Milestones

Things that have happened in the past few months for the Hollands-

February was a good month for us, we had Gavin's birthday, we said goodbye to snow for at least 9 months or more, and we had our quarterly Vanderbilt Appt where they said Indie's adrenal mass has not grown. The main doctor we see at Vanderbilt (Dr. John Piesch) told us that we had the option to just keep monitoring it at this point if we wanted. He suspects that the mass is a piece of lung tissue (pulmonary sequestration) which resides below the diaphram. He is only 80% sure of this so it still could be a tumor, however since it has not grown he is getting less suspicious of a tumor. We go in again in May to get another ultrasound and an update. I always get anxiety in the month leading up to the appt, because I start to feel like its been a while and something may have changed in her body.

In March we traveled to NY, 14.5 hour drive to Livonia and then another 3 hours to Windsor, NY. Of course as soon as we got there they have the biggest snow storm in the past 10 years with 18 inches falling in a single day. This was fun for Gavin to see, however not to fun to drive in and really not all that easy to sled in. We did make a large snow man and Gavin loved that. Indie was good all week, she did have her episodes of crying with strangers, but honestly the trip was much smoother than I had thought it would go with a 4 month old and a 3 year old. We were so happy to see family and missed them when he had to go back home. Gavin started preschool in late March and was very very excited to meet new friends. He loves school and his teachers are reporting that he is the sweetest nicest kid, never gets into trouble, always listens, always follows directions and is very smart. The best report a mother could get :)

We also had to make some hard decisions in March. Life was getting to hard to juggle things as much as we were and we decided something had to give. I either had to work part time OR we would have to hire a almost full-time nanny to help us during the day. We ended up hiring a girl named Brook who loves my kids and helps us keep the house clean. Its great and has helped us so much. The sad part is we had to stop taking Gavin to Amy's house, who is our dear friend and her son Camden and Gavin are best buddies. We also had to say good-bye to Patty who was also a great person to have here at our house, who loved Gavin and did a great job teaching him new things. He needed consistency and he needed preschool, so finally we just made a decision and had to stick with it. I had to tell myself as I was stressing out about all of it that it isnt that bad of a thing to have so many people who love and adore Gavin that we can't choose which ones to go with.

In April so far we have been able to play outside a lot more and have had days in the 70's quite often. Gavin is really getting into soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball, tennis, and every other sport. Gavin starts T-ball this summer and he is very excited for this.

Indie 5 months:

Indie is a happy baby, she loves to be loved, she loves attention, she LOVES to bounce and jump in her jumparoo for hours, she jumps and smiles when you stand her up, she loves food and her bottle, she doesn't liked to be rocked much, she just wants to go into her crib and eat a bottle spread out on her own across her crib, she is very independent and already grabs the spoon to feed herself. Indie sings and babbles, coos and laughs. She loves her brother and follows him around with her head. She giggles uncontrollably whenever he touches her or looks her in the eyes. She is a very sweet little girl. She has her times when she screams, but its only when she wants her mommy and no one else will do. She is 98 percentile for weight and height and is already in 12 month clothes. She even wears some of Gavin's 18 month pajamas. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. She can roll from back to front and front to back but only on her terms and not very often. She laughs when you tickle her arm pits, chin and feet. She loves baths and she loves to grab anything and everything and destroy it by swinging it around, banging it on anything she is near wth a very intense face. She is going to be a handful, but I fully expected that :)

Gavin:

He is a wonderful happy child, loves to run and play, loves sports and LOVES to learn. He knows several words at a glance (and, is, the, no, Gavin) and wants to work on them daily. He can write all his letters himself on paper and can draw himself pretty well. He loves everyone, is a very compassionate and caring kid who loves to please others. He is a helper and always wants to get Indie's diapers, clothes, medicine, drinks or whatever it is we are looking for. If I have spit up on my leg he runs to the kitchen and gets a rag and comes back and wipes down my leg without ever being asked. He is very good, rarely ever has to be in time out, has never peed the bed and has been potty trained for almost a year now. He is very smart, happy, athletic and sweet and I could not ask for a better combination of traits in a child. He is a great big brother as well.

