Sunday, August 28, 2011

Genetics Appointment


Owen had a follow up genetics appointment about a week ago. We typically drive to Little Rock to see Dr. Kahler at ACH, but we decided to try the Lowell clinic this time. ACH flies in a geneticist once a month to the Lowell clinic, but Dr. Kahler is not apart of this program yet....so we saw Dr. Garnica instead. Since Owen is still the only child in Arkansas with VLCAD and Dr. Kahler is the only Geneticist at ACH that has actually worked with someone with this diagnosis, he will continue to be our lead geneticist. But we feel that our appointments are just "maintenance" appointments right now and we feel comfortable seeing another geneticist at this point in our journey.

playing in the waiting room...
checking out all the animals on the wall....this was Owen's favorite part of the appointment. He loved pointing out/naming each animal as we walked down the hall.....

We met with a geneticist and a nutritionist and discussed all the in's and out's of Owen's daily care....our typical conversation at every genetics appointment! Owen weighed in 31 lbs, was 2' 8" tall, and had a head circumference of 20.2 cm. He was cooperative throughout most of the appointment until it came to the blood draw. He's old enough now that distracting him and holding holding him down is quite the chore. They had a hard time getting the vein and the poor thing is still bruised!

It was discovered that Owen had an ASD (a small hole in his heart) when he was just a few months old. This type of ASD typically heals itself by one year of age, but we had not had a follow-up ECHO to confirm that it closed so Dr. Garnica ordered one. We are still waiting on the results, but we figure no news is good news!

Watching Toy Story while laying in mommy during the ECHO...

We got back all of Owen's blood work this week and everything looks good! We will continue at 22 grams of fat per day, 2 packets of MCT procal at morning and night, vitamins with Iron, and a DHA supplement at night.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

TEAMworks Golf Tournament

Saturday was the first annual TEAMworks Golf Tournament at Stonebridge Meadows. TEAMworks is a group of therapist who are seeking to improve the lives and future of special needs children. We have our first trip to Guatemala planned for the beginning of September and another trip to Ukraine in mid October. This golf tournament was a fun and exciting way to help fundraise for each of these mission trips.

Let registration begin...
Ashley and Brittany

Lena
Kara and Kati

warming up...
John and Derek
Travis
The girls at check-in...

Announcements before teeing off...
The Nutriment TEAM
Brittany and Ashley off to sale beverages...
Trey and Michael...

After finishing up, everyone enjoyed lunch from Sassy's while all the scores were tallied.

The winning team! They won with a score of 54....which was 18 under!

Nutriment (Josh's company) sponsored one of the holes....

Another part of the fundraiser was the ball drop contest. There was a golf ball dropped from the helicopter for each ticket sold and the one that landed closest to the hole won $300! It was a fun ending to an exciting day!

The lucky winner!!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

31 weeks...

Wow...this pregnancy is flying by! I've had lots of request for pics and updates...and I'm just now getting around to it. With Owen, I took pictures every week and updated the blog frequently. Let's just say things have been a lot busier during Miss Ava's pregnancy...

So here are a few belly pics that we've managed to take along the way....

15 weeks
20 weeks
22 weeks
25 weeks

30 weeks

As of my appointment last Monday, I've gained 21 lbs so far. I gained a total of 35 pounds with Owen, so there may be a lot of change in the next 9 weeks...

This pregnancy has been a lot like my first. I was nauseous in the beginning but I made it through without throwing-up. Lots of small snacks throughout the day really seemed to help and around 14 weeks the nauseousness subsided. The second trimester flew by with nothing too eventful. The biggest difference between the two pregnancies has been my tiredness, especially in the 1st and 3rd trimesters. I guess chasing a 2 year old this go around really changes things! Ha! I also seem to be carrying lower this time. Ava Kate has yet to kick me in the ribs and Owen did this non stop for as long as I can remember..but I'm not complaining! Ava's just as active as her brother and really gets going just about the time I get ready for bed!

Owen has really started to talk about Ava a lot lately. I'm not sure he completely understands....he always points to my belly and says Ava, but sometimes I think he just thinks I call my belly "Ava". The other night I asked him not to sit on Ava (aka my belly) so he got up, walked over to sit with Josh and said "I go sit with Daddy and Ava"! Ha! He's really excited about being a "big brother" and likes to give Ava (my belly) kisses. He's newest thing is to blow raspberries on my belly and put his hands on my belly to feel Ava kick!!

We had a little scare at my 28 week appointment. Dr. Birch noticed some changes in Ava's positioning and decided to check for dilation. It turns out I was a finger tip dilated, so Dr. Birch did an FFN test and sent me for an ultrasound. The FFN (a test that can tell if you are at risk for pre-term labor in the next few weeks) was negative and the ultrasound looked good, so she put me on restriction and set me up for weekly appointments. There has been no further dilation and a second FFN test was negative, so she's letting me go 2 weeks before my next appointment. Yay! I'm feeling good with the exception of being tired and getting winded so easily. We have just under 9 weeks til Miss Ava Kate's arrival and lot of things to get done before she gets here....


Saturday, August 6, 2011

Our vacation comes to an end...

One night we took all this kids to Baytown Wharf while the guys were finishing up with a round of golf. It's a great place with tons of things to do for kids of all ages. We started out at the playground and ended up at the pond where the kids where feeding the fish and watching the big turtle. I wish I would have take more pics of Baytown...it's such a neat place!

Hannah and Emma
Mackenzie was lovin the swing...
Friday was our last full day in Florida and we spent the entire day at the beach! It was a little overcast for part of the day, which made for a perfect beach day. The whole group was out there on and off all day, but Charley and Owen were going strong til the end!

Two peas in a pod...

Drew diggin holes for the kids...
Owen and Mommy....so sweet!

Crashing in the ocean....
Owen
Charley running down the beach...
I love this pic! By this point in the vacation, I think she had gotten use to me having the camera in her face....she would actually run up to me and smile so I would take her picture




a little beach yoga...
Owen and Charley loved jumping in the little hole filled with water....they would run and jump in it over and over and laugh hysterically every time


my favorite pic of us....


Charley and Drew...love this pic

We attempted to get a group picture of all the kids....but getting four kids under 3 years old to all sit down at the same time..was quite the chore. Here are a few of our most successful pics....



Charley 35 months, Emma 10 months, Owen 27 months, Mackenzie 14 months