Happy Easter!

This is mainly a picture update, but we wanted to check in and report that Austin and Malia are doing very well these days.  Aside from a lingering cold that keeps their noses running like faucets, the babies have been moving along nicely... and speaking of moving, they have both discovered crawling.  Malia is a little better at it as she came around to it first, but Austin is getting the hang of it and getting better at it every day.  As you can see from the pictures below, they are both sitting up.  Again, Malia is better at it than her brother.  I suppose Austin is burdened with a little more weight up top, but he is never far behind his sister in staging.

We took them to see the Easter Bunny on Friday, and wished the picture could have turned out better.  But here's what we ended up with, good enough...

When we got back home we tried to shoot their 10 month picture (it's almost 11 months at this point)

One of my favorites

That's all for now, hard to believe we're coming up on a year!  Happy Easter!

A new scare... overcome

Malia gave us a pretty good scare this weekend with a similar breathing episode to the one that landed Austin in the hospital back in December.  The only difference was that her breathing troubles were not brought on by a cold, so it was a bit puzzling to us when she started wheezing last Thursday night.  By Friday afternoon, her breathing had become labored enough to warrant a check from her pediatrician's office, and she was prescribed Albuterol and Pulmacort.  The meds were working well enough to give her some relief, and in her usual form she was trucking through it without complaint through Saturday.  But we knew something was wrong by Saturday night as her breathing had become more stridorous, and by then she was pretty pissed about it.  By then the nebulizer treatments weren't having the same effect as before, so it was time for an ER visit to see what was going wrong.

You never know how quick you'll get in to the ER, but as with Austin in December, she was taken straight back to triage.  She was given Albuterol, a stronger aerosol steroid, and then eventually an IV steroid, all to no avail.  Finally, the only thing that gave her any relief was a racaemious epinephrine treatment.  It gave only temporary relief, so they had to repeat these treatments hourly.  At this point, it was apparently a forgone conclusion that she would be coming home, so the debate then became whether to admit her to the CHOC regular pediatric unit or the CHOC pediatric ICU.  So as she was going through the admitting process in the pediatric unit at CHOC, she had reached a point of exhaustion (probably from so many epi treatments) and was approaching respiratory arrest.  The nurses signaled the hospital alert system, and within a minute there were about 20 people in the tiny room with us.  They got her back on track, but it was no longer a debate - she was going to the PICU.

Malia about to be admitted into CHOC

After a trip to the 6th floor, and a middle of the night summons to her mommy, three of us rode the last hour of the night in her PICU room.  

Getting another Epi treatment

1st night in the PICU

So by morning, the doctors were seeking to figure out Malia's condition, calling it Croup at least for now because of the obvious signs of a narrowed airway.  Several of the doctors kept coming back to the possibility of a foreign body in her airway, which was a most unusual and unlikely diagnosis since she's not quite to the age where she could easily get a foreign body into her airway.  Sunday was spent administering periodic epi treatments, but otherwise no significant improvement in her condition.

Malia got her own PJs for a little while during her stay

Malia was super antsy prior to her procedure.  The epi treatments made her super wired most of the day and night

We traded places a few times this weekend, and Austin was happy to see his Mommy while staying with his Nana

By Monday, the doctors had brought in an ENT specialist, who recommended a laryngoscopy for later in the afternoon.  The procedure requires sedation, and as the name implies, a scope sent down towards the vocal cords to see what was going on.  Before too long into the procedure, the doctor emerged to reveal a pretty unusual finding - Malia's airway was about 90% blocked due to a subglottic mass.  The problem besides the obvious need to remove the blockage, was what was underneath the surface.  Either the mass was a cyst, benign and filled with fluid or puss; or a hemangioma, a mass with its own blood supply.  In draining the mass, once the doctor attempts the excision there's no turning back.  And with a hemangioma, it would require a more invasive incision through the neck to stem the blood loss.

The doctor ultimately found 3 cysts - the two "buddies" in front, and then an additional one posterior. Amazing any air was getting through there!

The surgeon proceeds with the excision

After giving consent to proceed, Cheryl sat and waited for followup from the doctor as to what was found.  Any amount of time was agonizing, but after about an hour the doctor emerged once again to say that they were successful in removing all three cysts.

