Pneumonia and other happenings

So Mady, did indeed have pneumonia for the 2nd time in 3 months. She went back for a re-check on Friday and still had some crackling in her lungs. The doctor and I decided to get some blood work just to make sure there's nothing behind all these times Mady has been sick. We counted 11 doses of antibiotic in 19 months. Emma had about 1/2 that. They are daycare kids 2 days a week, but still... I'm taking Mady this week for her blood work.

I posted March's pictures on Shutterfly:
http://emmaandmadelyn.shutterfly.com/

Some very, very sad news hit us Friday. An old friend from high school lost her 2.5 year old boy to cancer. He had been battling it since September. I'll be attending the viewing this evening to support her and her family. It's a horrible story. As his mom puts it, he is now pain-free, cancer-free and running free. Hug your kids tight and be thankful for them every single day!

I've been a little busy lately trying to ramp up Lil' LJ even more. We had a really great first quarter, so it put me in gear. I'm looking to start carrying toddler sizes as well as some adorable dresses/rompers for girls. We also have a super cute new Peanut Butter/Jelly twin pack.

Will post some Easter pics soon. (I think maybe I said that a week ago?!)

Bring on Summer, please?!

Well, we've had quite the week. Viral gastroenteritis hit our house and hard. First Mady, then me, then Emma, then Christian. And then Grammie, Pap-Pap and even 2 uncles and an aunt! Most of us had it anywhere from 4-7 days. I landed in the ER needing fluids. It has been exhausting and sad watching our helpless little girls vomiting and have diarrhea. My birthday was March 30 and we basically skipped right over it. We cancelled our big Easter dinner with Angela and Todd, as we didn't want to risk anyone else getting sick. We had an easter egg hunt with Grammie and Pap-Pap in the front yard (pics to come) and then went to church Easter morning and I-Hop. Then we hung out with Aunt TT and Uncle Fritz. We'll celebrate Easter/my birthday with Uncle Todd and Aunt Angela and Eli this weekend.

Poor Mady has a had a fever the last few days and has been miserable and coughing. We decided to take her to the doctors again today. Turns out they want her to get a chest x-ray for possible pneumonia (again). She also has a lot of air in her belly from the virus, which is causing her pain. In addition to that her I-teeth are coming in causing even more pain.

I can only hope that summer = far less sickness in our house and happy, pain-free toddlers!

18 months : We are now a binkie-free house.

It almost makes me sad that my girls are big enough to not need them anymore. Last Thursday, we forgot to pack the girls binkies for daycare and they napped without them. I decided if they could do it there, we were going to do it at home. The first night was about 45 minutes of crying and gradually reduced every night. The girls may not sleep through the night now, but bed time hardly ever meant tears. Naps are a little more of a struggle without binkies too, but they are getting used to it. I'm so proud of them and us for not giving in!

As far as our nights... I have no idea why Mady is waking up. She usually wakes screaming sometime after 12am. Last night she made it until 5am. Once she cuddles next to me she is fine. Emma usually wakes up around the 4-5am mark and wants to cuddle as well. I'm hoping this is a little phase and will pass. While I love the cuddle time, it's very hard to sleep with two toddlers sleeping with you!

My talkers

The girls prime "talking" time is with a full belly and in the car. I caught quite a conversation yesterday. Emma starts off and then Miss Mady starts chiming in. The quality isn't so great, so you might have to hike up the speakers a bit.

Future Babies and Endometriosis

I had a reader ask me the other day how my endometriosis has been since my pregnancy, as a common misconception is that it'll just go away with pregnancy. In some women this has been known to happen. Of course, for others, it can get far worse. I had a good run. I've had 3 laps (laparoscopic surgeries) so far with anywhere from 1-2.5 years in between. My last surgery was 12/07. Right after that we did our final IVF and got pregnant with the girls. I felt pains during pregnancy but not many "endo" pains. Most were due to me carrying 2 kiddos. I'd say I had a good 6 months after pregnancy before I started feeling some familiar pains. I am now back to feeling something every day, but I've been lucky enough to only have severe pain maybe once or twice a month? All of my GI related issues are back as well, but not quite as bad. Mostly the horrific bloating.

I had my annual GYN appt this week. I asked the doctor that delivered my angels about future pregnancies. We have 3 frozen embryos left and do not want to discard or donate them, so we'd like to try this one more time at some point. This frozen transfer is far, far less costly and less invasive. However, she does not want me to risk a twin pregnancy. What does this mean? It means she only wants us to transfer one embryo to reduce that risk. Every time we did IVF we transferred 3 because our chances are so low. This basically means that our chances of having another child are lower than before. I am so very grateful for our girls and if they are the only kids we can have, we are still ever so thankful and complete. However, if you've ever been told you can't have something, you know how this feels. We will most likely still try with one embryo. I will not risk having babies in the NICU again. I will not risk the pain of not being able to keep my kids safe for the full 9 months. At the same time, I would not be being honest if I didn't say that I kinda figured if we did get pregnant again it would be with twins and besides the actual pregnancy, I thought we 'd handle it just fine! ;) I was really upset about this earlier in the week, and honestly Christian and I really haven't talked much about it again. We'll revisit all of this once our house sells and we are comfortably in a new home and ready for another go.

Onto the endo. My exam hurt. Bad. Like it always has, but this time I actually removed her hands from my belly out of reflex. I told her about my pain returning and some other weird bladder type things that have been bothering me. She's pretty sure it's all endo related and mentioned me seeing a specialist and having another surgery. That would be 4 surgeries since 2004. I just can't see doing that. My pain is annoying but it's not causing me to miss work or take pain pills to often, etc.

So, that's the latest on me!

Use your words!

My preemies are now 18 months old! How did this happen!?

I thought I'd take note of the latest words and phrases we've heard the girls say on their own or hear and repeat. Emma talks and sings all the time with so much inflection, it's hysterical. Mady will watch your mouth so intently while she tries to figure out how to make those same sounds.

Mady:
Bird, Hi, Bye Bye, Mama, Dada, Up, Diaper, Cat, Bath, No

Emma:
Bird, Hi, Bye Bye, Mama, Dada, Up, Cat, Mady, Baby, Bath, Pap-Pap. We swear she repeated back to us "put that back" and then said "shit"!