2007 Highlights

Gracyn Elizabeth joins our family on 3/9/07- She is healthy and beautiful!
Door County with the Girls
Rae's quick visit to Nebraska
Summer Camping Trips
Alicyn Sleeping during Summer Camping Trips
Kayaking
Visits from Family and Friends - we've seen a lot of you! Thanks!
Summer fires (in the fire pit on the patio.) Especially when accompanied by a guitar.
Trip to Twin Cities to visit our friends. Alicyn is STILL talking about it 2 months later!
The idea of using the hammock
Strawberry picking
Our first garden -weeds and all
The completion of several house projects
A White Christmas at Home
Justyn's Valiant Effort to keep his family warm when our heat was out for 24 hours
Justyn and Alicyn going for summer bike rides
Flying kites
Sledding
Making new friends
Daddy teaching Alicyn to swim

No More Monkeys

No More Monkeys. One of Ali's favorite books. The story finishes by saying, "But no one said anything about the couch...." So imagine a silly girl ready for a nap on Saturday afternoon jumping on the couch. "Alicyn! Stop jumping on the ....." (Big tumble and LOUD SHRILL).

I thought it might need a stitch or two, but the doc just glued it together. She did great. Not a peep once we got in the car to make the trip. She is pretty proud of her glue, but like most 2-year olds still LOVES to jump.

A Quick Trip to NE

Just wanting to share a few of our photos from Nebraska. Gracyn and I had a great time visiting family and friends. She especially loved Mommy's pretty necklace she wore for the wedding. As you can see, she had plenty of love during our visit and now protests anytime we try to set her down. Alicyn continues to tell me, "Mommy, I miss you." It sure feels good to be home :)

Bless Duck.

Alicyn's been catching on to praying. At the table she often says, "Thank you food, thank you water, thank you yogurt. Bless our food. Amen." Last night at bedtime she expanded her prayers to "bless old baby, bless daddy, bless sleep, and BLESS DUCK!" Ofcourse, Duck can never fully comprehend the friend she has been for our lil' girl, but we are certainly lucky to have Duck in the family. Alicyn always knows just where she might be and if we can't find her she says, "Oh, Duck's hiding."

"I go music class." Who knew these 45 minutes a week would be so important. Every morning she wakes up and let's us know, "I go music class today." She's been patiently waiting and thankfully today we will go. Unfortunately, this is the last "class" until after the Holidays. Have no fear, Daddy has been taking Alicyn swimming once or twice a week, so she has something else to look forward to.

Gracyn is doing well. She is working on her waving skills and Justyn was pretty confident he had her saying "foot.... ball" this weekend. Sure, honey. :) She STILL hates tummy time. You would think she is the most miserable girl in the world, so I'm pretty sure we will not be crawling too soon.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Nice

Having girls is really fun. At this point we can't really imagine having boys.

Daddy took Alicyn with to buy new tires this week. "Daddy, let's go buy new tires, daddy." As they waited for them to be put on, they walked through a few nearby shops. Alicyn seems to be catching on to shopping as she would look at the product and then explain, "Nice pencil. Nice play dough. Nice cards. Nice flowers." and finally, "Nice new tires." Today she told me she wanted to wear a bib that Grandma made. I guess the plastics aren't "nice" enough anymore. :) Potty training is pretty much complete, so that is extremely exciting for the whole family. Her current favorite bedtime book is Wishing Stars and she is happy to count for you (five stars).

Gracyn, not to be left out, has found her voice. She is certain to use it if you are ignoring her or if she is hungry. This past week we started yogurt, egg yolk, cottage cheese, and she is self feeding crackers and toast. I am able to sneak avocado in by desguising it with a banana. :) She enjoys sitting on the floor playing with toys and continues to despise tummy time.

Over the past month we've had some great times with family and friends. My mom was able to make a quick trip with my Aunt Shirley. Jenna and Ed made a quick visit also. We are heading to the Twin Cities this weekend to stay with friends. Alicyn is especially excited to see her friend "A-me-a-ma" (Amelia). She's been calling her on a pretend phone to make plans. It should be a "nice" weekend for all. We'll post new pics when we get home!

