September fest

Last weekend Leslie and I went to September fest. The whole family was supposed to go, but it was just too cold and windy for that baby, so Barry graciously offered to stay home with Calla so I could go play with Leslie! We spent way too much time in the jump house, but that's what made her happy...



The line to get her face painted was forever long! So, while I stood in line, I dropped her off at all the little crafts they had set up around the tent and told the girls helping her to take their time! Here is the mask she made...




She insisted on theme-ing everything mermaid... again...




She road the train...

And she had a ton of fun in the petting zoo! It's amazing how durable these little chicks are. She thought it was pretty cool that she got to hold several chicks and ducklings. Once they showed her how to hold them, she just picked up one after another forever! Leslie was really gentle with them, and you could tell how proud she was of herself! She would, however, still not touch the turtle.

Leslie's trip to the Big Apple...

When Grandmommy and PaPa heard that the Little Mermaid Broadway musical was closing, they had to rush Leslie up there to see it! Last week Leslie was at the farm picking and shelling peas and corn, and the next, she's in New York City taking all the bright lights and tourists stops! Here she is with Grandmommy by the Mermaid poster...





Here everyone is after their carriage ride through Central Park. Leslie told me her horse's name was "Ice Cream" and that she got to feed him a carrot.




They took her all around and got pictures everywhere, but since it rained most days, most of the pictures are at night, and so, they turned out pretty blurry. Here's a decent picture of her in Times Square...

They took her to the Magnolia Bakery a couple times. This cupcake made the entire trip worthwhile for her I'm sure...

Mom said Leslie would stand at these windows all day and night mesmerized by the lights and busyness of the big city below...

Here is Leslie after they went to the show. She calls it the Mermaid Concert. She also got a special Mermaid shell purse...

They said she got a little antsy, but over all did very well and enjoyed herself!

Of course they had to go to FAO Schwarz and let her play on the BIG piano. Mom said she was scared of it, but she pushed her out on to a little bit anyways...

Leslie had a great time and plumb wore herself out. This entire big bed to herself, and she sleeps curled up in one little corner, with her booty in the air like a little baby and her hair flopped over her face. Too cute...

I don't know if Leslie likes the country or the city more. She's seemed pretty amazed at both. I guess she'll be well-rounded if nothing else!

Thanks to Grandmommy and PaPa for taking Leslie on her adventure! Hopefully, this is just the first of many! And hopefully, Calla can be well enough for us all to come along on the next one!

Leslie's Decorated Room...

While Leslie was gone to New York, we jumped on the chance to finally decorate her room. It's had plains walls for much to long. I could never decide what I wanted to do, but nothing makes decisions for me like a deadline!

I hand painted a verse and flowers all around the top as a border. It probably could have looked better, but it took me all weekend and 3 coats of paint to get it to this point. I just decided we were going for that rustic garden look anyways and left well enough alone...







It turned out really well overall. Here's the far wall when you walk into her room. The left side is meant to be her dress-up corner with her chest full of all her dress-up clothes. And, the right side, once finished, is going to be a ribbon memo board for hanging all her art projects and stuff on. It's meant to look like a garden lattice, we'll see if that comes across once it's done. All of Midland ran out of ribbon to finish it, but I finally got some more yesterday, so hopefully, it will be finished soon. Barry and I were very proud of ourselves for making one on this scale. We'll see how well it works when it's all said and done...







I printed out the verse to scale I wanted to paint and taped it on the wall to help with my spacing, and then, I just painted it above and hoped for the best. Some letters are funky looking, but once again- it works for the rustic garden look I was going for:) I wanted something nature-y for the verse, so we chose Dt 32:2, "Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants." I'm not thrilled with what's over her bed, but it at least gets something there until I can find something better.






Here's another wall. It's really unfinished too, but it gives me something to work toward...






Here's the other half of the verse and what we finally got hung over her dresser...

I was so pleased that we finally got some decorations up in her room and made her residence feel a bit more permanent! I've been pregnant or dealing with a fussy newborn since we moved into this new house. Hopefully, this home improvement will be a catalyst for the long list of other decorating projects I have in mind. Stay tuned for more on- The Brauchi Experience:Home Edition...

