Red, White, & Blue!

It was an absolute perfect weekend to celebrate America this year!  Temperatures in the 80's with little to no humidity!  So much better than last year when I was 9 months pregnant.....

We started our 4th of July festivities once again with the Cannon Falls Parade!  Our group definitely grew in size this year.  Not only did the Porter family join us once again, but we were also joined by the Shermans, Wenzels, Great-Grandma Ward, and the Arvig Family.

Once again this parade was a huge hit with Hudson.  So many fire trucks and tractors to see, plus lots of candy!  I was a little worried about how Mila would react to the sirens but she loved it as well.

We were all decked out in our 4th of July attire!

Mila's happy girl face!

Trying to get him to look at me so I could take a pic in front of the tractor....

Love these kid!  Getting ready to head home after the parade!

Our attempt at a Family Picture.  Of course Hudson was being difficult.....

Hope everyone had a fabulous 4th as well! 

My little man

It is amazing to see how much my baby boy has grown up this past year.  He no longer looks like a baby boy, which makes me a little sad.  He is such a smart little guy and picks up on almost everything.  He also has an amazing memory, which isn't always good for us ;)

Hudson also has some pretty good sayings.....

"My feet are sprinkling" - in reference to his feet or legs falling asleep

"That's dangerous, only big boys can play with it" - in reference to any toy he doesn't want to share with Mila

"Mom I need that because........" - trying to justify every toy he wants, he has some pretty good reasons too

"It's okay sweetheart" - while rubbing her head when Mila is crying or upset about something

"Look at my muscles"

Here are some more recent pictures of the busy boy

Driving the firetruck at Como Town

 Inspecting the "back-hoe digger"

 Helping mom with the groceries

Doing some work.  Always working :)

11 Months

Hard to believe my baby girl is already 11 months!  

It has been a busy month for the little princess.  Here are some updates on Miss Mila....

1.  Started out the month with surgery, she had ear tubes placed on June 6th.  In general she did really well with the surgery and recovery.  Though it was not the magic pill to help with her sleep :(  

2.  Hudson & her both started at a new "school" on June 11th.  So far it has been a really good change and easy transition for her.  I think she enjoys the walks they take outside

3.  Sleep, still working on that....  Night time is still pretty sporadic for her.  She wakes up anywhere from two to four times.  Naps have gotten a little better.  She usually takes a mid-morning and mid-afternoon nap.  Maybe next month the sleep will get better.......

4.  We were able to try a couple new foods this month.  She enjoys the Beech-nut pear with blueberries but isn't too sure of real blueberries yet.  She usually just squishes them and plays with them.  She also passed the Beech-nut banana, orange, pineapple.  Which is great as they also have a sweet potato, orange, pineapple that I can add into our rotation.  I had just started her lamb trial Friday and was hoping to get that done this weekend but then she was hit with the stomach flu.  I will re-trial the lamb starting Thursday.  Hopefully it's a pass so we can get some protein in her :)  After that I think we will try egg.

5.  She is a bookworm!  She loves to look at books and have you read to her :)  Here she is enjoying one of our favorite color books.

6.  Milestones this month.....  crawling all over the place!  She can get from point A to point B pretty fast.  She also loves to pull herself up to stand, especially in the bathtub, Yikes!  Recently she has started cruising around the furniture and taking steps with assistance.  We will definitely be in trouble once she starts walking as she loves to get into everything!

 Checking out brother's tractor

This is her favorite place to hang out!  Loves to throw all of Hudson's toys onto the floor :)

Love my little princess!

Siblings

It is so fun watching the relationship between Hudson & Mila grow.  Hudson is so sweet with his baby sister and loves to help take care of her.  Mila absolutely adores her big brother and tolerates almost anything he does to her.  Here are some recent pictures of the two of them....

Taking sister for a ride in his tractor!

Hudson asked to rock Mila the other day after I got done feeding her.  At first I sat her in his lap, he corrected me and said she needed to lie across like this.  I don't think she was really a fan.....

Playing before "school" while mommy gets stuff ready for the day.

Love these two!

A new "school"

Last week was a big week for Hudson & Mila, they both started at a new "school"!  They are now attending "school" at Early Ventures in Northfield, right by my work.  It has been an exciting and positive change for the both of them.  

Hudson is in the early preschool classroom and so far he is doing great!  He loves his new teacher, Miss Tami, and has made some new friends as well.  There are all sorts of new toys in his classroom, which has definitely kept him busy.  They have been busy playing outside, taking walks, and doing all sorts of crafts.  This week they are focusing on bugs!  Come fall, Hudson will also be attending preschool two days a week at his new school in a classroom upstairs.  

Mila is in the infant room and has adjusted really well to her new environment.  I was a little worried about the transition as they would not allow her to have her blanket in her crib.  She has slept with one since she was 3 months so I knew that would not go well.  Since she is almost one, they are letting her nap on a cot with her blanket and she has taken some great naps so far :)  She also loves that they take walks outside when it's nice to get some fresh air!

