Tubes & Tonsils

Jackson got his first set of ear tubes when he was 11 months old.  When he was 2 they realized that they were not working anymore.  His eardrums were barely functioning.  Who knows how long they had been that way.

When he got his second set, they took out his adenoids also.  Those tubes were in until he was nearly 4 when they fell out on their own.

We were so happy!  No more ear plugs during bath time.  I was sure he had outgrown the need for them.

Nope.

Not even a month after they fell out he got an ear infection.  Even though the antibiotic cleared up the infection the fluid was still there.  When they did a tympanogram, his ear drums basically weren't vibrating at all.  Again.  After a month the fluid was still there and I knew we were in for a third set.

Also, for about a year Jackson's tonsils have been huge.  We've had them looked at but because he doesn't snore or have trouble sleeping, they didn't really want to take them out.  

When we knew we needed tubes again I asked about his tonsils again.  They had us do an overnight oximetry test.  The results showed "significant obstruction" during the night so they had to come out.  

We decided only one of us would take him to the hospital.  It just wasn't practical with getting Eliza to school and the baby to have us both gone.  He chose Dad!
We didn't need to have him there until 9:00 am.  Which is SO long when the poor kid couldn't eat or drink.  He usually eats two breakfasts.  And then once he was there, the surgery didn't start until about 10:30.

 

 They stayed at the hospital for a couple of hours and when they got home, I was so surprised that Jackson was actually awake and talking.  He was still kind of woozy from everything and slept for a couple of more hours at home but when we woke up, he looked at me and said, "Get me food, mom."  He ate jello, a popscicle, powdered donuts, a piece of bread, and mushy cereal.  

I was dreading his recovery - I read horror stories online but he's actually done really, really well.  He's had pain but once we can convince him to take the yucky medicine, that manages it just fine.  As far as we can tell, his scabs have not come off yet so that's our last rough patch.  The hardest part of it all has been trying to get him to relax and be still.  That's not something he does very well.  I was glad that he went back to school.  Although he's been sooo clingy so he's had a litle bit of a hard time with that.  He'll get back in his routine though.
So, here's hoping the tubes do their job and the tonsils heal up fast!

Birthday girl!

7 years old!  What??  I can't believe it.  She is growing up too fast.

Eliza is my sweetheart.  She is the perfect first child because she is calm and easy and isn't damaged by all the mistakes we have made as parents, and will probably keep making.  

This is my girl who...

Still wants to have snuggle time everyday

Ties the shoes of the boy who sits next to her in class everyday because he doesn't know how

Helps Jackson with his reading and writing and gets more excited than him when he does a good job

Loves reading and math

Sleeps with about a dozen stuffed animals every night

 Is not even close to losing a tooth yet

Will watch Curious George and Mickey Mouse with Jackson because she knows he still likes them (she probably does too)

Has an incredible memory but a terrible sense of direction (totally from me)

Is a friend to everyone

Makes me happier than I ever thought I could be as a mom

Love her so much

Family Pictures 2013

I am in love with the way our pictures turned out!  I really wanted to wait to get pictures until I had lost weight but I'm afraid Gracie will be about 3 by the time that happens.  

I would be so sad if we didn't have some good pictures of her at this fun age.  She cried basically the entire time but they managed to get a few non-crying ones. 

My kids are so photogenic, thank goodness!  Love their smiles and how I can look at these pictures and see their personalities perfectly.

 

Gracie's blessing

We blessed this little angel in September.  She was beautiful and perfectly behaved.  I wish we had gotten better pictures.  I think we were too stressed trying to be on time and then feeding people afterwards.  :)

So grateful for Matt and that he was able to give her such a special blessing and grateful for family and friends that celebrated with us.

 

School!

1st Grade

Mrs. Stoll

I can't believe that I have a 1st grader!  It seems like last week I was walking her to her first day of preschool.

 

Eliza LOVES school.  She always has.  The first couple of weeks adjusting to spending all day at school took some getting used to (for both of us) but she is in a good routine now and absolutely loves her class. 

We had Parent Teacher Conference for her last week and her teacher had nothing but great things to say about her.  For reading she is in Reading Mastery 3.  She reads with the 2nd graders and some 3rd graders.  She does well with math and history also.  She was the student of the week and wore her little platic medal proudly every day.

She is a great example to Jackson of enjoying school and loving to learn.

Preschool

Ms. Amanda

Ms. Nancy

This boy has come SO far!  I can't believe it when I think back to his first day of preschool last year.  The tears and the worry and the struggle every single day.  He has always had a hard time with change but because he is going to the same schools he did last year, this time has been a breeze.  He is excited every day for school and according to his teachers, he's well behaved in class.  :)  He knows all his letters and his numbers 1-10.  He's working hard at tracing his name.  We're having a tough time deciding if he's right or left handed.  I am left handed so I didn't surprise me when he was always using his left to color.  But lately he's been using both so I don't know what to tell his teachers.  His speech gets better all the time.  I know it is still hard for others to understand him but I understand 100% of what he says.  The crappy news is that he may need ear tubes AGAIN.  We will find out this week for sure.  

Two days a week he goes to our neighborhood preschool.  He got his first sight word book this week so maybe...just maybe...he'll start to learn to read this year.  The other two days he rides the bus to preschool and works with a special educator and speech therapist.  It has been amazing what they have been able to help him do and learn.  I am so grateful for patient and loving teachers.  He comes home from both schools excited to tell me about his day.

