other nurses to and that was really great!!!
So Caitlin is measuring pretty good on most stuff. I have the paper but don;t have it right here. then we get the Dr evaluation. Not so good. She looks great and is great but the thing is that the Dr said she is still way to little and she has a small head(well yeah can't have big head for little body , but whatever) Anyway she suggested we see a nutritionist and possibly get an endocrine test done(OK whoa lady) I discussed this with our ped and he said lets do nutritionist first and then we can go to the next step(he thinks nothing is wrong as for as endocrine goes right now) Anyway also another suggestion is we might possibly have to get G-Tube to give some extra calories. I have mixed feelings about this. One part is like well ok if she doesn't want to eat at least I can get calories in her but then another part of me is like no way this is going to set her back possibly. and this is a major surgery. We have an appointment with our Gastro Dr on Tuesday so we will know the verdict then or what the real next step is.
So here is the wight stats
19 lbs 11 oz and 31 inches long. yes a little peanut but darn it she has energy like no other!!!! ok so this was suppose to be short!!!

First day of School!!!!

2007-10-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

Monday was Caitlin's first day of school!!! She finally got to get into her group and did so awesome!!! She didn't cry once and went right to one of the Physical Therapist. The first half hour is music time with signing. I love it. I stayed for about the first 20 minutes on Monday so she can get used to it but she didn't need me there at all. They said she did really well and no crying!!!! She will be going 3 x a week for 2 1/2 hours. She went again today and same thing had a great day. One thing which was great is that they saw how she ate, how she just lets her food sit in her mouth and doesn't really chew to much. I am glad they finally got to witness that so they knew what I was talking about so we can work on it. She did really well again today. I am so happy that she got approved and she always comes home so happy and in such a good mood from school. She really loves it alot.

On another note. Jesus had his surgery yesterday and he is doing well. He is in alot of pain but getting better. His surgery ended up lasting about 3 hours and was only suppose to be for about an hour in a half. The Dr said that in your clavicle(collar) bone it goes in 3 parts, the middle part is where he really broke it and said it broke into 4 pieces so he had to put the plate in and screws. It was like a puzzle which is why it took way longer then expected.

So hmmmmmmmmmmmm I wonder if they will be riding a bike again anytime soon????:0)

2007-10-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well a couple things today. Caitlin got weighed and she weighs 20 lbs and 8 oz . and is 30 1/2 inches long. So we are growing!!! I can't wait for Monday when Caitlin starts her group therapy. I will have to take lots of pictures if they let me ;0)
On another note. We went to go see the Orthopedic for Jesus and found out that he actually broke his collar bone so he has to go into surgery on Tuesday to have it fixed and I think they are going to have to put a plate in also. He is going to be off work for 3 months!!! I told him the good side of it is at least he will be off for the holidays and be able to really enjoy them this year ;0) Most years he normally has to work the day after a holiday so he has to get to bed early the night before. Please keep Jesus in your prayers for a speedy and great recovery. He is nervous being that this is his first surgery.
Also yesterday on our way to the Dr's I was trying to put Dillon and Caitlin in the stroller and was moving the tray and Caitlin fell face first on the asphalt. She has a little bruised lip and a little scrape on her chin. She could have been alot worse I felt so bad I told Jesus we aren't doing to good with the kids are we. First the bike accident then I dropped Caitlin. We are taking her to the dentist tomorrow to make sure everything is OK and that she didn't hurt her mouth to bad. She also needs her routine check up also so I guess perfect timing??!!

Caitlin and Dillon playing video games

2007-10-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Yeahhhh We qualified for group!!! i knew we would but at the same time I was nervous just would if we didn't get in.
We went at looked at another place for her group and we really like it. I just drop her off now and leave for a couple hours 3 x a week . She will get everything she needs there and it should really help her with her speech and eating!!!! Hopefully we can start as early as this Friday but we will find out the availability to make sure they have room for her. The kids both got their flu shots today also. Caitlin is a little different then Dillon. Caitlin I thought for sure would cry but nope not one tear or scream just kind of won't mmm then done. Dillon on the other hand tried hitting the Dr with his game boy kicked him a couple times and tried a few good hits. I had to hold Dillon down with my legs , that is how much Dillon did not want the shot. Then a huge screech and a cry all the way to the car. But its done now and they are good to go.

OUUUCCCHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Well they did it this time!!!
Daddy and Dillon decided it would be fun to go on a bike ride that not so
right way!!! Dillon was on the bike frame while daddy was pedaling and Dillon
stuck his foot in the spokes then they met with the asphalt. Not such a great outcome.
We had to take daddy and Dillon to the emergency room and they both got their X-rays at the same time. Thank God Dillon came out with no broken bones. He had a swollen ankle and was very much scraped up as you can see. Daddy has a fractured collar bone and as you can see very scraped up. Thank God they are pretty ok. It could have been worse is what I keep telling myself . Daddy is off work for a bit. Hopefully not to long hopefully he feels better soon. I am having to shower Daddy and take lots of good care of him. He is getting so bored because he is used to working so hard all the time and keeping busy

On Caitlin news. She has been sick the last couple weeks. First she had an ear infection then the following week she got pharyngitis(blisters on her throat) We had her weighed and she is 19 lbs 11 oz. tomorrow we go get their flu shots and hopefully it will help them from getting the flu this year.
We also had to get another evaluation for Caitlin to get her to qualify for group therapy. First we thought she really needed it especially because of her eating and she shows that she is behind but when they took it to the actual people who make the overall decision they said no until we get her a second opion. She did qualify according to the second opion evaluation. so now my actual coordinator needs to take it again to the actual board and get the real go ahead.
Fun huh. I really think she will benefit from group therapy. It works with everything to help her to speak,eat, fine motor skill just overall great. So pray that we do get in.
That's about all to report its harder to blog now and I guess I have been more lazy. But I need to do more defiantly. Caitlin's 2nd birthday is coming up in a couple months yikes. Can't believe she is going to be 2 already!!!! How time flies by!!

