Happy Birthday my baby girl!

3 years ago today my sweet, silly, goofy, smart baby girl was born. Super bittersweet. Shes no longer a toddler she's now a preschooler (gah, she'll be starting preschool in September! o.O)!! I can't believe how fast these last 3years have gone. She's a super huge goof ball, she loves to cuddle and read to us, she loves writing "O's", drawing stick people, she can identify 22/26 letters, she recognizes #'s 2, 3 & 5, and knows her basic colors except green and blue which she mixes up frequently. She's in love with her older brother and wants to be like him very much, so when he's at school she'll practice writing 'letters' (how she learned O's and stick people) to be like "Shay." She's obsessed with the color pink, and can be a huge Diva, sometimes telling us her name is Princess not Kieran. Lover that baby goofball Kiwi <3

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby!

I can't believe its already here. 2 years ago I was tossing and turning in my bed because I was going to have a baby in a few short hours! Baby Kieran was born via c-section on April 8th, 2009 @ 7:51am (due to being footling breach, and too risky to try a version). She weighed in at 6lbs 13ox and 19(or 19.5 I forget oops...lol)inches long. She took to breastfeeding like a champ, while I was in recovery still! We had some issues with her weight and latching after leaving the hospital but we pulled through and I'm proud to say that we nursed till she SELF weened in January of this year at 21½ months old!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, silly, goofy, lefty, dancing girly!

Sickies

We've all had colds for the last week. Seamus has an ear infection(first in years), and the rest of us have the fun, nose clogging snot and icky painful coughs. We're getting better though. Last night we decided to go to IHOP since kids eat free there. Kieran had been fine all day, then when we are sitting waiting for food she starts grunting, so I take her potty and find she's constipated. She refused to eat anything, but would drink. The waiter brought her some apple juice (which I really didn't want, but she had her first juice last night >.<) to help her go poo. When hubby and Seamus were done, and I was mostly done, she starts heaving and throws up all over her plate and hubby (he was holding her). Poor goose. :( We were able to drive the 15minutes home with no issues but as soon as we got home she threw up again all over the floor. We put her to bed with some water and she chugged it down, and threw up again a half hour later. Changed all the bedding and her, gave her a tiny bit of water (figured getting some down, even if its coming up, is better then none at all), and she slept for 2hrs. Between 11pm and 1am she was up throwing up 3 more times. I finally was able to nurse her and she kept that down, just dry heaving though the night. She's very very mopy today, and I'm pretty sure if I gave her any food she'd throw it up again, but she's nursing ok so we'll just keep doing that.

Here's my sicky last night at 1am (daddy had to take a picture on his phone lol)

Special Needs Blog Hop

I found this blog hop trough another JM mommy (Dotcomkari) and decided to link up too.
Its pretty neat, hosted by Autism Learning Felt and Super Mommy To The Rescue.

They have a Question on the blog so I will go a head and answer it.

Question for this Week: Introduce yourself and your Blog to us so we can get to know you:

I'm Justine, 23 and I live in North Idaho. I married Kenneth in 2006 after a year long engagement. Together we have 2 great kids.

