Photos

We had a cardio check up last week that went awesome. We were told the Echo looked great and she can now come once a year for her checks. Not that I doubted her health for any reasons but still to hear it from a doctor is just a relief in itself.




Trick or treating was a blast! We went up to Stephen's City for Nattie's third birthday party with trick or treating after and Autumn loved it. She had so much fun playing at the party and then getting free candy. She got so comfortable with it that she stopped saying trick or treat and started to point to her bucket. It was a lot of fun for Daddy and Mommy to watch. All of the kids had so much fun and were so entertaining to go with. I am glad we were able to experience it with family and friends! It will definitely be easier next year not riding around in a wheel chair in order to participate.

Quick Update

We are in fact still here! Since the end of May we have been really busy learning and recovering. Not recovering for her but more for me. I tore a tendon in my ankle and have been in and out of doctors offices since. Finally had surgery in early September and still not back on my feet. They took the cast off due to swelling and pain and I have been in another walking boot since. I am unable to actually walk on my foot yet which causes falls. Last night I fell again and this time with Autumn in my arms trying to put her up on the changing table. I took the full force of the fall on purpose and just cradled her to my chest on the way down. I managed to land on her air purifier which is starting a very pretty bruise on my arm now.
Anyways on to the good. Autumn has grown so much. She has many words now and teeth! She has already gotten in three of her molars and is working on the fourth. She is turning 16 months next week and has 12 teeth! She is off of her bottle now since her 15 month check up and oh my goodness we sleep through the night now. We have the random wake ups for bananas and she asks for them by name. She loves to say "It's funny". Even when it isn't. The other night she informed me that it was funny for her to be playing with the surround sound cable that runs along the base boards. other favorites are where's daddy?, it's mine, and I no want it. She weighs a little over 23 lbs and is growing so big now. She loves to walk around the yard now which is a great change from crying when she touched the grass.
Hope all is well with everyone. I am uploading some newer photos for you all right now.

Please no more rain!

We are so very tired of rain around our area lately. I know that mid summer when the drought has hit and we can't use any water outdoors then I will miss it but right now I wanna take Autumn outside to explore!
We went from the snot cold as previously mentioned to puking! Ugh it was horrible. I took her to the ER in Culpeper one Sunday after three days of her throwing up at random. They gave her some anti nausea medicine and sent us on our way. Then two days later she started puking again. Took her to her doctor's office in Charlottesville and they tested her urine again and I can't say that I was thrilled about that but we did need to know. The dr. also did a strep test and both came back negative. We put her on a nothing but liquid diet for two days then the sitter gave her too much table food and we were puking again. Then we went back to all liquids with light crackers and stuff for three days and finally she is eating. She is starting to back off her formula a little but only during the day. The last few nights we have gotten up three times to have some formula.
Enough about all of that. Autumn is walking every where now. She will still stop and grab things for support but she will walk from room to room as she pleases. She has been doing this for a little more than a week now. Just cruising everywhere. She still will default to crawling sometimes but who would blame her. It has to be exhausting for her to be so active lately.
We are getting ready for her birthday. I can't believe it is finally here. I do miss the baby Autumn but we are so excited to watch her grow into her own little personality.

Is it really May already?

We have lots of news since it has been so long since the last update. Autumn had her follow up blood work appointment yesterday and all went well. She of course wasn’t happy about it but the blood work was run twice to confirm and her iron levels are up from 10.2 to 12.5 which apparently is a perfectly normal level. She is to stay on the iron supplement for a few weeks then we can stop giving it to her. They said that she won’t have to be retested either. Not sure how we will know if it drops again. I don’t think she really had any symptoms to begin with and if she did she has been teething non stop so we wouldn’t have known. She now has seven teeth going on eight. Right now she has four on the bottom and three on the top. They aren’t fully in but they have broken the skin.
Autumn has begun to walk! She has been taking steps by herself every day now. Last night was a new record, six steps perfectly upright before she dropped to start crawling to her toys.
She has many new words and new things she does. She says momma, dada, ball, and book. She says other random noises for different things but those are the ones you can truly understand, oh and uh-oh. Everything is uh-oh right now. It is funny when you hear her in her crib trying to go to bed saying uh-oh when she drops a pacifier from her crib. Good thing she goes to bed with six of them! She signs eat now, hasn’t quite gotten drink, done or more which we have been working on. EVERYTHING gets thrown on the floor. Doesn’t matter if she wants to eat it or not it goes over the edge. Doesn’t help that she has figured out that if she throws food on the floor the dog comes running over to eat it. Then she gets to pet him because that is one of the few times he will let her. What else……she blows kisses, waives hello and bye, gives big kisses, and loves to sing. She will sing into the microphone when the boys are playing music. She sings with me when I sing the ABC’s to her now and Rock-a-bye-baby. She loves to dance.
Since the weather has been so darn hot here up until the last day or so we have been trying to get her used to her baby pool. She loves a bath but the water in the pool just isn’t warm enough for her to care about playing in it. I am sure if we let Dillon, our dog, get in with her she would stay there for as long as he did and he always gets his own baby pool every year, and we have to get a new one every year because if there isn’t water in it he will bite it and drag it around with him until you fill it up for him to swim.
She is getting over the “snot cold” as my sister and I have named it since her girls and Autumn ended up with it and they weren’t even around each other. I had to pick her up early last Friday when the sitter called to say she wasn’t herself and she was obviously running a fever because her entire body was hot. She started feeling better by Sunday and started to sleep better by Tuesday. She is still not sleeping all the way thru the night but I will take the 6-9 hours at a time!
She eats so many new foods now but her favorite has to be avocados. Which always makes for a fun green cleanup! She is allowed dairy and yogurt. She seems to like milk and the Yo-baby yogurts. Not a fan of meat that much which you have figured out by the low iron. We tried steak last night and she ate three bites then the rest on the floor and in her lap. We will get there eventually.

