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Thursday, July 27, 2006

Mama's Present...First Steps

Today, finally, Ian took his first steps on his own...only two of them...but that's progress. He did it a couple of times. The cool thing is...today is mommy's birthday!!! What a great present!!!

Ian is doing great. He's had a rough couple of days though. I think all of this uproar during Charlie's illness is finally getting to him. We had made some progress with me being able to at least leave the room without him crying. Now we're back to square one. I think it's because I'm the only stable thing in his life right now. Tonight he really played with Charlie a lot and gave him lots and lots of kisses. I think he's just realized that daddy is home. Yesterday, we had to take him to the doctor because we got a call from daycare saying that he had a fever of 103 degrees. 45 minutes later, when we arrived at the doctors office, his temp was only 99.7. He had not had any Tylenol or anything. Dr. Sood examined him and said that he looked fine. He was cranky, cranky, cranky. Based on his actions and running a low grade fever....we finally figured out that he's cutting another tooth. Last night was miserable for him, but this evening he was fine. Hopefully this weekend will be good too.

Charlie is doing much, much better. He went back to work today for the first time. He made it through the entire day. He has had three doctors appointments this week and a bone scan. The infectious disease doctor was thrilled with his progress and changed his IV antibiotics. He only has to do one infusion per day. If the bone scan looks good, they will probably take the PICC line out next Tuesday when he sees the doctor. We're praying that happens...but we don't want to do it too soon. He's building his stamina and strength back up. His color looks much better and the places on his arm where the infection was look great. All in all, he's doing great.

We had our final post placement visit with Gayle on Monday afternoon. After about 15 minutes, Ian was DONE. All he wanted to do after that was show everyone just how loud he could be. Fortunately, one of the other ladies from the Dillon office was able to come in and get him and walk him around. Gayle got the report typed up and sent off to our attorney on Tuesday. We're now just waiting on a court date to finalize the adoption. What a glorious day that will be!!!!

A couple more cute little tid bits about Ian today:
*He has the cutest way of saying "uh-oh"...you just have to hear it.
*He loves books, but this one particular book "Snuggle Puppy" has a part in it that says "ooooooooooooooooo".....when Ian picks up the book he says "oooooooooooo". Everytime he turned to the page that has the "oooooooo" on it....he says it. Smart boy.
*He's the peek-a-boo champion. He loves to play with his daddy.

We're getting ready for India camp next weekend. I'm so excited. Mia Supritha will be here and I can't wait to get Ian and Mia together again. We're also going to get a chance to meet other families that we've only corresponded with on the Dillon Internet Forum. The director of the orphanage, Anju Roy, is still planning on being here. That will be so exciting for the kids.

Tomorrow evening is the Dillon Run For The Children. We're going...I'm planning to walk in the 1K fun run and push Ian in the stroller. Charlie was going to do it too, but I don't think that should happen just yet. My friend, Lori, is running in the 5K. Last year Lori and Renee ran the 5K...it was their first one. Lori is going to do it again this year. I'm so proud of her!!!

Hopefully life will soon get back to normal. We have been blessed with a wonderful group of friends that have walked by our sides through all of this. Our Sunday School class brought meals to us again for a week after Charlie came home from the hospital. We've had friends that have watched Ian with only a few minutes notice and we appreciate it so much.

Please continue to pray for healing for Charlie. While he's much better, he still has a little way to go.

More updates about our precious...almost walking Ian, soon.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Update on My Boys

It's been an interesting two weeks in the Conner household. We started off with Ian's ear surgery and then proceeded to Charlie being hospitalized for 9 days. Mommy's kinda tired....but it's getting better.

