Little Green Thumb

I ordered hanging flower pots from Brylane Home for Ava's swing set. She was very excited to plant flowers. They turned out really cute. Hopefully, we keep them watered and alive.

She really liked tearing the roots apart. We will see if some of the plants are strong enough to handle it.

Not only does she have a green thumb but a brown nose from dirt.

Hanging out with friends

Last weekend we got to see several different groups of friends. It was wonderful to visit with everyone.

On Friday, the kids and I went to Kimberly Ochs to visit with her and her children. Alayna is 5 days younger than Ben. This was the first time they got to meet. Ben didn't seem real thrilled.
On Saturday evening, we all went to Todd & Lindsey Coopers. Jeff & Martha's family came over also. It is always pretty crazy when our 3 families get together. Its a lot of little ones. Lanee & Wyatt (Lindsey's kids) are the same age as Ava & Ben. Lindsey and I have been friends for a long time. We never thought we would have kids the same ages. This picture was a miracle. To get all the kids looking at the camera is quite a task.
On Monday, we went to Jeff & Martha's just to hang out. All the kids climbed on Jeff's lap. Unfortunately, my camera battery went dead before Landon was up there.

Gage Miller Bonora

CONGRATULATIONS to Tracy (Jeff's sister) & Jeff Bonora on the birth of their new baby boy. I was thrilled when Tracy told me she was pregnant. When I was pregnant with Ava both of my sisters were pregnant and neither one of them seemed to think they needed to be pregnant with me again so my wonderful sister-in-law was instead. Ben and Gage are the 2 grandchildren that are boys in the Patchett family. I'm sure the 4 girls will teach them a lot.

Gage Miller Bonora
Born May 22, 2009
7 lbs 6 oz 20 inches long

Proud big sister Blake

Follow up at Riley's

Thursday we took Ben back to Riley's for his follow up appointment with the pulmonologist. It went great. She said he was a healthy, strong baby. He weighed 9lbs 12 oz so he is obviously growing like a weed. The only disappointing thing was we were supposed to see the hematologist after the 1st appointment and he couldn't see us so we couldn't do a sonagram on his blood clot. He called the other doc and had her look at and they decided to error on the side of caution and continue the Lovanox injections until we come back in July. I wasn't happy about sticking him twice a day until July when they didn't even get to check and see if the clot was going away. I called back and it got moved up to June 15th to continue shots and then they will sonagram it and we can hopefully be done with them.

On another note: We are getting our money's worth from our insurance company. We had to take Ava for a little trip to the ER yesterday. I gave her a bath in the afternoon and as I stood up to get her towel she thought it would be a good idea to jump in an empty, wet bathtub. Of course she fell down and split her chin open. It was about 1/2 inch across and kind of in the crease under her chin. You can't see it until she tips her head back a little. Amazingly enough it didn't bleed much and she cried just a little. Jeff came home a few minutes later and thought we should take her to the ER so we did. They superglued it instead of stitches and we were on our way. It doesn't seem to be bothering her at all.

Hopefully I will get a chance to post some new pictures of the kids this weekend. Hope everyone enjoys their long weekend.

Prom Night

Saturday evening was Oblong's prom. It is held at the grade school. The junior class & their parents to a great job decorating the gym and everyone always looks so nice. I love seeing all the dresses. I knew Ava and Alli would like it too so the girls, Martha & I all went for a little while.

Of course the girls had to get dressed up too.

The theme was Mardi Gras. Ava put on a hat immediately.

Alli liked the masks.

They really liked showing off all their dance moves. Here they are hanging out by the stage with my senior cheerleader, Sydney.

Growing Boy

When Ben was born he weighed 8lbs 5 oz. At the hospital he got down to low 7lbs. He was 8lbs 2 oz when we left. I had to take him to our local doctor on Wednesday just to follow up and he was almost 9 lbs. Everything checked out great. He is doing very well.

We go back to Riley's on Thursday to follow up with the pulmonologist and the hematologist about the blood clot in his leg. He got the clot from his IV line that was in his leg. I have to give him Lovanox injections 2X a day. It is going pretty good. He doesn't hardly even cry anymore about the shots.

Fashion Queen

Yesterday both kids napped at the same time in the afternoon. I thought it was a good time to clean out Ava's dresser. She woke up when I was finishing up the pajama drawer. She thought she should put on her bunny pjs and hat with her yellow crocs. It was quite the site. Then she thought it would be a good idea to wear it outside. She wore this outfit for several hours.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sorry that I stopped updating my blog - but as you can imagine my amount a free time diminished when we came home. We got home Wednesday night around 8:00 pm. We were thrilled to be here and of course very excited to see Ava. Needless to say being home is great and I had a great Mothers day. I hope everyone else did too.

Ben is doing great. You would never even know he had been sick. Each day I worry a little less about him but I know it will be a very long time (probably never) that I don't worry at all. I guess that is a mom's job.

Ben's last picture at the hospital.

Celebrating Ava's 2nd birthday last Thursday. I don't think we combed thosed crazy curls for the occasion.

Ava's new bedding was delivered on her birthday. She was excited about it. She thought Ben should lay down with her. Of course this lasted about 30 seconds & was cautiously supervised. It was really cute.

I don't knew who was more excited for Aunt Martha's visit. Martha to see Ben or Ava to see Aunt Martha & Uncle Jeff. Ava loved them before but now she is really attached.

