Sunday, January 29, 2012

New Camera!!!

The most exciting news of my week was that I got a whole new camera!  Not just a lens like I was hoping but a whole new camera!!!!!  Tuesday afternoon I finally remembered to call about my camera.  An hour and four people later I was a very happy lady!  My old camera was a Nikon D60 which they don’t make anymore.  I ended up getting a D3100 which is actually nicer than my old camera.  It has a couple more features on it (like video) that my old one didn’t.  Will and I went to hhgregg on Wednesday morning to pick it up.  I walked in, handed them my invoice number, had to pay $44 (the difference) and walked out – in shock that they gave me a brand new camera!  I love it!  It feels so fast. 

Other events of the week include Lindy doing gymnastics in her cast.  She did pretty good too.  The cast has not slowed her down one second.  She kept up with all her friends just like there was no cast on.  She’s done amazing in general with the cast.  She has been so excited about showing it to everyone and all of her teachers have signed it.  In the beginning of the week when someone asked what happened she was telling people she fell.  ha!  I’ve tried telling her it’s stretching her ankle but I’m not sure she gets that.  We’ve done two baths in the kitchen sink this week.  First time I’ve ever had a babe in the kitchen sink!  She did not want to get in at first but as soon as she was in she loved it!  It’s working pretty good though.  I just couldn’t imagine sponge bathing her for two weeks. 

Wednesday I had a March of Dimes meeting and the kids started the spring semester of music class.  Drew picked them up for me and brought them home and put them down for a nap. 

Thursday Lindy went to school but I picked her up at 10am so we could head to ENT and check the fluid in her ears.  If you remember, she had completely flat tympanograms last week at her hearing test, indicating fluid in her ears.  The ENT said yes she had fluid in her ears, but he’s going to give her 6 weeks and see if it clears up.   He said I could keep her on allergy medicine, just to make sure we have that base covered, but he said it was probably from the cold she got a week or two before Christmas.  I took Will with me and he did fine.  I put Lindy in a stroller and Will helped me push the stroller.  Lindy did not want to be riding in that stroller though!  She didn’t care if she was the only one with a cast on her foot.  We left ENT and headed over to audiology and they changed out the battery in Lindy’s FM system.  I’m hoping that solves a few weird issues I keep having with it.  We finally headed home after that and I was ready.  Toting two kids all over a big hospital wore me out!

Thursday evening the kids went back to choir practice.  Will is loving it.  I’m so glad he finally decided to give it a try.  Lindy did better sitting and standing still but only because I basically sat near her and told her when to sit still or stand up.  I hate having to hover but she won’t do it otherwise.  The first week I didn’t hover and wanted to see how she’d do without me.  She was all over the place.  She is learning the words and hand movements which is great but she also needs to learn to stand with the other kids.

Friday night we had dinner with Mike and Janice.  She sent a late email asking if we wanted to join them at Applebee’s.  We had no plans and no food and a gift card there so we said sure.  They came over afterwards to visit awhile longer.  It’s always good to see them. 

Saturday morning we had another one of our babysitters come over, but not to babysit.  Jennifer is in nursing school and she is taking a pediatrics class this semester and she needed to do a developmental test on a kid and she asked if she could use one of the kids.  She came over and used Will as her testing subject. He had a good time playing with her and did really well with everything she asked him.  Her sister Julie came over and helped me entertain Lindy while Jennifer was working with Will. 

Saturday afternoon Grandbob and Suzette came over to the house because they were going to be babysitting for us that night.  Ed and Jamie also came over.  We all ate dinner together and then Drew and I headed out to get some culture.  We went to Mozart’s Birthday Concert at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  We have this amazing college in town that does some amazing things and we never go see any of it.  Drew got an Arts Card for Xmas that lets us go to 5 shows this spring.  This was our first show.  Mozart turned 265 years old.  That’s old!  We enjoyed our evening out and enjoyed the music.  I enjoyed watching all the old people sleep.  I’m sure they’d say they were listening to the music with their eyes closed but most of them were totally sleeping!

The only other news is that Lindy seemed to get another cold this weekend.  Friday night she started coughing and having snot.  She didn’t sleep well and ended up in our bed sometime in the early morning.  She was so snotty and had a bad hacking cough all day yesterday.  She couldn’t eat hardly at all.  Everything made her cough, gag, and then eventually she threw up once at lunch.  Lunch and dinner were a no-go for her.  We were a little worried about leaving her with GBob and Suzette but they said she was fine and didn’t start coughing until she laid down to sleep.  Which is normal because all the phlegm starts running down her throat.  She was keeping Will awake so around 10pm we stuck her in our bed and she slept with us.  Except I was having trouble sleeping so we kicked Drew out and he slept on the couch the rest of the night.  Lindy and I slept better after that.  Since she was coughing all night Lindy and I stayed home from church.  Drew took Will and then GBob and Suzette picked him up from Sunday school.  I’m disappointed Lindy has another cold because this will NOT help the fluid in her ears.   uggg.  On a good note though, she has been tons better today.  I started her on Delsym as soon as she started coughing Friday night and so after a couple doses yesterday she is doing tons better today.  She ate lunch and dinner so that’s always good!  She is still coughing but not constantly. 

