V.U.R.

I figured on the almost year anniversary (June 5) of finding out about Joelle's kidney issues it was time to do a post summing it all up.  Last year she was running a low grade fever, her urine smelled really bad and she was having some discharge.  She was 5 months old.  I took her in to the doctor and she thought we should test her for a UTI.  Obviously an infant can't pee in a cup so they had to cath her.  Not the funnest thing a parent has ever had to do.  The initial dipstick check they do in the office was positive for a UTI.  The doc put her on meds and we discussed doing further testing to find out what the issue was.  She would need an ultrasound, non-invasive, and a VCUG, invasive.  Dr. Lund said we could talk about it again after her 24 hour results came back.  I went home and researched it a little bit and was very prepared to tell her I wasn't doing any further testing if her urine came back positive for e.coli (the most common type of UTI's).  It was negative.  Further testing was set up and we got in pretty quickly to DeVos.  She did great for the ultrasound which measures kidney size and checks for damage.  For a VCUG an infant is wrapped up and strapped to a board, exactly like an Indian baby, and a catheter is inserted.  She did great and didn't cry for all of that.  Dye is then inserted, pictures are taken and then you have to wait for them to pee.  They forget to mention that the board will also be turned back and forth to get pictures of the sides.  Once the tech turned the board Jojo flip.ped.out.  Nothing like having a falling sensation (every infants worse nightmare) and not falling.  For multiple minutes.  You could see right away on the fluoro machine that she had reflux.  The tech couldn't tell me how bad it was but said it was definitely there.  Thankfully it's only on the left side.  We made an appointment with a urologist and had to wait until the end of July to get in.  She was to remain on Bactrim until she saw him.  Bactrim gave her horrendous diarrhea.  Like 10x daily diarrhea.  We had to do some dosage adjustments but finally got it under control.  Our pediatrician warned us that Dr. Steinhart was the best but his bedside manner was to be desired.  Eric came with me to the first appointment and besides waiting for over an hour to see the man we LOVED him.  I had never had a man encourage me to breast feed until that day.  He hated the thought of prophylactic meds but thought it was necessary since she was so young.  He said we could re-evaluate that at her next visit.  He informed us that she had grade 3, out of 5,  reflux (actual name Vesicoureteral Reflux).  It is actually a "birth defect" that you can outgrow.  I hate the term birth defect.  I feel like its my fault.  I know it's not..but it's how those words make me feel.  He said most surgeons would be on the fence about doing surgery but he had a 95% success rate for NOT doing surgery with her grade.  We decided to do the prophylactic's and check back in 5 months.  He recommended she be on probiotics as well.  If she got a fever, for any reason, above 101.7 we had to get her seen within 24 hours.  She has had some fevers and cath's since then but hasn't had any UTI's.  At her visit when she was 11months he did an ultrasound on her in the office and discovered that her kidney's were the same size (5mm).  That was indicative of some kidney damage.  Not the news we wanted to hear but again, at least she has one good kidney.  He said since she hadn't had a UTI we could get her off the meds.  THANKFULLY.  We scheduled another appointment in April for a higher tech Ultrasound at DeVos and an appointment with him.  Her right kidney measured at 6.2 and 6.4 and her left measured at 6.4 and 6.9.  It's really hard to get an accurate read on a baby because they are constantly moving so they take a couple.  Her left is actually a little bigger, which is what it's supposed to be and that was GREAT news.  It measured bigger and that means NO kidney damage.  Every time we go to the urologist we have to have a kidney ultrasound to chart her growth but things are looking up.  We still have to be hyper aware of her fevers and take her in for a cath anytime she gets one.  It's not very nice because doctors don't like to cath for no reason but I have to advocate for my baby.  Advocate for her to be cathed.  This will be our norm until we can get her potty trained and able to pee in a cup.  She will have to see her urologist until the kidney issues are resolved but hopefully we can have her potty trained sooner rather than later.  I'm hoping by two..you heard it here first.  

Pretty baby trying to chew her bracelet off after her ultrasound. 

I am so thankful that her urologist actually listens to what I want and takes time to talk to us.  He is awesome.  Also super thankful for an incredibly awesome Children's Hospital.  They are the best.  Absolutely unbelievably the best.

