Ann Arbor

Well we didn't get answers really for Braxton today but we are trying some things to see if it helps. Braxton is going on antibiotic for 2 weeks to try and help grow a good bacteria in his intestines. We are hoping this will help. They also feel that Braxton isn't actually lactose intolerant so we are now introducing milk. We are to keep him on gluten, introduce the milk and cut out juice completely.

The lab results are "supposedly" false positives. We asked about the other test being a false negative and that is possible as well. If he doesn't improve in the next 3 months then when we go back we will talk about an endoscopy.

Stomach in knots

Well tomorrow is the day for Braxton to go to Ann Arbor. I am nervous and anxious. I am hoping for answers but doubt we will get many. I think there will be more talk about further testing then a diagnosis and treatment. I am hopeful to get answers but I am sure will be making many more trips to Ann Arbor. Please pray for a good trip down and a good appointment.

Today has been a challenge. Arianna had 5 shots yesterday (DTaP, Chicken Pox, MMR, Prevnar, Hep A) and she is not tolerating them well. She did ok yesterday but that changed during the night. She spiked a fever and was crabby. She woke up this morning with a 101.8 fever and had vomited in her crib...what a lovely thing to find in the morning. She is doing better now. Tylenol lowered the fever and she is eating and drinking. Pray that she continues to get better. I need the fever to vanish over night. I have a babysitter coming in the morning so we can go to Ann Arbor. I really don't want to take Ahna with us tomorrow. We have enough to think about tomorrow.

Makenzi is done with preschool. I am ready for kindergarten to start. She has only been out a few days and is bored already. Kenzi and Braxton are fighting all the time. Now I know why parents are always ready for the school year to start again.

Our Weekend

I hope everybody had a good weekend.

We spent the weekend at the cabin. We were there all day Friday, then again on Saturday. We ended up camping there Sunday to today. The kids loved camping. Arianna wasn't so sure...she wanted her bed. Thankfully the cabin is close so I ran her home for a morning nap this morning. The kids swam, rode fourwheelers, went fishing, and played in the sand. We good time. We had camp fires and just relaxed.

Please pray that we get answers on Friday. We head to Ann Arbor for the day with Brax. He is going to see the Pediatric GI for Celiac Disease. I am hoping for clear answers and not having to do more testing. I will update Friday night.

Birthday Bash

We had a big birthday bash here on Saturday. We celebrated Arianna's 1st birthday for one celebration. Then we also celebrated the other kid's birthdays. We started last summer with celebrating Kenzi's 1/2 birthday because her birthday is so close to Christmas and that time of year is so busy for us and everybody else. Braxton liked the idea of an outdoors birthday party so he jumped on board. This year was a little different as we are doing 2 parties instead of 1 at the cabin. We planned the "Tallon" party this weekend since it was actually Arianna's birthday. The next one is going to be celebrated in June when we go camping with my side of the family.

I made lots of cake since we were planning on a big group. Arianna got a butterfly cake all to herself. Braxton got a tractor cake and Makenzi got a castle cake. I made a cake for our best friend and also our sister in law too who was celebrating their birthday this weekend as well. Unfortunately a change of plans happened for a couple of the families and they weren't able to make it to celebrate with us.

We had a good time. I will add a few of the pictures!


Braxton's cake

Kenzi's cake that daddy decorated

Arianna's cake

Arianna loved the cake

Kenzi girl

1 year ago today

1 year ago today I was laying in a hospital bed waiting for my husband to arrive home from Ohio to watch the birth of our 3rd child. Baby Arianna was due on June 6 but due to complications we knew she would come early.

At 32 weeks I started seeing the high risk doctor for my pregnancy. We went for a spot on her heart. He discovered that her heart was fine but her placenta was the age of a 42 week placenta. He was afraid that the placenta would stop providing for her. I went back at 34 weeks for a follow up and things were still looking okay. Then at 36 weeks I went for another follow up. Of course this was the appointment that things went bad. The baby was looking okay but slowing down in movements and my blood pressure was really high. The doctor sent me straight to the hospital for a Non Stress Test and Blood pressure Check. When I arrived at the hospital I was sent for an induction instead.

