Thankful Week

We have had a good week with a few days off and celebrating Thanksgiving.

Lets see how the whole week was.  Monday Lindy had hearing therapy with her old teacher, Ms. Asbury.  It took Lindy awhile to come around to working hard.  In fact I was getting very irritated with her.  She refused to do simple things like repeat a sentence.  She finally got into working and she did well when we did.  We played a new game, HedBanz.  It was their first time but they did okay.

Tuesday Lindy had an appointment with a speech therapist who specializes in speech evaluations.  We were wanting to get information about Lindy’s voice quality because of her vocal cord paralysis.  Again Lindy was reluctant to do any work at first.  The therapist finally took her in her lap and got her to work when she gave her a microphone.  My girl loves a microphone.  Once she started working she said all her ‘ahs’ very well.  She said them loud, soft, and sang when asked to.  It was pretty neat to see the computer ‘drawing pictures’ with her voice.  The results of the evaluation were that she had short phonation duration (although in the end, asymmetrical vocal cord movement, and high pitch.  She said most people with vocal cord paralysis have high pitch.  Although through the testing she was able to determine that Lindy’s range of pitch was actually pretty good.  She was able to get Lindy to go low and high.  She was happy with her range because she said that Lindy will be able to talk with inflection in her voice which is important.  We talked a good deal about a vocal cord surgery which we have talked to our ENT about as well.  I got a very different opinion of the surgery, though, which irritates me.  We see the ENT next month and we will figure out which one of them is telling us the whole story.  We left that appointment and hurried right over to gymnastics.  We got there just as they were starting. 

My parents arrived late Tuesday night around 10pm after ‘a long journey’ (as Will called it).  We haven’t seen my parents since August so we were excited they came to visit us for Thanksgiving.  They took the monitor for us that night and they got up with the kids in the morning and let Drew and I sleep in.  It was glorious!  We had a lazy morning and then we headed out for a little pre-Thanksgiving day shopping.  We went to lots of stores and we ate dinner out. 

Thursday morning we got up and we all headed to Charlotte for Thanksgiving dinner at Bob’s house.  We had a yummy lunch and then we had a big cornhole tournament.  We all drew numbers and so we randomly got paired up with a partner.  The teams ended up being:  Drew and Suzette, Bob and Anna, Ed and Lynn, Corbyn and my mom, Brian and Molly, and my Dad and I.  We had a big tournament and the victorious winners were Drew and Suzette!  It was a fun time.  We all chipped in a dollar so the winners got a small trophy and $6 each.   Big winnings!  Except Bob could only find $11 so really Suzette just took the $5 and Drew got $6.  When we got home that evening my mom pulled her dollar out of her pocket.  ha.  We figured out who didn’t pay up!  Sorry Suzette, mom gave Drew her dollar!!  We headed home and got the kids ready for bed and then Mom and I headed out to Toys R Us.  We got there and had to stand in line for about 30 minutes and then we got in.  Once we were inside things were fine.  The lines weren’t very long to check out.  We headed home and got to sleep around 11pm. 

Then we got up at 3am and headed back out shopping.  We stayed out shopping until about 2pm on Friday afternoon.  My sole purpose in going out shopping was to get as many of the presents bought for the Crozier side of the family.  We are flying to Missouri to my sister’s house for Xmas.  My parents are driving to MO for Xmas.  If I could get all my presents bought before they left they could take them back home with them and then with them to MO.  Instead of me having to ship them or pay extra baggage fees on them.  I was fairly successful with my plans.  I got 90% of the presents bought which I’m happy about.   I also picked up some presents for the Southern side so it was a good shopping weekend for me.  Friday night I wrapped up all the presents I bought.

Saturday morning my mom, the kids and I had another lazy day.  My dad and Drew met up with Bob and Ed and went to the WSSU football game at 12pm.  My mom and I took the kids and we ate lunch out and we did some more shopping for Xmas presents.  We headed to the Wake Forest game at 3:30pm and we froze our butts off.  We even sat on the sunny side (not the side we normally sit on) to try and stay warmer.  It was fine until the sun started setting and Wake started getting blown out.  We stayed until half time and then we headed out.  It was much warmer at home!

