LONG time, no post!

Things have been crazy around here... not bad just busy. I appologize to those of you who follow about not posting in a LONG time!

Where to start... Well, we are in the process of buying our first house. Right now, its kind of at a stand still because we are waiting to hear back on a few things. But we are excited about the prospect of our first place. Its back up in Milwaukee and the tentative close date is June 12th. Here is a pic of the front of our hopefully new house.

Brianna had her 6 month half birthday this week as well! I cannot believe how much she is changing and growing! She has hit every one of her milestones and is ahead in most aspects. She can sit unassisted (for a short time), can put all her weight on her feet and will stand there (as long as we are close to balance her), she rolls everywhere and is trying to figure out the crawling thing (this one can wait a bit), she is officially eating solids 2x/day now (loves sweet potatoes, tolerates peas and hates squash) and she is 'talking' (more like screetching) up a storm! Oh yea and how could I forget to mention, she is sleeping like a champ (will sleep 14 hours straight if we let her)!

She had her 6 month shots yesterday and our poor baby has a little knot under her skin where the second one went in and its all red :( She was also a bit cranky! - Anyone who knows our little girl knows she is NOT cranky so we feel so bad for her!

We also got our 6 month stats yesterday as well: Head circ. 16.75 inches (50th percent), weight 15.4 lbs (50th percent) and height 27.5 inches (97th percent). Our little baby is going to be a tall one! Just like her daddy~

Here are some pics that I took yesterday on her 6 month birthday!

Rolling on camera and squash

I have a pic of Brianna finally rolling over. She has gotten to the point where she doesn't want to go to bed. The second we put her down to sleep she will roll to her tummy and stay wide awake. Hopefully this phase won't last too long as it takes about 20 minutes now to put her down as compared to the five it used to take!

We decided to start Brianna on squash this week. No particular reason why other than the grocery store we were at didn't have many organic veggie options. Todd and I have decided that we are going to attempt to make all of Brianna's baby food. Its not that hard, so far! We found a little food processor and some containers that fit the perfect amount. All it takes is a few minutes to steam the organic veggies then throw them in the food processor and we are set for the week... Next weeks menu - maybe peas or green beans???

I have a pic of her first few bites of squash. After day 3 she still isn't sure if she likes it or not, but towards the end of it, she will tolerate it much more.

Picture Time...

Not a whole lot to report... Brianna is starting to roll more often though still not consistantly. She can go both belly to back and back to belly and we have to say its pretty cool! She has also found her feet. They have yet to go totally to her mouth, though Im sure thats not far behind seeing as how EVERYTHING has to go into her mouth right now :) She is also starting to sit more independantly - and can even support her entire weight on her legs for an extended time. If we lean her against our ottoman, she will stand there for about a minute - so neat~

Anyway, I figured it would be fun to put up some pics we took tonight. Enjoy~

Solids, out and about and 4 month appointment!

I have been slacking on the updating thing lately - sorry! So much has been going on... where to start...

We decided a few nights ago to try and start Brianna on some solids. She officially got the OK this past Friday, but we were anxious to see how she did. Here is some pics...

As you can see, we haven't invested in a high chair yet. Thats on our shopping list once she starts eating them more regularly. She did great though! I was surprised she didn't just play with it and spit it out - she actually ate it! We just gave her the rice cereal. But tonight, Im trying some oatmeal and then next week, Todd and I will be making her own food.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous around here lately (minus today). Last weekend we went to the arboretum and to Biltmore estate and walked around a bit. We got Brianna a new stroller and front carrier so she can look out... much happier than the inward facing Beco!

Finally, she had her 4 month appointment yesterday. Of course, this meant more shots, but she is a trooper. With everything she has gone through, I don't think it really phased her much. Todd took her and said she only cried for a second during the shots and then was back to her old happy self. Dr. Martin saw her and gave us the official diagnosis for her eyes - unfortunately I don't have the sheet with me so I can't tell you all. But it is completely benign and is just the way she is... Our little girl weight 13 lbs and 5 oz (50th percentile), had a head circ. of 16 (50th percentile) and was 25 1/4 inches long (90th percentile - yea thats right 90th!) So she is definately taking after her daddy!

Oh yea - she also rolled back to belly earlier this week! Of couse Todd and I both missed it as it took place at about 2 am. She must have been up working on it because all of a sudden we heard her crying over the monitor. Anyone who knows how Brianna sleeps knows this isn't normal as our little girl will go to bed around 8 and not get up - or at least let us know she is awake - until around 8am. So Todd went in to see what was going on and sure enough, she was on her belly and was not happy about it! Silly girl~ Now all she has to do is repeat it!

Picture time and laughs...