My oldest, Seamus, is 4, born July 18th, 2006. Seamus just started preschool at Head Start and is loving it (and I'm liking the breaks too hehe). His life has been far from easy. When Seamus was a newborn he was constantly spitting up and throwing up, we went to a few doctors and NP's at our office and they all said it was normal. We finally found a doc in our clinic that told it it wasn't normal and that Seamus had GERD Reflux (he would vomit a foot or more a way a few times a day and was always spitting up after each meal), we tried a few medications before Previcad finally worked. When Seamus was 2mo old the Torticollis was caught and he started OT through Early Intervention, and a few weeks later we found the Plagiocephally (caught by the Tort.). While in OT we started realizing his delays and how far behind he was, he was anywhere from 3-6mo delayed on average, some things more. His doctor wasn't sure why he was delayed, she said that Tort doesn't usually cause kids to be delayed like he was. Seamus went through a couple tests, like a CT scan and a Cystic Fibrosis test, but they all came back normal. The CT Scan did reveal Macrocephally, which we sort of knew since his head had always been in the 95+%. When he was 6 or 7 months old he started PT as well as continuing his OT. At 15months they wanted him to start Speech Therapy too but we were moving out of state. The state we moved to said that Seamus was fine and they wouldn't offer any services to him. We moved back home 8months later and got right back into the swing of things. Seamus was now having behavior issues as well as his speech problems. His doctor is great and on the ball and listens to what we have to say. We started him on Melatonin in June of '09 because he was only sleeping for 3-4hrs a night and his behavior issues got worse with the lack of sleep. But the melatonin didn't help fully and in January he was started on Tenex to help calm him down (he's constantly moving and in motion), and she also referred him to a Counselor and hopped he would also be seen to get evaluated for Aspergers (what we thought for years he had), and she also put a referral in for Speech because his speech had gotten behind. Consoling was going great, but no one would see him for an Autism spectrum evaluation telling us to go to Infant-Toddler/Early Intervention (He was too old for EI and the others wouldn't see him till age 6). I was super upset with the run around we were still getting about things as was his doctor. Finally in July (almost 7 months after the referral) we got a call from the Speech Pathologist saying they had an opening and they wanted to evaluate Seamus. The day we went in was like a huge light bulb going off for us. Seamus was diagnosed with Articulation Disorder and a Minor Speech delay (its more how he says the words we can't understand), but during the evaluation the Speech Therapist asked me if he'd been evaluated for Sensory issues. The feeling when she said that was almost peaceful and wonderful, finally someone else was noticing things besides me and my family and it wasn't all in my head. She helped us get a referral from out doctor so Seamus could see the Sensory OT at the same place we have ST at. It took a month to get into the OT eval but that day was also a great day for me, finally figuring things out and a way that we can help Seamus. Seamus was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and a Fine Motor delay(his average score in FM was a 25%). Seamus has both Hyper and Hypo Sensitivities, but now that we know more about them and why he does some of the things he does its become very helpful.

Kieran is my second child, she is 18½ months old, born April 8th, 2009. Kieran is a lot different then her brother. She's always been more social then he was at similar ages and she loves to interact with people (with Seamus that's only started in the last 1-1.5yrs). She loves to dance and is starting to like to dress up. Kieran has hit the age of Separation Anxiety and stands by me when ever we go somewhere new (something Seamus has never done). Kieran is behind in speech but for right now they are just watching her, and I was told recently because of Seamus' issues Kieran may be behind since she models after him. Its been a whole different experience with Kieran and its "odd" seeing how children from the same 2 parents can be so different developmentally and physically.

Wordless Wednesday: "Where's your tongue?"

Such a tiny girl!

I was taking pictures for a Fluffy Fashion show on JustMommies, and I put our favorite wool pants on Kieran, and found a matching shirt. When I was taking the pictures I realized...she wore this outfit last year, almost a year ago...and it still fits her! The top is actually a dress though, its 3-6months but it still fits her just fine as a top, and the longies still fit, starting to get too short but the waist is still really large on her. Kind of nice to be able to use cloths for more then just a month or so but really a year lol. So odd having such a tiny baby after my monster of a boy Seamus.


Picture from last year (I'd say Septemberish 2009, 5 or so months old)



Picture this year (July 30th, 2010, almost 16mo old)

Happy Birthday my baby girl!

My precious Kieran you are 1 today! You have gone from my tiny 6lb 13oz newborn (down to 5lbs 9oz at 2weeks old) to my 18lb even 12month old. It was an amazing year watching you grow and learn things, and for me to grow and learn how different you are from your brother(and how much easier you were!) You are the most laid back, sweetest little baby I've ever seen, preferring to watch everyone and observe your surroundings, then to run out into them. My silly, face making, goofy little girl, I love you and here's to many more years of watching you grow and learn!
<3 Mommy

Kieran's Birth Story

This is exactly how I wrote it on April 19th, 2009.

