tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42274762861117471012011-09-13T20:30:36.096-04:00WELCOME to our blog about Katie | Family | Meningitis | Hurdles Thank you for visiting! We love comments and always respond to your questions. You can email me at sorochinsky@gmail.com.Kristinenoreply@blogger.comBlogger801100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-42566553434582695282011-02-01T21:44:00.004-05:002011-02-01T22:11:36.075-05:00

We have a little routine that Katie loves... it's being quizzed with the spelling of words. It's really crazy. At first we just thought it was memorization, but it became clear that she really understands the sounds of letters and can figure out words that she has never heard before. We've been shocked a number of times, and so we finally decided we should put this on video before she gets

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-22284477990867778152010-10-30T22:51:00.003-04:002010-10-31T08:22:20.197-04:00

Ok, it's been a little long since the last post, so here is a recent video of Katie getting excited about the movie Up. She loves balloons, and the scene where the house is lifted off the ground by balloons almost makes her head explode.Excited about the movie UP from Chris Lee on Vimeo.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-45957892614658851652010-06-24T12:47:00.006-04:002011-08-16T14:49:11.787-04:00

Here's what we've been doing to help with Katie's speech. She has always watched videos while eating...not great, but she'll only eat with distraction. I found a ton of ESL videos on YouTube and she loves them. She thinks it's hilarious to try and repeat some of the harder words or phrases. As usual...please ignore my crazy mommy voice. Sorry for the lack of updates lately. We've been

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-14751035705237214842010-03-15T20:42:00.003-04:002010-03-15T21:35:05.555-04:00

It's been a while so I thought a long update was in order. I'm always thinking of things I should blog about during the day but once I have some time all I want to so is go to bed and get some sleep. After 6 months of insomnia I can't get enough sleep, it's great!Feeding is definitely the new "F" word in this house these past two years. I have so many grey hairs from the hours that we spend

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-24460057259644046182010-03-01T16:47:00.000-05:002010-03-01T15:11:44.917-05:00

A few weeks ago Katie started making some really exciting leaps forward in her speech. She's killing her ABC's. She now recognizes every uppercase letter in the alphabet and can say all but 4. She pronounces some correctly and some are her own little variations. We're going to work on the remaining letters...J, L, Q and R.She's totally obsessed with them and points them out all day long...in

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-79231313582017797932010-01-28T15:36:00.005-05:002010-01-28T16:46:50.983-05:00

Katie's been saying "Bia", "Bia" for a few weeks and we haven't been able to figure out what it meant. First I thought it was some variation of "Mia" which is how she says "Meow" to cats. I was all, "Oh that's cute Katie. The kitty says Mia and baby says Bia?" She'd just look at me with one eyebrow raised. Her look of scorn (she really does that, I'll have to capture it in a photo).Yesterday,

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-19705191336569739312010-01-12T12:00:00.002-05:002010-01-12T12:03:02.886-05:00

We're still here and will be doing lots of updating very soon! We've been swamped with the holidays, Katie's second birthday and more....

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-51260910167584276712009-11-23T12:31:00.003-05:002009-11-23T12:38:07.042-05:00

I wanted to finish off the H1N1 post by sharing our experience. We decided (after MUCH research and debate) to give Katie the H1N1 vaccine. In the end it was a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils, so to speak. We decided that a high fever for many days from the flu would be a lot worse than 1-2 days of a low grade fever from the vaccine. Turns out that the vaccine gave Katie FIVE days

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-37681244613407662782009-10-13T16:49:00.003-04:002009-10-13T17:39:54.226-04:00

So we're trying to decide what to do about the expected H1N1 pandemic. I thought I'd put this out there and ask...What is your plan?Katie is already quite a bit behind on the standard Canadian vaccine schedule. FYI - It's almost identical to the US version. She had a bad reaction (2 days of low grade fever) to all of the vaccines she's received to date, which is the reason we're spacing them out

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-1241036941127581872009-09-29T10:49:00.003-04:002009-10-15T16:08:32.813-04:00

DSC02977, originally uploaded by Chris & Kristine Lee.Here's a pic from one of the few nice days we had this summer.LOL - Chris posted this because I haven't posted anything is such a long time. He didn't notice that I posted exactly the same photo a little while ago. Whoops!

