Zoe's Baptism

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I know, it's been awhile!

I apologize for the month delay just been ssuuuuper busy lately! And now the updates!!

As for Miss. Zoe Lynn, the princess, the ruler of the Gardner household, she is doing great! Her last weigh in was 14 pounds 3 ounces, that was 2.5 weeks ago. She is still on the steroids for the hemangioma which is going down soooo nicely! Zoe has gained some function out of that eye and we know that because now she thinks everything is funny! She is just following things more and is able to see things that move on that side better. We have our next appointment down in Milwaukee at Children's Hospital this upcoming Tuesday to have it looked at. Starting tomorrow they are going to be weaning her off of the steroid which is awesome because her appetite is through the roof! Her baptism was beautiful and wonderful! Very moving for me, not sure why, maybe because I kept thinking about everything she has gone through and how lucky and blessed we are. Then I got to thinking about Kaleb's NICU journey and such since he was also baptised there with the same pastor. It was awesome! I will have pictures soon thanks to a friend! (THANKS A TON STACY!) Miss. Ann, Zoe's OT is very impressed with her, no real concerns, she lifts her head right, pushes up, puts weight on her legs and so forth. She is a little chatter box when she is in a good mood, before 3pm. Zoe's colic is getting better, we are making progress. Well that's it for her right now.

Kaleb is having a blast at school, he hates when he has off! His teacher says he is just a riot in class which we all already knew. Kaleb learns best through music she also said, which we also knew. At home and at school he wears underwear without accidents, anywhere else it's a mess. But we are making progress! Kaleb had a fantastic time trick or treating, didn't want to at first but as soon as we made it past the first 5 houses and he caught the idea he was off and we were having trouble keeping up with him! We set up our christmas tree Sunday and he was definately all about it! Right now he is at his nana and papa's helping them set up theirs and loving every minute of it. That's about it for him!

Andrew is doing fantastic! Loves his new school and is doing sooo much better there. We took the kids to Above and Beyond Children's meusem this past Sunday and he was ecstatic! It's a full hands on totally awesome place! Three floor of themed adventure and play areas! Andrew has been a real big help lately with Kaleb, he is currently trying to teach Kaleb how to put his socks on correctly, he can get them on just not accurately. Andrew also likes to help me cook a ton! As for me I love it! I have a little helper!!

For Bill and I we are hanging in there, thankfully things are starting to calm down with Zoe, not so many doctor visits and such, a bit of normal living. Although now that I just said that I probably will be posting tomorrow of some illness we have found j/k (that's our luck!). We are getting our family pictures done on Sunday and we are very excited about that, our last one was when Bill and I were dating and Andrew was a year and a half! That's about it for us, working all the time, taking care of the kids, that's it!

I thought I would post a slide of a few recent pics, unfortunately whenever I have the camera out Andrew if off somewhere so I am going to nail him down this weekend:)

Zoe's hemangioma

We just got back from Children's for Zoe's eye. The plan is to start oral steroids and keep them going for the next month or so to stop the growth. From there they usually shrink a bit. We had the opthamologist appointment yesterday and they told us that her eye does have some damage, the hemangioma is causing a stigmatism and is causing her to have no real clear vision from that eye. As long as the growing period is haulted the eye can regain it's strength hopefully, if it doesn't start to get better then we have to start patching her good eye to force her to use the bad one.

The steroids will cause Zoe's growth to stop for awhile, she will be really easily suseptable to infections, as if she isn't already!?! We also have to get her blood pressure checked on a regular basis because the steroids can elevate it. They told us she will probably need a med for her blood pressure and a med to help her stomach handle the steroid:( We have to continue to go down to Childrens every 2 weeks now until they are satisfied with the hemangioma. They also informed us that we are to avoid crowded public places, more so then we were planning on for RSV season and maintain constant hand washing.

Not at all pleased but hey, it means she will have a good chance at keeping her vision in that eye! Her weight is awesome, 13.6 pounds!! WOO HOO ZOE LYNN!! That's about it for right now, just getting ready for her baptism this Sunday!

