Brace-Face
Thursday, March 27, 2008Lauren got her bottom braces on today (she's already had the top braces for a few months now)!
jenny penny
Adventures in the Phethean Household........
And here is the "After" picture
And here is one of Lauren just being plain silly
A Wrinkle in Time
Tuesday, March 25, 2008I just finished reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L' Engle. The first time I read this book was in the 5th grade. It has been many years since I have read it but it has always been one of my favorite books. The other day as I was browsing the shelves at Target and I saw it and thought to myself I deserve a treat so I picked it up. I have enjoyed this book so much that I am plan on reading all 5 of the books in this series. Meg is by far my favorite character. She has such great qualities about her, she needs to build up her self-confidence. 
One stormy night...
...a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe on a most dangerous and fantastic journey–a journey that will threaten their lives and our universe.
...a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe on a most dangerous and fantastic journey–a journey that will threaten their lives and our universe.
Setting Goals
Today was a day for setting goals. Early Intervention came out to our house this morning and we reviewed the girls IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan). The girls will be starting a Global Developmental Program at Gallagher Pediatric Therapy next week. They will be recieving services on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9 a.m. until noon. They will be pulling Audrey out 1 hour a week for individual OT. I am excited and a little nervous all at the same time. I am excited that the girls willl be recieving services but a the same time I am worried about how the girls will handle this big change. 3 hours is a long time and I can see Ava melting down quickly. I am really hoping the girls will be receptive to therapy.
Some of the goals they set for Audrey are chewing food with coordinated movements, scooping food with a spoon and stabing it with a fork, and holding and drinking from a cup.
Ava has these goals for her as well as some others such as engaging in simple relational play, exploring her environment enthusiastically, showing preference for certain toys, imitating new gestures, and responding to simple verbal requests. Boy do we have our work cut out for us!!!
I was also able to meet with Lauren and Logan's teachers today as well (it's parent-teacher conference week up at Golden Hill). Usually these conferences are student led but since both Lauren and Logan were out sick it was just the babies, the teacher and myself.
Lauren is doing great and really excelling in reading/comprehension. She is a great student and teachers generally love her.
Logan is doing well academically too. His strengths are math and comprehension. He is also working really hard on his reading skills. His teacher would like to see Logan become a little more organized and work on getting to school on time. Needless to say I am still having a hard time getting Logan to bed at night and up in the morning. She also said that Logan struggles with his penmanship. He is having an OT eval at CHOC on Friday to adress ADL, graphomotor delays, and sensory issues. I have been waiting for this appointment for 3 months!!
Some of the goals they set for Audrey are chewing food with coordinated movements, scooping food with a spoon and stabing it with a fork, and holding and drinking from a cup.
Ava has these goals for her as well as some others such as engaging in simple relational play, exploring her environment enthusiastically, showing preference for certain toys, imitating new gestures, and responding to simple verbal requests. Boy do we have our work cut out for us!!!
I was also able to meet with Lauren and Logan's teachers today as well (it's parent-teacher conference week up at Golden Hill). Usually these conferences are student led but since both Lauren and Logan were out sick it was just the babies, the teacher and myself.
Lauren is doing great and really excelling in reading/comprehension. She is a great student and teachers generally love her.
Logan is doing well academically too. His strengths are math and comprehension. He is also working really hard on his reading skills. His teacher would like to see Logan become a little more organized and work on getting to school on time. Needless to say I am still having a hard time getting Logan to bed at night and up in the morning. She also said that Logan struggles with his penmanship. He is having an OT eval at CHOC on Friday to adress ADL, graphomotor delays, and sensory issues. I have been waiting for this appointment for 3 months!!
There's no place like home!!!
Friday, March 21, 2008After 6 days and 5 nights Audrey was finally able to come home from the hospital on Thursday, March 20!! We are soooo happy to have Audrey at home with us, and to be together as a family once again. Audrey was so excited to see our little house, and I think the kids were all happy to have their Mommy back.
