tubes

It is a done deal. After the visit with the ENT on Tuesday, we decided to wait a month, check again, and then decide if we wanted to go through with tubes in Porters ears. I called Chad to give him the skinny on the visit. While he was telling me why he thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and do it, I saw Porter rub at his ear and start to whine. After the antibiotic shots I didn't want to do anything unnecessary without giving it a chance to do it's thing. But, it had been a week and he was still hurting. He had been hurting for about four months strait. I had also learned that his hearing was only at 75% due to fluid in his ear. The fluid was the real culprit. It was the reason the ear infection could never properly heal. As luck would have it we were able to fill a cancellation spot for today. Porter had a pre-surgery physical yesterday afternoon. It was all pretty quick.

We had to be at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. Man wasn't allowed to eat anything before the surgery. This was really the hardest part of the morning. I checked Porter in and was escorted to a small hospital room with a small hospital bed. His nurse blew bubbles and played peek-a-boo while gathering his vitals, and left me to change him into Loony Toons hospital jamies. The surgery wasn't scheduled until 9:30, so to distract Porter from his growling tummy we were shown a play room stocked with all kinds of great toys. While we played several staff members introduced themselves, explained their role, and double checked to see if I had questions. During all of this each raved at what a hansom little man I had! At about 9:00 we were asked to go back to our room where Porter was given a dose of Versed (also used in conscious sedation in dentistry) to help him get a little dopey, and not be upset when they took him away. It worked like a charm!

I watched the history channel, enjoyed a few snacks in the parents lounge, and called Chad. About twenty minutes later, Dr. Denman, the ENT, came to report that all had gone perfectly. The only catch was that he didn't know if the nurses would be able to stop oogling and give him back to me. It was only about 15 minutes later that Porter was wheeled in with his own blanket covering him, some apple juice and a new teddy bear. He was still very groggy. I was able to nurse him (which was much needed by both Porter and me) and let him ease back into things. We were home by 11:00, and able to go about the rest of our day as normal. None would be the wiser that he had been in the hospital today. It had all gone over without a hitch. I know that Heavenly Father took good came of him today!



Porter sporting his sweet hospital issued jamies.









In the playroom with all sorts of great new toys.









Enjoying being catered to by everyone while coming out of anesthesia.

aqua babies

The last several days have been hot! This morning I went running at 6:00. It was 75 degrees and very humid. Every time Aimee goes outside to play, she comes in with a bright red face. While I know many of my friends and neighbors are not fond of the weather, I really don't mind, and neither do the kiddos. In fact it has been fun to start to enjoy some extra outside activities that we have been excited for. I knew that Aimee would be all over the swimming pools and the sprinklers, and I was not disappointed. In fact, this afternoon Aim had an extra long nap, and I knew she would be cranky when I went to wake her up. Luckily I was able to silence it immediately by telling her she could put on her swimmy suit and go outside. I was however, uncertain that Porter would want to be forced to tag along for these activities. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that he shares Aimee's affinity for water. Turns out he was actually the last kid to ditch the sprinklers, and that was only because I had to take the kiddos inside to finish dinner for the missionaries.

tidbits

My last post may have been just a tad misleading. Even with some of the bummer bit of life that are going on, we have really had a great week. Here are a few pics of our most recent happenings. Even with all of the studying that Chad has been doing lately, he still manages to balance things. Aimee's new trick in the morning to prolong Daddy from leaving is to bring him a book and ask him to read it to her. Can you say "sucka!" Aimee can!

One of Aimee and Porter's new favorite things to do during lunch time is to throw the end of the the bread loaf out the back door and watch the birds and squirrels eat them.







Porter has become an eater. I can give Aimee and Porter both a half of a PB&J for lunch and Porter is done before Aimee is even half way through. Also, this is just such a cute picture of is maturing smile. He has his Daddy's teeth!






This must be a right of passage for a little girl. I have a picture of my niece doing the same thing. Aimee loves to get dressed with me in the mornings. She helps me put on my make-up and the whole nine yards. It is fun to have a little girl and see her wanting to be a big girl like her Mommy!







The summer heat is starting to hit Omaha! Our neighbors busted out the sprinklers. This is at least a bi-weekly event all summer long. It will be fun to see Porter get into the action with his ever improving mobility!

it's chronic

You can't tell from the picture but we love our Pediatrician, Dr. Loucks! I have mentioned that we have frequented her office before. We have been in several times since the first part of February for Porter with ear infections. We were in just two weeks ago for this. We just went through our forth regimen of antibiotics and then went in yesterday for a follow up before we head off to Idaho. Well, the little man still has it! It breaks my heart to see Porter pull at his ears and cry from pain, so Dr. Loucks broke out the big guns. Porter had an injectable antibiotic given. It is a big dose so it has to be spit up into both legs. Because it is thick they have to use a fairly large gauge needle that left little black bruises on his thighs. It is also a three part deal. We will go in again tomorrow and Monday to repeat the shot process. Just to be in the clear after that we were referred to a pediatric ENT doc to check things out. If the shots don't work we will have to talk about tubes in Porters ears. We are keeping our fingers crossed!

fluke or fate?

