Who would know that vacuuming could entertain her for so long? lol She has always loved to watch me vacuum from the couch or the bed... She has always been a little afraid of it. But this day I said we needed to clean up to vacuum and she hopped to it and then wanted to vacuum with the wand. She stayed with it till the job was done.

We finally had a nice hot day with out any wind...until I set up the pool. Now I have to explain a few things....1- I forgot to charge the pump but it turned out better to be so deflated cuz they could get in and out themselves. 2-Summer came upon us fast and so yes, i know that Emma desparately needs a bigger suit but at least Kinzie has room to grow in hers.

All in all, Emma and her friend Shandelle loved the pool. They finished the day with an otterpop and graham cracker! These two are so cute together. They ran into each other at the grocery store last week after having not seen each other for many months. They immediately hugged over and over! They were equally thrilled to see each other again. Funny what or who they remember!

Failed Oximetry Study

Poor little Kinzie had her oximetry study done last week where they monitor her for 6-8 hours while sleeping to see if her oxygen stays above 90% for 90% of the time. Her levels fell below 90% for 40% of the time. Thus, we are back on oxygen. I pray for the saying "two steps forward, one step back" to apply to us rather than "one step forward, two steps back." :-(

I want to take so many pictures and do but often also don't take them because I can't see her face behind all the tape and things stuck to it. Brittany, your job is to do your photo thing and erase the tape so I can see my beautiful little girl!

My Birthday!

I have the best husband in the world because he listens to what I say I need even if I didn't know I said it. Obviously, we have both been exhausted learning how to take care of our special little girl and keep up with our special little 2 year old, but we both know that it's been especially hard on mom since I do it for 13 hours every day while he's at work. He is wonderful at relieving me when he gets home but 13 hours is a long time. So anyway, my usual answer to "how are you" is "tired." Thus, for my birthday he rented me a hotel room...just for me. I know it sounds wierd to say that my present was a night away from him and my kids but it was wonderful and so needed. I went to bed at 10:17pm and woke up at 6:24am. I then went back to bed till 8am, went and got my included hot breakfast, and went back to bed till 10:30am. I had forgotten what it felt like to sleep in so late, to sleep with the sun shining outside, to sleep all spread out in a giant bed, and to not wake up every few minutes with every sound Kinzie makes.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU CALE! I LOVE YOU!!

P.S. The poor man was exhausted when I came home at 11!

Poor Kinzie

Here's the update:

1. Got out of hospital on Thursday provided I give the remaining injections of antibiotics.
2. Went to scheduled doctor visits in PHX on Friday.

• Urology: stop cathing since she is voiding on her own well.
• GI: no change, don't start bottle feeding until next swallow test (July, maybe June)
• Pulminology: continue on apnea monitor; have Oximetry study done one night to determine o2 level while sleeping.

3. Finished antibiotic - no big change in temperature - still high.

4. Vomiting increasing.

5. Attended pediatrician visit today - temperature due to viral infection on top of bacterial. Antibiotic probably cleared up bacterial. Waiting out viral. No other changes. Weight: 11 lb. 9 oz. and 22.5" long.

Kinzie's Blessing

Today was a cold, snowy, and windy day. But it was beautiful because we were finally able to give Kinzie her baby blessing. Ironically, we had been waiting to do it when she was off oxygen. Of course after last night, she was back on oxygen just in time for the blessing. :-) Cale did a beautiful job. Some of his family was able to come which very nice. Emma actually did very well through it and was quiet, busy but quiet.

Emma the Painter!

Sometimes the mess is totally worth the silence! Emma is sooo busy. She loves to play and play anything but she does not play alone very well. She definitely needs siblings....aka, the one she has needs to grow older and play with her! So when mom or dad have to get things done and can't always play, tantrums develop. After too many of those and you're willing to give them the world if they asked for it. Instead, I gave her the paint, stripped her to her diaper and put her table in the middle of the kitchen floor. She was so content to paint and paint herself. I was content to observe and enjoy the silence as she concentrated. :-)

Back to the ER

Many of you already know of our little trip to the hospital yesterday but in case you don't here is the update.

Kinzie finally had one of her "episodes" yesterday that she had in PCH frequently. PCH was always stumped as to what they were and why she did them. All we know is that she apparently is growing out of them by learning how to handle herself better. They are brought on by her getting mad whether because of nose suctioning, being poked, temperature taken, reflux, gagging, bottle feeding, etc. Once she gets that mad she holds her breath, immediately turns purple/black (skipping blue all together), then usually poops and/or throws up and then has "neurological irritability" for up to an hour which looks like seizure stiffening with facial droops and head turns but is not.

So yesterday I was suctioning her nose (from her cold) and she got really upset. Wierd because I do that all the time. She doesn't like it ever but usually protests very little. The differences in yesterday's fits were that she did 5 in a row of going purple and coming back. Luckily we still had O2 in the house and could throw that on her. She also did not do the siezure like activity at all! That is a huge improvement. However, because of the repeated breath holds we called 911 in the middle of them. We had her stable by the time the paramedics arrived but not when the officer arrived (poor guy, the EMTs said we scared him pretty bad - he didn't stick around). They did find though while mointoring her that she could not hold her O2 without the oxygen on. So they and our doctor advised a trip to the ER to see why. We refused transport and drove her ourself (20 minutes) due to her being stable and on oxygen.

We were at the ER for 5 hours mostly waiting. They did a CBC, RSV test, took a urine sample, and some other blood work. They also took a chest x-ray. They found that the lungs do look bronchilitic, meaning they do have an infection. The RSV test came back negative but the doctor said he still thinks she has RSV. The test is only 80% accurate and can miss 20 kids in a 100. The influenza also came back negative but is only 50% accurate. The urine came back "suspicious." 3 of 5 markers were present and thus they suspect a UTI and put her on new antibiotic. The CBC (complete blood count) showed white blood cells to be slightly increased but still normal. The chest x-ray also showed that the streakyness from two weeks ago was gone.

Bottom line - they were 50/50 on admitting her and left it up to us. They said they would basically just be watching her and treating for RSV which is to put them on oxygen (we have that already) and frequently suction their nose secretions (already do that too). So we decided to bring her home rather than create trama again by putting her in a hosptial and making her suscpetible to hospital bugs.

She does have to be back on oxygen as she drops to the 70s immediatley without it. The RSV could be responsible for this but it could also be related to her way of handling stress which is to shut down, in this case possibly shutting down having to deal with the infection in her lungs and breathing. I suspect in a couple weeks she will bounce back. That's just Kinz!

We are continuing with her blessing today but will leave right after to minimize her exposure. We have delayed it for too long and feel she needs that done.

She is a fighter and handling this all very well. She is exhausted from the episode but that is normal for her too. Thanks again for all your prayers. We feel them and appreciate them.