What a cute little patient!!!On Saturday, March 15th Audrey was admitted to CHOC due to respiratory distress. She was hooked up to a sleep apnea monitor and her heart rate, respirations, and pulse/oxygen were monitored. The first night was rough for me because the monitor went off several times. It was even scarier once I realized that with every apnea episode, Audrey's heart rate would drop too. We were told that it wasn't safe to bring Audrey home and that she would have to remain in the hospital and that her surgery would have to be bumped up. Her doctor ordered an EKG, and ECHO done on her just to make sure everything was A-Ok with her heart since she has a heart murmur. He also gave us some of the results from Audrey's polysonogram (sleep study). The test showed that Audrey's sleep apnea was pretty severe. On a scale of 1-10 they scored her apnea at a 13.7!!!
Ava visitng while Audrey sleeps on... Her surgery was performed by Dr. Ahuja on Tuesday, March 18. They removed Audrey's tonsils and adenoids. Everything went well. Even in post-op Rick and I could already see the change in Audrey's sleep patterns. For the first time in months she was able to breathe peacefully during sleep. We couldn't hear any snoring, gasping for air, or sucking sounds. She wasn't retratcting, or laboring for every breath anymore. Her doctor said that 90% of her airway had been obstructed during sleep!!!
The girls loved to sit and "hang out" in the bottom of Audrey's crib!Everyone at CHOC did such a great job of trying to make us comfortable during her stay. Child Life Services brought in toys for Audrey to keep in her room. They also let us use a wagon to pull Audrey around in. We pulled her all over the halls of the 4th floor.
Audrey being pulled in her wagon with her IV in tow....They had a play room where patients and their siblings could hang out and do normal kid stuff together, such as play a board game, make crafts, or Audrey's & Ava's favorite....play in the ball pit!!! We are very fortunate to live so close to a Children's hospital.
Our view from room 403!I am so glad that we were able to have a room with a window in it.
Audrey loved to watch all of the people coming and going throughout the day!
I feel so blessed that Audrey had such an awesome team of Dr.'s and nurses caring for her.
We would like to thank all of our family members, friends, and Ward Members that fasted and prayed for Audrey, helped us take care of our other children's needs, and brought meals into our home. We appreciate all of you soooo much and couldn't have made it through this difficult week without your love and support!!! Thank-you!!!!
Lucas Andrew Phethean has arrived!!!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Lucas Andrew PhetheanDennis & Elisabeth are proud parents for the second time!! Lucas Andrew Phethean arrived this morning at 8:38 a.m. via C-section. Weighing 7 pounds 6 oz. and measuring 18 1/2 inches long. What a cutie!!! Rick, Jamison and I were lucky enough to be able to go down to the hospital this evening and see him (and hold him too).
Richard Andrew & Lucas Andrew
I love this picture of Dennis, Rick, & Lucas!!!
Eli looked amazing after just having a C-section. She wouldn't let me take any pictures of her, so you'll have to take my word for it. I remember after I had the girls I felt like I had been run over by a Mak truck!!! I was so tired and out of it! She was in great spirits and laughing.
We are so happy for them!!
Audrey's Big Adventure- Her sleep study!!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Audrey had her sleep study last night at the Southern California Sleep Disorders Specialists.
I was a little nervous going in there and not what sure to expect but her nurse Patti did a really good job of making both Audrey and I feel comfortable. We arrived at 8:00 p.m. (Audrey's usual bedtime) and Patti checked us into our room. It looked just like a hotel room, and they even had a bed for me to sleep in (I was worried I would only get a chair, a pillow, and no blanket). Much to Audrey's delight they had a giant stuffed poodle waiting for her to play with. She left us alone for awhile so that Audrey could get used to the room. We played and read stories for a bit. Soon after Patti came in and started getting Audrey's skin prepped for the electrodes (they wiped her down with a solution to remove the excess oil). Next they placed electrodes ALL over her. One in the middle of her forehead, one on either side of her eyes, two on her chin, a million in her hair (they had to use some really sticky glue like stuff for those). They also put an audio recorder on her throat, a pulse/ox on her toe, two electrodes on her chest, a strip that went in her nose, and two belts around her middle. They recorded her brain waves, her eyes, her heart rate, her breathing, her snoring, and the actual movements of her chest and abdomen.
It took about an hour to get all of them on her, with a lot of redirecting her attention and hand holding from me and A LOT of patience on Patti's part. I really wish I had my camera so I could take a picture of her, she was quite a sight to see. I kept telling Audrey that she looked very stylish with her purple and orange belts and her rainbow ponytail (they bundled all of the wires behind her head in a long ponytail so she could sleep more comfortably) and her magic toe (the pulse/ox had a glowing red light). Poor thing was pretty worn out after all of that and went to sleep fairly quickly. They let us run a fan in there for some white noise, and that helped a lot!!