Caitlin eating (not)

2007-09-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

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Here is a video of Caitlin and what our eating time is like. In some of it it looks like I am forcing her to eat(adding more food when not necessary)but just wanted to video how much food she actually keeps in her mouth. Caitlin most of the time will hold her food in her mouth on both sides of her cheek. Whenever we eat she always gets so nervous and stressed out from it. It isn't one of her favorite things to do. I don't get it sometimes though because she will eat a Dorito no problem and some other things but most foods(lunch,dinner,breakfast) she cries and just doesn't want to eat.
Also Caitlin is sick. Another ear infection on top of it. The Dr at our urgent care did say that she had fluid in her ears and I have always thought maybe she did have some fluid in there but never knew. This is her 4th ear infection so I think I am going to talk to her Dr about seeing an actual ear,throat,nose specialist( I know there's a name but forget lol)Also we are going to start group therapy classes for Caitlin in a couple weeks to see if will help get her caught up on some of her motor skills. Also I think this will really help with her eating so I am excited. She is going to go 3x a week and Dillon just went back to school to so it looks like I am going to have some free time on my hands hmm what to do.
I have a list of where she is at motor wise but will have to post that later.

Spider Girl!!

2007-09-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

Caitlin wanted so badly to put Dillon's Spiderman outfit on. She basically would not stop pulling on me until it was on and signing please forever

Caitlin on Computer

2007-09-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

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Pooooops on the potty

2007-08-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Caitlin's toilet seat- We got Caitlin a potty chair. It is a little one but the cool thing is that when she is ready she can transition onto the big potty with the smaller chair. She actually went pooops in her little toilet today though. I did of course take a picture but thought maybe know one really wanted to see that( ahh cmon!!)Anyway her first poopey on the potty was today. I don't think she really knew what happened per say but she did it and me and Dillon did a little dance for her and clapped. Funny thing is that Dillon knows I take pictures of everything he decided to get out his fisher price camera and take pictures before me ;0)
Training him early!!!Anyway we will continue to put Caitlin on the potty here and there and as she gets bit more older we will be more on top of it. This is what we did with Dillon and he was trained at 2 1/2

Caitlin after a long day, my tired girl

2007-08-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

NOTE to self: Lose weight!!!!!

My sister came down from out of town over the weekend and it was lots of fun. She actually showed me a couple things for Caitlin that I thought to myself, why didn't I think of that. Caitlin is still very much a hard eater. She will eat some things pretty good but we do still have a little bit of issues with textures. So anyway to get a great amount of calories in her my sister showed me to puree the chef boyardee lasagna's and those kind of foods, i thought to myself duhhhhhhhhhhhh. Caitlin is still somewhat on baby food stage 2 she will eat some finger foods but if I really want her to eat and know how much she is really in taking it does have to be purred. She loved it though and compared to Gerber that only has 90 calories lasagna has 220 I believe. Beans and wienies have 320!!!and she eats the whole serving!!! Her daughters were also preemies and have a combination of Cerebral Palsy and Autism. They are the most beautiful little girls!!!!

2007-08-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

Look how long she is getting!!!!

Had a weight check on both the kiddies yesterday.
Caitlin is 20 lbs exactly!! Holy Moly we finally made it to 20lbs!!!!!
She is also 28 1/2 inches long. Little shorty but I think she is so cute!!!!

Dillon weighed 48 lbs and is 41 inches long both are great!!!!!!

I am needing opions here. I am going to make This blog into a book when Caitlin hits 2 years old. I found a website that helps make blogs into a hardcover
http://www.blurb.com/home/1/
I think it will be so awesome for her to see how far she came and everything she has been through. Thank goodness I started this blog because honestly I forget everything that has happened and I myself enjoy scrolling down to the beginning and remembering how small she was, when she did all her first things and just re watching her grow and looking at her now. Anyway I am really not sure how many people we still have keeping up on us and how many hits we get still. So my question is do you all want this blog updated still after 2 years. If so please leave your comments and let us know. It is set for anyone who would like to leave a comment. I am just not sure whether or not to have it password protected and have it a little more private so I need your input here whether or not to keep it open.
So let us know!!!!!

So anyway on the Caitlin front she is walking so good. She gets up so fast and is starting to really jabber alot. She will just look at you and start jibbering and jabbering like she is totally speaking in English and you completely understand her.
OK so I wanted to put more but I have both on me wanting to play. So don't forget to leave your comments.

2007-07-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

How many times have I vacuumed today?????????????? 4 times!!!! 4 Times!!!!!!
Ok maybe 2 is OK here and there but 4 times is alot. I vacuum and then here comes Dillon with some crackers ,
Mommy-"Dillon not in the living room"
Dillon-"Ok Mommie" Vacuum 1
Mommy- "Dillon!!! Did you give Caitlin those crackers??""Yeahhhhh, I sharing ;0)"
Mommy- ughhhhhhh wahhhhhh "Dillon not in the living room I just vacuumed!!!"
Dillon-"Sooooorrrry Mommy" Vacuum # 2
Mommy-"Dillon did you get crackers again??????????"
Dillon-"But Mommy I hungry, reallly really hungry,see my tummy (as he rubs his belly)my tummy is really reallly hungry"
Mommy- "Please listen Dillon, your making mommie sad by not listening and I don't want to vacuum anymore"
Dillon"Sorrrrrrrrryyyyyy Mommy, I reallly sorrrrry"
Vacuum # 3

Dillon- (after not bringing anymore crackers)"See Mommy, I listening,see I a good boy, see see, I listening"
Mommy- "Thank you Dillon!!!"
Dillon- "Your Melcom!!!!!!!"

