Some videos

Will is pretty much 100% back to normal! Take a look:



The other day at lunch Emma had a few things to say:

Snow Day!

We got a solid 6 inches last night! It was a really heavy, wet snow, which makes for some more challenging shoveling. Martin worked from home today, so we took our time getting dug out. Actually I did a large part of the shoveling since he was working, and Emma loved watching me shovel, and especially watching the snow plow. Every time it came by she would say "yay!" and clap for them :-)

She was only a little nervous at first, probably because it looked like we were blocked in the garage.

It was so windy, so we got snow plastered all up along the house.

We took a break from shoveling to walk in the fresh snow. Emma said "sit" and plopped herself down in the middle of it!

She loved trying to run in it too. Because the wind blew so much, there were places that she could walk through fairly easily. She ended up running with her tongue out!

And fun rolling around in it of course.

We tried to make a snowman last time but it was too cold and the snow too dry. We succeed this time, and made an Emma-sized snowman. Martin was able to come out for a little bit and took some pictures of us...Emma wanted to give it a hug!

Emma and Mommy!

Emma-isms

Emma has become quite verbose of late. A few of our favorites:

(Will starts cooing)
Emma: Will talk.
Me: What is he saying, Emma?
Emma: ABC's
_____________________________________________________

(We gave Emma honey to help settle her cough when she was sick)
Emma: Emma sick want honey.
Me: Emma you're not sick anymore. You don't need honey.
Emma: cough....sick? Honey?
_____________________________________________________

Emma: Back hurt, back hurt.
Me: Your back hurts?
(realizes Emma is doing her best Baloo impression)
Me: Itchy! It doesn't hurt, it just needs to be scratched
This kid has one itchy back...wonder where she got that from!
____________________________________________________

Me: Night Emma, love you.
Emma: Dream choo-choo.
Me: Yes you can dream about choo-choos.
Emma: Will dream choo-choo?
Me: Sure, he can dream about choo-choos too.
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(Come into Emma's room and she has shed all her clothes, unsnaped her diaper and is holding it up (with the poop still inside thank goodness!) and there are 4 or 5 sweaters/jackets strewn about)
Emma: Cold want jacket.

Update: Will

Thursday morning I took Will up to AI DuPont Children's hospital for his appointment with the GI specialist. Everything went well; he is going on a new medication (prilosec) that will take another week or so to start working, so he is continuing to take the Zantac until then. We also had some blood work done and are going to have an upper GI scan done to determine if there is anything wrong with his plumbing (like a small stomach) that could be making things worse. And I am supposed to cut cow's milk protein out of my diet, which is probably going to be one of the hardest things because I love milk, cheese, etc so much! Hopefully when the new medication kicks in I will be able to go back to milk. The doctor also commented that he sounded a little wheezy and I should probably give our pediatrician a call.

I got an appointment to have Will seen around 3pm. Everything got a little crazy at that point. The nurse practitioner who saw Will left the room after just a quick look at him and brought a nurse and a heart rate/oxygen monitor. They hooked Will up and said that his breathing was accelerated and his wheezing concerning and that they wanted me to take him to the ER right after having a nebulizer treatment. Will responded to the treatment well, but was still having some labored breathing, and then they told me they wanted to transport him to the ER via ambulance. They told me not to worry, that he was responding well to everything, but because he is so young, they needed to address it quickly. The whole time at the doctor's office, Will smiled and cooed at everyone!

The paramedics arrived while I was getting Will dressed, so all I had to do was get him in the carseat and they took him out to the ambulance and strapped him to the stretcher. About this time Martin called me from work, and I tried to tell him everything that was going on, but it didn't come out completely clearly. I ended up calling him back while we drove north to give him all the details. My mom had come to watch Emma for Will's GI appointment, so she was able to stay and keep Emma, so we didn't have to worry about finding someone last minute, which was great.

Will slept the whole way up to the hospital, and his vitals remained good, though he was given oxygen just to be safe. The paramedics were great, and continued to reassure me that Will would be fine. Martin met us at the ER and we were able to walk in together. I am so glad we were able to take the ambulance up. Not only did I not have to drive, but we were taken right in since they already knew we were coming.

In the ER Will remained pretty much as pleasant as ever. He smiled at all the doctors and nurses. He was diagnosed with bronchiolitis caused by RSV. We were told that there is a 1 week version of the virus and a 3 week version of the virus, so we are hoping that this is the one week! They used a vacuum to suction the mucus out of his nose, which he hated. But while they were holding his arms down to get ready for the suction, he started giggling as a nurse tickled his armpits...what a sweatheart! Will had another nebulizer treatment in the ER and we were sent home with one also. We ended up being discharged around 7:30, so only about 3 hours in the ER!

Will did not sleep great that night, but he was doing better when we went back to the pediatrician in the morning for his follow-up appointment. He slept most of Friday afternoon, and seemed to be doing much better. Saturday was a little more rough. He did not seem to respond to the nebulizer treatments as well in the morning, but by the afternoon was doing better. He slept about 5 hours straight through last night, and today seems almost completely back to normal! The doctor in the ER said there would be good days and bad days, and we have seen both in the last two days.