Funny Callie pictures

I got out Leslie's old piano for Calla, and I'd like to announce, she's a natural!. She does however have some minor trouble turning the pages and not pinching her fingers...




She has this funny little flat smile face alot. I'm not so sure how it's going to translate as she grows older, but right now, I think it's hilarious...

Here's a big ol' toothy smile to brighten every one's day...

When she started to stand, she would spread her legs out like this to help stabilize herself I guess. It's funny until her feet start to slip even wider and she starts to cry because it hurts to do the splits. If only she could learn to just sit back down...

Calla's Hospital Stay...

I think everyone who reads this blog probably knows about Calla's hospital stay, but since I use this as a scrapbook of sorts, I figured I should write all the details out before I forget.

Back on August 16th, Leslie woke up with a runny nose which developed into a full blown cold over the next couple days. Despite my best effort to keep Leslie quarantined in our bedroom in front on the TV, Calla (and me) eventually caught the bug, too. It was a bad cold and generally annoying because she couldn't sleep, take a paci, drink a bottle, etc... but nothing I thought was too serious.

Barry and I were supposed to leave on Thursday for a little getaway to Austin to see "Wicked" and go to Schlitterbahn, so I went ahead and took the girls and myself to the doctor on Tuesday just to head anything off. I at least convinced to doctor to give me some decongestants for the girls so Calla could function.

Wednesday night, Calla woke up coughing, not especially bad, but she could never get back to sleep well. I finally got up and decided to sleep with her in the chair, but after an hour of unsuccessfully trying to get her settled down enough for me to sleep, I gave up, and just turned the TV on for the rest of the night. Calla's cough did sound a little "bark-y," but I was thinking it was probably pneumonia because that's what Leslie's cough was like when she had pneumonia. I was genuinely concerned that Calla was having some strider where her stomach sucked in when she tried to breathe instead of going out. So, Thursday morning, back to the doctor we went...

By this time, Leslie was on the mend, but Calla had developed an ear infection, some chest congestion, and was diagnosed with croup. (And, she had lost a full pound in those 2 days!) The doctor wasn't overly concerned. Mainly because of Leslie's history with lung difficulty, he said to start her on Xopanex (which is an inhaled medicine that opens the lower bronchials) to help her chest clear out. We went home and did our medicines and Calla went down for a much needed nap. I finally decided that I just couldn't leave Calla feeling that bad, and so, we very reluctantly cancelled our trip. And it was a good thing I did...

I thought things were going to start getting better. Mom went ahead and took Leslie for the day because I hadn't slept at all that night before, and I told Barry he could go mow the lawn while Calla slept. Calla woke up a couple hours later in a much better mood, but she was breathing really fast. She took a bottle and still, her breathing didn't calm down. I went in and out of a steamy shower room a couple times with her trying to get her throat to open up, but she was still almost hyperventilating breathing so fast. My last attempt was to do another Xopanex treatment with her, and when that didn't work, I called the doctor back. After some fighting, I finally convinced them, that Calla needed to be seen, and off to the doctor we went... again...

I didn't pack anything in my bag. I got Calla in her car seat as quick as I could and ran out the door. Luckily, Barry was throwing out some grass when I was putting Calla in the car, so I told him what was going on and that he needed to get cleaned up. I knew in heart that Calla was in serious trouble, and they were going to have to admit her. When we got to the doctor's office and the nurse saw Calla, I think they finally believed me that I needed to bring her back in. They took her pulse and tested her oxygen saturation, and while she was oxygenating fine, her heart rate was 177 which is super high for a 6 month old. The doctor came in, looked at her and decided to give her a Pulmicort breathing treatment (even though it's not officially approved for children under 1) to try and get her trachea to relax and open back up. When that did nothing, off to the hospital we went...