Vacuum # 4- Who knows where what came from where lol

And that folks is part of my day!!!!

I am not sure if I posted this or not (sorry I forget alot!!!)
Caitlin is now off her Zantac!!!Yeah. So now we are only giving her 1 medicine as oppose to 5 she was in taking before. It seemed like forever but it finally came.
Now the only one she takes is her Periactin to help increase her hunger. She gets 5 ml of that a night and we even skip some nights to give her a little break so she doesn't get to immune to it and used to it. She is officially walking, and when I say walking I mean walking!!! She is so cute. She gets around so darn good. She turns and everything. I love the way she gets up it is so cute. She of course falls here and there but hey, I still fall even now and then. She thinks she is the coolest thing ever. Before she used to race after me following me into the kitchen and all over the house crawling but now she just walks herself over with a big ol smile. I seriously wasn't sure when this day would come. I mean we waited 19 1/2 mos for this!!! It was def worth the wait though. Well I think that's about it for now. I need to take some more pictures soon, not that I don't take them like everyday all day so I will post some soon. Today I took a picture of her walking away from me without her diaper. She has the tiniest littlest butt, it is so funny watching this little 19 pounder run away from you bare naked screaming with excitement because she gets to take a bath. I just love it. Yeah about that bath thing???!!! Did I mention she loves taking baths in the big bath tub now. I ask her every night, You wanna take a bath and right away her head starts nodding yes so fast. Put it this way she crys because I can't get her cloths off fast enough for her to get in. My water baby!!!!

Dillon singing no more monkeys

2007-07-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Dillon wanted some camera action to. Here is Dillon's Version of No more monkeys jumping on the bed!!!!!

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Caitlin singing Old McDonald

2007-07-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

I know another singing video but I love the way Caitlin does her O's. You can really tell on this video

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Caitlin and Dillon singing

2007-07-27T10:07:00.001-07:00

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Caitlin's getting around pretty good!!!

2007-07-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

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Baby Girl Walking!!

2007-07-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

My Babies (troublemakers!!!!)

Caitlin is doing really well with her walking. Today she has been walking around the house alot.

I love when she will stand up all by herself frm a sitting position. It takes her a couple times to get up but it is so cute and funny. Its amazing to see her finally walking. It seemed like this day would never come and finally here it is.

I can't believe in about another 5 months she is going to be 2 years old!! Holy Moly !!!Where did the time go.

Caitlin's a big girl now

2007-07-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

Caitlin is a little stinker now and days. She thinks she is so smart knowing how to crawl up our little stool we have in the bathroom so Dillon can wash his hands and brush his teeth. Caitlin sees it done so much that she now will go in there all by herself and do whatever she feels like. She is super fast at it to mind you. So normally we will catch her just looking at herself in the mirror or even have caught her brushing her hair, but this time she is brushing her own teeth!!! That a girl !!! And yes I promise, this is her doing everything on her own we are just lucky to catch it on camera

Caitlin's Officially Walking and more.....................

2007-07-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

Dillon's Swimming lessons!!!

Caitlin in Time -Out. She was not so happy!!!!

Caitlin's First haircut!!!!!!!!

Caitlin is now walking pretty much officially. I can actually set her down and she will walk quite a bit. She is still a little wobbly but she is taking a good 20 steps or so. And even better yesterday for her physical therapy was the first time she actually got up all by herself from sitting to standing. She kept doing this yesterday to. So she is hitting all of her milestones with flying colors. Hey it only took 19 mos not bad!!!
Also Today was Caitlin's first haircut. We kept putting it off but I finally had to just go do it. Her hair is getting long but she would have some really long pieces then some really short pieces so we evened it all up. She did not cry at all. She really enjoyed it actually. She sat in a little car watching barney and just sat there really well and very cooperative!!! Its a bit short but it will grow soon.

Another thing to is Dillon started his swimming lessons this week and is doing awesome. He actually is doing really well, listening super good to his teacher and doing everything they teach him to do. He is taking the class with his twin friends that he has been friends with since they were about 1 years old. They do really good!!!

Caitlin's Starting to walk !!!!!

2007-07-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

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2007-06-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

Dr Check up for both kiddies today.

It was Dillon's 4 year old check up and Caitlin's 18 mos check up

Here are the stats--

Dillon 75 % for height and 90% for weight

44 1/2 inches tall----- 44 lbs!!!!

hearing is 100% and his eye sight is 20/30 for both eyes

Caitlin 5% for both weight and height

19 lbs exactly!!! 29 1/4 inches long!!!

Poor Dillon got 4 shots today and was not happy about that but he did really good. We told him we would let him pick out his favorite ice cream at the store for being good. He of course picked out spider man Popsicle's!!!! Caitlin didn't have any shots today lucky her!! Dr was very proud of how extremely well Caitlin is doing. We are going to try to get her off the milk of magnesia because he is not crazy about it. Nothing to different to report really Caitlin is starting to mimic words a little bit more. it is so funny because of course she says things on her terms and time lol

We don't have another checkup for Caitlin until she is 2 and Dillon until he is 5.

Well that's all!!!!!!

