Moving Days

It happened on Cinco de Mayo, the 5th of May! It was a Sunday and it was moving day at the Jennings House! And it arrived in the form of this HUUUGE truck. It blocked our neighbors' driveway too, this thing was massive. Our stuff didn't fill it all but they had another small family's stuff to fit in there as well.

And then they got to work. Day one was just packing boxes, wrapping all our pictures, and disassembling all the furniture. You know just packing up our entire lives! There was a team of 4 movers and they did an amazing job.

 While Jackson did like seeing the huge truck, it was all a little too much for him so for most of the morning he hung out in the living room / front of the house or outside on the patio.

Abbie walking around outside

Then we went to church and said goodbye to some of our friends there. We didn't stay too long because Jackson was still not doing too well. For the first time in his life he actually didn't want to go to nursery if that tells you anything. But then I came home and the movers were just finishing up. They arrived at 8 and were gone by 1:30. Not too bad for packing up an entire house!

They left me a little counter space in the bathroom luckily...

 While all dressed up we took some graduation pictures! Since we missed the big day on Friday we had to put the cap and gown to use before we needed to return it. So, here it is! I really am so proud of Tyler for sticking with his goal and after jumping through a series of hoops, even getting his company to pay for the degree!

 At this point we had it arranged for Tyler's parents and Jackson to stay the night at a Disney Resort. The relocation company paid for one night hotel in Florida as part of the package. Even though we didn't "need it" since the movers didn't take apart our bed until the next day per our request, it was best for Jackson to be out of the house that night. He had a lot of fun over there with his grandparents, but still wasn't quite back to our normal Jackson yet.

Tyler and I stayed at the house doing some last minute cleaning and packing we needed to do while Abbie took a nap. That evening we went over to the Hilton and it was so nice! They were upgraded to a suite and even though they weren't actually going to Disney it was nice resort for non-disney goers too. And now I'm mad that I have no pictures! But it was this hotel.

The next morning the guys were back and ready to load the truck! I love these two pictures below that show Abbie just walking around watching the madness, totally oblivious to what was really going on.

Meanwhile Jackson was having the breakfast of champions over at the hotel! He finally got his appetite back and we were so happy he had a buffet of food to devour that day.

They finished around 1 or 2 again and I guess I didn't take any pictures that day but Tyler took these and put it in an instagram collage.

The last thing they packed and loaded was Abbie's crib. We let her take that nap while everything was loaded and when she woke up the house was empty. The movers finished up and a little bit later Jackson came back to see the truck drive away and see the empty house. It was really hard for him, he was still so irritable and seeing things was confusing to him. We had some friends come over and say bye but it was really hard while Jackson was there so distraught.

Our flight was later that evening and since our cars were also being moved, we needed a ride to the airport. None other than Jacque Munns, the woman who made us a part of her family, we stayed at her home for weeks, convinced us to live in Windermere, and sold us our house, she drove us to the airport. Honestly it would have been really emotional had there not been as much going on with Jackson.

But we also said goodbye to Tyler's parents, Terry and Vicki were so amazing that whole weekend and I couldn't think of anyone better to be there for Jackson. They were up with him that night in the hotel but did not complain once. It was not the trip to Orlando they had been envisioning, that's for sure!

But getting to the airport and onto the airport was really the first time our family of four had been together just us in over a week. We were just so grateful to be together, to be healthy, to be so blessed and to be on a quick 2 hour flight to Hartford after all our things were moved for us. The kids stayed awake the whole flight but were generally happy. When we landed they were getting pretty tired and were both asleep within seconds of driving away in our rental car.

We got to our hotel around 11 pm and were so ready for bed! But we couldn't sleep long because the next morning we were going to close on our house.

Potty Training

One more quick blog post before the move, potty training! I knew he was ready probably around Christmas time but I decided to wait until we got home from our 3 week trip. And then I realized we'd be traveling again in February. And then I decided I'd wait until he turned 3 in March. Yeah, I was putting it off. I was scared because I know how stubborn he can be. But all in all it went pretty well. We definitely had some hard days but he really was ready to learn.

