I'll get around to updating the pic galleries, but in the meantime, here are links to the recent pics of Marinne (5 month studio session) and Kameron (swimming lessons & the playground)...
www.buddybartels.com/marinne5
www.buddybartels.com/kameron-swimming
www.buddybartels.com/kameron-meadowbrook
Buddy is still working hard getting the basement going, yet we know we can't continue once it gets to a certain extent since we still haven't sold our house in TN! So, we'll need to wait for all the big stuff until we get that done. Speaking of, we have had more showings now that the weather is nicer, but the "sold" sign is still not up!
My latest dilemma has been figuring out Kameron's preschool schedule for summer & for fall, but I think I'm finally to a decision! The educator in me really takes a lot into consideration, yet money is always an issue as well, plus I want to have him home with me, too. One of the preschools he is currently at is honestly amazing with what all they do, yet it's really expensive so it's not going to be something we can continue forever, but I aim to keep it while I can without feeling like I'm wasting money when there are other good ones a lot cheaper. So, I think I've found a happy balance to give us both our time away to "work" (me working PC & taking care of Marinne & him with his social time & learning w/ friends) so we appreciate one another, yet still be home w/ me while he can before he goes to big school!
He is getting ready to be quite the busy little boy with activities he's enrolled in. He is already in swimming lessons and he really enjoys that (see the pics), and starting this weekend, he starts little sports (soccer, basketball, t-ball, floor hockey). Then this summer he'll do little league soccer & t-ball, and continue swimming lessons.
He has actually had a couple bad weeks & then now a couple really good ones. I think he's experimenting with what he can do & seeing that we are following through with things after one warning. Plus, he's seeing how great it is when he does good things & gets rewards.
Marinne is such the happy baby! I think I had an error in my last entry, but she sleeps 12 hours each night. Now she either doesn't wake at all, or if she does, it's just because her pacifier fell out around an hour or so before she'd be waking up normally. She has started her veggies & so far absolutely loves them! We've done carrots, sweet peas, and now today squash. She has just been so happy almost all the time. She wakes up smiling, even though she's starving, and she is consitantly enjoying being around us & smiling/laughing. She is continuing the crying episodes that seem to be related to being tired/time for nap, but crying until she gets herself to sleep...even if she's being held. I really need to do more experimenting with this since this isn't working for either of us right now. But once she's asleep (only sleeps for about 30 min. each nap), she's good & wakes up happy.
On the medical side, Kameron has finally had a normal range platelet count blood test this past week! It was 165,000, so needless to say, we were excited. He also had a check up w/ his specialist & all is good so far, but we'll continue monitoring & getting bloodwork to stay on top of it.
Our newest thing actually has to do w/ Marinne. She has had two episodes of spitting up fresh blood over the past few weeks. We took her to the ER after the first episode of this (on a Sat. night). The ER Dr. pretty much acted like it was no big deal & likely do to nursing. However, two weeks after that, it happened again (last week), so we followed up w/ her Pediatrician about it. She did blood work (which I wasn't looking forward to, but ended up going pretty smoothly once they found a nurse to find her vein) & that came back find. However, she was concerned & referred us to a Gastro. Dr. the following day that worked us in to be sure we'd be on top of it if it was serious. He decided to do an endoscopy for the following day at the hospital. Even though we were nervous, it really went well. He didn't find anything he'd think to be the cause, but did do biopsies we are waiting to hear on. In the meantime, he's referred us to a Pediatric ENT to probably get a nasal scope to see if that's the cause. Keep her in your prayers & hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
4.5 months
Well, here I am again just now updating this site, but I really hope to change that this time!
I finally got around to having Buddy help me upload pics of both kids, as well as "my snapshots". You will see the main page has the photos link & then links to almost all of Marinne's professional sessions, as well as to Kameron's. They include the newest pics of Marinne (3 & 4 month), as well as of Kameron from this past week. Then there is the snapshots section that is a good chunk of random photos I take, starting back from when Marinne was born. I'll continue to update that as I can and add little captions throughout. We have Halloween & Christmas pics posted on there, too, and I'll get the Jan./Feb. ones on soon.
