Xander, Emilie and Rhys

Mon, Jan 18, 2010 8:04 PM

EMILIE IS POTTY TRAINED!!!! YAY EMILIE!!

The sad thing is that I'm seeing from my very few posts in the last year that she went pee pee on the potty for the first time nearly 9mo ago. That means nearly 9mo to get this child potty trained! AAHHHH!!!

The problem was never that she didn't get it. She has always known when she needs to pee or poop. The problem was her stubbornness! If she was wearing a Pull Up, she'd go on the potty only when she wanted to, which wasn't that often or regular.

I finally decided while we were off around Christmas to take the Pull Ups away. Maybe if she wet herself, she'd be uncomfortable and stop peeing in her pants. That didn't really seem to work at first either. Then she'd pee and scream at us to change her because she was cold and didn't like being wet. She seemed to have mastered it by the time we went back to work. Then she peed in her panties at Donna's house 3 times the first week back and when asked why, she said because she was playing.

Then finally it seemed to click. No more wet panties...but skid marks galore. She'd still run and hide and try to hold it in...her signature move. We'd change her panties 3 times a day due to skids. We were even giving her the same dose of Miralax that Xander was getting so I'm not sure HOW she was able to hold it in at all! We'd put her on the potty when she we'd find her hiding and spend 30min listening to her scream and cry about not wanting to go. This went on until we'd give in and put her in a Pull Up so she'd finally just go.

Then everything changed Saturday night. I'm not sure what miracle spell (yes, we watch the Wizards of Waverly Place entirely too much!) Aunt Melinda performed while she was here but now she has no fear about pooping! (You really should hire out your services! You are a miracle worker!!!) She says, "I just have to go and I sit on the potty and pop it out!" (Yes, she says pop, not poop.) We can now sell our stock in Depends! Woo hoo!

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Mon, Sep 7, 2009 3:56 PM

Surprise!! Yes, you read that right--we're expecting #3!! So much for packing up all of the baby stuff at our house! ;o) Especially since we're considering not finding out the sex this time around. We always said the only way we'd be surprised/not find out is if we already had one of each. Since we're in that situation and this one has been nothing but surprises so far, we might as well stick with the surprises! Poor thing though...s/he may be 3mo old before we pick a name!!

Right now, the baby's due date is April 22, however, this is subject to change. I had my first appointment on Friday, Sept. 4. Since I wasn't 100% sure of my last cycle date, Dr. Lee did an ultrasound to help determine the due date/how far along the baby is. Baby measured at 6wks 5days, which is at least a week behind what we expected. But...I'm not very far along and baby's position was making it difficult for her to determine where to start measuring so this date may not be that accurate.

While she was doing the u/s, she also discovered a 1.5in cyst on my right ovary. She said they're fairly common during the child bearing and that they normally go away on their own. However, she also said it is large. This means I'll be back on Sept. 16 (right before we leave for vacation in Michigan) to monitor the cyst and measure baby again.

As you might have noticed from the belly pictures, we found out about this one fairly quickly. We've known now for almost 4wks! This is so weird for us since I had to be at least 10days late for the other 3 to get a positive pregnancy test! I started on Prometrium again 3wks ago so hopefully it does its job for the next 4wks, too!!

So far, so good on the symptom front. I'm pretty tired by about 3pm (but only notice it when I'm not at work) and can barely keep my eyes open to read bedtime stories. That was my only symptom (other than the obvious and my expanding belly) until hunger started to kick in late last week and nausea started (I was hoping that one would stay away!) over the weekend.

The kids are sooooo excited!! Xander mainly. He gives my belly kisses and hugs every night before bed, which is beyong adorable. When we asked them if they want a brother or a sister, Em said she wanted a brother while Xander pondered it for awhile. He came to this conclusion: if we have a girl, there will be 3 girls and only 2 boys but if we have a boy, the opoposite, therefore, we need to have boy and girl twins so that we stay balanced. Wow!! (Luckily we only saw one heart beat so that blows his theory!) So far he has told his teacher, his teacher from last year, all of the kids at Donna's and Lisa. Donna told us the other day that he's not sure what to name his baby. :o) Em makes sure I take tiny bites at meal time so that they're small enough for baby to eat. Awww! It's been fun so far this time around with the kids understanding what's going on!