I went with the naked method, at first because he would not put on underwear. He was not one of those kids excited to pick out the big kid underwear in the store. We had gone past them several times at target and he'd seem interested but would never want me to put them in the shopping cart haha. But it was better for him to be naked anyways because that is how it clicked.

Day one of naked towel sitting

Literally the day after he turned 3 the fun began. It was a Monday so the start of a new week and we really didn't' have much going on so I stuck around home mostly. He used this lightning mcqueen toilet exclusively at first. It started out in the family room and so it wouldn't seem like he had to go away from his toys or show to go. I would even move it upstairs and put it in the bathroom up their if we were playing upstairs. He really caught on after a day. He did not like it when I forced him to go every 15 minutes like people recommend and it was better if I gave him more time and let him decide to sit there. Day one we had one accident and lots of success (of both varieties) on the toilet.

His first time going because he knew he needed to.

 So this scene below was our life for that first week. If i put underwear on him those first few days he would normally have an accident but after the first day he never once had an accident while naked. So it was a slow process transitioning to normal clothes again but overall it went better than I could have guessed. The hard days included him going #2 as soon as I put underwear or a pull up on him it seemed. Those first couple weekends were tough because we would be out and about a lot and he wasn't super comfortable on public toilets yet. But as long as we were home, we were good!

Thomas the train, Jake and the neverland pirates, and Lightning McQueen have been our first kinds for this boy.

I used bribery but after a time or two that really didn't do much. I had M&Ms and Marshmallows that he liked but after a while I think he was going out of habit and not for the treat. I just kept telling him how proud I was of him and after a good day I let him have his favorite dinner, dino nuggets and chocolate milk.

Looks like pear too, he loves him some fruit...

Showing Daddy his big boy underwear

The two weeks leading up to Kawisaki (so the last couple weeks of April) he was wearing underwear all the time at home and pull ups when he went out to joy school, nursery or Disney. At that point it had been a month! Those weeks he had one accident each week while out, but I considered him trained. He also had dry pants in the morning! As soon as we started training I put him in a pull up at night, but we really didn't need to.

After Kawisaki & being in the hospital he did regress a bit. He had accidents frequently and so we put him strictly in pull ups for those couple weeks. He even started waking up wet almost every day. But since getting to our house in CT I don't think he's had a single accident. He sometimes woke up wet again so we had him in pull ups at night still but just recently we stopped that too.

It really is so nice having only 1 diaper to change now, I'm so proud of my boy :)

Our last days in Florida

This blogging process is coming along very slowly but I am determined to get caught up soon! So yay Jackson made it home. I wish I could say it was all smooth sailing from there but not so much. He was physically better. Just the remnants of a rash but no other symptoms. But emotionally, mentally and ya behaviorally he was still not back yet. Being at the hospital for 3 nights really messed up with his sleeping.

His first night back home he went to bed ok, but then was up almost all night screaming, crying whining for an ipad or a show or chocolate milk to then refuse it once we gave it to him. It was so emotionally draining for Tyler and I. Luckily Abbie and Tyler's parents slept through it as we tried to keep him away from their rooms. But he really was up all night and demanded Tyler be with him that whole time so Tyler got no sleep. At around 7 am he had maybe gotten 2 hours of sleep so Tyler's parents took him in the car with them and he finally fell asleep and so they kept him with them for a few hours sleeping while Tyler caught up on sleep and I watched Abbie.

Jackson sleeping on the back bench of the van

This was Saturday, the day we were going to have a garage sale after cleaning out our house all week. Yeah, that didn't happen. We did try to get some of the essential cleaning out done that day as our movers were literally coming the next day. The main project was the garage, everything else would be fine if we just moved. I had cleaned out 80% of the house already and had a huge pile in our room of "garage sale" stuff that is no sitting in our attic in Connecticut. But Tyler did get the garage cleaned out and that was our major event of the day.

