Monday, November 28, 2011
Thanksgiving 2011
We had a good week in Houston celebrating Thanksgiving, Matt's birthday and a really fun Longhorn win! Here are some pictures of all the fun. :)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Saylor Says
A few things I want to remember:
She calls M&Ms "N&Ms"
She sings this song: "She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes, NEE-HAW!"
"I have a frog in my throw-up!" (for throat)
"Gray, how much do I love you? I love you THIS MUCH!" (holding arms wide apart)
After I coughed: "Good job for covering your mouth, mommy!"
When Matt went in to get her from her nap: "first we call gammy and pop-pop, then I go poo poo, ok?"
When Matt told her he was leaving for Chicago in the morning: "but daddy first I have to give you a hug and a kiss!"
When Ellen was calling to talk to Saylor, I held out the phone and said "it's for you." To which she gasped and whispered, excited and dead serious, "Is it Santa?!"
When I asked her who would come down our chimney at Christmas time, she responded: "Santa Claus! And Grampa Dave!!!!
One day in the Dr's office waiting room, she wanted to get another magazine from the table in the center of the room. She walked slowly over to the table with her hand over her eyes the whole time. Later, when I asked her why she did that, she said: "because I'm shy to the people mommy!"
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Tubes
It's been a rough few weeks at our house. We've all been sick with you name it, but worst of all was when Saylor came down with a whopping ear infection. Let me just say that we were all MISERABLE.
Since she turned 2, Say has been no stranger to ear infections. They may or may not include cold symptoms. They never involve obvious pain, pulling on ears, etc. They always include terrible sleep and major behavior issues. It's often taken me a couple of weeks to figure out why in the world she is acting like this, and then I always feel horrible when I realize she's been in pain the whole time. Of course she can't sleep and crabby! Usually once we get it diagnosed some antibiotic clears it right up. But many times the fluid does not go away even when the infection does, which, you guessed it, just leads to another ear infection.
This time, the antibiotic made no difference. She was persistently getting worse and worse by the day. I was desperate, and decided to bypass our pediatrician and go to an ENT. Who, based on our history, her testing at a moderate hearing loss, and glue like fluid still in both ears, enthusiastically recommended tubes, as well as getting her adenoids out. At this point it was pretty much a no brainer for us.
So last Friday was the big day! It went well, although I will say that watching your little one go under anesthesia and then come out of it is not particularly fun.
The day before: at the ENT's office waiting to be seen
The next morning, we all woke up at 5 a.m....we had to be down in pre-op by 6. We told Saylor she was going back to see the doctor, that he was going to put some tubes in her ears to make her feel better. She was happy and content to do this. She chatted with me the whole drive down to Baylor (I had to YELL sometimes for her to hear me in the backseat) and kept talking about how early she woke up. BUT, once we made her put the hospital gown and socks on, she realized this was NOT the same thing and she was NOT a happy camper.
So sad. :( I hated watching her be this sad. I was feeling pretty anxious inside but tried my best to be really calm for her.
Thankfully, Matt got her laughing eventually
Next they brought out some medicine to "calm her down." Really what they should have said was "make her drunk." Within a few minutes she was nice and loopy, which did provide some comic relief for Matt and me. She kept saying "mommy, why are we spinning?" Unfortunately it was this same drug which made her absolutely, horribly cranky after the surgery was over. Coming out of anesthesia was a million times worse than the anticipation of going into it. Saylor was scared, confused, groggy, mad, hoarse from being intubated, and as one nurse explained it: getting over a terrible hangover. She cried and cried and nothing would console her. We finally got her dressed and into the car and after awhile she fell asleep. It was the only time in her life I have just driven around so she could sleep...I was afraid to take her home and wake her up!!!!
*at one point right after she woke up and was crying so hard, she wailed: "where are my tubes???!!!!" Ha! :)
Both kiddos took a nice long nap in the car. I think I drove around for an hour and a half!
Sweet Gray was so good the whole time we were there, despite being woken up almost 3 hours early
We spent the rest of the day eating popsicles and watching Curious George. :) You can see she's still kind of out it in this picture. Say took another long nap that afternoon and definitely seemed more back to herself by the end of the day.
This whole process has been hard and stressful. It is not fun to watch your kid be so sick, to get so many nights of terrible sleep, to make medical decisions when two professionals give you conflicting advice, and most of all, to let your child undergo an operation, even if it is totally routine. Even after the procedure, she was pretty sick the rest of the weekend (from her cold/cough/infection). I HATE that she was hearing so poorly, and it's still not back to normal, which has definitely had an impact on her speech.
But today was the best day Saylor's had in awhile. She was happy, sweet, polite, and we had so much fun together the whole day. She didn't cry once (well, she did protest bedtime as usual :)). Her teacher told me yesterday at school that she was much more attentive, interactive, and verbal than normal. Don't worry, I realize we haven't magically bypassed the 2-3 year old range of fun tantrums, whining, etc. But I am hopeful that if she isn't in pain and can hear again it might make a difference. It breaks my heart to think of how long this has been going on. I wish I had realized how much it was impacting her every day life (even if subtly) and that I could have helped fix the problem sooner. Her hearing still isn't normal, and it doesn't seem like the infection is totally gone. But we are praying that these things will normalize soon and that this procedure will make a big difference for our sweet girl!
