Our little snuggle bugs watching a movie this weekend. Can you tell a sports game was on and Daddy won control over the tv...K & C got to watch something on the portable DVD player:)

These were too cute! When I was watching Quintin today he decided to put on Kaitlyn's hat and shoes. I decided to put Kaitlyn's jacket on him. He was running around my sisters house in K's stuff. He thought he was so hilarious!! So then Kaitlyn put on Colin's hat and jacket. We were laughing so hard today..what a fun afternoon!! Here is Kaitlyn in Colin's gear!

Quintin dressed in Kaitlyn's stuff:)

Then of course Colin had to dress up in Kaitlyn's gear. He makes a pretty cute girl I told him:) Brandon this pic is for you....are you shocked to see Colin in pink:) HaHa!

Then Kaitlyn put her gear on. Thanks to K, C & Q for the laughs today!!! I needed them!!

Kaitlyn's Hydrogen Breath Test

Wednesday Kaitlyn and I ventured to Lutheran General Hospital for a Hydrogen Lactose Breath Test. We are trying to get a definite answer about lactose intolerance. She had to eat a special diet all day Tuesday. She did very well with the diet. Then after 8pm Tuesday night she could not eat or drink anything til after the test on Wed. She had horrific leg cramps thru the night Tuesday and the poor thing couldn't drink any water or take Tylenol to help with the pain:( We were up with her from 11:15pm-5am. It was a rough night!! We spent about 5 hours at the hospital in the GI lab for her test Wednesday morning. She did great! She had to drink a very icky substance in 5 min and then start the breath test. Every 15 min for several hours she would breath into a machine. They tracked her levels. She could not lay down during that whole time because it would mess up the test. She actually fell asleep sitting up on my lap. Kaitlyn and I made the best of it and enjoyed our bonding time! Here she is doing the breath test. I was telling her she was our puffer fish with those cheeks:)

The staff was wonderful!! Our nurse gave Kaitlyn a choice of a few toys. She choose these Barbie Fairies:) She even stuffed Kaitlyn pockets when we were leaving with shortbread cookies from the hospital. We came home with about 15 packets of cookies....Colin was excited about the cookies:)

We saw a lot of old people who had just had a colonoscopy. Kaitlyn and I laughed at the nurses because every time someone came out of their test they were telling them to get all of the gas out. We laughed at all of the "tooters" as Kaitlyn called them:) Kaitlyn was working on her "homework" as she calls it. She loves practicing her letters and numbers!!

I had some questions about the validity of the test. Kaitlyn's baseline was over what it should have been to start. They did not cancel and went on with the test. She couldn't blow out for 15 sec straight without taking a breath like she was supposed to. It looks like she might not be lactose intolerant which would be shocking to Cam and I. We have to wait for them to read the test and call us. Her biopsies all came back normal and now if this is normal we wonder what is causing all of these horrific belly pains in our princess?!?!

Saying Goodbye

Last Saturday we went to a going away party for our neighbor John who is getting deployed this Friday! Despite the sadness we managed to have a great time! Best of luck to you John! We are all here to help your family while you are gone!

Kaitlyn and Colin love spending time with all of the neighbor kids!

Some of our neighbors..we were missing a few people.

Our Little Lefties

Kaitlyn and Colin are definitely left handed! I am right handed but Cam is a leftie. I never thought about certain things when it comes to left handed people and some of the things that they are doing because of it. When the kids used to take gymnastics I said to their teacher that they are learning the "right handed way" to do a cartwheel. Which I assumed would seem backwards to them and it was. Also when they write with markers their hand always smears their writing. Cam has always been picky about his pens...he says that some smear really bad and it drives him nuts. Funny to think about those things hugh? :) Do I need leftie scissors for them too?!?! Just recently the kids have started writing their names backwards which as a teacher drives me nuts! But I can see their reasoning...they cant see the letters as they write! It would be frustrating as a 4 year old! Kaitlyn has actually started switching back and forth between her left and right hand in between words too so she can see what she is writing. Too make matters worse Cam and I bought the kids right handed golf clubs for Christmas. Cam is surprisingly a right handed golfer so we hope K & C will be too. Here are my little lefties working on their letters the other day! They love "playing school" where mommy is the teacher:)

Nerf "Blasters"

In the last post I told you about winning a new Nerf Blaster. We do not condone guns in our house. We call these "blasters". They shoot soft darts out and are harmless. Colin knows the rules and does a good job following them. I have to say though that I think Cam likes these things just as much as Colin:) Last weekend it was 3 against 1. Cam, Kaitlyn and Colin cornered me in the laundry room while I was doing laundry. Then I was upstairs and they called me from the basement. I knew they were in the stairwell just waiting for me so I grabbed my camera. I yelled out and caught them in surprise but they started "blasting" me. I lost again:(

Old Neighbors & Friends

Last Saturday we went to the Annual Spring Ct Party. We grew up with all of these people and it was nice to catch up since we don't see each other very often. Kaitlyn, Colin and Quintin:)

Papa and Kaitlyn

Grandma and her grandkids...Colin closed his eyes:(

The moms and their girls! We have been friends since we were infants! Sonal is Kelly's age and Seetal is my age. Sonal has her own business and sells beautiful hand beaded evening bags. Check out her website to see all of the stars on the red carpet with her purses:) How neat!!
http://www.sonalgandhi.com/
Seetal is a practicing OBGYN at Lutheran General. It amazes me how successful these two have become!!