Tuesday

All is well - continuous improvement. The doctors said that we should for sure get to go home tomorrow evening. It will probably be late because he has a late afternoon dose of antibiotic and then he will have to get his PIC line removed but then we should be happily on our way.

I wanted to thank everyone again for everything. The mail lady came by with a huge stack of cards today for Ben. All your thoughts, prayers, cards, care packages, etc has truly made Ben's hospital stay and recovery easier. We are so lucky to be surrounded by so many caring people.

End in Sight

Ben is doing great. He seems like a healthy baby. He definitely hates the nurses. He screams bloody murder when they just try to take his temperature. He did great last night with no oxygen so it appears we are completely done with that. They have cut back his breathing treatments or maybe even discontinued them altogether. No one has told us for sure. They informed us today that his last dose of antibiotics will be Wednesday afternoon so we will be able to go home Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. We are really hoping for Wednesday. Thursday is Ava's birthday so of course we want to be home to spend that with her.

Missing Ava

Now that Ben is getting better we have more free time in our minds to miss Ava. As I was going through the pictures to upload of Ben, I found these on my camera from last Saturday afternoon. We were finishing up Ava's swing set and Jeff put on his hat so Ava thought she needed to wear a hat too. Her wonderful, great aunt Rene got her this hat at Bass Pro. She wore it all afternoon. She was so cute. Those curls sticking out of the bottom of her hat were hysterical.

She turned it sideways herself. It cracked me up.

No More Oxygen!

Things are really going well. This morning Ben got taken off of his oxygen and he has done good without it all day. They said that sometimes it has to be put back on when they go down for the night but we will see if he needs it. He has nursed all day which is also good. He is a little fussy when you lay him in his bed so we just hold him all the time. I guess he is trying to make up for the days that he didn't get held.

I got a little break from the hospital today. Martha came up even though she couldn't see Ben and her and I went out for lunch. Jeff stayed with Ben so I knew he was in good hands. It was nice to get outside of this room and even nicer to see Martha. Thanks sis for coming all this way for only a couple hours worth of visiting. Good company can really lift your spirits.

Ben really likes his swing when he is not being held.


I love seeing these bright eyes!

Look - no Oxygen tube in my nose and I even get to wear normal clothes.

Daddy is a little happier than Ben.

Picture of Ben

Jeff was holding Ben and he was stretching as big as he could. He is making quite the grimace but he really has been happy the last couple days. The cuff on his arm is to keep his PIC line (IV) covered up. I had seen lots of kids around the hospital with these and I thought they all had broken arms. This picture makes it look like he has lots of tubes but he really just has his IV & Oxygen. I have nursed him twice today. He is doing pretty good with it. You can tell he has kind of forgotten how but he'll catch on.We want to thank everyone for all the cards we have been receiving. We really appreciate it. A special thanks goes out to all the faculty & staff & students at OHS & OES. We really appreciate everything you have done. We are so fortunate to live & work in a community with so many thoughtful people. Also a special thanks to the caring staff at Hutsonville schools for your gift basket.

Big Move

Last night at 1:30 a.m. I was sound asleep in Ben's room when the nurse tapped me on the arm and told me we were moving off ICU. What a great time to do this. ICU was full and they needed a bed for a new patient - Ben was the healthiest baby up there so it was time to make our move. For those of you who know me well - you know that new situations make me a nervous wreck. I had got used to the routine, procedures, & people on ICU & of course I wanted Ben to move to a regular floor but I was finally comfortable there. They moved him to the Infant Unit instead of Pediatrics which made me feel better. As soon as we got up here the nurses made us feel very comfortable. This unit appears to be newly remodeled and as everything else here at Riley's it is very accommodating for the parents. The only downside is we no longer have a private room but thats okay. It was a little difficult sleeping in a room surrounded by lots of infants down the hall. Needless to say there was a lot of crying at different times. This place makes you realize how lucky you are.

Continuing to see lots of improvements in Ben. We are so very lucky. Thanks again for all your thoughts & prayers.

Friday

Today's report was very favorable. I knew to trust a mommy's instinct and not get down from yesterday's report. His pneumonia has improved. His oxygen levels are staying really good so he got the nasal canula late this morning. They may try to completely wean him from the oxygen tonight. For his 3:00 feeding he got to try a bottle and did great. Again at 6 he did awesome so he is probably done with the feeding tube. I'm not sure that he is going to get to nurse for a while because they want to monitor intake and outtake plus they want him to have a consistent flow.

The only disappointing news we got today is no visitors - not just for Ben at the entire hospital. There have been reported cases of Swine Flu in Indiana so they are not allowing any visitors besides parents of patients. I'm disappointed because Martha and Jeff were coming up tomorrow and I was looking forward to seeing them. I know Martha really wanted to see Ben so she is pretty disappointed. I also know that Ben's grandparents are going to be really upset too. I don't know if the media is making a bigger deal out of Swine Flu than it is or not. If not - everyone be on guard against all those germs - wash those hands.

Boredom will be setting in soon in this hospital room. I have ran out of things to surf on the internet, tired of magazines, and don't like tv that much. All you bloggers out there - I sure enjoy reading your blogs so keep up your posts so I can be entertained. I'm so glad my mind has the opportunity to be bored though. The first couple days I didn't even turn on the tv because my brain couldn't think about anything else.