Quick Steps

2007-06-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie. Caitlin took about 5-6 steps yesterday during physical thereapy and then again with daddy. Daddy kind of slows her down a bit because he gets nervous and wants to catch her all the time. Today we have been trying again (well with Dillon , doesn't quite work the same ) and she didnt want to take her steps. So its close. Maybe within a month she will be walking, maybe sooner, maybee later who knows but its coming!!!!

2007-06-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

Uh Oh!! They have been captured!!!!

Riding bike with Big Brother!!!!

Raghhhhhh I am gonna get you!!!!

Cheeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzeeeee

2007-06-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

Now this is a happy girl!!!! She is like this all the time

Caitlin is starting to say a few more words of course when she feels like it but I know

she can say them. She knows how to say hi (hiiiiiiiiii as waving her hand)she now says

doggie(doooogieee) she will grab the phone and say ellllo(hello)she will say thank you every now and then. She can say bye here and there, eyes(eyyyyyyesss) Finally mama!!!!and of course sometimes she calls me MOM(what baby calls their Mommy mom??!??? It is very funny though because she will say it very quickly MoM lol she knows the word no but will put it together alot and say na na na na. She is really quite the quick crawler now and gets everywhere super quick. She walks around all the furniture like a pro so now we really are just working on walking. Hopefully it will come soon. She is eating a little better lately but I am now trying to start taking away as much bottle as she is in taking to try to get her more hungry for actual food. Normally what she takes in her bottle is oatmeal,carnation instant breakfast,milk,and whipping cream. She only gets that bottle at night before bed but I have now taken all the oatmeal from her other bottles and will eventually take away the other things(maybe keep whipping cream)I just think that she is filling to much on her bottles now and I want her to be hungry for food. I know she is going to be at her own growth curve which I think I am actually starting to be OK with. I was trying to get as much calories in her as I could and it worked since we got her up to 18 lbs. She is just going to be petite at least for now and that's OK. She is actually starting to get rolls now on her little thighs and more of a solid tummy. She looks so cute. Her hair is starting to really grow now but the little booger doesn't like keeping her hair clips or anything I put in her hair on. I can do her hair and not even 5 minutes later she has her clips in her mouth. Literly I have to do her hair about 10 times a day. One day she will keep them in!!! That's it though nothing else to report on

2007-06-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

Uh Oh someone got some chocolate!!!!

Caitlin's favorite thing to do is go through the videos. This time she got them all out!!!

I thought I had posted Caitlin's new weight but I guess not. oooops. Anyway we had her weight check last week and she is now 18lbs 2 1/2 oz and 28 1/2 inches long!!!! She gained a pound in a half in a month!!!! i couldn't belieive it. She is doing good. she isn't however having the best last couple weeks of eating but hopefully we will get there again soon. We gave her a little break from her periactin(hunger medicine0 cause it seems like she is somewhat getting use to it and it is not working as well. Thats about it for updates. We are really trying to work on walking right now. Hopefully it will be soon. Her younger friends are already walking so she's gotta catch up to em!!!!!

Caitlin dancin!!!!

2007-05-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

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2007-05-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

My New Climber!!!!!

Caitlin has learned how to escape her walker.She stands up on the seat and finds a way out, little stinker

Uh-Oh. already starting to ride on the handel bars!!!

2007-05-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

Uh-Oh there goes trouble !!

Dillon's New big boy bike
My babies!!!

Dillon trying to do something ( who knows lol)

2007-05-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

Daddy's little girl!!!!

Birthday Boy and Miss Caitlin

2007-05-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well Well Well. Caitlin got to go for another dentist check up. Her teeth look great and one of her molars is growing in the back and I didn't even notice it!!! I have to say she is such a good baby. She really hasn't fussed at all during her teething process so far. I remember with Dillon we definitely knew when he was teething. Not with Caitlin she is def taking it well. On the other hand Dillon also got his check up and he has 6 cavities!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! So now we are going to have to take him in a couple weeks to go get some fillings. I really couldn't believe it!!!!!

Caitlin also had her eye exam and her eyes look great!!! He said that her left eye kind of shifts a little bit but they really look really great. I asked if he suspected she would need glasses later down the line. He said of course you never really know but from his point of view and between all her visits he really didn't think so. Yeahhhhh. I wouldn't mind of course but I am so glad her eyes are doing great. All the things that Dr's said would probably happen haven't!!!! she See's great, she hears great and just plainly she is doing great. We of course would love to see her eat more but hey you can't win them all huh !!

I am so extremely proud of Caitlin. she has accomplished a lot of things over the last couple weeks. She has finally learned how to walk around the table. Before she wasn't able to go around the corners on tables but now she can. She now knows how to go from a crawling position to sitting. This was a biggy one for us and I was so excited. She also is able to get her self down from things. She will be standing on the coffee table and then she backs up a little with her legs and also spreads them apart then will let herself go to fall on her tooshie. She looks so cute doing this. She does still get a little scared here and there but she really is catching on. I think she is pretty smart. She catches on to some things really well. For instance she knows how to color and actually loves to color. She saw us fanning ourselves with a little hand held fan and grabbed it from us and started to fan herself. Dillon just got a hot wheels car track and this morning she grabbed some of his cars and started putting them on the track and driving them!!!! Yes we have our self a smarty pants. I am just so proud of her. These are completely normal things that I guess you take for granted sometimes when you have a full term baby. I remember seeing Dillon accomplish these things and I would be so excited but I didn't realize really how important all these things were until we knew we needed to try to catch up. I am proud of both my kids of course!!! Dillon is an awesome little guy too. He is going into pre k in the next few months. Both my babies are growing up. Its very bitter sweet. I want to see them grow up and see everything they are going to accomplish and what they are going to do in life but at the same time I am going to miss them being small and so innocent and lovable. Dillon just got a big boy bike and watching him ride on his bike made me sad, it was like watching ever since he was a baby until now flash upon me so quickly ahhhhhhhhhhhh

Here are some pictures form Dillon's Birthday!!! Dillon is 4!!!!!! I can't believe it!!!