It's really nice because all of the technical epuipment and the nurse are outside in a seperate area, so it's really private too.
We decided it would be easiest if Audrey slept in the bed with me instead of the crib since my job was to make sure she didn't pull on any of the leads or get tangled up in them.
Audrey tossed and turned all night. I was hardly able to sleep a wink. Every time she would toss or make a sound I had to wake up and check on her and readjust all of the wires. I guess I never realized how restless her sleep was until last night. A few times Patti had to come in and add more glue to her hair or readjust something to get a better reading.
In the morning I talked to Patti a bit about Audrey's restlessness and she told me it was because she was struggling for air all night and that she recorded 1,000 30 second episodes. YIKES!!!! My poor baby must be miserable. They woke us up around 6:30 a.m., removed all of the stickies (that was almost as bad as puting them on), and they took her picture (she had some really fabulous bed head) and then we came home. Audrey has been pretty groggy all morning so I fed her breakfast, gave her a bath, and put her down to bed. Poor thing is still sleeping!!!
The doctor should get a written report in about 7-10 days. We don't go back to see the ENT until March 27 th, but since both her sleep study and EKG have been performed I am hoping he will want to see her sooner. She is pretty miserable and has been doing a lot of heavy mouth breathing lately. She sounds just like Darth Vader!! Poor thing!!
I was a little nervous going in there and not what sure to expect but her nurse Patti did a really good job of making both Audrey and I feel comfortable. We arrived at 8:00 p.m. (Audrey's usual bedtime) and Patti checked us into our room. It looked just like a hotel room, and they even had a bed for me to sleep in (I was worried I would only get a chair, a pillow, and no blanket). Much to Audrey's delight they had a giant stuffed poodle waiting for her to play with. She left us alone for awhile so that Audrey could get used to the room. We played and read stories for a bit. Soon after Patti came in and started getting Audrey's skin prepped for the electrodes (they wiped her down with a solution to remove the excess oil). Next they placed electrodes ALL over her. One in the middle of her forehead, one on either side of her eyes, two on her chin, a million in her hair (they had to use some really sticky glue like stuff for those). They also put an audio recorder on her throat, a pulse/ox on her toe, two electrodes on her chest, a strip that went in her nose, and two belts around her middle. They recorded her brain waves, her eyes, her heart rate, her breathing, her snoring, and the actual movements of her chest and abdomen.
It took about an hour to get all of them on her, with a lot of redirecting her attention and hand holding from me and A LOT of patience on Patti's part. I really wish I had my camera so I could take a picture of her, she was quite a sight to see. I kept telling Audrey that she looked very stylish with her purple and orange belts and her rainbow ponytail (they bundled all of the wires behind her head in a long ponytail so she could sleep more comfortably) and her magic toe (the pulse/ox had a glowing red light). Poor thing was pretty worn out after all of that and went to sleep fairly quickly. They let us run a fan in there for some white noise, and that helped a lot!!
It's really nice because all of the technical epuipment and the nurse are outside in a seperate area, so it's really private too.
We decided it would be easiest if Audrey slept in the bed with me instead of the crib since my job was to make sure she didn't pull on any of the leads or get tangled up in them.
Audrey tossed and turned all night. I was hardly able to sleep a wink. Every time she would toss or make a sound I had to wake up and check on her and readjust all of the wires. I guess I never realized how restless her sleep was until last night. A few times Patti had to come in and add more glue to her hair or readjust something to get a better reading.
In the morning I talked to Patti a bit about Audrey's restlessness and she told me it was because she was struggling for air all night and that she recorded 1,000 30 second episodes. YIKES!!!! My poor baby must be miserable. They woke us up around 6:30 a.m., removed all of the stickies (that was almost as bad as puting them on), and they took her picture (she had some really fabulous bed head) and then we came home. Audrey has been pretty groggy all morning so I fed her breakfast, gave her a bath, and put her down to bed. Poor thing is still sleeping!!!
The doctor should get a written report in about 7-10 days. We don't go back to see the ENT until March 27 th, but since both her sleep study and EKG have been performed I am hoping he will want to see her sooner. She is pretty miserable and has been doing a lot of heavy mouth breathing lately. She sounds just like Darth Vader!! Poor thing!!