We are officially all unpacked in the main parts of the house & even all my office boxes are finally gone! Buddy has started work on finishing our basement, which is over twice the size of our last one, so we are really looking forward to that finished product. It will again house his photo studio, a full bathroom (with a urninal, I might add since that's the latest disagreement I lost on) & a playroom, but will also include a kitchen & bar, movie room & storage. He hopes to be done in May. We are looking forward to the fun we are planning for it, to include a "Japanese Steakhouse" type grill set up!
Christmas was wonderful & we were happy to host the day of festivities here at our new house after being back home the days before to celebrate there as well. The kids had a great time, but especially Kameron as he enjoyed ripping open presents (I love to use paper & not bags somewhat for that reason) and still had a chance to remember and comment on how it was Jesus' birthday. I was proud he remembered! Marinne got her fair share of fun things, but of course just impressed with the lights & colors of the season mainly.
Kameron is enjoying both his preschool programs that are both part-time so I still have him, too & I'm always amazed at how much he knows! Of course as a parent you always want your children to be smart, but he has really exceeded that to me at times. However, there are things he just isn't all that in to either, like coloring! Oh well... He has different themes he's always excited to share w/ us from each school & we are enjoying incorporating them at home. His favorite thing lately is his Tag Reading System Santa brought him & he is earning new books for his good behavior. We started a "sticker chart" that is actually magnetic & really neat for him to visually track his behavior daily & know what reward he's working towards by the end of the week. He is quite the wild boy at times, but I remind myself that he is 4 and all boy! He's a lot of fun; just needs to be reminded of when to settle down sometimes. He can be so sweet as well, like the other night when he put his arm around me laying in bed & kissed my forward, just like I would do to him & say I love you! He has an amazing memory, too. He knows where we are & remembers little things like what our friends' neighbor had in her yard for Halloween that we only saw one time!
Marinne continues to be such a sweet baby. She is still sleeping without waking for around 10 hours per night. She has moved up to her crib now & that transition has gone fairly well. We started it the week she turned 4 months (2 weeks ago) & other than running up once to three times a night to put her pacifier in for her, she did well & we aren't going up to do that anymore really. She also started rice cereal that week & did really well the first day, taking a few spoonfuls, then not as good the second day. But by the third day, she was back on track & finished the bowl! Now we can't give it to her fast enough! I realized the first day I didn't heat it, so may be why she wasn't too great w/ it that day. Plus I mixed it w/ nursery water but switched to milk by day 4 or 5. She now gets two bowls a day and loves it! She is getting much better at her arm strength lifting up on her belly, but still isn't fond to be that way very long. She has been introduced to two new things lately - Johnny Jump-Up & the Exersaucer. She seems to enjoy both, but Johnny Jump-Up is still a little out of her league yet. Her Bumbo seat has proved to be helpful for feeding but she isn't a big fan of just hanging out in it for much longer than about 5 minutes so far. I love her little giggle that she does when you act crazy or show her a mirror; so cute! Her 4 month appt. went well & she went down is % for weight (now 82%), so things are going well. She is a pound over what Kameron was at this age, and 1/4" taller. She's kind of been crabby about 30 minutes after she eats & will sometimes scream so much to where you think she is hurt, but it always seems to go back to her being tired & just isn't able to help herself fall asleep totally is seems!
My PC business is doing well but after I earn this next incentive I'm working towards by the end of Feb. (at least I hope to earn), I'm going to cut back a little on how much I do since I want to enjoy the baby years as much as I can without too much work but still keep it part-time like I have been. I do have a really big event coming up next month at the Taste of Home Cooking School, so that should be neat!
