Ugh

Last night James started puking. I was hoping that he would be spared since it's been 2 days since Xander got sick but obviously that wasn't the case. I think it was better when they were sick at the same time b/c all week I have one sick and one rocketing around bored b/c no brother to play with. I hate it when they are starting to feel better but not 100% yet b/c that is when the whining really comes out...which combined with me not sleeping more than 2 hours straight in days doesn't go well together. I'm so tired.... James finally fell asleep for good at 2:30 and Xander was up at 4:30. I told Xander he had to go back to sleep and after much whining and pacification with a granola bar he did fall back alseep. It's been a really rough winter in terms of sickness. This is our 3rd bout of stomach bug in 6 weeks! Our daycare is actually closed for the week b/c everyone is so sick. Hopefully that is a good thing and we can come out of this forced quarantine germ free!

Yarn Along

So I have recently become knitting obsessed! As long as I can remember my mom has been a knitting fanatic and she has tried to teach me many times over the years and while I managed to master the basics I never had the time, patience, or interest in really learning or applying myself. I think I maybe finished one very short scarf in all those years. Then after Xander was born and we started cloth diapering I wanted some wool diaper covers for nighttime b/c Xander was such a supersoaker- the problem being that they cost an arm and a leg and I couldn't afford them.... but I could knit them! Hence a new crafty obsession was born... Then as the boys have gotten older I have found it very difficult to find time to get into my sewing room- basically they both have to be sleeping and at this point if they are both sleeping I probably am to! But with knitting we can go outside and they can play and I can sit and watch them while knitting... I can watch TV with Frank while knitting... the lists goes on. So I have several friends , especially among the Diaper Divas, who blog about knitting. One of them led to me to Small Things where Ginny blogs about reading and knitting- two of my favorite things. So I thought I would join along.

Brave New Knits is a pretty interesting book that has a lot of beautiful patterns in it. I'm particularly in love with the origami shrug and the milk maiden pullover. I must focus on finishing a few things that I already have yarn for before I get too carried away with big projects like those- but it is fun to dream. I have to take that book back to the library today and it is probably a good thing b/c otherwise I might convince myself I need some new yarn! The knitting is a skirty I am working on for a friend's daughter. I don't have any girls of my own so I have to satisfy the need to make cute girly things for my friend's girls!

just one week please...

Is it too much to ask to have one week when one of the kids isn't sick?!?!? Monday night Xander refused to eat supper so I let him sit on the couch for a bit while I got James cleaned up. Of course he then proceeds to vomit all over the couch and me! Ugh... So we all took a bath together and tucked everyone in. He woke up again about 10 and vomited again and then was up several more time int he night with diarrhea and vomiting. And of course he was upset and not feeling well each time he woke up so he was crying which then in turn woke James up. Fun times... this morning his temp was 101.7... and he was pretty much a lump. He seemed much better after his nap and definitely had more energy and even ate some supper so it amazing the resilience of these little guys. James, other than having his sleep interrupted, doesn't seem to be sick at all. I am feeling totally wiped of all energy and ability to do anything however.... Hopefully we can all get some more sleep tonight!

So needless to say we didn't make it to the dentist this morning so we have rescheduled that for the beginning of May. I think we just need some quiet time at home- I'm feeling a bit over scheduled these days! I feel like we are just running from one appointment to the next all the time. I think we will probably skip swimming tomorrow in favor of some down time. We did manage to make it to Xander's Team Evaluation meeting at the Winchester School yesterday afternoon. Basically this was the meeting to determine whether or not the school will find him eligible for continuing speech therapy services, which they did! Once Xander turns 3 he ages out of early intervention so then all services have to go through the school. Because of where his birthday falls it is going to be a bit weird b/c RISE (who we receive early intervention through can no longer give him services once he turns 3) but he won't be eligible for summer school services through the school. We can start him in preschool when he turns 3 but since there are only 2 weeks between his birthday and the end of school it seems a bit pointless to start him in school only to take him out again 2 weeks later. So the plan is that he will start preschool in the fall tues-thurs from 8:45-11:45 and he will receive speech therapy there 2x a week until he becomes more age appropriate. Right now his biggest challenge is in speech intelligibility rather than language acquisition. He is picking up words quickly now but it can be very difficult to understand what he says b/c of his phonetics. But then again by September if his ear issues continue to be resolved maybe so will his speech issues. We have a follow up with audiology in a few weeks to see how well he is hearing these days. But at least we know he is guaranteed a spot in preschool so that is a relief!

More Lambs...