Morning Mayhem
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Why is it when I need to be out of the house on time, everything goes wrong?!!!
This morning I needed to be at CHOC by 9:15 a.m. so that Audrey could have her EKG. I thought I would get up early and make breakfast before the girls woke up, but as soon as I set foot in the kitchen the girls woke up crying and that pretty much set the tone for my morning. They cried all morning making it very difficult for me. Lauren and Logan were very sleepy this morning and had to be woken up several times. Logan wouldn't cooperate. I had to give all 5 of the kids thier medication (antibiotics etc) this morning. I had to give Aurdey her nasal drops (I dread doing this). Jamison is out ill with another migraine for the second day in a row so I had to make sure he took his seizure medicine and was comfortable before I left. The cats kept staring at me (they wanted their breakfast too).
As I was in the bathroom trying to pull myself together for the day (you know-brush my teeth, a little make-up, combed hair is always nice) the girls were busy pulling lotion, q-tips, and toothpaste out of the drawers (note to self-install the drawer locks in the bathroom)!!!
Poor Lauren and Logan were 10 min. late for school this morning but at least by the time I got on the FWY it was pretty empty and I was able to make it to CHOC on time!
Audrey had her EKG, and it was over and done with before she knew it. Although she did not like the electrodes they placed on her chest and back. Tonight when she has her sleep study she will have to have even more placed all over her chest and back (and even in her hair)!!!
As she was having her EKG done I was thinking about all of the trips I made to the Fetal Diagnostic Center. Three times week, for an hour at a time, for 16 weeks I had to have Fetal monitoring done on the girls. After today I have come to the conclusion that it was much easier when they were in my tummy!!!
This morning I needed to be at CHOC by 9:15 a.m. so that Audrey could have her EKG. I thought I would get up early and make breakfast before the girls woke up, but as soon as I set foot in the kitchen the girls woke up crying and that pretty much set the tone for my morning. They cried all morning making it very difficult for me. Lauren and Logan were very sleepy this morning and had to be woken up several times. Logan wouldn't cooperate. I had to give all 5 of the kids thier medication (antibiotics etc) this morning. I had to give Aurdey her nasal drops (I dread doing this). Jamison is out ill with another migraine for the second day in a row so I had to make sure he took his seizure medicine and was comfortable before I left. The cats kept staring at me (they wanted their breakfast too).
As I was in the bathroom trying to pull myself together for the day (you know-brush my teeth, a little make-up, combed hair is always nice) the girls were busy pulling lotion, q-tips, and toothpaste out of the drawers (note to self-install the drawer locks in the bathroom)!!!
Poor Lauren and Logan were 10 min. late for school this morning but at least by the time I got on the FWY it was pretty empty and I was able to make it to CHOC on time!
Audrey had her EKG, and it was over and done with before she knew it. Although she did not like the electrodes they placed on her chest and back. Tonight when she has her sleep study she will have to have even more placed all over her chest and back (and even in her hair)!!!
As she was having her EKG done I was thinking about all of the trips I made to the Fetal Diagnostic Center. Three times week, for an hour at a time, for 16 weeks I had to have Fetal monitoring done on the girls. After today I have come to the conclusion that it was much easier when they were in my tummy!!!
Here Come the 123s
Saturday, March 8, 2008
I'm always looking for new music to listen to with the kids and I'm sooo excited that one of my favorite bands They Might Be Giants has come out with an album (Here Come the 123s) for kids. I think it totally rocks!! They have a weekly Podcast on Friday nights.
Jamison and I played One Dozen Monkeys for the girls and they loved it!!!
I just had to share one of my favorite videos I used to love when Jamison and Lauren were little.......REM on Sesame Street
Another band the kids and I like are the INSIDEOUTS A CAPELLA. All of the music is done without instruments, and it's absolutely amazing!!!
http://www.insideout-acappella.com/
Jamison and I played One Dozen Monkeys for the girls and they loved it!!!
I just had to share one of my favorite videos I used to love when Jamison and Lauren were little.......REM on Sesame Street
Another band the kids and I like are the INSIDEOUTS A CAPELLA. All of the music is done without instruments, and it's absolutely amazing!!!
http://www.insideout-acappella.com/