Its amazing to me that after so many tests and things Brianna has been through that she is so relaxed and happy so much of the time. This past week we went and had her 3 month pics taken and she was all smiles (until the end). She had the cutest little grin on her face most of the time which made it pretty easy to take pics. We are waiting on getting the CD from the photographer so I will post some when we get the official copyright version.

Brianna is to the point where she has to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. I know this is just the start and she will be doing this for quite a while. It is so neat to see her actually pick things up or reach for them and bring them to her mouth. Her all time favorite is her giraffe. Here is a pic...

She is also getting really good at trying to sit. We got her a bumbo not too long ago and she loves sitting in it. She can sit up nearly unassisted already which is really neat. (we put the boppy behind her in case she falls)

About a week ago, she started laughing. I went to pick her up from daycare one day and she just started laughing when she saw me. It is so cute. Every night Todd and I try to see if we can make her laugh. Tonight I was able to catch just a bit of it on camera. Im trying to post it, we will see if it works!

Happy HEALTHY 3 month old!

Today was a good day. We were up early and had Brianna's MRI. It wasn't easy watching her have to be sedated, but she didn't have to go under general anesthesia afterall so it was much easier than we thought. They did head, neck and chest MRI. The whole test took about 1 1/2 hours. Afterwards, she was a bit groggy for a while but is now back to her normal self. At about 4 today, we found out the great news... no tumors or cancer to be found! We can now concentrate on our beautiful baby and not have to worry there might be something wrong. Todd and I are so relieved and happy.

Today was also her three month old milesone. Its hard to believe she was born just three months ago! Now she's sleeping through the night, smiling, laughing, holding things, and starting to try to roll over. Im posting some pics that we took today (granted she is still a bit groggy from her MRI this morning)...

This past weekend, we got a chance to go down to the Pisgah National Forest, just 30 minutes from our house. The weather was great and everything was so beautiful this time of year even without leaves on the trees. Im posting some pics from our weekend...

Ultrasound results

We were up early this morning for Brianna's ultrasound. The tech was very thorough and looked at all her major organs (I thought she would only be looking at her kidneys/adrenal glands). The scan didn't take too long - only about 20 minutes and Brianna did great until the end when she got a bit hungry. She is definately an old pro when it comes to these tests now!

I was worried we wouldn't find out the results until next week and while at work today the office called. Everything in her abdominal cavity looks good! No abnormal masses/tumors - SIGH. We couldn't be more relieved.

Next big step is the MRI on Thursday to look for any brain masses. She has to be sedated for that, and it could be the scariest to find out the results for, so wish her the best of health and luck~

Daycare, visitors and updates...

So this has been a busy week for us! Monday was Brianna's first day of daycare. I must say it was bittersweet. I know that Brianna needs the socialization and Todd and I need to work in order to provide the kind of life we want for her, but its so hard thinking of strangers watching our little girl. Needless to say, she has been doing great! The first day was only a half day as Grandma Gordon picked her up just after noon. Today was her first full day and she seemed to be doing well when I picked her up. Here is a pic Todd took just before dropping her off on her first day of daycare...

We had a really great weekend here in NC. With all the uncertainty, we wanted to do our best and have a NORMAL weekend for once. We drove to Hickory on Saturday to the furniture capital of the world and went to a 4 story furniture mall. Then on Sunday we went to the arboretum and walked through some of the gardens. It was really nice to be outside in early Febuary without needing to wear a jacket! Here is a pic of us at the gardens...

Aunt Mary and Uncle Kenny were in town tonight and got a chance to meet Brianna for the first time tonight. Even after a long day of daycare, Brianna was all smiles and had a great time meeting them. Here is a pic of Brianna with Uncle Kenny... she was a bit fussy when it picture time with Aunt Mary came around.

Other big news for the day... We have Brianna's ultrasound and MRI scheduled. Next Monday morning is her renal ultrasound and next Thursday morning is her MRI. She will have to be sedated for her MRI so that one we are a bit nervous for and we will be taking the whole day to be with her. The pediatrician also called back tonight to follow up with us and see how the oncology appointment went. It was really nice to know they are thinking about us over there. He also brought really promising news... the urine test they took last week came back as normal for both indicators for neuroblastoma. This is great news! Now we just need to hear similar results at our tests next week and we can breathe easier...

Grandma Gordon leaves tomorrow... Todd and I have been very lucky to have her here for the past 3 weeks and it sure is going to be different without her! Im sure Brianna will miss her a bunch!

Here are a few more pics we have taken over the past week.

Good Preliminary Results!

We spent nearly the whole day with the oncology appointment and got some good preliminary results! Todd and I are extremely relieved, though we still have to hear back from the oncologist himself.

Walking into the pediatric oncology clinic was a difficult thing to do this morning. I have to say, never in a million years did I ever imagine having to take my child to test for cancer. They were incredibly warm and comforting there though which helped a lot. After the traditional heart rate, weight and bp tests they took us back to the room where our nurse for the day took our version of events that lead us to them.