Yesterday we had another new lamb- a little black girl. Which brings out total lamb count to 5 live lambs and 1 stillbirth. It is sort of sad that last year we had 2 ewes who gave us 5 lambs and this year we have 5 ewes who have given us 5 lambs but we have one more to come and realistically Mary probably won't have triplets every year- we can hope though! Right now we have 3 ram lambs and 2 ewe lambs. All 5 of these lambs will probably go for sale. The ram lambs for sure and the ewe lambs most likely b/c Frank only wants to keep ewes that have multiples in the genes and both of the ewe lambs were singletons. Plus then we could keep our ram another breeding cycle and not have to worry about it!

Lambs are just the cutest things ever!

Backpack

So James doesn't talk much. He doesn't even say "da-da" at this point. He really like "b" and "m" words and right now his vocabulary included about 7 or so words, and yet....

On the mend...

So it turned out that Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning was really the worst time of the stomach bug this round. Of course Monday was the day that Mom and I made the trek to Webs- yarn mecca! We spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Luckily it isn't too far away from here and Xander slept in the car. Tuesday in the morning Xander was still pretty wiped and having very frequent diarrhea, plus the vomiting all over the bathroom, so he was supposed to go for his ENT follow-up but we rescheduled for next week. I swear those appointments are like gold so I hate to cancel last minute but... there is only so much I can handle. They did seem to be feeling much better after naps but the diaper rash- ouch. Tuesday night we let Xander run around bare butt b/c he was making it to the toilet and his bum is starting to look better. Yesterday I went to work during the day, gasp I know.... and both boys survived gym and swim with Nan. I was only supposed to work until noon but then the unit was crazy so I escaped to go have lunch with Frank and then came back to work till 6pm. This morning we are still having the random bouts of loose stools nothing like before. Luckily so far Frank and I have escaped. Apparently it came from daycare this time b/c a bunch of the kids there have also been sick. I totally can't even fathom getting this bug now b/c I am supposed to work all weekend! Hopefully things will settle down a little!

Stomach bug hits again...

Poor Xander he just looks so miserable! Both boys have diarrhea now and have had intermittent vomiting episodes- luckily Xander managed to make it to the bathroom and puke all over the floor and not in my bed so that is a blessing... sort of! Xander has been trying so hard to make it to the potty but he hasn't always been sucessful. Both of them have wicked diaper rash but Xander- OMG I don't know how he is even sitting in the picture his butt is so bad! By this evening he was refusing to sit. I think the diarrhea had a reaction with the pull up or something b/c his behind literallly looks like he has been whipped! Copious slatherings of desitin have helped but ouch! Once the diarrhea subsides a bit we'll let him run around bare butt!

Our weekend away....

So this weekend Frank and I spent the whole time just the two of us and you know what I noticed the most... the quiet. Two little boys make A LOT of noise. It was just rather startling to me how quiet it was. All in all we had a lovely time. We left Friday afternoon a little behind schedule but not terribly late. We stayed at a wonderful B&B in Chester, Vt Called the Inn Victoria. It was perfect- charming, not too far away and the food was amazing! We stayed in the Prince Albert room b/c it had a jacuzzi and a fireplace plus access to the hot tub. I really just wanted the jacuzzi. With a king size bed it would have been truly prefect but the queen bed that was in the room was super comfy so ti made up for it's lack of size. When we got there Friday afternoon we had High Tea, which in all honesty was a meal in and of itself. There was tea of course plus mini quiches, shrimp puffs, and bruchetta followed by scones and chocolate covered strawberries with clotted cream and lemon curd, and that was followed by mini cheesecakes and chocolate petit fours shells filled with a cherry whipped topping. It was total decadence. After tea we got a tour of the inn and spent some time in our room just relaxing. Then we went for a walk and visited some of the local shops and had dinner at Alice's. They had the most amazing baked brie- it was wonderful! Chester is really a cute little town with lots of fun, Victorian homes and cute little shops. After supper we walked back to the Inn and went for a dip in the hot tub, after which I took a soak in the jacuzzi and read a trashy romance novel, while Frank watched some basketball and vaguely pathetically we went to bed early.