After the little guy came home he was acting much better and just like a normal day dressed up in his pirate gear and watched a show with Daddy.

Pirate & Daddy, and notice Abbie and Grandma in the back

Can I give a shout out to Abbie right here? Those who know her realize she has a hard time going to new people. But honestly she did great with Tyler's parents. Such a blessing. Normally when I leave her she cries for a while but does ok when I'm actually gone. But it's rare for her to ever be held or go to someone else while I am actually present. Notice in the above picture she is sitting with Grandma just fine while I am in the other room taking this picture of Jackson. She really stepped it up big time when she needed to.

She learned how to climb outside for the first time that day

 OK Bad Mom Alert! I just realized I haven't blogged about Abbie taking her first steps! It happened just a few days before Jackson went to the hospital so I guess I have an excuse? It was Thursday night and I was just putting her to bed and she just started taking off all over her room! She had taken a few steps here and there for the past month but this was the first time it seemed like she was actually trying to walk and would try again after she fell! Within a week of that time she was walking 90% of the time and crawling was a thing of the past. So I guess she started walking at 12 1/2 months and was a full fledged walker at 13 months.

some of her first steps

A little wobbly at first

The next week she was walking around outside!

You'd think she had been walking for weeks!

OK back to Saturday, that afternoon Tyler's parents took Jackson out for a few hours while we packed our bags. We would be living out of these suitcases for a week in CT while we waited for the moving truck to arrive. Once again, we could not have survived this weekend without Vicki and Terry! Thanks to them times a million. Jackson was still not acting himself. Like I mentioned earlier he was very whiny and fussy and very quick to throw a tantrum. They claimed that he behaved much better when Tyler and I weren't around and I hope that was really true. It was really hard to see him so miserable even when he was supposedly better. It was really emotional for me and I was scared that this was the new Jackson or maybe something was still wrong because really his behavior was terrible. It worried me so much that he was about to have his whole world ripped out from under him as we packed up his house and shipped it across the country away from all things familiar. Ahh don't even get me started. But luckily (spoiler alert) a couple weeks later after we got settled in the new house he started acting much much better.

During the afternoon they took Jackson to Millenia Mall and Toys'R'Us, two places they knew he could run and play and just have fun.

 That night Tyler and I went on a much needed final date night in Florida. We ate at Casey at the Bat, rode Thunder Mountain, Pirates, and some of our other classic rides. This could have been such an emotional sad night saying goodbye to Disney but with all that was going on with Jackson at home, our hearts were more with him. It was a great last night and the next morning the moving trucks arrived.

The final Dole Whip!

Kawisaki Disease - Part 4

PART FOUR - THE FINAL TWO DAYS

Thursday morning, May 2, I woke up and immediately called Tyler wondering how it went. Jackson woke up around 10 and had a hard time falling back asleep. Basically it was like the benadryl caused him to have a nap at 6 pm, so we all know how fun that is with kids. Anyways, during the hard time at night Jackson pulled out the IV again, and this time it was serious since that was pumping him his medicine. So this time Tyler got to experience what it was like having to hold him down while they replaced it yet again. But they got it in again and he eventually did fall back asleep.

He woke up feeling a lot better! He ate a normal good sized breakfast for the first time in a week and we were so thrilled! This morning was going to be his last day of joy school (since remember we were moving to Connecticut on Monday) and I was so sad for him to be missing it. They had planned a fun goodbye pool party for him that day, but it turns out the weather was awful that day. I drove to the hospital in pouring rain and spoke with Amanda about her idea to bring the joy school girls to visit him at the hospital. I checked with Tyler to see if he thought it was a good idea and he said yes. So they planned to come over and I was so excited for the outlook of the day.

