Monday, December 27, 2010

What a Great Christmas!

We had such a great Christmas this year. It was fun because it was Giuliana's first Christmas, Giovanna's at the age where she understands and gets super excited, and Gunnar was with us. Giovanna does not like Santa one bit. When we put out the cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, she cried her little heart out, "I don't like Santa. I love daddy. I no like Santa. I love daddy." She was hysterical. I told her I wouldn't let Santa in her room, and that he was bringing her presents. She said, "I don't want presents." Well, when Christmas morning came around and all the presents were under the tree, she changed her tune about them! It was especially nice because Joe didn't have to leave for work until 9:30 a.m. Christmas morning, so he was able to open presents with us. AND he was home early enough to open presents with my family.

Giovanna on Christmas Eve in front of our tree

Both of the girls on Christmas Eve in front of our tree

Giuliana on Christmas Eve in front of our tree


Gunnar and the girls on top of presents Christmas Day

Giuliana on Christmas Day with all the presents


The girls got snow shovels from my parents for Christmas,
here is Giovanna helping me shovel


Giovanna likes to go under laundry baskets. Giuliana
likes to trap her under the laundry baskets!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Giuliana's Off The Ox!

This is so bittersweet for me. I spoke with Giuliana's ENT yesterday, and he agreed it is time to take Giuliana off the Home Pulse Oximeter. I just wish I felt better about our decision. On Thursday night when I put Giovanna to bed, I checked on Giuliana who had already been sleeping for an hour. One of my biggest fears came true. It had happened once before, but it was as she was falling asleep, and I thought it was a fluke. But it happened again, and it's 2 times too many. The cables from the Pulse Ox were tangled around her torso and tightly wound around her neck! I tried to stay calm and untangle her. Surprisingly she stayed asleep, but then I was put in a bad position. Do I keep her connected to the machine that alerts us if her levels become unsafe and risk her becoming tangled again and choking, OR do I take her off the machine and risk her tongue blocking her airway and not knowing because there is no alarm to tell me?

I sent Joe a text message, and luckily he was on a layover so he could respond. We decided there was a greater risk of harm if we left her connected, so I unplugged her. The next day I called the ENT to discuss this situation and tell him we feel it is no longer safe for Giuliana to be on the Pulse Ox. The doctor wasn't in until Monday, and after discussing it with our moms, we still felt it was best for her to be off the machine. So we tried over the weekend sleeping unplugged. Last night, Dr. Walner returned my call and agreed she has been on the machine long enough, and now that she moves more in her sleep, it is no longer safe for her to be connected.

I've waited 6 months for this moment, but it is more difficult to accept than I am happy about the situation. While Giuliana proves to us daily how well she is doing, I've become dependent on the machine and there is the fear in me that something will happen because she isn't plugged in anymore. Since she was born, the doctors always tell us the worst that "could happen" and the Early Intervention people made me feel like I had something to be afraid of, that I'm scared. In my heart I know she's going to be ok, but in my mind I struggle. I keep telling myself, now she can wear zipper jammies, and I smile a little bit.
Giuliana now drinks with a cup and straw!

And she loves her Banana Gerber Puffs!


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Santa Baby

Yesterday we took our annual trip downtown for Chrismas Shopping and to see Santa. We normally see Santa at the German Market in Daley Plaza, but this year we went on a Tuesday and that Santa is only there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So we opted for Macy's Santa. I was very impressed with Macy's setup and the friendliness of their elves and Santa (even though he looks mean in the pictures, he was very nice). I can't believe it's already Giuliana's first Christmas. She was a rockstar with Santa. Yes, we let her keep her binks in her mouth because we weren't sure of her reaction to Santa. Giovanna of course, was a drama queen. Enjoy our Santa pictures!

Monday, December 6, 2010

A Tooth Popped Through!

Last Monday, Giuliana had a tooth pop through! Her first tooth! Bottom middle/left. And no, I did not go to school to be a dentist, so I have no idea of the technical name for that specific tooth, but it's coming in! However, Giuliana is being a stinker, and won't let me take a picture of her pearly white. As soon as I have success I'll post a picture.

On Saturday, we had a great day. Giovanna and I had appointments to get our haircut. We decided to go with a short bob for Giovanna, and I'm so glad we did. She looks so adorable, Thank you Auntie Laura! Then later in the evening our friends Sarah and Isabella came over for dinner and to decorate Christmas cookies. Sarah is so great, she baked the sugar cookies and brought over her fancy royal icing and cookie decorating supplies. We had a blast and ended up with some pretty professional looking Christmas cookies!