When we got to the hospital, we had to register, which seemed like it took forever, but once she got her room, everyone was ready to work. I guess it wasn't a super emergency because she was oxygenating so well, but it was still frustrating having to wait at all for her to get the medicine she needed. The nurses got an IV in her little arm and then the respiratory therapist came in to give her a breathing treatment of racemic epinephrine to get her trachea to relax and gave her the first of four steroid injections. Usually, children only have to have one, maybe two, breathing treatments given 4 or more hours apart, and then they get better. While the medicine did help Calla breathe better, it was less than 2 hours before she was back to full badness. She had to have a breathing treatment every 2 hours until 10am the next morning. It was unreal. Her doctor couldn't believe it, and kept on telling us how unusual this was and how fearful he was of her health in the future, but more on that later.

Calla felt so bad. she couldn't crawl or even push herself up to sitting because of this big cast they had on her arm for the IV. One thing that did seem to pass the time for her was hitting Barry and I in the face with her club hand. Whatever makes her feel better...




They had to wrap it up because she kept chewing on it. We kept joking it was her Left Hand of Doom (Hellyboy comic book reference.) It also kinda looked like she was throwing gang signs...




She has to be naked with the IV in, so she needed to be covered up to sleep. It was nice because she had a pulse/ox monitor on, so I didn't fear covering her up entirely to sleep (which also helped keep her asleep with the countless people coming in and out all night!) They did at least let her do her breathing treatments while laying down, so they didn't completely wake her back up. The nurse even patted her back down for me most the time which was nice because I was finally getting some sleep for the first time in a couple days!

The nurse had to unwrap Calla's arm because it was soaking wet from her chewing on it. While they were trying to get everything done, her IV clotted, so they ended up having to take it out. I convinced the nurse to call her doctor to see if we really needed to put one back in since she seemed to be doing better. While we waited for her to call the Dr. we ran off for a couple minutes to the playroom and let her crawl around a bit. Her face looked so bad, and she had massive dark circles all around her eyes and she had lost so much weight. She was still in bad shape, but it was nice to see the start of a smile back on her face...

She had to keep the sock on because her pulse/ox was hooked up to her toe, and we just unplugged her and wrapped the cord around her ankle for play time! Luckily, the Dr said as long as she was drinking well, she didn't have to have her IV replaced.

And, as quickly as her croup started, it was over. They kept her a while to make sure she wasn't going to relapse which is common, but she never did. She went home on her 7 month birthday, Saturday morning, with still a bad cold, but finally breathing. And after a week or so, she finally was back to her old self.

We went back to the doctor the Wednesday after for a check up and to discuss what we needed to do from here to try and keep her well. It's a delicate line to walk, because babies aren't really supposed to get croup that bad, and the medicines that help ward off an attack aren't officially approved for such a young age. But, we feel the bigger concern at this juncture is keeping her lungs healthy and trying not to traumatize them anymore. Every time she gets croup, her chances for developing asthma increase dramatically. I told our doctor how concerned I was about putting her on untried medicine with her age, but he was quick to point out that there are never trials of medicines on children. Even something as basic as Tylenol has never had an official study done. We just know what it does in adults and assume it does the same in children. So, Calla's on Singulair to try and keep her allergies under control and her nose clear, and she's taking 2 breathing treatments a day with Pulmicort, and when she starts coughing, we start Xopanex. Hopefully, this combination of things will keep her healthy and help us stay out of the hospital through the rough winter cold season.

It's been a hard road to travel filled with many disappointments and tears both for myself and Calla and Leslie even. I thought after all the trouble Leslie had with staying healthy, that Calla would be my strong girl. It's hard to hear that it's likely she's going to have even more trouble staying well than Leslie. I cry for Calla and the loss of normalcy that goes along with a weak immune system. From all the playdates canceled, to church missed, and adventures avoided. She deserves to go out into the world and have all these wonderful experiences and friends, and it's so sad to be preparing for the winter months in August by beginning our winter hibernation. It's hard when we go out and other mothers and grandmothers snicker at me, the germ-o-phobe, wiping every inch of the basket, high chair, or table down with disinfectant wipes to try and keep Calla well without having to completely stay confined inside the house.