Monday April 6th I had my 38week OB appt. I see 3 different OB's sense they dont know who would be on call if I went into labor on my own. One OB the week before had said it was ok to deliver at 38weeks 3days so we scheduled the c-section for the 8th of April the previous week. At my appt Monday I saw a different OB and he was worried about doing the c-seciton at 38weeks 3days(it would be him doing the section) so he said #1 we either wait till 39weeks and have issues with dh's work or #2 do steroid shots. He was worried about delivering her so soon due to the GD and the issues with lung development in GD babies. Dh and I opted for the steroid shots. The first shot was at 1pm Monday then the second was at 8am Tuesday morning.

Tuesday night I had to wash with some nasty smelling stuff called hibbaclense(sp?) and then wasnt' allowed to use conditioner for 24hrs prior to the surgery or any products that contained Alochol as an ingredent due to possible fire hazzards in the OR.

We woke up at 4:30am on Wed. morning and I had to again wash with this stuff, supposed to help reduce the chance of infections. We left for the hospital at 5am and got there at 5:15am, got checked in at the ER/registeration desk, then waddled my little butt up to L&D (I dennyed a wheelchair sense I wouldnt be able to walk for 24hrs after the surgery). We get up to L&D and they tell me go to room 6...we get in there and I relize that it looks really similar to the room we had Seamus in and then dh starts laughing and said its the same room that Seamus was born in. There was 5 nurses waiting in my room when we got there. I got my gown and monitors on, then they started all the questions sense I haddn't registered this time, and they started the IV.

I guess my office does this thing where they take a huge vial of blood(appx 6" long and 1.5-2in wide) and do something to it and in surgery they spray it on the paitent and its supposed to speed up the healing process, so they got the huge vial of blood from me and then got the IV and antibiotics started. The doctor comes in around 6:30ish with a portable u/s machine to check that she was still breech, during the u/s she had her head in my left side just under my ribs and her feet on my right side in the middle between my ribs and hip, her back was facing down towards my cervix. The OB gave us the option one more time to try a version but he also wasnt' too sure about it because of her odd possition, dh was competely agains it and I wasnt' much for one either so we dennyed it.

The OR room was right next door to the room I was in so they have me walk into the OR room around 7:05am and help me on the table. Man that room was freezing and it didnt' help my shakes from being nervous. I got the spinal placed, so much eaiser then the epi was with Seamus. The lyed me down and then hooked up these things to my legs like giant blood pressure cuffs to help from getting blood clotts sense I woudlnt' be walking/using my legs for around 24hrs. Then they placed the cathader..I wasnt' completely numb so I felt a small pinch but not horrible painful. They call dh in at 7:38am and he sits there, then next thing I know I here 7:51am then "congrats". They called dh over to trim up the cord, and then she started crying, her apgars were 9/9 slightly better then Seamus' who was born at 39weeks 6days.

They let dh bring her over to me for about 10minutes then they take her back to the room, and do all her cleaning and weighing and such. They came back in around 8:30 and told me she was 6lbs 13oz and 19.5in long, way smaller then she looked and almost exactly a pound smaller then the u/s on Monday had predicted.

They finally got done with me at 8:58am, all while I'm itching like mad in my eyes and nose. The itching I guess is a side effect from this medication they put in the spinal called duramorph(sp?), it was freggin horrible to itch that bad and not able to itch it. I was wheeled to recovery then asked if I wanted to rest or see the baby, sense my bp was doing great. Of course I wanted to see the baby. They brought her to me and she nursed for 20minutes!! I got to the recovery PP room at around 10:20am PST, and dh and the baby where there waiting for me.

I was starving when I got to the PP recovery room sense I haddn't eaten sense 10pm the night before and asked for food. I got some grape juice and water, I wasnt' allowed food. Thank goodness I didnt' get food..About 20 minutes after I drank the grape juice I puked it all up, another side effect from the meds. Even with the pain meds it hurt like heck to be puking. I found out from dh that she was really 6lbs 12.9oz but they rounded it to 13oz instead.