Ian is doing great. We visited Dr. Vaidya today for a re-check on his ears. The tubes are in, working properly, no fluid behind them and no infection. Yeah!! He did OK on his hearing test, but he gets so distracted by / focused on the blocks they give him to keep him still he doesn't seem to pay much attention to the sound. We're not noticing any hearing problems at all. We'll keep a close eye on him and if we suspect problems, we'll set up another test with Dr. Vaidya. Since the surgery, he's been a much happier kid. He now loves "splash days" at daycare. Today Miss Stacie said that he sat right in the middle of the sprinkler and got soaked. When they first started splash days, he'd just sit in the grass and watch. He didn't want to get wet. Which surprised us since he LOVES bath time. He is standing on his own now without support for about 5-10 seconds. We think he'll start walking / running soon. He cruises everywhere and today at the doctors office he decided to crawl up the stairs. He doesn't quite know what to think about Daddy being a little disabled right now. He's adjusting, but it's hard for him.

Charlie is doing better. He's been home since Tuesday afternoon. He has a PICC line and gets IV antibiotics 3 times a day. The nurses taught us how to administer it at home. He does well with that. He has lots of doctors appointments on Monday and Tuesday, then he's planning to go back to work on Wednesday. This illness really took a lot out of him. He was really, really sick. He's on the mend now. He, too, is finding the changes in the way he has to play with Ian difficult. With the arm that has the PICC line, he can't lift more than 10 pounds. No lifting Ian. He can sit in the floor with him and let him crawl all over him, or hold him in the chair...but if Ian gets down he can't pick him back up. Hopefully he will only have the have the IV antibiotics another 2 weeks. His arm looks great. It's almost back to it's normal size.

Our friends have been wonderful through this entire illness thing. Members of our Sunday School class are bringing dinner to us right now. That is such a blessing. It's nice to know that I don't have to think about coming home and cooking. We are truly blessed with a great group of friends!!!

I think both of my boys are on the mend. Thank goodness. Thanks to everyone for their prayers, support and help through all of this madness. Please continue to pray for complete healing for Charlie (we hope that he never has another staph infection).

Monday we do our final post placement visit with our social worker, Gayle. We're sad...Gayle is leaving Dillon and returning to the Foster Care system. It's a good move for her, but we'll sure miss her being at Dillon. However....she does go to our church, so we'll get to see her and she'll be a part of Ian's life. Gayle...if you're reading this....we love you!!!!

We have also contacted the attorney to begin the finalization process of our adoption. Hopefully that will happen sometime in late August or September....whenever we can get a court date. Woo, hoo!!!

We found out this week that Anju (the director of the orphanage in India) will be attending Dillon's India Heritage Camp. I'm excited to see her again and I can't wait for her to see Ian. She's going to be so happy!!!

This tired mommy is heading to bed....

Friday, July 14, 2006

Words

I'm trying to keep up with the number of words Ian is saying now. He's becoming quite gabby.

Here's the list of the words he says (some of them more clearly than others):
*daddy
*mama
*dog
*milk
*cup
*ball
*light
*this
*that
*truck
*bye-bye
*hi
*eyes
*bite


There may be more, but these were ones that he said repeatedly tonight. He is my boy!!!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Charlie (Daddy) Is Really Sick

It's been a few days since I've posted, but that doesn't mean that life has not been eventful. Unfortunately, it's been a bad few days.

Charlie is in the hospital and has been since Monday evening. He was transported via ambulance from the Urgent Care facility to St. Francis Hospital Monday afternoon. He was severely dehydrated and his arm was worse. He was running a really high temperature, his blood pressure was extremely low and his heart rate was way too fast. We had to go through the ER because his primary care physician is no longer working full time and we had no one to admit him directly to room. So...7 hours later, he was in his room. He was miserable by then.

It turns out that he does definitely have another staph infection on his arm. The big question was what drug was going to work. Until the cultures came back we weren't sure exactly what we were dealing with. They started him on Vancomycin and Levaquin (both are heavy duty antibiotics).

My friend, Amy, picked Ian up from daycare on Monday evening and took him to her house for the night. She has a precious little 3 year old daughter. Ian apparently had a great time.