Weekend Fun

Rise and shine! It's time to have some fun. We met the day with some super oatmeal and daddy delighted us with a strawberry banana smoothie to go (a family favorite). Hitting the highway was a great day to get started watching for some lovely fall colors. Ali even joined in on the fun watching for cows, barns, corn and colorful trees. Crossing in to Door County, Justyn spied some coffee as we passed by, "Do you want to stop?" He gave me a, "Sure." So began the day of many turn arounds. This was also Alicyn's first store where holding mommy's hand was absolutely mandatory. Up the road we were all able to relax a bit at the apple orchard. Justyn took her on a wagon ride and she especially enjoyed running around the trees and tasting the different apples. Gracyn even got in the picking mood. Twenty pounds of apples later we moved on, but at .69/lbs. we couldn't pick too many, right? Lunch was delivered via the train at a local restarant. Both girls loved this and Justyn and I enjoyed watching their faces. After some yummies, we hiked around two state parks to enjoy the colors and Lake Michigan. Culver's was calling our name on the way home with the Pecan Caramel flavor of the day, but with two sleeping beauties in the back we dare not chance the stop. A perfect day? It was pretty close.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

"Daddy, you eat birthday cake with me, Daddy?" It doesn't get any better than that. Alicyn helped me in the kitchen today. She lingered over the cream cheese frosting and eventually said, "Tastes like ice cream." She was so excited to see daddy come home from work today, so she could dig into our creation.

Fall is here and the colors are just beginning to change. We are hoping to take a scenic drive on Saturday to take in some of the glorious colors. Hopefully we will get some good photos to share.

Change is in the air....

Summer has come to an end for us.... It had to happen eventually. What a great summer it was. In the past few weeks, we've gotten out camping twice. The first time with our friends Jason and Shannon and the second was just the four of us. We headed to Peninsula State Park in Door County. It's an absolutely beautiful park that is on Lake Michigan (Green Bay), and has hiking and biking trails throughout it. We did a few short hikes with the girls and Justyn played with Alicyn in the water for a bit. Other than not being able to get Alicyn down to sleep until close to 10:30, it was a fantastic trip.
Over the past several weeks, Justyn has also helped his dad build some steps and had the favor returned so that we now have steps down to our pier. We've started remodeling one of our bathrooms as well.
Last Monday, our friends Tim and Vicky came up for a visit. We haven't seen them in about 5 years. Tim is in seminary, and they just got placed for his internship in Appleton. We're very exited to be near them for the next year.
Rae has been very busy with the girls. They are growing so quickly. She will also be babysitting 1-2 (depending on the day) additional children throughout the school year.
Justyn started work (officially) last week with a few days of inservice. Students start on Tuesday already. We are looking forward to slowing down and getting back into a routine again, as the summer has been a bit hectic (but wonderful)!

Still Summer

It's still summer and as you can see we are going for the monthly post. Life is cruising along nicely for the Poulos' family. We've been in Shawano for one year now and feel content in every aspect of our lives. This is a great simple town and the more we explore, the more we enjoy our location.

Over the past week, we've taken a few drives up north to check out the national forest. It's less than an hour away with beautiful scenery, hiking, camping, lakes and rivers. What a nice getaway to have so close. We scoped out some potential campsites for the future and we are looking forward to our next outing.

The house is coming along. Justyn's been busy getting projects started and I've been busy keeping track of the little ladies. He's already installed 3 new doors. By the end of summer (or mid-fall), we have high hopes to have new exterior and interior paint (yes, the yellow is going), a bathroom remodel, trim finished, and a fence with steps to the water. We may be needing some motivation in a week or two, but if I promise Justyn some ice cream from his favorite shop, I'm sure he will endure.

Alicyn especially loves summer time. She helps us in the garden and waters the flowers around the yard. She doesn't pass up a chance to go swimming and practiced blowing bubbles in the water today. With summer and the chance to have her diaper off, she is advancing in her potty training skills. Skittles and jelly beans are helping the process along. Ofcourse her favorite "potty candy" is PINK! It won't be long and she will have to choose a new color of jelly bean.

Gracyn is also enjoying summer time. It gives her more chances to spend time with her daddy and they have a favorite book to read together. Her most recent doctor appointment went well. She is already 13.10, which is right in the middle for weight. Yeah! She loves to giggle and coo and should be rolling over any day now. She is sleeping great. Usually 7-5. :) That helps to make a happy family!