Our latest obstacle has been Kameron's recent dianosis of ITP, which is a platelet disorder where his blood doesn't clot as it should & his body basically attacks & destroys healthy platelets, thinking that they are foreign. We found all this out on Jan. 23 from taking him to the doctor since the day before we noticed he had some odd symptoms. His preschool teacher said he had 2 or 3 nosebleeds, and then the rest of the day when I had him home after preschool, he had another 2 or 3 until bed. Then I noticed dark red/black spots on the inside of his cheeks when brushing his teeth for bed. After he started to change into his PJ's, we noticed excessive bruising & little pinpoint dots randomly on him that looked almost like hickeys. So, we took him in on the 23rd & the doctor was a little concerned so she ordered a bunch of bloodwork & a clotting test (that took over 11 minutes & still didn't officially clot). She did kind of have me a little scared when she suggested we stick around to see what the results were & did give us a couple of things she thought it could be. She called later that afternoon & said it was ITP, which is one of the things she thought it may be. Bascially a normal platelet level in a person should be anywhere betweeen 150,000 and 400,000. Kameron's was at 4,000. So, she told me to get him to the ER immediately & even though she knew we'd end up being admitted to the hospital for at least one night, she didn't want me to take the time to pack bags so I could just get him there quickly. Needless to say, I was a bit freaked at that point! By the time they admitted him into the hospital for treatment, his count was down to 2,000. If not taken care of when it's that low, it could lead to internal bleeding in the abdomen &/or head, hence the need for us to take him to the ER when they got the results in. So, they gave him a treatment through an IV & had to monitor it overnight. We really weren't supposed to go home the following day since the Pediatric Hemotologist specialist wanted it to be at least 12,000 and it was only 8,000, but the progress made him happy enough to let us go & monitor at home. Since then, he's been in for weekly bloodwork at least to monitor his levels. He went from 8,000 to 13,000 & then to 40,000 & 82,000. However, this past week he went down to 22,000 and 18,000. But, he climbed back up in a few days to 135,000; the highest it's ever been. They didn't rush to do another treatment to see if his body would make it's own platelets, and looks like it came through. We just have to continue to monitor this & watch for the warning signs. So, no rough housing or contact sports for now, but most kids are rid of this completely within 6 months, so we'll hope he's the same way. There is no cause & it does just spring up out of nowhere. So, keep him in your prayers & we'll keep you posted!
I finally got around to having Buddy help me upload pics of both kids, as well as "my snapshots". You will see the main page has the photos link & then links to almost all of Marinne's professional sessions, as well as to Kameron's. They include the newest pics of Marinne (3 & 4 month), as well as of Kameron from this past week. Then there is the snapshots section that is a good chunk of random photos I take, starting back from when Marinne was born. I'll continue to update that as I can and add little captions throughout. We have Halloween & Christmas pics posted on there, too, and I'll get the Jan./Feb. ones on soon.
We are officially all unpacked in the main parts of the house & even all my office boxes are finally gone! Buddy has started work on finishing our basement, which is over twice the size of our last one, so we are really looking forward to that finished product. It will again house his photo studio, a full bathroom (with a urninal, I might add since that's the latest disagreement I lost on) & a playroom, but will also include a kitchen & bar, movie room & storage. He hopes to be done in May. We are looking forward to the fun we are planning for it, to include a "Japanese Steakhouse" type grill set up!
Christmas was wonderful & we were happy to host the day of festivities here at our new house after being back home the days before to celebrate there as well. The kids had a great time, but especially Kameron as he enjoyed ripping open presents (I love to use paper & not bags somewhat for that reason) and still had a chance to remember and comment on how it was Jesus' birthday. I was proud he remembered! Marinne got her fair share of fun things, but of course just impressed with the lights & colors of the season mainly.
Kameron is enjoying both his preschool programs that are both part-time so I still have him, too & I'm always amazed at how much he knows! Of course as a parent you always want your children to be smart, but he has really exceeded that to me at times. However, there are things he just isn't all that in to either, like coloring! Oh well... He has different themes he's always excited to share w/ us from each school & we are enjoying incorporating them at home. His favorite thing lately is his Tag Reading System Santa brought him & he is earning new books for his good behavior. We started a "sticker chart" that is actually magnetic & really neat for him to visually track his behavior daily & know what reward he's working towards by the end of the week. He is quite the wild boy at times, but I remind myself that he is 4 and all boy! He's a lot of fun; just needs to be reminded of when to settle down sometimes. He can be so sweet as well, like the other night when he put his arm around me laying in bed & kissed my forward, just like I would do to him & say I love you! He has an amazing memory, too. He knows where we are & remembers little things like what our friends' neighbor had in her yard for Halloween that we only saw one time!