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-7171576621188952382009-09-03T08:02:00.003-04:002009-10-15T16:09:52.948-04:00

This is what Katie does when I ask her "can you help mommy get you dressed". Please ignore my crazy voice...how annoying! Naughty Girl from Chris Lee on Vimeo.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-18561078641182724132009-08-25T21:00:00.007-04:002009-08-30T18:53:29.097-04:00

Katie started Speech Therapy about a month ago. So far she's only had a one hour assessment. We knew she was getting behind and the assessment confirmed that. She's pretty much "at age" (20 months) for gestures and comprehension, but behind by about 6 months in expressive language and play structure.They have scheduled monthly sessions (we love national health care in Canada, but this is one area

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-1624363103593873892009-08-21T11:42:00.008-04:002009-08-25T21:54:41.806-04:00

I can't believe summer is almost over for another year. I'm totally envious of our blog friends who live in Arizona and California...especially in December. Our summer here has been very, VERY rainy and not very "summery" at all until August. This month has finally brought us some hot weather...over 100 degrees many days and we've been trying to cram in as much pool time as possible. Katie is

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-49259492036414660882009-08-10T09:30:00.003-04:002009-08-10T09:31:41.686-04:00

The Ball from Chris Lee on Vimeo.Just a clip I did last night, cause we haven't been posting any video of Katie lately. As you can see she's walking fairly well, and really likes her pink ball.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-21764198834461598442009-07-29T11:05:00.000-04:002009-07-29T11:05:28.153-04:00

Katie is crazy about water... CRAZY!    

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-58111234916203538612009-07-16T23:41:00.000-04:002009-07-16T23:41:38.002-04:00

    

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-1851964004184817712009-06-30T12:58:00.004-04:002009-06-30T15:34:52.603-04:00

Katie tries to drink the water (sometimes clean sometimes not so clean, ugh)in all of her backyard toys. She knows she not supposed to...hence the little face. It just started to rain, which apparently it will be doing for the next week!

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-74881305619380888352009-06-29T22:34:00.008-04:002009-06-30T15:37:34.209-04:00

To pick up where I left off… Katie had just spent almost 2 weeks in the PICU and another month on a regular floor of our children’s hospital. We knew that the Meningitis was completely gone now and we needed to get to the bigger, longer term picture. Until this point I had held it together pretty well considering, but along comes BIG SCARY GO HOME DISCUSSION. I know it sounds crazy...”don’t

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-65878978653124170812009-06-29T10:37:00.002-04:002009-06-29T11:05:08.439-04:00

Katie just had her regular (every 6 months) appointment with her Developmental Pediatrician, Dr. P., at our local children's hospital. Her doctor is a young dad of 3 (4th on the way soon) and we both really like him. Even though we enjoy our visits with him, I'm always nervous and a bit worried beforehand. I guess in the back of my mind I'm waiting for the day when Katie's brain injury catches

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-89258347406035286082009-06-17T18:17:00.009-04:002009-06-17T23:39:06.600-04:00

Now that it is finally warm enough to go swimming, that's all Katie wants to do.We have a ridiculously huge pool, but it's tricky to get in and out with her in my arms. It's too slippery and we need to buy some "real" underwater stairs to replace the ladders. Instead we set-up a few little blow up pools. I warm up the water with a kettle...it's still freezing out of the hose.She begs to go

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-15486160589238674182009-06-17T10:06:00.000-04:002009-06-17T10:07:29.777-04:00

Almost walking from Chris Lee on Vimeo.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-73559400034897496052009-05-29T21:29:00.002-04:002009-06-28T23:13:55.128-04:00

A shot before the trip. Whenever you ask Katie to smile now, this is the face you get.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-59251673990866865412009-05-14T06:38:00.000-04:002009-05-14T06:38:35.062-04:00

 

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-26516334523690333542009-05-08T11:33:00.006-04:002009-05-08T11:40:42.548-04:00

