Magnificent letter M

Monsters, monkeys, moons and moose. Or is that mooses?

Either way, it was letter M week at school.

A merry little moose

 One monstrous moon

Marvelous little monkey

And for sharing, a hand-crank music box that plays Zipideedoodaa 

Accessory appeal

Don't lie. You know you want a pair.

A tube-free house

Yesterday, in a crazy turn of events, less than 48 hours before Keely's tube surgery, Natalie complained of an ear ache "way down deep inside my ear is kinda a little hurting me, Mommy". 

At first I figured it was just a 3-year old "owie", but when I noticed her digging around at her ear, I said "Let me take a look kiddo", if nothing else than to just appease her.

Imagine my total shocked when, as I pulled on her ear lobe and shined my flashlight in there, I could make out what appeared to be a tiny blue tube.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

I scheduled an appointment with her ENT here in Mac and the receptionist seemed a little leery of my story.

As if I cared.

I got an afternoon appointment and spent the rest of the day making sure Natty didn't try to dig around in there with her finger. Or worse yet, Keely's finger.

Upon appointment time we were put into a room almost immediately (A doc on time. Say whaaa?), and in the middle of the nurse taking Natalie's pulse she announced "That's my baby sister, Keely. She's going to get tubes just like me. God made her special that way!"

Talk about a sweet big sister.

The nurse looked at me as if to confirm Natty's story and when I said "Yep, it's true." she said, "That's odd. I don't remember seeing you on the surgery schedule."

Yeah. Awkward.

I explained that we'd be having the surgery at Dornbecher on Thursday, and left it at that. No need to share our reasoning in avoiding their office, staff and surgeon. 

I figured that'd be that. 

But then the ENT walked in.

He at least had the common curtesy to start by greeting Natty and ask how she was feeling. Then he followed up with "I hear little sister is getting tubes, too?". I answered a quick and easy, "Yep, on Thursday up at Dornbecher." It was awkward for about 7 seconds until he realized I wasn't going to offer up any more information so he asked who'd be doing the surgery. He had good things to say about Keely's ENT, not that I expected him to bash her. I'm just glad he kept it professional. And that he recognized that I wasn't there to discuss Keely and why I wasn't giving him more business. He did say "You'd be surprised how many siblings I see. Especially when a parent has history of ear problems."

Thanks doc for rubbing it in that this ear malfunction comes from me. 

Fred Flintstone feet? Those are ALL Jake.

Crappy eustachian tubes? That's ALL me.

During all of this, Natty Kat was eagerly sitting in the exam chair praying and hoping that he'd press the button to make it lift up high.

Dr must have sensed her excitement for the "up and down chair" because in a matter of seconds he had her up high. He only had to look in her ear to see the tube; seems it had come out of the ear drum and was resting on the drum. It had been irritating it, causing it to bleed (she did have some drainage yesterday morning when she fist complained of her ear ache). It was pretty cool because he has a camera set up on his eye machine that projects what he is seeing on a flat screen TV on the wall. Natty and I got to sit there and see exactly what he was seeing and doing. The blue tube was all wrapped up in a giant ball of ear wax, and was just sitting there, unattached. Dr reached in with a weird looking device and asked Natty to hold real still. Natty had her eyes squeezed shut, her brow scrunched down and was grasping the heck out of my hand. She was determined to show everyone that she was a big girl, capable of braving the ENT. She  was making me so proud. When the ENT finally retrieved the tube/ball of wax, she looked at him and in her best stern voice said "Ow, Dr Slough. That HURT."

He cleaned up the tube, put it in a specimen cup and asked Natty if she wanted to take it home. Boy did she! She proudly carried that pee-cup all over the place and was excited to show any and all in the waiting room just what she had braved through.

I have to put antibiotic ear drops in her ears for the next 7 days. At $75/bottle I sure was happy when he told me I could use the same bottle of drops that I bought a month ago when Keely's ear drum burst.

Good thing I held onto it!

So now, after nearly 25 months, Natty Kat is completely tube-free. She was so excited to lay on her back in the bathtub for the first time since she was a wee babe. 

As I sit here, the mother of foreign-object free daughters (for not quite 48 hours), I'm thinking about tomorrow morning. Keely checks in at 7:30 for a 9 am surgery. It'll be a hard morning as she can't eat after 3:30 am. I know the tubes won't fix all of her problems. I know that the chances of her sleeping through the night (STTN) from here on out are slim to nonexistent for a while longer (the first night Natty went to bed after her tube surgery was the first time she SSTN since she was 4 months old - she had the surgery when she was 15 months old). I know there will be still be lots of nights where she wakes up for whatever reason. But I also know that this is the best thing for her. 