Slacking

We have been so very busy lately I haven't been able to update.

Zoe is doing good finally. She is 4 months old now and 12 pounds 2 ounces along with 22 inches long! yay! We had our initial consulation with dermatology down at Children's about her hemangioma. They said they want to be very agressive in treating it since it is getting so much bigger and it's right on her eye. It has growen a half a cm in a week already. Zoe will be put on steroids first to stop the growth but unfortunately it will weaken her already weaker immune system and could possibly slow down her weight and height gains. It's either that or she loses the vision in that eye because it will get bigger before they can get her in for surgery. She has to see the opthamologist on the 14th again to see if any visual damages have been done by it then the 15th we go back down to milwaukee to start the steroid injections. I'm terrified with the boys being in school, Kaleb has had an on and off cold and Andrew's sister at his mom's house has been sick. Hand washing obviously doesn't take care of it because she has already been re hospitalized. Her development is on track right now, she's awake and alert more with holding her head up in short bursts. She started babbling too! Zoe is still 100% a daddy's girl. She has also graduated to her crib now! yay! Still wakes up every 2-3 hours for 4 ounce feedings. But right now she is healthy and progressing wonderfully!

Kaleb is doing awesome in school, he uses the potty there off and on, depends on his mood and as long as it's not right away when he gets there, takes him a bit to wake up even though he starts at 8:30 and is up and at them at 5:30am. He also has been using the potty here at home off and on but now he's the bathroom king, tries to makes himself go potty when he doesn't have to so he can get his thomas the train sticker. Kaleb's speech has improved a ton since school had started. He's starting to become more independent. He still loves to be all over baby zoe!

Andrew is doing good also. He is being switched to a different elementary school, not good for him but we have to for several reasons. His current teacher is not at all pleasent, it's like talking to a brick wall and not at all a person I want to be teaching my kindergardner. Andrew was crying one day because he peed his pants since the teacher wouldn't let him go to the bathroom. Then one day I was waiting for him to get done and when they all came out to get their backpacks and jackets one kid got a drink from the bubbler, 5 steps away, and she rips him away under his arm yelling at him. Andrew's speech really hasn't improved so I feel it needs to be bumped up more, the therapy. The facilities at the school are very old, not very up to date. We just hope this next school is the one because we aren't going to be able to switch him anymore, he needs the stability. I'm sure it will be though!

That's about it here. OH! IMPORTANT! Very excited that Zoe is getting baptized the 19th yay! We are going to be doing a bit of home updates following the baptism, replacing the living room carpet, kitchen counter and sink and so forth, that excites me too cause this place sucks! Thankfully our landlord is ok with it! Well that's it here! Hope everyone is doing well!

a big day at the gardner household!

So after reading a fellow preemie mom's blog I got the courage to TRY again with Kaleb and the potty (way to go Nevaeh and Levi!). (her 1 1/2 year old can do it, kaleb's gotta at least try! lol) Much to my surprise there was no fighting, no arguing, no screaming and no crying, he has been wearing underwear all day and has gone on the potty twice and only one accident! WOOT WOOT!! I was pretty convinced we were going to be changing diapers at his high school graduation! I just hope this is it. He's pretty adament about it, doesn't want to bring diapers to nana's and so forth. We are just elated!!!

Now the big Zoe update!
She came home from the hospital on Sunday night after her spinal tap came back clear. She was so very sick and they just couldn't figure it out, her white blood cells were pretty normal but some sort of white blood cell bands were elevated which indicated her inside was inflammed. Her fever was up to 104 and her blood work remained "off" until Sunday. They think she had a few things like maybe the flu and some other bug, no real difinitive finding, just kept a close eye on everything. Her pediatrician and the one that was on call during all of this were on top of her like crazy. They were calling daily and having us bring her in daily up until yesterday, she is pretty much back to normal just having formula issues. They say it could be colic, eeeeekkkkk! It's crazy here from 3pm-10pm! Zoe is now 10 pounds 6 ounces and seems healthy now! She was kicked in the butt by whatever made her sick for a week, it's nice to have her back. She goes back down to Milwaukee on the first to have her hemangioma by her eye looked at, she will be 4 MONTHS OLD THAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!! Time has flowen by with her!

