She is Number Four

Last week our little girl turned the Big 4! Seriously? How is it possible that its already been 4 years since she made me a mommy? It came way to fast. I want time to slow down, but 4 year old Abby is one of my favorite Abbys so far. She has a little less tude than when she was 3. Oh yes, its still there. She can be sassy and snotty, but then 10 minutes later she is the sweetest little girl in the world. 

On her birthday, at times she would be mopey and randomly say how she didn't want to be 4. I thought that was odd seeing as all she talked about for the past 6 months was her birthday, what she wanted for it, and how she was going to be four. That evening she finally came up to me, snuggled up, and said "But you don't want me to be four." Insert knife in heart! I would often say to her in a joking manner "don't turn 4. Stay 3 and little forever!" And I guess she really honestly thought I didn't want a 4 year old. Hahaha. Poor sweet little girl. I assured her that mommy was just teasing and I love 4 year old Abby and I'm so glad she is finally 4. That cheered her up for the rest of the night.

Abby is a one of a kind girl. Once she meets someone, she will be your best friend. She is very social. She loves being around kids AND adults the same. She will gab your ear off for hours if you'll let her. Often we will have people stop by and as soon as they sit down, she is bombarding them with questions and showing them her toys and what they do. She has her daddy's outgoing personality and that makes me so, so happy. At the dentist yesterday she was winning the hearts of all the adults over. 

Abby is most certainly a girly-girl. She loves all things princess. She loves dressing up for church and if we are ever late, it could be because she has to stand in front of her vanity making sure her lipstick, (some old stuff of mine she found) is perfect. And really, that girl can put on lipstick almost perfectly. She also would make me paint her nails everyday if I could/would. She loves her hair "straight" which means just brushed nice and air dried. 

Some of Abby's favorite things to do include: riding her horse Bella, playing with her magic clip princess dolls, make "videos" of herself either by looking at the frontwards camera on our computer or talking to herself in the mirror. She loves singing and dancing to Pitch Perfect, watching YouTube clips,  and asking "why" questions. "Why are our faces on our heads?" "Why does poop come from bum bums and not waginas?" "Daddy, why isn't my baby sister coming out of mommy?" And they go on and on and on. Hahaha. 

She loves her little sister and helps me take such good care of her. On the other hand, she fights like crazy with her. Obviously. She is still obsessed with ears and its usually the first thing she points out on babies. "look how cute and little her ears are!" She frequently still annoys the crap out of poor Madalyn by grabbing hers. She is also VERY obsessed with babies and can't wait to be a big sister again. Even if it is a boy, she finally admitted she would like him. "But I still want a little sister." 

And lastly, she loves to say prayers at night. The night of her birthday, this was her prayer: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for my birthday. Please bless Maddies birthday will come soon and that she will have a good birthday and bless my glitzy globes and bless my color changer and bless my Doc McStuffins set."

She is the sweetest 4 year old I know!! Abby, Mommy and Daddy love you so much!! Never ever forget!!

Oh Baby!

Well, the secret is out. We are welcoming a new baby January 2016, and we are thrilled!!

Well, most of us are anyway! :)

Poor Madalyn. She must know she is about to be a middle child!

In all seriousness though, she is starting to really notice babies. She doesn't understand I have one in my tummy, but any time she sees one, she gets really super excited and yells "baby!" I think she is going to love her little brother or sister to the moon!

Abby is thrilled. She blew our secret to so many people before we were telling everyone our news. She always asks questions about the baby, and is so concerned for me when I throw up. My violent puking has scared Madalyn a few times (ps, can you even imagine June when we were both throwing up?) and Abby has made sure and comforted her and letting her know its just because I have a baby in me. Its so sweet. Also, this baby is another girl according to Abby, and don't tell her otherwise. She has prayed that it is a girl multiple times. "And please bless the baby growing in mommy is a girl and not a boy."

Sam and I were surprised the baby came when it did, a few months earlier than planned, but we are excited/nervous to have a third. Being outnumbered is going to be an adjustment for sure though!!

I just can't wait to see how my girls react to a new baby and I know they will be the best "helpers" ever!!

Madalyns Hospital Adventure Pt. 2

The next morning, Sunday, Abby and I got to the hospital as quickly as we could. Madalyn slept great that night, but was still really clingy and grumpy and that morning she just wanted to be held once more. She also didn't want to be in her room, so we paced the halls with her (even though I think technically we weren't supposed to.)

Sunday morning: just standing up was a huge improvement

She had a few more tests run that day. More blood work and an ultrasound. She was pretty upset about both. The blood work came back positive for pancreatitis. After that, we were moved up to the gastroenteralogy wing. By that time, my parents were there to take Abby home (they stayed for a while visiting and letting Abby play with all the fun toys) and grandma Nonie came to visit. She cuddled with Madalyn for a bit while Sam and I got some dinner. Later on, grandma Sue came too.