Pictures of the girls together Mia,Hannah, And Caitlin

We took Caitlin swimming for the first time and she wasn't to crazy about it.
Maybe next time she will like it a little bit more. I think the water was a little to chilly for her but it was a super HOT day!!!! She kept kind of screaming and kept complaining

Here is Caitlin after swimming she just sat there for awhile drying off. She hardly ever just sits in one spot lol

Caitlin's first masterpiece

2007-05-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

Caitlin can color!!! I was actually amazed that she was coloring. She knew what to do and kept doing it. Along with coloring her first coloring book she also decided to color her face as well. Hey a girl's gotta looks good right???!!!???!!!

2007-05-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Caitlin and best friend Mia going for a ride
Caitlin was eating a sno cone and loved it.
You couldn't even take it away from her
without her getting very mad

After a long day at the park!!!!!

2007-05-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

We had a bit of an accident tonight. Daddy and Dillon were rough housing on the bed!! This is why they sing that song no monkeys jumping on the bed!!!!!

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2007-05-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

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2007-05-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

Caitlin was getting a nice scalp treatment for nice soft hair!! olive oil with avacado, looks yummy huh!!

Been awhile!!!!

Well Caitlin had her GI appointment on friday and she is weighing at 16lb11oz and was 28 inches long. She gained a little. Her Dr added the periactin again but upped the dosage up to 4 ml instead of 2.5 ml. It actually seems like its working. Last time we were on it I really didn't see a difference in her eating but this time she is actually intaking a little bit more then normal.

Another thing is we have weened Caitlin off her reglan she is been almost 3 days without it and has done really well. I thought she would be really cranky like the last couple times we tried weening her off but she did good. She is spitting up a little bit more but hopefully it will get better.

Caitlin has a couple words now. She says dada,maaa, eyes and we think she trys to say thank you(daant doo)She is starting to walk better with us holding her by one hand and can walk pretty good using her walker. I will try to upload those videos tomorrow.

Anyway thats about it.

2007-04-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well we have had good few days and then some bad few days. Caitlin was eating like a super star for about a week and then the last 3 or 4 days it just all of a sudden stopped!! She hasn't been in taking that much formula or pedisure and hasn't been in the mood to really munch on anything either. Hopefully we will get some good eating days going on here soon. It always makes me nervous and frustrated when she doesn't want to eat because I need her to gain some weight !!! The other day i tried giving her some green beans and she ate the whole jar pretty good and then next thing you know she is project vomiting the whole entire thing out. We are not just talking about little vomit here we are talking about flying 3 feet and shooting out of her mouth and every last drop vomit. Hate to say it but it looked like something out from a movie (yikes) The next day same thing also. We gave her some oatmeal with pears and about 10 minutes later same thing. So all our hard work to come right back out.
We got to spend all day today at the hospital with Grandma Caryn. Grandma fell last night and I got a lovely call at 2 in the morning saying she fell and think she broke her arm. well 5 hours later at the hospital(day time though )grandma has broken her arm in one place and fractured the rest. WAY TO GO GRANDMA!!!!!!
Caitlin behaved so well today and had everybody laughing and cooing at her. She even flirted quite a bit. I guess she is starting early. She really is a good baby. She smiles almost all the time and is always happy. she wakes up happy and goes to bed happy. why I think she is a happy camper!!!
We will have our follow up gastro appointment next week. I can't wait so I can see how much our peanut weighs. I actually had the nerve to ask one of the nurses if we could weigh her while we were waiting for grandma to get checked in . she weighed at 17lb 4 oz. I think it might be a little over but hey I'll take it!!!!
Our real weight will be when we do go to Gastro Apt because those scales have to be super accurate.
Well down below are some pictures of a rainbow. I walked outside real quick and there it was. It has been raining here all day so we got a surprise. And of course some more sleepy pictures. I think that is Daddy and Caitlin's favorite thing is to take naps together. Of course as Caitlin is very much a Daddy's girl.

Daddy and Caitlin sleeping(like always)
Caitlin just waking up from nap with Dad
The pretty rainbow right outside our house!!

Dillon and Caitlin

2007-04-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Had to add this picture of Dillon and Caitlin because Dillon asked me where his picture was !!!

Caitlin walking all by herself

2007-04-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Caitlin and Mia BFF

2007-04-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

Look how pretty my God daughter is!!!!!!

Caitlin took pictures today with her best friend Mia

2007-04-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Caitlin loves asparagus!!! We are really starting to find things she enjoys eating. She seems like she eats so much better when we give her table food. She will still have trouble here and there with some foods but I think she is really getting used to it. She has been eating really good the last 4 days which has amazed us. And we haven't even been giving her the medicine we were trying her on to induce hunger. 2 reasons. 1 is Dillon decided he was going to help and got her up from her nap while daddy was sleeping and gave her medicine. Jesus woke up to it all over the floor,all over Caitlin and all over Caitlin's crib. We think she barely got any but we called the poison control just to make sure she would be OK and what to do. We just kept an eye on her but she was fine. OK so after the scare we didn't giver her the dosage that night. Well again the next night we still decided to give her a break and she has been eating really well so we haven't been giving it to her. We weren't really seeing a big change from the medicine so why give her an extra thing for nothing ya know ;)
We had a great Easter lots of Barbecuing and fun Easter egg hunts!!!Caitlin loved the Easter bunny. I thought she might get scarred but nope!!!!!

