No news is good news?

Hello,

We got the results back from Willow's procedure. The doctor said he didn't see anything real unusual. I guess they were looking for evidence of Hirschsprung's Disease, but it seems she doesn't have that. Whew. I had to google it, and it doesn't look fun. The doctor did say he was only looking at the "still shots" from the procedure, and he was going to request they send him the whole 50-minute long movie of Willow's colon, just to be sure. We don't have those results back yet, but I am really not expecting anything to come from that. So...I guess that is good news. Willow's tummyaches, etc., have been on an upswing lately, so maybe it is just going away on its own. I don't know what to think. If they recommend anything more invasive, I will definitely think long and hard before I put Willow through any more procedures.

Josh and Willow are going to Hastings on Sunday for a few days to visit his fam (he's unemployed again - more on that later). So, I did decide to have Willow see one more doctor. See, my coworker has been saying all along that I need to bring Willow to this chiropractor/nutritionist guy that her daughter and husband both saw for different ailments. Per her, he is some sort of miracle worker and will know basically by looking at Willow why she has her tummy issues and how to fix them. The doctor is in the twin cities. YES, I am taking this with a huge grain of salt,and NO, I won't be putting Willow through any crazy new-age rituals or diets just because he says to. But, I figured since they were going there anyway, what could it hurt. We'll just see what he says.

So yeah, Josh was back to work for three days, and then off again. This past week he worked on the kitchen, and Linda watched Willow at her place again. But now he is basically done with the kitchen (it is almost done, and then I'll post photos). And his boss just told him he'll be off for another 4-6 weeks. So we feel pretty awful about Linda. We will have to see how it plays out. She is like a part of our family; Willow just loves her. I could go on and on about this, but I guess I will stop now.

Here are some photos I took at McLain's Park last weekend with Ruth and Margot. I put them on Facebook too (which I never do), but wanted to put them on here as well for the grandmas and other relatives who are not on facebook. I love these photos. It was such a nice day!

Brave girl

Hi everyone,

I just had to do a quick weekday-morning post to brag about how great Willow did with her procedure yesterday - her barium enema. After talking to the radiology people about it, I was prepared for the worst - they said they would probably have to strap her down to a board, and that I may not want to be in the room to watch. Yikes - you can see why I was scared. But Willow did so great they didn't even have to strap her down, and she didn't even fuss or cry. This is despite the fact that it took way longer than it was supposed to - she laid there for about 50 minutes with a tube up her bum and let them do their thing. She may have a future career in health care - she just kept looking around the room going, "what's that? what's that? what's he doing? where'd she go?" Very curious.

Anyway, we won't find out the results for a few days, so I will keep you posted.

Here's a random video I got blogger to upload. Josh and Willow have been playing this game with his guitar picks lately. She cracks up every time.

Skiing, first haircut

I finally brought my camera to the trails:
















My New Year's resolution was to get out in nature with Josh and Willow every Sunday. So far I have kept it! We've been skiing every Sunday in January. We've only been to the Tech trails with Willow....maybe this weekend we can head over to Maasto Hiito.

I french braided Willow hair the other day! I was surprised I could still do it. I don't think I've done it since junior high basketball days. It didn't stay looking this nice for long.





















Then on Thursday, we brought her to get her hair trimmed. We just got the tiniest amount off, just to even it out a bit. She was very good and didn't fuss or cry.



















Willow is very into drawing Ws these days. Here's some of her handiwork:


















She is also learning how to write her name. She did this one letter at a time as I demonstrated on the board above how to write the letter; she copied each one.
















We went to Wausau last Wednesday to see the pediatric GI doctor about Willow's tummy issues. He didn't seem to have a magic solution, but instead drew more blood to run more tests. Just yesterday they called with the results. Of course everything came back normal. Then they said the next step is a "barium enema", and the next thing I knew, we had that all scheduled up for this Wednesday! Now I'm really having some second thoughts, wondering if I am rushing into this crazy procedure for no good reason. I mean, Willow's tummyaches aren't acute, and her poop is only mushy, not completely watery...are we overreacting? Will she just outgrow it? This enema thing happened so fast I didn't really have time to ponder. Apparently it's pretty scary - they strap the kid to a plexiglass board and stick a tube up her bum, then put this colored liquid up there and watch it on a TV screen as it flows back out, to identify any areas of the intestine that are not normal. It's going to be really scary. I may back out. If anyone has been through this before and has advice, please let me know!

In other news, Josh has been unemployed for a few weeks now - the snow scoop business is slow. So he decided to remodel our kitchen. Nothing big - just new counters, a new faucet, paint, and some shelves.But now that he's knee-deep in it, he found out he's going back to work next week. If he ever finishes, we'll post some before and after photos.

Merry Christmas, Happy 2012

I know I've been slacking off on the blog lately, and apparently I've been slacking off on taking photos too, because when I went to update today, there weren't very many blog-worthy photos to choose from. But, here's a few that I do have.