Sophia and Charlie come for a visit

Tiff had a baby shower she was hosting on Saturday and she asked me to watch the kiddos on Friday so she could get ready in peace and quiet...and not have to unbuckle and buckle kids a million times while she was running errands.  Adelyn LOVES (LOVES) Sophia.  Sophia tells EVERYONE that Adelyn is her best friend.  "Adelyn is MY best friend."  I always have to ask Sophia if we can share Adelyn.  She doesn't really respond ;)  Brecken and Joelle always love getting in on the action.  They also love baby Charlie.  They would bring him his toys and try to put his paci in.  Until Joelle realized that she was being hosed.  She can only have her paci in her crib so once she realized Charlie got to keep his, she started taking it away.  She wouldn't suck on it.  Just take it.  She's a sassy girl, what can I say.

Brecken loving on Charlie.  He had just touched heads with him..which is his version of a hug.  

Adelyn and Sophia::both look thrilled that I stopped their play to take a picture

Charlie::wondering why he was still face-down in our nasty carpet

Brecken::stinker face.  Trying to escape

Joelle::crying.  Because she did escape and I brought her back..

Lunch time with five kids, three and under.  Not as chaotic as one might think.  I always tell Eric its kinda like a cafeteria.  Get out all of your components.  Slap everyone's food on their plate.  Stick them all in their chairs.  Throw their food in front of them.  Enjoy 15 minutes of blissful silence while everyone stuffs their face.

We had to give Sophia a gator ride.

Poor Sophia..right after she started driving it, it blew up.  Almost literally.  The battery started on fire.  No I am not joking.  The girls talked about it all night.  My dad is still trying to fix it.

We love us some Sophia and Charlie!

Playgroup::John Ball Zoo

We had playgroup at John Ball today.  It ended up being a beautiful day.  The temperature was decent, it wasn't windy and the sun was shining.  Can't ask for more than that.  Everything opens up mid-May so I'm pretty excited for that.

A zoo employee talking to Adelyn and Sophia about the chimps.

Little Loretta :)

 

All the kiddos by the bears.  Everyone is looking!!

Silly Sophia :)

Handsome Henry

Pretty little Jojo

Love this picture.  LOVE.

Such a pretty girl.

Kisses for Charlie!

All the kiddos watching the penguins

I think Brecken and Jojo were tired..

Everyone is cashed out.  What a great day at the zoo :)

Chores

When I came downstairs from putting B down for his nap Adelyn had the broom out and was sweeping.  I had an epiphany.  I showed her how to turn the dust-buster on and off and she vacuumed the whole kitchen for me while I was putting Jojo down.  She has always been really good at doing things that we ask her to do.  It's her job to go get Kota from her cage whenever we get back from somewhere, she likes to fill Kota's bowl with dog food, she puts her dishes in the sink when she is done eating and she doesn't mind doing other little things that we ask.  I had a little talk with her and told her I loved it when she helped me and that, if she wanted, I would give her a quarter when she helps me with things.  She thought that was sooo cool.  We went downstairs and she picked out a canning jar to hold her quarters.  We put it on the counter and I was telling her things she could do for me.  I didn't even mention washing the windows and she asked to wash them.  I said sure and got her things.  Normally she'll wash the slider, the front windows and occasionally our bedroom windows.  Today she washed the slider, the front windows, the tv stand, asked me to pull up the blinds so she could wash the kitchen windows and asked me to pull up the blinds so she could wash our bedroom windows.  I pulled the blinds up on all of them and continued making some muffins in the kitchen.  I didn't hear her for a while so I asked her what she was doing.  She told me she was washing windows.  I peeked in the living room and she was washing the windows by our front door (that have probably never been washed)!  I told Adelyn she could save her money for a toy she wanted, save it to put in the bank or give some to church and she told me she was going to save it all to put in the bank.  Ha.  I called Eric and told him all about it.  I think I'm liking this new chore thing.

The new ride.

We got a new vehicle in the Fitzgerald household.  It's one I have been looking for, for a long time.  There was no way I was going to spend $400 on a new one so I've been stalking the online yard sale and Craigslist.  I found a couple on the yard sale but they weren't gender neutral or the kind I wanted.  I looked at Craigslist one day and found a Gator in Rockford.  I called her up and she was willing to give it to me for $100 since the battery they had "wasn't working."  I said deal and went to get it the next day.  When I got there it was a bit older looking than I expected but I had already driven there and Adelyn saw it so we got it anyways.  The people who had it did quite a bit of work on it..it's pretty souped up.  It has a better "stock" battery (I ordered 2 more, 1 to have in it and 1 to have charged and ready to go), they put new tires on it last year and they added another battery in the back.  When you hit a switch for the other battery to kick in, it goes super fast.  We haven't charged that battery up yet ;)  When I got it home Eric put the old battery on the charger just to see if we could get some juice in it.  The batteries we ordered aren't going to be here until the end of the week..kind of a long wait when you are 3.  We got it working, it doesn't last very long but it works!