Even if it does mean I have to get up at 4:45 in the morning.

Siiiiiigh. Tube-free. Enjoying my just-as-God-made-them girls while I can.

Blood pressure check

 "No! That tickles me!"

 Tube-free Natty Kat!

Shrine Christmas

If there's 1 thing Shriners know how to do, it's throw a good party for children! And heck, even the adults end up having  a great time.

If there's 1 other thing Shriner's know how to do, it's have a good time!

Thanks, as always, for the fun Christmas party Al Kader Shriners. I think this is Ashley's 4th, or maybe even her 5th(?) year attending, Natalie's been partying with them for 3 years and Keely Q had her inauguration into Shriner's parties. 

It's always fun knowing the entire place is "kid friendly" and "Mini approved". There's always tasty food, entertaining games to play and of course a personal visit with the Big Man himself.

Ashley wanted to ask Mrs. Claus if she had all of her Christmas cookies baked

An amazing man with a giving heart; Ozone the Clown. I recently learned that Ozone lost his battle with cancer. It saddens me to know Ozone will no longer be a staple at Shriner functions. I first met Ozone when I was 9 or 10 years old, and he's entertained me ever since. He's always had a special place snuggled right in my heart; I was so excited to introduce my girls to him and watch their smiles as he did what he did best: entertain. I can only imagine the smiles you're brining to the faces of the children (and adults!) in Heaven, Ozone. You're missed greatly. And when I come storming through those Golden Gates, I hope you'll be there with a balloon sword and a giant hug. Rest in peace my dear friend.

Apparently Natty Kat knows how to play the trumpet? 

Taking a stab at directing the band

Midget's turn at being in charge

Taking her job VERY seriously

Loving on Amberger

Waiting our turn to see Santa

My precious family

Keely telling Santa what she wanted, which was hopefully to sleep through the night

Natty Kat asking for a pony for her pony, Tiara

Instead of asking for a gift, Ash wanted to know what Santa's favorite cookie is

It was a loooooong day of partying and my chitlins were pooped

Extra exciting

I think this has been my favorite letter sharing week of them all: E. It started with Ashley making the dang cutest elephant...

...then she brought home an absolutely adorable bald eagle. She ended up giving this one to Nana, which was so wonderful and kind, but a little sad as I had planned on keeping it for her scrapbook. She must have sensed my sadness at seeing it go so when she surprised me the next day by making me another one, I was reminded just how loving and giving Ashley is.

For sharing today she was originally going to take 4 wooden toy eggs. Ash was excited to share them but I couldn't help but think we had something even more unique to share. That's when it hit me: ears!! Mickey Mouse ears would be the perfect letter E sharing! The ones she wore in Disneyland are still at Mom and Dad's house, so I dug out a pair a friend gave me when I was preggo with Ash. The back reads Baby Enos and they actually fit her really well. She was so excited yesterday when I gave her the option of sharing her ears. In fact she put them on her head and then wore them for the rest of the evening.

The letter E. Excellent. Exciting. Entertaining. Energizing. 

Natty Kat asked to be included in the picture today. How could I ever say no?

Well educated

How is it that this energetic little Midget....

....is ready for this packet which contains everything we need to register her for kindergarten? 

This mama isn't happy. 

Lucky #7

Our littlest little is 7 months old.

Holly Hannah.

Coming in at 27'' long, Keely finally passed the 15# mark and weighs an impressive 15# 3 oz. 

Obviously she's a giant.

If micro-minis can be giants?

Keely still easily fits into size 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. She sits up, unassisted, regularly. So much so that I wonder if she'll ever become a consistent roller because she's sitting so much she doesn't have the chance to practice her rolling. Keely easily goes from her belly to her back, but it's going from her back to her belly that she needs to work on. A few days ago when she was laying on her belly I caught her with her little baby butt high in the air, sort of rocking a bit on her knees.

If you know anything about baby steps, you know that this means she's working on the beginning mechanics of crawling.

Oy.

This month she added a few new foods to her list of tasty treats: oatmeal, strawberry, almond milk, cranberry, eggs (the smallest of scrambled pieces), grapes and pineapple (both of which were pureed in a baby 'fruit cocktail'). She even got to taste foods mixed with molasses and another with cinnamon. Keely is a great eater and seems adventurous when it comes to flavors and spices. I'm excited to give her things like spaghetti sauce and other flavorful foods, but I'm apprehensive to overwhelm her system too much since she suffers from acid reflux. It's a fine line of letting her try everything and not causing her pain and discomfort. I still haven't given her "gassy foods" like broccoli and cauliflower; not because I don't think she'll like it but because I'd like to avoid a cranky gassy baby as much as possible.

