Johnny Batman Stegman

My mom (Grandma Julie) asked John this afternoon what his middle name was, to which he replied, "My middle name is Batman!" Johnny Batman Stegman...kinda has the knack!

Big Girl!

Well here's my big 6 month old's stats, as of Friday's appointment for shots (poor little pincushion). She's 16.5 lbs (50th %ile), 27" long (90th %ile), and her head circumference was 41cm/16" (10th %ile, still a pinhead lol!!). She's doing so well lately and we're enjoying every minute of her! She's sitting up now too and learning to get around on the floor, though at the moment she only goes backwards!

Big is Beautiful...

New Tricks...

Hooray, she's sitting up really well now!!! Isn't she the cutest?

Yesterday John was eating dry cheerios with chopstix. Silly boy...but it kept him occupied for a loooong time, lol!

Results

Well today we had Jeanine's renal ultrasound and VCUG test at the hospital. She did SO WELL during both tests it was incredible! Praise God she stayed calm and didn't cry very much. The ultrasound went off without a hitch and she flirted with and talked to the nice lady who performed it. Then we waited about 45 minutes for her VCUG...not pleasant. I have to say that if I was the one getting that done to me, I'd have fussed wayyy more than Jeanine did. She was strapped down to the table with her arms papoosed up by her head, it was really weird but somehow comforting to her after a couple minutes. I held her hands and kept her paci in her mouth while she was catheterized, during which she only cried a little, and quite softly, to the delight of her mother. If she'd have screamed at the top of her lungs like she is fully able to do, I think we'd have gotten dozens of doctors and nurses in there wondering if we were kiling her, lol! They tried to start several times but for some reason the catheter didn't work and had a blockage, so they had to take it out and start over with a new one, poor baby! Once they got started it was only about 8 minutes start to finish. They filled up her bladder really full with a dye of sorts that presents contrast in the x-ray.

The more full her bladder got, the more we realized there was a definite problem with her anatomy. Bummer. Valves in the body are only supposed to work one way, pushing everything in the body down and out. Unfortunately Jeanine's ureters quickly filled with dye, along with her left kidney. This isn't supposed to happen at all, no matter how full the bladder is, so this means she has a low/non-functioning valve at the bottom of her ureter into her bladder. Course of action now is to put her on a low dose preventative antibiotic to keep infection away from her kidneys until the problem resolves itself (more likely) or she has surgery to correct it (very unlikely).

Overall the appointment went well and Jeanine did fine, we are just disappointed with the news that she'll have to be on antibiotics for a while. Perhaps that will keep away further ear infections as well though, since they seem to plague my children during the early years. We'll see. Thanks for your prayers that everything would go well, it did!

Waiting for her ultrasound

Playing with the nurse while waiting for the procedure to start

Grass!

All Dressed up for Valentine's Day

Today we had a Valentine's Day party with my stay at home moms Meetup group at a great restaurant/bar called Chopstix in downtown Tacoma. It was such a fun time with about 150 people, lots of music and dancing, pizza, soda, and cake! We didn't get any pictures from the party but here's a couple of me and Jeanine after we got home.

Jammies!

Being silly with Johnny this morning in our jammies

"Let me out!!"

"Hi Mom, aren't I cute? Can I please go out?"

"See? I'm so beautiful...please can I go out now?"

Playing with Daddy

V-Day

Today we spent a lot of time as a family, woohoo! We took John and Jeanine to a park in our neighborhood to play and then after their naps we went to the West Hylebos Wetlands (which were very dry and kind of brown, lol!). It was a very relaxed and nice day, though now as I blog I am listening to Jeanine scream her head off since she doesn't want to go to bed. Too bad for baby. She needs her sleep! Here's some fun pictures of our walk.

Look what a big boy he is becomming!I LOVE walks!Definitely a frame-able picture! I love it!Running ahead and very excited to get out of the housePretty little lake along the trailThe happy couple...freezing but having fun anyway! We've been married 3 years, 5 months, and 18 days...Happy Valentine's Day!Gigantic Maple TreeHeading back to the car

Oh yeah...as for me, Miss Blanket Head, that's what happens when mommy forgets my hat! But as you can see, I was so totally cozy in my blankets that I fell asleep in the 40 degree weather!