I was cleaning up our gigantic directory of digital photos and found over 80 photos that I thought we'd lost! Yippee! These are from December '08. Katie was about 1 year old. Wearing her first pair of "big girl" pajamas. This is what Katie thinks about wearing headbands.  Ever since we made her wear a Penguin costume on Halloween she refuses to wear anything on her head.  And I bought SO many

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-57979320688967975292009-05-06T12:01:00.003-04:002009-05-06T12:07:44.036-04:00

I was in the kitchen yesterday and Katie was playing with her toys on the floor in our family room.  We were singing back and forth to each other and then there was silence...I walked over to check on her and found her like this. She had wiggled out of her pants AND diaper. She was very proud of herself...giggling away. :)Ignore the bad hair day.  She has SO much of it that it's hard to wrangle

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-17107619010372844142009-05-04T11:26:00.007-04:002009-05-04T11:27:21.950-04:00

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-56212303962779793642009-05-04T09:20:00.000-04:002009-05-04T09:20:46.800-04:00

    

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-22540662572543069552009-05-04T09:02:00.001-04:002009-05-04T09:12:14.441-04:00

Things have been slow on this blog lately, as Kristine has been very busy with other endevours, so I thought I'd post some pics. Chris.    

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-65204228927270249972009-04-27T22:37:00.004-04:002009-04-27T23:47:18.801-04:00

I know, it's been a long time since my last post...even for me! I've been locked away working on a not-for-profit organization geared to help babies in our local NICU and PICU. I'll tell you all about it in my next post, and it won't be weeks this time!Katie has gone from a non-eating baby to an eatin-everything-in-sight-baby a week ago! This is SO exciting for us! As you may know (if you

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-52119217224011296712009-04-04T22:01:00.002-04:002009-04-04T22:06:45.691-04:00

I will update with a proper post soon.  I've been really busy setting up two new not-for-profit organizations.  One will help parents of children who are diagnosed with Meningitis or a Brain Injury and the other will help babies in the PICU and NICU at our Children's Hospital. I'll blog about these as soon as the sites are ready. Hopefully in the next few weeks! In the meantime, here's a pic of

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-25718953990104428092009-03-31T02:09:00.016-04:002009-04-27T23:48:40.995-04:00

We just got home yesterday from a great road trip to my Dad and step mom's house.  My Dad retired a few years ago and they built a beautiful home on the water. It's about 3 hours away from Ottawa by car and Katie was an angel during the drive. I wasn't sure how it was going to go...she was really small on our last road trip. Chris set her up with old Sesame Street skits on a mini laptop. Needless

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-58765216943274269772009-03-26T23:04:00.005-04:002009-03-26T23:15:12.003-04:00

Katie can never be accused of being bland.  She's hillarious. These are just some of her favorite expressions in any given 5 minutes. Note the last photo.  Yes, her new favorite hobby...sticking her finger and anything else close by up her nose!  Grace.

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-78326833062575063882009-03-18T02:55:00.004-04:002009-03-18T02:58:48.055-04:00

Almost every night when Katie starts to get tired, she gets the giggles.  Smile!

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-20729467556590730632009-03-15T01:28:00.012-04:002009-10-15T17:41:42.391-04:00

Milk | diabetes | blood clots | tubes tubes tubes So, at this point in Katie’s story, she had been on a regular floor for about 1 week. She was starting to open her eyes more, look around a tiny bit and had even taken 15 cc’s of breastmilk from a bottle once. 15 cc’s that took 3 pumping sessions to make! For all those moms who think they have a low supply of milk…try adding copious amounts of

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-33638810210823468452009-03-14T21:44:00.001-04:002009-03-14T22:56:03.138-04:00

Water is funny from Chris Lee on Vimeo.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-56895150628886096742009-03-13T21:53:00.004-04:002009-03-14T01:25:17.727-04:00

Poor Katie seems very close to cutting her first molar. I know that every baby goes through this, but I hate seeing her in any pain after all she's been through.  We actually went to our Pediatrician's after hours clinic the other night, sure it was an ear infection. She cries and grabs her ears when it hurts and then lays her cheek on our hand/face/leg to try and tell us it hurts. Poor thing. So