Tuesday, yesterday, when the doctor came in to see Charlie he was quite concerned. Charlie's kidney function was a lot worse than the day before even with all of the fluid he had been given. He thought it might be from the antibiotic. He called in an Infectious Disease specialist to see what he thought. When Dr. Grosrode came in, he said that the kidney problems were a side effect of the Vancomycin. He said that he wanted to try a couple of other drugs and then hopefully the culture results would be ready no later than this morning.

Last night they changed his antibiotics. He had a slight reaction to them, but after the second bag of each one, it leveled out.

Again, my friend Amy came to the hospital and picked Ian up and took him to her house. What an angel.

Charlie has had rough, rough nights the past two night. He probably only slept about 90 minutes on Monday night. Last night, he probably slept about 3 hours...but not all together. So, he's really really tired. Not to mention scared.

I've seen Charlie sick before, but never like this. The kidney thing through me for a loop. That was pretty serious and without correction could be fatal. I hate to type that word, but it's true.

I know that hundreds of prayers have gone up for Charlie over the past few days and I honestly believe that our prayers were heard.

This morning when the doctor came in his words were "good news all around." Charlie's kidney function test was back to normal, his ultrasound of his kidneys and bladder were normal, the staph was not MRSA so it would be easier to treat, and the other test he did to check for proper circulation in his legs looked good too. So...PRAISE GOD!!!

Dr. Grosrode came in this afternoon with the same message. He discontinued one of Charlie's antibiotics since it wasn't MRSA and he's only getting Ancef now. He said that we'd see how Charlie is doing tomorrow and he could possibly come home on Friday. He will have to be on IV Antibiotics at home for a while, but that's OK. He ordered a PICC line to be place (so the drugs can be administered at home). They placed that about 5:30pm this evening. He will get Ancef 3 times a day until the wound stops draining and then he'll switch to Rocephin once a day. The only restriction he'll have is that he can't lift over 10 pounds with the arms that has the PICC line. So...no lifting Ian with that arm.

My friend Marcia picked Ian up from daycare today. I left the hospital around 7:15pm tonight and then picked Ian up from Marcia and Bill's house. He was happy to see me. We came home, play for a little while, talked to Daddy on the phone, got a bath, rocked and how he's asleep in his crib. What an absolute angel.

Charlie is still not out of the woods, but he's on the edge of the forrest. He definitely turned the corner and is headed in the right direction.

Prayer has turned this situation around and will continue to do so. I ask that if you will, please say a special prayer for Charlie...that he'll continue to improve, be release from the hospital soon and continue to grow in the Lord. What an awesome God we serve. We're so thankful!!!

More later as I can....

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Sweet Tid Bits About Our Ian

Just some sweet little things about our Ian....

*His open mouth, wet kisses
*His sweet smile first thing in the morning (what a way to start a day)
*The way he kisses Curious George every single time he sees him
*The way he talks...almost non-stop. Some things we can understand and others we can't
*His determination
*Those cute dimples in his cheeks and chin
*He shakes his head "no" appropriately
*He loves to "tickle" our toes
*The way he "dances" to music
*The way he sings to music in the car
*His beautiful brown eyes (Hershey Kisses eyes as my friend Debbie says)
*He loves to play with the bouncy ball..over and over again. Each time it's new and exciting.
*He points to things 50 times and asks "that?"
*He has discovered the telephone. Yesterday Daddy & Ian called me and all I could hear was this sweet little "hhhiiiiiii" Absolutely melted Mommy.
*He loves to take a nap on my chest
*Morning snuggle time
*His cute little "bye, bye" wave
*The way he tries to sneak up on our cat Rizzo. The closer he gets the more he starts laughing.
*He has the brightest smile and eyes in the world. They light up our day.
*He's just the best kid ever!!!!!!

We are so blessed to have this wonderful, bright, beautiful and happy little boy. He adds so much to our lives. We see the world through a set of sweet, big, brown eyes and it's a beautiful, beautiful world.