We are still debating about holding him out of Kindergarten an extra year.  His birthday is in July so he would be one of the very youngest kids and where he has some challenges already, we're not sure yet on what is best for him.  Hopefully we can get some good advice from the school and his teachers.

So proud of these kids!

Our Summer

Our summer flew by!  I can't believe it's fall and I'm just getting around to catching up..

Jackson played t-ball for the first time and he did awesome.  With the baby I didn't get to go to any of his games but I am so proud of him.  A year ago there's no way he would have gone out there by himself and tried.  He even hit off his coach pitching a few times.  Obviously being up to bat is more fun than fielding.  Matt said when he was out in the field he liked to pick grass and put it in his hat.  Sounds about right.

Eliza took a fun dance class.  She loved it!  It was a combo class teaching ballet, tap, and jazz.  Her teacher stopped me after class one week and told me how impressed she was with her.  She listens and follows instructions really well.  She wanted her to try out for one of the little competition teams but I didn't think we have time in our schedule for something like that.  But it made me happy to know how proud her teacher was of her.

I was so grateful for Jackson and Eliza over the summer and how well they play together.  I felt like I spent the majority of the day taking care of Gracie and I don't get to do much with them.  They are so great to play and entertain each other.  Every day we had Batman and Robin running around the house.  It's so fun to see their creativity and to see that they love each other so much.  

This is what they looked like literally every day.  Goobers.

2 months!

I have so much catching up to do on this!  Our whole summer has flown by and I need to write about it before I forget.  But for now, this little miss is two months old already!  Her doctor's appointment isn't for another week but according to my oh so scientific weighing of her she is around 12 pounds already.  She's not going to be near the fatty her brother was but I love that she is chunking up.

She is getting better at sleeping through the night.  She'll usually give us a good 7-8 hour stretch.  When she wakes up a couple of hours after that she has a hard time settling back down and sleeping without being held.  So our mornings start pretty early with her.  

Naps are still hit and miss.  Like nighttime, she'll usually take one really good one and the rest are pretty short even though she's still tired.  She'll figure it out.  

She started smiling very early but we have yet to get a great picture of one.  It is the sweetest little smile ever.  The other kids can't stop gushing over it when she smiles at one of them.  

She has the most amazing, long eyelashes I have ever seen on a baby this young.  I couldn't get a very good picture but you can tell a little bit.  

Overall she is very good natured.  She has her fussy and gassy times (she's like the world's worst burper) but she has been so much fun and has brought such a sweet spirit and feeling to our family.  

Love her

Gracie Lynn

I was going back and forth with whether I really wanted to be induced or not.  I guess I felt weird at first about forcing something to happen instead of waiting for it but in the end, I decided having a chance to plan and make arrangements was totally worth it.  So glad I did.

So June 13th was the big day!  I hardly slept the night before and was up and ready to go at 6:00 am.  I waited and waited and kept checking my phone to make sure I hadn't missed the call from the hospital.  My mom came out and they finally called about 9:45 asking if we could be there in 30 minutes.  I was so nervous but so excited also.  

We calmly walked in and checked in to Labor and Delivery and made ourselves comfortable.  A far cry from Jackson's birth...let me tell you.  

Much happier this time!

My doctor was the doctor on call that day so I knew we'd have to be patient and would not get things going as soon as we walked in.  The nurses were great and started me on a very low dose of pitocin.  They didn't want me to start anything serious because the anesthesiologist was busy with two back to back c-sections and I was VERY clear that I wanted an epidural before the pain kicked in.  We hung out like that for a couple of hours.  The anesthesiologist came down and got my epidural in before any real pain started.  But after he left and the numbness started to spread, I noticed it was much stronger on my left side than my right.  I didn't think it was a problem until my doctor broke my water and the intense contractions started.  My blood pressure was dropping and the alarm kept going off on the machine (which happens every time I have a baby) so they had me turn on my side to help with that.  I was feeling serious pain from the contractions and was not happy about it.  AHH!  Finally, they had me turn onto the opposite side just as they were becoming unbearable and that helped the epidural work better on the other side and then I was a happy camper.  

They kept losing the baby's heartbeat with the monitor because she was moving so much.  Finally, the nurse was searching and searching and couldn't believe how low the baby was when she finally found the heartbeat again.  She asked me when I was checked last and I said when the doctor broke my water an hour ago and I was still at 3 cm.  She checked again and said I was a 10.  Let's have a baby!  She paged my doctor and we were ready to go.  Apparently once that water breaks, I dilate pretty dang fast. 

They got the room ready and my doctor came right down.  I pushed about 4 1/2 times and she was out!  I couldn't believe how easy it was.  She arrived beautifully - crying, peeing, and had a head full of dark hair.  She's perfect.

8 pounds 1 ounce, 21 inches, 4:01 pm.

My recovery has been amazing.  I guess over a pound less and a few centimeters smaller of a head make that big of a difference.  They needed the baby to stay at the hospital at least 48 hours since I was GBS positive and they wanted to make sure she was okay.  She was doing great so we got out of there as soon as we could on Saturday.

It has been really special having a newborn again.  There is nothing like snuggling and loving a new baby.  It's been a long time.  None of us can get enough of her.  

Feeling extremely blessed!