So that morning I went to the hospital alone and Tyler's parents stayed home with Abbie. As I was walking into the lobby and just turning the corner to ride the elevator Tyler and Jackson came around the corner. He had clearance to come downstairs and play in the lobby's castle for a bit. But no more than 20 seconds after I saw them, Jackson threw up. He was a mess, Tyler was a mess and I was so confused! What was going on, isn't he supposed to be better?

We got back upstairs and Jackson started acting sick again. Now he was complaining that his head hurt (for the first time) and was really cold and tired. The doctors came in and took a look and figured that he contracted aseptic meningitis, which is a less seen but normal side effect of IVIG. The symptoms are naseau, headache, dizziness, and hot and cold chills. It normally lasts only a day and they were confident that the medicine did work because his temperature was normal and other vital signs were good.

This was maybe the hardest day of the hospital stay. He should have been better yet with all these symptoms he was acting sicker than ever. The doctors and nurses kept reassuring that he was better and if the medicine hadn't worked there would be other symptoms appearing. I was just worrying, what if he never even had Kawisaki, what if he has something else all together. But luckily he was able to calm down after the nurses gave him some zofran (the same drug i took during his pregnancy funny enough) and hooked him back to an iv for his fluids.

Maelie, Sarah & Taylor, I took this from Amanda's facebook :)

A couple hours later the joy school girls arrived and I was so sad that they had to see him so sick but I was so grateful that they came. Amanda brought her daughter Sarah along with Taylor & Maelie. I met them in the lobby and they were excited and chatting until they got to his room where they got a little nervous and shy. The only thing I remember Jackson saying to them was "hey guys look at my hand" pointing out his sock / iv laiden hand. Other than that he laid in bed and gave some nods and head shakes. They brought cookies and fun pictures that he enjoyed later in the day.

 

Later on Jackson got a burst of energy and wanted to go play, he finally had clearance to access the play room but of course it was closed. But they let us go in and grab a toy. He chose the biggest thing there, this huge racetrack, but after a few minutes of playing his lack of energy caught up with him and he ended up laying in bed with it.

Poor little buddy, just wanted to play

He started falling alseep just laying there so we moved him over into the other bed with daddy and they both fell asleep

A little bit later Tyler's parents arrived with Abbie and they showed him some of the toys and cards Jackson's other good friend David had brought for him.

This sword, coloring book and Mickey are some of Jackson's favorite things months later.

I'm having a hard time remembering what happened that night, I think because it was fairly uneventful. Jackson remained slightly sick but wasn't complaining as much and just wanted to lie in bed for the most part. I headed back home with Abbie and Tyler's parents and Tyler stayed with him. Then Tyler stayed the night for the third night with him at the hospital.

The next morning things finally got better. Jackson woke up with energy, an appetite and had a desire to play! While he still was sensitive and not quite back to normal, this was such an improvement from previous days. Terry, Vicki, Abbie and I all headed over that morning and were thrilled to see Jackson playing again. The doctors came in and told us we could go home that day! We would need to go to a follow up in Hartford in 2 weeks, but were thrilled that this part was over. Our boy was better and we could finally go home. Friday was the day Tyler was supposed to graduate with his MBA class from UCF, but it really wasn't important to him anymore. It would have been great to be there, but we had luckily been to a dinner the previous weekend with all his classmates and faculty that was more intimate and memorable anyways. We just missed that time when they read his name and walking across a stage. But we had a mini graduation ceremony a couple days later.

Anyways, it was great to have a healthy boy again!

Borrowing more cars from the play room

Lining him up just like he always does

Playing outside in the big pirate ship playground with Grandpa!

It was so great to see him running in the halls

Playing music on the alligator

Walking out of the hospital, looking for Grandpa and our car

Finally able to get in the car and head home!

Excited to see his squirt gun was still in the car waiting for him

Walking in the house, FINALLY HOME!

Kawisaki Disease - Part 3

PART THREE - THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Tyler & Jackson woke up the next morning with no changes. But the new nurses came in soon and said he'd be having his ultrasound later that morning. After a small breakfast and more tv and ipad playing, Tyler and Jackson went downstairs for the ultrasound on his tummy. He was not super comliant in getting this done obviously but they were able to get the pictures they needed and this is where the answers finally started coming.

