We are Still Here!

Well it has been quite awhile since I have updated.  I have no excuses to give.  I mean we have moved and had a baby all within a month, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse.

Update 1

Welcome to our world Tanner Michael!!

Tanner was born on January 23rd at 12:08 am.  He weighed in at 7 lbs 6 oz.  

Tanner needed a few moments to outshine his sister so he decided to wrap his cord around his shoulders.  His heartbeat fell off the monitor for quite sometime.  I was rushed to the OR for an emergency c-section.  I knew it was bad when my doctor was yelling to everyone to run faster and no one would tell me if my baby was still alive.  Luckily, Tanner saved both of our lives because I ended up having a hole in my uterus and if he would have tolerated a normal delivery, who knows what would have happened to both of us.  Although it wasn't the ideal situation, Tanner is here and we are both healthy.  God sure knew the plans.

Tanner was named by Matt.  This is the first child I have given naming rights to Matt.  He had two names to pick from:)  Michael was chosen by Braden after our buddy Iron Man Michael Wanser.  If Tanner can have half of the courage and strength as Michael showed in his short life, he will be a lucky boy.  I already know that he has a little bit of Michael's sense of humor because he was laughing at only a few days old.

Update 2

Kendall

Isn't this all about her anyways??

Kendall's life has changed by leaps and bounds over the past month.  In one week she welcomed a new brother, had to be away from me for the first time, moved, and had other people caring for her while I sat and watched.  

Overall, it was good for her, although quite a struggle.  She has since become very accepting of other people now.  She trusts much more than before.  Unfortunately, it took her quite a while to stop being mad at me.  She still tends to want Matt over me at this point.  I know it was hard for her to understand why I wasn't allowed to pick her up but I was carrying around a baby all day.  I'm sure she still sees herself as a baby and it was confusing why she was replaced.  

Right now we are struggling with daily meltdowns.  She gets upset about something or really nothing at all and it leads to about 30-40 minutes of extreme screaming, yelling, and sweating.  I'm trying to ignore the behavior for now because it really needs to disappear.  It has been good for teaching Tanner to sleep through chaos.  

This week we had a major boost in progress.  Kendall and I went to our feeding group class on Wednesday (we haven't been in 5 weeks).  She decided to take a few bites of food and actually chew and swallow them.  This is huge for us because she usually screams through the entire class.  Along with this, we returned her feeding pump this week.  She hasn't been hooked up to it for over a month so I figured it was time to said adios.  It was surreal to see it go.  I honestly thought we would never know a life without it.  Kendall is still on 100% tube feedings but instead of being delivered through a pump, I make them all in a blender and push them via syringe through her tube.  There is hope that one day I will be able to wean her off of these if she starts eating more by mouth.  SOMEDAY....

We have also had great progress with the wheelchair.  She asks to get in it each day.  Every time she is in it, she seems to enjoy it more and more.  For the first time she is getting to do things like come and watch me cook in the kitchen.  She is also able to go into her play room by herself and look at toys.  This is really a big deal for her.  Developmentally, she has never really learned what it is like to be able to go exactly where she wants.  Matt and I are her legs and we don't always want to do the same as her.

Coming up....we have another long day of MRI's at some point in March.  According to study protocol, they need to be the last week.  Depending on scheduling issues they may or may not be that week.  Then we will fly back to DC in April to re evaluate the medication.  I'm really not too optimistic that the medicine is even doing anything other than making her dread Monday nights (shot night).  Sometime I need a different kind of shot in order to give her her shot:)

And to end on even more cuteness....