We've had a nice July seeing family and friends. We spent the 4th in the Milwaukee and West Bend area. We took some nice strolls on the lakefront and attempted a hike in the woods until the bugs drove us out. We'll try again when the weather cools off. We ate some wonderful food. We had a chance to visit with Grandma Marge in the hospital and meet up with friends for a picnic. Grandma Jean's memorial service was closed with a yummy Greek meal. Jonathan made a visit from Idaho. I beat him 3 times in air hockey (not bragging) and Justyn and I spanked Jonathan and Grandma Dawn in cribbage. More cards were played with Jenna, Ed and Jonathan when we all went camping. I believe Ed and Justyn were the winners in those games. Our friend, Kevin, also made a visit this past weekend. He and Justyn enjoyed some kayaking and time by the fire pit.

We rented a few movies lately. An Inconvenient Truth and The Good Shepherd are highly recommended.

Upcoming events include: A visit from our Twin City pals. Planning to camp in Door County

Warm Summer Days

Summer is in full swing for us and we've been loving it. Rae's dad and stepmom came out for a few days after Justyn was out of school. We enjoyed a few fun hours at Bay Beach with them. They rode the train and Ferris Wheel with Alicyn. Alicyn also enjoyed the merry-go-round, planes, boats, lady bugs, and a few other fun rides.

Last week Justyn was in Arkansas for a conference. Rae stayed home with the girls. On Friday, she had a nice trip up to Dan and Karen's with the girls. Rae and Dan and Alicyn went out on the boat and enjoyed a nice relaxing morning.

Our friends Aaron and Laura came into town on Saturday, from Colorado Springs. We enjoyed an afternoon and evening with them. They joined us at church on Sunday where we had Jason Gray sing us some nice tunes, which we really enjoyed!!!! Check out his site.

Saturday was also our 6 YEAR anniversary!!!! YAY!!! Six wonderful Years for us. They have gone so fast, and it's scary to think that in another 6 Alicyn will be in 3rd grade already!!!!!! YOUSERS!!!

Jenna and Ed and Dan and Karen came down to our place on Sunday afternoon for a visit. Grandma and Grandpa babysat the lil' ones while the other 4 of us went strawberry picking. 40 pounds of strawberries later, we got home and grilled some dinner. Wonderful weekend. Rae has busily been making wonderful treats out of the strawberries since we got home, including things like jam, pie, dehydrated strawberries for granola and such, freezing strawberries..... SO good!!!!!

We have also gotten a few new projects done around the house including new front and back doors installed!!!! The list is still long, but we're slowly widdling away at it!

Summer Vacation

It's been brought to our attention that perhaps we are not the best bloggers or even good bloggers, so our hope is this will qualify as an appropriate update. We've been busy and it's too nice to be spending time inside. Blogging should be a winter only pastime. As I write the water is glistening and the evening sun, accompanied by a gentle breeze, is begging me to come visit. Justyn's last few weeks of school have been packed with student functions and helping coworkers. Today, he is home for the first day of summer vacation and unfortunately he is sick. Alicyn too. Thankfully, Gracyn and I have remained healthy. Our summer is filling up fast, but we plan to take plenty of breaks to enjoy the girls and this heaven sent weather.

Gracyn is growing. Three months already! She laughs for Justyn and enjoys cooing at her toys. Tummy time is not a favorite. She doesn't even try to push or pick her head up and it usual initiates an immediate surrender cry.

Alicyn is a gem. She loves going to walks in the new stroller and planted some peas tonight in the garden. A bonus to her being sick is her cuddles. We can't get enough of them. The Merry-Go-Round is her current favorite at the park and she will demonstrate the motion by turning around and around. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles! She can't get enough of them.

Hunter has been occupied with chasing flies lately. He continues to show excellent hunting skills.

I'll let Justyn update the pics. I'm going outside!