2007-04-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

Pictures with the Easter Bunny!!! I have one more but I have to figure out my scanner first.

2007-04-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Pretend Birthday for Caitlin!!
Caitlin's actual due date was April 3 so she would have turned 1 years old!!!!
Can't believe we are in April already!!!We went for our Nephrology appointment on tuesday
and everything went well. We will do another U/S and blood work just to make sure everything is where it is suppose to be at. We had a different Dr and I just loved her. She gave me so much information and even said that normally when preemies get kidney stones and pass them that should be it. She said what normally causes them is when she was on her lasiks while she was in the NICU that adds calcium to the urine whihc can cause the kidney stones so while she was on her 2 medicines it was taking out the calcium to reduce build up and to disolve them. So I am pretty relieved to know that this could be it for the yuckky stones.!! Ok so we did get her weight though and she lost a couple ounces. She is 16 lbs 4 oz which is so little. I have been trying to add so much calories to everything she eats but I think this is just what it is. I totally forgot to post about her hospital evaluation!!!!!
Ok so for her hospital evaluation she was 16lbs 7 oz and 27 1/2 inches long. She was measuring really well.
I don't have the list in front of me but some of the things she was measuring at 15 mos and for her gross motor she was measuring at about 9 mos. But over all she is measuring way close and a bit over to her corrected age.(did you get that lol) Also they did say with her whole eating thing was probably just an amount issue. She can only handle so much food because her tummy is so small and really the only thing I can do is just increase her calorie intake but then again I have to be carefull because if i fatten it up with all these calories her tummy might not be able to handle it either because it would be so heavy. So it kind of is a no win situation and we just have to ride it out. An example of how many calories I am trying to give her is her bottle
For morning bottle and bedtime bottle she gets 2 1/2 scoops of formula for 4ounces of water then she gets 2 tablespoons of carnatation instant breakfast with 2 tablespoons of oatmeal. To top it off with a little more calories I also add about a tablespoon or just a bit over of whipping cream(in the carton)we whip it all together and walllaaa there is her bottle. Just alone in the tablespoon of whipping cream she gets about 50 calories but then she doesn't always finish her bottle. We add butter to alot of things and every now and then we try to add the duo cal (not her favorite thing)
Ok so I think that is it. she is starting to learn some of her signs(sign language) she is learning please and also she offcially knows how to say all done with signs. Her new favorite thing to do is nod her head no and she goes blugb blugb blugb with her tongue. I will have to record that soon so you can see her in action.
Our Walk is coming up in just a few more weeks. We just need a little bit more to reach our Goal. anything would help so much!!! Please help support us!!!!!

Walk America link!!!!

http://www.walkamerica.org/melissa319

2007-03-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Caitlin in her Car seat now

Caitlin in her car seat when she first came home

2007-03-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Caitlin is doing a little better still lots coming out from the back end but we are hoping it will get better soon. She doesn't have much of an appetite right now which not so good because she can't really afford to lose anymore weight. We should be doing the Upper GI soon to see if we can find out if anything is going on inside to make her not want to eat most of the time.
Dillon started Gymnastics on Tuesday. Caitlin was so amused watching all the kids tumble around and even clapped while they and some of the kiddie music on.

Caitlin with Pigtails!!!!!!

2007-03-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Caitlin loves going under the coffee table

Caitlin is wearing one

of my old baby dresses

so a good 27 years old!!

2007-03-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

Good Update!!!!!
Its official. Caitlin showed no kidney stones!!!! I called this morning to
see the what the results were from her U/S and KUB and Dr said both came back negative
Happy Birthday to me!!!! Its my birthday today so its a good birthday present!!
We now are able to take her off her two medicines which I am so happy about because they have been kind of hard giving them to her lately because she likes to fight us on it.
Ok so now bummer news is Caitlin is sick. I am not sure if it is her new medicine we just started, something that didn't agree with her tummy or she just has a viral infection.
We took her last night to the Dr just to see what was going on. She had 102.8 temp before I took her but of course went down to 98.6 when we got there. Doesn't that always happen? They do so bad at home but as soon as you call or go to the Dr they are just fine but as soon as you leave again bad again. Ahhhhhhh the fun of that. Caitlin was throwing up a lot yesterday and started getting diarrhea not really wanting to eat to much. Then woke up at about 2 am with really bad diarrhea so I tried giving her a little bit of some water (not crazy about pedilyte)and pureed some bannas for her to try and help her a bit. She in took a little bit of the bananas and went back to bed. She seems to be doing a bit better today. She hasn't really gone poop(runny)today and only has spit up a little bit. She is not to hungry though either(not good for our weight) When we did take her in though she did get weighed and she was 16 lb11oz so that's good.!!
We have Nephrologist Apt this week to so I am curious what they have to say.

Caitlin was trying to escape her saucer!!!!!!!

2007-03-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Dr Updates:
OK So Thursday we had our Appointment with the Gastro Dr(for Reflux) and it went good.
We are going to get an Upper GI done to see if there is something going on internally, waiting to schedule that one when I hear from Dr's office.
Then we are adding Duo-Cal-http://www.allegromedical.com/dietary-supplements-c522/super-soluble-duocal-powder-14-oz-cans-p190357.html
to Caitlin's Food to add some extra calories(yep lots of money!!)Also we are adding butter to her food as well for some extra calories. We are going to try to wean off our Reglan again but slowly. So this week I will be giving her 3 doses a day then the following down to 2 a day and so on. Hopefully she will do good with that since it will be slower weaning then what we did last time when she didn't do well at all. Also she got weighed again and actually was 16 lbs 7 oz!! I even had them weigh her twice since the day before the scale said she only weighed 16 lbs even. I was very excited. OK so that was that appointment we will go back for a re-check in a few weeks.