Our Morning

So this morning has been both a blessing and a difficult time. Jeanine is feeling so well! We went back to basics with sleep training her yesterday and last night, and she actually fell asleep for her nap this morning without crying at all. She's baaaaack! I finally have a beautiful happy baby who's fun to be around...and who sleeps well! Hooray! John has been the extreme opposite, however it's mostly my fault. Over the last month and a half of being terribly sick and also stressed and taking care of sick children, we simply got out of the habit of immediate discipline and consistent training. So, the poor boy is back in Baby Bootcamp in the discipline arena and it hasn't been pleasant for him to relearn the fact that he needs to obey mommy ALL the time, Without Challenge, Without Excuse, and Without Delay (Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp). We've already had more spankings than I kept count of but I do see us making some progress and he's beginning to listen to my voice more and more and obey with a cheerful heart, praise God! I just continue to pray that the Holy Spirit come over him and guide him to make good choices instead of acting sinful. It's hard being the mother of a toddler!

And on to more fun activities, this is what John and Jeanine did this morning for about 30 minutes until she got fed up with flying past mama, lol! (Oh and John did get a turn after Jeanine...he loved it so much I think this will be a regular activity in our house! Good thing we only paid $20 for that high chair on Craigslist)

Playing with Baby

This is Baby. This is John playing with Baby. Any questions? (He's so funny! He found the doll at the bottom of the stuffed animal basket and wanted to feed it rice cereal and bottles all day!)

Sickie

These are from when she was really sick with a fever, though you can't really tell how bad it was. Her skin was bright red and she actually got a terrible heat rash with little pin prick bumps all over her chest and in her armpits and fat rolls. Poor thing!

Good News

Hi everyone, Jeanine is doing much better! She has gotten 2 fairly good nights of sleep (and so has her thankful mommy) and she didn't have a fever at her appointment this morning. Her rash (which I had previously forgotten to mention) is almost gone as well and she is now on oral antibiotics at home, 4 times a day. The first prescription of abx. was absolutely horrid, I tasted it and completely understood why Jeanine couldn't swallow, but instead threw up each time I tried to get them into her. The pediatrician prescribed a different one this morning and we started it when we got home. I am happy to say it tastes like orange and she didn't gag while taking it, so it looks like we're in the clear and she should be perfectly healthy soon! Thanks for all your prayers, we were really worried for a little while that she might be admitted today if she had a fever, but God healed her quickly! I'm so thankful to our doctor who suspected an underlying infection on top of the ear infections because had she not, Jeanine could have gotten much worse before we figured things out.

Another Update

So it's Saturday and Jeanine seems to be doing much better. We went back for yet another Pediatrician appointment this morning and since she STILL had a fever and was fussy after the previous 2 days' worth of antibiotic injections, she had to get a 3rd, poor baby! At least it was a different person giving it to her each day, so she didn't know what was going on, or have time to get riled up or sad before the actual needle stick. Today's was especially bad because this time it was only one nurse giving 2 shots, one in each leg, so it took longer and she did the I'm-not-breathing, face-turning-red, silent-scream for about 15 seconds! So, now we have to go back again on Monday for another fever check and if it's not gone they might admit her for further tests and IV antibiotics.
Last night we heard from the pediatrician at about 6:45 and she left a message saying that Jeanine's culture was growing E-Coli (don't ask me how she got that! I'm baffled on that one...) so it was important we get the infection gone as soon as possible. Please keep Jeanine in your prayers, she really needs to get some sleep so that she can start to heal, and start to heal so she can get some sleep! (And mommy needs sleep too...)

UPDATE

We went back today to the pediatrician and Jeanine still had a fever of 101* while she was on Tylenol so she got another injection of antibiotics. Because she still had the fever, however, now she has to go back *again* tomorrow. Talk about insurance co-pays up the wazoo here! (Though, even taking her 3 times doesn't equal one copay my poor sister has to pay when she goes to the doctor, lol! Thank God for firefighting insurance). If she has a fever in the morning they'll give her yet another injection and see her back again Monday. If not, we'll go home and start the oral antibiotics for 8 days. That is all. They are napping and I'm going to as well!