Fun Times in Madison

It's been awhile since we've had the chance to sit and write. Our girls keep us busy until we fall into bed, but thankfully we get to stay in bed until early the next morning. Gracyn is sleeping 8-5, which is so wonderful! May 4th, Alicyn celebrated her second birthday. All week we prepped her by explaining birthdays and she especially enjoyed making the cupcakes with mom. "BIRTHDAAAAY CAKE", she would say over and over. Ofcourse, I made it with strawberries (her favorite fruit) and in the shape of ice cream cones (her favorite treat). It was a hit combination she has yet, two weeks later, to forget. She shared them with her friends in the morning and played her favorite games, Ring Around the Rosy and Up/Down. This Momma was happy to give her some paints, sidewalk chalk and paper for some play variety this summer. Grandma Dawn came to visit for the birthday weekend and Alicyn enjoyed her attention while Justyn and I had time to get some chores done outside. Now that she is a big two year old, Daddy took her for her first kayak ride. She loved it and says, "Daddy in boat, Momma in boat, Ali in boat."

The following weekend Autie Jenna came for a visit. Gracyn loves to smile at Auntie Jenna and Alicyn enjoyed pushing Jenna in the hammock. They are looking forward to Ella coming home to play with them soon.

Madison. Justyn had a conference in Madison on Thursday and Friday, so the girls and I rode along. It was a much needed getaway. We walked the streets downtown and had the opportunity to meet with friends and family in the evenings. Gracyn charmed Grandma and Papa Poulos for the first time. We will be seeing more of them now that they are home for the summer. Alicyn played with her friends Molly and Bella, but her highlight was the zoo. She was in awe looking at the animals and practiced her word and sound skills. The polar bear was her favorite.

Back in Shawano, we planted the garden yesterday. Gracyn snoozed in the stroller as the rest of us played in the dirt. Alicyn was helpful throwing in handfuls of seed (literally) and finding worms. Overalls, a dirty hat and a shovel in hand made her look the part of the official gardener. Our rows and plants might not look pretty, but we get bonus points for the cutest kids. :) Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us, but will get some next time. We did learn a valuable lesson to visit the garden BEFORE bath time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICYN

Alicyn is 2 today!!!!!

Happy Sleepers! ... and new pictures! click on the flowers!

THROUGH THE NIGHT! HURRAY! :) We've had some good nights around this house and everyone is pleased! It feels so good to get a chunk of rest. Last weekend we had a some great family time. Saturday morning began with Rae out on the kayak and then we took the traditional stroll to the bakery. We took the girls for photos in Greenbay and then hit Menards for some summer projects. After worship, on Sunday, we got Alicyn in the trailer for a bike ride with daddy. She repeated, "Daddy's bike, Daddy's bike" as Gracyn and I strolled along beside. We made it a trip to the park where Alicyn sat on the big tornado slide and refused to go down without her daddy. Later, Gracyn and Daddy had some quality time watching the Nascar race. Justyn played soccer with the boys and finally we met up with friends for dinner. This week Alicyn is looking forward to her birthday. We made cupcakes together yesterday. She says, "MMMMmmm...birthday cake." Very cute. She took her baby for stroll around the neighborhood yesterday, while I strolled with Gracyn. It was a long walk as Alicyn is now very careful not to walk on the busy ants. She is very loving with ALL God's creation. :) We will post some pics later. We've got some good ones. As I was typing this she said, "Momma. Stuck!" She had pulled the hamper over herself and ... was stuck.

A Warm Smile

Alicyn and Gracyn are both doing great. We have had a wonderful couple weeks of weather and have gotten outside as much as possible. Earlier this week, the sturgeon were spawning in the river just below the dam (which is 3 blocks south of our house). I took a little video and when I get a chance, if it's any good, I'll post it. Quite a sight. Here's a little news article about it: http://shawanoleader.com/articles/2007/04/25/news/news1.txt

Gracyn has started giving us little smiles this week. She's doing so well. Last Monday she went in for more labs and was 9 lbs. 6 oz. She's gaining some good weight. The doctor adjusted the meds just a little and we go back in 3 more weeks from now. Her schedule has gotten much better (for us at least). She is eating just once during the night now and going to bed and waking up at the same time as we are. It's been bliss!

Alicyn LOVES to be outside. She has helped mommy with some gardening and she got a tricycle a few weeks ago from her Uncle Ed and Aunt Jenna. She loves to ride her 'new bike.' When we're outside, she'll walk into the garage and repeat over and over, "new bike, new bike". She still has a hard time pedaling, but she loves to be on it. FUN STUFF.