Marinne continues to be such a sweet baby. She is still sleeping without waking for around 10 hours per night. She has moved up to her crib now & that transition has gone fairly well. We started it the week she turned 4 months (2 weeks ago) & other than running up once to three times a night to put her pacifier in for her, she did well & we aren't going up to do that anymore really. She also started rice cereal that week & did really well the first day, taking a few spoonfuls, then not as good the second day. But by the third day, she was back on track & finished the bowl! Now we can't give it to her fast enough! I realized the first day I didn't heat it, so may be why she wasn't too great w/ it that day. Plus I mixed it w/ nursery water but switched to milk by day 4 or 5. She now gets two bowls a day and loves it! She is getting much better at her arm strength lifting up on her belly, but still isn't fond to be that way very long. She has been introduced to two new things lately - Johnny Jump-Up & the Exersaucer. She seems to enjoy both, but Johnny Jump-Up is still a little out of her league yet. Her Bumbo seat has proved to be helpful for feeding but she isn't a big fan of just hanging out in it for much longer than about 5 minutes so far. I love her little giggle that she does when you act crazy or show her a mirror; so cute! Her 4 month appt. went well & she went down is % for weight (now 82%), so things are going well. She is a pound over what Kameron was at this age, and 1/4" taller. She's kind of been crabby about 30 minutes after she eats & will sometimes scream so much to where you think she is hurt, but it always seems to go back to her being tired & just isn't able to help herself fall asleep totally is seems!
My PC business is doing well but after I earn this next incentive I'm working towards by the end of Feb. (at least I hope to earn), I'm going to cut back a little on how much I do since I want to enjoy the baby years as much as I can without too much work but still keep it part-time like I have been. I do have a really big event coming up next month at the Taste of Home Cooking School, so that should be neat!
Our latest obstacle has been Kameron's recent dianosis of ITP, which is a platelet disorder where his blood doesn't clot as it should & his body basically attacks & destroys healthy platelets, thinking that they are foreign. We found all this out on Jan. 23 from taking him to the doctor since the day before we noticed he had some odd symptoms. His preschool teacher said he had 2 or 3 nosebleeds, and then the rest of the day when I had him home after preschool, he had another 2 or 3 until bed. Then I noticed dark red/black spots on the inside of his cheeks when brushing his teeth for bed. After he started to change into his PJ's, we noticed excessive bruising & little pinpoint dots randomly on him that looked almost like hickeys. So, we took him in on the 23rd & the doctor was a little concerned so she ordered a bunch of bloodwork & a clotting test (that took over 11 minutes & still didn't officially clot). She did kind of have me a little scared when she suggested we stick around to see what the results were & did give us a couple of things she thought it could be. She called later that afternoon & said it was ITP, which is one of the things she thought it may be. Bascially a normal platelet level in a person should be anywhere betweeen 150,000 and 400,000. Kameron's was at 4,000. So, she told me to get him to the ER immediately & even though she knew we'd end up being admitted to the hospital for at least one night, she didn't want me to take the time to pack bags so I could just get him there quickly. Needless to say, I was a bit freaked at that point! By the time they admitted him into the hospital for treatment, his count was down to 2,000. If not taken care of when it's that low, it could lead to internal bleeding in the abdomen &/or head, hence the need for us to take him to the ER when they got the results in. So, they gave him a treatment through an IV & had to monitor it overnight. We really weren't supposed to go home the following day since the Pediatric Hemotologist specialist wanted it to be at least 12,000 and it was only 8,000, but the progress made him happy enough to let us go & monitor at home. Since then, he's been in for weekly bloodwork at least to monitor his levels. He went from 8,000 to 13,000 & then to 40,000 & 82,000. However, this past week he went down to 22,000 and 18,000. But, he climbed back up in a few days to 135,000; the highest it's ever been. They didn't rush to do another treatment to see if his body would make it's own platelets, and looks like it came through. We just have to continue to monitor this & watch for the warning signs. So, no rough housing or contact sports for now, but most kids are rid of this completely within 6 months, so we'll hope he's the same way. There is no cause & it does just spring up out of nowhere. So, keep him in your prayers & we'll keep you posted!
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