Still trying to catch the full smile. We've seen it several times, just haven't got it on camera yet. We think the little ones are just as cute as the full smile!
Macey - 5 weeks today
Macey is 5 weeks old today already. She's been awake more throughout the day and smiling at us. She knows mommy, daddy and Cami's voices and look toward us to find our faces. Her smile looks just like Camryn's when she was this old. I've been trying to capture a shot of it, but haven't got her full-out smile on the camera just yet. She's a very content baby and loves being cuddled, which we love too! Her weigh-in last week was 8 lbs 11 oz, and she measured 20 1/2 inches, and I'm sure she's over 9 lbs and a bit longer this week. Can't wait to see her stats at the next doctor's appointment. Here's a couple shots today at 5 weeks, one with a bitty smile. We love you Macey Lynn!
New Built-Ins
Consider this a before picture. We're going to have built ins made for either side of our fireplace. We're really excited to have this done to hide away all the toys, blankets, games, and tv junk. I'll be posting an AFTER picture once it's built!
December 1 - Trip to Detroit Children's Hospital
The first of December and the first snow of the year that's sticking to the ground - how pretty! It wasn't just a memorable day of West Michigan weather, it was also a pretty important day for our new little girl. Today we drove to Detroit Children's Hospital to get some follow up testing done for Macey. They are testing her for SCADD, a genetic enzyme deficiency that was found in an abnormal newborn screen. She hasn't been officially diagnosed. That's what we're getting testing done for.
As you can imagine, worry is the first thing that hits you when you find out your newborn may be affected by well, anything. Because the things they test for are so specialized, the typical family doctor doesn't know much about the possibilities. In fact, we weren't told much more than what we could find on the internet. We were told to look for certain symptoms and if we saw any of these things, we should bring her to the ER and were given a 'golden' ticket to be first in line to check in. The particular symptoms of this deficiency we have to look for are sleepiness, vomiting, diarreah...all pretty normal things that you experience with a new baby. So my questions were, how sleepy is too sleepy? how much vomit is too much? what's considered an abnormal BM? And so the worry sets in.
We initially took her to DeVos to get some blood drawn for follow up tests. We also had to collect urine from our three day old baby - that completely sucked, but after a team effort between Andy and I, we finally 'caught' the 20 ml we needed. Those were sent to DCH and Mayo Clinic for testing. In the meantime, we have to treat her as though she has been diagnosed so we know her body is getting the food energy she needs.
During the wait for the test results, I got a call from a nurse at the Children's Hospital. that was taking care of Macey's file. What a blessing. They are specialized in genetic defficiencies, called us shortly after we were told about her results and are available to us 24/7 should I have any questions. I've used the line quite frequently. Better safe than sorry!
So her initial tests came back slightly elevated, which was somewhat good news. The good news was that a patient diagnosed with SCADD usuually tests much higher than what Macey did. The bad news is that she needs follow up testing to be officially diagnosed. That's what we got done today.
We spent about 4 hours today at the genetic clinic at the hospital. The nurse specialist met with us for quite a while and went over everything in a lot of detail. Andy and I did our homework, so we felt pretty confident in understanding all that they were saying. Macey also had to get poked to send her bloodwork, once again, to Mayo for more testing that will allow them to properly diagnose her. She squirmed at the initial poke, but then just sucked away at her pacifier as the blood was being drawn. What a tough little angel.
At that moment when I was holding her as the blood was being drawn from her itty bitty arm, I thought of all the families that have children affected by things much worse and have blood drawn daily. My heart went out to the parents that won't ever have a diagnosis to their children's problems and live in worry daily about their little one. I thought of all the kids affected by things much worse - cancer, lukemia, MS. How tough are those kids and how tough are those parents to watch their children and know that they cannot fully help them. And it was then that I felt so much peace.
We are so blessed. Blessed that even that if she is diagnosed with SCADD, it is something we can handle and she can live a completely normal life. Blessed that there is technology to know that she may or may not even be affected. Blessed to support her with all the love in the world. Blessed that people that we don't even know are praying for her.
Thank you so much for all the prayers. We will get full results back in 3 to 4 weeks. Until then we will be waiting in patience, not worry and thankful for the many blessings God has given to us.
Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
As you can imagine, worry is the first thing that hits you when you find out your newborn may be affected by well, anything. Because the things they test for are so specialized, the typical family doctor doesn't know much about the possibilities. In fact, we weren't told much more than what we could find on the internet. We were told to look for certain symptoms and if we saw any of these things, we should bring her to the ER and were given a 'golden' ticket to be first in line to check in. The particular symptoms of this deficiency we have to look for are sleepiness, vomiting, diarreah...all pretty normal things that you experience with a new baby. So my questions were, how sleepy is too sleepy? how much vomit is too much? what's considered an abnormal BM? And so the worry sets in.
We initially took her to DeVos to get some blood drawn for follow up tests. We also had to collect urine from our three day old baby - that completely sucked, but after a team effort between Andy and I, we finally 'caught' the 20 ml we needed. Those were sent to DCH and Mayo Clinic for testing. In the meantime, we have to treat her as though she has been diagnosed so we know her body is getting the food energy she needs.
During the wait for the test results, I got a call from a nurse at the Children's Hospital. that was taking care of Macey's file. What a blessing. They are specialized in genetic defficiencies, called us shortly after we were told about her results and are available to us 24/7 should I have any questions. I've used the line quite frequently. Better safe than sorry!
So her initial tests came back slightly elevated, which was somewhat good news. The good news was that a patient diagnosed with SCADD usuually tests much higher than what Macey did. The bad news is that she needs follow up testing to be officially diagnosed. That's what we got done today.
We spent about 4 hours today at the genetic clinic at the hospital. The nurse specialist met with us for quite a while and went over everything in a lot of detail. Andy and I did our homework, so we felt pretty confident in understanding all that they were saying. Macey also had to get poked to send her bloodwork, once again, to Mayo for more testing that will allow them to properly diagnose her. She squirmed at the initial poke, but then just sucked away at her pacifier as the blood was being drawn. What a tough little angel.
At that moment when I was holding her as the blood was being drawn from her itty bitty arm, I thought of all the families that have children affected by things much worse and have blood drawn daily. My heart went out to the parents that won't ever have a diagnosis to their children's problems and live in worry daily about their little one. I thought of all the kids affected by things much worse - cancer, lukemia, MS. How tough are those kids and how tough are those parents to watch their children and know that they cannot fully help them. And it was then that I felt so much peace.
We are so blessed. Blessed that even that if she is diagnosed with SCADD, it is something we can handle and she can live a completely normal life. Blessed that there is technology to know that she may or may not even be affected. Blessed to support her with all the love in the world. Blessed that people that we don't even know are praying for her.
Thank you so much for all the prayers. We will get full results back in 3 to 4 weeks. Until then we will be waiting in patience, not worry and thankful for the many blessings God has given to us.
Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
Macey Lynn - 2 weeks stats
Macey Lynn weighed in at 8 lbs and is 20 1/2 inches long at her two week check up.
The girls!
Cami asked me to take some pictures of her in her pretty princess skirt...she still knows how to get attention from mommy even with a newborn around! Here's our big girl:
Welcome Home Macey!
Big sister love! Cami just adores holding the baby and is such a great little helper.
Our new little angel
Macey Lynn is Here!
Our little one has finally arrived! We've been blessed with another precious little girl. Macey Lynn Kolzow was born on November 2nd, 2010 at 12:53 a.m. weighing 7 pounds 7 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. She's just as beautiful as her big sister was, but with a head full of dark hair!
Cami meeting her new little sister for the first time.
After she got to hold her, she was in love and made sure everyone knew she was the BIG SISTER.
The Missing Year
Well for those of you who have not given up on the Kolzow blog, thank you for checking in! I am haunted by the Traverse City Weekend post because every time I look at it I’m reminded of how long it’s been since my last update. I assure you though, it’s all with good reason. The Kolzow clan has had quite a year and something had to give, unfortunately it was the blog.
I could write a book on what’s been happening in our lives over the past year, but I’ll spare you the pain of reading through a novel and give you a synopsis of our happenings in a much more digestible format. (I said it was digestible, not necessarily short :)
Kitchen remodel – It was the second summer our house was up for sale so we decided to do a renovation. We knocked out a row of cupboards, put in new floor, new trim, repainted and all the other mess that comes with home projects.
Renee’s new job – September 1 I took a new role at work, Public Relations Manager. It was a big step up for me, now leading a team, taking on a new role and learning all new functions. Add on the new job jitters and all the house business and the photography business I have on the side, it has been quite a challenge, but a great move for me in my career. I had a couple business trips to our office out in LA. It is so cool seeing the mountains and the Pacific ocean, but I missed Andy and Cami way too much both times I went.