New Pix and New Info

Hi everyone. We had a nice Easter weekend spending some time with Aunt Jenna, Uncle Eddie and Grandma Dawn in Milwaukee. We had a fun trip to Trader Joe's before Alicyn had her first Chuckie Cheese's visit and she wasn't disappointed with all the games and little rides. We came back to Shawano for Easter Sunday. It was too cold for Alicyn to wear her pretty new green dress to church, so we decided to save it for her birthday. She teased us by going on the big girl potty a few times this week. She's not that interested yet. Last night she confirmed her climbing skills by scaling up and INTO Gracyn's crib. Thankfully, Gracyn was with us or she would have been squished for sure. So daddy will be climb proofing the crib (there's a video of her climbing in on the left side of the screen). Gracyn is doing well and giving us some much needed rest by sleeping better. She's looking forward to spending time outside this week when the weather finally turns to spring. I'm sure her big sister would love to take her to the park. :) Check out our updated pics.

Thyroid Test Results

Gracyn had some blood drawn on Monday to test her thyroid hormone levels since being on the medication. We received a call this morning from Children's Hospital and they said the levels are much closer to where they should be than they were before. They test for 2 hormones and one was at a good level and the other was a little high. They've adjusted the medicine levels and we'll retest again in a 2 weeks. The doctors do not appear concerned, so we think all is well in thyroid land.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Getting life back to normal.

Well, I'm officially back in the kitchen. Our last meal arrived friday, so it's time to get back into my routine. Justyn and I are both wishing Gracyn would get onto our sleeping routine, but we are trying to remain patient knowing she is only three weeks old. Alicyn continues to develop her big sister skills. She is officially in her big girl bed for nights and napping. Graciously, she let her sister take over the crib. She's pretty excited about having the company and gives us her famous eyebrows when we take Gracyn out of the bedroom. This past week we had some delightful weather which allowed us to take our girls on some nice walks around the neighborhood and visit Alicyn's favorite parks. She was not so thrilled to give up her nice stroller and has decided she would much rather walk than lower her standards to the little umbrella stroller. Alicyn also helped us with some yard work this week and a large puddle proved to be a fun distraction while daddy raked leaves and picked up sticks. This past weekend we took a drive into Greenbay for a much needed outing. A visit to Target was just the respite we were looking for.

Take Out Please

Just waiting for our dinner to arrive. I think we could get use to all these delicious meals. :) Lots of wonderful people have been keeping us well feed. We had a doctor visit today and Gracyn looks great. She is gaining weight and keeping us up at night. All the usual baby stuff. Alicyn has been continuing her big sister in training. Her new favorite book is a "big sister" book and she has been very patient when mommy says, "You'll have to wait." Thanks to everyone for all the gifts and cards arriving. We have been blessed so many times. As for us parents, we are looking forward to a weekend of napping and being a family of four. The weather is amazing, so I'm sure we'll be making a few trips to the park...

Updated Pictures

We've updated the pictures in both albums. Just click on a picture to the left to open a slideshow!

No More Mystery....

We had Gracyn's appointment today at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee. They did an x-ray type scan to see what is present as far as a thyroid goes, and then we met with the endocrinologist.

The results of the scan showed that her thyroid did not develop. It should be a butterfly shaped organ in her throat, just below the Adam's Apple area. Rather than this, Gracyn has a little finger shaped thyroid that does not function (and will never function). The doctor's said this is present in about 1:1000 births in the U.S. (We've read anywhere from 1:1000 to 1:4000). They also said that the cause is unknown as it's not genetic and it's not related to prenatal care.

The thyroid serves many functions, but at Gracyn's age, the most important is brain development. We have been assured that the treatment is starting early enough to have no negative impact on her development. Untreated, it can cause anywhere from a 20-50 point drop in IQ, which is very significant. The thyroid function is also related to the jaundice that Gracyn had (which, by the way, has gone down dramatically and she no longer needs to be on the bilibed!!!!). At a later age especially, growth can be limited without treatment.

