Ava's latest visit to CHoP

Ava has been snoring pretty badly for a good portion of her short life. We decided to talk to an ENT and he said that her adnoids were enlarged and needed to be removed. This will help with her eternal runny nose. He asked that we get a sleep study done to determine if she has sleep apnea and, at the same time, he will remove her tonsils. The sleep center told us June was the earliest appointment so we asked to be put on the cancellation list. well, Friday morning they called us that they had a cancellation for Friday night. So, Ava and I spent a night at CHoP.

She did amazingly well. The nurse who set up all the probes said he has never had a child her age behave so well. He said he was shocked. They put about a dozen or more probes on her head, some on her chest, some on each leg and a pulse/ox on her foot. She didn't whimper at all. The only thing she did not like was that they had to put a nasal canula in her nose to measure her breathing. Well, she mouth breathes so they had to add another one over her mouth. She was not happy with that, but by the time they were done setting up, it was almost 9 so she zoned out and fell asleep.

I had the luxurious bed/couch next to her hospital bed for the night. But, thanks to wireless internet and facebook, I was able to chat with Lisa for a little while before I went to sleep. They woke us up at 630, disconnected her wires and we were out the door by 645. She did great and we have a follow up in a week or so.

I sent some pictures to Lisa while we were there. Here's Ava with her probes on and the little hairnet to keep them from coming off.



Ava took this one herself

Walk with us!

Hopefully you have noticed our March of Dimes banner by now! We are all signed up to walk on April 26 at the Camden Riverfront. We are walking with a great team! We all have shared similar experiences - premature births, Nicu stays and ongoing medical issues. Now we want to help other families so they won't have to share our experiences. As you can remember (because we do very vividly), our girls were born 8 weeks early and little Lila weighed in at 3# 2.9 oz. She was so tiny and fragile. Olivia was the biggest at a whopping 4#, but her lungs were underdeveloped and she needed CPAP to help open her lungs. Because of this, we couldn't even hold her for a few days. Then came reds, Ava was in the middle of the pack at 3#8 oz but had some trouble maintaining her sugars and needed IV nutrition. We thank god everyday that the girls have come so far. They have grown into happy, healthy, active, inquisitive ("what its name mommy?") toddlers. We have the March of Dimes to thank. Their research and development has allowed medical science to improve dramatically. Because of this, our girls received the best and newest treatments to help give them the best start possible. We want all families to be able to continue to recieve these benefits. Please consider walking with us! If you can't join us but would like to help us reach our goal, please visit our March of Dimes website to make a donation. Our real goal is this - One day all babies will be born healthy! Any help is greatly appreciated! We did our first walk when the girls were 7 months old, I look forward to the year when they can express their thanks on this blog in their own words!!!!

A Quick Update

Tonite was a very fun night! The girls got to visit with Grammy and Poppop. We had taco night and Rita's water ice for dessert! After a quick tub, the girls showed off all their tricks! Aunt Jenny brought over baby Ray to visit too. The girls got to stay up extra late to play and didn't go to bed until 8:10!!!! Thanks for coming over Gram and Poppop!!!

Busy, busy, busy!

Ok, I know we haven't updated in a while! I'll start with the wonderful stomach virus that we passed all around the house! It started with Ava on a Thursday night at about 1 am. She was unsettled from around 11 and we were up a bunch of times with her. Mike was the unfortunate receipient of what was bugging her! She let loose the contents of her stomach all over him! And the bedroom floor and the hall way and the bathroom! It was bad. I still can't beleive all that was in her little stomach! After a big clean up project, including a shower for Mike, I took Ava in our bedroom to try to get some sleep and she let our comforter have it! That was when we decided that it was going to be a long night. Mike ended up on the couch with Ava and I ended up in the girls room with Olivia who was getting sick. Thank God for hardwood floors!!!! Liv is a trooper and she went right back to sleep. Mike got Ava asleep in her crib just as Lila was getting sick on me in the rocking chair! It was quite a night! We got back in bed around 4 and the whole cycle started again at 6 am!! The girls went on like this from thurs night until sat morning! We thought we had it beat on Sunday and then on Monday morning Mike got sick and you guessed it - Tuesday was my lucky day! We are looking forward to warmer weather and the end of sick season!

We have been having fun though too! We took the girls to the Natural History Museum in Philly. It was a toss up as to whether they were going to like it or not. But they loved it! I mean LOVED it! We were there for hours! The dinos were a big hit and we went into the butterfly house. Then we walked through all those dioramas of animals that have been there since we were kids. They just ran up and down the hallways, yelling out all the animals they saw! It was such a fun day for us too, it's cool to see the girls really enjoying the museum. And they were very funny - Lila just talked the whole time. Telling us about everything we were seeing! And what each animal says and what she saw on Diego and pointing out everything that was green! The girls were so good that they were allowed to get butterfly tattoos from the gift shop!!! What a great day!

There is a new addition to the family! Mike's sister had her second daughter this week. Gabrielle Elizabeth came into the world at a whopping 8# 1oz!!! Big sister Madelynn has been a big help to Aunt Sue and Uncle Reggie!! Here are some pictures of the girls' newest cousin!

Here are the girls at the museum -


Think Spring everyone!!!