After she was done, Dr. Beatey came in and took the most thorough history. He was very nice and put us at ease pretty quickly. After taking the history, he did a very thorough exam (similar to the pedi yesterday). His first comment was that she does not look like a sick little girl and everything preliminarily checks out great. The only thing he could find was the fact that her eyes and pupils were different sizes.

We took blood work and a chest x-ray to look for any masses around the superior cervical ganglion in the upper chest area. The ironic thing was that we had had a chest x-ray just 2 weeks ago so it gave the radiologist a nice comparision. Except for some slightly off bloodwork results, most likely due to her fighting off the virus mom and I have had, everything looks pretty good!

We are still waiting to hear back from Dr. Beatey to see what the next step will be. She might have to have a CT to double check everything the chest x-ray showed, or we may just be waiting and watching for a while. I will update with the news when we hear something!

Thank you to everyone thinking about us today, knowing you all care has helped us get through this difficult time~

UPDATE: I just spoke to Dr. Beatey and he feels we should do an MRI and Adrenal ultrasound to further rule out any brainstem issue and verify no neuroblastoma. So still on pins and needles until the MRI is done at some point next week.

Scary uncertainty...

I am copying a pasting from an email I wrote today to tell the story about our day... Sorry if it sometimes seems out of context.

Brianna's pupils are dramatically different sizes (have been for a month or so) and we were referred to a pediatric opthamalogist to examine her. Todd took her to the appointment this afternoon. The Dr. said that she either has two extremes: either she is just normally that way and the reason for this difference is completely benign or she may have neuroblastoma. Obviously we have to take this very seriously. They were referred back to our pediatricians office for a 24 hour urine test to check for levels of hormone in Brianna's system. The pediatrician and eye doctor thought it very important we see the pediatric oncologist (man to even say that...) right away tomorrow morning. They will determine what imaging and bloodwork needs to be done to determine whether or not it is neuroblastoma. Our appointment is for 9am on Friday morning(tomorrow). I do not know how long the appointment will take, what they will do, or if we will need to go directly for imaging...

The good news out of a crappy day... Brianna was all smiles and a happy happy girl today. So even though she was being examined literally from head to toe, she took it all in stride.

Please help us pray for the best tomorrow and from here on out for our little girl!

Some pics...

I was just noticing how much Brianna has grown... Here is a pic taken at one week and another taken today at about 10 weeks...

Milestones of the week: "talking back and holding things on purpose" Alright, she's not really talking of course but she will definitely copy me when I go "ohhh' and 'ahhh' and she also is laughing a bit and learning to stick out her tongue. Here's a pic of her grabbing at her favorite...giraffe!

Two month checkup-

Brianna had her 2 month check up this morning and shots. Todd has been in WI all week and I had to work so Grandma took her and said she did great! She weighed 11 lbs 7 oz and is 24 inches long. I have to look at the growth charts to see what percentile because Dr. Martin didn't go over that with mom. She's lifting her head up appropriately and using her legs better than the Doctor expected given the fact that she was in a brace until a week ago. She is even putting weight on them and lifting herself up a bit. So exciting!

Mom said she had 3 shots and did pretty well. She only cried for about 5 minutes and by the time they had her dressed and in the car seat she was back to her old self - for now that is :) We will see how she does this afternoon. Mom gave her some tylenol to combat any fever that might try to spike. Lets hope for a happy baby tonight! - I really hope she continues the STTN as she has been for the past few weeks. Gotta love it that she sleeps straight from 9-6!! (lucky us)

The Dr. did up her dose of Zantac and kept her on her new dose of Prevacid. So she is currently taking two meds twice a day. Dr. Martin wanted us to watch and see how she does over the next week to look for improvement (already 100% improved from last weekend). If it doesn't look like the meds are doing the job, we will have to go in for more tests and they might have to change her meds/formula around.

The last thing on my list was her eyes. I don't know if I had mentioned that her pupils were different sizes and have been for quite a while. Well anyone who knows me knows that I am very type A and paranoid about anything going wrong with her so I have been freaking out about this for the past month. When we were in the ER with her last weekend, I asked the doc about it there and he didn't see much of a problem with them. They both dialate and constrict appropriately. Well, the pediatrician we saw Sunday morning thought it was enough for a referral to a pediatric opthamologist. (They scheduled that for next Thursday.) Of course this freaks me out even more and I proceed to google the topic - not recommended! Dr. Martin looked at them today and said that she didn't think it would be anything serious. So I am hoping that two out of the three docs that looked at them this week are right! We will know next Thursday I guess!

If you are still reading, congrats! I know this turned into a long one! Ill keep you all updated on how she does post-shots and what happens next week at the opthamologist.

Sick baby = fussy time and sleepless nights

So mom and I had a scare this weekend with Brianna.