It's still a hard road to travel, but hopefully, if we can keep her well this year, then next year will be better. If we can give her the extra time she needs to grow strong healthy lungs and avoid her getting asthma, then it will be a sacrifice well worth it. I love my girls and I will do anything to keep them healthy, happy, and safe. We had to do all these same precautions with Leslie the past 3 years to help her stay well and not develop asthma and pneumonia, and it has been time well spent because every year she's a little bit stronger and gets sick a little less. And, we will gladly make these same sacrifices for Calla, I just wish Leslie didn't have to make them with us.

Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers. That we enjoy going out without the crippling fear that Calla will end back up in the hospital. That Leslie can enjoy her childhood and not have to go without too much to help her sister. And that Barry and I can remain strong and prayerful during the twisting road ahead...

Duck Pond

Here is Calla's first trip to the duck pond...


The ducks weren't hungry, but we got to feed a bunch of big turtles. Leslie was fine with them as long as they stayed in the water.

Everyday I ask Leslie what she wants to wear, and her reponse is always, "A beautiful dress." This is why I hesitate sometimes...




Leslie sitting enjoying the pond...

The girls were pretty dirty, so we decided to give them both sink baths. It was cute. Leslie threw a tantrum leading up to it, and then loved it after she was in.

Of course, we had a royal mess to clean up afterwards, but they had so much fun!

Trip to Mam-maw's

We went to Lubbock for Will's graduation in August! We failed to get any pictures of it though because logistical errors with the camera, but we got some cute pictures of the girls!

Leslie, Paw Paw and Mam-maw drove out to the farm/garden Saturday and picked a bunch of fresh food for everyone to eat. She loved being out there in nature and running around. Here she shelling some of the black eyed peas she picked...

And shucking corn...

She absolutely loved the corn. It was really good and sweet corn, but she ate it by the truck loads...

(OK- some of those were mine and Barry's too)



We tried to wait and leave at nap times, so the girls would sleep some in the car, but the goodbyes were taking too long. Calla cozied up and fell asleep on Paw Paw's shoulder in no time. Sweet girl loves her Paw Paw...

Summer Catch-up 2

Leslie's couldn't figure out the slip n' slide on her own, so Barry just grabbed her legs and hurled her down the mat. She LOVED it!



Daddy loved it too...

Here is proof Calla's hair is growing... If you look closely, you can see a little part sticking out funky on her right side. It has since grown much more and we have several hair funks after naps. I continue to stroke her little head while whispering, "Bow by Christmas" in her ear...

Summer Catch-up 1

I know it's been much too long, but here's a quick update to get everyone caught up on our summer. We've been staying very busy traveling most weekends during July and August.

Here is my best friend, Julie, with her new born, Evin. The girls don't know it yet, but they're going to be best friends when they're older...




We went to Pampa for Barry's 10 year high school reunion. We had so much fun getting to catch up with people and just have some adult time. There was a meet n' greet at the country club Friday night, a family picnic Saturday, then dinner and dancing Saturday night. It was amazing to see how people have changed... and how some haven't. Barry won "Least Changed." I guess he's still the super nice hottie he was in high school! Here we are at the family picnic...



MiMi and PawPaw were gracious enough to watch the girls for us while went out and had all this fun. They had all sorts of fun playing in the water, gardening, crafting, and simply swinging...

PawPaw saved a row in his garden for Leslie to plant some black eyes peas...

And Calla got to take her first sink bath...

Here's a picture of Calla's skin rash. It started on her back just looking like prickly heat, but then it started to clump up and crust over. Once it started to creep down her arms and be on her knees after naps, we finally figured out it was the laundry detergent. It took us a while to figure it out because I had been using regular detergent for a couple months, and it was so localized the doctor didn't think it could be the detergent. So we went back to the baby detergent and it finally cleared up after a couple weeks. We just have to be careful that everything from clothes to sheets to car seats to blankets are all baby washed!

We didn't take any pictures at my family reunion this year, but while we were in Kerrville, we snuck out to visit Mary Cole's dad and let him meet Calla...