15 mos Check-up appointment- We really are 16 lbs 7 oz!! Also we are 27 1/2 inches long. Growing Growing!! Poor baby girl got 3 shots but was fine right after it was over but then to top it off I had to go get her regular 3 mos blood draw for her kidney stones and she was not to happy but again once it was over it was like nothing ever happened. She did do really well at both her appointments. Nothing to much of a change for this check - up. Oh forgot to put also that Caitlin is also starting another medicine to help increase her appetite. I give it to her 1 x a day a little bit before bed because it is suppose to make her sleepy. Dr's said she will probably sleep longer but honestly she already sleeps really well. Of course when I say this it seems as though next couple weeks she starts waking up again but hey maybe not this time. She normally goes to bed about 7 pm and lately has been waking up anywhere between 7:30-8 am. Yep very nice!!
The medicine is called Cyproheptadine. I really hope it works. If I don't see any real difference in the next couple weeks then I will talk to Dr about just taking her off because really how many medicines can can a gal be on????Including Reglan (hopefully ending in the next couple weeks)
she will be on 5 different medicines. 4 of them are 2 x a day and that not including her vitamins(so really 6)
I am also waiting to hear from her Urologist as well to see whats going on with her kidney stones. I am really hoping that her kidney stones are gone like the u/s tech said so we can possibly take her off the 2 medicines she is on for that. These medicines I think are the hardest for me to give to her because she will either spit it out or end up puking it out some days. She really hates these 2. I really have to fight her on these.
Well that's it. She is getting cuter and cuter by the day. She is really pulling herself up on things,if only she could get down by herself. She realizes she is stuck and starts whining for anybody to come save her. She babbles alot. Pretty much Dada(little stinker)but hey it something. she has a love/hate relationship with Dillon. Sometimes she loves him to pieces and can't be without him and other times she wants nothing to do with him and tries to push him away.
Its starting to get much warmer finally. I love knowing that i can take Caitlin out and not worry about her getting sick from it being to cold. I love her in her cute summer clothes. I can't wait till we are bale to get to the beach this summer. We already have our bathing suits ready and are super cute summer hats. Just a couple months away!!!!

Also it is getting closer to our Walk America time so please help sponsor us for our Walk to help prematurity and help for our preemies to survive!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is our site!!
Walk America
http://www.walkamerica.org/melissa319

2007-03-14T15:20:00.001-07:00

Quick update- Caitlin is 16lbs today so we gained an ounce from last month. They made us weigh her twice so Second time she was 16lb 1 oz. So kind of a bummer but atleast she is not loosing!!!!!

Balloon Fun!!!!!!

2007-03-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Caitlin Loves Ballons!!!!! she will grab it anyway she can!!!

2007-03-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Dillon and his new Lady Friend ;0)

Daddy and Dillon shooting bad guys in Buzz Light Year Ride

Mommy,Daddy, and Caitlin at Disney Land

Daddy and Dillon

Caitlin just hanging out

Caitlin had her Renal and bladder U/S as well as her KUB(X-Ray of abdomen)today. Guess what!!!! The U/S tech said she didn't see any stones at all. She really isn't suppose to give me info of course but hey atleast I can feel good for now. I can't wait to hear from the Dr to see if we really don;t have stones anymore. Either the medicine had disolved them or she might have passed them and maybe they got real small. The tech said if she would have passed them she would have been in alot of pain but really she hasn't been in any and Caitlin is usually always happy. She hasn't even been real bad while teething either. She is now working on getting a couple more teeth in!! Ok so we have our 2 top teeth in all the way now. The tooth right next to the top tooth is laready poked through and is a bit out and we are getting 1 bottom tooth in whihc has already pocked out!!! Yeah. I was waiitng for this day which seems like forever but now that they are here it kind of makes me sad because it means she is really growing up and she is getting to be a little girl.(little for sure lol)

We have quite the busy week this week also. Tomorrow we are getting blood work done and urine culture. Wed we have Synagis(RSV Shot) Thursday we finally get to go see the Gastro Dr!!! (YEEESSS!!)This will help see whats going on with Caitlin's Reflux and hopefully to see why she isn't wanting to eat much. Friday we have our Peditrician 15 mos check up!!!
We are going to get weight checks also which i am always excited to see what her weight is.

Things we are working on right now are:
Trying to learn how to walk
Learning how to get from a standing position to sitting
Stacking blocks on top of each other
Speaking
Eating better
and cleaning the house(ok last one not yet but hey would be nice)

Things we are doing super good at are :
Crawling!!!!
Getting up all by herself
Going from sitting to crawling
Smiling
Patty Cake(we like to clap)
When ever you say Good Job Caitlin she claps also
Sweet talking Daddy into doing anything Ms.Caitlin wants
Throwing Tantrums for Mommie when we don't get our way.
Sweet talking Daddy into doing anything Ms.Caitlin wants
holding ou bottle like a big girl
and lastly SWEET TALKING DADDY INTO ANYTHING MS.CAITLIN WANTS

Its funny what a daddy's girl Caitlin is. She can be completly fine playing by herself for a little while or just hanging out with Mom but once she see's Daddy she melts and lets daddy do everything for her and suddnly she doesn't remember how to do certain things lol

Ohhh Ohhh I almost forgot. We went to Disney Land with the kids and they had a great time. Dillon actually went on some pretty big rides and loved them
He went on tower of terror(I didn't even go on that) Space Mountain. The matterhorn(SP?)
and some others. Caitlin went on Pirates of the Carribien and she did really well. I wasn't sure how she would handle the down hill water but she did great.