The other night while we were enjoying our favorite family time (tubby time) I noticed Porter sitting at the front of the tub grunting. Wanting to avoid another night of cleaning poop out of the tub I went into action and quickly set him on Aimee's potty chair on the toilet. Having been interrupted from doing his business, he just looked at me. I started to grunt and do a little fake straining. Porter has some pretty good mimicking skills and followed suit. Just a few seconds later we heard a little plop, plop! Poop can be pretty exciting when it is in the right place. The next day just before I nap time I was taking Aimee to the potty. I decided that since we were already there we might as well give it a go. A little fake grunt and strain from mom again produced a little plop, plop! I was pretty excited at this point and did it again after nap time, and received the same result. Twice I tried on Sunday and I failed. I tried again this morning and again I failed. When nap time rolled around, and Aimee had been taken care of, I decided to give it one more try. Grunt, strain equalled not only a plop, plop, but also a trickle! When Chad was doing the pediatric section in school he learned that the nerves that give the sensation of needing to go, and allow for control of that need do not finish developing until a child is something like 18-24 months old, and often longer in boys. His professors also talked about how psychologically difficult it can be on a child to try to potty train them when they don't have the physiological ability yet. They said doing so often yields either the parents becoming "potty trained" for the child, or they become very frustrated. I largely agree with this. However, I figure that at this point, since I already have to help Aimee (to avoid the mess she leaves when left to wipe herself) I might as well save a diaper. Who knows, maybe I have a prodigy on my hands!

mama cake

With boards creeping up, Chad has been a pretty busy boy. In fact, I have been really proud of how he has really buckled down and been such a studious studier. He has even sacrificed his beloved gardening time, and taken a fast from a few other time absorbing hobbies to maintain focus. It has made for long weeks at home however. I had secretly been really looking forward to Mother's Day just to have a day to relax and not be by myself. However, I had prepared myself for the possibility that Chad would forget all about it, and was just focused on hearts and brains and diseases. Saturday night when he came home from the library I was pleased to see that he had stopped at the store on his way.

Sunday morning I walked into the kitchen to find two daisy flower pots that will eventually be planted outside. He made me coffee cake, one of my favorite breakfasts, and a mexican dinner that he normally reserves once a year for my birthday. It was great. As a finishing touch he had a cake in the oven. I thought it was sort of odd, since cake is normally just for birthdays. He asked me how long it was supposed to bake. When I found out he had put an entire cake mix in a single 9" round pan I started to worry that I would spend today cleaning out the oven. Luckily I had stolen enough batter that it just barely stayed contained. Chad accidentally turned the oven off though, but with a little luck and patients somehow the cake worked.

Chad frosted the cake using a serving spatula. For some reason he was surprised that the cake was falling apart. Then he busted out a package of candles with holders, gave the candles to Aimee, and told her it was her job to decorate the cake. She thought is was awesome and so did I! I couldn't figure out why Chad and bought candle holders (we have never used them before) until he brought them to Aimee and told her to now put the flowers on the cake. He didn't know what they were until I told him. After it was all put together, Aimee helped me blow the candles out! Instead of cutting pieces of the cake we just started scooping in the spot where the cake had blown out. Aimee and Porter were covered in chocolate! It was so much fun, and the best Mother's Day gift Chad and the kiddos could have given me!

guard bird

Last summer we had a bird build a nest above the light by our front door. I was annoyed by how ghetto it looked and asked Chad to please clean it off. He then proceeded to convince me that it would be fun for Aimee to be able to see the bird so often because it would be perched there so regularly. He was right. Plus we got to witness the live cycle of birds a couple of times. We had two or maybe even three (I don't remember exactly) different mother birds occupy the nest. As an added bonus, we also got a wildlife security system. Every time anyone came to our door they were dive bombed! It was hilarious! We actually had a few neighbors that refused to even come to our walk way for the summer. Of course, we were also dive bombed every time we came or went, but we didn't mind, and Aimee loved it! One time we were holding open the screen door to unlock the front door when the swooping started. Sadly, the bird smashed right into the glass. It flew to the fence across the sidewalk, and sat there sort of heaving for about twenty minutes before it finally left. As far as we ever knew it survived. The baby birdies still seemed to get fed and eventually flew away. As of about a week or so ago, we have a new resident in the nest. Aimee is already loving it, and maybe we will get Porter into the action as well this summer.

bubble gum

Last night we went to Aimee's first dance recital. It was very exciting. We have been preparing for a while, by doing bits and pieces of the dance at home or even in the car. We went to four Wal-Marts over the last couple of weeks in search of an XXS short sleeved black leotard. Sadly after all of that effort, I still had to settle for an XS that required several pins to make it modest. Yesterday we did everything an hour later than normal so that afternoon nap time would go a little later and prevent grumpy babies. We re-did piggies, and tied in matching ribbons. I knew this would be a night to remember, and it definitely was! I could have posted the video where she actually did do part of the dances but I thought this video summed up the recital rather well all on it's own. I take comfort in knowing that first, Aimee is nearly a whole year younger than everyone in her class. Second, she was not the only delinquent. Third, I have other videos of her at class actually doing the dances. And fourth, this little dance class was only ever meant to be something cute and fun for her to do. I knew as soon as we walked in and saw the balloons that we were in for entertainment! I think there were a few parents who were bugged at the apparent lack of focus, but I think there were even more who were either glad it wasn't their kid, or that just enjoyed a good laugh. I for one was glad that I was holding Porter so that I could hide behind his head and snicker to myself. At least the girl as confidence!