We're Home!

Two infiltrated IV's, 5 pokes last night for labs/a new IV, and a red rawhide butt from diarrhea and we're home!!

So. Excited. So. Exhausted.

The final diagnosis was the two viruses I mentioned yesterday.

Rowan is nowhere near 100%. But she was eating today and there were way more smiles.







Hard to see, but terribly red.






















Can't even begin to count the number of times we watched "a goofy movie". It was one of the only movies she wanted to watch on the hospital tv.
I have no idea why, but he is becoming a big part of our everyday. We have goofy panties, socks, and shoes--- none of which has him on there, but that's what she calls them. Thankfully, Rowan received a real goofy from the Disney store today. In. Love.

Emphasizing on the tired tonight....
Thanks for all of the prayers, love, and support! We are so very blessed!

Day 2.

Today has sure has had its ups and downs.
This morning Rowan was feeling a little more perky and we all deemed she could go to the floor.



We hung out, watched movies, enjoyed company from some sweet sweet visitors, ate a few popsicles, and then the diarrhea monster hit us hard.

He was already around, but later tonight, he arrived in full force. Hopefully though, this is only due to the three IV antibiotics Rowan is taking.

Yuck!


Some studies have come back, and she for sure has the rhinovirus (common cold) and human metapneumo virus (a respiratory virus). Side note- Collins most likely has the exact same thing except she's a healthy child, not immune suppressed, and can fight it off with no problem.

Tomorrow more results will be available to evaluate for bacteria.

Tonight - We are all exhausted.
Thank you so much for the prayers and love! We feel it.

Despite all of this sickness, her liver is still a champ! All of her numbers are great. She has the best liver ever!!! Thank you angel donor!!!!!

Poor Punky

It has been over a year since Rowan was last admitted to the hospital, but our streak ended today.

She woke up at 6am throwing up and by 11 we were already in the ER. (But this time the hospital was only 15 minutes away from thanks to daddy's new job.)

Right now she is in the PICU.
Her admitting diagnosis is sepsis, but we are unsure of where the infection is coming from.

Poor baby even had to have a lumbar puncture. (Spinal Tap)

Praying we have some answers tomorrow morning, but so thankful to have this snoring beauty by my side tonight.




Before the hospital.



ER







Moving to ICU.

And she's been called Punky about 4 times since we've been here. A new term for me. I'm thinking a cross between puny, kid, funky.

Happy Valentine's Day.... Liver Love Style

Wow. I haven't posted anything since Dec. 4th?!!?
Life sure is busy with two kiddies :)
I guess I can catch you up fairly quickly with a few beautiful instagram photos... then, get to the point of the post today!



I don't know why these first two are tiny... but Christmas was wonderful!

Collins Jane is 7 months old!

Rowan has had so much fun with her friends from school... we have been to two birthday parties!

These two LOVE books!

Loving the grocery store...

Our tiniest princess

Rowan loves a good slide at Chick-fil-A.


So we've breezed through with a few photos... and here we are on Valentine's Day!!!

Rowan helped make 50 Dozen brownies to raise money for the American Liver Foundation!
We delivered them today to all of our friends and supporters.  How awesome and Blessed we are to have such love from so many!

Today she is very healthy and just as spirited as ever.  We don't have labs for another few months!
She cracks us up over what she says these days! She's very opinionated... I wonder who she gets that from?!

We hope you all have a very blessed valentine's day!

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is Love. 

2 YEARS!

My oh my how so much has changed... I can recall so vividly every holiday from two years ago at Texas Children's Hospital.
And the day that forever changed our lives, November 29th. This is the day Rowan received her gift of life.





It's really easy to become overwhelmed with emotion, but we choose to celebrate and give thanks!

Like last year we held a blood drive in Rowan's honor. This year we teamed up with our church and had 44 blood donors in 4 hours! We also registered 12 people to be organ donors! (I'm sure I could have done better... But I had to wait in line to donate blood myself!)

We also placed flowers in the church sanctuary in memory of Ro's angel donor.

I know I post all of the time, but if you haven't already, please consider being an organ donor and saving someone's life!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

In case you haven't been around us lately, we have a pistol on our hands. She is a ball full of energy and has an ever growing vocabulary. We are up to twenty when counting, but she skips 15 and 16. She sings songs, shouts commands, requests the weirdest things, imitates everything/everyone....

Rowan still sleeps in her crib. She loves it and she doesn't try to climb out, so we will just ride that train to the station. However, the other day she was really chattering and did not want to take a nap. Next thing you know, she climbed out, surprised me, and was demanding "I wanna buy some money!" I think she meant buy some tickets, but it startled me and was hilarious at he same time.

