Noisy house and a Bella update

Wow. The noise in here is giving me a headache! It is normally a pretty big circus around here, but now all three of my peanuts are teething. Isaac is getting his 6 year molars, Savannah is finally getting some 2 year molars, and Bella is getting 6 teeth (yes SIX) all at once. This will be a nice addition since she only has her bottom two. The older two kids are pretty good about the teething. Isaac only complains when he eats, and Savannah just chews on everything in sight. Bella, on the other hand, moans continuously. Day and night. I am really starting to wonder when she is going to sleep at night. I can count on two hands how many times she has slept thru the night. Eight. And by sleeping thru the night I don't mean a nice 12 hour stretch. More like seven on those sleeping thru the night times. I know at one point her doctor kind of wondered if all this has something to do with her head jerking issues.

Speaking of Bella's head, I mentioned before we had it measured and its well off the charts (large) for her age and her adjusted age. The doctor is watching for more spikes in the chart. We go in again August 22. At her last checkup her iron was checked again and is finally on the low end of the normal range. She is no longer anemic (YAH), so are able to try taking her off formula and onto whole milk. We have tried several times unsuccessfully. Her reflux is aweful when we try the milk, even with her Prevacid. Tonight I was at the grocery, so I picked up some Lactose free milk to try. Maybe that is the problem. My kids and their immature GI systems. Why can't it just be simple for once?

Bella's left eye still seems to be turning in every so often. Both girls are still set to go back to the ped ophthalmologist in early Oct.

Tomorrow morning Bella's Physical Therapist comes to the house. I am excited for her to show off all her new skills to Margaret. I am hoping she will maybe get discharged soon from the PT portion of her Early Intervention Program. The only concern I have is she is starting to walk and turns her right leg out when toddling. I've had concerns before with her right side, so I am hoping it's nothing. Come early September, her teacher will start coming out again and working on cognitive/language issues. I'm interested to see what path this takes.

I hope you are all enjoying the last part of summer. It won't be long and we will be heading back to school. My classes start up again August 27, so I am trying to pack in as many things as possible, before I add that back into the mix. :)

Last weekend

Isn't this the ultimate picture of SWEETNESS???

Last Saturday we were able to get together with Bella's little buddy from the NICU, Ashlyn. Ashlyn was also a 28 weeker, and was born about 3 weeks, or so, after Bella. They were in the NICU together and then in the ICC at the same time. Her, and her family, were camping not far from our house, so we went out to their site for the day. It was a great time! They are a wonderful family. The kids had a great time playing and us adults had a nice time hanging out and relaxing. We are so fortunate to have met such great people that share a common experience that has been such a big part of our lives. Not many people can fully understand the NICU experience and the fear that comes along with it.
Here are some more pictures from out fun day:




Sunday we headed to my parents house as my aunts Lynnette and Janet were there for some lunch and swimming. It was Janet's first time seeing both of the girls too!
This is a picture of my two aunts with Bella, Isaac, and my brother Ben. Savannah was crashed, so she missed out on the photo op.

This next picture is thrown in for good measure. My brother and I.

Bella's head check

Bella was in for her head check and it is still measuring large. It was 48 cm, so at the top (100%)of the charts for a 14 month old, and WAY off (>>>>100%)the charts for her adjusted age of 11 months.

I have been tagged!

I've been tagged by Lisa to post 8 random facts about myself.

I have to post these rules before I give you the facts:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write in their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

So, here's my 8 random factoids:

1. My husband and I are from the same hometown, but never knew of each other growing up. He is 6 1/2 years my senior. We met while both working for a short time in the local grocery store. I was on my semester off of college after just moving back home from New Orleans and he had just moved home from Denver.

2. I am currently back in school working on another degree. This time, I am going back to be a neonatal nurse, and eventually a neonatal nurse practitioner. Originally, I was going to apply to med school, but decided with 3 small kids that was near impossible when all the logistics came to head; daycare, school, appointments. My current program I am able to do on nights and weekends:)

3. I hope to someday live in the south again. I love the south.

4. I love my grandmother's fried chicken and cornbread, and hope to someday perfect her technique.

5. I have Type 1 diabetes and wear and insulin pump. Contrary to popular belief, the pump is not surgically inserted. It is a small insulin catheter 9 mm long just beneath my skin. I change it out every 2-3 days. The pump clips to my pants and contains the insulin. People cringe when they hear this, but it is 1000x better than doing 6-8 shots a day that is required of the average Type 1.