Saturday was an amazing 3 course breakfast- Maple Aebleskivers (they are like little pancake balls), then Baked apples with mascarpone cheese (the main ingredient in tiramisu), finished up with Eggs Benedict with homemade hollandaise and sausage. Who needs lunch after that? After breakfast Frank got a massage in our room while I took another soak in the jacuzzi and then he napped while I got a massage. It was heaven. I swear my back hasn't felt this good since pre-pregnancy and I think I grew like 1/8in taller. After massages we took another dip in the hot tub and then headed out to do some shopping. First we headed up to Proctorsville to Six Loose Ladies and Friends which is a cute little yarn shop. They had some really nice locally produced yarns and a really nice book section. I got this great book called Knitted Gifts that has a pattern for a Hobby Horse that I can't wait to try out for the boys. Then we checked out the local general store where, as Frank put it, they had more guns in one place that we'd ever seen in our lives! After that we headed back to Chester to Country Treasures which is possibly one of the biggest quilting shops I have ever seen. There was so much fabric in there it was truly astonishing. We spent quite a bit of time in there and then headed back to the Inn for our second High Tea, which was just as good as on Friday. After tea we went back to Country Treasures so that I could actually buy some fabric this time! Then we went to Hugging Bear which is this shop just crammed floor to ceiling with stuffed animals! They also have a B&B there which honestly was just a touch creepy with teddy bears peeking at you out the windows but we got some cute little toys to put in the boys Easter baskets. The we went back to the inn to relax for a bit before heading out for dinner. We had an amazing dinner at this roadside dive called Harry's. It was totally jam packed and we ended up eating at the bar but it was totally worth it because the food was to die for. I had jerk scallops and Frank had a grilled duck breast that was totally delicious. Then we waddled our stuffed selves back to the inn to sleep off our overindulgence.

Sunday began with another 3 course breakfast: muffins, fruit salad, and creme brulee french toast that I liked and I don't even like french toast! Then I took one last soak in the jacuzzi (can you tell I miss my old Jacuzzi tub..) and we had to check out. It was a sad moment. On the way home we stopped at the Vermont Country Store and Tractor Supply in Walpole (sexy I know...). We tried to have lunch at Burdick's but we missed their lunch hour so we just got some chocolates instead... aw shucks! We had lunch at this little barbecue joint on the way home that was yummy and then we rejoined the real world at home with the kiddos.

It was a really good weekend and we had a nice combination of us time and alone time together. It's was good for us I think to have some time to reconnect a bit. And we have definetly decided we need to get a hot tub!

James' 18 month appointment

Today James had his 18 month Dr appointment. All in all it went pretty well. He weighed in at 21 lbs, which puts him at about the 1st percentile for weight. It's down again from his last well child visit but he appears to be healthy in all other regards and he is following the same grwoth pattern as Xander (who's weight percentile picked up after he turned 2) so we are going to wait and see. Both the doctor and I agree that although he is a peanut he is a healthy peanut. I'd be more concerned if he didn't eat well but he eats everything in sight usually so I'm not too worried. Height wise he is growing well. Now he is 31 in tall, which puts him at the 16th percentile. That puts his BMI at 15, which makes him underweight but like we didn't know that! Also I really question whether or not BMI is a good measurement for toddlers. My tiny little peanut children- what can I say we grow them small! Head wise though he is at the 64th percentile with a head cicumference of 19 in! So basically he has a tiny body and a big head.

As for his ears he had fluid in both ears upon exam this morning so my guess is that we are heading for PE tubes for him as well. He is going to be evaluated for a speech delay by RISE in April so we'll see where he lands there and he has a repeat exam with audiology in a few weeks. He has picked a few new words recently- "ball" being his current favorite. He's pretty good about trying any words that begin with "b" or "m". I've been hearing something that sounds a lot like milk recently too so hopefully with some more work it will become more distinct.

Sleeping wise he has been doing well the last week or so but I am holding my breath hoping it lasts. We seem to have a few good days/weeks and then it goes downhill for awhile and just when you don't think that you can stand the lack of sleep any longer he'll go back to sleeping all night again! Frank is convinced it is his teeth coming in and I agree- although sometimes I wonder if he doesn't wake up because he is hungry. My guess at this point is when he wakes up and goes back to sleep easily it is b/c he is uncomfortable- either b/c of his teeth or bad dreams and when he wakes up and won't go back to sleep he is hungry or really in pain. It is so hard to tell and of couse he can't tell us!

Over the weekend with my mom he developed some diarrhea again so hopefully it will be short lived. She said that he vomited one time each morning Sat and Sun but then not again. But he has had some pretty loose stools. His poor bum looks pretty raw! We've managed to keep it under control with Desitin and haven't had to resort to hydrocortisone yet. It always seems to take him forever to get over the diarrhea (probably not helping his weight gain...) so we'll see how long this bout lasts.

James is 18 months old!

Today my baby is 18 months old! It's hard to believe...

