Keeping up with the Kenly's: April 2014

Last week I went into the Doctor because we finally got insurance, and the kids really needed a check up. Oakley was in perfect shape! Needs to catch up on her immunizations, but other than that, perfectly healthy.

Nixon mainly went in for some bumps on his knee that he has, but we walked out of the office with a very different topic in mind. The doctor had listened to Nixon's heart, and told us he had a murmur. "Has anyone every told you that?" She asked. Nope. We never knew. However, when someone says heart murmur to me, it is also not a big deal. Lots of people have or murmurs and go through life without any issues. She was telling us a little more about murmurs and how it was best to be safe than sorry. Nixon was off the table, but after she explained she said, she didn't feel right about it, and put him back up on the table lying down to give it another listen. After a few seconds she said, "nope, I don't like the sounds of that" and gave us a referral for a heart specialist. Well, we quickly got into the Children's Heart Clinic, and today was the day.

Nixon went in and had to get weighed and measured, they took his EKG, and sent us off for an ultra sound.

An EKG for those of you who do not know, is a test they do on the heart. This stick on a bunch of stickers that look like magnets on the chest and tummy, attach a bunch of cords onto them which are hooked up to a machine, and then check for any irregularities within the heart. It comes out with a bunch of lines showing the different parts/ventricles and how they are functioning.

The specialist was the one doing the ultra sound, he said that the ultra sound looked good, but the EKG looked bad. He thought that it must have been a new person that did not know what she was doing. The technician came back into the room, and did 3 more tests, and the results where the same. Nixon was then taken to another ultra sound machine so that they could see more clear everything that was going on and make sure the heart was all connected correctly. (I am sure an educated heard person is just laughing at me right now, but I was glad that the DR dumbed things down for me.)

This is Nixon after having the first EKG, all the little red spots from the stickers being taken off, he did not like that part. But he thought the Jelly for the Ultra sounds was cool.

The conclusion: Nixon has an irregular heart muscle. It is very rare that he would have such an odd EKG, but such a normal Ultrasound. His heart is a lot like someone who has down syndrome the doctor told me. I am not sure what to think about that, does it mean it is not as strong? I know they have a lot of different things going on in a body of someone who has the syndrome, but I did not really think their heart was much different. Anyways, it is something that will need to be monitored, but nothing can really be done at this point. So it is not good news, but it is also not bad news.... the doc said he wasn't going to put any restrictions on him because I had not noticed Nixon being any different or having any shortness of breath or being lethargic very much. He said it was my discretion as his Mom, and if I saw anything different to get him in right away. I think I have been quite level headed about this. I told my parents about it, asked them a few questions, but I tell them and ask them about everything and just a few friends. The doctor told me I did not seem too concerned which is good for my child as he will pick up on that. Honestly, I am just not too concerned. Like I said earlier, its common for people to have murmur or other heart things and never have any issues. I guess I just look for the best and hope there are no issues.

Here are a few pictures to sum of the past little bit. We had an interesting Easter weekend with the vehicle vandalism happening and all....... oh brother....

Oakley got a doll from the Easter Bunny.

Nixon's loot, plus an Easter egg hunt.

The Lil' fishy in action.

I found a sweet deal on a wagon, and it has been a huge hit with the kids, I have used it every day since I got it.

Then this is our car....... The tires also were slashed, but it was night time, and not like you can see that they are flat... and we had nail polish on our car too, but it was just bad words...

You can see a few drips of nail polish on the hood, and part of the letter F on the window....

Yup. Bad things come in 3's right?... what's next?

-K.

Since we have moved here to Las Vegas, we have had the most visitors ever! But we love it!

My Mom came to stay for a week. We indulged in Cafe Rio almost daily, Jeff was getting disgusted at how much we loved it, but it was great! Nixon now says its one of his favorite places, and his face lights up when we say Cafe Rio, probably because he knows Grandma will share her pop with him.

My Mother had a girls weekend with her sisters, they had a blast. To start out their fun I refereed a massage place where I got my massage from Jeff from Valentines day. I absolutely loved it, and came away from their feeling quite relaxed and pampered, but boy oh boy was this a different experience! I felt like I was being beaten, while my Aunts were having quite the experience as one of the massage therapists climbed on top of one of my aunts and started digging her elbows into her back! I felt horrible that I had said we should go there, wow, I will never refer a massage place ever again! I was completely embarrassed and felt horrible that they all just endured this experience, and that it was all my fault. ohhhh boy. It was bad. Really bad. They chalked it up to being quite the experience, but I am still not glad I helped them get there..... :(

Anyways, Nixon loved having his Grandma here. Nixon and my Mom have a very special bond. Nixon just absolutely loves her, and is attached at the hip with her every moment when she is around. It could be the long summers we have spent with her every year... no matter it was, I just hope it never changes. I love that he just loves my Mom, I know that she is so special, and I am glad that he sees it too.

We have been going to the pool more and more as the water has been warming up and the hot tub is now working! It is a big thing keeping me loving it here, because I really miss family, and would love to live close to at least a sibling. Maybe someday, the great thing about Jeff being a teacher is that there are schools everywhere, so hopefully we are not in one place forever.

Here are a few pictures from our past few weeks!

Nixon's eyebrows are just hilarious! He wanted to do emotions with me and take pictures. We have been talking a lot about verbal and non verbal communication.