We spent Christmas here this year. It was pretty chill. The three of us went cross country skiing on Christmas Eve, at the Tech trails. We've discovered that Willow is still small enough to carry on our backs while skiing, and she had a great time. We stick to easy trails when she is on our backs, but she loves any little hill we do go down, and says, "Wheeeeee!". We've been out a few times since, too, despite the low snow this year. We don't have any photos yet from the trails, but here's one of Willow getting ready to go - all bundled up.



















It was just us at our house Christmas morning. Willow was pretty excited. I got a great video of her coming down the stairs Christmas morning, but stupid blogger wasn't having any of that this morning. My brother was in town from Idaho, so it was nice to see him. Willow got the see the mysterious uncle Ryan that she hears about. Christmas day, we did our usual meal deliveries for Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly. It was so easy, I don't even think we got that warm fuzzy feeling from it. We brought meals to some elders who lived in the same apartment building, but it turned out they had planned with the other people in the apartment who were getting meals delivered to all get their meals and eat them together in the common area. So they didn't want to visit or anything - it was like, "thanks for the food, see ya". Ha. Then we just hung out at my parents' house, opened some gifts and ate dinner. Here's a couple photos I got, and one really short video that blogger did like.

Willow had a tummy ache here. She usually lays down when she has one. :(















A little happier here.





This was Willow's big gift from Santa: an easel. It was mine when I was little; my Grandpa Otto made it. We still have to paint over the "LINDSAY" on it and put her name instead. So far, it is a big hit, and she likes to draw W's and O's on the chalkboard.




















Then the Jenson's (Jack, Jean, Janna and auntie Jill) came up for New Year's. We had fun with them too, though I have very little photo evidence to prove that. Here's a really cute one of Willow with auntie Janna.

















We went out to dinner a couple times, and Janna, Willow and I "ran" (jogged/walked) a 5K on New Year's Eve. Jack and Josh walked it. Unfortunately, Josh got sick that night. We thought maybe it was food poisoning, but then a few days later, Willow got it and then a few days after that, I got it. It was a very short-lived stomach bug, but I'm glad that's over.

In other news, we finally got enough snow (although just barely) to head to Mount Bohemia yesterday with Seth, Beth and Tessa while Grandma and Grandpa babysat. Even though the snow cover was marginal, we still had a great time. After that, we went to a swimming pool birthday party for Willow's friend Aspen. That was great fun, and Willow did not poop in the pool (whew!). We're heading to Wausau this Wednesday for Willow's appointment with a pediatric GI doctor, and hopefully he will be able to figure out what is behind her tummy issues.

I'll try not to let a month go by before my next post!

Thanksgiving in Minnesota

It's taken me awhile to get to writing this post, but I want to make sure I didn't skip it. For once, I actually took some photos when we were in Minnesota for Thanksgiving...I was making a conscious effort!

On the way down, we stopped and had a quick visit with the Sherman's in Eau Claire. Willow got to see her NICU roommate, Ellen, and her big sister Audrey, who was a very good mommy-figure to Willow. :)















First we went to the Jenson's for Turkey Day on Thursday. It was great to see all the fam. I think Willow had the most fun playing with Josh's cousin Katie (who is a pediatric pharmacist, a great job for her because she is amazing with kids) but unfortunately I didn't get any decent pictures of those two.

Here's Willow reading with auntie Janna:















And helping Grandpa Jack cook:















Snuggling with Great Grandma Eva:















With her second cousin Natalie:















Walking in the yard with Grandma Jean. Thanksgiving day was unseasonably warm - I think about 60 degrees.















The day after Thanksgiving, before we had to leave, Willow helped Grandma and Grandpa start decorating their Christmas tree:















Then we left and headed over to western Minnesota for a Thanksgiving dinner with my family on Saturday. We stayed at my extremely hospitable aunt Lisa and uncle Scott's place. They wined and dined us in style, as usual, and Willow had a great time playing with cousin Ellen and her dollhouses.
















I guess I didn't get as many photos of this part of the trip. Still, it was a lot of fun, despite Willow having a bit of a hard time at the dinner at my uncle Dave's and aunt Tracey's in Fergus Falls. She hadn't had a nap, then fell asleep, then was woken up, and it just wasn't a good combination and she was a very cranky girl. (She's normally a happy kid, family, I promise!). The one photo I have to post is this one, because I crack up every time I look at it, I was trying to get a photo of Willow, but Dave and Tracey's pug Lucy decided she wanted to investigate and I ended up getting a close-up of her instead.
















It was a good trip, but exhausting with all the driving. I am not sure if we'll keep doing both places for Thanksgiving. We decided it would've been (a lot) more relaxing if we just went to one place and stayed put.

An update on Willow's health: the tummyaches and yucky poop continue, unfortunately. We brought her to a pediatrician for a second opinion. That doctor ran a bunch more tests, both on her blood and her poop. Everything came back normal, basically. She suggested we do another dairy-free trial, though for longer this time (we tried it once before for like 4 days). So on Tuesday it'll be 2 weeks of dairy-free, and I guess we really haven't noticed much difference. Dairy-free is easier than gluten-free, but not by much. Cheese was a huge part of Willow's (and our) diet before. Again there's the stress of making sure she gets enough calories. he really is a good eater, but she's just so skinny. We also have made an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist in Wausau, in January. I sort of feel like that is too long to wait...I want to get this figured out!