After: this is what the airway should look like

After: cysts removed, little signs of the cysts that were originally causing problems

 In recovery, Malia was noticeably groggy, and would belt out an occasional cough with a pretty peculiar sound, literally like a frog was in her throat.  The doctors decided to put her on NPO till morning, which proved to be a miserable experience for her and Cheryl who stayed with her Monday night.

Post-op, feeling groggy and weird

By Tuesday morning, things had improved significantly due in part to the fact she was now allowed food.  She wolfed down a large portion, and was starting to get back to her usual self.  It was strange to notice that her characteristic whistling breath was now silent.  We are now quite sure that this obstruction has always been with her, and it could have been related to her intubation on her first day of life.  We'll never know for sure what caused it or whether Malia was in any imminent danger, but we are pretty lucky to have avoided anything catastrophic in discovering the problem.  It's quite possible that this was a hindrance to Malia's development, so we're glad to have overcome this one and close this chapter, at least for now.

Cutie Patootey

Just before hospital discharge, all smiles with daddy

The new tower at CHOC is pretty cool, complete with the Nemo tank (since Disney donated so much to the hospital)

3/4 of a trip around the sun!

9 months ago to the day Austin and Malia made their grand entrance into the world.  For today's weigh-in, Austin marked 20 pounds, 7 oz., and Malia was 13 pounds, 12 oz. (a tad down from her last weight check, but no idea what's going on there).  So things are going well for both kids, showing signs of new milestones since our last check-in to the blogosphere.  To our surprise, Malia was the first to push some teeth through.  After about a week of difficulty in getting her to sleep at the usual time, we discovered the first signs of a tooth protruding through the gums on the bottom front.  Shortly after the first pushed through, a neighboring second came through as well.  So now that the first teeth are through the gums it seems she's a lot more comfortable.  Oddly enough, Austin has no signs of teeth so far, although he does exhibit the usual teething behaviors these days, so he can't be far behind.

Austin's helmet therapy for his plagiocephaly is coming along nicely, and he's likely to have maybe another month or so before he can kick it loose.  We blinged his helmet out with some stickers, mostly skateboard brands (in case you're wondering).  In the picture below, he's wearing his cousin Talen's baseball uni from his early days... he fills it out quite nicely!

Austin in a baseball uniform, first of many?

We took a trek this weekend up to their grandparents' house in Claremont, here are a few pictures from the visit:

Austin loves the musical play cube, and showcasing his skills at sitting up like a big boy

Malia is not quite sitting up on her own, but is standing and jumping any chance she gets

"Look mom, no hands!"

I wish the photos had turned out better, but when Talen and Avery stopped by for a visit, we noticed the girls were wearing almost identical PJ's.  Malia is showing a lot of resemblance to Avery these days (not easily seen in this picture, though)

Talen and Austin, having fun.

So the kids are doing great these days, and this week will get a chance to say hi to their old companions down at Hoag hospital.  Their visit is a 6-month (corrected age) follow-up for developmental evaluation.  Hard to tell where the days have gone since they had their/our home at Hoag, but they've come a long way since.  Here's a look back on their first days home.

Still in single digit weight figures, hard to remember those days!

Austin always was a smiley boy

First car ride for Malia

Crazy that they both fit in that orientation in their bassinet!

She's still small compared to her brother these days, but  she has grown a ton since the time this picture was taken

Picture update... and the 8 month milestone!

Though it may look like two posts in such a short interval would resemble some sort of New Year's resolution, we're actually posting this because we have some more cute pictures taken with the new camera we finally figured out how to use.  Cheryl was out of town for a bachelorette this weekend, so I had to fend for myself with the kids, and they couldn't have been better.  With the help of some rice cereal added to their formula, they're putting in some solid sleeping hours.  I think Saturday night was a new record; at least 10 hours uninterrupted for the both of them!   Malia is feeding very well these days, taking down full feedings nearly throughout the day - must be a growth spurt.  Austin, too, is feeding well like always, which bodes well for his helmet therapy.  

They're now past the 8 month mark, but the corrected age/true age gap is still difficult to decipher.  They are still a ways off from sitting up on their own, but their personalities are definitely coming through.  Malia discovered her tongue for the first time a few weeks ago, and loves blowing bubbles and making whoopie cushion noises.  She rolls over prolifically, which adds to the challenge of keeping her out of trouble.  Austin is still a bit of a blob, still burdened by the effects of gravity on his burly physique, but is now starting to roll over more regularly and pick his head up.  