Gavin's Birthday

Gavin's birthday was this past weekend and we had a huge party. We had about 22 adults, 13 toddlers and 7 babies. It was crazy and fun and we had a big pinata. Gavin was so glad all his friends could join.

It seems everyone who came is sick with various illnesses now, flu, strep, cold etc so we have lysoled down the house. I think Indie is currently getting a cold, her nose is runny and she is not on her game like she usually is.

Gavin is now 3 and loving every minute of it. He is fixing everything with his new tool set and wearing his costumes around the house daily (Robin is his favorite). He loves Dora, Diego and now his favorite is Super Readers to the Rescue.

Indie is loving the Jumparoo. She can't reach the ground so I put a pillow under her feet and she goes to town jumping away like a little jumping bean. She puts herself in a jumping rhythm and has a serious face and will do this for 30-45 minutes. She must get that from me and my crazy car bouncing habit I have had since age 2.

We are just trying to get through this last month of crappy weather and snow so we can get back outside. I hate this weather, and I live in the mid south!

January 2011

This month was pretty uneventful for us. We had a new sitter start and Gavin loves her. She is our friends, friends mother and Gavin learns a lot during the days she comes to our house. Indie stays with me in my office at this point because most of the time she sleeps, although I do know that will be changing soon.

Gavin has his ups and downs adjusting to life with a sibling and less attention on him. He is doing great though and just needs a little more love sometimes as well as a few more time outs. Mom and dad need more date nights and we are working on getting some set up so we can feel normal again.

Indie is growing like a weed of course. She weighs 14 lbs. I had to weigh her twice because I didn't believe it. She is 11 weeks old, so that puts her in the 95 percentile for her age. She is tall as well. I am not sure if this trend is temporary or if she got her genes from Ian's side of the family because my family are all munchkins lol.

Milestones:
Gavin - he can carry on a conversation with you, he is very smart, he never pees his pants or has accidents and he loves to learn. He also loves Dora and Diego, which is great because he spends a lot of time with them these days.

Indie - you would never guess she is 2 months old (almost 3 months). She can pick up her head, move it around, shake a rattle, jump a little in the johnny jump up and can sit up with assistance. She is very strong and very motivated to move around and do new things. She loves watching her brother and that seems to keep her entertained.

Here are some recent pictures

Starting Fresh for New Years - 1/1/2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 is here!

I have decided that my new years resolution is to start fresh with the blogging and do a great job with it for the sake of my children to one day read it in a book format and for my family and friends who want to know what is happening with our family. So cheers to the New Year and a new beginning with actually documenting our busy life! Sarah Mixon and Amy Weber - you are my family blogging inspirations :) Please keep me in check.

Our life:

Indie is now 8 weeks old and her schedule is still very unpredictable, however we are getitng better at managing her needs. We are hoping to get her on a schedule soon so we can feel like our lives are not so crazy.

Gavin is almost 3 and talks like a normal child now instead of with a strange inflection on the wrong syllables. He now says "who" instead of "whoewew". He is very good with his new little sister and always gives her kisses. So many kisses that we have been restricting his over loving :) He is a good kid, very honest and giving, however right now he is feeling attention deprived and is throwing more tantrums than usual. He spends a lot of time in time out. We are trying to curb him of the 0-60 crying fits that come out of no where. Gavin talks in full sentences and you can actually hold an entier conversation with him. There isn't much he doesn't understand or doesn't comprehend. He is very smart and very athletic. He can hit a baseball out of the air, golf, play tennis, basketball.. you name it, he enjoys doing it. He is newly into his roller skates he got from Santa.

We are trying to manage with me back at work and 2 kids at home. We have our friend Amy watching Gavin 2 days a week and a new sitter/nanny coming into the house 2 days a week. Fridays we figure we will manage on our own, possibly switching our work schedules to accomodate. We haven't figured it all out yet, and I am sure when we do, life will change again and we will have to re-figure it out. I am starting to realize that there are no permanent solutions, only temporary ones. Never get to comfortable because things will change again.