Attached to heart monitors and an IV and making daddy feed her apple juice

The rest of the day was filled with Madalyn not wanting anything to do with anyone, and us waiting for answers of how on earth an almost 2 year old gets pancreatitis. I stayed the night that night while Sam and Abby slept at home. More tests were ordered for my poor little baby.

The next morning bright and early, she had to have another blood test. If I remember right, I think it was a glucose test. And later that morning we went down for a barium x-ray. She hated the x-ray, but LOVED the barium and was angry when it ran out. Madalyns mood started to improve quite a bit this day, and she started to eat and drink more on her own meaning she didn't have to be hooked up to the IV all day. We still had a lot of questions, but she was doing so well. She even zonked out for a nap for a few hours!!

Her first smile in a few days, walking around, and eating!

That night Sam had to go to work, and my mom came up to be with me so I could get dinner and such. Madalyn was starting to act really hungry, but she was on a no fat diet so her eating was still limited. That night she was walking around the room, playing with toys, eating, and smiling. She even got a bath which I was so happy about!!

Once Sam got back to the hospital, my mom left and the nurses came back to give her an IV for the night because she needed another test the next day and she couldn't eat or drink. Because of the bath, her hands were cold and the nurses had a hard time finding a vein. That was super sad. Poor baby got poked probably 5 times and just now her bruises are starting to fade. :( It was my turn once again to go home that night with Abby.

Finally able to leave the room!!

The next morning (Tuesday) shortly after I got back up there, we were told the good news that Madalyn was able to go home!!! Her whatevers that determined pacreatitis (there is a reason I don't work in the medical field) were going down. We were told she still had to be on a low fat diet, but since she was eating and happy we could go. We were all very, very happy about this news, but I think no one was as excited as Madalyn to get out of there.

Going home

Madalyn has been doing wonderfully since being home. She is happy and silly. She eats decent (still as picky and stubborn as heck though) and at her follow up appointment last week she had gained about 2 pounds. I still worry about her of course. I worry every night as I put her to bed that we will be woken up by her throw up, but so far so good. (Except the day after the 4th. We gave her too much fat that day...) I am so thankful that she wasn't there for worse. It could have been so much worse, but we were blessed to leave there with a happy healthy girl.

One week follow up

As for big sister, I think she is just as happy. Sure, she acted mostly fine throughout all this, but I think she was really worried for her little sister and sad she wasn't around us. Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone who helped out with her.

Dr. Abby at your service

And thank you to everyone who brought us dinners after we were home. Those helped a ton!!

Madalyns Hopsital Adventure, Pt 1

Remember this post where i talked all about how Madalyn was all better? Yeah, talk about jinxing myself. Madalyn was doing so good and I was so happy and so relieved, until that Friday (June 26th.)

Disclaimer: The pictures you are about to see are super sad. I warned you. :)

The day started out normal. She woke up happy and I was once again relieved that no throw up happened that night. About an hour later she started to act down and kept crying. I thought she was hungry so I kept trying to see if she wanted food, but she wouldn't eat. She just kept crying and whimpering and I didn't know what to do. Finally, she threw up. She seemed better a little bit after that, and I was able to put her down for a nap.

Don't mind my face...or the messy house. Obviously I was worried about other things this day. 

After her nap, things just got worse. She just kept throwing up and eventually stopped eating and drinking all together. Sam, thank goodness, didn't have work that night so we stayed in and tried to figure out what to do. She threw up a few more times before bed, but went to sleep fast that night. At about 4:30am she woke up again puking. Sam got up with her and tried to get her to calm down. She wouldn't let him sit. He took her on a drive, paced outside with her, tried turning on curious george, nothing. Then her puke turned green and after 2 or 3 bright green bile pukes, we knew we had to take her to the hospital. At this point Sam and I were both a wreck. Sam isn't a very emotional guy, and even he couldn't hold back the tears. Abby was pretty concerned about Madayn, but she still didn't quite understand all that was happening.  My sister was heading to the mountains for the day to play and offered to take Abby. I was so releived knowing that she was going to be out having the most fun day of her life and she didn't have to worry about her little sister.

We decided to go straight to Primary Childrens hospital, knowing she would get the best care she could get there. She dozed on the way up, but other than that, she was lethargic and sad, and it was so hard. She is never like that! They hooked her up to an IV almost immediately seeing as she was so dehydrated, and ran some tests, blood and urine. And we waited. And waited. And waited. Later that day she had an X-Ray, but no answers were coming yet. They suggested we stay the night to keep a better eye on her. Seeing as she had thrown up a few more times, we were more than happy to stay. We moved to the RTU and that night she had a stool sample taken.

Poor little girl hated the nurses. She would cry and cry any time one would come in, even if they weren't touching her. Can't blame her. They poked her with needles, stuck up a catheder to get a urine sample, and pinned her down to an xray table. So rude right? Haha.

I went home that night to sleep and Sam stayed. Abby was going to sleep over at aunt Chelseas, but she got homesick and I picked her up. I was ok with that. I was sad and needed her light to comfort me. Even though she was asleep the whole time, I had her sleep in my bed with me and she just made me feel better.

Stay tuned for part 2 later this week.