Gavin is having surgery

Gavin is having his tonsils & adenoids removed on November 3rd. I am a little nervous becuase last time he went in to have ear tubes put in they had a hard time waking him up and his dad also has issues with being put to sleep. I also hope he does okay with the surgery...it seems like such a scary thing for a 3 year old to go through but I am very optimistic that once they are taken out he will start to feel much better!

I keep reminding myself that this is a pretty minor procedure compared to what some of my friends children have had to go through so if they can do the big procedures we can make through a small one!

more illnesses

Gavin was sick over the weekend and his tonsils are huge so we are taking him back to the ENT on Wednesday! wish us luck! I am pretty sure he will be having his tonsils and/or adenoids out!

Abby's ears are also still draining so she is back on ear drops but I am guessing she will be going back to the ENT very soon!

Maybe once all these health issues are taken care of they will sleep through the night!!! wishful thinking for me!! :)

Good news!

My doctor's office called yesterday and told me my CT scan came back normal so that was great news. Now just have to figure out why I have headaches all the time...I am thinking sleep deprivation might be a large part of cause!

Also have to have my blood pressure looked at again...and this time I will not have any coffee before I go!!

Can't seem to find enough time...

I have good intentions of blogging at least twice a week but so far have not been doing a very good job! I am attempting to study for the CPA exam (BEC section) and have not been doing very well at that either. I take the exam August 27th so hope to have a little more time after that (at least until I start to study for another section!)

Updates on everyone: Abby is still in dance and loving it. She is a very independent child that can be rather difficult but can also melt your heart! She picks out her own clothes and doesn't want help with anything. She is going through a "mom has to do everything with/for her" stage so Pat doesn't get to do much with her lately.

Gavin just finished his 5 week tumbling class at the Y and loved it so we signed up for the next 5 week session. that starts next Wednesday! He also LOVES hitting his ball off the tee and having someone "catch" it for him! We also went to the Barron County Fair last weekend and he loves animals. He didn't want to leave. His sister spent the entire time at the fair glued to mom's leg or being carried.

Since my last post I have lost 1/2 a pound! better than going up I guess. I also went to the doctor on Tuesday because I have been having lots of headaches. At my appointment I also had very high blood pressure, which is very unusual for me. I have never had a bad blood pressure reading. So...today I went in for a CT just to rule out anything abnormal in my head causing the headaches. I go back to the doc on Friday for a follow up and will discuss plans to stop my headaches. so wish me luck. Last night at home I realized that my high blood pressure is most likely related to two little kids that won't listen to their mother and are constantly testing the limits!!!

Never a normal illness at our house!

Last Thursday Abby woke up in the middle of the night with a 101 fever. I gave her Tylenol and that helped for about an hour and then the fever started coming back again. She went to the doctor on Friday. They did a strep test and it came back negative. The doctor thought it was something viral and sent her home.

She had a fever all weekend and kept complaining that her mouth hurt. I thought maybe she was getting her 2 year molars. We did the Tylenol/Motrin cycle all weekend to keep her comfortable and took her back to the doctor on Monday. She ended up having Aphthous Stomatitis...little canker like sores on her tongue and throat! So no wonder she was complaining that her mouth hurt! I looked in her mouth several times and could not see anything but it is also very hard to get a good look in a 2 1/2 year olds mouth!

She is finally starting to feel better so hopefully now she will start sleeping at night again! Well as well as she did before anyway! (she has never been a sleep through the whole night kind of kid!)

Gavin loves to play with his bat and ball! He likes to hit the ball when you throw it to him but misses quite a bit...so we got him a t-ball set and he is really, really good! I was amazed how well he did and how far he can hit it!

And I am going to steal an idea from a fellow Mother of Multiples club member and start posting my weight loss progress (failure) on here!

I don't want to share my actual weight but will share that to start I would like to lose 35 lbs! I will try to post weekly on how I am doing

Back to work!

I am finally back to work!! I got approval from my doctor around 10:30 yesterday!! I am still typing with one hand so am pretty slow getting things done but it beats sitting home!

Abby had her first dance class last night. She did great and had lots of fun. At the beginning of class she didn't want to go in and started crying saying she needed Gavin...I guess maybe we need to split them up once in awhile!

While Abby was at class Pat took Gavin by the river to see the ducks and geese. He thought that was great!

What's new with the Kennedy's

Last Wednesday I had a ganglion cyst removed from my left wrist. I thought I would be back to work on Friday but my doctor has me off until May 19th. I am trying to get him to release me early but so far no luck. I should be making good use of my time off and be studying for the CPA exam but I always seem to find better things to do!!

Abby has a follow up appointment on Friday for her ear infection. She has been on 2 antibiotics and it still isn't completely cleared up...hopefully soon!

