Mckenzie update

Mckenzie has been sick way more often than we'd like. Last summer it was recurrent ear infections, she had tubes placed in her ears last September. Ear infections have been a thing of the past, last winter she started getting croup and other nasty illnesses very often. I think we're at 5-6 bouts of croup between winter and now. Each one has required an ER room visit, and one she had stridor (trouble breathing like she'd just ran a marathon) with croup that required her to be transported via ambulance....so scary and of course Jeremy happened to be out of town. Every time we'd go to the ER shed get a dose of oral steroids and shed be good, but typically with in a few days shed have a cold, bronchiolitis, and twice shes had pneumonia.

Doctors thought part of it was due to her being in daycare, kids in day care are sick something like 8-12 yikes per year...yeah basically once a month! Finally after this last bout of croup she kept making a noise as if you would if you were excited or startled. I took her back to her pediatrician and asked her thoughts, she agreed the number of times of her getting croup was too many. We were referred to an ENT doctor, when I called she was booked until the end of September! Her pediatrician made a call and had us worked into the schedule within a week.

We had a consult with her ENT yesterday. Her pediatrician said she wondered if part of Mckenzie's airway was narrowed slightly, which in small children a bit of narrowing is a lot. She said the ENT would probably want to do a bronchoscopy (camera down her airway). We went in and they decided To put a small tube into her nasal passage which they could see into the throat, do they put numbing drops in her nose which of course she was NOT happy about. They told us she would hate it but would take hour 45 seconds to a minute. She was wrapped up and Jeremy held her against him. They went in and the doctor let me take a peek because her tonsils which were really enlarged and inflamed. She wss given her first lolly pop after that and was a happy camper again. So the doctor recommended we do the bronchoscopy which she has to be under for, check the airway to ensure it looks good which she thinks will be fine but wants to rule that out. Her recommendation was to plan to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. The quick peek I had definitely showed her tonsils being inflamed and enlarged. She really thinks the tonsils are the culprit, which makes total sense for the recurrent croup and constant sickness. She recommended removing the adenoids because the fluid drains to the ears, and with her history of recurrent ear infections she thought we should remove them then. The other thing she noticed is that she is also tongue tied enought that she needs to have that clipped which they will do at the same time. Poor baby, she will need to stay at least one night in the hospital, they said as long as she's eating okay and drinking enough fluids then she can go home. I guess most kids want and can eat right after surgery.

She said kids bounce back much quicker with the tonsillectomy and adenoids than adults. I actually had my tonsils removed in college because of constant illness, once I got the, removed I wasn't getting sick hardly at all.

I'm hopefully and optimistic that this will take care of things so she doesn't keep getting sick so often, a little cold I can handle. She's such a trooper when she is sick, but I'm looking forward to her getting healthy!

Thankfully ER have really good insurance through Jeremy's work, we've met her out of pocket max with our health insurance between multiple ER visits and doctor visits, so it'll all be covered with no more out of pocket.

Her surgery is scheduled for Monday, July 30, 2012. She will be out of daycare for about a week. I'm so thankful to get a ton of vacation time, I'm planning to take the week off but may do part of the week and Jeremy the second half, since I'm still working from home. It's difficult to work at home because for whatever reason the noise travels even though My office door is closed, so tentatively I'm going to take the full week off.

Thats what's going on in our household, we have a busy July coming up, a good friend is getting married in Washington and Jeremy is in the wedding.

Keeps some good thoughts and prayers for Mckenzie that she will have a safe and successful surgery that gets her back on the path to being healthy.

18 Months!

I'm so behind on blogging but wanted to post her stats at her appointment a few weeks ago 

(as of 5/18/12)

27 lbs 11 oz (90% weight)

32 7/8" (88% height)

48 cm (90% head circumference)

She is doing really well, unfortunately still seems to pick up illnesses frequently. She seems to get croup often that always requires a ER visit of course in the middle of the night! Her pediatrician is not too concerned with her getting sick frequently because she is in daycare. She said children in daycare are sick between 8-14 times per year, it seems like she's sick almost once a month so I guess she is within the norm still. She said she isn't concerned with any type of auto-immune disorder because her height and weight are great. She said kids either will get sick a lot now or when they get into kindergarten. Thank goodness for a lot of time off from work! 

She has 16 teeth now, all 4 molars came in at the same time and pretty quickly, she was cranky throughout it a bit but much better then I expected her to be! All four cuspids came through pretty close together too - and are about 3/4 the way in, again a trooper!  The only teeth left are her second molars which can arrive between 2-3.

Her vocabulary has increased SIGNIFICANTLY over the last 2-3 ish months!