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-73502923496424132802009-03-11T01:03:00.005-04:002009-03-11T11:53:09.608-04:00

I'm VERY happy to say that Katie has been kicked out of feeding therapy!!   She still thinks that eating is a waste of time and would rather do anything else. BUT she is gaining weight and eating enough to keep the OT's happy. She is still sticking to her 1-2 Avocados a day routine, which is fine...she could do a lot worse on her choice of favorite food.  Did you know that Avocados have between

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-27498439378281001852009-03-09T10:51:00.011-04:002009-03-09T11:10:18.654-04:00

As you may know, a lot of bloggers use themed posts for certain days of the week...Not me Monday, etc.  Never one to follow the pack, I thought we would do it a different way around here.  When Katie was 3 months old and we were settled back at home, I started connecting with families online who had gone through a similar battle with Meningitis.  I can't tell you how much this helped me cope.  I

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-85218255990427604102009-03-05T23:24:00.007-05:002009-03-06T13:04:25.116-05:00

I meant to update on Katie's appointment last night, but it got away from me. It was fantastic!!When we arrived we saw the prettiest little girl in the waiting area and she spent 10 minutes waving and smiling at Katie. Katie LOVES little girls. AND she loved the attention, hamming it up for everyone is the waiting room. Waving, yelling, Dadadada, making crazy faces and (a new one) sucking on her

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-56749099373829755712009-03-03T23:57:00.003-05:002009-03-04T01:31:03.227-05:00

Katie has an appointment with her Neurologist, Dr. H, tomorrow afternoon.  We haven't seen him in 6 months and I'm anxious/excited to see his reaction to Katie's progress. If there is one thing we've learned about Neurology, it's that there are no clear-cut answers, no guarantees and usually the diagnosis and/or prognosis falls on the side of caution. Meaning the docs will tell you the worst

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-23008858043755302572009-03-01T01:06:00.005-05:002009-03-01T01:28:24.852-05:00

Oh no, here come the acronyms!  One year ago, we were facing a calendar of endless acronym’d (I know, it's not a word) appointments for Katie. They were completely foreign to me. Everything was one giant acronym.  We had to learn a whole new language...one that wasn’t much fun IYKWIM.On top of her daily med schedule, which included needles and lots of liquid meds, we had appointments. And BOY did

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-88453707681289760102009-02-28T01:21:00.005-05:002009-02-28T01:30:04.813-05:00

The iweapon. Watch out...she's fast!Ohhh exciting NEWS! I put a voting panel on our right sidebar to get your input on topics I'll write about over the next few weeks.Please take a second and let me know what you'd like to read about!Eye inury update: I can see now. :)

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-62490654158793392022009-02-27T17:08:00.005-05:002009-02-27T17:13:23.673-05:00

Katie and Dada...LOVE this photo!

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-43261884575628898492009-02-26T22:00:00.015-05:002009-02-27T02:40:50.430-05:00

Katie made some progress this week in the tantrum department, but fell off the wagon today. Is there not a Tantrumers Anonymous group somewhere? There should be. They could meet at a walmartgrocerystoretarget. Meeting times could vary from middle of the night to peak shopping hours. Christian Bale could kick it off...Katie's "wake-up mood" seems to set the tone for the whole day and from Monday

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-81941443346368194602009-02-23T01:01:00.012-05:002009-02-24T01:50:58.258-05:00

For the first 13 months of your life, act innocent and all cute! Blow kisses to everyone, permanently show off a big grin and giggle all the time, so that no one has any idea that you’ve been plotting this whole time. Then, let loose!Katie has been throwing one big tantrum all weekend. I think it’s all about sleep. As in, she doesn’t want to. This is new and I think it’s my faulty genes. I

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-33218643077246564862009-02-21T14:44:00.005-05:002009-02-22T16:05:05.112-05:00