Being parents of 2 is harder in some ways and easier in others. Its much busier and time management is KEY. But this time you go into it knowing what to expect. You have already been broken down, already know you aren't going out, that you won't sleep much, your house will be a mess and that little tiny babies take up way more of your time than you could have ever imagined. Nursing and pumping rules your life and you just know to expect to spend 5 hours a day doing one or the other, if not longer. So I have to say although its much busier with two, already being parents makes a big difference.

I will leave you with a picture of Indie and Gavin

And I am Still Pregnant

I went to the doc last Thursday at 37 weeks and 6 days and was told I was 4 cm and 90% effaced. They said I should have a baby anytime now. Well I am still pregnant and its now Monday night! My mother in law is coming into town tomorrow which will be a relief from every day wondering when I will go into labor and who I will take Gavin to depending on how quick things start moving. So I just have to make it until tomorrow at 4pm before that stress is gone. We are excited to meet our new baby girl. Everything is about as ready as its going to be and we are just trying to tie lose ends.

We are going to try to make Gavin feel as normal as possible and make him feel like his role as a big brother is very important, which it is. I hope he takes it all okay, and I think he will because he is a very sweet and loving boy.

Ultrasound results today and 37 weeks Friday!

I had an ultrasound today since I have not had one for about 1 month. Indie is 6 lbs and 8 oz now and the mass looks smaller! Not much smaller but not bigger either. It measured 2.7cm x 2.9cm which is smaller than what it it was by a little. They found the mass near hear kidney when she was 2 lbs and at that time it was 3 cm and it is smaller now than it was then.... so thats positive news. They still don't know what it is, so after she is born she will go to Vanderbilt for testing at 4 weeks old.

She seems healthy and happy because she is practice breathing and they said that diaphramatic movement she is making indicates a thriving baby in utero. So that is another piece of good information that makes mom and dad happy.

As for me I am getting big and round and readyfor baby to come out! I am doing really well, just the general aches and pains that come with a big ole' belly.

We are getting excited that the end is nearing and we will soon meet our sweet baby girl. Her room is ready and Gavin is very ready to help out and be a big brother. I have no doubt he will be a great big brother, he is very sweet and loving and doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He has never hit anyone and won't even kill a spider. Hopefully he'll kill spiders for Indie as they grow up together :)

Thats all for now,

Lindsay

Results of MRI

Today I had a doctor appt at Vanderbilt to find out the results from the MRI. Dr. Peitch, the head pediatric surgeon explained what he thought it could be. He didnt have any real diagnosis yet, as there is no way to tell from ultrasounds and MRI's what something really is, just speculation and things to rule out. Well radiology said in their MRI report that it was a Sequestration. If you google that you'll see that is a piece of displaced lung tissue. That would also include a form of blood supply going to it, and this they did not see. Dr. Peitch seems not to agree with this diagnosis and feels it could be a sequestration but also could be an adrenal hemmerage or an adrenal tumor. Andrenal Hemmerage would be something that just occured while she was very small and is no longer active. This would require no surgery and no further treatments other than watching it. If it is an adrenal tumor, then they would have to remove it and depending on whether or not it was malignant, determine other follow up courses of action. If its a sequestration, they would have to do surgery at our convenience, to remove it just because it could get an infection later on in life, because its a piece of tissue.

So there are still no real answers, but a few things were ruled out. Its not Wilm's Tumor, as that would be a kidney mass, and they have determined it is not on the kidney. The kidney is functional and normal, this mass is above it either pushing on the adrenal gland or part of the adrenal gland.

They did another ultrasound to compare to the others and determined the mass did not grow. It is still the same size and shape with no new characteristics. This is a good thing. So as of now, the opinion of the doctors at Vanderbilt are to have the baby as normal, wait 1 month before we bring her in for testing. At that point they will do an ultrasound on her and then determine if they should do a CT scan or an MRI. They are hoping over time to be able to see how this mass changes. They also want to do urine tests to see if the hormone levels are higher than normal. If they are, that indicates a tumor on the adrenal gland, because adrenal glands produce your hormones. If she has to have surgery, they want to wait until she is 5 months or so to do it unless they determine it needs to come out earlier based on growth or unforseen problems that at this point he doesn't see (but doesnt know for sure since the mass is still unknown).

So thats the update we have.... I guess its not bad news, at least I get to have a normal delivery and have a normal first month with my baby!