Saturday night was a strange night.  We had a completely normal night with dinner, baths and bedtime.  About 30 minutes after we put the kids down we heard Will calling for us.  I went up there and he had puked all over his bed.  He said he was asleep and woke up coughing.  We got him cleaned up and his bed changed and we put him back down.  A little while later he called for us again and he threw up again (this time in a bucket).  I brought him downstairs with me and held him in the recliner and he fell asleep down there.  I also put him in the bed with me and he slept all night long.  He woke up feeling fine.  He acted fine even right after throwing up and he never had a fever.  Very strange.  We were just sure it was the beginning of a stomach bug.  Thank goodness it wasn’t. 

Today we had church and then we started decorating for Xmas.  Slowly but surely it’s beginning to look a little like Christmas.  We put up decorations but didn’t get the trees out yet.  Well we did get the kids’ small trees out and let them decorate them.  They had a blast putting on balls and ornaments and they were excited to go to sleep by Christmas tree light.  We’ll continue getting out our outside decorations and trees this week.

The kids’ classes had a Thanksgiving feast at school on Monday.  Will’s class was the pilgrims and Lindy’s class was the Indians.  .  Here is my little pilgrim and little Indian.  Cutest ones I ever did see!Happy Thanksgiving!The cornhole champions!Guess who got trophies too?Will and Nana had fun playing with the dominoes.  They set up some pretty cool designs and watched them all fall down.It’s blurry but we were all watching them fall down!The kids were all dressed up for the Wake game.  The cheerleader and football player.Lindy stole Nana’s sunglasses at the game.Bundled up but no clue what she was doing.  Silly girl!Pictures with Nana and Papa after the game!Lindy has been talking all week about the spikes on her nose??  We don’t have a clue what she is talking about.She has been very into ‘rubbing noses like the eskimoses’Lindy is a hoot.  She keeps changing my dad’s name.  This summer she started calling him Poppy instead of Papa.  This fall she decided to call him Pop.  This weekend she called him everything from KWC Pop to Silly Kenny.  She had a ton of names for him!Looking cute for church today.  Starting the holiday dress clothes!This girl loves a microphone.  Even if it changes her voice to an elf’s!Decorating their little trees!Think she was excited?The final product!Ending with a funny picture.  All week we’ve had Lindy propped up with an old boppy pillow.  It’s kept her upright while sleeping and has helped her sleep.  One night I walked in and found this!  She had slid down under the pillow.  She looked so funny!

Crazy, Busy Week

Wow this week went by fast.  The days went so fast because we were so busy and here it is time again to write another post. 

I worked Monday morning and Drew kept the kids home with him since they were out for Veterans Day.  He brought them to me around lunchtime and we headed to two appointments in the afternoon.  I have been having problems with Lindy’s hearing aids all summer.  I finally got so fed up that I called the audiologist and she said to bring them in and they would check them first.  If they find something they’ll send them off.  Of course they couldn’t find anything.  It’s like taking your car to the shop and it won’t make the noise you’ve been hearing.  But early last week I did switch battery brands and I think that might be making a difference.  This summer I was changing them everyday.  I got a new batch this fall and they would last 2 days – sometimes.  I got the new brand and they have been lasting a week.  And she isn’t complaining about them either.   In the last 5 years of her having hearing aids, we’ve never paid for batteries!  Pretty sweet, but I think I am going to finally have to start paying for batteries.  We left there and headed to PT.  Lindy was in a mood.  She was being stubborn and it was irritating me so badly!  Her therapist was trying to get her to jump and she just wouldn’t do it.  I cannot stand when she won’t even try.  We made it through but I wasn’t happy when we left!

Tuesday they had school and gymnastics.  They had a Thanksgiving theme the kids were excited about. 

Wednesday Drew headed out of town for a clergy health retreat.  I thought I had a babysitter lined up for the afternoon so I could work and then go help decorate a Xmas tree for committee I’m on.  But…I lined up the babysitter for the wrong day.  Drew was gone and Lindy had started coughing again and didn’t feel all that well.  I ended not decorating any Xmas trees that evening. 

Thursday the kids had their annual holiday performance at school.  It was just Ed, Jamie, Bob and I this year.   Even Drew didn’t get to come.  But he was at their school last week setting up for a meeting and the kids just happened to be in there practicing, so he actually did get to watch the whole program!  GrandBob got their early and saved us great seats!  His habitual earliness came in handy that day!  The program was great.  It’s always funny to watch little kids perform.  Lindy acted bored or tired.  She yawned about 5 times.  She spent most of the time watching the teachers who were just off stage.  She was singing and doing the movements but I think she was watching them since she couldn’t see the music teacher down front.  Bob saved the day for me on Thursday.  Bob, the kids and I went to lunch and then I headed back to work and Bob took the kids home for his first solo babysitting experience, EVER!  I told him I’d be home around 4pm.  Around 4pm Drew called to say he was on his way home from Charlotte and I still had a ton to do at work.  Bob ended up staying until Drew got home at 5:45pm.  He cooked them dinner and even had to wipe Lindy’s bottom.  I was so proud of him   Now that we know he can do it by himself, we’ll have to call on him more often! 

