Sad News About Sadey

Looks like she is getting worse and not better. So Ben is going to bring Sadey home tonight. Then in the morning we will have to take her back to the vet and have her put down. I will miss her so much!!

Sadey is Sick

The last few days Sadey has not been feeling well. We thought it was from stress of moving, but then she started to continue going down hill. So pretty much stopped eating and has been having lots of vomiting and diarrhea. Today we took her to the vet because she was not looking good at all. They did a full blood panel, giardia test, and tested for pancreatitis. She was negative for giardia and her bloodwork looked good. The pancreatitis came back positive. The vet is keeping her for the day to give her IV fluids, pain meds, and antibiotics. She should be coming home tonight as long as she shows improvement. Hopefully this is a one-time thing and she should be fine, but it could turn into a chronic condition which would cause her to get very sick. So we will just wait and see how she does.

The Move

Well, we made our big move on Sunday. We are still working on some odds and ends left at the apartment, but in time that will be done as well. The dogs are starting to adjust to the new house. Our biggest issue has been that Sadey and Batman are not used to having to walk on a leash to potty which they have to do here (there is no fenced yard).

The boys are adjusting well. I think once we have stuff unpacked and they are set up in their bedroom things will be fine. For now we are just living with what toys are already unpacked.

Our Crazy Upcoming Week

Well, our crazy week has now officially begun. We made our big move on Sunday which went pretty well (of course took longer than expected). We still have odds and ends left at the apartment, but we are now living at the new house. For those who don't know, we moved in with my best friend and her soon to be husband. An overview of the week to come:

Today: mom flies in, we have lots of shopping and errands to run, lots of things to do at the house, lots of things to do for the wedding

Wednesday: more wedding stuff and probably errands, Zak & Ryder's early 1st b-day party

Thursday: more wedding stuff, set-up the clubhouse for the rehearsal, rehearsal and dinner, Tim (Ben's father) flies in

Friday: the day of the wedding so very crazy

Saturday: Zak & Ryder's baptism and then a little party afterwards

Sunday: we need to take Tracy & Dave to the airport (they leave for a 2 week honeymoon), Tim flies out

Tuesday: mom flies out

Of course Ben will be working this whole week so he is going to be exhausted as will the rest of us.

Ryder's Testing

We are half way done with Ryder's newest testing for the geneticist. He passed his hearing test which is great. He also had his fully body skeletal survey done last week. Now we need to get his bloodwork done and have the MRI of his head. I have the lab slip for the bloodwork so we will hopefully get that done soon. We are still waiting for the geneticist to fax orders to the radiologist so we can schedule his MRI. Unfortunately, they will have to sedate him to do the MRI. We will go back to see the geneticist in January for a follow-up and to hopefully find out a diagnosis. They told us they might not be able to give us an exact diagnosis even with the results of the tests since not all genetic disorders have been completely figured out. We do know he has an extra "X" chromosome, but it is not Klinefelter's (which we were originally told by the PICU at UMD when he was there for pneumonia). So it is just a waiting game.


As for his developmental delays, he is receiving PT/OT/speech through the Infants & Toddlers program in our county. He has showed improvement already with his rolling, sitting, and vocalizations (he is a chatterbox now). We are working on his chewing, but he is doing great and loves to eat table foods. He is getting frustrated not being able to keep up with Zak, but he will catch up to him.

Welcome to our blog

Hi everybody. I am starting this blog so that our friends and family can watch the boys grow and keep up to date with everything we have going on in our crazy lives these days.

Ben: He is still working hard at Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat.

April: I am still a full-time stay at home mom, but looking into possibly getting a part-time evening job in the near future. I had my hernia repair surgery in June and have healed well from that.

Zak: He is a very busy boy and into everything. He is now crawling all over the place and starting to pull up on things in order to stand. We are working on teaching him the meaning of the word "no" since he is into everything including things he should not be into. He has 2 bottom teeth right now. He loves to go swimming in the pool and play peek-a-boo. He is doing great with weaning from the bottle and using the sippy cup and he loves to eat anything you hand to him.

Ryder: He is a very happy boy who is content just watching what is going on around him. He still has no teeth yet. He is getting some therapy (physical, occupational, speech) through the Early Intervention program since he is a little behind developmentally. The therapy seems to be helping because he is now rolling over on his own and much more vocal. He is doing well with weaning from the bottle and using a sippy cup and we are working on his chewing so that he can eat more table foods. He will have his surgery on August 25 to correct the hypospadias & chordee.

Ben and I are both in Tracy & Dave's upcoming wedding so we are looking forward to that. The boys will be coming to the reception, but will not be at the ceremony since we are both in the wedding. We are also in the process of moving out of the apartment at Dogwood and into a house. We will be moving in with Tracy & Dave in Shipley's Choice which is in Millersville. We will be making the big move on Sunday and Monday. The boys are being baptized on July 19 so we are also looking forward to that. I can not believe the boys are already 11 months old!

Zak & Ryder's 1st July 4th

We had a great day yesterday! It was long, it rained on and off, and the boys didn't nap, but it still went well. In the morning we met Tracy & Dave then went to the parade in Severna Park. I got to see some of my high school friends and they got to meet the boys for the first time. The boys enjoyed the parade although Zak was scared of the fire truck noises at first. Then we came home and tried to get the boys to nap, but it didn't work too well. Around 3pm we went into Annapolis and had a cook-out at my grandmother's house. We then went to the parade in Annapolis at 6:30pm. It was short because it started to rain so not many people showed up to participate in the parade. We then walked around and got some ice cream then headed back to my grandmother's for a bit. At 9pm we went back downtown to watch the fireworks. The boys were so good even past their bedtime without napping. I will add pictures in the photo albums.

Ryder Update

Ryder has now had 2 physical therapy sessions at home. The therapist says he definitely has the ability to roll and crawl, we just have to "train" his muscles how to work together to accomplish those skills. He is so close to rolling over already!

Also, he is now holding his own bottle. This means both boys can now hold their own bottles which makes feeding much easier.

Ryder's Evaluation Results

Yesterday I had a meeting with the EI team and they gave me the results from the evaluation. Ryder is showing delays in all areas right now. They are going to provide physical therapy once a week, speech therapy once a month, and occupational therapy once every other month. He will be re-evaluated every 6 months and his therapy schedule will change to accommodate any new findings. He is a very happy and social little boy and loves to play with people and his brother. Although sometimes Zak is a little too rough for Ryder.

HOT Weather

It has been very hot here the last few days, hitting close to 100!! So we got a baby pool for the boys. The last few afternoons we have filled it up and let the boys enjoy some fun in the water. They both LOVE playing in the water. I will post some pictures of them in the photo albums.

Today we had Ryder's Early Intervention Infants & Toddlers evaluation for development. They looked at his speech, cognitive abilities, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and self-feeding skills. I go back next week to get the full report and also set up any therapies he qualifies for. They gave me a quick idea of what they found...basically he is at about a 6 month level generally for most things (some a little above and some a little lower).