Easter Sunday 2009

We had a wonderful Easter this year. I always look forward to Easter in so many ways. My Grandma use to make my sister and I matching Easter dresses. I always look forward to dressing my girls up each year in dresses, it just reminds me of when I was little. Brooklynn chose to wear her baptism dress for Easter. It was fun to find one for the Peanut that would match. I am grateful for both of them and their willingness to be the great girls that they are.

The Pump or NOT the Pump

Kaitrynn has been back on her feeding tube pump for almost 2 weeks now. In the long term aspect of things it has help with weight gain. She is now up to 20lbs 3oz. Great news! There are downfalls with it though. The three letter word GAS GAS GAS ! Unpleasant GAS so, much that she is up 2 to 3 hours trying to pass it. She is fine during the day, but at night is when she is on the pump and when it comes. The point of the tube is to give her motility in her gut and put weight on. Yesterday I had finally had enough :~). I called the doctors in total tears pleading for relief of this pain that my baby is experiencing. She called PMCH and spoke with someone who said that ADIVAN works well with pain and it helps the little ones to relax and sleep. Nobody in Bountiful had the drug in liquid form. After calling around at 7:00 at night I found it at Walgreen's in Kaysville. I loaded up the kids and we were off. I have had Kait on soy milk the last few days too thinking that she may have an allergy to the lactose in the milk. We get to the pharmacy and drop the script off. Before I can get to my Moms house, Kait has pooped her pants and it has gotten all over her and her car seat. Brooklynn then informs me that she is smearing it all over her face and car seat. My mom lives 4 minutes from the pharmacy. Could my day get any worse I thought. Thanks to my Mom she helped me bathe her. We get home about 9:00 pm and give her the Adivan. This is a drug that is suppose to work with in a few minutes to about 45 minutes later. 2 1/2 hours later Kait finally falls asleep. She then woke up at 4:00 am with the awful gas. I took her off the pump to relieve the pain and discomfort. Today I received a new button to try. It is called the Mikey Button. You can hopefully vent this button when the gas is present. Wish me luck tonight that it works. As for giving her the Adivan tonight? My Doctor was out of the office today. the nurse said not to give it to her tonight. She can have worse adverse effects? Great I am calling Benedryl to the rescue for tonight? Hopefully this house will get some sleep tonight???????

Life is full of Ups and Downs

Kaitrynn has had a rough week with her health the last couple of weeks. I took her to the Pediatric GI Doctor yesterday. We decided that it would be in Kaitrynn's best interest to go back on the feeding tube at night. She has had a lot of gas for months and her and I are not getting any sleep. The visit also confirmed yesterday that she is Lactose Intolerant for sure. This is one of the reasons for all of the gas that she has been experiencing. Another issue is that her gut did not get a great start at birth due to the group strep B. Last night was the first night back on the tube! What is in it you may ask? The Doctor decided to put her on Lactose free Pediasure. I sat the rate at 25 cc an hour. The Doctor wants her to work up to 45cc and hour. We will get there slowly, but surely. This is how much is going into her stomach in an hour. She did really well last night. The pump didn't even seem to bother her a bit. She seemed to sleep comfortable. This will help her gut have some motility and not give acid a chance to sit in there and ferment and cause the lovely gas. This will also help her grow and get some weight on. It will also help with getting her GUT healthy. We have to get her GUT healthy as the DR. said, "Because her old man has a awful gut and we don't want Kaitrynn to experience any of that." She is 18 months old weighs 19lbs and 3 oz and is 32 inches long. She is in 12 month clothes. The Doctor did say that Kaitrynn can swim with her tube this summer. Yeah she will be able to learn how to swim this year! We are so ready for our pool to be open. May cannot come soon enough.

Over the last couple of months Kaitrynn has taken to signing. She can sign about 30 signs. She loves to watch sign time videos. This really does work great with their frustration when they cannot tell you what they want verbally. She will watch these videos and do the sign now before they even show her the sign. People think it is so cute when they see her sign. It has help me tons with her communicating to me. As a parent you have to be real consistent with it in order for it to work. She is one smart girl.

I had the wonderful chance to take Brooklynn last Sunday to the final dedication of the Draper, Utah temple dedication. It was one of those ahhh haaa moments. A time a parent is rewarded for teaching their children correct principles and seeing them worthy to enter the house of the lord. We went to our stake center and saw the temple dedicated. The feeling in our ward building was like being in the temple. She loved all the photos they showed of the temple. It was fun to answer all of her questions and hear her response. We didn't go on the tour. I didn't want to have Kaitrynn around all those people and the germs, but the dedication was just like really being there. I didn't feel like we missed out on the tour at all. She was so good and reverent the whole time. A lady from our stake commented to her after how impressed she was with her being so reverent. She wore her baptism dress. She was so excited to see the First Presidency there. It was a great experience for both of us. Brennen was gracious enough to stay home and watch our sick Kait, so Brooklynn and I could go together. We will always remember this day.