Friday was a crazy, long day for me because our final event of the year was that night.  Lindy had coughed all night and she coughed all through breakfast.  She couldn’t stop.  We decided to keep her home that morning.  She went with Drew to the church instead of school.  I dropped Will off at school and then got home at 12:30am that night.  (technically Saturday morning!)   Drew picked the kids up and had them for the afternoon.  Our church friend Martha  babysat them Friday night so Drew could come to the Chef’s Auction to volunteer and help us.  He got home a little after 9pm that night and I got home hours after that.  The event went well but I’m glad it is done.  We’ve had 3 major events in the 3 weeks I’ve been working and I’ve been working more full time then the part time it was originally supposed to be.  Now that they are all over it will go to part time.

One really cool thing happened Friday night though.  After the event was over we were cleaning and loading up our stuff.  The Chef’s Auction was at the Embassy Suites downtown.  Someone came down and said Evander Holyfield was up in the lobby.  We couldn’t believe it but they said he had walked out.  We went on our way and continued to load up and when we came back in the lobby one time he was sitting at the bar.  We went over to talk to him and got our picture taken with him!  We saw the Real Deal Holyfield!!  It was crazy. 

I was supposed to go to Charlotte on Saturday but I ended up cancelling because I was so incredibly tired.  The kids and I stayed at home and were lazy all morning and then I started cleaning up the house.

Today has been a fun day.  We had church this morning and Mimo met us there.  She surprised the kids.  Lindy just stared at her at first.  Like she was speechless.  It was a good Sunday to come since the kids were singing at church.  After church we had a quick lunch and then Drew and I headed to a play at the UNC School of the Arts.  After the play we headed downtown for dinner.  We enjoyed our afternoon out after a crazy week.  We appreciate Lynn driving up to see us and watch the kids. 

Lindy has gotten sick again.  She finished her antibiotic last weekend and then had about 2 days of no coughing.  She started back up on Monday night and got worse as the week went on.  Drew slept with her Tuesday night and I had her Wednesday night while he was gone.  He slept with her Thursday night and I slept with her the last two nights.  She coughed all night most nights.  I called the doctor and talked to her on Thursday and she started her on Singulair.  On top of the crazy week we were not getting much sleep.  She was running very low grade fevers in the evenings and acting like she didn’t feel great each evening.  I know she has to be so sick of this stupid cough.  We are so over it.  I talked to the nurse again yesterday morning and she told me to do albuterol every four hours (I had been doing morning and night).  Last night I ended up in the recliner with her and for the first time all week she stopped coughing.  I slept with her in the recliner until 2am and then I propped her up and slept on the couch.  She started coughing a little so I brought her to the couch with me and she slept well the rest of the night.  It was the first decent night of sleep in awhile.  I felt like death warmed over Saturday after working 14.5 hours Friday and sleeping about 4 hours that night.  Tonight we have her propped straight up in her bed and she has done better so far.  I’m hoping the continuous albuterol and singulair are starting to make the difference.  Her doctor said if she wasn’t noticeably better by Tuesday she’d have to go for a chest x-ray.  Fingers crossed she is much better by then. 

Will has gotten a cold or allergies as well.  His nose has been running and he has been coughing some this week as well.  But nothing like Lindy.  If I find one more snotty tissue in his pants pocket after doing a load of laundry, I’m going to scream!  I guess I need to start checking his pockets but I keep forgetting.   So far his symptoms are just more of a nuisance and he acts fine.

Here’s hoping the next week is quieter, calmer, and free of coughing (and snot!)!!

What we saw all week long – COUGHING.  At least she coughs in her elbow most of the time (even in her sleep!)Holiday program at school!So funny.  “Blink your eyes, everybody, blink your eyes”Bored?  Tired?  I’ll for for tired since she’s coughed all night, every night.After the performance they keep the kids in place and let parents come forward for pictures.  Lou couldn’t see me and kept asking her teachers, “Where’s my mom?”The spectators!Lindy pretending she was riding in an airplane yesterday morning.Today before church.Lots of singing performances this week.  This time at church!Velvet, Evander ‘Real Deal’ Holyfield, and I!  So cool!