Gavin went to the allergist and they didn't anything he is allergic to but he did have a slight reaction to cats and since we have 2 cats we have to keep an eye on him! So I guess all his health problems are related to his tonsils/adenoids.

Abby starts dance class tonight...I hope she has fun. I am still looking for an event for Gavin to do!

The illnesses continue!

We met with the ENT doctor last week and he thinks Gavin is on the path to having his adenoids and tonsils removed...but thinks he is too young to do it now. So his advice was to try and get him through the summer and re-evaluate in the fall. He did not think it was allergy related so I cancelled the allergist appointment!

Gavin is still miserable so I called our regular doctor and he thinks we should see the allergist so we are back on for Tuesday!

Abby went back to the doctor last Thursday...her ears were still draining and they stink! So we found out the antibiotic she was on did not work and she is on a new antibiotic that she hates so medicine time has become a real challenge...thank goodness for M & Ms!

The kids did get to play outside quite a bit this weekend...Gavin has a new motorcycle that he LOVES and rides it all the time. Abby sometimes rides with him or she rides her little 4 wheeler but gets really mad when the battery drains (which is quite quickly when they ride in the grass!)

I will post pictures of them riding together tonight or tomorrow and will keep everyone updated on our illnesses!

More illnesses

Last week Friday Gavin went to the doctor for a cold. Deep cough, runny noes, fever. He was put on antibiotic and then Wednesday I got a call from daycare that his ears were draining and he said they hurt. I was in Madison for work so I told daycare Thursday morning that I was going to call and get him into the doctor sometime during the day. Between leaving the daycare and getting to work (about 15 minutes) I got a call from daycare that Abby's right ear was also draining so I might want to get her in also!

So we got the kids in at 3 yesterday and Abby is now on antibiotic and Gavin is going back to the ENT doc next Tuesday and the allergist on Wednesday. Our doctor said that Gavin's glands are swollen in his neck and his sinuses are not draining properly which is creating the ear drainage. So he wants us to see the ENT doc to check out Gavin's adnoids (sp) and tonsils. He also thinks it could be allergy related so we scheduled the allergist appointment but have to see what the ENT doc thinks.

Fun with Stickers!

The kids had lots of fun decorating my car for me with their stickers! We were on our way back from the play area at the mall and they kept themselves very busy! I was brave one night and took the kids by myself to the mall to run off some energy! I was happily surprised at how good they were...sometimes they run wild and don't listen to me!

Abby is now in her big girl bed! She likes her bed but she started last weekend not liking bedtime so she wants someone to sit in her room with her until she falls asleep and often wakes up in the middle of the night and ends up in our bed! Hopefully this is a stage that will soon pass!

Yesterday Gavin got sent home from daycare because he threw up. He continued throwing up until about 8 PM and then was fine. The weird thing is he really had no other symptoms than throwing up and he wanted to eat, he just couldn't keep any food down. I am hopeful he is the only one that gets it!

Thank goodness January is over!

I think I used over a week of leave time in the month of January due to illnesses with the kids...and Pat used 2 or 3 days! Abby woke up at 3 AM last Friday morning with a fever so she had to stay home from daycare. While we were playing in the morning I noticed something stuck in her hair near her ear...when I got it out of her hair I discovered it was her ear tube. I called our doctor's office and talked to the nurse...she said our doctor was not taking anymore patients but she knew we were taking Gavin to the ear, nose & throat doctor (I will get to that later) so she said to call them and let them know Abby's tube fell out and that she had a fever.

I called the ENT doctor and they said Abby could come along. I had the appt scheduled for Gavin because his left ear had been stinky for over a week and the ear drops didn't seem to be helping. At the appt we found out that both Abby's tubes had come out but her ears overall looked good so the fever must have been from something else. (I am guessing 2 year molars!) The doc looked in Gavin's right ear first and said his tube was just sitting in the ear canal so he took it out. then on to the left ear...that tube was also just sitting in the ear canal so he removed that one also and said the left ear was infected so prescribed more ear drops. Since using them his ear is smelling better! still not 100% but atleast I can breath when we snuggle now!

That was better news than I thought we were going to get...I was sure he had stuck something up his nose...since the day before I got a call from daycare that he had torn part of his goldfish cracker bag and put it up his nose and they had to use a tweezers to get it out!

Traveling Time Out

The kids have been quite entertaining while being naughty lately! On Wednesday night the kids were being naughty. Gavin was throwing everything he could get his hands on so I put him in Time out in the recliner. he kept trying to get out so and I kept putting him back. finally after he was allowed out Abby picked up a book, smiled at me and threw it then said time out? I put her in time out and of course she tried getting out so I would put her back in and both kids were laughing hysterically! so I decided to find a chair they couldn't get out of and decided on their old boster seats. I got them out and set them on the floor and tried explaining to 2 year olds that these were the new "time out" chairs. of course they started playing with them and even though they are exactly the same they both wanted the same one. Gavin got mad at Abby and pinched her cheek. I told him no, time out and strapped him in the chair. He started crying that he wanted out. I told him no and then he stood up with his little chair strapped to his butt and started following me through the living room crying that he wanted out. I just kept telling him he was in time out and to sit down. (while trying really hard not to laugh outloud!!!)

