Dylan's echo

As you are probably aware, Dylan had another echo yesterday. With all that went on yesterday, I just didn't get a chance to post about it. He's getting to the point where he doesn't like to sit still for very long. Wants to be moving or playing with things. He had been asleep when it was time to go back for his echo and he wasn't very happy to wake up where he was. Actually gave me a dirty look, which made me chuckle. But he was pretty good for the echo. He kept trying to roll over to grab the cords, so I gave him a toy to hold to keep him a little more still. At which point he started to sing as babies do. Made the guy doing the echo laugh. When he finished getting the things that he was supposed to, he said he wanted to do one more little thing. They have recently added 3D to the machines so he did a little in 3D. That was kind of interesting to see. He said the 3D doesn't help when looking at the heart all that much yet, but it's getting there.

From there I went into another room to have the ekg and blood pressure. He was all smiles for the tech who did that and was very happy when she let him hold the cords for the ekg. She said he was one of the best babies for her to do that. He sat very still. I was amazed. She said that Dr. Menon (Dylan's cardiologist) would be in shortly, but was working with a resident who might actually come in first. Which is what happened. When Dylan saw the resident come in, I think he decided he had enough. Didn't want to let her listen to his heart. He was better and held still for Dr. Menon, who told her to listen again because he has a very typical conduit murmur and he wouldn't hold still again.

Anyway, from what Dr. Menon said, his conduit leak has worsened and there is some narrowing with the lungs (I can't remember if it's the veins in the lungs or the bronchial tubes), which he said they will fix when they replace his conduit. So after hearing this, I was happily surprised when he said to come back for another echo in 4 months. I thought he would want to have me come back in 1 or 2 months again. But hey, I'll gladly take 4. Of course, he said the usual of watching for signs that his heart isn't working very well of sweating more, not eating as much, getting tired more, things like that. Seeing as he'll be 10 months old at his next echo (well, almost since we went a week earlier than 4 months because Dr. Menon will be out in June), he is having a sedated echo. Which means I get to be there really early in the morning. Which I guess isn't horrible, but I'm really not a morning person. Ah, well.

Oh, today starts National CHD Awareness week (goes from the 7th through the 14th). So now you're aware. :) Maybe I'll make heart-shaped sugar cookies for it. Or one big heart shaped Rice Krispy treat. Hm...decisions decisions.

Xena: 4 Nov 1997-6 Feb 2009

Eleven years ago tomorrow Russ, Stacey, and I went for a long drive and came home with a three month old Xena. She was very cute and afraid of everything. I wouldn't have been surprised had she been afraid of her own shadow. When children were afraid of her because of her size, I would tell them that they didn't need to worry, this was a dog that used to be afraid of cats. I would walk her and she would see a cat and try to hide behind me. She did eventually learn she was bigger than they are. Heck, because of her I have a somewhat funny story of getting engaged.

She was a good dog. Sure, she had her faults, some of which were my fault for not finishing her training and properly socializing her after another dog attacked her. She was always good with the kids and loved to be with her people. Never did quite learn that barking at people wasn't a good way to get them to pet her.

Most Great Danes only live to be about eight years old. Thanks to Mom, her live was extended seven years after she blew out both of her knees chasing after a cat that would tease her. I'd like to think those were a good seven years.

This morning we took her to the vet. She had lost thirteen pounds in the past three months and twenty four pounds over the past year. He said she was going into heart failure. We knew it was time. It was hard but we know it was what was best for her. We will miss her. Rest in peace old friend. Meet you at the Bridge.

Jimmy and Scouts

Tuesday night was pack meeting for cub scouts. Jimmy received his Bear award and a gold arrow point. He was supposed to have gotten two silver arrows and the World Conservation patch, but when they went to pick up the awards to give out, they found that all of the scout stores in the valley were out of silver arrows. In the attempt to find some, they forgot to get his conservation patch. Just means that he gets to spread getting awards over two months.

As is tradition, when the boys earn their rank award, they get to have their faces painted. In this first picture, Jimmy is waiting to get his face painted. As you can tell from the picture, he wasn't the only one. (A little side note, had I noticed that Jimmy chose to wear pants with a big hole in the knee, I would have made him go change. He does have pants without big holes.)
This next picture is of Jimmy after he had his face painted. He looks thrilled, doesn't he.
After the awards, the boys played a couple of games and seemed to have fun. Didn't take any pictures of the games though. So next month Jimmy will be getting more awards and then he'll be going into Webelos. Seems crazy that he's going to be in Webelos. Next thing I'll know, he'll be going into Boy Scouts. Crazy.

Dylan's 6 month check-up

I took Dylan in for his 6 month check-up this morning. Almost made it on time, even. I blame Molly and Lyssa. For some reason they think go get in the car means play around and ignore mom. I threatened to leave them, which got them moving a little faster. Not much though.

Anyway, Dylan is average height and about the 25th percentile for weight. Which is what he was 2 months ago, so he's growing well. He kept rolling around and trying to grab everything during his exam so I finally gave him the immunization card to hold.

Dylan has had a cold for a little under a week now. He has also been teething and so has been cranky. Turns out his crankiness is probably more because he has an ear infection than his teeth. Plus he wheezes a little and the doctor said it sounds a little like rsv. He said it's probably not rsv since he gets the shot, but nothing can totally protect against it, so there is a chance it is. And if it is, it's just mild, but keep an eye on him. I just wonder if it is rsv, if it would be a bad case if he didn't get the shot. Ah, well. Guess it's good he gets his next echo in two days.

Emma's SEP Conference

I had Emma's SEP Conference today. Originally scheduled one for Jimmy for today as well, but his teacher has been out the past two weeks and will be out all this week so his got cancelled and will be rescheduled sometime after she's back.

Anyway, Emma's went better than I planned. She's been having trouble at times keeping her hands to herself, so I expected the bulk of the conversation to be about her behavior. In a way it was, but not what I expected.

Emma is one of the smartest kids in the class. She does very well when she actually does her work. Yes, she still doesn't always finish her work. Her end of term testing she had to stay in at recess a couple of times to finish, but did very well on it. Her whole class knows how quiet she is so when she is asked to answer a question, they all get very quiet to hear her talk. Her teacher commented that she doesn't hear her make so much noise as she does when we are sitting there for conferences.

So it went generally well. Her teacher is going to try to do a sticker reward for finishing her work. She promised her some stickers the other day if she finished all of her work and she did very well at finishing everything so she's decided to keep trying that to see if it will help.

Report cards

Jimmy and Emma brought home their report cards on Friday. Generally, they were both good. Jimmy's had a couple that I question. He got a 0 in math. Every math assignment I've seen him do or bring home has always had good scores. Can't quite figure out the low score for math. He also got a 1 for independent reading. He's a good reader, so I don't understand that one, either. Guess I get to ask his teacher tomorrow at SEP conferences.

Emma's was mostly 4's with a little lower in things like following directions. But that's nothing new. She likes to not do her work. Any ideas to get her to actually do her work are welcome....

I may actually break down and take them over to Krispy Kreme to get the free donuts for good report cards. Mostly because a donut sounds pretty good to me. Not that it is good for me though. I've been eating a lot of not so good for me things lately. Ah, well.

Oh, Dylan cut his first tooth today. Looks kind of painful, but should start to feel better now.

February Birthdays

Happy Birthday this month to:

Dad
Stephanie
Seth
Also to Uncle Ken, but I don't have a picture for him. (Interesting to note, Steph, Seth, and Ken all have their birthdays on the same day.)

Hope you all have a great birthday this year!