My Heart Is Full !!

Wow what can I say? My heart is full. I am grateful for trials and hardships in my life. I have realized that I need to two keep 2 words in my mind. HOPE & FAITH ! I don't know where I would be without hope. Hope has kept me going in many of my trials and dark times in my life. At times I feel like I have great Faith, then other times I think to myself where is your faith. I was thinking about that this week. My neighbor Twila is 86 years old and is feeling the effects of her age lately. She told her daughter this week that death is coming. It is coming? This is a prime example of faith. I have to have faith that when the time comes that Twila does pass on, that I will have another miracle job waiting for me. The thought of having to go out into the work force hurts my mind and body just thinking about it. My Hope is that Twila can live a few more years and I can enjoy her and my girls at home. She has been my rock this last year as a friend and a support. She has been here for me when I have needed a shoulder to cry on, or a listening ear. Our little friendship means the world to me. I was called this last month to our ward Enrichment committee. This is a old hat calling for me, but I am excited to be back on it and watch my talents develop. In the setting apart blessing that was given to me, it said that if I did my calling that all fascists of my life would be taken care of. That there wouldn't be an area in my life that wasn't covered. Why worry why? That has been the nature of me my whole life to worry. Thanks to those Egbert genes. I wake up each day so... grateful that I am able to sleep in until 7:50 am each morning and that I get to be home in my condo that I love so much with my girls. I called the insurance company and spoke to a customer service Representative today in regards to my policy. She asked if I worked and I said "No I stay Home". O she said "I think it is so.. hard to stay at home, it is so much easier to come to work". I thought again how lucky I am to be home and have the faith that it will continue. I am grateful for Brennen and all of his hard work. He goes out daily and works hard to provide for his little family. He supports me in all aspects of my life and I am so grateful to him for that. He is perfect for me. The longer I am married to him the more in love with him I am. He treats me like a queen and sees that I am happy and comfortable. I am grateful that he is a worthy priesthood holder and that he does his calling so well in the scout program. I am grateful for my family. My siblings are the best we seem to grow closer the older we get. Kelly and I are going to run the 1/2 marathon in Provo August 8th. Wish me luck. I hope that this 35 year old body will let me do it. We shall see how things go between now and then I will have the Faith that I can do it :) !

SISTERS ARE SPECIAL

 

Kaitrynn is getting more and more fun each day if that can be true. She is signing more and more each day. She can sign about 25 words. She is starting to put words and sign together. The cutest thing I think is that she calls her
sister "BA". She will be crawling on the floor and Brook will be in her room, all of the sudden you see Kaitrynn heading for her room calling her "BA". When I drop the kids off each day at school she will tell them "BYE DAY". She is saying bye have a good day. Her little face lights up like no other the first time she see's her "BA" each morning. It is PRICELESS. She is always so excited when her sister comes home from school each day. She has been such a blessing in our family. We forgot how much fun a baby can be back in our home. I love them both so.. much!

I can do hard things!!!

The last 17 months have been a learning experience for me to say the least. Just when you think life is slowing down, or you have things under control? That's when it all changes. Today Kaitrynn was on the couch. She signed to me and told me that she wanted down. I went over to the couch and flipped her over and showed her how to get off the couch properly. I scooted her on her tummy out Popped her G-TUBE (feeding tube). Ahhh I have never had to change it myself. The last time it came out we were in Provo and had to go to the ER. Today I was at home and had the kit on hand. No Excuses I had to do it. I panicked for about a half of second and then relized I could't stress too much.The hole was closing as I was thinking. I called the nurse at PMCH surgery unit and one of the sweet nurses walked me through it. It took 2 minutes tops to get it back in. By the time I went to put it in the hole was closing. I had to give it an extra push. That made Kate real happy let me tell ya. I am so... ready to have this tube out for good. I have to gear my self up for another surgery and another few day hotel stay at Primary Children's hospital. This happened today after my compressor went out on my refrigerator this morning. A blessing came from this though, my Aunt was thinking of buying a new one. This gave her an excuse to buy a new one and gave us her old one. Heavenly Father does watch out for all of us, as I look back today those things were really not that hard :), but I like to think that I can do hard things :).

Cute Pizza Face

Kaitrynn is nor a real fan of eating. When she does eat really well, it seems to be junk food or fast food. We eat pizza at least once a week. She loves it as you can tell from this photo. She slept through the night this night, because her tummy was full. The doctors assure me that this is a stage and she will out grow it. I had to get a photo of this cute pizza face.