Surgeries and Birthdays

There has been so much going on since my last post. So, I will just start at the beginning!

Of course, a shot of one my girls. Julia couldn't decide between juice or milk so she had both!

 Even more exciting, on Wednesday, January 11, Pa Pa James came to town! And he came with Christmas gifts. The girls were really excited to see him and open more packages. Natalie even dressed up her leotard with a rainbow hair piece.

Dad know that Julia likes cows, so he got her this stuffed one for Christmas. Of course it is a big hit.

Dad also got the girls jewelry boxes and they both loved them!

Dad and his little girls.

Natalie loves her new dance class. It starts at 5:45 and she is ready at 4 every Thursday. I am in love with the new camera that Dad got me for my birthday. I thought I would take some photos of Natalie in her dance class. It is half tap and half ballet.

 

 Here are Dad and the girls playing with some play dough.

With Dad in town I upgraded Natalie to a booster seat. She was so excited that she got a seat like the big kids.

I have been trying some new things with Natalie's hair. I really like how this turned out.

 My kiddos are crazy in the shower. Julia loves to just stand under the stream and just about drown. Natalie loves to sing and listen to herself. Here are some photos of my drown rat.

 

Dad came into town to see us and to help me out. I am finally going to have my umbilical hernia surgery repair on Friday. So, of course I have to have a before photo! And if you are wondering how I got this, it was due to two pregnancies with really big babies and a not so big Ma Ma! Jeff had named it the beak and I am sure that he will be sad that it is now gone...

The surgery went well, but was a lot more extensive then the surgeon had planned. I had many hernias and my ab muscles had been torn so much that my ad wall was weak. So, she fixed all the hernia's and pulled my abs back together and sewed them to stay there. Needless to say the recovery has been slow going. I was hoping for a small incision under my belly button, but that is not what happened! Oh well, when it heals I am hoping it looks great! If anyone has used any scar lotions or creams and they worked great, I am all ears!!

Of course I have had a great nursing staff. My family. I even have 24 hour observation.

Saturday was my Birthday, so Dad brought me breakfast in bed! Mom kept Natalie all night so it was just Julia that celebrated with me in the morning. Of course, she had to pinch my underarm. 

So what does a good little sister do when her big sister is gone? That's right. Put on her play clothes and dance!

Yep, needing to get her pinch on a little more. If you don't know, this is what Julia does to pacify herself. Yep, I know, it is weird!

On Monday night I finally felt good enough to celebrate my birthday!

 Dad and the girls made a cake and Mom got me the greatest gift!! Jeff and the girls had got me something on Thursday. A great wallet that holds my phone and some bath and body stuff.

I guess Natalie did the pink sprinkles and Julia did the rainbow ones. Too cute.

Weekend at the Ranch

This weekend we broke in the ranch. We went out on Saturday and stayed the night. We had a great time. I wish we would have taken more photos, but here are the few we did snap. I also wish we would have stayed more than one night......

This was the sunset on Saturday. Jeff snapped the photo when he was out with Darryl and his Dad.

And here is one of the many cows on the place. Both girls love to see the cows, but Julia is simply crazy about them. It is pretty funny. She got up at 7 Sunday and at the breakfast table she was already saying, "Cow!!" Pa Pa had to get up an take her out to see those cows!

Julia and Natalie both got these boots for Christmas and they are just adorable in them. Julia wasn't too sure how she should walk in them, but Fable, helped her out. Julia wasn't going to miss spending time with her!

Sunday was beautiful, so I walked Natalie down to Doyle creek and she had such a great time throwing rocks in it, digging with sticks and looking for baby ducks. 

Family Time

Today we decided to head out to Darry's new ranch to spend some family time together. Mom has been working on the farm house.and it is done and ready to be moved in to. We met them out there at around 11 and didn't get home until 7. It was a fun filled day. Julia loves seeing Pa Pa's cows and Natalie can't get enough of her Mi Mi. Jeff and I just like being in a new environment. It is so much fun to just hang out and help. Anyway, here are some pics from the day. Yep, they are just of cows.

