COOPER NEEDS TO GROW--RAELYNN IS GROWING TOO FAST!!!

We visited the cardiologist yesterday and in general the appointment went good. Cooper's heart still sounds and looks good and his oxygen saturation level was in the 80's where we want it. However in the weight gain department, "Cooper is not setting any records" words directly from the cardiologist. He is just small. At 9lbs 2oz he seems like he is growing great but the doctors all say they are happy he is gaining but wish he would gain more faster. As long as his shunt holds out, we will be fine. The longer we can go and the bigger he is, the better! This also means that we are still feeding every 3 hours. I thought my body would be getting used to the 4 to 5 hours of interrupted sleep but it is not. Sometimes I think it is even getting harder. The crazy things I have done at night from just lack of sleep are so silly it is embarrassing! One morning while I was running on the treadmill I actually felt my self dozing.
Cooper himself is getting cuter by the day. He loves Raelynn and she can always make him smile. He smiles a lot but when he decides he wants something, there is no messing around. He goes from smiles to screams in seconds. I think he is going to be much more like me and less like Raelynn and Terry :) I wait every day to hear him laugh but so far we are just getting a lot of smiles which I love!!! He is also getting more hair. He still has little dumbo ears but we have hopes he will grow into those over the years.
Raelynn is 2 going on 12. She still rules the house and every day I look at her I see myself more and more. The way she talks and her mannerisms would make anyone laugh. She took another session of swimming lessons and did fantastic! We enroll her Saturday for next year's preschool. I asked her if she wanted to go every day or just on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and her response was "I'll think about it and tell you in the morning". Are you kidding me!!!!!!!! She is a big fan of American Idol as everyone in our household is. However, I think she is the most opinionated. As we watched last night she spoke right up and said Mom she stinks! The scary thing was....she was right. She also gets very excited when she receives mail. Our local credit union sent her a little monthly flyer and when Terry gave it to her she looked at it as though to read it and said "Oh Daddy, isn't that so sweet!" She truly keeps us very entertained!
Terry has been redoing our master bathroom or in my terms....making a big mess. The good thing is after the big mess the end result really is nice. Maybe he will keep on a roll and start working on finishing our basement :) (haha, love you Terry) So we are all keeping busy and loving life....most of the time!!!

Terry got Cooper and Raelynn little Woodstocks for V-Day!!!

Terry and Raelynn built a snowman while Cooper and I watched from the warm indoors!!!

ADJUSTMENTS!!!

Let's see.....I last left with Cooper fighting a cold. He is doing much better now but it was a fight for him. Last week after his fever going down and then coming back two days later, we were sent back to the lab for a full work up again. Only this time they were not able to find a vein. After digging in my little boy for 45 minutes they finally drew it out of the top of his little hand. The good news is again it just showd that he was still fighting a cold. We had a few nights that he did not sleep and just when I thought there was no way I could make it through one more sleepless night, Cooper decided to sleep. Of course we (I) :) was still up every 3 hours to feed him but after a few nights of no sleep the few hours between feedings felt great and I was back to feeling human again. The last few days he seems to have been feeling pretty good. He fights sleep horribly but eventually Dad and I win out. He is getting so big and eating like a horse. He is also getting cutier by the minute. He smiles so much now and that gets our day started on the right track. He loves his sister and she can always make him smile which in turn makes us smile. She also loves him. She insits that Cooper sit in his bouncy chair beside her while she eats and in the bathroom while she takes her bath. She also fills him in on all the happens as they watch Micky Mouse Club House, Little Mermaid and Cars over and over again.

Things are falling right into place now but at the beginning of last week I wasn't sure it was going to go so smoothly. The first few evenings after being back to work were chaos and not very pleasant. I was picking the kids up for work and heading home around 5:30pm. We would get inside and I was trying to get dinner ready right away. While doing that Raelynn was demanding a snack and much more attention than I had time for. Then there was Cooper who also wanted my attention and needed fed by 6pm. The kids seemed to be battling for every second I had and there were a lot of tears being shed. I realized very quickly that this wasn't working because by the end of the night I was exhausted, felt like I had no time with either of them and just felt like I was not being the Mom I wanted to be. So I took a deep breath and made some adjustments. Now a menu is written out on Sunday for the whole week. I go to the store on Sunday, alone, while Terry has time with the kids and get everything we need. Each night after the kids go to bed I get the meal for the next night ready so that all I have to do at the most when we get home at 5:30pm is put it in the oven or on the grill. That changed everything. Now we get home and we get settled in our comfy clothes and talk about the day while we put coats and shoes away. Raelynn gets a snack while I put whatever we are having on to cook and get Cooper's bottle ready. Then I feed Cooper while Raelynn reads us a story, dances around the living room or whatever else she may feel like doing and of course Cooper and I show our appreciation for whatever entertainment she comes up with. By the time dinner is ready Terry is usually home and from then it is just tag team for us between the kids. You know....Terry gets Raelynn in the bath-I clean up the kitchen; I wash Raelynn's hair and get her out of the bath-Terry gets Coop his meds; Terry helps Raelynn into her PJ's-I get her snack. Then we all sit down to watch a little TV or play Memory before Raelynn is off to bed. Even Cooper is starting to like that game, hahaha. Then Terry feeds Cooper, I do laundry or do laundry or do more laundry or pay bills...whatever may need done. It works great and at the end of the night I feel like we have spent great time together and usually have very few unhappy moments. I absolutely love to be with them and get excited just for them to wake up in the morning.