That's about it here, Bill survived his vasectomy, Zoe will forever be our baby! He had an interview at work yesterday for a supervisor (shift support) position at
Bemis so he is hoping he gets it! That's it, just getting ready for Halloween!! Hope everyone else is doing well!

Not so lucky anymore

Well we hit our first major road block with Zoe. She is very very sick and has been since Sunday. Zoe has had massive diarreah and vomiting since Sunday morning and fevers off and on. She would be either Vomiting or totally refusing her bottles. We took her into the ER on Monday night because she was dehyderated so they gave her an anti nausua injection and she started keeping her bottles down. All she would do is scream if she was awake which is about 5-6 hours at night. With all the diarreah she lost the top layer of skin on her little butt no matter what we do we can't get it to go away. We have started to let her go diaper less for a bit daily. The ped. said that there is a couple things going on.
1. she has thrush which they said was because her immune system is weakend from being so early
2. She does have something intestinal going on but they aren't sure what so they are going to take blood tomorrow if she is still this way
3. The screaming is from cramping and gas
She is miserable so they stopped her formula and is pretty much on just pedialyte or a soy formula. They want to give her intestines a break. She doesn't seem to mind it:) As for good news, despite all of this she is now a straight 10 pounds! WOW!

Kaleb just got over a nasty cold. He is loving school and gets upset that he can't go everyday! He is just full of it lately, making us laugh despite the pure exhaustion. He has been constantly wanting to help me with everything, dishes, laundry, vaccuming. When Zoe was feeling a bit better she was on the floor doing some tummy time and Kaleb thinks it's just hilarious to play peek a boo with her. He had her making the cutest noises. He loves his baby sister!

Well that's about it for today, wish us luck tomorrow!!

Zoe's pictures

The hemangioma

Zoe's hemangioma has growen significantly in the past few days so we have an appointment to see the dermatologist down at children's on october 1. They are going to look at it and see what they want to do. They weighed her and she is now 9 pounds 2 ounces, HOLY BABY GIRL!! Zoe also got some Zantac for her reflux and she has been a totally different baby, IN A GOOD WAY! She is much happier! Well that's it, just wanted to do a quick update!

Zoe's Shoulda Woulda Birthday

Today is bittersweet. Today is Zoe Lynn's due date. It is much easier to deal with having her home and I just couldn't imagine facing today without her here. She is doing very well lately. Staying awake and alert a bit longer during the day, eating about 4 ounces every 3-5 hours and gaining steadily. Her hemangioma is unfortunately getting bigger, our ped said if it reaches a certain part of her eye that we need to call him before our next appointment and he will be sending us down to Children's sooner to have it taken care of. Her appointment is October 1 and sadly I know I will be calling him, probably within the next couple of weeks. We had Zoe's pictures done and they turned out so perfect, once I can figure it out I will scan them and put them on here. She is about 8 pounds now but facing horrible reflux. No matter what we have tried she still suffers from it and is starting to give us a little bit of a fight when it comes to feedings. We are going to push the doc to put her on some Zantac or something. Other then that not a lot going on with her, just the normal!

Kaleb met his teacher Wednesday and he absolutely loved it and blew Bill and I away with how much he has growen up! We walk in and as everyone knows Kaleb is usually really shy but the teacher asked his name and he goes "me? I'm Kaleb Gardner!" Then he went off and played with the other kids while all of us parents sat and listened to his teacher explain the school year to us. Kaleb was just chatting away to all the kids! Then he comes up to Bill and I asked him how he liked his class and he said he loved it but that we had to go now because he was at school!! I LOST IT AND STARTED BAWLING!! He starts his actually class without us on Monday so we will have to see how that goes!

Andrew is doing well in kindergarten, just a few minor adjustments but he feels a ton better about it now that one of his friends from preschool started there. He has been better behaved at home also so I'm wondering if the behavior issues this summer weren't just boredom!

