Erin is 8!

Our first baby Erin is 8 years old now!  She was happy that her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so she could really have the whole day to do whatever she wanted.  Her birthday weekend started out with gymnastics class on Saturday morning, which she loves, and then some playtime at home the rest of the day.  She and I took Bella on a walk and got ready for her 2 friends, Olivia and Beau, to come over.  They came over around 5pm and the girls (including Anna, of course) had a super fun playdate!  They painted on little canvases, played school, ate chicken tacos with rice for dinner, had birthday cupcakes, then more playing school before Beau went home.







Then Erin, Anna, and Olivia camped out in the bonus room with a temporary TV setup thanks to Daddy and watched Frozen before bed.  They slept well, woke up at 6am (a sleepover Erin-style), and had Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.



We then met Olivia's family at church and all sat together.  The rest of Sunday, we offered Erin lots of ideas for outings, but this homebody just wanted to be at home with us.  She opened presents from us, and we had more chicken tacos for lunch and spaghetti for dinner, so she was happy.



We enjoyed the beautiful weather with lots of backyard and trampoline time, and neighbor friends Caitlin and Laney came over to play for awhile too.  I think it was all-around a great day for our Erin.  She is easy to please.

What's new with Erin?  Let's see.  She still loves playing school - that is her favorite pastime by far.  She still says that she wants to be a first grade teacher when she grows up, even though she's in second grade now.  This is the first year that her declared profession does not match the grade she's in.  Her teacher this year is very sweet, patient, and is much less of a dictator than her teacher last year was...which took some getting used to for Erin, but I think she is benefiting from her personality.  Perhaps by still playing first grade, she is subtly hinting that she liked her teacher last year more.  Either way, Erin has mellowed out slightly in the past couple of months, and I think some of that is due to this more "gentle" teacher.

Aside from playing school, Erin likes to draw, paint, color, play games, swing, jump on the trampoline, ride on her scooter, dance, play the piano, and do gymnastics.  She is our active girl, and her strength and coordination have improved a great deal this year.  She LOVES piano, and it warms our hearts to listen to her play.  We usually don't have to ask her to practice (unlike Anna).  She works so hard at school and at home, and we really could not be more proud of where she is today when we think back on how much progress she has made.  She has some good friends at school, and while I like to joke that they are the "nerdy girls", these girls are so very sweet to her and it is just adorable to volunteer in the cafeteria and see them all quietly sitting together at the end of one table while the more boisterous kids are causing a ruckus at the other end.  I cannot express how happy it makes me to see her have true friends who accept and love her despite her social awkwardness at times...because, really, aren't we all a little awkward when it comes down to it?!

She had her heart scare last month and is now taking a beta blocker - atenolol - once a day (she started out at 25mg nightly, then that was too much so we split it into 12.5mg in the morning and again at night, but based on the Holter monitor results in late September, she is now down to 12.5mg in the morning only).  She is doing well on that, and we don't see any signs of SVT at this time.  She will have another 24-hour monitor in early December to see how she's doing with the lower dosage.  I am hopeful that this condition and medication are temporary, but the cardiologists want to stick with this for now.  She will have her checkup at the pediatrician in early December as well, so we will get the stats at that time.  I fully expect another glowing report from a developmental standpoint...because Erin is such a star!  We also have her parent-teacher conference at school next Monday, so I am eager to hear what her teacher has to say about her so far this year.

Erin is wonderful, happy, more easygoing than she used to be, creative, silly, and is a true delight.  I love that she is usually in a good mood and that she likes to make us laugh.  She is an all-around great kid, and we could not be more proud of her.

September!

We had an exciting month of September at the beginning, and thankfully it calmed down by the end!  On Friday night the 2nd, Anna and Mommy went back to our roots to a Bass Lake concert like we used to do a few years ago.  It was a rainy night, and Anna ended up being the only kid there!  She got two fancy balloon animals, facepaint, and a private concert!  Saturday morning, Erin had gymnastics and we girls went to see Inside Out that evening at Anna's old preschool.