I better go. I will try not to wait so long next time on updating everyone.

Renal test came back negative!

We received both good and weird news today. First let me say that Autumn was a TROOPER today. No napping until on the way home at 3:45 and we left the house at 8am! She stayed up and was pleasant as long as we weren't in the middle of tests. Funny tidbit we learned in the middle of the first test that called us back 30 minutes late. She was crying during the ultrasound and we couldn't get her to stop fighting it and wiggling, I noticed recently that singing songs she recognize will make her pay attention to you. Her favorited being the ABC's she is fascinated by the song. We had to start singing the ABC's and she completely stopped crying to look at us singing. How funny are we all in there singing! But it worked she laid still long enough for the pictures to be taken. Second test was a-whole-nother story. Oh my can we put her through anything else please? I really don't think she has endored enough yet. They had to run yet another catheter to get a final urine sample and put the dye in the same way. After they ran the catheter they wrapped her in, I am not sure what they called it now, but it was a swaddle to restrain an infant ......hopefully you know what I am talking about. That was the last thing I was trying to remember today. After her sitting there for about 10 minutes waiting on the doctor and after calming down to play with her paci they start to try to take the x-rays of her kidneys and the dye. They are saying something about not getting it and I really can't hear over Autumn's crying. I am trying everything I can to calm her and it just isn't working. They ask me to give her something to drink to try to stop her from crying everytime they try to take a picture. After they get a few more they stop. They let me hold her while the doctor tells me that in a perfect circumstance her bladder would be quite full from the dye and she would urinate and they would see if something traced back to the kidneys from the bladder. But in Autumn's circumstance her bladder would relief itself just slightly every time it got near full. From what they could see she had no issues and the test was negative! What a relief.
We get to the Pediatrician's office after wasting a few hours eating lunch and shopping and they say we can try to stop the previcid to see if she has reflux anymore and we can stop the amoxicillin since she is negative for the reflux of the bladder. She weighs 20lbs and 28 1/2" tall. Great news all around. They take her blood and we get her dressed. We were checking out knowing we can start some dairy and all looks well scheduling the next appointment for June 5th for her 12 month check up. Then the nurse comes up while we are paying the co-pay to tell us her blood came back anemic and they are going to write down the name of some iron supplements they want her taking daily for 4 weeks then come back for more blood to be drawn. I have no idea why I would have thought we could avoid the doctors for another month.

For now we look at the good being that we can stop two medicines that she likes to take for one that I had to fight her to take tonight. I will keep my fingers crossed that she has no reflux issues when she comes off of the prevacid. I would love for her to go at least a month with no medicines in her body. I will definitely take vitamin supplements over other medications.

We have been off and on high fevers for the last week or so. Poor thing has had a fever every day since Weds. Ranging from 99.6 - 103.2. We went to the after hours for her doctors other location Friday night with the 103.2 asking them if they would just figure out what is going on with her. She has been on an antibiotic for ten days and tylenol and motrin every three hours for days too and still the fever persists. They took another urine sample and said that it is not a kidney infection and that everything else looks and sounds great. That they have no idea what is causing the steady fever but to just keep her on the meds and wait it out. She had to start a round of amoxicillin on Saturday. She stays on the antibiotic now until we have a study of her kidneys done at the Hospital she was born at. They have informed us that any child under the age of 2 that has a possitive UTI accompanied by a high fever has to undergo the study to make sure there is no underlying issues with the kidneys. They are checking for reflux of the bladder. We still have not heard back from the Hospital about scheduling the procedure so we have no idea how long it will be. If these fevers persist then I will call to see if we can speed things along. The prescription for the antibiotic was written for 30 days and I really hope that isn't a sign of how long this will take.
On a good note her two top teeth have poked all the way through now. That and she loves to try to stand on her own. Once she falls she will start to clap and say her version of Yay! Really adorable. I have lots of fun pictures that I need to upload as soon as I get around to it. Tonigt is soccer night. It is an early game so Autumn and I will go with Zack to cheer him on.