Awe, baby cows.

Cows.

More cows.

 

Gotta love that face.

Ma Ma and baby.

Yep, more cows.

Love all the babies in this one.

Lunch time.

Around the ranch.

Julia's GI Appointment

I took Julia to see a GI (gastroenterologist) doctor today after concerns about her weight. It isn't that she isn't gaining weight, but it just seems to be at a really slow rate. For example, at her two week check her weight was in the 59% at her 4 month check it was in the 48%, at her nine month check it was in the 27% and at her 19th month check she was in the 10%. So, the pediatrician and the allergist thought it would be a good idea to see a GI.

The GI said there would be two reasons that Julia wasn't gain weight like she should be:
1. Not enough calories
2. She could have some kind of nutrition absorption issue.

The GI had us keep a food diary for a week. She said that from what she saw it looked like Julia wasn't consuming enough calories. She said that there could be a few reasons for that.
1. Because of her food allergies it is hard to get her enough calories and fat in her diet. For example, because she can't have milk, which has 149 calories per cup and I have to substitute almond milk, which has 60 calories per cup. So, she doesn't drink whole milk and I don't cook with it, that can cause a huge calorie reduction.
2. She could be having some kind of reflux issue that makes it uncomfortable for her to eat.

The GI wanted to start with addressing her caloric intake. So, we are doing the following.
1. She prescribed an acid blocker for her in case she was having reflux issues.
2. She is doing a full panel blood screen to make sure there isn't a hidden reason for the slow weight gain.
3. We are going to calorie boost her diet by doing the following:
    Providing strict meals and snacks with no grazing in between.
    No water or juice.
    Adding a high calorie formula to her diet.
   Giving her only 20-30 minutes to finish her meal.

The doctor is going to see her again next month to see how we are doing.

Update on Hives and Allergies......

We had our appointment with the GI doctor on Monday, the 19th. After discussing Natalie’s history and her current allergy skin prick test results, which showed she was allergic to wheat, we have decided to proceed with a scope procedure next Tuesday the 28th. She had blood drawn the same day to test for Celiac’s disease. For right now we have put her back on wheat for the scope. She has been off of wheat since Friday the 9th. The scope will show if she has any additional allergies or any other issues. We should have more answers by the end of next week.

On Tuesday the 20th I went to get my hair cut. When I came home I was getting ready to brush Natalie's teeth when Jeff mentioned he thought she had some red spots on her face. As I began looking she began to get more spotty. I took some photos, but they proceeded to get worse and worse so I called her doctor. The doctor said that sometimes when you take food away that they are allergic too and then reintroduce it, you can have a more severe reaction. Great, I gave her a whole wheat roll at dinner time. The doc said to take her off wheat again. Here are a couple photos of the hives as they were appearing.

On Wednesday the 21, Natalie woke up with hives still on her. I couldn't believe it. The girl hasn't had a hive in her life. I called the allergist and she sent a prescription out for an epi pen for Natalie. She also said to keep giving her Benadryl.

Thursday seemed better. Until we answered the door and I noticed that Natalie's feet were a little red. They then proceeded to get redder and began to swell. Natalie complained that they hurt. She then got hives clear up her legs to her waist line. I called the doc back and she sent out a prescription for a steroid. The GI doctor also called and had to move her scope to the 31st of January due to the steroid treatment.

On Friday she got hives again and then later that night got these strange looking blood blisters on her lips. I called and they thought we should just watch them. I couldn't give her any more medicine since I had just given her some for hives and she wasn't having any trouble breathing and was acting fine.

On Saturday her lips seemed a lot better, but she still got hives in the afternoon. Sunday and Monday we had more bouts of hives and more doses of Benadryl. I am planning on calling the doc tomorrow to see if they can tell us what is going on. It is getting a little stressful around here!