Halloween…house still for sale, but a pick-up in showings and swamped with photo bookings…yay! Andy also started his coaching season, so he went through some pretty long days by the time school, practice and grading/lesson planning was over.
October 9, our 5th Anniversary – we went out to Sonoma Valley for our friends’ wedding on October 10th, so we were able to celebrate 5 years together in wine country!
SOLD! Just before thanksgiving a buyer found our house. A young family from Chicago came in, made an offer and wanted to move in within a month…What did that mean for us? We had to pack up and move before Christmas, and oh yeah, find a place to live.
Move on out – There was no way we were going to find a new house in a month, so Andy and I searched for apartments and we ended up picking the same place we lived when we first got married. It was familiar, in a great location and we got a pretty good deal on a short-term lease. We packed up all our stuff and moved on out…half our stuff in storage, half our stuff in the apartment. It’s amazing how much stuff you accumulate over just a few years! Our Christmas tree sure didn’t look as nice as it did in our house, but we felt blessed to now be in a position to search for our long-term home.
Christmas, New Year and January 30 - Happy birthday Andy!
The search was on – After the holidays were over, our search for a new house began. Open house after open house and obsessing over realtor.com for the newest house for sale, we toyed with the idea of building. Cami did so great through our whole moving and house search process. She was the light and laugh we needed at the end of our day.
February – Well, I don’t remember the exact day, but I do remember it was really cold and it was about 4 in the morning. I was LATE, and I was up early thinking about it, so I took a test. OH MY GOODNESS! I woke Andy up and shoved the stick in his face. He was half asleep still trying to figure out what I was showing him and what time it was. When it clicked, he just said “What???” It was surreal. Once we both fully woke up, our reaction was much more joyous. We couldn’t have been happier for baby #2
Spring house hunt – As the snow began to melt away, the search for a house became more and more intense. We wanted to be out of that apartment sooner rather than later. But with the market being the way it has been, there just wasn’t a lot out there. We weren’t finding anything that fit what we want. We tossed around the idea of building so we could get in the location we wanted and get the features we were looking for – although that would mean more time in the apartment. We scheduled a meeting with a builder to explore some options in a neighborhood we liked. We were going to meet with the builder on a Wednesday. The week prior…it was a Thursday night, Andy called me to the computer to look at a new listing (this wasn’t too out of the ordinary at this point). I was blown away by this one and super excited. We called our realtor that night and scheduled a showing for the next day. As soon as we walked in – we both knew this was our house. We made an offer late in the evening Friday and they accepted our house on that Saturday. The house was not even a mile from the neighborhood we were interested in building in. It was the perfect location and it had everything we wanted and more. The blessings continue! Cami at the new homestead...
Moving into our new house! Yay! Thanks to all our friends and family who helped us out – we couldn’t have done it without you.
March – a trip to Cali for work, and a week of missing my little girl and best friend!
May 14 – Camryn turns 3! We got to celebrate in our new home. She has been so much fun. Her little personality is just shining and she makes us laugh all the time. She’s very outgoing and caring. She loves to dance and sing on our new fireplace and she loves her big girl bed too. She seems to be really looking forward to being a big sister! She still loves her dolls and is very nurturing which makes me think that she’s going to be a great little helper when the new baby comes.
June 3 – my birthday!
July – Ultrasound…is it a boy or a girl? We went in to find out and all we know is that our baby is either a stinker or really shy because it wouldn’t show us. I have been going crazy not knowing…how do you plan??? Green and yellow just don’t cut it for me. Ugh.
August – Andy gets a new gig! Just a couple weeks before school, Andy got a new position as the Assistant Principal of the East Kentwood Freshman Campus. He absolutely loved teaching and coaching, so it made it hard to let go, but he knew he’d miss out on the opportunity if he didn’t apply. It was the only principal position he applied for since he got his Administration degree because it was one he was genuinely interested in. And he got it. Congratulations honey!
My accomplishment in August? I won our golf league. First women to win the championship, first pregnant woman at that! I beat the whole team straight up with a 42…my best round ever! I guess no beer for a whole season of golf can pay off!
September – School begins, pictures, dance and much more fun to come.
Ok, now that I'm up to speed I can post some of the recent stuff we've been up to.
Stay tuned for MORE CURRENT updates….
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