That’s the news from our house.  Enjoy some pictures from my NEW camera!  Strange thing is I really didn’t take that many with it!

First picture on the new camera.  Jack.DSC_0001Look at these gorgeous children!DSC_0004DSC_0005DSC_0008DSC_0010DSC_0011DSC_0015Lou had the pout going on full force one night.  DSC_0040Not sure at first…DSC_0044but loved it!DSC_0045DSC_0047DSC_0049I forget now what he was eating but I thought his mustache was funny!DSC_0101The only picture I took yesterday.  I never get Suzette in pictures so I’m glad I got this one because it’s a great picture!DSC_0158

Monday, January 23, 2012

Happy Birthday to Me and a ‘Special Boot’

Let’s see…Seems like last week was so long ago.  We’ve had a fairly eventful week!

Last Monday the kids didn’t have school because of the MLK holiday, but I don’t remember doing anything of interest. 

Tuesday Lindy had school and then we had gymnastics.  After gymnastics Will rode home with Katie and Claire so I could take Lindy to what I thought would be a routine hearing appointment.  Unfortunately it turned out her ear drums weren’t moving, meaning she has fluid in her ears.  It really irritated me.  Especially since at the pediatrician 5 days before they said her ears looked good.  The first fluid she’d ever had in her ears was last June but it cleared up with allergy medicine.  The ENT told me to keep her on allergy medicine until it got cold, probably October.  We have had a very mild winter so I’ve kept her on it up until about the middle of December when I figured I could surely stop.  So now she has fluid.  She earned a trip to the ENT on Thursday to see what he wants to do.  I’ve for sure started allergy meds again so we’ll see if anything has changed by Thursday.  I’m afraid she’s inching herself closer to tubes.  Which I know aren’t a big deal, but I still would just rather avoid them altogether.  They attempted a hearing test and what they could get did show her hearing was down quite a bit.   So we’ll shall see what happens on Thursday.

Wednesday was one of the most important days of the year – MY BIRTHDAY!  What a great day.  I love birthdays – especially mine.  I turned the big 35 this year.  I’m officially in the mid-30’s.  I had a great day.  The kids told practically everyone at preschool that it was my birthday.  I seriously didn’t prompt them either!  Drew made me lunch, dinner, and a cake!  It was fabulous to have the day off of cooking!  He made a delicious Caesar salad, chicken rolled with mozzarella cheese in a wine sauce and bread.  And my usual cake – chocolate with rainbow chip icing.  My favorite present is probably Just Dance 2 for the Wii!  I love dancing – even if I’m seriously bad!  It’s a good workout!

Thursday night I took the kids to their first children’s choir practice.  The kids got to ring the bells last week in church and Will was so jealous!  I told him if he wants to ring bells that he has to go to practices and he agreed to go.  He did awesome.  He picked the words up to the songs right away.  He had a blast.  Lindy picked up the words to the songs pretty well but as usual she was a wanderer.  We’ll have to work on the wandering.  They both had a lot of fun with Miss Anna and Miss Lisa.

Friday we had a fairly easy and good ophthalmologist appointment.  Short wait and and a good report.  He dilated her eyes to check her prescription.  Last year he measured her at –23.00 and this time he measured her at –19.00.  I don’t really think her eyes are getting better.  I think it’s a fairly subjective test because I’m sure she is moving around a lot.  We aren’t changing her prescription (which is   -21.00).  That’s nice not to  have to get new glasses.  He did say that he’s seen a lot worse eyes than Lindy’s and I think this has shocked him.  I truly think in the NICU that he didn’t even expect her to see.  She is proving him wrong.  He also said that her eyes look about the same but that she totally uses her left eye.  She doesn’t use her right eye unless her left eye is patched and she has to use her right eye.  But then she does fine when her left eye is patched.   He doesn’t know why she mostly uses one eye.  But at least nothing has changed!

Saturday the kids and Drew headed to our neighbor Benjamin’s birthday party while I helped Jamie with a wedding event.  She has started a wedding business Southern Celebrations.  I worked and got paid!  First money I’ve made in awhile!  The kids had fun at the party and playing with someone else’s toys!

Sunday we had church and then we went over to Katie, Kris, Claire and Micah’s house to hang out and eat.  Jamie and Ed were there as well.  It was supper club with kids.  Not a most relaxing supper club but it was last minute.  But we still had a good meal and enjoyed hanging out. 