Some of the words I can think of are:

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. Bentley (our dog) but comes out Beeenbeeyyy!
4. Cat - knows how to make the sound too
5. Dog - knows how to make the sound too
6. Hot
7. Up
8. Down
9. Juice
10. Raisins
11. Cracker
12. Eat
13. More
14. Please
15. Thank you
16. Moose
17. Baby
18. Yellow
19. Purple
20. Pink
21. Bunny
22. Blanket
23. Pig - knows how to make the sound too
24. Piggy 
25. Book
26. Ball
27. Egg
28. Cheese
29. Shoes
30. Yeah
31. Yay
32. No
33. Go
34. Bag
35. Hello
36. Bye Bye
37. Hi
38. Frog - knows how to make the sound too
39. Bear
40. Train
41. Hat
42. Grandma
43. Grandpa
44. Uncle 
45. Auntie
46. Wagon
47. Walk
48. Bike
49. Pizza
50. Cup
51. Milk
52. Fish
53. Bird - knows how to make the sound too
54. Sheep - knows how to make the sound too
55. Cow - knows how to make the sound too
56. Horse - knows how to make the sound too

I know there are more words that I can't think of, it's amazing how her vocabulary has exploded. She understands things really well, you can ask her to do things or bring you something and she will go and find it. Sometimes she will say things that we didn't even think she knew! 

Loves to wear shoes, go for walks and wagon rides - you can't say "Let's go for a walk" and not go, she runs to the door in our laundry room, which goes out to the garage. Loves to play outside. Loves getting up into a chair or on the couch by herself. She is also climbing up into her highchair and tells us when she wants to eat, I try to remember to put her tray back because she climbs up there when your back is turned for a second!

She has started to tantrum here and there, and we find when we tell her she can't have something and why and starts a meltdown, we just walk away from here (if were not out) and within seconds she gets up and stops crying.  Seems to work for now...

Over Memorial Day weekend Jeremy and I went on our annual camping trip at Winchester Bay, near Coos Bay - Oregon dunes. We were going to bring Mckenzie but when my parents offered to watch her for the weekend, we decided to take them up on their offer.  We drove from Meridian to Portland on Wednesday night and she pretty much slept most of the way through since we left after dinner.  We stayed in Sherwood Wednesday to Thursday. Early Friday morning Mckenzie woke up with croup, so I took her into the ER and she was given medication and we were out within 30 minutes. It has been suggested to take them into a steamy bathroom for about 20 minutes or outside in the moist air.  Neither seems to ever work and croup can usually peak on night 2, so I figured with us leaving early Friday morning it'd be best to take her in vs my parents having to take her in while we were gone.  Luckilu we were in and out within 30 minutes. After we returned from the ER around 5am, went back to sleep and got up about 6am, I took her by myself since Jeremy was driving and I could sleep.  She had a wonderful weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa was remodeling the kitchen and Mckenzie helped demo and they tore out all the cabinets. I laughed at my step-dad when he said he was planning to do it when he watched Mckenzie on Friday, because I thought there was no way he was getting it done!

Our weekend consisted of great weather! Usually rains a day or 2 of the weekend. It was our first weekend away (together) without Mckenzie. We enjoyed ourselves and missed her. It was sure nice to be able to go ride our quads on the dunes and not feel rushed to hurry back to camp because someone was watching her.

We will be back and forth to Oregon quite a bit in June and July for birthday parties, a good friend's wedding which Jeremy is the best man in so all the fun festivities that surround that. :) Its nice that I am able to work at my office in Portland if needed!

Other then that we don't have many trips planned this year. Jeremy's family is going to Yellowstone in September. I am unsure if I plan to go, I can't imagine a toddler enjoying being in and out of her carseat all the time.  She does well in the car but I doubt she will do good getting in and out which seems to happen frequently when visiting Yellowstone. We'll see what happens and play it by ear for now.

Happy 1st Birthday!

I can't believe our little girl is 1 today!  This has been the most amazing year! Mckenzie is such an amazing blessing!

Just a little walk down memory lane...

Mckenzie Ashton

Born November 13, 2010

8:42am

8 pounds

21 inches long

 Newborn Pictures

  3 month Pictures

  6 month Pictures

  9 month Pictures

 1 year pictures

Some family pictures....

We ended up in the ER yesterday evening, she had been running a fever in the afternoon and then was making random breathing noises last night.  After talking with the advice nurse we decide to have her checked....she has a mild case of pneumonia. She got an antibiotic shot and has to take antibiotics for the next 5 days and re-check with her pediatrician tomorrow.  She actually is in great spirits and you wouldn't know she was under the weather.  Praying for a speedy recovery!!

She is scheduled to go for her 1 year well baby check on Friday. Not sure if she will be able to get her vaccinations with the pneumonia

I will try to do better keeping this updated! :)

Hello!

Ahh! I've been a horrible blogger!

All is going well, our little lady turns 1 tomorrow, I still can't believe it!