6. I broke the chain. My three kids were all born premature, as was my mother (30 wkr) and my grandmother (under 2 lbs - gest unknown). I MUST be an oddball (no smart comments here). I was 8 1/2 lbs at birth! HA!

7. My middle name is Lane. It is my grandmother's middle name. I have now passed it down to Isaac. He is Isaac Lane.

8. I started college at age 16.

I am tagging (some of you may have already been tagged??):

Meegan
Anne
Kellie
Sarah
Amanda
Heather
Johnette
Christy
Jennifer

Black Hills trip

Last week we all piled into the van and headed west to the Black Hills/Rapid City area. Todd's brother, his wife, and twin 6 year old boys live out there. It's been 3-4 years since we had been out to visit them with all the chaos with the girls, so we were due for a trip out there. This was Savannah and Bella's first trip anywhere of great distance. It is about 10-11 hours from our house, so we decided to split the drive into two days. Even with doing that, we still ended up on the road all day with all the stopping.
The first night we stayed in Mitchell, SD. This town is famous (ok, maybe not famous) for having the Corn Palace-HA. It basically a big building/auditorium that is covered and decorated with corn cobs. The design is changed each year. After checking that out we went back to the hotel to swim. They also had mini golf at the hotel, so Todd took Isaac and Savannah to goof around with that for awhile.
The next morning we continued our trip and along the way came upon an 1880's town. We decided to stop, and were glad we did. IT was really neat, as all the buildings were authentic 1880's buildings. The kids thought it was pretty neat and it was hard to tear Isaac away from the schoolhouse bell. I think he could have stood there all day ringing it. Savannah has a slight obsession with animals and wanted to stand by the horses and longhorns the whole time.



Since Isaac wants to be a polic officer when he grows up, I better include a picture of him and Savannah in a "real jail." Yes, my kids were in jail:)

After our stop at the 1880's town, we took a drive through the Badlands. We had been through there before, but wanted to show Isaac again. It's always a beautiful drive. This time we took the time to get out and climb around a little. It was over 100 degrees though, so it wasn't long before the kids faces were red from heat.

Isaac, Savannah and I climbing around...

Notice the beautiful layers of colors in the rock...

After leaving the Badlands, we finished our trek to Rapid City where we finally arrived at Mark and Anne's!

While there we packed in TONS of activities. I won't bore you all with the details, but here are some pictures with highlights:

Storybook Island Park
Cousins together: Savannah, Bella, Jack, Isaac, Noah

Bella the Little Toot

Bella and Tigger

Who's this? Savannah with Raggedy Ann

Reptile Gardens
Touching the caymen


Giant tortoises- the kids thought these were great!


Bella cuddling with uncle Mark

The three amigos: Noah, Jack, Isaac

Bear Country
Savannah pointing out the reindeer below. She was our navigator.



Beware of the bears...:)




Canyon Lake Park
My grandfather was in the Air Force and my grandma said when they were stationed in Rapid City they used to visit this park every Sunday. My mom was just a baby then. She said you could feed the ducks/geese and it was a very beautiful park. As you can see, not much has changed. It was neat to visit somewhere that she had so many memories of.





Dinosaur Park

Hey, who's that climbing the steps?


The three amigos

Mt. Rushmore
We had a litle time before our train ride so we did a drive by of Mt Rushmore. We had been there before, but wanted to show Isaac now that he is old enough to remember.

1880 Train ride
On our final day out in the Black Hills we took an 1880's train ride from Keystone to Hill City, and back. This was our special treat for Isaac. It was definitely hard work keeping Bella occupied and happy. It didn't help that it was 100 degrees outside.







Pitstops along the way





Yes, sometimes Bella's hair looks mohawk-style

On our last night there Mark and Anne got 2 sitters for all the kids and took us out to a nice quiet dinner. It was wonderful. It was nice to be able to catch up without all the kids vying for our attention. It was Savannah and Bella's first time with a sitter other than our parents. Bella did awesome, but I guess Savannah cried most of the time we were gone. She is going thru a really clingy stage right now, so that was expected.
We had an awesome time on our first family getaway! Thanks Mark and Anne for your hospitality:)
Oh, and here is Anne and I. Notice the sign...they were looking for rock stars. That would be us! HA!