Things have started calming down at home now. Zoe's appointments are becoming more spaced apart since she is doing so well. Kaleb has been getting up with Andrew in the morning now that we have a routine going so they are adjusting well to school hours. It's odd to not have to fight with the boys at 8pm when it's bedtime! They get up at 6:30 so by 8 they are more then willing to go to bed! Bill and I have found a nice schedule so far that is working out nicely! The big news around here is that daddy has his vasectomy scheduled for the 19th of this month! Zoe will forever be the baby of the 3. He's terrified but feels better about him doing it then me since I would have to go back into the hospital and his is just done in the dr's office. The doctor said he does nothing but drink a few beers from a cooler next to his recliner and watch tv for the weekend, that part he LOVES! We are in the process right now of planning a little trip up north to Antigo to see all of the family up there, we know we wont be able to make it for the family christmas party due to Zoe's immune system and lungs being still fragile. (Can't wait to get up there and see all the new little ones!!!!)

That wraps it up here, hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the cool down as I know we are!

Weight Check and school

Zoe Lynn is just gaining nicely!! She is 12 weeks old and now 7 pounds 7 ounces, yep, 2 pounds in 2 weeks! WOW! She is also now 19 inches long. Way to go Zoe! Not a lot else going on with her, they measured her hemangioma and it has gotten bigger, they showed us how much bigger they will let it go and if it gets to that point then they will have to remove it by laser but otherwise they would rather let it go away on it's own. Zoe has also started being awake for an hour or two at night, she is so cute!

As for Kaleb, well, him and I are not getting along right now:) We have been going head to head with the potty for about a week now, he is now in love with his pull ups. I am done though, I got his Thomas the Train underwear in the mail today, after this weekend I am making him go cold turkey, only underwear. He is getting over a really nasty cold so he is extra crabby too! He was checked out today to just to make sure he didn't have anything going on with his chest or ears and he looked great. He has seriously been 40 pounds since I was 15 weeks pregnant (he would always weigh himself at the office) :)He starts school on the 8th, Monday and Tuesdays 8:30-11:30 SO SAD YET SO EXCITED!!

Andrew had his open house today so Bill and I took him to meet his kindergarten teacher. She seems nice but not understanding a lot of what we were saying, it outta be an interesting year! He likes his school though, we also took him and introduced him to his speech, art, music and gym teacher. We are hoping it will make it easier for his transitioning issues. He didn't see anyone from his preschool so he is worried about that. Andrew seemed very overwhelmed with the whole situation, actually he looked like he was going to start crying when we got into his classroom! I felt so bad for him! But in the end he was a bit more comfortable. The school itself doesn't seem as flashy as ELC but ELC has got to be 15 years newer! He will get used to it though. Made me realize how much older he is getting when his teacher was telling us to drop him off on the playground at about 8:10 then he will be brought in by the supervisers and he has his own actual locker. :) Made me sad but excited for him!

That's about it here at the Gardner Household.

Pictures

I just wanted to post some recent pics, pretty much from the last week. Not a whole lot going on right now. Enjoy!

Catching up

Well a lot has happend since I've posted last.

Zoe Lynn is 5 pounds 8 ounces and doing pretty well. We found out that she has some sort of awkward birth mark right on the corner of her right eye that extends to her nose. It looks like a blood blister of sorts but what happens is it either gets bigger, which her's is doing, or gets smaller and causes no problems. With it getting bigger it obstructs her vision and so forth so they are going to measure it again at her next appointment which is in 2 weeks and if it has gotten bigger she will go to a dermatologist at Children's and they will look at lasar therapy or other means of reducing it. Her ped said that by the time she is 2-5 years old it should go away completely. As if she hasn't been through enough. She is now up to about 3 ounces every 3-5 hours, she's doing so well!!

Yesterday my great grandmother passed away after fighting cancer at the age of 85 I believe. Unfortunately we were on our way to see her and she passed away as we were getting everyone out of the truck, very disheartening seeing as she has never met Zoe Lynn. It's what she wanted though, to go on, she was not doing well. At least she is in a better place.