Gotta run! Chad has battery acid all over his hands that we have to clean up!

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Julie: Oops i meant Emilie!

Julie: Congratulations! That is so cute about Xander and Emily!

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Thu, Apr 30, 2009 8:47 PM

EM WENT PEE PEE ON THE POTTY!!!

This is the happiest, most exciting day at Motel Minch in a long time!!

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grandma cindy: way to go Emilie!!!!!!!!! I knew you could do it

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Sun, Mar 1, 2009 8:57 AM

Miss Emilie has big news--She's now sassy (her name for her pacifier) free!!! WOO HOO!! Naptime on Friday at Donna's was her first sleepy time without it (and without complaints). She has now gone all weekend without it. It hasn't been easy and she still cries at bedtime because she doesn't get it but we're all being strong and not giving in. Our hopes are that she will have forgotten about it by the end of the week.

Now we just need to master sitting on the potty and sleeping in a big girl bed!

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grandma cindy: she has lost her ball and chain she can be free free again! sounds like martin lluther king doesnt it

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Sat, Jan 31, 2009 2:38 PM

More drama at our house. Emilie had a cold last week (runny nose and a dry cough but no fever). Not unusual for January. It lasted only a week and was gone by the weekend. We were celebrating the quickest cold in history!

Then Daddy picked the kids up from Donna's on Thursday and was told that she had started coughing and a low grade fever (99.5). By the end of the night, the cough sounded worse, was accompanied by a wheezing noise, and panting between coughs. Great! We knew a doctor's visit would be necessary.

By morning, her fever was up to 101. A little Motrin and she bounced back and was playing. If she wouldn't have been coughing up a lung, you wouldn't have known she was sick! :o)

She wouldn't budge off my lap when we got in to the office. Dr. Duck came in and listened to her lungs--for what seemed like forever. We went in with the expectation of bronchitis, antibiotics, and breathing treatments. Mommy was caught off guard by hearing double pneumonia! She still got the antibiotics and breathing treatments but also a chest x-ray. Other than the My Little Pony sticker she got, she hated every bit of that experience!

We did finally receive some good news that afternoon. We got her in early so the x-ray only showed pneumonia on the left side. If we'd let it go longer, she would have probably had it full blown on both sides and been hospitalized...again.

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Mon, Jan 26, 2009 8:02 PM

Xander has some big news:
HE SLEPT IN HIS UNDIES ALL LAST NIGHT AND WOKE UP DRY!! He's been napping in his undies for awhile now but we haven't been brave enough to try it at night. Granted, he only has a wet (damp actually) Pull-Up once every couple of weeks. It's not like he isn't able to do it. Mommy and Daddy were the ones that weren't ready for this step! Neither of us wanted to deal with changing his sheets in the middle of the night. (OK, so we'd be changing our sheets since he still mysteriously materializes there every night.) Since he's down to only 2 or 3 Pull-Ups left in his bathroom, we thought we'd let him try to skip it last night. And with success! YAY XANDER!!

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Wed, Aug 27, 2008 1:12 PM

For those of you who haven't heard, Emilie was in the hospital Monday and Tuesday. Here's her LONG story (both because Mommy is wordy and because of the long lead up to her hospitalization).

On Friday (Aug. 15) she started having diarrhea. We weren't too surprised; she was cutting all 4 of her eye teeth. On Sunday, it had gotten really bad. Our friends, the Johns, had given us tickets to tour Lucas Oil Stadium when the first poopy of the afternoon hit. We only planned on being out for 2-3hrs and had packed 4 diapers in the bag and had another in the van. We figured we were over prepared...wrong. We ended up leaving after less than 2hrs because we needed that 5th diaper in the van!!

Emilie stayed at home on Monday with Mommy and Tuesday with Daddy. The frequency had died down so we figured she was safe to head back to Donna's by Wednesday. Especially since we thought this was only teething poo. We only kept her home because we didn't want to tie Donna up all day changing diapers. She was still drinking and eating some, less than normal but no big surprise with a sore mouth.

Her food and beverage intake had continued to dwindle all week until she got to the point where she wouldn't drink a drop of anything (and trust us...we tried it all) except milk, which just caused more nasty diapers.

