2 months old and 2 years old

Hard to believe but Jacob officially turned 2 on May 12 and Lucas turned 2 months on May 7!  Where has the time gone?  Time flies when you are having fun!  Lucas had his 2 month well child and weighed 10 lbs 13 oz, and at this time he was switched to Bactrim.  He will be on this till he is 1 year old (or so I suspect).  He goes for his ultrasound of his kidney June 14 so we pray that his body keeps healing itself. 

Jacob had his 2 year well child today and all checked out well with him too.  He weighed 28 lbs and is in the 50% for his height, weight, and head circumference.  He had tubes put in back in January and on May 1st ended up getting an ear infection.  Then last Friday he broke out in hives.  This was a new experience in our household.  So the Dr put him on prednisone as needed.  I am so ready to have all my kids off of medicine!!  As of today (Tuesday the 17th) his skin looks the best it has looked.  Our PA suggested putting him on Claritin or Zyrtec as he most likely has allergies.  Since I have allergies, this doesn't surprise me in the least. 

Andrew and Jacob also were checked for any kidney function issue.  They both had their blood pressure checked, blood draw, and urine sample.  Both boys did great and both were very proud to tell daddy they peed in a cup!  Everything checked out fine with their urine and blood samples so Thursday they will both get ultrasounds done of their kidneys.  Here's to hoping all continues to check out fine with them in that department. 

After the Dr. we stopped at a park and played and then enjoyed McDonald's for lunch.  They have been great boys and I am so enjoying being home with them.

Its official

Jacob's favorite Handy Manny!

Lucas giving a big smile.  Baptism outfit made by grandma Lori

Jacob blowing out his candles with help from Andrea

Lucas' baptism cake May 1st 2011

all the adorable Haase cousins

4 generations of Haase men

Aunt Nancy Uncle John (my mom's brother), my mom and dad

Jacob opening presents

digging into the Handy Manny cake

Lucas' baptism May 1st he was so good and didn't cry

proud parents with our newly baptized baby

our wonderful family of five

My godmother aunty Nancy

Lucas being baptized

John, me, Lucas, Becky and Ben Lucas' godparents

The Haase's and the Hirn's

Its official, I am a terrible blogger.  I just have the hardest time trying to keep up.  I might take my friend Lisa's approach a do a blog of all pictures.  The past few weeks have been crazy busy.  Between Easter, Jacob's early 2nd bday party, Lucas' baptism, Lucas turning 2 months old, Pella Tulip Festival, Jacob's real birthday May 12, Andrew's last day of pre school May 13, I just can't keep up!  So here are some pictures of majority of the events listed above!!  I am hoping now that I downloaded Firefox, my laptop will cooperate better than IE.  Now that I have uploaded the pictures there is no organization so I apologize for that.  I consider myself techy (a Gene Larson word) but this website's way of posting pictures is not easy to move around.  So maybe one of my blogging friends can give me a tip!

this weekend

We had a busy weekend in which we celebrated Jacob's second birthday (a few weeks early) and Lucas' baptism.  It was a crazy busy weekend, but we really had a nice time.  It was great to see all of John's family and my parents and aunt Nancy and uncle John.  I will try to post some pictures soon.

today's results

waiting for the VCUG to start

Today’s appointment in Iowa City went really well for Lucas.  We got to Iowa City around noon and checked into the hospital.  By 12:15 we were back for vitals and were sent down to pediatric radiology for another VCUG.  The test consists of placing a catheter and putting a fluid in the catheter so the Drs. can see if there is reflux (where the urine is going back up to the kidneys) and a blockage (as they thought they saw a blockage in his last VCUG).  This time was harder than the first time as I knew what was going to happen and it broke my heart to have my baby crying so much.  They also restrained him down, but this was so they could rotate him to get better pictures.  He did not like this AT ALL!  However, the Dr. got some really good pictures and our little Lucas did really well.  The test lasted about 15 minutes and when it was over we went back to the pediatric clinic to meet with Dr. Kieran.  Once we met with her, she stated that there is not a blockage and that he will not need surgery at this point.  Praise God!!  Our plan of action is as follows, we will continue on amoxicillin until he is two months old and then switch to a different drug.  This is to prevent any UTI’s from occurring.  He will also get ultrasounds of the kidney every 3 months, but we will be able to do that at Blank.  The Dr. wants his kidney monitored so the collection part of the kidney doesn’t get any larger.  If he gets a fever or the collection part gets larger, we will most likely have to go back to IA City where surgery could be a possibility.  Our prayers now turn to no UTI’s and that the urine reflux will rectify itself.  He has a grade 5 level of reflux in the left kidney and grade 3 in the right kidney.  The worst is 5, but I am thankful the Dr. has decided we can monitor it.  Basically she said it is common in boys and most outgrow it.  If he was a 4 year old girl, we would most likely need surgery immediately.  All and all we are happy with today’s appointment and just continue to pray his condition will rectify itself.