Here's Katie playing in her crib. This is the ONLY thing she does in her crib.  Notice that there is no mattress in it? Where is it? It's beside our bed so that she can be closer to us during the night.  She must LOVE her cute little bed beside mama and dada's bed, right? Ha! So where DOES she sleep? Between the two of us, of course.  Taking up about 80% of our queen bed while Chris and I have to

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-25272081410927531012009-02-20T03:46:00.001-05:002009-02-20T03:47:49.417-05:00

Please be patient...I'm putting up a new design and there will be glitches for a bit. :)

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-47663952250633999272009-02-17T01:47:00.013-05:002009-02-20T03:11:42.567-05:00

I'm officially SICK of winter here in cold, snowy, icy, windy Canada.  I'm tired of being stuck inside and having to take 15 minutes to get dressed before going out anywhere. Done with scaping windshields. SO done with living with all of the windows closed.  As you can see, Katie is also cranky unimpressed.  I can't even see our pool. I can maybe make out the tip of the diving board peaking

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-58759653877678129932009-02-08T19:43:00.001-05:002009-02-08T19:45:11.859-05:00

Just Katie from Chris Lee on Vimeo.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-80902777632161079672009-02-07T04:19:00.006-05:002009-06-29T16:47:12.292-04:00

Okay, so Katie had just been released from the PICU after 10 days, and moved to a regular floor. A regular floor FULL of RSV babies. Ahhh! This is when my obsessive compulsive disorder love affair with Purell kicked in and continues today. The day after we left the ICU Katie started to show some signs of “waking up”. She started to give us some little cries when the nurses came to do vitals.

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-39204890715434003882009-02-02T02:22:00.012-05:002009-02-06T02:38:25.465-05:00

As you may know, Katie was a very difficult baby to feed by bottle. Because of an aversion caused by reflux, she stopped taking her bottle altogether at about 9-10 months.  Since then she has been on solids. The challenge with solids is getting enough calories every day...babies need a lot!  I saw these spoons in the boutiques in Westboro for months and thought they were gimicky. Then I bought

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-61004730996072631752009-01-28T16:17:00.011-05:002009-06-30T15:37:49.702-04:00

I thought I'd post a list of links to all of "Katie's Story" posts. It might make it a little easier for all of our new visitors to catch up.Here are the first 6 parts...Part 1: 18 days old | fever 40 degrees | dada saves Katie's lifePart 2: PICU | not stable | life support | WHAT is it?! | panic!Part 3: Tests | GBS meningitis | 50% chance of survivalPart 4: Seizures | brain damage | survival |

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-21680347460188673582009-01-23T23:33:00.003-05:002009-01-24T00:52:50.153-05:00

Katie loves Mickey from Chris Lee on Vimeo.Katie eats best when she's distracted. We've found that she REALLY likes Mickey Mouse. So he's on for every dinner lately. I'm not sure if it's the melodies or the repetition, but these songs are infectious. I'm driving to work singing "Hot Dog, hot dog, hot diggitty dog."

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-9186689417753685272009-01-18T21:56:00.005-05:002009-01-18T22:23:52.100-05:00

Provided one hour of cheap entertainment.  So cute!

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-28661106250329217092009-01-13T13:27:00.012-05:002009-01-13T13:47:24.862-05:00

Katie is a non-eater. She somehow manages to exist on about half of the recommended daily calories for her age.  Which, if you're interested, should be about 1100 calories!!!   Okay, could someone who has a baby with no eating issues, please tell me HOW you get 1100 calories into them once they are taking mostly solids (even if they take a bottle or two a day).  I picture a goose who is being

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-87899882611936955942009-01-08T09:44:00.007-05:002009-02-06T17:22:55.225-05:00

I have been slacking on the Blog writing!  Here is part V of Katie's story. Finally!So, at this point in Katie’s battle for her life, we knew 2 things.  We knew (fairly certain) that she would survive the Meningitis AND we knew that she had sustained a fairly serious injury to her brain.  We were trying to come to terms with what this might mean for Katie over the course of her life.  Chris and

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-89399833257429559392009-01-08T08:45:00.003-05:002009-01-08T09:52:41.394-05:00

Katie has figured out how to blow outward now, and looks like this often. This and batting at faces are her new things. The batting was funny at first, and I think we encouraged her to do it with our laughing, cause now she swats and scratches us all the time. We are trying to teach her that it is NOT okay to clock everyone in the face! :)Any suggestions?