After the ultrasound they went back up to the room and Jackson was getting really irritable. He didn't know what was going on and just wanted to go home. Luckily just then Tyler's parents arrived at his room and Jackson was so excited to see his grandma and grandpa. They brought some new toys and puzzles and movies that helped him through the day. At this point I was home with Abbie so I could spend some time with her, we couldn't bring her to the hospital with the potential contagious disease he might have had.

Grandma and Grandpa arrive

While the group was all in the room a team of doctors came in to discuss Jackson's case. There were some of the normal rotating general pediatricians in addition to Dr. Jordan, an infectious disease doctor who came in later. They told us that the results of the ultrasound were alarming in that his gallbladder was swollen to twice its normal size. This was causing him lots of pain obviously and explains his behavior and lack of appetite. This along with all of the other symptoms was leading them to believe once again that he did in fact have Kawasaki Disease.

Once again, KD is an autoimmune disease in which the medium-sized blood vessels throughout the body become inflamed. It affects many organ systems, mainly those including the blood vessels, skin, mucous membranes, and lymph nodes; however its rare but most serious effect is on the heart where it can cause fatal coronary artery aneurysms in untreated children.

But the good news is we caught it before it could have a long term affect on our little buddy. I am so grateful for my persistent pediatrician who told he to go to the hospital! When we learned the news I was listening via speaker phone in the room so it was kind of hard to hear, but I was glad that at least we had an answer. Even though I was hoping it would be something with potentially less severe side effects.

The plan of action at that point was to give him an echo-cardiogram of his heart, make sure it looked ok, and just something to get a benchmark for future checkups. And the treatment was an IV pumped in his body for 12 hours to get rid of the disease completely. He was to be given what was called an IVIG which stands for Intravenous immunoglobulin. It is a blood product that contains the pooled, polyvalent, IgG (immunoglobulin (antibody) G) extracted from the plasma of over one thousand blood donors. It is given to people with immune deficiencies, autoimmune diseases and in this case, acute infections.

We learned that diagnosing Kawasaki can be tricky and the affects can be scary if not treated, but the treatment of IVIG is very stanrdard and routine and is actually the only FDA approved treatment for Kawisaki.

So at this point we had to wait again, wait for the echo-cardiogram and wait for the IVIG to be ordered, made and delivered. Vicki stayed at the hospital while Tyler and his dad came home and I returned to be with him. Once again, how blessed were we to have grandparents here for this, Jackson loves them so much and was great to have them there. When I got to the room they were actually just giving him the echo. He was getting a little restless at that point so I luckily was able to distract him with some of the toys I brought.

He finally ate some popcorn, during the long afternoon of waiting

Then it was a long long wait until they finally got the IVIG delivered that night. During that long wait they had to give him another IV since he wasn't drinking or eating enough. Ah that was great fun again, Vicki got to be there with me to see how much he screamed and fought that needle going in his hand. But luckily it got in and he got on IV and they could use that same drip for the IVIG later that night.

Tyler, Terry and Abbie all came to the hospital later that evening before the IVIG was put in, since it took 6-6 so long it was going to be in basically overnight from about -. They decided to give him some benadryl through the IV to help him relax and fall asleep before the meds were administered. It was crazy for me to see him fall asleep so quickly! As soon as he was out they started giving him the medicine and the nurse stayed in the room the first hour to constantly check his vitals. Things were going well and it looked like it was going to work!

Hooked up to the IV and the Benadrly worked!

Hooked up to the IVIG, and a blood pressure cuff on his ankle.

 I left the hospital with Abbie after it had been in for an hour. He was still asleep and Abbie needed to go to bed. Tylers parents stayed a bit longer before coming home later that night and Tyler once again stayed the night with Jackson.

I left my sweet boy all cozy with his blanket, hoping and praying that he'd be all better in the morning!