By Friday we thought she was done because she had no dirty diapers all day long...wrong again. No more than 10sec after I walked in the door, up came her cheese cracker snack (note to others: they stain HORRIBLY so don't feed them to a sick/teething kid!). Chad and I thought it was a fluke...maybe she just choked on a cracker. Then we sat down to dinner and minutes later we had a repeat episode.

Saturday morning, the hunger strike continued. We had planned on calling Dr. Duck but figured we'd just hear that she had a virus and to force fluids. Nothing more they could do. But by mid morning she was begging for a cup of water. By lunch she was bring Mommy food to make her. Before dinner she was running around and playing. We thought the virus had finally run its course. Then she sat down by the island in the kitchen as we were making dinner and lost her lunch.

Sunday was the worst yet. She wouldn't touch a bite or drink a drop. She sat around and watched Xander play. We debated whether to wait to take her in on Monday or make a trip to the ER. Chad was still suffering from the stomach bug he had apparently caught from Miss Em so a Sunday trip didn't seem logistically possible.

Monday morning we dropped Xander off at school and brought Em in for her appointment. We were given two options: admit her or try to treat her on an outpatient basis, which would just delay the inevitable. An hour later a room opened up in the surgical ward (the pedes unit was full again). Four horrible, blood curdling scream filled sticks later (all tearless), her IV was finally in and she was asleep from exhaustion. That had to be the hardest thing any of us have ever been through!! :o( Then came her chest x-rays and KUB (x-ray of her abdomen to check her kidneys and bladder).

When we got back to her room, they finally started her on fluids. About 20min later, she was smiling and talking to us. [Huge sigh] Later that evening, she saw food commercials on TV and asked to have some food. Since she was on a clear/liquid diet, she got to feast on Jell-O, which she loved! We found out from Dr. Duck that night that her bicarbonate level was at 15 (24 is normal) but no other tests were ready yet.

By Tuesday morning, she hadn't vomited anymore so she was allowed to progress her diet (try solids). She ate some bacon (our meat loving daughter), jelly toast, and some cheese omelet. Her 4am blood draw showed that she still wasn't completely rehydrated (up to 20 now) and that her potassium level had dropped. They put her on fluids + potassium for the rest of the day and told us that if she ate and kept everything in, she could go home that night. All of her other tests showed nothing (although they never did get a stool sample) so her diagnosis was a nasty virus that knocked her down more than it should have. By 5pm, we were packing up her room, changing her into clothes, and escorting our baby to the van.

She was sooooooo excited to be home and playing with the balloons Daddy and Xander got her! She still looked a little weak but she played all night. Before dinner, she finally made that much desired poopy--another messy one. Fantastic! Back to the hospital. Luckily the on-call doc told us it was okay as long as the frequency didn't pick up, she kept having wet diapers, and she didn't start vomiting again. So we headed to bed after reading every book she could find and got so much needed rest. Amazingly, Xander hasn't shown a single symptom through this whole ordeal.

Today we have our old Emilie back--bouncing around as if she was never sick and taking care of Baby. She was given a doll at the hospital with yellow, curly yarn hair that has become her new best friend. They gave her juice to drink in a sippy cup (that she would never touch) that she now feeds Baby with only after she puts a bib on her. Em also had to wear a soft cast looking contraption to protect her IV that Baby now has to wear, too.

Gotta run. I'm sitting on the couch in the living room and I can hear Sully's stomach gurgling. We don't need to be cleaning up sick doggy messes after all of last week's messes!

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Mon, Jun 30, 2008 9:44 PM

I'm REALLY hoping this doesn't jinx things! Xander has been wearing underwear since Friday evening!!

[The heavens part] ALLELUIA!!! ALLELUIA!!

We've been making him change into a pull-up when he sleeps (naptime and at night) but otherwise he's in undies the rest of the day!! And he's been doing fantastic!!! He's actually doing much better than when he wears a pull-up. It seems to be a safety net for him. If he knows he has it on, he pees in it. If he has on undies, he knows he has to run to the potty.

Over the now 3.5 days, he's had 2 accidents of the liquid type. And they're just as much our fault as his--we didn't get him to the potty soon enough. We've been making him go every 45min-1hr and that seems to be working pretty well for him.

He's even running with clenched cheeks to the potty when he has to go #2, which has been a continuous struggle with him. Normally he runs and hides behind the couch or goes to another room to try to hold it in. To combat this ongoing problem, he's still taking his fiber supplement once a day and we don't see that going away anytime soon. That just adds to the fact that we couldn't be more thrilled or proud of him when we see him run in to the bathroom!!!