7 months old. Such a fun, exciting and frustrating time!

Who looks good? This 7-month old, that's who!

Testdrive

Yesterday morning I gave Keely a sippy cup for the first time. Typical babies spend a few days, even weeks and months chewing, throwing and playing with them. Basically doing anything BUT drinking from them. 
Not Keely Q.
She took that cup and showed it who's boss.
4 ounces was gone in a matter of minutes. It's as if she's been drinking from one everyday of her life (all 7.5 months of it).

Don't fret Mom, I've got this

All done with her drink, Keely resorted to playing peek-a-boo....

 ...with herself

Ashley birthday fun - Take 3

After her Christmas PJ party and visit with Santa at school followed by the Christmas happenings at the State Capital, it was off to the Salem Carousel for a few spins and then dinner at Red Robin (birthday girl's pick).

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, this has sort of become our Ashley Birthday Tradition. In addition to the loveliness that is the Salem Carousel at Christmastime, they also have a WONDERFUL Santa and picture-taking set up. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to make such wonderful memories and have such fun with my girls. I admit, juggling 3 was a tad different. But then I remembered back a few years when I ventured out just Ash, Natty and I and thought "Man, this is a bit more difficult with 2!". 

My oh my how times change. 

My oh my how it just seems to keep getting better and better.

Chilling with St. Nick

Still not willing to ride an "up and down horse", Ash opts for the glued-to-the-floor foal

Always in the Christmas spirit, Natty Kat and Keely selected the Christmas horse

One happy-go-lucky birthday girl

Taking a spin in the wagon with Papa

Mama and her birthday Midget

Hugs for Nana

Keely trying to figure out what all the fuss is about

Oh Natty Kat I just love ya

Getting some tasty birthday grub at Red Robin

Present time!

Apparently Ashley pined over this music box everyday in Disneyland. Lucky for her Nana and Papa managed to smuggle it out of the park without her knowing.

Birthday ice cream sundae

Good to the last sprinkle!

The Keely happenings

Wednesday Jake and I took Keely Q to her appointment with the ENT at Dornbecher. I had been uneasy about the appointment since it was made 2 weeks ago, so when they day finally arrived, I was feeling just about every emotion possible.

Since we've already walked this walk with Natty Kat, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. But even then, I was anxious to say the least.

The first part of the appointment consisted of a hearing test and the use of funny little machines and odd-shaped do-dads to measure Keely's ears and eardrums. Thankfully she passed the hearing tests with flying colors. Hearing loss and eardrum damage are always a real possibility with EI's, so just knowing she can hear eases some jitters. One of the funky machines measured the movement of the ear drum; if fluid is present them the drum doesn't move as easily, or in some cases at all. The test showed us that while Keely's drum was moving, it wasn't as fluid/easily movable as it should be. The audiologist said this likely meant there was fluid present, even if just a small amount.

Next up we met with the ENT. She reviewed Keely's history including my journal of her sleeping patterns the last 2 weeks. Basically I wrote down the times she woke during the night, when I gave ear drops, Advil, etc. To be honest I just wanted to give her a visual account of our misery. She also reviewed the letter from our pediatrician showing her history of EIs and times when no EI was present but fluid was (called 'glue ear'). I mentioned that about a month ago she had an infection of the ear canal and she explained that this was likely caused by Keely's eardrum rupturing (say whaaaaaaa??!) and allowing the infection to move to the canal. I was shocked to learn that and surprised it wasn't caught by our pediatrician (I later learned from our pedi that while he can't see every single millimeter of the eardrum, when one ruptures it heals rather quickly and will leave a small white spot (scar tissue). He said he could have easily missed it if it was a small rupture (a good thing) and he can't detect a white spot today (another good thing). 

The ENT brought up an interesting point and one we hadn't considered. While it's obvious Keely's eustachian tubes don't function correctly (9+ weeks of fluid trapped behind the ear), the ENT suggested that perhaps acid reflux is to blame for part of the glue ear. Basically she refluxes so bad that the funk runs up the back of her throat and either enters the ear through the eustachian tube and gets trapped there, or doesn't enter the ear but irritates the ustachian tube causing it to swell, and then fluid just naturally collects behind the ear. Either way, it's the reflux that is partially to blame.

Sound bogus? Yeah at first it did to me, too!