Seetal was on call and had someone in the very early stages of labor that night. We were happy that she was able to stay for dinner and not have to rush out early!

We always do a white elephant gift exchange and usually the gifts are not new. When Colin saw someone open this brand new Nerf Blaster his eyes lit up and he wanted me to "steal" it during the game. Of course I did. He guarded it all night so nobody would steal it back:)

Daddy stole a $20 gift card to TGI Fridays. We ended up with two good gifts:)

Papa and Colin

This was Grandmas white elephant gift that she received...Kaitlyn loved this hat!

We stayed til 11pm. Colin was snuggling with Papa. I have to say that Cam and I were SO proud of how well behaved Kaitlyn and Colin were that night!!

Kaitlyn's Procedure

Wednesday Kaitlyn had a colonoscopy and endoscopy under general anesthesia. I already sent out an update about our nightmare experience so I am not going to duplicate myself on here. The most important thing is everything looked ok and we will get the final biopsy results this coming week hopefully. I am also happy to say that 2 people from Highland Park Hospital, the Head of the Operating Room and someone above her called to apologize on Thursday. I spent 45 min on the phone with each of the ladies. They already had meetings about our situation and are working on making changes so this doesn't happen to anyone else! It also helped that our surgeon was beyond upset and also spoke with them before they talked to me. Here is Kaitlyn when we arrived. They gave her a cute panda which she has slept with every night since.

Kaitlyn loves to pick her "mask flavor" for when they put her to sleep. Shes a pro now:) Some of her favorites are banana, strawberry and for this procedure she choose pineapple. Here she is playing with her mask before she went to the OR.

This was 2 hours after she came out of the OR. It took her over an hour to wake up from the anesthesia in the first recovery room. Then they moved her to this 2nd recovery room. She still had the iv in and the nurses were able to get it out without her noticing which was great since she is terrified of them. So happy to have this in our past!!

Now working on figuring out what is causing all of her horrible tummy pains:(

Colin made Kaitlyn a Get Well Card. He even picked out a gift for her from the store with Auntie Kelly. If you look closely he asked to put google eyes on The Little Mermaid:) So cute! Thanks to everyone who spoiled Kaitlyn that day!! :)

Last Week

Last week was a tough week for us! We had to prep for Kaitlyn's colonoscopy and endoscopy. Monday night Kaitlyn slept over at Grandma Young's house for a special date night. It helped to distract her that Tuesday morning she would have to start the colonoscopy prep. Cam and I were very excited to have a special night home with Colin! He was beaming and so excited to have mommy and daddy to himself! Here is Colin and Daddy playing Mario Cart on the Wii.

We read lots of books too!

Tuesday morning we went to pick up Kaitlyn at 8am since thats when she had to start the prep. I had to make 2 boxes of jello with Magnesium Citrate(a laxative). She had to eat one box of Jell at 8am and one at 5pm. Then she had to swallow, like an adult, laxative pills at noon and 8pm. What an ordeal it was:( Plus all she could eat was Jello and popsicles...lets just say that she wont ever eat Jello again! Look at our fridge!!!

We spent the day at home doing fun things to try and keep Kaitlyn's mind off of everything. In between bathroom breaks of course..poor thing!! They loved this Play Doh dentist kit! It came with a real working drill too!

Kaitlyn was pulling teeth!

Kaitlyn was watching Colin play his Leapster. She was in really good spirits and we were proud of her for being tough and making it through a difficult day!

The kids took showers and then Auntie Kelly came to pick up Colin. It was his turn to sleep at Grandma's house for his special night. Cam and I enjoyed our night at home with Kaitlyn too. We played dentist all night!!

Jake Comes Over

Last Sunday morning our friends Alivia and baby Jakob came over to work on Jakes 1st birthday invites. We had a lot of fun trying to get a picture of him:) Here he is with his sock monkey. His party is a monkey theme! Kaitlyn and Colin just love him! Here they are holding him. Colin was making silly noises and he was laughing at him:)

A Bocce Night Out

Last Saturday night went went out with our old neighbors from Vernon Hills. It was great to see everyone! We went to Pinstripes in South Barrington. What a fun place!!! Here we are getting the rules from Dana:) I honestly had no clue what Bocce was...thought it was like croquet. It was a lot of fun...looking forward to our next get together!

Cam's turn!

They even provide tape measures for those close ones:)

YEAH!!! I earned 1 point for the girls team Dana confirmed!

Group Shot....we were missing Julie for this pic.

Randy, Tim, Cam and Chris

Stephanie, Dana, Julie, Nikki and me:)