being a brave little baby

And here is a super cute picture of Jacob this morning after his donut.

Improvise

Yesterday we were all in the basement watching a little TV and the big boys were playing with toys.  Andrew was playing with these things called Kinecks (I am sure I am spelling that so wrong).  He says to John and me, I don't have all the pieces so I need to improvise.  John and I look at each other and ask him what does improvise mean?  He responds, when you don't have all the pieces you need to improvise.  Ok, so where did you learn that from?  Handy Manny he says.  LOL. We were pretty impressed that he used the word correctly in a sentence and knew how to define it.  I know that there are 8th and 9th graders who wouldn't have a clue how to use the word correctly.  Good job buddy!!

Heading to IA city

Dr. Kieran's office called this morning and Lucas' appointment in Iowa City is scheduled for Monday at 12:15.  I have some questions for them as they want to do another VCUG.  I would rather not put him through this test if its not necessary since we just had it done.  However, if it needs to be done we will do it.  I just want to be sure. 

Lucas' results

Today marked the day that Lucas had his two tests to see what was going on with his kidneys.  Lucas and I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 and checked in.  After we checked in we went down to radiology where they got an IV started and catheter.  Both were not a pleasant experience and poor Lucas screamed his little lungs out.  I did pretty well, but it was hard to watch my little baby be so uncomfortable.  After this we went to the waiting room where we were going to have the MAG 3 done.  At this point they said I could feed him in 10 minutes and to keep him awake.  So once I got to feed him he nursed for a half an hour.  I thought we were good as he fell asleep.  We got in the room and woke up and was acting fussy.  I thought he needed a burp, which he did and then we thought we were good to go.  The test lasted for 32 minutes and he screamed through majority of the test.  I felt so bad for him, but we made it and once I picked him he stopped crying and I got him calmed down.  After this we went back down to radiology where they preformed the VCUG test.  This test lasted 15 minutes and again he screamed through the whole test.  The radiologist noticed that he had reflux in both kidneys, but we waited to see Dr. Auron the specialist to see what our next steps would be.  John then met me in the lobby and we had our apt with Dr. Auron.  We looked at the pictures from both tests and he also noted that there is reflux in both kidneys and also a possible blockage in his urethra.  The left kidney has severe reflux and the right kidney has moderate reflux.  So our next step is to give him antibiotics so he doesn't get a urinary tract infection and we are being referred to Iowa City to the pediatric urologists there.  Now surgery is a possibility, but there is also the possibility that this is something he will be able to grow out of.  I am hoping and praying he will grow out of this, but am prepared for him to have surgery if that is what the Dr. says is needed.  We then went out to lunch and afterwards Lucas and I came home and crashed for the next 2 hours.  It was emotionally draining today, but I am thankful we are finding this out now as opposed to later.  The Dr. also brought up that its possible the other two boys could have reflux so our PA needs to check each boy at their next well child visit.  She will check them by checking their blood and a urine sample.  Please continue to pray for Lucas that the reflux will resolve itself and surgery won't be needed.

Today also marks Jacob's 23 month birthday!  Its amazing how much he has done in two years of life.  He is starting to say a lot more that we can understand.  He is working on colors and its so cute!  He is also working on potty training, way to go Jacob!  Hard to believe he is almost two years old.