Today was the big day for Lou Lou.  She got her cast – her special  boot- at 9am this morning.  We got up and she got a good bath – her last good soaking for two weeks!   She objected to sitting in the chair at first but I finally got her in there.  She was okay once we got started.  I had the iPad and she got to watch a show.  She kept telling Jill she was done.  She got to choose any color she wanted and she chose yellow.  I didn’t know she liked yellow but she said today it was her favorite color!  She was actually kind of excited about her special boot when she saw it.  I signed it first and then Jill signed it.  She got down and walked great on it.  We got home and she was so excited to show Drew and Will.  They both signed it and then she wanted to sign it.  ha!  She signed her own cast!  She has done so well with it today.  It’s seriously not slowed her down at all.  At nap time she asked if I could take it off but at bedtime she told me I couldn’t take it off.   When I was leaving her room she told me thank you for getting my special boot and for carving pumpkins!  Ha.  That girl cracks me up!  She has done great around the  house and I suspect she’ll do fine around her classes.  I’m not sure about outside or on the playground but we’ll find out.   She is so excited to show her teachers and get them to sign it.  What a girl.  She’s my hero and it was extra special since she didn’t throw up!!

I still don’t have a camera so here are more bad cell phone pictures.  Although I got awesome news today on the camera front.   I sent it in to get my lens checked on AGAIN and was keeping my fingers crossed that after the 4th time I’d get a new lens.  I found out today I’m getting a WHOLE NEW CAMERA!!!  I’m hopefully picking it up tomorrow!!! 

Sleepy boyIMG_0414Tickling her to wake her up.IMG_0418NOT happy to be awake!IMG_0421My scrumptious birthday dinner!IMG_0426My ghetto fabulous birthday cake.  3 7-2=5.  ha haIMG_0429Me and my sweetieIMG_0434Me and the crazy girl!IMG_0440IMG_0448IMG_0452My camera will catch them sleeping – hence the many sleeping pictures!  haIMG_0453I put Will in her bed and she put her arms around his head.IMG_0455She woke up and asked where we were going.  I said nowhere and she goes, “I don’t want to go to the hospital” and stuck that bottom lip out so far!  IMG_0456Now she’s happy!IMG_0463After her eye doctor’s appointment she was ‘checking Drew’s eyes.’ Even though it appears she is enjoying gouging his eyes out!IMG_0466More Wii this week.IMG_0472A new hair-do for church on Sunday.IMG_0477Cute church dress.IMG_0480Getting the special boot today!IMG_0487Checking it out.IMG_0488Hey, it’s not so bad!IMG_0489IMG_0491Jill (her PT) signing  her cast.IMG_0492Daddy helping Will sign it.  It’s hard to write on a cast!IMG_0493Daddy signing it.IMG_0495Me helping Lindy sign her own cast!IMG_0498The special boot!IMG_0504

Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Puker Strikes Again

Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh
Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

In the hallway, I tell Miss Lindy
The doctor we needed to go
In the hallway, the mighty hallway
She starts to puke her lunch

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

Near the laundry room, and the car
and in the waiting room.
Just the mention of the doctor
Sent her over the edge.

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

Hush my darling, don't fear my darling
This doctor won’t hurt you
Hush my darling, don't fear my darling
She needs to check your pee.

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh
Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh

That sums up our Friday.  I’ll get there in a second!

After school on Monday I picked Lindy up and Drew picked Will up and took him home.  Lindy and I headed to the hospital to have blood drawn to check her kidney function again.  The blood work from December showed her bicarbonate was low but the doctor was skeptical about it so he ordered more blood work. I told Lindy we were going to see Ms. Martha and she was going to play with her arm and Lindy was completely fine.  We went in and she charmed Ms. Martha’s pants off but never cried and hardly even flinched at getting her blood drawn.  We left there and went to PT with Jill.  She measured the catch in her ankle and her left ankle is at a –10, which means it is making her walk on her toes.  It doesn’t seem to be getting any better SO… we are going to try to cast her and see if that helps.  Jan. 23rd Lindy will get a cast for two weeks to try and reset the position of the catch in her left ankle.  I’m a bit anxious about it.  I hope she takes it in stride, just like everything else in life.  I’m more worried about the logistics (bathing, the playground at school).  I just hope it works! 

Tuesday our nephrologist called with the blood work results and said everything was fine!!  Yippee!!  We don’t have to start any new medicines for Lindy!  So glad to hear her kidneys are working right, even if they didn’t grow last year.  We also had gymnastics on Tuesday and as bad as it sounds, I’ve stopped paying attention as much.  It’s so stressful to watch Lindy and not be able to discipline her.  Or redirect her I should say.  It’s much more peaceful to talk with the other moms and not completely stress over her.