We spent Sunday up at my brother's house, and got some cute pictures, so here you go!

Malia bonding with Nana

I helped my brother setup a new backyard playset, and Austin and I took a swing together

Perhaps it's a little late in the game, but we're finally getting the highchair feeding going. They're only taking rice cereal "paste," but they both did pretty well for their first sitting.  And Austin, of course, was amused.

Malia, wearing about as much food as she was swallowing

Austin made a mess too, but was digging the opportunity to sit at the big boy table

Happy boy, as always!

A long overdue update... Happy New Year!

A lot can change in a little time with babies, and I didn't even realize it had been before Thanksgiving since our last update!  So here's a rundown of the developments for Austin & Malia since we last checked in.  We have been keeping their weight tracker up-to-date, and at their last weigh-in, Austin was a hefty 18 lb., 5.5 oz., and Malia was a dainty 12 lb., 6 oz.  Not bad for 7 months, and as you can tell the size gap between the twins is widening, but both are progressing within the range of their doctors' expectations.  Shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday, both kids came down with their first cold, which may have been the result of kissing overload from all of our families.  Malia came down with symptoms first, and we were naive enough to think that we could keep Austin from getting it, but within 24 hours he was showing the same signs of onset.  A doctor's visit gave little more than a confirmation of the symptoms, and an assurance that the cold would run its course, likely getting worse before things got better.  By the weekend, as Malia was passing her peak symptoms, Austin was concerning us with signs of respiratory distress - rib retractions, wheezing, and visible discomfort.  Upon the recommendation of a callback nurse, I ran him to the ER at his old home at CHOC, and they agreed he was in need of some intervention.  They administered an albuterol nebulizer treatment to relax the airways and ease his breathing, but they wanted to admit him for observation since his oxygen levels were teetering in the low range.

Not happy, Austin in the ER

Getting a breathing treatment

What looked like a precautionary night in the hospital actually turned into 2 nights, which began to feel like the old days when the kids were still in the NICU.  Cheryl and I each took a night's stay in the hospital room with Austin, so we were glad to have him finally home and clearly getting better by the second day.  So with that behind us, we were glad to have our first bout of illness behind us - what a doozy!  

We upgraded their stroller from the bassinets to the "big boy" toddler chairs.  You can't really tell the difference from before in the photos below, but they seem to like the new position and being able to sit upright and see everything going on around them on walks.

Dressed for winter on an afternoon walk with Daddy

Malia's peanut head still barely fills out her winter cap

Playtime

The Christmas holiday was a whirlwind, but we tried to keep it simple by not shuttling the babies around to too many places.  Christmas Eve was spent in Lake Forest with Cheryl's brother and extended family, and Christmas day was spent in the IE with my brother and his extended family.  Here are some pictures of their first Christmas.

Austin was spiffed out and having fun in their new walker

Impossible to get a decent shot of these two at the same moment, but this is as close as we got

Since we skipped seeing the mall Santa for a photo, we were fortunate that he made a house call!

No smile, but at least looking in the right direction

Austin and Lolo Manny

Malia testing out one of her new toys, the kids made out pretty well this Xmas!

Partial Family photo

Now that the holidays are over, it's nice to settle down and get back to a normal pace.  Austin had been diagnosed with positional plagiocephaly, a head flattening due to favoring one side during sleep, and was recommended for a band/helmet that corrects the issue before the skull thickens and hardens.  He's only been in the helmet for a little over a week, and the adjustment has been difficult at times.  The helmet makes is head extremely sweaty, and since it is contoured to the shape they hope his head will ultimately take, his head is fighting it out with the helmet in the early stages.  We are told this process is to get easier with time, but since he has gone to 23 hours a day with the helmet, it has been a challenge getting him down at night.  We'll get through it, but our little man is not too thrilled about it in the meantime.  Here are some pictures of our little helmet boy, and a few of his sister recently taken.

Still a cutie with his stunt helmet on

Malia has started to grow a little more hair recently.  She's looking like a fluffball the longer it gets

She loves to flirt.  Different personality from her brother but still a character!

That's all for now!  Happy New Year, and thanks for checking in!