Molly's Home

Molly was finally released from the hospital on Saturday afternoon. It only took about 5 hours from the time we were told we were going to be released until we actually got signed out and released. Molly seems to be feeling much better. It took a bit of time for her and McKenzie to become reacquainted with each other. They don't like sharing. I think they have spent too much time as only children over the last week. I'm sure that will get better soon.

Now for some other updates we had been meaning to make. Both Molly and McKenzie have had their first haircuts. McKenzie had what Lindsey called "her wispys" cut just before Christmas. Her are a few pictures of the process.

Before we begin and we're not sure we like it.

Partway through...still not sure.

After we're done with our stylist Aunt Liza

Molly has been blessed with a mullet: business up front and party in the back. For some reason, her mother didn't like this very much. So, Molly got her hair cut as well. Here are some pictures and a video!

Before we begin

This isn't so bad...

Oops...we were wrong

And a video of the event...

And that's it for now.

Molly's Fun and Games

It has been quite a week for the girls. Starting on Friday night, McKenzie started coughing and had a runny nose. By Saturday, she had a fever. We started the Motrin and tylenol and laid low for a few days. Skipped church on Sunday. By Monday, we decided it would be best to take the girls to see Dr. Jeanie.

A blood test confirmed that McKenzie had RSV. At that time, Molly had no fever and no congestion in her lungs. RSV is quite contagious so there was never really any doubt that Molly would come down with it. Boy, did she ever...

On Tuesday, both girls were coughing and running fevers. By late in the evening, Molly started breathing pretty hard. After calling our pediatrician's after hours call service, Lindsey took Molly to the PM Pediatrics office in Hixson. I don't think we'll be going back to this particular office. They can't do much of anything. If you need blood work, an x-ray, etc they'll send you out to Hamilton Place.

So, they got sent to Hamilton Place. They took an x-ray and started monitoring her oxygen levels. Apparently, Molly couldn't keep her oxygen up. Due to their crazy office policies, since her oxygen level was less than 93%, they called an ambulance to transport Molly to the hospital. That's crazy...

So, Molly got to go to the hospital in an ambulance. Lindsey rode with her. First time for both of them. Yay.

We all got to the ER pretty close to the same time, around 9:45. Unfortunately, we would spend a lot more time in the ER. The doctor made it in to see us at some point. We did a breathing treatment and had some more tylenol. Molly's temperature was spiking at 104.7. We watched Cheers and Golden Girls for a few hours. At some point, we realized that we were the only people in our half of the ER. By now, it was 1:30 or 2 in the morning.

I finally left the hospital just before 3am. I had left my mom at home with McKenzie and we really needed to get back to them. Molly was finally admitted to a room at 5:15. For some reason, 17 people were admitted overnight. We were number 14. Yay.

Molly finally received the antibiotics that the ER doctor recommended at midnight at 1:30PM; only 13 hours later. They also confirmed that Molly had RSV with double pneumonia as well.

So, they continue to give her antibiotics and tylenol. Tonight is her 2nd "official" night in the hospital; the 3rd if you count the night in the ER. She has now spent more time in the hospital than McKenzie did after BRAIN SURGERY. Seriously? Yeah.

Ok, so now I'm getting snippy because it's late. Here are 2 pictures of Molly we took tonight in order to document the whole experience.

Up and about for the first time in a few days:

Relaxing and watching a bunch of TV:

So, that's it. Hopefully we'll be coming home tomorrow. Hopefully...

Post Christmas Updates!

When we last left off, we were a few days away from Christmas. Here is what has happened since then.

We got the results of Molly's allergy test back. The blood test showed that Molly had a level 1 (out of 6) reaction to milk. Everything else came back negative. Since she had the reaction, we were referred on to an allergist. We got an appointment with the allergist the very next day. We went and had a skin test for milk. There was no reaction.

Basically, the allergist said that she doesn't have a milk allergy but a milk intolerance. Apparently though it doesn't take a great deal of milk to trigger the bad reaction. We're in a trial and error period where we are gradually reintroducing some milk stuff and seeing what happens. Yogurt is not a problem but we haven't gone and started cheese or whole milk yet. Might not happen for a while.

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree this year.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the 5pm service at Hixson UMC. After the service was over, my parents came over and we had shrimp gumbo. Before the girls went to bed, we did the traditional Christmas Eve stuff.

Here's a picture of the family.

Here is a picture of just the girls in their Christmas dresses...

We also hung stockings by the chimney with care...

The last step was to read the Night Before Christmas. It ended up being a family affair with my parents there with us and John and Sue joining in via Skype video chat on the computer. The girls were much more active and squirmy compared to last year.

Christmas morning came.

The girls seemed to enjoy going through their different gifts. I don't think they "get it" yet but that's coming soon enough.

After we wrapped things up at home, we went over to my parents house. Here are some pictures of the girls and their grandparents.

McKenzie and her favorite toy...

The day after Christmas, we loaded up and headed to Maryville. We had a lot of family fun over the next 3 days. First, we went to Fred and Cynthia's house and had "Fajitas Navidad". On Sunday there was a family brunch at Billy and Emmy's. Late that night, McKenzie decided to cut some new teeth. We were up with her from 11pm til 2am and again at 5am. Fun times were had by all...

The girls got some more new toys to play with. First was a small couch that they can both sit on and share. Here they are doing what they typically do: climbing on the couch.

And finally, a riding toy that also doubles as a walker. Here the girls are sharing.

After Christmas, Lindsey had the rest of the week off. The girls went to stay with Gigi and G-Daddy for New Year's Eve while Lindsey and I had our Sunday School Christmas party. I'm not sure who went to bed first, the girls or the grandparents.

The girls started back at their parents day out program this past week. Molly and McKenzie moved up to the 1 year old class. We tried this once before Christmas but the girls didn't do so well. There were a lot of older kids in there and the girls didn't handle the transition well. Now, most of the older kids moved up to the next class.

Amazingly, both of the girls have transitioned pretty well. They are both able to take a nap on a mat on the floor. We might have cheated a little by sending their lovies and pacifiers but really, whatever works.

So, that's it for now. We keep rocking right along...