We had a birthday party in Oregon last weekend! She had no interest in opening gifts but was interested in what she got! I made the lady bug cupcakes too :)


We did our family pictures and her 1 year photos today.  I made a huge cupcake for her to tear into, we decided to do that last so of course she ended up being tired - we got some good pictures, I can't wait to see them all!

Seems weird that this time last year I was in labor but wasn't really sure it was the real thing since my contractions were really hurting.  Jeremy went and got dinner at one of my favorite restaurants Flatbread Community Oven!  We didn't ended up going to the hospital until around 11:30pm when the contractions started getting closer together (3-5 minutes).

Mckenzie is such a joyful little girl and an absolute blessing! I will try to keep this more update, thanks Valerie for reminding me to get in gear! ;)

6 month pictures

We had Mckenzie's 6 month pictures taken last weekend at our house and the park by our home by a photographer.  We had over 100 pictures that turned out amazing! :) I LOVE them all! I love that you can see her personality in all the pictures ;)

6 months old!

Mckenzie was 6 months old on Friday the 13th! Haha!

She had her 6 month appointment yesterday

She got 1 combo vaccine in one leg and then another vaccine in the other leg and one oral.  She didn't cry for one of the shots but let us know she was NOT happy on the other leg.  She stopped crying as soon as we picked her up.

She is now weighing 19 pounds 11 ounces (97th Percentile)

27.5" inches long (90th Percentile)

Head circumference is 44cm (90th Percentile)

Everything checked out great and the doctor was pleased with how well she is growing! :)

The nurse said that she is the size of some 1 year old! Got a healthy baby girl! :)

Although at 5:30am we woke up and I noticed she was warm, fever of 101.4 which they said is normal after vaccines.  I gave her some Tylenol and at 7am it was at 100.

Mckenzie started at daycare last week and had a great week! She did much better then I expected her to. Well, daycare's fever cut off is 100, they said it was up to me to bring her but if it didn't go down I'd have to come get her.  I decided to just keep her home.  Jeremy and I are both slammed at work but I decided I'd stay home and will try to get some stuff done when she naps. I really like her new daycare, the people are great! She is also enjoying being around the other babies too.  They also have a camera so we can log on at anytime during the day to see what's going on which is nice.  I've been popping in at lunch to feed her which I will probably stop doing next week, I figured it'd help her get adjusted but she is doing so well :)

My mom and Dan came and visited last Thursday to Sunday! We had so much fun! I took Friday off and we went yard sailing, picked up a doggie pool and mom found a cruiser bike to ride when they visit. We also went and got Shaved Ice! When we lived in Hawaii - that was one of my favorite things to get (next to Spam Musubi) and when we moved to Idaho I was so excited to see shaved ice stands all over town! No complaints here! They even have sweet cream too, just like Hawaii! Love it!

We also checked out the Boise Farmers Market which was a blast!  We planted flowers on Friday as part of Mother's Day tradition, normally mom and I plant flowers for her Mother's Day but we did it here this year

We did a wine barrel and 2 pots in the front of the house too

Bentley and Tank checking out the dog pool! They loved it! Especially Tank, he'd jump in it every time he walked by!

Mom's new beach cruiser for Idaho! She got this brand new $200+ bike for $60 at a yard sale!

Ahhh! 1st shaved ice of the year!

Family picture at the Farmers market! See my arm...burnt from planting flowers on Friday!

Mckenzie have a little water from a sippy cup!

Sitting up on her own in her bouncer! Good thing they have seat belts in them!

Mckenzie is growing so fast and has such a cute personality! She is ALWAYS smiling, no complaints here! The only time she cries is if she is hungry, overly tired or has a teething episode, and generally doesn't last long.  Over a week ago she started sitting with her boppy pillow behind her and she can now sit on her own! 

Relaxing on my boppy with Sophie the giraffe! I heard about Sophie and thought I'd bite the bullet to get her one, she LOVES it! Bentley gets confused since it squeaks like his toys and somehow he hasn't snagged it yet!

We're going to be getting Mckenzie a new convertible car seat, her current Chicco KeyFit goes up to 30 pounds or 30 inches.  I found an excellent deal online for the Britax Marathon seat which I think is what we'll end up getting for her.  She is getting heavier and I can barely get her infant carrier into our lifted truck! 

We also celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on May 17th! We went out to a nice restaurant in town called Kahootz! :)

Julie's Baby Shower

I threw my best friend Julie a baby shower last month in Oregon! It was a blast! A lot of people came!

We had sandwich wraps, croisant sandwiches, veggies, guacamole, chips, dip and of course home made cupcakes.  We did Lemon poppy seed, red velvet and carrot cake all with cream cheese frosting - all from scratch! They were a hit and even people asked where I bought them :) I so need to open a cupcakery! - Someday I will :)