Well thats it. Can't wait for our weight checks!!!!!!!

Caitlin getting her teeth brushed

2007-02-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Caitlin gettingher teeth brushed, she loves it!!!

http://s54.photobucket.com/albums/g82/dillon512/?action=view&current=MVI_2035.flv

2007-02-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Updates on Miss Caitlin- We went for OT yesterday and got a quick evaluation to see where Caitlin was at. They said Caitlin was doing great with a lot of her motor skills and also gave us a little bit of extra tips on feeding her. We also will probably be having an appointment with a speech therapist as well. The speech therapist is great of course for language but also good for feeding as well. Also they recommended Caitlin getting a barium swallowing test to so I have to call Dr this morning and try and get the referral for that. OK so that was first appointment.

Second appointment was suppose to be for the urologist finally. Well we showed up at what we thought was our time in one office and they said that our appointment was early that day. What!!! I had talked to two different people and they both gave me the later time so go figure. Anyway in order to see the urologist that day we had to drive an extra half hour further and have our appointment 2 hours later. So we know what the traffic is like so we had to go back towards home and go get Dillon from school early in case we didn't make it back on time. OK so now we ended up having to wait about an hour and a half for our appointment because the Dr was running behind 2 hours because he had a surgery early. Yikes, what fun. Knowing we were going to have to wait that long Jesus had an appointment about 20 minutes away so I told him to go ahead and do that and just pick me up afterwords. (Jesus sprained his foot at work)Well Caitlin ended up finishing her appointment about 5:30 or so but Jesus wasn't finished with his yet so we got to wait an extra hour at our Dr's office. Now doesn't that sound like fun!!

OK now for report on our urologist appointment. I loved the Dr. He was worth the wait. He was very detailed in everything, asked if I had any questions at all, and I didn't feel rushed either even as far behind as he was. He told me all the options and and what we were going to do.
OK so as of right now Caitlin is going to have a KUB http://www.aurorahealthcare.org/yourhealth/healthgate/getcontent.asp?URLhealthgate=%2214830.html%22
and renal Ultrasound(possibly same thing lol)It is going to show in more detail about where her kidney stones are located and how big they are and what they consist of. Depending on all of that we will decide then if we are able to do the ultrasound shock waves http://adam.about.com/reports/000081_9.htm to break them up. Also if they are dissolving though we would of course keep her on her meds and get evaluations about every 6 mos from our urologist and still probably be seen by our nephrologist every 3 mos, that way we will keep a close eye. That's about it for our appointments. Caitlin is cutting her bottom tooth now as well though!! I went to feel it because I thought I saw a baby baby sliver and yep sure enough. It also looks as though she is starting to cut through her teeth right next to her top two front teeth. It seems we waited forever for these puppy's to come out and we just might be getting them all at once. Fun Fun.

2007-02-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

Not to much to report , Caitlin's eating has its good days and its bad days.
We finally have a Occupational Therapy consult on Monday to see whats going on with
her eating.Also we have our urology appt on Monday as well to see if we can do the
Ultra Sound waves to help break down Caitlin's Kidney Stones. I am hoping they will weigh
her at one of these appointments to. I am always curious what her weight is because of her eating. I will post as soon as I find out on Monday

My Little Princess

Look at those teeth!!!!!

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Dillon and Caitlin were sharing Gold Fish crackers yummm

Dillon decided Caitlin needed some things to do and threw
everything he could find into Cailtin's crib.
Can you find Caitlin???

Leaving messages for Caitlin

2007-02-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody. I am glad you are all switching over with us!! Ok so since it is much eaiser for the comments, remember awhile ago I asked everyone to post a comment and write down a special something to Caitlin and how you know us. Can you do that again(for those who didn't get a chance to we would love to hear from you!!the yahoo was harder for comments) I love that I have already had comments. I get excited lol I know silly but I just love how many people keep up on our miracle girl!!!!Thank you everybody!!!!!

2007-02-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

Well today's eating hasn't been to bad. This morning she only in took about an ounce but she ate a whole jar of cereal, then right now we were eating black beans and gave one to Caitlin to see what she would do and she ate about 20 of them!!! She loved them so much. Go figure lol
Then after eating the beans she sucked down a 4 ounce bottle of Pediasure!! Now thats a record for us because normally she will intake 2- 3 ounces if we are lucky. So see how she is inconsitant lol We go from gagging , puking all over the place to eating great and making us look like we make up this stuff lol But kids will do that to you lol

Mmmmmm These taste great!!

Get these things off me!!!

I don't want these stinkin things on me MoM

How do I look Darling????

Another hat for me!!!??

Ok band follow my hands!!

Wait Mom, I am not ready for my pose

ok how about this? This look good Mom?

Entry for February 18, 2007

2007-02-18T20:34:00.002-08:00

It's official. We are all moved over. Woooooooooooo finally. Well as I mentioned on our other blog I moved over here to be a little bit more organized, as well as I would like it to be a lot easier to receive comments from everyone. I hope you all like it.
Caitlin has been doing a little bit better with her eating. She actually took in about 3 1/2 ounces tonight before bed and had some noodles with only one gag!!!She only took in 1 ounce this morning but she did eat breakfast pretty well. Its so hard with her because she is so inconsistent with her eating. She will have super days and I think oh good we are in the clear, then she will go completely backwards and have super horrible days. Its a little frustrating. I think this is one of the most things that gets me bummed out and really can make me cry out of frustration. We have a cute video of Caitlin getting her 2 teeth brushed lol. I am going to upload some pictures of our Miss Caitlin tomorrow. Thanks for being patient.