Charlie

Please say a prayer for Charlie. He has an infection in his arm and it appears to be staph again. He went to Urgent Care yesterday and again today. This evening they gave him a shot and something for pain. He has to go back again tomorrow. We're praying that we caught it quickly enough and perhaps he won't have to be hospitalized for IV Antibiotics.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Our Brave Little Boy

Ian is fine!!! The surgery went well and he's been great all day.

He was a little freaked out when we went back to the pre-op area. He knew something was up. He cried a little and just acted a bit uncomfortable. They gave him is "cocktail" around 7:10am and Dr. Vaidya dropped by just to say hi and answer any last minute questions. Between 7:15 and 7:20 the nurses came to get him. He had settled down and let the nurse take him from me without crying or hesitating at all. He didn't cry when they were walking away with him...good drugs :) He did have this puzzled look like "aren't you coming?" on his little face. We walked out to the waiting area. The TV was on and who happened to be on? Our pastor, Deron Spoo, with his morning First For the Future moments. It was a God thing, I just know it. That was a comforting moment for me. About 7:30 they came out and told us that Dr. Vaidya was ready to talk to us. I could not believe it. It had only been a few minutes.

The surgery went well. Both ears were still infected even after another round of antibiotics. He said that Ian would be waking up any moment and they'd let us go back. We walked back out to the waiting area and literally sat down and then they called our names. They were ready for us in recovery. Dr. Vaidya had warned us that would probably be wild when he was waking up. He said it was normal. He was right. Ian just cried and cried and cried. They gave him a little Tylenol and that seemed to help, but he still just didn't know why he was feeling the way he was. He finally settled down somewhat (after part of a popsicle). He was fine once we got in the car and started home. We were home just shortly after 8:30am. I couldn't believe it.

Ian took about a 2 hour nap this morning. When he woke up, he was Mommy's happy boy. He played a little and then we ate some lunch. After that Charlie came home for lunch and he played with Daddy for a little bit. He took a couple of short naps this afternoon, but for the most part he's acted like nothing happened. He did rub his little ears a couple of times this evening and it was time for his Tylenol, so after we gave him that he acted fine. He's sleeping now and we hope he has a good night. I'm home with him again tomorrow and we're hoping for a good day. If he's up to it (which I'm sure he will be) we may venture out and run a couple of errands.

Ian is an amazing little guy. He takes everything in stride. We were so proud of our brave little guy today.

We could feel the love and prayers of our friends and family around us this morning. God is a loving and faithful God.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. Ian is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning (July 6th) at 7:30am. We have to be there at 6:00am. They said that they'll give him a little "cocktail" and he'll get sleep and happy. Then they'll take him into the operating room around 7:30. We can stay with him until they take him to OR, then he'll have to go alone. That just breaks my heart. I don't want him to be scared and I'm afraid he will be. The procedure of putting the tubes in the ears is supposed to be about 15 - 30 minutes max. Then the doctor will come out and talk to us. Ian will go to recovery and as soon as they wake him up, we can go in.

Please pray for our little guy tomorrow morning. He's been through so much and so much change in the past 4 months. He's a tough little guy.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Classic Photo


We love this one. Charlie's caption for it...."YOU DARN KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN"....

Random Photos









Ian Update

It has been a fairly eventful weekend in our house. Let's bump back to Friday.

Ian had his appointment with Dr. Vaidya (the ear, nose & throat specialist) on Friday morning. We actually ran into a couple of friends there. Janis works there and Amy was there with Ryker (and Reilly). Surprisingly, Ian did great with Dr. Vaidya...until he touched his ears. Then it was over. The screaming and thrashing about began. He's a strong little boy for only 21 pounds. Ian has another ear infection in his right ear. Dr. Vaidya confirmed that he needs tubes in his little ears. His surgery is scheduled for Thursday, July 6th, sometime in the morning. We'll know a definite time the day before. It's a common procedure these days. But, as one of our Sunday school teachers says..."it's common until it's someone in your family." I'm not really concerned about anything except the anesthesia. Tomorrow I have to go to St. Francis for his pre-op paperwork. He started another round of antibiotics Friday evening. Dr. Vaidya also gave us ear plugs to use when we bathe him or if he goes swimming. He DOES NOT like them at all.