The kids waking up to their St. Nick presents

We exchanged Christmas presents with Isabella, and
Giovanna received this adorable dress up outfit
from Isabella. She loves it and rarely takes it off!
Notice the boots. Those were a present from Grandma
and Grandpa. She loves those too and would wear
them to bed if she could!

I just thought this was so cute. All sassy and blowing kisses!


And the finale.

On Sunday, Giovanna had a tummy ache so we set her
up on the floor in the living room. What a great big brother. . .
Gunnar got down on the floor with her to keep her
company and make her feel better.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Anyone who knows me, knows I don't like anything Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving. Well, I can't control when the City of Chicago lights the Christmas Tree in Daley Plaza, and our family was all here to go together, so I had to break my rule. It was really cold, and raining, and almost anything that could go wrong went wrong, but we had a ton of fun in the in betweens!

On the train ride downtown, Giuliana started to fuss so we decided to make a bottle, only to find that we had the bottle, the formula, and the water to make the bottle, but no bottle liner! We use the Playtex dropins system, so there is a disposable dropin liner. As backup, I said to Joe, "Ok, well give her some of the banana puffs." He said, "CRAP! I forgot those too. This is the last time I'm in charge of packing the diaper bag." Luckily we had a pacifier that held her over until we arrived downtown and were able to stop at Walgreens and buy a downtown priced pack of dropins!

We headed over to Daley Plaza to see the lighting of the tree. Whew, it was cold and cold raining. As I mentioned, it was pretty cool to see. We took a short video, so if you'd like to see, it's below. Then we walked over to Giordanos for some stuffed pizza. Halfway there, the wind started gusting so strongly, it was practically pushing us and doing the walking for us. However, pushing a double stroller with two crying little ones, against the wind was not an easy task.

We finally made it to Giordanos and were seated quickly and I went to change the girls diapers. With our order placed, we had 35 minutes to entertain Giovanna and Giuliana. I was doing the, "High five. To the side. Down low. Too slow" game with Giovanna. Gunnar was sitting across the table, and was playing the same game with her and whoop, over went a full glass of water on Gunnar's lap. Then after we finished eating, Giuliana became really fussy. I went to pick her up to soothe her and realized she had a poopy diaper that went through on to her clothes (been happening alot lately unfortunately). I asked Joe if he would do the honors, and to my surprise, he agreed! He was gone for quite awhile, but not as long as I had expected him to be. He came back to the table all frazzled and handed Giuliana over to me, nice and dry and in a new set of clothes and hurridly said, "I have to go back in there to clean up." I couldn't help but laugh. He came back and said it was the poo of her life! Up her entire back, down her legs, all over her clothes, she was crying and kicking. Again, I laughed and tried to hold it in but couldn't. I only laughed because I've been there and it's funny when it's not happening to you. Needless to say, it got on his shirt, and luckily, he had on an undershirt, so we were able to add it to the dirty clothes bag, paid our check and headed home.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to stop and see Santa as planned. So we'll have to do that in a few weeks when we go again for our Christmas shopping.

The girls on the Blue Line on the way downtown
all bundled up looking like puffy marshmallows

The family (minus me, I was taking the picture)
in front of the tree

The Lighting of the Tree


Does this count as her first steps?



Sunday, November 21, 2010

Happy 8 Months!

Today is Giuliana's 8 month birthday. I can't believe how fast everything is flying by. Joe and I were talking that we will never have a non-crawler in our house again. And in about 6 more months, she'll be eating at the table with us at dinner, along with walking, and talking. Aye yaye yaye!

On Thursday, Giuliana had another NICU follow-up appointment. These are fun 2 1/2 hrs. She saw an Audiologist to test her hearing. They asked that someone stay in the waiting room with Giovanna for this test, so I stayed behind, and Joe accompanied Giuls to her test. She did not do well, but they are confident it's because she had fluid in her ears from the cold she's been battling for the past 3 weeks. She and Giovanna seem to keep passing it back and forth to one another. Then we all went into an exam room where we saw the Speech Therapist. She said Giuliana is hitting all the marks that she should be at her age, and then some. She gave us a few recommendations of things to practice with to increase Giuliana's awareness of her tongue and it's capabilities. Next came the Occupational Therapist who played with Giuliana for awhile to see where she is with her motor skill development. She scored Giuliana based on what she observed, and ranked her in the 90th percentile! So again, she is meeting her marks and then some. Finally, we saw the doctor, and he did not have any concerns. He would just like to see her again in 4 months at her 1 year NICU follow-up.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share this week. It's been hectic and we've all been taking turns being sick. I'm glad my sick came on the weekend. It looks like we are all on the road to recovery!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Funundrum!