Later that afternoon I felt better and wanted to try to eat so my mom ordered me some jello and chicken broth from the cafitera (dh was gone with Seamus getting me a nursing pillow sense we haddn't had the chance to get one before hand) and I slowly ate the jello and felt great...about 20minutes later again I puked it all up. Finally the nurse offered me some anti nausia meds, and of course took them, and dh brought me a frosty from wendys and I ate that fell asleep and felt great by 7pm/dinner time, and ate dinner (chicken strips and brocoli) and kept it down just fine.
I lucked out and my first nurse in the PP recovery was my brother's girlfriends mom.

I got the blood pressure thingys taken off my legs on Thursday morning and was told to get up about an hour or so after the cathader was taken out to try to pee, the nurse helped me walk, I felt like I'd been riding a horse for hours but it wasnt' too horrible to walk thanks to the pain meds.
I spent most of Thursday by myself with Kieran because my mom had to work that day and dh had to stay home with Seamus till 11:30pm.

I got to go home on Friday, one of the OBs(not the one that did the section but the one that delivered Seamus) said I could go home at 7am when he came to see me but I had to have a bowel movement first...I haddn't yet. At 12ish I had to get a lovely enema and finally went about 15minutes later. We got to leave at 1:30pm. It was horribley painful in the car. The main street by the hospital, a highway, has horrible potholes and every one was super painful when the car went over it(Thankfully they are redoing the hwy).

Been doing pretty good at home the first few days were bad, was taking my pain meds every 6hrs on the dot. Thankfully dh has been off work all week, I'm now able to go 8-9hrs between pain meds and the OB gave me a script for a lower dosage of pain meds to start taking(was taking percocet(sp?) now with hydro's)

Kieran Elizabeth
7:51am Pacific Standard Time
6lbs 13oz
19½inches long
Blonde hair blue eyes

A Year ago

This time last year I was doing the last few things around the house(laundry, and dishes) and making sure my bags were packed. It was also the last day as a mommy of 1, so I tried to spend most of the day just me and Seamus, even had him sleep with me in bed that night. Its weird to think a year has already gone by, it seems like Kieran has been here for ever but not at the same time.
Here is my last belly shot, 38weeks 3days, taken just after I got out of the shower. I had to wash with this special soap the hospital gave me to clean my tummy off to help prepare for the c-section.

Wordless Wednesday: Flowers

(You know its spring when the dandelions come out)

Birthday Party Planning

Its bitter sweet that I'm planning Kieran's first birthday. I've been slowly getting supplies for the last month, but it hit me today(her 11mo birthday) that she's actually going to be 1 in a month. This last year has gone faster then I ever thought it could. With my Nana dying so soon after Kieran was born, my mom living with us from March - July 2009, hubby's hours being so scarce we were applying for unemployment(they thankfully went back up soon after he got approved and we never got a check), to the h1n1 that Seamus had and we got some down graded version of it. Looking at her makes me want to cry, I want my tiny baby back, not that she's very big but still.
Her birthday is going to be on a Thursday so we are having her party on Saturday the 10th of April. Right now we still are not 100% sure on where it will be, I send out her invites just saying that her party will be at our house, but its possible, weather depending, that we can have it at a local park. Her them is mostly a Bold and Bright Color theme, with cupcakes and tea party thrown in. I was having just a cupcake-tea party theme before I realized how many girls were having that theme for their first birthday, and even slightly changing it up I found out a lot are doing similar colors(her primary are Bright Pink and Bright Green). Seamus' first birthday was so much easier, being in the summer I just did a Hawaiian theme and no one else I know(IRL or online) was doing it. So far it looks like it will be us, my mom and 1 brother (other is an iffy, with his marriage going up and down) and possibly my friend and her son(he will be 10.5mo then), but I've invited more just waiting to hear if anymore will come. I'm hoping to make a veggie tray like I did for Seamus, have some macaroni salad(though I wont eat it), peanut-butter sandwiches for the kids, cucumber sandwiches and tuna sandwiches and drinks. There's still a few more things that I'm not sure about but slowly figuring it out.