I am also excited because thanks to my friend, Kelly, have found a church that I think we will really be able to grow in. They had an open house this past weekend to introduce their new youth wing and Kelly invited us to attend. I had been thinking a lot about the fact that we really needed to start attending church because I think it is so important for Raelynn at this age and also important for us in general. I took her up on the invitation and the church is wonderful. The new youth wing is amazing and I know Raelynn will love when she gets a little older. One of Raelynn's classmates also attends this church so she was happy to see a familiar face in her little Sunday school class. She didn't want to stay in the class this past Sunday but has promised me that she will this Sunday. :) While in church with me though Raelynn heard the pastor speak about God. She asked me where God lived and I told her in heaven. Because the fact that Grandma had told her that her Daddy had died because he was old and now lives in heaven, Raelynn derived that God must be old too. I agreed with a smile and said yes God is very "old". She is so cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COOPER'S SICK AND BACK TO WORK

So there we were late Wednesday night early Thursday morning and Cooper had a 102 to 103 temperature and would not eat. Knowing that this was not a good sign I call his pediatrician first thing Thursday morning and set an appointment for 11am. When we arrived I almost expected them to say "no big deal, he is fine and you are over-reacting". Unfortunately they did not. The first thing they did was check his oxygen saturation level. Remember this is the level that is currently in the 80's and when drops to the 70's it will be time for his next surgery. Well it was 72. I cried. They ran tests from every fluid they could pull from his body. Three hours later it was determined he had a cold. I was very relieved only to find out that yes it is good it is only a cold, but for Cooper, a cold is a big deal. We were given a list of things to watch for and most importantly we had to get him eating again. They wanted to see him again Friday morning.....yes Friday......my first day back at work and I had to take an hour or so off to go to the doctor. Of course I didn't questions this because Cooper has to come first, but boy did I feel bad. As my pediatrician has told me on several occasions, "until Cooper's next surgery this is how things are going to be, everything will be a big deal." So Thursday as long as his fever stayed down he would eat. Friday morning we went back and the saturation level was in the 60's. After consulting with our cardiologist they assured me this was acceptable b/c of the cold. He still had a fever but he was not getting worse. My pediatrician, who by the way is fabulous, gave me exact steps to follow should something change over the weekend. The biggiest thing is that if we have to take Cooper to the hospital, we have to take him to Children's Mercy instead of our local hospital. Therefore, I was to contact the cardiologist on call at Children's Mercy. Things seemed to be going well. He was eating really well and the fever was staying down as long as I gave him Tylenol ever 6 to 8 hours. Then at 11pm on Saturday I changed a diaper that had blood in it! Hear we go again. I got on the phone to Children's Mercy and the doctor on call felt that it was nothing to worry about due to the amount and color. He felt that he probably just had a small tear or irritation in his rectum. Unless it gets worse, I will be calling our local pediatrition in the morning to find out what they think. So other than that, Cooper is great! Heart wise he is doing fine. He is smiling and getting cuter every day. The really crazy thing is Raelynn is starting to have identical symptoms as Cooper. Friday morning she woke up and said she that she had a fever and maybe even her heart hurts. Of course I am very sympathetic and check out her symptoms as well but draw the line at giving her Cooper's meds :)

Now back to my first day back at work....it felt great! Because I know Tom and Jill both read the blog I won't say much about the chaos I found. Only kidding!!! Everything was great and they were sweet enough to welcome me back with cupcakes and a card. It felt really good to be back. I was even to work on time! The kids did well at Lisa's also. Raelynn loves it there and never wants to leave but did tell me she missed me :). At the end of the day I realized I had been up for 19 hours but really wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. Now we'll see what a whole week of that schedule feels like this week :)