She loves it.  Sooo funny to watch her figure it out.  She would hit the gas and get scared and let go and repeat.  Hahaha

She saw a butterfly in the grass and got scared that she was going to run it over.  She had to get out and take a picture ;)

Brecken woke up from his nap and had to have a ride.  We all knew he would love it.  He is going to be ripping up the yard by the end of summer..

Jojo woke up and went for a ride!  I thought she would be terrified but she loved it!  And, yes, we are those parents who use a bungee cord for a seat belt.  Don't call CPS on me.

Please get a good look at Joelle's hair.  Cracks.me.up.  We also bungee cord our children in the back.  Again, don't call CPS on me.

Bahahahahahahaha.  This totally makes me smile.  They all loved it and no one fell out.

  

PS.  The neighbor kids all thought it was hysterical that you could ride in the back.  That was everyone's favorite seat ;) ;)

Coloring!

Brecken has been itching to get his hands on some crayons.  He "asks" grunts and points every time Adelyn colors.  I decided to give it a try today..  I don't remember when I started with Adelyn but I don't think it was this early.  Brecken did really good and loved coloring.  Joelle loved coloring..and eating the crayons.  We have done it a couple times since and it's always a hit..for about 15 minutes.

B and Jojo trying it out.  Jojo was already preparing to eat them..

All 3 of my crazy babies coloring :)

Bye Josh :(

My brother is leaving tomorrow.  We had a good-bye supper tonight for him.  It's sad to see your sibling 2 weeks a year.  We are going to miss him.  He deploys in June and he gets post-deployment leave so we are hoping to see him for Christmas...and maybe Brecken and Joelle's birthday.  Hint, hint, Josh.  

When I finally sat him down with everyone, to get a picture, they were ready for bed.  They were sick, crabby and tired.  The pictures we got are pretty pathetic but that's how it goes right now.

The best one.  Jojo cried in all of them.

 An out-take.  Adelyn's wiping her nose with her blanket, Jojo is screaming, Brecken is picking his nose and Josh is trying to control almost 90lbs of wiggling children.  Ha.

Easter!

Our plans were to have 3 Easter's.  Friday night with my Dad's side, Saturday night with Eric's family and Sunday with my Mom's side.  On Tuesday our kids got mild colds.  On Wednesday Joelle stopped eating and got a fever.  On Thursday we went to the doctor (negative for a UTI, just a bad virus).  Thursday after the doctor she developed some strange twitching that was very intermittent.  Friday morning she vomited blood.  Friday morning we went to the Urgent Care.  She was diagnosed with pneumonia.  Our Easter plans came to a fast halt.  We didn't go Friday night and cancelled Saturday, since it was at our house and Eric's mom was sick.  Sunday we all went to church in the morning.  The kids sat with us since they were all sick and we made it about 3/4 of the way through the sermon before we had to evacuate. 

We went downtown Holland and got some pictures with the tulips before they were stems.  The three of them give me a run for my money trying to take pictures of them.

Daddy and his babies.

My handsome matching men.

Pretty little ladies

 Mister man.  The only shot of him, head on, that was halfway decent.  Snot included.

aanndd the only shot I got of Jojo that was halfway decent.  Ha.

Believe me when I tell you this is the best picture of me and the three of them.

Adelyn Brecken and I made it to my mom's side for lunch and the kids got to have their first Easter egg hunt of the year.  Adelyn had a blast hunting for eggs and playing at the park.  Brecken had fun entertaining everyone and causing trouble.

Little B and his bag for Easter eggs.

Adelyn and her Easter egg hunter-helper.

B and Auntie Rachie

Adelyn thought it was hysterical if you held your hand out in front of her, she blew on the party favor and it hit her hand.

My Birthday-Part 1

We celebrated my birthday on Sunday with my family, my Grandma Smit and my second cousin Simeon.  My dad and Josh are going fishing Tuesday and Wednesday so I was stuck with April Fool's day.  Priorities.  We had fish (YUM), a ranch pasta salad, fruit, rolls and angel food cake with strawberries for lunch.  All of my favorite things.

Birthday Cake!

Make a wish!  For one more baby..just kidding.  Maybe.

Finally got a picture of little B doing this.  When he crawls and he's tired, he puts his head on the ground and goes.  It's the funniest thing and he does it a lot..not so much anymore, since he typically walks.  But apparently he didn't forget.

Birthday picture with my babies.  Pretty good considering everyone had just been wailing.