Erin got sick that night, and thus began our excitement.  We noticed her heart beating quickly like what had happened in March, so Bob monitored her for awhile at home while I took Anna to her friend Gerald's pool party.  Erin kept it up, so we called the cardiologist on call and they suggested that we take her in to either the Apex ED or to Wake Med Children's ED in Raleigh.  The Children's ED had a shorter wait time, and we figured it would be better to go there, even though it's further away, since they have more pediatric staff.  So, Bob took her over there and Anna and I met them there shortly after.  After Bob got Erin checked in, they noticed the rapid heart rate still going on (Erin was stable during all of this) around 200-220, so a big group of doctors and nurses rushed her back to a room, got her hooked up to the monitor, IV, and gave her some adenosine IV.  The first dose, 0.1mg/kg, didn't stop the SVT, but the second dose of 0.2mg/kg did.  Then she was ok for an hour or so, but then they tried to give her a beta blocker med orally and she threw it up, which put her back into SVT.  Repeat the crash cart/rapid response/adenosine drill, and they resolved it.  That happened around 6:00pm, and bought us a night in the PICU.  Had she only had the first episode, we would have been able to go home that evening, but since it happened again, they wanted to keep her and monitor her.  They put her in the PICU in case it happened again and the adenosine push didn't work and they needed to start her on a drip.  So, Bob and Anna went home for the night and Erin got moved up to the deluxe room.  She had gotten some IV Zofran which helped her feel better.  I think we were by far the easiest patient that night based on my being nosy.  It was also really empty in the PICU and on the peds floor.  She slept well and did not have any more episodes, but was still not feeling much better due to the virus.  So, Monday morning, we waited around for her to cooperate with eating and drinking, and we finally got the green light to go home around 4pm with an order for daily atenolol until we saw the cardiologist (who we did not see in the hospital; the ED and ICU doctors spoke to them on the phone).



So, we went home, only to have Erin miss the next 3 days of school due to being wiped out from the sickness, plus the beta blocker was slowing her down.  We saw the pediatrician on Tuesday morning, just to get them all caught up on the events of the weekend, and he gave me some more info on the beta blocker.  Wednesday was more of the same - she tried a piano lesson and did ok, but threw up in the car on the way home - maybe just from being dizzy, because the virus had run its course, and Thursday I called the cardiologist complaining about her not being able to sit or stand due to the atenolol.  They suggested splitting the dose and giving her half in the morning and half at night, and that's worked much better (either that, or her body adjusted to it).  So, whew!  We were all happy for her to go back to school that Friday and I was able to enjoy a moms lunch at Lucky 32.  As if Erin hadn't been tortured enough that week, I thought it would be a great idea to get the kids flu shots that Friday afternoon.  Hey, at least we're done now!

That weekend, Erin had gymnastics (a mere hospital stay won't keep her away from that!) and Bob was busy lots of the weekend with the ministry fair at church, which went well.  Sunday was our first Little Flowers meeting of the year, and it is going to be a great year!  We have 6 girls returning from last year, plus 3 new ones.  I think they all had a fun time!  Thankfully, the following week was much more calm.  Bob had a trip to Vegas and Atlanta, and we ladies held down the fort.  Neighbor friend Caitlin and her mom came over for dinner on Wednesday since their dad was out of town that week too.  Friday, Anna was invited to a sleepover at a friend's house, but I got The Call at 9pm to come get her.  She doesn't know that family very well, so I wasn't surprised.  I think she had fun before that point.  Saturday was more gymnastics and Bob worked a music festival in Apex.  We girls had a great time at neighbor friend Ella's gymnastics party!



The girls were off on Monday the 19th for a teacher inservice, so it worked out great to make a trek to Chapel Hill to see the cardiologist.  The electrocardiologist was unexpectedly out of town, so we saw a general pediatric cardiologist.  She recommended sticking with the atenolol for now and having Erin wear a portable Holter monitor for 24 hours to make sure that the medicine is controlling her heart rate properly.  We are still waiting to hear the results of that.  Before the appointment, we had a fun playdate at Anna's school friend Natalie's house and then got washed away in the heavy rain when we left!



The rest of the week was the usual busy schedule with Sawyer, school, piano, ballet, volunteering at school, working out, and I have rejoined the moms Bible study now that Sawyer has preschool on Friday mornings, which I am enjoying.  I also got to go eat lunch with the girls on Wednesday and go to neighborhood Bunco that week.  Bob and I went out for a yummy dinner on Saturday the 24th to Gonza Tacos and Tequila and had an awesome view of the NC State Belltower!  We also had a great time visiting friends Amy, Erik, Bellamy, Dalton, and the two kids they are fostering on Sunday.  In between those things, "we" (Bob) built and painted a dollhouse/bookshelf that has become quite a hit around here.



The last week of the month was more of the same, and now Sawyer is tracked out for almost 3 weeks.  I have big plans to get ready for the yard sale this Saturday, plant flowers, and maybe even paint the guest room and bathroom (that never happens).  We had a great month, but are hoping the medical excitement is over for awhile!