I am so thankful for a God who faithfully loves and cares for my kiddos way better than I can. And thankful that He hears my many urgent prayers for them. :)
A great day today!
*** I realized after re-reading this that it may come across as a woe is me sob story. I know that ear infections and tubes are not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's what we've been living lately, so I wanted to write about it. I cannot tell you how many times in the past month I have thought of the moms I know or know of who have truly sick or chronically sick children. My heart and prayers have been going out to them so much...their burden is most definitely a heavy one!
Since she turned 2, Say has been no stranger to ear infections. They may or may not include cold symptoms. They never involve obvious pain, pulling on ears, etc. They always include terrible sleep and major behavior issues. It's often taken me a couple of weeks to figure out why in the world she is acting like this, and then I always feel horrible when I realize she's been in pain the whole time. Of course she can't sleep and crabby! Usually once we get it diagnosed some antibiotic clears it right up. But many times the fluid does not go away even when the infection does, which, you guessed it, just leads to another ear infection.
This time, the antibiotic made no difference. She was persistently getting worse and worse by the day. I was desperate, and decided to bypass our pediatrician and go to an ENT. Who, based on our history, her testing at a moderate hearing loss, and glue like fluid still in both ears, enthusiastically recommended tubes, as well as getting her adenoids out. At this point it was pretty much a no brainer for us.
So last Friday was the big day! It went well, although I will say that watching your little one go under anesthesia and then come out of it is not particularly fun.
The day before: at the ENT's office waiting to be seen
The next morning, we all woke up at 5 a.m....we had to be down in pre-op by 6. We told Saylor she was going back to see the doctor, that he was going to put some tubes in her ears to make her feel better. She was happy and content to do this. She chatted with me the whole drive down to Baylor (I had to YELL sometimes for her to hear me in the backseat) and kept talking about how early she woke up. BUT, once we made her put the hospital gown and socks on, she realized this was NOT the same thing and she was NOT a happy camper.
So sad. :( I hated watching her be this sad. I was feeling pretty anxious inside but tried my best to be really calm for her.
Thankfully, Matt got her laughing eventually
Next they brought out some medicine to "calm her down." Really what they should have said was "make her drunk." Within a few minutes she was nice and loopy, which did provide some comic relief for Matt and me. She kept saying "mommy, why are we spinning?" Unfortunately it was this same drug which made her absolutely, horribly cranky after the surgery was over. Coming out of anesthesia was a million times worse than the anticipation of going into it. Saylor was scared, confused, groggy, mad, hoarse from being intubated, and as one nurse explained it: getting over a terrible hangover. She cried and cried and nothing would console her. We finally got her dressed and into the car and after awhile she fell asleep. It was the only time in her life I have just driven around so she could sleep...I was afraid to take her home and wake her up!!!!
Both kiddos took a nice long nap in the car. I think I drove around for an hour and a half!
Sweet Gray was so good the whole time we were there, despite being woken up almost 3 hours early
We spent the rest of the day eating popsicles and watching Curious George. :) You can see she's still kind of out it in this picture. Say took another long nap that afternoon and definitely seemed more back to herself by the end of the day.
This whole process has been hard and stressful. It is not fun to watch your kid be so sick, to get so many nights of terrible sleep, to make medical decisions when two professionals give you conflicting advice, and most of all, to let your child undergo an operation, even if it is totally routine. Even after the procedure, she was pretty sick the rest of the weekend (from her cold/cough/infection). I HATE that she was hearing so poorly, and it's still not back to normal, which has definitely had an impact on her speech.
But today was the best day Saylor's had in awhile. She was happy, sweet, polite, and we had so much fun together the whole day. She didn't cry once (well, she did protest bedtime as usual :)). Her teacher told me yesterday at school that she was much more attentive, interactive, and verbal than normal. Don't worry, I realize we haven't magically bypassed the 2-3 year old range of fun tantrums, whining, etc. But I am hopeful that if she isn't in pain and can hear again it might make a difference. It breaks my heart to think of how long this has been going on. I wish I had realized how much it was impacting her every day life (even if subtly) and that I could have helped fix the problem sooner. Her hearing still isn't normal, and it doesn't seem like the infection is totally gone. But we are praying that these things will normalize soon and that this procedure will make a big difference for our sweet girl!
I am so thankful for a God who faithfully loves and cares for my kiddos way better than I can. And thankful that He hears my many urgent prayers for them. :)
A great day today!
*** I realized after re-reading this that it may come across as a woe is me sob story. I know that ear infections and tubes are not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's what we've been living lately, so I wanted to write about it. I cannot tell you how many times in the past month I have thought of the moms I know or know of who have truly sick or chronically sick children. My heart and prayers have been going out to them so much...their burden is most definitely a heavy one!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
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