Really Quickly

All is good over here my friends.

I got a new job, we took our first trip up to Walnut Creek in Nor Cal to visit my family for a week and now we're back to the grind. Eddie's reflux is doing better and he's starting to sleep through the night. Abby is crawling everywhere and the CAT scan for her head turned out great. There were no problems that the docs could see and everything was ship shape.

I will get you all some pics soon. We have some GREAT ones from the trip so stay tuned.

Love,

Daddy

Alright, I give up. Believe me friends, I would love nothing more than to sit here all day and do this blog instead of going to work. So if one of you out there could figure that out for me, I can guarantee you more updates than just every two weeks.
I suppose the good part is that I do have a bit more to talk about when I wait this long so you can be sure it will be a good one.
Remember last time when I said that Abby has been doing great with her new formula and isn't throwing up anymore? Well, you can toss that right out the window. The very next day after I posted the last blog, Abby started throwing up again. So we changed out her formula again but that didn't work. Then we went to whole milk and she barfed that up too. We even tried to give her some of mommy's milk just to see if she could keep that down since she was able to in the pass but to no avail. Up it came. She didn't have a fever though and she has actually been a great mood lately. So why the pukefest? Kelly got on the phone with the GI (Gastro Intestinal)Doc's assistant who said to just give Abby pedialyte water for a day and let her GI tract clear out. That was on Friday and so far so good. Although she is still doing terrible with her eating. Before we could count on Abby to take at least 10 bites of her carrots, or squash, or applesauce or yogurt or whatever, but now we can hardly get a few bites down her. We have officially taken a huge step backward with Abby's eating. But to be honest, that's really the only area she's not doing well in right now.
Since Abby has learned to crawl she has become quite the adventurer as all little ones become once they become mobile. She is better at it now and has more confidence in herself. Sometimes she has too much and forgets that she can't count on her left side so when she makes a move that requires her left side to support her in some way, it usually doesn't and she takes a tumble. She's used to the tumbles though and picks herself right up and tries again.
Abby's speech is way behind too and she hasn't made any sounds starting with the B sound yet. But she has begun to explore different pitches and octaves with her noises lately and is finally at that point where she is making sounds just to hear herself. I noticed today that she made a new sound and surprised herself. She gave me this cute look as if to say, "did you hear that?!"
Tomorrow is a big day for Abby. We have an MRI appointment at 7:30AM. It's a follow up to the last brain surgery she had when we drained the cyst in her brain. Since the MRI machine is so loud, Abby will be put out so she stays still. A full work up (or whatever the technical term is called) was ordered so that Abby's neurologist can take a look at everything to see how she's doing. The vomiting that was happening could mean that her shunt is clogged so he'll be checking for that too. This probably isn't the case because along with the vomiting, we should see a more lethargic Abby and she has been quite the opposite lately. Still though, it's concern and whenever the shunt is a possibility, we have a hard time resting until we can officially rule it out.
Eddie is growing right in front of our eyes, but he is taking after his sister in the up chucking category. It seems he has a very bad case of reflux. He is on Zantac right now, but the problem is that he usually throws the stuff up. Needless to say, we're knee deep in wet spit up cloths, wet bibs, wet shirts...wet everything! Kelly and our nannie, aka Grandma Cindy, have barely been able to keep up on all the laundry. All of this is familiar territory for many of you I realize and you're smiling right now saying, "oh Ryan, you have no idea..." I know. But seriously, it's crazy how much Eddie throws up. It's a wonder he gains any weight at all! His bib is soaked after every feeding. Soaked! Not damp people, but hold the thing under some running water kind of soaked.

Honestly though, I love it all and my wife is amazing. She is still getting up at all hours for him and still manages to handle Abby during the day with no sleep and still sneaks in time to do this or clean that or whatever. At the risk of sounding cliche and cheesy, and also because it's late and I am fresh out of any creative thought, let me just say that I am the luckiest man in the world. I love my wife. I love my kids. And I love my job...oh, wait....let's not get carried away here.

Good night!

Enjoy the pics - I went nuts this time. Couldn't help it.




Check out the Family Photo!


Last week Abby was the star pupil at a 3 day conference for pediatric therapists. She did fantastic! The therapist holding Abby in this picture is very well known in her profession and she just could NOT believe that Abby had a grade 4 Brain Hemorrhage at birth. But then, for all of you who have been with us since the beginning knew that already!



Look at her stealin' the show.




Abby has become very interested in Eddie. She is really starting to warm up to him.


These are my kids! That's so cool!


Here is Eddie with Momma


Eddie can sleep in pretty much any position!


Hey look...he's awake, but wait, it's 10PM. And yes, he JUST woke up. Another long night for momma.


Eddie and Daddy sneaking in a few Z's