Photos:

This was her "gobbling" at Thanksgiving.




Ok. Guess we had a little milk accident, but apparently mom is supposed to clean up...




Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at YaYa's.




Thanksgiving 2010:
Rowan (fairly yellow)




Thanksgiving 2012:
Collins




Look at those little smiles 😍


Deer Hunting at the ranch... Probably the only day it has been chilly so far.




Riding a horse at Christmas on the Farm








Tattoos, crafts, and a Home Depot apron...




These are some family pictures by Melody C Photography.
















It's hard to comprehend how blessed we are. We really do thank God every night for our angel donor. If not for her, our little firecracker wouldn't be with us.

2yr Check Up!

Rowan had her liver transplant at Texas Children's Hospital on November 29, 2010.
We are so close to her 2year anniversary!
Tuesday we made the trip to Houston for her yearly check up.
The ride down was actually awesome.
Hotel was less than exciting. We were all in one room, so that always makes it mediocre.
Wednesday morning started off with Rowan getting her labs. I prepare her a day or so before and we talk about getting a shot, but Rowan calls it a "shock". Ha!








She was stellar. Didn't cry at allll.
And obviously I've lightened up on the bubble living because there she was on the hospital floor! 😳 But I made her wash her hands immediately afterward!
Labs came back and were practically perfect!!! We were so excited...
What a fabulous Thanksgiving blessing!
Also, our church is having a blood drive this year in honor of Rowan. It's call Give Red for Rowan!
We are super pumped! Also I'm going to be there registering people as organ donors!
(Anyone in our area please come!!! 10a-2p... Contact me if you need more info!) It is THIS Sunday, November 18th!

No Politics- Just Preciousness!

Go figure- a lot has been going on. Halloween has come and gone, Collins just turned 4 months old, and Rowan has conquered strep throat!




Ro is also a great newspaper gofer. She loves helping out with tasks. And she's really excited about baking, especially eating the dough... No pics because we are
usuallyalways too messy.




Cool girl here is running errands.




Pumpkin patch. Duh.

Moving on to the fall festival at church. Rowan LOVED it.



Little Minnie Mouse- walking in.... First thing she spotted:
The slide!



Check out the line behind her... She was at the very top. It was literally about 20ft high, so it took her little 2yr old legs a while to get to the top!



There she goes!!!



On the "train"




Sweet sisters.




Next we moved on to YaYa's school festival. Face painting here... But we didn't have enough patience to finish- oh well. The best part was YaYa getting dunked in the tank. Rowan wanted to "take a bath" with her! Ha. Oh, and we came home with two goldfish. One didn't last 24hrs, but the Lone Ranger left is named "oooooorange".



Matching jammies.



What's wrong baby Collins? Maybe that was a little too aggressive on the hug.



Then my poor Rowan got strep throat. If you know her, this picture is completely uncharacteristic- not because she is in the baby's seat, but that she is sitting still! I knew something was wrong. Thursday she ate nothing but 5 saltine crackers and a little pedialyte, ran a low grade fever, and was pretty puny. I took her to the dr on Friday and after her strep came back positive she was started on amoxicillin. A few days later, Rowan was good as new. I was really concerned this would require some "liver" treatment (IV, hospital stay, labs, etc) but nope! Treated just like any other normal kid--- praise The Lord! Here she is at the worst:


Weird that she wouldn't eat anything, but she wanted peanut butter...




Much sweeter loving this time. I am obsessed with matching PJ's. they are SO CUTE!




Halloween was a huge success. Rowan loved the trick or treating and passing out candy... Unless you had a scary costume on.









Eyeing the street to see who was coming...



At about 7 she said she was ready to "go home".... We were on our front porch already. So, she went inside, took a bath, and passed out! She missed all the real action- ha!



Hard to tell, but there's ketchup all over her face- she's obsessed with dipping.

School is still wonderful. She can say the entire ABC's and count to 12 or 13. She's really good at picking out all the letters and numbers from the magnets on our refrigerator. Annnnd Madagascar Ffffrreeeee (3) is our favorite movie due to the fireworks song/dance scene.

November 29th will mark her 2 YEAR TRANSPLANT ANNIVERSARY!!!! WoooooHoooo!

We are again having a blood drive in her honor- this year at our church!

Also, please register to be an organ donor and save someone's life! CLICK HERE! It's SO easy!
Rowan and so many others wouldn't be here today without these selfless gifts.

We have SO much to be thankful for, and are so extremely blessed.
Hope you and your family are doing well....