Wednesday I had a March of Dimes meeting at lunch time so Drew picked up the kids from music class for me.  It was our last class of the first session.  We take a week break and start up again at the end of the month.

Friday Drew and I went out to eat breakfast in the morning which was nice.  I decided to call and make Lindy a doctor’s appointment because in the last week and half she has started urinating a lot more frequently.  I have noticed it at home and both her teachers at her schools have mentioned it to me multiple days when I’ve picked her up.  It didn’t seem like she was drinking more but she was definitely going a lot more often.  Lindy had been on an antibiotic her entire life and we were just given the okay to stop it in mid-December (because her testing showed she finally outgrew the kidney reflux).  I was worried she had a UTI. 

The fun part started when after lunch I said, “okay Lindy, we need to get going.  We’re going to see the doctor to check on your pee pee.”  Things went downhill quickly.  She started crying and saying no and started coughing and gagging and threw up twice.  I grabbed an empty box sitting around and she puked in there.  Drew and Will had not planned to go with us but I didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t want to be driving and have her in the back by herself and throwing up.  They ended up grabbing coats and riding with us.  She fell asleep for a few minutes and then woke up when we pulled into the doctor’s office.  She started crying all over again and puked two more times, one being most of her lunch.  We had to get her cleaned up and we finally made it into the doctor’s office.  Drew takes them in the waiting room, where she promptly throws up.  He takes her to the bathroom to get her out of the public eye!  Everyone was looking at her with pity because everyone thought she had the stomach bug.  The receptionist asked how long she’d been throwing up like that.  I had to tell her it’d only been 20 mins ago and it was not a stomach virus, it was that she makes herself sick when we say the word doctor.  The nurse finally calls us back and she thinks she had a stomach virus.  Once we got in the room she was okay.  They checked their oxygen saturations (which we seriously haven’t had done since they took that dreaded oxygen out of our house years ago). I had them do it on Will first and then she was fine.  Lindy ended up being totally happy and in a good mood.  That girl drives me nuts.  We saw a new PA that was super nice and we really like her.  Lindy weighed 30.8 pounds.  Of course they thought it was a UTI so I had the fun job of getting her to pee in a cup.  A first for us.  We tried once and she wouldn’t do it but when we tried again we had success.  M&M’s were a good bribe!  The urine test came back fine though, no UTI.  They pricked her finger, just to check her blood sugar and it was fine.  (I was a little paranoid after having my niece get diagnosed Type 1 diabetic two years ago).  Two hours later, they couldn’t find anything wrong.   Ugggg.  At least we know for sure.

Saturday I had a United Methodist Women’s breakfast at church and then we headed to Charlotte to celebrate the January birthdays in the Southern family.  Drew’s is the 2nd, Anna is the 10th, and I’m the 18th. (3 days till my birthday people!!)  We had a yummy lunch and yummy cupcakes.  Lynn made me cinnamon toast crunch cupcakes and they were so good!  I LOVE cinnamon flavored stuff!  She made Anna red velvet cupcakes and Drew banana pudding cupcakes.

That wraps up our week.  I still don’t have my camera back so I used my cellphone all week.  I played with the Instagram app which makes the pictures look all kinds of funky ways!  I love my phone but it is not fast enough to catch my kids!

It was warm enough one afternoon to play in the garage blowing bubbles and riding bikes.  Lindy wore her helmet and blew bubbles.  She never rode her bike.  IMG_0253Will is getting really good on his bike, in the garage.  Getting him out of the garage will be another issue. IMG_0254IMG_0256More Wii!  Their favorite new activity.IMG_0257IMG_0258It doesn’t always go so well.  Sometimes she doesn’t want help.IMG_0261Lindy has started ‘checking our underwear’ when she wears her gloves.  Her teacher at one school always wears gloves when she changes diapers or helps kids in the bathroom.  IMG_0262Checking Daddy’s underwear.IMG_0263Shell shocked at the doctor’s office.  Post traumatic syndrome maybe?IMG_0265IMG_0266The birthday kids!IMG_0270IMG_0271All the kids!IMG_0272Anna rocking the Ove Glove and Onion goggles!IMG_0274Lindy testing the onion goggles!IMG_0275Bob ‘trying’ to play charades.  Needless to say, no one got this clue!IMG_0276Lindy pretending to be Aunt Jamie.IMG_0279Today’s church outfits.  Cute dress but major big bow.  (Not as big as Ms. Alabama’s bow last night at the Miss America pageant!)  She would not leave it alone!IMG_0282IMG_0283Tonight I made snowman pancakes.  Hoping for a little bit of snow that the kids can play in!  It’s cold, just no moisture in the air!IMG_0287