First time Swimming

Cardio Check up

Yesterday was the longest day of my life. Autumn woke with a temperature of 101.5 so we called the Pediatrician and got her in before her scheduled 6 month cardio check up. They said she has a mild ear infection and they ran a Catheter to check her urine. They sent us on our way with an antibiotic that would treat both an ear infection and a urinary tract infection if it came back positive. The inital check came back negative and they said she was well hydrated and that it could be a false negative and they would do a culture on it.
Cardiologist office took forever but what is really ontime at UVA.....you guessed it. Nothing. Her appt was at 1:10 and the doctor left the room at 3pm after about a ten - fifteen minute consult. They did an EKG but not an ECHO. He said he was glad to see that Autumn had a fever because it makes her heart rate more rapid and easier to listen to. Zack and I had noticed a rapid heart rate for the last few days but she has also been teething and having a mild fever until yesterday. So he said her heart sounds perfect and that she has only a 10% chance of any further complications. The complication that we are watching closely is the veins growing with her and not narrowing from scar tissue. He said he feels that she is definitely in the 90% side but they will continue to monitor her. He said with the ECHO they took at her last visit they did not feel it was necessary because her repair looked perfect. Autumn was a wreck during all of this. She was not feeling well and was stripped down to a diaper for over an hour trying to cool her down. Her skin was so hot that we were worried about her all day. She did not want to eat or really do anything. By the time we got home yesterday evening she was on the lethargic side and did not want to be touched or moved. We took her temp and it came back at 103.6 so we called the after hours trying to track down her doctor. We were debating a trip to the ER. We watied 20 minutes and took it again and it was up to 104 so we got her into a luke warm bath to help cool her and I had to get in with her. She cried the entire time. After sitting for awhile we got out and took her temp again and it was down to about 102.7 so what a relief. She had been on motrin and tylenol alternating every three hours and it just wasn't helping. I think the antibiotic finally kicked in. So we decided to monitor her over the next few hours and the fever had finally broken and started to consistantly come down. By 7:30 she was eating some apples and cheerios and starting to talk to us again. At that point I was finally able to breathe. She was more herself and it was great to see. We woke up a few times over night and I kept a close eye on her body temp and she seemed fine. By morning her temp was a perfect 98.6. We finally got a call back from the doctors office, they never called last night~ not sure what to think about that other than it wasn't our location but another office of theirs, anyways the doctor said that the urine sample came back positive so at least we know why she had such a high temp. She will be on the antibiotics for the ear infection and UTI for 10 days then go back to have another Catheter ran to test her again to make sure it is gone. We set her 9 m0onth check up for the same day. We just have to wait another two weeks and go back again.
We were also told by the cardiologist that we can discontinue the synagis treatment. That she is a normal little girl and no longer requires it. I thought that was the best news of the day. To me just knowing that she needed extra vaccinations just in case always made me consider her at risk still. But now if she is healthy enough to not need it then we can all see her as normal. Not like we didn't already but it won't be in our minds constantly.

Time flies

I can't believe it is February already! What have we been doing? Well Autumn had her Synagis appt on the 30th of January and weighed 18lbs 8 oz. Then a week later we had to turn around and go back to the doctor with a temperature of 101.4. We find out she is 18lbs 4 oz now and has double ear infection. They gave her an antibiotic and we seem to be doing better. Over the last day or two she has started to pull at her ears and hair again so I am wondering if there is left over pressure or what is going on. She isn't running a fever or super fussy about it so hopefully it is clearing out. Still not sleeping the thru the night yet. Pretty sure it is because we have been so busy that we don't have a set schedule anymore that doesn't end up getting adjusted every other week. We are working on that one still.
She has discovered that she can feed herself so no more baby food. She just clamps her lips shut and turns her head if you try to feed her anything. Even if she wants it she will not open until you set it down for her to pick up herself. She is trying new foods everyday to see what she likes. So far it is the gerber lil cruchies I think is what they are called. They are flavored cheetos. And she is an adict! She likes her pears still and bananas, but not a fan of lemon. Yeah, I just had to see that face. She did try sweet potato fries this weekend and she seemed to like them, the ones that did not end up on Pig 'N' Steak's floor. (Funny name but good BBQ.) Autumn is such a sweet little girl. She has discovered that she can just lay her head on your shoulder and watch everyone. She loves giving hugs and kisses. She started to clap over the weekend and is really good about cheering herself on. I have been trying teaching her just a few things in sign language and tonight at dinner I couldn't tell if she was asking for more or applauding that she was eating. She would finish the last bite and start clapping then her face would light up when I would sign more and put more on her plate. We will have to wait and see on that one. Oh she climbs our stairs already. From bottom to top the whole way up, very slowly but she loves every minute of the adventure. Mickeys Clubhouse is her favorite cartoon and right now chase is her favorite game.
See how busy we have been. No time to blog I am too busy chasing Autumn around and trying to keep up!