I immediately called Scott and told him to head home as soon as possible...he was 3 hours away at least. He arrived at 8pm. At 10pm they broke my water and we were on our way...so we thought. At 7am we shut the pitocin off and slept for 2 hours. It was a very long process. Finally Arianna Mary joined our family at 3:18pm after 1 hour 33 minutes. Arianna was born with black hair. She had apgars of 9,9 and weighed in at 6lbs 14oz and 18 inches long. She was classified as a preemie so the NICU was present but weren't needed thankfully. They did suction off 10cc of fluid from her lungs though so that was nerve wracking. She was so beautiful.

Arianna has been very healthy. Some of her milestones: Smiled at 7 weeks, Laughed out loud at 3 months, Clapped hands at 11 months, Rolled over from back to belly at 5 months 3 weeks, Belly to back at 6 months 1 week, Crawled the army crawl at 8 months, real crawl at 9 months, Ate solid food at 5 months, pulled up at 9 months, Waved bye-bye at 10 months, Said dada at 7 months, Mama at 8 months. Went the cabin at 1 week, spent the night away and 2 days at grandma and papa's house at 4 1/2 months. First tooth at 11 months.

Here are some great pictures.
Fresh out of the oven


Arianna with her big sister and brother





5 months old

Our Christmas Photo

My Lion

Arianna's 1st Christmas

Arianna's 1st Easter

She loves it outside

Seriously?

What a night. I came home to find that my kitchen was flooded. When I investigated further so was my basement. Water was pouring through the floor into my basement. I was using bath towels to clean the floor and to stop the water that was spraying out of the pipes. I called my husband to find the shut off valve but couldn't get through. I called my dad who came over. My dad was able to shut the water off to the house at the water heater. There are no shut off valves at the sink or on any of the piping...damn plumber that put the crap in. Tomorrow we are getting shut off valves and some new fittings put on. What a mess. It has been 1 thing after another with the house lately. Our furnance isn't working right now either (which is no big deal since it is warm) but it still needs to get fixed. We think the roof is leaking again which is rotting the drywall/plaster and ceiling in our dining room. Sometimes I wish we were just renting then I wouldn't have to fix these issues. Oh well the joys of having a house.

Bracky Boy

Please keep Bracky in your thoughts and prayers. The poor little guy has so much going on right now. We just need to get him healthy and keep him that way. We have been suspecting an ear infection for several days now and started the ear drops per the ENT on Thursday. Things were staying the same until today when they went painfully bad. At 230 or so Braxton started screaming that his right ear hurt. I dosed with Motrin at 3pm with no relief. At 4 (after picking Kenzi up from school and seeing if the Motrin worked) I called the ENT's office. They told me they couldn't get him in until Wednesday at 130. I was not happy. I called back and raised a fuss because it was ridiculous. They then changed it to Tuesday at 1030. I was okay with that until Braxton refused to eat or drink and get off the couch. I loaded the kids up and dropped the girls off at my parents house and headed to Urgent Care with Braxton. They told me that both tubes were out of his ears and that he had fluid in them. They didn't want to give him an antibiotic because he was been on so many and since it is just fluid and a little pink to wait it out but if he got worse to bring him back on Tuesday. Yeah right I will go the ENT who knows Braxton's history. Oh and they told me to drug him with Benadryl.

He will most likely need surgery again for another set of tubes. He had the one tube less than a month ago and we already have fluid building.

Not much longer until we make our trip to Ann Arbor. I am ready to get some answers. Hopefully once we get him on a gluten free diet his health will improve drastically. I can't handle having him so sick. To listen to him today was heart breaking. Frankenmuth was never so far away as it was today...pray for my boy's health...he needs it.