We were at the mall and Brianna was acting somewhat odd. She had an odd look on her face and seemed kind of out of it. As we were changing her in one of the mall restrooms (after 3 failed attempts at finding a changing table), she started laboring in her breathing, wheezing and I think her lips started turning blue. Needless to say, I completely freaked out and picked her up and handed her to my mom. After a few seconds (though it felt like a lot more), she started crying and her breathing returned to normal. Of course we called the pediatrician right away who sent us to the emergency room.

I was on call this week so I planned to be going to the ED, but NOT for my daughter... thankfully, she had stabilized and the ED staff was very helpful in getting her through to the back in less than 5 minutes. After a chest x-ray and 3 hours, we were released with the diagnosis of reflux induced chocking. (She has been diagnosed with reflux since about 3 weeks old).

We went home with a somewhat happy Brianna and thought things would be back to normal. Six hours later as I was getting her ready for bed, it happened again. Of course this time I knew what to expect and she only wheezed for a few seconds. I had her up and screaming as soon as I recognized what was going on. Needless to say, I called the pedi once again and they recommended we come in to the clinic in the morning.

After a very sleepless night - and THANKFULLY no pages for me to the emergency room - we made it to the pediatrician without any more episodes. The pedi looked her over from head to toe and changed her reflux meds along with recommending we thicken her formula with rice cereal.

With the eventful day we had that day and the day before, Brianna was so overtired that we had to drive around for over a half an hour to get her to calm down enough to go to bed! Our poor new neighbors were just moving in yesterday and she was screaming nearly the whole time. I was tempted to introduce myself and appologize!

- a pic of her in her new carrier - one that is good for her hips so we don't have to worry about dislocating them! This was one of the ways I attempted to calm her down... it did work but only for a while.

Today she seems a bit better now that we have had her new med on board for a while and thickening her formula... Lets hope for the best~ We are just happy to know the cause of what happened and are praying for no more episodes!

No more harness!

After a long day at Shriners with my mom and Todd, Brianna got a clean bill of hip health! Though Todd had to kindly remind Dr. Pete that she had infact been stable for 6 weeks now (he initially said ok, looks good, lets keep her in for another two weeks), he finally gave her the all clear. The ultrasound looked so good the radiologist said he couldn't even tell there was ever a problem. She's scheduled for a two month follow up and will continue to have follow ups until she is 18. It's good to see she will be followed closely.

Its pretty funny to watch her try to adjust to life without it! She has had a brace of one form or another since she was 13 days old. We will see how she will sleep tonight...

Im posting some pics of Brianna without her harness. -Some of the MAY have been taken before she got the 'all clear' in our illegal nightly stretch sessions ;)

Lets hope for the best tomorrow!!

My first week back to work is offically done... now comes week two and on call. Im completely dreading balancing on-call with work and new baby. But I guess Ive got to jump back in with both feet! Thankfully Todd is here thru Friday (then going up to Milwaukee for the week) and my mom is in town.

Brianna was a bit fussy the past week...probably because she is still adjusting to everything. This past weekend she must have been so happy to have both of us home that she wouldn't take any naps, so of course she was overtired. She managed to sleep pretty well, once we got her down for the night though...

Here's a pic taken on Monday after I came home from my first day back at work... Do you think she missed her mom?? I like to think so :)

Tomorrow is a big day for us... IF all goes well, Brianna may be getting her harness off! We are so excited! I've got a pile of cute outfits ready to be washed and cannot wait to let her wear them all.

The hurdle is her sonogram and the Dr. Her hip has been 'normal' on sonogram for the past month and she has been in a stable position for 6 weeks so we will see. It all depends on Dr. Pete's mood tomorrow I guess!

Let's hope for the best~ Hopefully at this time tomorrow, our little girl will be free!

Back to work...

Today was my first day back at work. I have to say it was probably much more difficult for me than it was for Brianna. In fact, she probably didn't realize I was even gone more than a bit. It was nice to come home and find her cooing and smiling. Im sure this week will be hard, but hopefully they will get better.

Next week my mom is coming to spend three weeks with her and then after that is the dreaded daycare :( Feb 2nd will be a very tough day. But we found a daycare we feel pretty good about and hopefully she will do well there - again harder on us than on her!

Her sleeping has been getting better and better too! (probably jinxing us here) Last night we were lucky to go from 8:30 all the way to 5:45! Not too shabby for a seven and a half week old! It probably has something to do with the fact that when she's awake all she wants to do is eat and eat and eat! Lets hope for more nights like last night!

Hopefully only one more week in her harness as well! We have an appointment with her specialist next Tuesday and if all looks well, he said this might be our last week in the harness - YAY! She doesn't really mind, its all she really knows. But I know Todd and I will be happy. Less to deal with on our midnight diaper changes! Wish her luck!

Here's one of our favorite pics from Christmas day...