We are still here

I know, I know. I have been slacking really bad on the whole blog thing. We have been busy with the holidays, work and being sick. The whole family passed around the stomach bug and now Zack, Autumn and I are trying to get over a cold. Autumn went to her Synagis shot on December 30th and weighed 17 lbs 11oz. She is getting so big so fast. She actually has a little belly now. Maybe at her 9 month check up they will say she is out of the 50th percentile for weight.
She is crawling and pulling up on everything. She is not happy unless she is on the floor doing her own thing. She gets so happy when you let her walk holding your hands. She is very determined to walk on her own. She will pull up on stuff then let go and start to turn. She has been off and on with sleeping at night. Lately due to her having a cold she is up two to three times a night. At least she is in her own bed and sometimes we will get 5 hours straight. I will definitely take anything over being up every two hours every night. Phew, thank goodness that is done.
She loves to tell you no already. You can ask her something and immediately she will shake her head no and laugh. She is a big fan of baths. She never really complained about them but now that she can sit up on her own she has discovered splashing. Whether it is by her hands or her feet she is soaking you head to toe!

New pictures are coming soon I sware!

Growing Big!

Last Thursday we had to run to the doctors office. They wanted to see her about her spitting up. She was excessively spitting up even with her reflux medicine. They can't up her doseage until she hits 22lbs and she is 16 lbs 13 oz. She has a long time to wait and hopefully when she does hit that weight she has already outgrown the reflux. For now they want us to add 1tsp of rice cereal to each bottle for every 2 oz. She was doing great and hadn't spit up since the appointment until last night. She only had a few spit ups so hopefully it was just because she was so worked up trying to go to bed on her own. We spent the weekend with the family at a cabin on Lake Anna and we all slept in the same bedroom so it threw her off a little when she had to sleep in her own room last night.
Oh....she crawls!!!! She was hanging out on the floor with Aunt Jessica and cousin Sylvia when she spotted Sylvia's bottle next to them and off she went. She must have been pretty hungry to be that determined to get to it. At 6 months and 1 week she is mobile! She has done nothing but scoot around since. I have to do a major overhaul of our house and Autumn proof it. The dog is not going to be happy when he realizes she can go after him now!
We are super busy trying to get ready for the holiday's. We got our Christmas tree last night and put it up. Zack has soccer tonight so I am sure we will be decorating it tomorrow night. We are so excited for her first Christmas!

6 month check up

We went on Friday and had her 6 month check up along with her synagis injection. She ended up having 5 shots and one oral vaccine. She had the same reaction to her flu shot that I did. It was swollen at the injection spot and red. She was a little fussy this weekend but over all I expected worse. She weighs 16lbs, and is 27 1/2" tall now.
She had a lot of fun on Sunday having pictures done. Her personality grows everyday. She talked and talked on Sunday evening.
We were told from her pediatrician to go ahead with the Ferber Method over Thanksgiving break (cry it out method) Sounds like so much fun, but if it works then she should sleep through the night. I can't even imagine what that is like. She has been drinking anywhere from 3-5 bottles a night but she doesnt drink much during the day. The doctor said she will very soon be either crawling or walking depending on what she wants to do. She now gets on all fours and starts to rock back and forth. She will crawl but only using her head to move her front not her arms. We have to go through and baby proof the house because it is going to be soon that she is mobile. We have also started her on a sippy cup and was told to introduce water into her diet. Stay away from juices because it is just extra sugar right now that she doesn't need and is already getting from the fruit baby food. She likes to use her sippy cup to teeth on. She sits there and just chomps on it. I am nervous because she has started to drool again and chews everything. I am hoping it is just from the bottom two teeth growing a little and that we aren't starting the top ones already. She needs a little bit of a break. Hope everyone has a great holiday. Hopefully we wont have to go back to the doctors until December's synagis and second dose of the flu vaccine. Keeping our fingers crossed.

First lesson in video games!