Goodbye Facebook

I've gotten rid of Facebook and am glad to do so.  Facebook had too many game requests and I was felt like I didn't have as much control over my own privacy as I do with a blog.  So I will keep family and friends posted this way instead.

Ashley and I are doing well.  We are both doing Weight Watchers and have collectively lost about 50 pounds!  We are running late on Christmas greetings so Merry Christmas to all!

The kids have been doing well also.  Dominic still has no teeth and continues to be a little hungry monster.  He does tend to hunt and gather what the girls drop on the floor during snack time.  He is 7 months and 1 day today and has mastered "the worm."

Daria and Claire keep Ashley and I laughing.  We went Christmas shopping for the girls last night and the girls were actually pretty good all things considered--bad things tend to happen when you take two year olds and bring them down the toy aisle.  When we were driving back home from Walmart we asked Daria and Claire if they would like a cupcake and milk for a snack to which Claire and Daria both said yes.  Claire chanted "CUP" the rest of the ride home.  I asked Daria if she liked cupcakes and she said, "nooo ... ... ... ... I LOVE IT!"

I believe Ashley went to bed around 4:30 A. M. early morning once she was done wrapping presents.

Goodbye for now and God bless!

Back from NOLA yet again!

Ashley, Claire, Daria and I went to NOLA Children's Hospital for follow up appointments with urology and neurology. All went very well. Urology had us do a kidney ultrasound and the ultrasound appears to be a very normal looking kidney. Looks like Ashley and have made an A on catheters for Claire. Neurology had ordered an ultrasound on Claire and it was found that her right ventricle in her brain is collapsed, which is not a bad thing more of an expected thing with kids that have shunts. Claire appears to be doing quite well. Check out the new albums from the past few days. See below.

11 08 10 - Our First Walk in the Neighborhood

11 07 10 - Great Grandma, Great Aunt, Grandpa & Grandma

11 05 10 - About to Leave RMH to go to Children's NOLA

11 02 10 - Dr Office Follow Up

10 31 10 - Halloween Pix

Surgery Number 2 (On the VP Shunt) Complete!

Claire had to go back to surgery this past week. Part of her shunt was not functioning correctly due to pluggage from inside her brain. Once the pluggage was removed her soft spot on her head became concave again as it should be. She seems to be a happier baby again. Her head circumference had gone from 34 cm to 35.5 cm to 36.6 cm within a short window. By the time we were at the NOLA Children's hospital her head circumference measured 37 cm.

See JD and Ashley for new picture updates.

Gloria Gaynor Sings it Best

We are at home surviving quite well. The night before we left one of our nurses, Aimee, came up with this cute configuration.

From 10 11 10 Leaving NICU

We got home late Monday night. My parents came to NOLA NICU that day and hung out while all of the different doctors came by and assessed Claire. Overall very positive impressions from the doctoral staff that assessed Claire. We were able to finally leave at 6:00 PM from the NOLA NICU. My Mom and Dad and Ashley's Mom helped unload all of our stuff once we got home around midnight Monday night. Shortly after we unloaded, a storm came through and took out my car's windshield as well as did some minor body damage around the car. See here, as well as a fence that got knocked down.

Thanks again for everyone's prayers and thoughts. Ashley and I are deeply thankful for everyone's support.

Morning Has Broken...

... and Ashley is out. We just spent our room in at the NICU in NOLA and the girls did okay. Daria has some issues with using just the formula for food. She has no problem chowing down the breast milk though. Claire also did quite well. We hope that our meeting with all the doctors go well so that we can get home. I think that Claire has one more VCUG test today so hopefully all goes well there.

Right now mommy is knocked out. I slept from 2 AM to 5 AM. Ashley past the tourch at 5 AM.

Hope to see everyone soon.

-JD and Ashley

Evening Update

Right now I am sitting in the lobby at the NOLA NICU. Ashley is standing down the hall feeding Daria. After speaking with Claire's nurse this afternoon it looks like it is very probable that The Parden Family will be able to go HOME Monday afternoon. I also believe that another VCUG will be conducted and we will also have to meet with the different doctors that took care of Claire for discharge and path forward for her medical care. I think the plan is that we are going to room in at the NICU on Sunday night; however, the hospital will not allow Daria to go into the unit, so I will have to stay in the waiting room overnight while Ashley will go between Daria and Claire for feeding and CIC. I've been trained on the CIC method, so now it is just a matter of getting Ashley up to speed with the technique. I can't wait to get home. The timing may actually work out quite well as Monday is my last day of vacation.

Again thanks for everyone's prayers and support!

Surgery Update!

Claire's surgery this morning went very well. The neurosurgery team took Claire at about 9 AM and the procedure was completed by 11 AM. Claire has approximately 13 visible stitches on the back right side of her head as well as several stitches on her tummy. Claire looks well and the NOLA Children's hospital will have to keep her for several days to monitor for infection. Hopefully all will go well. Thanks again for everyone's support!

J. D. and Ashley