Saturday was a good day. Ian took a 3 hour nap and then we decided to go out for a little while. So we went to Target and then to Utica Square. It was a hot day, but in the shaded areas it was really nice. Utica Square is so nice and Ian loves being outside...or "outs" as he would say. We were able to get some cute pictures there. The one posted above ("Classic Photo") was our favorite. After we snapped a few pictures and did some shopping, we decided to grab a bite of dinner. Ian ate WELL. He hadn't been eating much for a couple of days...but he made up for it at dinner. We're amazed at how well he drinks from a cup (without a lid). He barely spills a drop now. Of course, we have to hold it for him, but he's doing much better. He's been on the Singulair (for his allergies / asthma) for a week now and we can tell a big difference. His little nose isn't running as much and he's not coughing like he did last week. Hopefully this will help. He slept well last night and woke up in a great mood today.

Last night our washer decided to break, explode, die...whatever. It started making this funny sound and when I walked into the kitchen there was water all over the floor (the laundry room is just off the kitchen). So we stopped the washer and mopped up the mess. We decided to try and finish the cycle since the clothes has just started to rinse. Well, that didn't work. Before the spin cycle was complete, there was even more water on the floor. Bottom line, washer is toast. We got a good deal on a new one today and it's being delivered tomorrow.

Today was great. Church was wonderful and Ian just loves going to his class. He's always so happy to see us, but he loves his teachers. After church we stopped at one of our favorite little diners for breakfast. Ian ate almost all of his French Toast and sausage (plus a lot of cheerios). He fell asleep on the way home. When we got home, I tried to put him down for his nap. Big mistake. Daddy needs to put him down. He's going through a bit of separation anxiety and he won't go down if I try to put him down. He just cries and cries. He basically slept for about 30 minutes in the car and that was it. After he had a whole banana for a snack this afternoon, I thought we'd go to Sam's and pick up a few things....since he wasn't sleepy at all. So, I loaded him up in the car and off we went. Before I got to 41st street (we live on 26th St), he was asleep. So, needless to say, I didn't go to Sam's. I drove around for a while and let him sleep.

Tonight was our Church Picnic celebrating Independence Day. What a great event. It's held at the Hillenburg home in Broken Arrow. There were probably 500-600 people there. Lots of hot dogs, chips, lemonade, sno-cones and watermelon. The Harbingers (a southern gospel quartet) performed. They're a great group and our friend Bobby Hart is their lead singer. We love to listen to Bobby sing. He has been given an amazing gift and he uses it!!! So...Ian attended his first concert (well, sorta). He had a good time. He loves being outside and he loves being around people (especially other kids). He won't let many people hold him. Tonight Marla was the only one he allowed to touch him. He's all about Mommy right now (and Daddy sometimes). Again, he ate WELL. He had two and a half hot dogs (no buns, just the meat). We also tried the sno-cones again. Not as bad as the last time. He had his first nibble of watermelon. He wasn't sure what to think at first, but by the 2nd or 3rd bite he like it. We were there almost 3 hours and I think he could have stayed a while longer, but we didn't want to push our luck. So we came home and got him ready for bed. It didn't take him long to go to sleep tonight. Hopefully he'll have a good night.

Tomorrow, both Charlie and I are off. We're going to take Ian to daycare so we can get some stuff done around the house. We were originally going to go see a movie, but since we're having the washer delivered tomorrow we'll stick pretty close to home.

Please say a prayer for Ian on Thursday morning. Pray that the surgery will be as "common" as it is for everyone else. Pray that Mommy and Daddy get through this. :)

Also, please say a special prayer for our friends Mary & Brad. Can't really go into it here, but they need to be lifted up.

I'm sure there's much more that I'm forgetting. I know that Ian has certainly changed our lives and we are so very thankful for the amazing blessing God has given us.

I'll post weekend pictures in a separate post.