One thing I am really excited about is they are piloting a program called Precioustatus.  This app send me updates throughout the day about both of them and even pictures that are taken!  It's a nice way for me to keep track of their day even though I am not able to be with them.  Another perk about them being so close to my work, Hudson & I were able to have a lunch date yesterday :)

I am so relieved that this transition went so well as my stomach was definitely in knots the weeks leading up to their first day.  So far we have been really happy with the new "school" and how both kids are loving it!

MSPI & FPIES

Before Mila, I had never heard of either of these two things which is a little odd considering I am in the medical field.  Over these past months, these two abbreviations have become a big part of our lives.  Starting at two weeks of age, I noticed that Mila had a lot of issues with gas and gas pains.  After doing some research, I decided to cut out all dairy and soy from my diet as I was exclusively breastfeeding her.  With these changes I did notice some improvement, however, this was very short lived.  At around 6 weeks of age, she started having these episodes where she would stop nursing and just scream in pain.  This could last anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour plus.  The only thing that seemed to calm her would be to put her in the Moby Wrap and walk with her.  I also noticed that her stools never changed from the green color to the yellow mustard color like it should have.  Her diapers also seemed to contain a lot of mucous.  At first we thought her episodes may be related to reflux, so we tried giving her some Mylanta prior to feedings.  Big mistake!!!  That only escalated her symptoms.  Finally I started doing some research online and discovered that all of her symptoms (abdominal pain, fussiness, not sleeping, stool changes, ezcema, etc) fit the picture of an infant with MSPI or Milk Soy Protein Intolerance.  Sure enough when we met with her pediatrician later that week and she just so happen to have an episode of pain did he agree with me.  Right away I took a look at my diet and eliminated all dairy, soy, and milk protein.  Within a few weeks we noticed a significant difference in our baby girl!

Things seemed to go well over the next couple months so once she reached the five and a half month mark, we decided to try a round of cereal.  Due to my diagnosis of Celiac Disease, we knew to avoid oats and instead went with rice cereal.  After much research, I decided to try the Happy Bellies Brown Rice Cereal as it is gluten, dairy, and soy free.  The first night she did great and really seemed to enjoy it.  Second night same thing.  The third night was a disaster!  She ate the cereal without any problems, however, that night she was up all night, screaming in pain, very irritable.  Sure enough the next day she started having green mucousy stools again......

After doing some research, I then decided to try some avocado.  After a couple days she seemed to be tolerating it okay, so we advanced to sweet potatoes.  Gradually I started making my way through different fruits and vegetables but soon we were having sleepless nights, an infant screaming in pain, really gassy, etc.  Finally took her to see our pediatrician who diagnosed her with FPIES or Food Protein Induced Entercolitis Syndrome.  Luckily her issues have not been too severe as others with this have infants who are vomiting to the point they get so dehydrated they need to go to the ER for IV fluids.

Once we had the new diagnosis, we started again from scratch trialing foods for at least a week to two weeks.  So far she has tolerated squash, sweet potatoes, pears, sweet peas for pureed food.  Solids she will eat chunks of avocado, bananas, white potato, and sweet potatoes.  She also enjoys Kix cereal.  Her fails so far are brown rice cereal, carrots, apples/applesauce, mangoes and any pureed baby food with ascorbic acid, citric acid, lemon juice, etc.  She also just recently had an episode where she was up for 30 minutes, screaming in pain, thrashing around in our bed.  Nothing could be done to calm her down :(  We are not sure what exactly caused this, she did try some french fries that had some preservatives so for now those will be avoided.

Hopefully she will outgrow this issues by the time she is one or shortly thereafter.  I have tried adding soy product back to my diet slowly.  She seems to tolerate soy lethicin, soy sauce, etc.  But the two times I have tried soy milk she doesn't sleep well, really gassy, and has issues with her stools.  We will retry this maybe next month.....

These past 10 months have definitely not been the easiest, especially with the many sleepless nights.  In comparison to others who have kids with the same issues, we are definitely one of the lucky ones.  We have no issues with her nursing, taking her bottles, or eating her solids.  Though she is on the small scale, she is still gaining weight and growing.  Developmentally she seems to be on track hitting her milestones, lately she has been moving about the room by scooting on her bottom and she is working on pulling herself up to stand!

Love my little princess!

Here we go again.......

Mila needs tubes......  With Hudson, he had his first set of tubes placed at 14 months.  His first ear infection was at about 8 months and after that he continued to have them repeatedly.  Once his tubes were in, he was a whole different child!  His first set of tubes lasted almost a year but once the left tube fell out, he started getting infections again along with decreased hearing.  He then had his second set of tubes plus his adenoids removed at 2 years.  Since that set has fallen out, he has only had one ear infection!!!

With Mila I knew things were not looking good when she had her first ear infection at 4 months!  In 5 months time she has now had 7 ear infections.......  We finally saw ENT on Tuesday May 20th.  She had a hearing test that morning which did show some decreased hearing due to fluid in the ears.  Sure enough, once we saw the MD he recommended tube placement due to her multiple ear infections and decreased hearing.  Luckily this time around we were able to schedule surgery on Friday June 6th vs. waiting 3 months like we had to with Hudson!

So here we go again.....  Surgery is Friday morning.  Hoping for a quick procedure and a smooth recovery for Miss Mila Grace!