She was prescribed a synthetic hormone that replaces the hormone that would normally be created by her thyroid. She will need to take this everyday for the rest of her life, and with it, should develop normally. We gave her the first dose tonight when we returned from Milwaukee and we will go back to have blood drawn in two weeks to monitor how her body is responding and whether the dosage needs to be adjusted.

ON A BRIGHTER NOTE....
There was a rose in the front of the church yesterday and an announcement in the bulletin. It was very nice.

Alicyn is also home from grandma's. She looks so big - looks like she gained 15 pounds when she was away, but that's just because we're used to seeing Gracyn.

Alicyn LOVES her little sister. She gives her kisses and rubs her hair. She's going to be a great big sister!!!!

Aunt Jenna and Uncle Ed brought Alicyn back on Friday and spent the night. They graciously let us sleep by watching and comforting Gracyn. It was great spending time with them! Thank you!

Grandma Dawn also let us get some sleep last night while we were at her house. Thank you!

People from church have been very generously providing meals for us!!!! Thank you!


Thanks for all the prayers. Please continue to pray for Gracyn and our family!

Gracyn's Thyroid

We finally heard back from the doctor. Her thyroid hormone levels were low again on the test that was done yesterday, which means her thyroid is not producing enough of the hormone. It's a condition called congenital hypothyroidism. The bad news is that she will have to take a hormone supplement for this for the rest of her life. The good news is that because it was caught as early as it was, it should not affect her at all.

The doctors are consulting with a pediatric endocrinologist regarding the treatment of this. They are hoping to get the treatment started very soon, and then they will be referring us to the specialist (in Milwaukee) to monitor and adjust the treatment as she grows.

Gracyn also got a 'bilibed' today, which is a UV lamp/bed that she needs to lie on for the next few days (at least) because of jaundice. She is not a big fan of it. The doctor said that this may be tied to the thyroid issue, in that her metabolism is slow making it difficult for her to break down the bilirubin that causes the jaundice.

She is a beautiful baby and we are blessed to have her in our lives, and we hope to get all these issues resolved (as much as possible) very soon. We are also blessed to have good insurance through all of this. :)

A New Concern

We just got a call from the dr. He said that Gracyn's PKU test showed that she needs to get some more blood work done for thyroid function.

She can hear!!!!!

Gracyn passed her hearing test this morning!!!!

Alicyn is having fun at Grandma's

Click here for Pictures/Video of Alicyn at Grandma's

Home Sweet Home

Gracyn and Rae were discharged this morning just before noon. The blood culture came back negative, which was great news. They did say, however, that she failed her hearing test early this morning. The doctor said this is likely to be due to fluid, and once it drains, there may be no concerns. We have an appointment for Tuesday to have it rechecked.

Video of Alicyn Meeting Gracyn

Click here to view video of Ali and Gracie

Pictures of Gracyn

Gracyn Elizabeth

Gracyn Elizabeth

Gracyn joined us last night at 11:18. She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long. The delivery was quite stressful. She came out with the cord around her neck and was not breathing sufficiently and her heart rate was unstable. The doctor and nurses were great and have been taking exceptional care of her.

Gracyn had to spend the night in the nursery with an IV, oxygen tube, and several monitors. Throughout the day, she has been weaned off most of these things. She was able to come to our room at 9:00am this morning, which was our first opportunity to hold her. She had been taken off the oxygen by that time and was holding her own just fine.

The doctors ran several blood tests and did a chest x-ray last night. The blood work came back with no concerns as did the x-ray. We are still waiting for the results of a blood culture, which tests for infections. She has the IV in still with some antibiotics as a precautionary measure until the blood culture results come back. We are hoping to know tomorrow at the latest.

Rae has been amazing throughout this process. Despite a very emotional 24 hour stretch, she is feeling well and looking great. We have not been told when Gracyn will be released from the hospital yet. Barring anything unforeseen, it will be Sunday or Monday.

Pictures of Alicyn

Alicyn Claire

March 9, 2006

The doctor came in this morning around 7am to check on Rae. We were hoping she would break the water and get things moving, but that wasn't the case. She said Rae's body is still not ready, so ordered some more cytotec and will be back at noon to see if she's responding.

March 8, 2006

Rae was due on Tuesday, but like with Alicyn, the day came and went without any baby. Since her doctor is going to be out of town all next week, we decided to induce. They started her this evening with cytotec.