As for Kaleb he is crabby! Doing good though. He thinks that thunder is a choo choo train in heaven (he's a thomas nut if you don't know!) so he says that Percy took his "ma" (that's what he called her) to heaven. He then proceeded to tell us that Percy and Thomas will take good care of her. It made Bill and I lose it, not only the situation but the knowledge that he understands what is going on is just incredible! He's a good kid, just crabby lately!

Andrew is having a blast up north yet with his aunt. He comes home Saturday but it's his mom's week so we wont have him for a bit yet. His aunt says he is doing really well!

We are hanging in there, taking it a day at a time with this crazy life! I'll try to update again sooner!

Opthamologist

Zoe had her follow up appointment with the peds. eye doctor. Her eyes look great but she does need to be seen at about 3-6 months just to make sure. She is doing great and will get her first set of shots tomorrow afternoon. They will weigh her also. The public health nurse will be coming Thursday to start her weekly weigh ins and start the paper work for our Birth to 3 program which Kaleb was in. Otherwise things are going great with her!

Kaleb gets registered for school Monday!!! Sad yet excited!! He will be going twice a week. He is just over the moon excited because he gets a thomas the train back pack:)

Not a whole lot else going on! Enjoying all the family and friends that have stopped by or wished us good luck and congrats for Zoe Lynn, we really appreciate it! I will post tomorrow night after we get the latest numbers for Zoe's weight!

A semi normal day

Things are starting to calm down a bit now that we are getting Zoe's appointments taken care of. The boys have been great through all of this, helping as much as they can and being just a great sport. Zoe will be seeing her ped. just about weekly for awhile to make sure she keeps gaining in all aspects. She is now 4 pounds 8 ounces and 17 inches long! She's growing fast! Kaleb informed me today that he doesn't want to leave without his Baby Zoe:) That's about it, nothing to new to report except that Zoe has a follow up eye appointment this Tuesday to check on the blood vessles in her eyes because they weren't nearly as developed as they were supposed to be when they checked 3 weeks ago. Well thanks for checking in!

Zoe's Homecoming

We have expanded!

Now that Zoe Lynn is home and things have calmed down a bit I felt that using the CaringBridge site still would just not make sense. So Bill and I found this site so we can keep everyone updated on all 3 of the kids. I hope you can all hang in there with me while I figure this out as I'm totally new at it! Thanks!

UPDATES!
Miss. Zoe Lynn is doing awesome at home! She is such a calm baby. We had a house full of guests yesterday and she didn't mind one bit! Zoe has been taking about 2 ounces every 4 hours and only woke once throughout the night to be fed. I had to wake her this morning to make sure she ate at the 4 hour mark. She is having some trouble with her reflux today and it wasn't made any better because we had to switch bottles. We can't find one that has a small enough nipple to not choke her. Zoe will be weighed tomorrow by the public health nurse who will be coming once a week to weigh her. She will also start her stuff for Birth to 3. She doesn't have any real delays right now, we are just covering all bases since she did have the brain bleeds and she was so very early.

Kaleb Christopher is doing fantastic and is doing so well since Zoe came home! He loves to help with her, no tantrums so far! He out of the blue this morning asked if he could hold her and got made when I went to pick her up. He always makes sure she's covered with her blankets and that she has her dolly. Kaleb also did the most incredible thing today........GAVE ZOE HIS BUB BUB! Of course he took it back later but that's not the point!! We were in shock!

Andrew is adjusting well. He is having a rough time right now with all the big changes going on at his mom's. Andrew is very excited about starting kindergarten this fall. He is also a ton of help with Zoe and loves to hold her. He likes to help carry her apnea monitor with us when we bring her into another room or when we change her diaper. I just can't believe he is 5 already!

As for Bill and I we are adjusting well. We are trying to smooth out the wrinkles as far as 3 kids goes. We are a bit overwhelmed but we are on day 2, HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT! :) We just need to find a routine once all of Zoe's initial appointments and such are over with.

Well that's about it, I will try to update as much as possible!