The thing that blows about her reflux is that Keely is already on the highest and strongest dose of reflux medication on the market, so there's nothing that can be done medically speaking. It's basically a waiting game; the older she gets, the more the muscles (called sphincters - I've always wanted to work the word sphincter into a blog post!) will mature and be able to hold the acid down. We can also help her by propping her at night when she sleeps and making sure she avoids alcohol and foods that are high in fat, protein and caffeine. Unfortunately this means no more Triple Shot, Extra Caramel, Double Whip Mocha. Oh and her 16 oz prime rib and 2 fingers of bourbon on the rocks will have to go by the wayside as well.

That ones going to be tough for her to give up.

We talked with the ENT about the possibility of swollen adenoids and those being the culprit of the glue ear. She happily agreed to scope Keely to check on them. Poor pumpkin had some numbing fluid shot up both nostrils, which caused her to gag and yack. She was unhappy and uncomfortable but held still long enough for the ENT to slide a small camera up her nose and down the back of her throat. It wasn't a good time for anyone but it was pretty cool because we got to see Keely's adenoids, tonsils, voice box and esophagus on a large TV screen. I was too busy holding and calming Keely down to snap a picture with my phone. I don't imagine I'll ever get the opportunity again which is great, but a real bummer because I'd love to have had captured that. The scope showed that everything looked normal for her age, which was a positive. 

Unfortunately the ENT didn't say "Keely needs tubes IMMEDIATELY!" like I had hoped and prayed she would. Instead she played it cool and said "I'm happy to do tubes if that's what you'd like". 

Ungh.

I spent the rest of the day and night praying about it. I wanted God to give me some clarity on what direction to take. A surgery which can't help the reflux, but will certainly help with glue ear (fluid retention)? Regardless of how the fluid gets there, it gets trapped in there and causes problems. Do we wait it out and see if she manages to outgrow the reflux? 

Unfortunately for me God seemed to be extra busy because His word wasn't coming no matter how many times I tried to talk to Him. I finally decided that at that point the best decision was no decision at all. A pansy, ostrich approach to take, but one that helped calm my racing thoughts. Then a friend brought up an interesting thought: maybe my no-decision-is-the-best-decision approach was actually Him telling me in His way to hold off and have some patience.

Patience.

HA! That God. He sure has a sense of humor.

And He sure has an interesting way of reminding me that He's in charge and is completely free to take as much time as He wants.

Agh. Again with the patience!

So I scheduled an appointment with our pediatrician to ask questions and get clarification. Pedi told me I'm combining the 2 issues when I shouldn't. #1 is her ears do not drain fluid, regardless of how the fluid collects. #2 her reflux needs to be better addressed and handled. His recommendation is that Keely get tubes; he also brought up the point of family history of crappy ears (Natty and myself) and the reminder that Natty started waking in the middle of the night at 4 months and still got tubes at 15 months - man he's sneaky and smart. 

Do I feel 100% at ease with the possibility of Keely having surgery. Heck no. But that's because I'm a parent and it's pretty much my job to always be on high alert when it comes to the safety of my children.

Do I think the tubes will benefit her? Yes, I hope they do. Even if her ears weren't cause for ALL of her middle of the night wakings, it was the reason for some of them. Besides, with tubes she will no longer require oral antibiotics when/if she gets any more EIs. Instead she can get a medicated ear drop which keeps it out of her bloodstream (always a good thing). 

Her surgery is scheduled for April 25 which gives us plenty of time to continuing praying over it. Maybe in the next 2 weeks her sphincters (there's that word again!) will suddenly and miraculously mature. Maybe her eustachian tubes will finally start functioning properly. Or maybe things will remain just as they are right now and that'll help further solidify our decision to have the surgery.

Who knows. I certainly don't. He does and maybe, if I'm good and listen hard, He'll share with me?

Boy that'd be a nice and welcome gift.

Mature palette

Who on earth ever would have imagined a concoction of sweet potato, corn, OJ and molasses would make for such a tasty treat? I admit, when I came across the recipe (I'm one of those baby-food-making Hippy Mamas) I gagged a little, but decided to give it a whirl. Just like everything I make, I tried a small bite and was pleasantly surprised when it didn't taste like rotten garbage. 

Seems our Keely Q has quite the mature palette!

First bite....

...and it's not so bad!

Dagum it's pretty darn tasty indeed!

Letter sharing - a JOLLY good time

Jelly beans. Jungles. Jack-o-lantern and jump ropes. 

Welcome to the week of J.

Taking it old school this week with a Mason Jar