Willow also had an appointment last week with the pediatric dentist in Marquette. What a cool place that is, and the dentist and her staff were so nice. So it turns out, Willow has sort of a line across her teeth where the enamel is rough, and it's a little discolored. The dentist said the discoloration was partly due to her iron vitamins, and she was actually able to polish most of it off. But the line and the roughness is due to Willow's prematurity. The dentist compared it to how when you chop down a tree, you can look back on the rings and see where a forest fire 100 years ago interrupted the growth of the tree. So when Willow's teeth were developing, her birth was the traumatic incident (the forest fire) that interfered with that. I guess it could've even affected her permanent teeth, since they are already being formed when you are born (crazy, huh?). We won't know that until they come out. But it's not too big a deal; we just have to be extra-vigilant about Willow's dental hygiene, because the rough enamel can collect food and plaque really easily.

Willow is quite the little lover these days. A favorite saying is "awwww, I like mama" (or dada, or Yaya, or a toy, or an earthworm). While hugging you tight. It's pretty darn cute. Here are some other recent photos.

Linda and her friend Jess took Willow to see her first movie in the theater - "Happy Feet 2"

















Linda and Willow made this fort. Willow's been spending a lot of time in it. Here she is sampling some soup she made.
















And here she is playing in the snow.

















Who knows if I'll have time to blog again before Christmas. If not, hope it is merry!

Blizzard / Clifford

I'll start off this post with a photo of Willow with Blizzard the husky. When we took this photo last year, Willow loved the photo so much and asked to look at it on the computer so much, that finally we made a print and laminated it so she could look at it whenever she wanted. When we went to our first game this year, we were telling her that we'd see Blizzard again, and she was just beside herself with excitement. But she got a little confused on his name; she kept calling him Clifford (as in, Clifford the big red dog - she loves those books). Anyway, she was much more excited than this picture shows. Thanks to Ben and Kim for inviting us to their box seat; I am not sure there would be as many opportunities to see Blizzard if you were in general admission. Plus, there wouldn't be any beer.




















I know I'm late posting this, but here is a picture of the three of us at my parents' house before we headed out trick-or-treating. Willow actually got into it and we all had a great time. I forgot how fun trick-or-treating is. I can't wait until Willow's a little older and I can go out with her for an hour or two. This year we just went around the block, probably to a dozen houses or so. Willow would walk up to the door with her little bag open and say "trick or treat" in a tiny voice. Pretty cute.
















A couple weekends ago, we threw a kid-friendly sushi party. It went over quite well. There were five little kids there and a bunch of grown-ups, and everyone had a great time. For some reason I didn't take any pictures but this one, but I thought it was a good one. I wish I had taken one of all the kids.
















Here's a photo of Willow I really like.





















We haven't gotten very far on the tummy issues. Some of the lab work has come back - we know she doesn't have rotovirus or giardia - but we are still waiting on one more test. I'm getting very impatient. Needless to say we've completely fallen off the potty wagon with this. We've also backtracked on the big girl bed, and I don't really know why, other than that she has been more whiny and clingy. She doesn't just want to sleep in our bed; she wants to sleep ON me. *sigh* Don't judge us.

Things aren't all bad though. Generally Willow is happy as can be. Just not when she has a tummyache. She is very talkative at home and I love some of the stuff she comes up with. The other night we were snuggling before bed and she had been quiet for a few minutes. I thought she was just about asleep. Suddenly out of the blue she said "I like snakes". Then quiet for another few seconds. Then, "I like bees, too". So I said "well, maybe you will have a nice dream about snakes and bees". She said, "Yes." Then she fell asleep.

Here's a video. I just like how she says the word "umbrella".





I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! We are going to visit both families in MN, and I am going to be good about taking photos this time!

Corn Maze

It's been a very busy couple of weeks for us - both at work and home. Here's a quick post with some photos that are already a few weeks old. I will have to try to catch up some more next weekend.

Willow and Maisa had a playdate one cold and windy Saturday. We tried to go to McLain's, but it ended up being so cold, we didn't stay long and ended up at Maisa's house having tea and snacks.















The weekend after that, Josh, Willow and I went to the corn maze. It was more fun this year - Willow actually sort of understood the concept of finding the different items in the maze. And she was very impressed by the big catapult thing this year - last year she didn't even really notice it.
















































Here are ours and the Ryynanen's jack-o-lanterns. They came over with Margot to carve them.
















I mentioned a couple posts ago about Willow's tummyaches. Well, after a couple weeks on the probiotics, we hadn't noticed any change. Then Willow had a 3-day hunger strike and her poop got even yuckier. So I brought her in again. They did an x-ray of her tummy which came back normal. The day after her second doctor's appointment, her poop went back to the way it was (still yucky, but not that yucky) and her appetite came back with a vengeance. Also, her tummyaches have mostly gone away. But, her poop is still not right, so we brought some of it in (that was fun) for testing in the lab. We are still waiting for those results, so we'll see. My mom actually says I had a few months of runny poop when I was Willow's age and then it went away. Can diarrhea actually be genetic?? Hmmm.