We really appreciate the many prayers for Will and for us! Here are some specific things that you can pray for:

• That Will continues to recover and respond well to the treatment
• For Emma as she struggles at times with the extra attention that Will needs. She is doing much better with this and is very sweet. She says "poor Will" and "sick Will" and likes to watch the nebulizer.
• That both Martin and I would stay healthy! We both feel a little under the weather and are hoping that is just from lack of sleep.
• For Will's reflux medication to bring relief.
• That we would continue to trust God through these trials, and then even more once things are back to normal!

That's Will in his little hospital gown. You can't even tell from this picture that we were in the ER!

Our adorable little man

I had some fun taking pictures of Will the other day, and he was a very cooperative subject!

He has such a sweet smile...you gotta love those dimples!

He is such a pleasant and happy kid (when he isn't spitting up blood...)

Love him!

God is good. That is all.

Emma's 2 year old stats

We went to the Dr. for Miss Emma's 2 year check up yesterday. She's doing great and growing well!

She weighed 24.5 pounds (25th percentile). She had been up above 25 pounds, but has not been eating very much because of the cold. Her appetite seems to be almost back to normal now thankfully!

Emma's height was 33.5 inches (almost 50th percentile), which was up a good bit from our last visit. Probably the jump in height affected her weight gain too.

And the best part of the visit was no shots...yay!

Emma's 2nd Birthday Party!

We had so much fun on Saturday celebrating Emma's second birthday with our family! Thanks to Oma, Grandmom, Pap and Omi, and Aunt Becca for making the trip! Emma has been fighting a cold, but she still had fun. I was very excited with how the cake turned out...I was able to make a train cake using Emma's new train set!

(Emma loved it!)

I'll be posting how I made it very soon!

Will got to enjoy a little time on Emma's new tricycle!

Family photo!

Emma loves hearing her name in 'Happy Birthday'

Delicious!

Good stuff, huh Emma?

And special thanks to the lovely Becca for the amazing pictures!!

Emma is 2!

Emma turned 2 on Thursday and we had a fun morning out at the mall, complete with a little Peppermint Mocha!

We love you Emma!

Will - 3 Month Update

Will's official 3 month birthday isn't until the 13th, but since this 13th has some extra special significance, I'm posting his update a little early.

Will is quite a trooper! This last month has been challenging for him in several ways. Right before Christmas I found a hair wrapped around the middle toe of one foot, so tight that the toe was swollen twice the size of the others, turned bright red, and had really cut into the skin. We had several nurses and our doctor look at it under a magnifying glass to confirm the hair was completely removed. It took several days for the swelling to abate and the color to return to normal. There was a ton of peeling skin for about a week too. The morning I discovered the hair was because of giving Will an emergency bath after a huge spit up all over himself. If not for that bath, his toe could have suffered real damage...God is good, and even uses spit up!

The second difficult thing this month was that Will's spit-up volume increased and became very painful for him. On the whole, we would call him a very pleasant and sweet baby, but after eating he was often very fussy, especially after spitting up. He was having trouble napping during the day as well. Then last week he had two huge spit-ups that were brown (bloody). Will is on Zantac now, and on the whole it seems to already be helping him feel better. He is spitting up less, napping like a champ, and in a lot less pain during and after feedings. Yay!

Other than those two things, Will has been a pretty normal and adorable kid!

Will and Emma are already great buddies. Will gets so excited by her, and she loves him dearly.

Will is really starting to get those hands working. He loves getting them in his mouth, and is starting to grab and hold onto toys now.

Emma loves to hold Will, and sometimes she topples over onto her back with him on her belly. Secretly, Will can't wait until he can wrestle her back!

They have a great time under Will's new playmat.

Will really loves mirrors, and often cracks himself up looking into the mirror. He is rolling over less the last few weeks, but is moving around on his belly now. He pushes up onto his toes and gets his backside up in the air...too cute!

We love you so much, Will! Happy 3 month birthday!

Cozy Corner

Emma is loving her new floor reading pillows that Aunt Becca and Omi made her for Christmas!

She sat in her room and read by herself for a good half an hour this morning. What a bookworm!

Fun in the snow!

We got snow on Christmas Day, but Emma was not able to go out to play until it was almost gone because it was so windy here. We had gusts of 50 mph winds! This morning we woke up to a soft, wet snow and very little wind, so I took Emma out back for a bit.

She fell down our hill and was adamant about brushing the the snow off of her pants and shoes...

She loved running up and down the sidewalk!

She was having so much fun and it wasn't that cold, so we bundled up Will and decided to go for a walk.

 I can't say it enough -- I love my Phil & Teds! Today we used the stroller with Emma on top and Will laying flat underneath. He enjoyed napping and it created a nice little warm place for him that was protected from the wind.

Sweet Will

We went to the playground and Emma went down the slide! It was really slick and she would have flown off the end if I hadn't caught her!

When we got home, her cheeks were pink and her hair a mess, but it was so much fun!

We warmed up with tasty hot chocolate!

I know Evan and Sarah are probably making fun of our piddly amount of snow after spending time in Alaska, but hey, its Delaware!