Dahlia Bear

OK so before I start I have a question for all of my Moms of Multiples... Is it just as hard for you to find time to create a blog post as it is for me? I feel like yall are doing so well and I always fall behind lol!

So here is the update on us....

Baby Dahlia Bear

Well little Dahlia has had quite a hiccup. We took her to her cardiologist to evaluate how her heart is doing (remember how she had chronic pulmonary hypertension so they gave her viagra to increase her blood flow) Well we found out that she has an Articular Septal Defect (ASD) This is a hole (of medium size) in the septal wall of her heart. I know this is probably way over your head but what this means for Dahlia is that her blood interchanges within her heart are not normal and she is probably getting too much bloodflow into her lungs. So because she is having to overcompensate for the extra work her heart is doing, she will probably be smaller and more tired than the rest of the babies.

We are already seeing a difference in her than in our other little ones. She is a very calm baby and seems to be very sleepy most of the time. She has very skinny legs and weighs the least of all of our babies (12 pounds while Preston is 15) and stimulation seems to overwhelm her and tire her out.

GAMEPLAN: When Dahlia is 4 to 6 yrs of age she will have to get the ASD repaired. She cannot have it repaired any sooner because her heart and body will not be strong enough until that age. At that time (on the smaller scale) she will have a procedure where a heart cath will be inserted through her leg into her heart to close the hole. On the larger scale, she will have full blown heart surgery which is very scary....

So what that means for her until this procedure is that she will have to watch out to not overdo it when she is playing. We dont put her in excersaucers or anything that will make her have to work to hard. And we will pretty much just have to watch her and make sure she takes frequent breaks from playing.

GOOD NEWS: The cardiologist said that Dahlia can now be weaned off of her oxygen. We go see the pulmonologist on Tuesday and he will tell us exactly what our plan is for that! Dahlia also rolled over for the first time a couple of days ago! We are so proud of her though we dont want her to get to carried away while she still has oxygen tubing wrapped around her face!

All of the other babies are doing really well. Madelyn is our little spunky baby and she just loves to talk to everyone! It is so cute to listen to her ramble! Preston is still quite the mamas boy and he loves to cuddle. Parker talks to momma all of the time in "Heeeee, Heeeeee" language. So cute!

Eva is doing well and is 95th percentile for weight and 99th for height! She is definetly a big girl but after having tiny preemies I will never be less than happy for healthy children! We are taking her to the circus tomorrow so that will be alot of fun!

I have still been working away on my bowtique and have actually gotten alot of business from it! Thank you for all of you who have ordered (http://www.smittenkittenbowtique.com)! Trever is still busy with real estate and I am ever so grateful for his hard work and diligence in providing and taking care of our family!

We were so lucky to have our really good friends from Dallas stop in and stay with us! We really miss the Petersens and it was nice to spend some time with them! Well I think that is all for now! Thanks you all for being so loyal to our blog!

Please Pray!

So as all of you loyal blog readers know, we have had a ton of prayers go out on our behalf since the birth of our beautiful babies. Well I have just learned that a family in Houston that is a member of our same church has given birth to their sextuplets at not quite 23 weeks gestation. 2 of the babies have passed and the other 4 are fighting so hard. I would like to ask you all to pray for them as you have done for us. Each and every prayer that goes out is a miracle and really does help!

Here is their blog if you would like to follow their journey!

http://stanseljourney.blogspot.com

One year older......

Eva

All 4 munchkins!

Dahlia, Lady in Red

Pretty Dahlia

Dahlia about to freak out from having her bubble invaded!

Preston, can you share some of those blue eyes with the rest of us?

Probably staring at hi momma......

Preston holding his bottle for the first time.

Mommies little man.

Parker is such a stud muffin!

He likes to talk in growl.

My silly boy

Waiting in for the doctor's appt and wondering what the heck is going on!

This girl smiles all of the time! Sweet baby Madelyn

Diva Extraordinaire!

Madelyn loves to chew on her hands.

See? I told ya!

Mommy and Madelyn

My little sis Alyx who came and surprised me!

Parker Man

Sneak Peak at one of my Fall bows
Madelyn, Parker and I at the docs. Do you see how Parker is flirting with me?

Sneak Peak of one of my halloween bow styles!

Well I am officially 24 today. My sweet hubby is asleep, my awesome soon-to-be 17 year old sister is chatting on the telephone in the other room, and my beautiful children are all fast asleep in their beds.... And, well I cant sleep so I decided to get on here and do a much need blog post.

When I think about all that has happened this past year, I get so overwhelmed and grateful for all of the miracles we have witnessed. I would have never thought that I would be here today and what an awesome feeling that is! I am so excited for all of the amazing things yet to come. I have been getting pretty emotional lately as the babies are now 7 months old. They are cooing and smiling like you would just not believe! Every single night I go in their rooms and just cry while I hold them and thank them so much for fighting to be here. They are so amazing and I will never forget how we almost lost them.....

Eva has been such a cute little spitfire lately! Trever and I recently purchased a parenting book for toddlers just so that we can kind of understand what she is going through! She is definetly always on the go and super active! She is so so so good with the babies. She just loves and adores them so much! I didnt even know that a 2 year old could love the way she loves the quads. They all are crazy about her too and just stare at her in amazement when they see her. I love it because she is really into feeding them and wiping their mouths if they spit up or something. She is the first one to alarm us if the "babies are crying". I just love her and I am so proud of how she has handled this very crazy time in our lives!

Well the babies are doing really well! Madelyn and Parker had a doctors appointment today and Madelyn weighed 12 pounds 10 ounces and Parker weighed 12 pounds 8 ounces. They are both following and pretty consistent growth curve so the doctor was pretty happy. Dahlia went to the Pulmonologist last week and yes she is still on oxygen. If you remember, her heart was not doing to well before the NICU discharge and she was getting a higher level of oxygen to help her heart heal. Well the pulmonoloist went ahead and took her off of most of her meds and said he is hoping to discontinue the oxygen ones she gets the OK from the Cardiologist this week! So hopefuly very very soon!

Preston is doing fabulous and is by far the biggest out of the babies. He rolls all over the place but gets so upset when he rolls over on his back because he gets stuck there lol, poor guy! Parker has rolled over once and Madelyn has too so it has been really neat to see that progression! I am glad Dahlia isnt trying to do all of that just yet because those oxygen tubes make me pretty nervous. All of the babies have now found their thumbs so we know longer have to worry about pacis lol! It is so cute watching them suck their fingers and thumbs!

Well Little Dahlia has become quite the daddy's girl! It is like everything stops in the room when daddy is around and you see this romantic glare on her face lol! It is so so so cute! It makes Trever blush every time! Madelyn is definetly our happy chick and she could smile at a tree if one was put in front of her! She is very easy going and is quite the awesome baby! Parker is a mommas boy! I ask him every day to please never get married because he is mine lol! I love that little boy! He is so easygoing and easy to please as well! Now, Parker is a momma's boy but Preston is a MOMMAS BOY!!! OMG!! Preston sure is crazy about me and I am crazy about him too :} Well here are some recent random pics!

Oh and I have got to put a plug in....... I have opened up my bow business once again (Formerly known as Little Diva Bowtique). It is now The Smitten Kitten Bowtique. We are working on our inventory still but alot of bows are already there! We have boutique bows, tutus, hats, outfits etc So all you bow crazy mommas come visit me!!!

http://www.smittenkittenbowtique.com/