Here is her invite


(Pictures taken w/ a Canon T1i, Digiscrap kit, "Party Time," by Pure Creativity Designs, I did the layout, fonts from Fonts For Peas)

Been a tad MIA

This last week has been a little hectic, err well just the weekend really. I feel so thrown off still. Wedensday we went to my mom's to pickup her van. Why you may ask? Because she can't drive it for a couple weeks...again why? She had to have a hysterectomy Thursday morning(I have the van so I can drive her around or get her in the day while hubby is working if needed since we only have one car for now). She's been having some problems for just over a year now so this was something that we kind of knew would be coming, and its good that its done now. She went in for surgery Thursday morning and found out Thursday evening when the doc finally came to talk to her that they accidentally cut her bladder. Since they cut her bladder she has to have a catheter in until this coming Thursday (hopefully its healed enough to remove then). Mom was released Friday night and Kieran and I went to stay with her. I stayed with her until late Saturday night because she's not supposed to be doing much (shes got a dog and cat that need taken care of too) and shes lonely by herself.

Friday morning we also had Seamus' evaluation to see how he is. I'm so happy to say hes finally on track with his developments, averaging 65% (they were between 65-66%) on his gross motor skills. He did fail his hearing because he wouldn't cooperate with the lady, and they are wanting to keep an eye on his speech and want him re-evaluated. I'm going to pass on redoing the hearing because he's been tested quite a big and we know he can hear just fine, for the speech we will be talking with his pedi in a couple weeks. The 1 problem they all had with him...he wouldn't listen, got off track and didn't cooperate with the, the same issues we have at home. If we aren't in Nebraska he has an appointment on February 8th with his pedi to talk about his behavior and how its slowly getting worse, and about how his speech is declining. Kieran's Early Headstart FC (Seamus' old one too but he aged out of the program at 3) said that they had a speaker at the office a couple weeks back, and the lady was talking about her son. Our FC said the speakers son sounded just like Seamus, the speakers son has ADHD and Bipolar disorder. Both of those issues are very likely, Bipolar slightly more as it seems to run in hubbys family (His grandma, mom, him and brother all have it...its partially why he's up here and all his family is in Texas), and ADHD is in both of our families. From what my mom has told me there is a fine line between Bipolar and ADHD and something around 85% of people with ADHD also have Bipolar. We will be talking with his doctor about getting him tested for these. If we can find an answer I think it will help us all out.

Last Monday (12th) we had Kieran's 9 month appointment. She's doing well, still small in the 20-25% for weight and height at 17lbs 12oz and 26½" long. She's on track with all her milestones and seems to be doing great. The doc said to just skip the baby purees since she refuses to eat them and let her have big people food if thats what she wants.

Wordless Wednesday: 9mo and 3.5yrs

Seamus will be 3.5yrs on the 18th, and Kieran turned 9mo on the 8th. These were taken at JC Penney on 1/9

Wordless Wednesday

9 Months old (well on Friday 1/8)

Wordless Wednesday: 1st Christmas

Christmas pictures....with an almost 8 month old

So I decided to try to take some Christmas pictures of Kieran today...some turned out pretty well(well I think so :-p) others not so great, she wasn't in the mood to sit still.




The fairly good ones

Wordless Wednesday

Sitting for 1minute at a time now!

Wordless Wednesday: 7 months ago

My little Kierbear is almost 7.5months old, it makes me sad :(

Wordless Wednesday: Sitting

Almost Wordless...She turned 7mo old on the 8th and she can now sit with something behind her its not really supporting her but she wont sit without it. She still my little pip squeek at 15lbs 14oz(2weeks ago so 16lbs now) and around 25.5" (tiny compared to her brother who at 7mo was over 18lbs and 28") Still 95% breastfed shes had solids a few times but doesn't really care to eat them yet.

Kieran needs Votes!

I entered Kieran in Diaper Lab's Strut Your Fluff photo contest and Kieran was selected as a finalist. She needs your vote! She is the one in the wings :D

Click here to vote!!