We had another FABULOUS fun family outing last night. We went to Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, Funundrum. The whole car ride there, Giovanna kept saying, "I like clowns." Ya she like clowns until the first one walked past her. She ran so quickly, Joe and I couldn't help but chuckle. Giuliana doesn't seem to mind, but we'll see what next year brings.

Giovanna and my favorite part of the show was the elephants. We also got to see baby Barack. The circus started an elephant conservation, and Barack was born on the eve of President Barack Obama's Inauguration. He was the first elephant born as a result of Ringling Bros. invetro fertilization, so they are proud of their accomplishment, and the future of their circus.

Gunnar loved the motorcycles, and Joe's favorite part was the trapeze. Giuliana had her own circus going on on my lap, bouncing, twisting, bending over backwards until she conked out about a half hour in to the show. She was out the rest of the night. The circus has now become a Lee family tradition.


























Monday, November 1, 2010

Trick or Treat!?!

We had such a great Halloween. The girls were healthy Peas & a Carrot. Even though it was cold, Giovanna LOVED trick or treating.

The best was when we walked up the steps of a house, Giovanna said, "I do it." Meaning, she didn't want me to hold her hand. Then I picked her up to ring the doorbell. They had their screen door in, and the front door was open. When I put her down after ringing the doorbell, she stepped to the side and peeked in their house through the screen door and said, "Anybody in there mommy?" My heart melted.

Enjoy the pictures! Sorry I can't put captions, blogspot is acting all goofy all of a sudden and things aren't lining up correctly. I think you're pretty smart and can figure out what's going on in the pictures!





































Thursday, October 21, 2010

Sleep Study Results

We had an appointment with Giuliana's ENT doctor to go over the results of her Sleep Study. He said it came back pretty normal, however, she stopped breathing 4 times, but not because of her tongue blocking the airway (which is our concern). I guess her brain forgot to tell her to breathe. I asked the doctor if we should be concerned about this (it didn't seem to faze him) and he said "no, that's pretty common in babies." I told him the alarm still goes off on her pulse ox. a few times at night, and he recommends we keep her on it until we don't hear an alarm for 2 weeks, but it's our call.

Since the alarm is still going off, I'd like to keep her on the pulse ox., because when the alarm sounds, it wakes her up enough to correct the issue, but not enough for it to be a problem for her to return to sleep. Plus it gives me peace of mind at night, and I still need that.

Also, I can't remember if I mentioned this in previous posts, but if not, her recent abdominal ultrasound came back negative.

We've recently started Giuliana on solids. Making my own baby food worked well with Giovanna, so I'm doing it again for Giuliana. Last week we tried Sweet Potatoes and Pears. Neither were a big hit. But can you believe tonight I made Cauliflower, and she loved it! Cauliflower? Really? She doesn't get that from me!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

New Doors and Johansen Farms

Ahhhhhh! Finally a home improvement project I wanted instead of something we had to do. Over the past few years, we've had some unexpected home improvement projects come up, and they prevented us from doing the projects we would like to do around the house. New exterior doors are the one thing I have wanted for years (well. . .besides the basement being finished, but I'm coming to terms with the fact that is going to be awhile). We finally saved enough to get them, and they're finished and installed! We got great deals on the doors themselves, and met a neighbor who pretty much does it all and is EXTREMELY reasonably priced (so if you ever need a home improvement project, let me know, we highly recommend this guy and I know he goes pretty much all over). I'm so happy with our doors that I wanted to share.

Today, Joe and I both had the day off, so we decided to spend a family day at Johansen Farms. We had beautiful weather, and being a Tuesday, there was no crowd! It was fabulous, we even got our own private hay ride! The girls had fun, and we just had an all around awesome day.

I don't know why, but this is acting funny today, so I can't get the captions to line up correctly. the first picture is the new front door, storm door and exterior trim. The second picture is the new side door and storm door.




















Just an absolutely sweet picture


Giovanna feeding the goats

They had baby chicks that you could pick up and pet.
They're quick little suckers, but Joe became the master
at catching them!
Giuliana even pet the baby chick

Giovanna in the pumpkins
Giuliana in the pumpkins

Monday, October 11, 2010

Scarecrow Festival

On Friday we received Giuliana's AFP test results, and her levels dropped again. Yay! What a great way to start the beautiful weekend. Throughout the year, Joe gets a couple of personal days, and Saturday was one of those days. We decided to spend the morning at St. Charles' Scarecrow Festival. What an experience!