The Good and the Bad

The Good: John is fine. He got a flu shot to top off his little virus, lol! Poor baby was so brave and only cried a little.
The Bad: Jeanine, on the other hand, was discovered to have dual ear infections (though they're pretty mild), and a kidney infection, which was the culprit for the 103 degree fever she's been running since late yesterday morning-ish.
Last night was pretty terrible, Jeanine wouldn't sleep at all unless I was holding her, so I spent a majority of the night sitting on the couch trying to find a comfortable way to hold her AND sleep. It ended up with me watching '24' and Prison Break episodes for quite a while, and I think I've only gotten 3 hours of sleep over the last 2 nights.
Our appointment was originally for 2:30 this afternoon but I was able to change it this morning to 9:45am, so that was such a blessing. I was getting worried about Jeanine's fever not being affected much by Tylenol and staying consistently above 103 degrees! We went in and her ears looked a little yucky but the high fever wouldn't have been caused by such mild ear infections so the pediatrician suspected an unseen infection. They catheterized her (all I can say is it was pure torture for the sweet baby) to get a urine sample which came back positive with blood (classic sign of UTI), and because of the high fever diagnosed her with a kidney infection. After that she needed antibiotic injections (one large dose split up into 2 needles, one on each thigh) that supposedly would burn and sting for a while. My poor baby just cried and cried and then passed out in my arms for a little nap. We stayed for another 20 minutes to make sure she didn't react to the meds and then were able to go home.
The Good: I LOVE this new pediatrician and the whole office, staff, and facility! I have never been made to feel more welcome, important, and understood in my life. Our 9:45 appointment began at, you guessed it, 9:45, amazing! The nurses were sweet and knowledgable, the pediatrician spent ample time with me talking about the children, both their illnesses and their behaviors in general. They worked with me on future appointment dates and times and even offered to help me back out to my car with the children and all my things. The best thing they did though, which is highly impressive to me, is that when John got restless they brought in a portable DVD player to our room and set him up watching Finding Nemo to keep him occupied. They even offered me formula for Jeanine in case I didn't have any left since we'd been there for so long. I'll never go anywhere else!
The Bad: We have to go back tomorrow. Jeanine has to be seen again tomorrow to check her out and give her another 2 shots of antibiotics. After that we'll have to give her 10 days of oral antibiotics at home. Even worse? She has to have a renal ultrasound and a procedure called VCUG (Voiding Cysto-Urethrogram), where they'll catheterize her once again, fill her bladder up with fluid, and take x-rays while she urinates to see if there is a backup, or, reflux, into her kidneys. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood...and holding down your SCREAMING 6 month old so someone can torture them.
I feel awful for Jeanine but I'm really glad I took her in now. She definitely didn't seem as sick (to me) as she ended up being, so I'm glad now that we know what's going on.
The Good: The children are both sleeping now...please, God, please let them both take long naps so I get a break, and so they can both feel better!

Eternally Sick

I don't think we'll ever ALL be better at the same time again. I'm finally feeling much better, though the cough is still hanging in there. I'll talk to my doctor again tomorrow to find out if I should be concerned or if she thinks the antibiotics did their job and I just need to wait a little longer. Jeanine had a fever of 103 today, and it's still 102 on Tylenol this evening. John has a cough. We're all going to the doctor tomorrow because I'll never forgive myself if my poor babies get as sick as I was just because I don't like taking them to the doctor. So, we'll see what happens after they've been checked out.

How We Spent Our Day...

Last night Jeanine had a 3 hour crying fit because of the solid food, just like John did on numerous occasions before he was about 8 months. The only thing that kept her from screaching like a banchee at the top of her lungs, from 10pm to 1am, was me pounding on her back. Today she was a clingy, needy, crying mess unless she was being held so we spent most of the afternoon and evening in the Snugli. My back hurts. Thank God for bedtime, lol!

Just a few of the kids from the last few days. John is sick today with a cough, I hope he's better soon!

The Mad Laundry Cat

Ike really wanted to lay in the laundry and I wouldn't let him so he glared at me for a while. Then I left the room...

For the Birds

This is our backyard each afternoon when the flocks come through our neighborhood looking for little wormies in the grass of each yard. Wow, there's a lot of them!

Cars!

Johnny showcasing his cars for me last week