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-57767234830336607442008-12-27T14:50:00.006-05:002008-12-28T03:38:18.644-05:00

 Lots of presents for Katie this Christmas. Now we have even less room for everything else, and can trip and swear more often.  Actually, the swearing part is just me. Kristine wants to create a swear jar. Which is fine... I can smash that ^&*^#@! open and take my money back! :-) Nice, huh!  Katie will be RICH at the rate that Chris is going... We had a fantastic Christmas and are

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-85325067571428889042008-12-22T08:09:00.003-05:002009-01-08T12:44:08.233-05:00

Katie's First Birthday from Chris Lee on Vimeo.We celebrated Katie's first birthday on Saturday. Her actual birthday was on Thursday, December 18th.  Kristine got this cake made with a lion on it, since that is her favorite thing currently - roaring like a lion. "Katie, what does a lion say?" and you'll get a roar/scream from her. Quite entertaining for us. I'm sure she's pretty tired

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-81996640057182114522008-12-21T11:55:00.000-05:002008-12-21T11:55:55.461-05:00

My Dad and stepmom came up with a Chinese name for Katie. It's a combination of my family name, my Chinese middle name, and Kristine's name. Apparently they added some extra strokes in to represent water, which means lots of money. Good thinking! :-)

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-28917259139731218062008-12-15T02:12:00.001-05:002008-12-15T02:12:51.039-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-43252525347720807582008-12-12T23:03:00.003-05:002008-12-13T02:27:46.428-05:00

Okay...Chris just posted this video.  I LOVE it.  And NO, she didn't just finish 1st in a pie eating contest.  Please note that this was taken just after her dinner and pre-bath.  Not that it bothers Katie...she's very happy to be covered in food, milk, dirt, whatever.  This girl would be happy if she was raised in a barn. Or a zoo. (note the lion roar)Crawling workout from Chris Lee on Vimeo.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-15005477830699915572008-12-10T11:38:00.003-05:002008-12-10T12:23:53.458-05:00

The next day Chris and I were standing at the foot of Katie’s bed and I looked down at her foot and noticed that it was tapping repeatedly.  She was under what is called a "bear hugger"...it's basically a series of clear plastic tubes/blanket that keep her warm by blowing warm air over her body.  We told the nurse to come quickly. She yelled out the door to the doctor that Katie was seizing.  

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-58265273467947750292008-12-09T00:29:00.002-05:002008-12-09T00:40:33.075-05:00

So, I’m at home gathering our stuff and hubby Chris is in the NICU with Katie.  They have intubated her and placed an arterial line in her jugular, inserted a catheter and various other tubes, etc.  I head back to the hospital…I can’t remember who drove me there.  Chris brought me to see Katie for the first time since all of the medical intervention.  He had taken a photo of her showing the

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-20560295227735669872008-12-08T02:54:00.003-05:002008-12-08T11:20:40.932-05:00

Sorry, I've been slacking on writing Part III of Katie's story.  I decided to glance at the calendar and realized that our little munchie will be one year old in 10 days!  Crickey, I have a lot to do.  After spending 40 minutes in a store looking at 3D cake pans of bears and castles and trying to figure out if I need a #221 or #223 tip to make teddy bear fur, I rejoined reality, came home and

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-21546024784512064462008-12-01T22:05:00.002-05:002008-12-01T22:09:49.848-05:00

Kristine was using a lot of words in the last couple of posts. So I figured I'd just post a pic of Katie. Saves me from having to use my words. Words no good, me.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-70622062387348891032008-12-01T17:19:00.004-05:002008-12-01T17:22:43.852-05:00

So now we’re in the NICU...  Katie is fighting for every breath and her nurse (Suzanne, who ended up being our favorite and most talented nurse) starts administering drugs to try to bring down her heart rate.  At this point it’s still above 200 bpm and everyone is getting VERY concerned about that. Then I made a HUGE mistake.  As I mentioned earlier, I was pretty grey from the c-section still