This was my first time at the Scarecrow Fest, and holy cannoli, how about that 80 degree weather!? It was really neat to see the different types of scarecrows people come up with. I was a little disappointed in some because they weren't your classic scarecrow made of straw. Some were mechanical and had no straw to them at all, and it made me feel like it was more of a halloween scene instead of a scarecrow. But still very neat to see. Giovanna's favorite scarecrow had bubbles full of smoke. I have to say, it was pretty cool.

This was one of the scarecrows we thought was pretty
cute, and decided to take a picture.

Giovanna got her face painted for the first time! As you
can see, she really didn't know what was going on, so she
didn't know what to do. She just kinda sat there, very still!
It came out soooo cute. I wish we would have taken a
picture of the finished piece. She loved it, even though you
can't tell from this picture, and it really was cool!

How can you go to a Scarecrow Fest without making your
own scarecrow? This was all Joe's idea, to come to the
Scarecrow Fest and make a scarecrow, but when it came
time to actually make the dang thing, he sent Gunnar and
me in to do it! Let me tell you, what a pain in the dupa. Holy
cannoli, it was soooo hot in there, and they give you a 30 second
crash course on how to assemble the dang thing. Not as easy
as one would think! But this the Lees' lovely scarecrow. An
adult torso, with children's pants. Gotta love it! We are
officially taking suggestions for names!

The rides were a big hit with the kids, of course! Here's
Gunnar on some flying contraption!

Giovanna loved the merry-go-round. She cried every
time the 30 second ride ended. Those tears got to mommy
and daddy's hearts, so we let her ride 3 times. Whoa, those
things get expensive! At least we have a picture to last
a lifetime!

This is one of the scarecrow displays we liked.

This picture is separate from the Scarecrow Fest.
Today, I walked in to the girls' room when Giuliana
woke from her nap, and this is what I found!
Nooooooo! She's standing! Too fast baby, too fast!
Ya, she thinks she's funny.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Giuliana's Sleep Study

I have to say that Giuliana's Sleep Study was something completely different than what I was expecting, and an experience I will never forget. The room we were in was approximately 8x12, there was a huge yellow metal crib, one 3 drawer stand, a chair, and little shelf on the wall to house the necessary supplies. When I walked in the room, and the technician was "showing me around," my jaw mentally dropped when I saw there was no bed for me. Just a chair that doesn't even recline. Right then, I knew this was not going to be an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, and let me catch up on sleep while Giuliana did her sleep study. I was in for a night.

Normally, Giuliana starts to rub her eyes and get cranky around 8-8:15ish, where I then get her in her jammies, give her a night bottle, hook her up to her oximeter, and asleep she goes. Last night, Guliana decided it was fun sleepover party sleep study. She was having a ball with the technician, she loved being in the nasty metal crib, and was WIIIIIIIDE awake. When I put her jammies on, the sleep technician, Juliet (she was so friendly, gentle, and wonderful with us) put 3 sticky disks on Giuliana's chest, and 2 on her back where she connected wires and fed them through the top of her jammies. Then she put these two belts around Giuliana's tummy to keep the wires close to her body, and connected a wire to her foot which was very similar to the oximeter we have at home.

Giuliana finally fell asleep around 9:30. Juliet came in and told me she'd like to wait a half hour to forty minutes before starting connecting the remaining wires to make sure she was asleep. Around 10:15 Juliet came back in, and we got started. I had no idea how many wires were involved, nor the fact that I would be involved in this 2 hour process. Giuliana was soooo good. She slept throughout practically the entire wiring process. The only part she kind of woke up at, was when Juliet put the nose tube in, and she was half awake/ half sleeping. I quickly gave her a bottle and she was right back to a full sleep. Juliet wanted to wait another 20 minutes before finishing up. She told me, "don't fall asleep." In my mind I thought, "won't be a problem."

So, a successful study for an infant is 2 hours of data. Giuliana slept until 5:30 a.m. and did not pull out a single wire. That was long enough for an adult study. When she woke up, Juliet came in and said we're finished. Then she gushed about how wonderful Giuliana was and that she's the tiniest and most perfect patient she's ever had! She said that they record the studies, and when she has a patient giving her a hard time, she's going to show them Giuliana, the model patient! (she obviously isn't really going to show them, but it made me feel so proud).

When we finished up in the sleep lab, I took Giuliana across the street to the blood lab for her AFP test. The ladies there are so nice and gentle with her. Again, Giuliana did not cry. She is such a wonderful baby. We will have the sleep study results in a few weeks, and the AFP results should only take a couple of days.

Giuliana playing at her fun sleepover party sleep study

Giuliana still playing

These were all the wires connected the first time around

They put a hat on her head so she wouldn't pull at the
wires while she was sleeping. This is her hooked up to everything

I really like this picture so wanted to share

Followers