One of his biggest motivators to ditch the pull ups was being told that he had to be wearing big boy underwear to get to go to his Tummy Bunny lessons (a tumbling class) with his buddy Alli. They start on Wednesday, July 2. Although it's not true, it seemed to be the final push that he needed. Don't get me wrong, he didn't ask to stop wearing them; Mommy told him he was done and was only wearing undies from now on. We've tried that before and 3hrs later and 3 puddles later, we scrapped the effort. This time he finally seemed to be ready!!

And to top things off, Miss Em has become interested lately!! Probably 2mo ago now, she wanted to start sitting on the potty. We thought it was cute, but we'd strip her down and try to set her on it anyway. But she hated that! She'd go completely rigid. We think she was scared of being so high off the ground and nothing much being under her fanny. Still trying to take advantage of her interest, we bought her a potty chair (the idea of her using it still grosses Daddy out!). At first, she was reluctant to sit on it, but now it's fun for her.

Lately she's been telling us more and more that she wants to sit on the big potty. We still haven't found her a potty ring that suites her (only sports, no pink) so we may be shooting ourselves in the foot. Especially since twice she's told Mommy she wants to sit on the potty, gets scared (?) and gets off, then stands beside it and pees on the floor. After sitting on the potty on Saturday, we put her in one of Xander's pull-ups before naptime and she woke up with four out of five spiders in the front!! Okay, so that may be a bit unfair if boy and girl pull ups measure liquid in different places but still impressive at 20mo (FYI—Xander is 3yrs 3.5mo)!!

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Sat, Feb 16, 2008 10:48 PM

As if poor Emilie hasn't had a rough enough time lately with being sick, add teething on top of that! And not just front teeth but molars!

The sinus infection/bronchitis just didn't seem to be getting any better. In fact, after a week on antibiotics, she spiked another fever! She was running a 101.5 fever at Donna's on Friday (Feb. 7) and was tugging at her right ear. Great! Now an ear infection!! By Saturday, her fever was up to 102.3. We called back into the doctor's office first thing and explained everything she and Xander had recently and the meds she was on. Dr. Gill said dto bring her back in. She listened to her breathe and said her lungs sounded clear (no pneumonia crackles)--YAY! She checked her ears and said they were clear. Huh. Then she checked her throat and said it was a little red but nothing to worry about. But she also commented that she had some molars bulging. What?! She said that her fever was too high for just teething so she figured she probably had a virus on top of the bacterial infections.

When we got home, sure enough, she had one molar completely in on the bottom right side and another with 1 point through on the top! (We had no idea!!) Not to mention the other 3-4 that are trying to come in...and that stubborn front tooth on the bottom that she had been working on for about a month. Poor baby!! Today we noticed that the stubborn bottom right incisor finally cut through. That makes 3 teeth in 2 weeks (although probably longer)!!! Hopefully she'll get a break from all of this soon!!

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Sat, Feb 2, 2008 8:08 PM

Not wanting to be out done by Xander’s case of pneumonia, Emilie couldn’t let another week (actually only 3days) go by without getting sick herself. Dr. Duck told us at her well big girl visit to call back if she started getting worse. When I picked up Emilie from Donna’s on Friday, she reported that Em was having a lot of trouble with her cough, which she thought sounded a lot like Xander’s, and was choking on all the sinus drainage she had. She was also running a fever. By the time we got home, the doctor’s office was already closed so we dosed her up with some Motrin and hoped the fever was just due to teething. (She had been working on a bottom tooth now for over a month and it was sooo close to finally cutting through). Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Saturday morning she woke up on fire. She was running a fever over 102!

Daddy made the call back into the doc’s office and explained everything. Hoping to head off whatever had led to Xander’s pneumonia, she was put on 10 days of Omnicef for the infections, Dallergy (prescription Benedryl) for the runny nose and eyes, breathing treatments 3 times per day for the bronchitis, and to alternate Motrin and Tylenol for the fever and aches. I think that pretty much emptied out Kroger’s pharmacy!

Cross your fingers and hope that this is the last of it for poor Em! She has been so miserable lately!! I don't think spring can get here soon enough!!

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