I have now decided that time out will consist of them going to their rooms with the door closed!

And we had another trip to the doctor yesterday! Daycare called in the afternoon and said Gavin's left ear was draining and he kept sticking his finger in it. and it was very stinky. The doctor could not find anything wrong with his ear so thought maybe we just got water in it during bath and it was irritating his ear. So we are putting drops in and hoping it clears up because it is really stinky!

Not a great start to 2009

Gavin was sick over the weekend with a fever and a cough. By Sunday night he was breathing very rapidly so I took him in to our doctor on Monday. The doctor put him on Predisolone to open up the lungs and make breathing easier for him and put him on an antibiotic. So he was home from daycare Monday and Tuesday. ON Tuesday morning daycare called and said Abby had a fever of 101.2 so she had to go home. She was home Tuesday and Wednesday! They are both back to daycare and I am back to work today, hopefully everyone stays healthy for awhile now!

Yesterday on Gavin's first day back for the week he was inseparable with his little friend Emma! I guess they were together all day and he even held her hand when she went potty!

Abby has started going potty on the potty chair again but not consistently! Maybe we are on the path to being potty trained! I am still not pushing it but if they ask to go I take them! which sometimes is every 30 minutes!

Cold Season

I was just thinking the other day how we have been pretty lucky lately and not had any illnesses! I should have never had that thought! yesterday I got a call from daycare that they had cleaned out Gavin's eye 3 times and if it gooped up again he would have to go home in case it was pink eye. I schedule a doctor appt for Gav so he could get the all clear to go back to daycare because I knew that he did not have pink eye and the drainage was just from his cold. We went to the doctor and I was correct. No pink eye but a very bad cold.

Last night Abby started showing signs of getting the cold that Gavin has so it will probably be a very long weekend at the Kennedy Household! Hopefully everyone can get healthy by Thanksgiving so they can have fun with Grandpa and Grandma!

This morning Abby finally agreed to wear her new Gymboree boots! I just love them and she refused to wear them for the longest time. Everyone was telling her how cute they were this morning at daycare so maybe she will want to wear them all the time! I will try to get some pictures of her in them and post them.

Happy Friday to everyone!

Another illness!

I took Gavin to the doctor yesterday because his ear and breath were very smelly (and not a good smell) I thought for sure he had another ear infection but I was wrong. He has issues with his sinuses. The doctor checked out his ears, nose and throat and did not see any foreign objects in the nose or ears! He put Gavin on antibiotics and said if it didn't clear up soon we would probably have to go see the ENT doc so they could take a closer look up the nose and make sure Gavin didn't shove something up there! So I am praying it clears up on its own. he seemed in a much better mood already this morning so hopefully it is just a bug that will clear up soon!

Abby is developing some of the same symptoms so we are keeping a close eye on her...she will probably be going in next week for the same thing!

Abby has become quite the little mother hen...when Gavin gets in trouble by mom he also gets yelled at by Abby! Poor guy will probably always have 2 mothers and a little tattle tale to report all his actions to mom and dad!

Well...we still haven't gotten rid of the nuks! But it is more me than the kids I think. I know I need to just do it cold turkey and get it over with! We did a trial run last evening and you would think we broke a bone on Abby the way she was crying and screaming! I have been told by a few people to cut the tip off and tell her it is broken...maybe we will try this weekend. Hopefully by Monday we can report we are nuk free or at least have the nuk usage confined to nap and bed time!

Gavin's first naughty word

Last night we went to Fond du Lac...Pat was playing baseball and the kids and I went to visit a co-worker. On the ride home Gavin was talking and then it sounded like he said bulls&*t. I asked Pat what he thought he heard Gavin say and he agreed! We didn't say anything as he kept saying it and then it turned into no bulls#%t. I am still not 100% sure that is what he is saying but it sure sounded like it! And then of course Abby had to try repeating what her brother was saying but it was not very clear when she said it.

Earlier today I took Gavin to the doctor. His right ear has been kind of smelly (not a good smelly either) the past few days. At the doctor appointment we learned that his tube has fallen out of his right ear which is fine and the tube is still in his left ear which is infected. And not only does he have an ear infection but he also has bronchitis! I would never have guessed he was so sick...he has been acting normal and playing! Good thing I took him in!

hopefully Abby stays healthy...we are heading out of town this weekend!