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-9597913238264504612008-11-27T23:51:00.008-05:002008-12-14T02:47:25.403-05:00

We have a lot of new visitors who know a little bit about Katie from my chats on their blogs, but I’m getting a lot of questions and thought that the easiest way to tell everyone about Katie’s battle with Meningitis was to write a background entry. Here goes…Chris and I were so excited to welcome Katie, our first child, on December 18th, 2007. She was born via a scheduled c-section with no

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-6709397431161128762008-11-24T00:57:00.005-05:002008-11-28T00:20:17.836-05:00

  Friends of ours (Todd & Judy) got a pair of kittens. Katie swatted them.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-30293858811623243812008-11-22T23:58:00.006-05:002008-11-23T00:02:19.958-05:00

Katie munching on some Cheerios.We're still trying to figure out how she is so incredibly photogenic, given her genes.  Come on, you've seen pictures of us!  Terrible.Off to shop in NY tomorrow with Judy.  Chris is scared...and rightly so!  :)K

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-36019286526029010082008-11-21T08:55:00.003-05:002008-11-23T00:11:16.853-05:00

Getting around from Chris Lee on Vimeo.Not the greatest clip, but just wanted to post something recent. This was taken last night. We took Katie in for some blood work yesterday to check her iron and other blood work. She seems to be doing well enough as you can see here.She didn't like the needles at all (of course the first try didn't work and they had to do her other arm)! Cried hard.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-49176469209574498552008-11-16T09:24:00.001-05:002008-11-23T00:11:32.965-05:00

 She's clean here for a change. Post bath, which is good for about 20 minutes.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-45922593602499814942008-11-13T16:20:00.006-05:002008-11-28T00:21:27.737-05:00

Let this be a warning to those who might offer to come help us out with house stuff or Katie or laundry or whatever: COMING TO OUR HOUSE WILL MAKE YOU SICK!Apparently the hornets that moved into our chimney last year, the hornets that Chris tried to BURN out by making the biggest fire ever (setting the chimney and almost the neighbourhood on fire, but that's another story) have returned for

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-85983881210747496592008-11-13T16:03:00.013-05:002008-11-13T16:28:28.655-05:00

So, I started off with the idea of making a photo card of Katie each month.  The plan was to send them out, but of course that is NEVER going to happen.  Pft, when do I EVER send mail.  I'm posting the latest few here to rid myself of any residual guilt(laziness). ******************************************************************************************More to come...

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-49472140767983290302008-11-12T22:43:00.000-05:002008-11-12T22:43:08.904-05:00

 

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-12180019542592427422008-11-12T00:32:00.000-05:002008-11-12T00:32:17.425-05:00

Drive my car from Chris Lee on Vimeo.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-46224565795178528092008-11-11T10:08:00.005-05:002008-11-13T16:20:17.162-05:00

 We let Katie sleep in our bed (with us balancing on the seems of the matress - we need a King size bed!) when she is congested, cause we can easily raise the elevation for her, and plus she fuses a lot and likes to wake up with us there... and we like it too.

Chris Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14776903337382540559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-10918139159774642812008-11-09T14:36:00.009-05:002008-11-09T15:14:19.409-05:00

Poor Katie (and POOR us) coughed through the night, but slept in until 10:00!!! She's in a good mood as always...tough cookie.  Here she is eating a coooookie. I know what you're saying...wow that kid is so neat and clean.  Hygiene is really her strong point! 

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-34749945757032100042008-11-09T02:42:00.004-05:002008-11-09T15:11:32.413-05:00

Ugh!  It looks like Katie is getting a cold...there is coughing and a stuffy little nose.  She's asleep right now, but wakes up every time she coughs.  Poor thing. 

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4227476286111747101.post-24654283271546377842008-11-09T02:11:00.009-05:002008-11-09T15:11:58.065-05:00

Katie and Mommy playing around for Daddy and the camera. 

Kristinenoreply@blogger.com0