A week of primping

This weekend for the first time almost ever Frank and I are going away for the whole weekend just the two of us and leaving the kids at home with my mom. I say almost b/c we did leave Xander at a friend's house when we had James and last August we went to a wedding in Ct and left the boys for 1 night with a friend. But this is the first time that we are going for what I would consider an extended stay away from them. I'm so excited that I have been spending the week getting ready! Last night I ended up being put on call at work but since I already had a chiropractor appointment I headed into Keene anyway and after my appointment I went and got a pedicure and painted my toenails fire engine red! It was heavenly to have a little bit of time for myself. I never did get called in last night (which for me is somewhat miraculous) so then this morning I was able to run down to the salon in town. They didn't have any morning appointments open but I made an appointment for this afternoon then went home and dyed my hair to cover my gray- sadly I have more gray than brown in the front these days.... I took my nap and then before I went to work got my hair cut and as a bonus she even styled it into an updo for me. Apparently I have a lot of breakage in my hair from constantly wearing it in a ponytail so she wanted me to see there were other ways to get my hair out of my face without a ponytail holder! Then I stopped in Keene before work to get my eyebrows waxed! It's like I am a whole new woman- will my hubby even recognize me tomorrow?!?!? Hopefully....

A visit to the dentist

So I know I posted earlier about going to the Dr a lot but really this is getting pretty ridiculous! Today I had to go back to the dentist b/c I had a cavity that needed to be filled. I have never had a cavity in my entire life and since I got pregnant I have like 4! I have 2 that they filled today and I have 2 more spots that will probably need to get done at my next appointment in 6 months. I guess I'd rather get them taken care of now then have big old honking cavities but it is amazing to me that I can go 30 years with nothing wrong and then have all these start popping up the second I got pregnant- might have something to do with the 9 months of vomiting... Oh yeah and I should lay off the coke zero but I admit it I am an addict!

Anyway today wasn't nearly as bad as I was fearing. There is just something freaky about the idea of someone drilling in your mouth but really the worst part was the nnumbing medicine and I really didn't feel anything at all. It just the noise of the drill. The dentist suggested an ipod and I was like you couldn't have suggested that before I was sitting in your chair! Having a numb mouth is just a bizarre feeling though. My mom met us at the Dr office and she watched the boys in the waiting room while I had my teeth taken care of and I didn't hear any screaming so it must have gone well. After the dentist we took the boys to Shorty's Mexican Roadhouse where they had... guess what... chicken nuggets... Then of course we had to hit LL Bean before heading home. I got some nice new t-shirts and a cool water bottle to use at the gym. I was supposed to be back in Keene by 3 for a staff meeting at work but we were a little late- oh well! At least I made it to the meeting this time!

I am a space cadet....

You know when you have those moments when you know you were supposed to do something and you just can't remember what so you blow it off- well DON'T! I worked last night and then I got up this afternoon thinking I was supposed to do something but then I told myself well there isn't anything on your calendar so you must be making it up. So then I went about the rest of the day until 6pm when my friend E. called and said aren't you coming over tonight for dinner? What a dunce! I felt like a complete idiot for forgetting... they were waiting dinner and everything. So lesson to all my friends and family out there; If I am supposed to be at your house or be meeting up with you and I am more than 30 minutes late and you haven't heard from me I FORGOT so give this space cadet a reminder call please!

A visit to the eye doctor

So today I went to the eye doctor for the first time in a very very long time! I had Lasix during my senior year in college in 1999 so I was really good about going to the eye dr then but since I came home from the Peace Corps I have noticed that I haven't been so good about going- ok I think I went once... I just never seemed to have the time. But over the last several years I have noticed that I was having some trouble reading street signs etc.. Mostly I didn't want to admit it to myself but then I got the notice that my driver's license is up for renewal in May and honestly I wasn't sure I could pass the vision test so I figured I had better go and get it taken care of before I have to renew my license.

So I dropped the kiddos off at daycare and hauled myself to the eye dr. Good things I dropped the kids off first cause that was a long appointment! Long story short I don't NEED glasses to drive I could probably pass the test without them but I am nearsighted enough that some glasses would help me drive more safely. So I earned myself a snazzy new pair of specs! and boy did I have some serious sticker shock when I went to go get them! I mean I knew glasses were expensive but whoowzers! They were still pretty outrageous and if I get them at the Optical Shop at work I get a 25% discount! But I did get to pick them out without kids helping me so that was nice but since the whole process took a lot longer than I expected I had to rush home so I could get a nap before having to go to work...who needs sleep, right.?

In more exciting farm news Mary had twin white ram lambs this morning.... more white babies! At least this time Mary is at least a white ewe.....

Playdate

Today was a pretty busy day. We started the morning with Gym and Swim. The boys are so funny and so different when it comes to this. Xander is typically running from one apparatus to the next at full speed trying everything and James just moves calmly between things often just laying down on the mat and watching the other kids for awhile. You'd think he was a total mellow fellow but really we know better. The same is true for the pool- Xander is jumping and splashing and swimming entirely independently (but with a floaty) and I can barely get James to even kick his legs- he just likes to float! Today was a practice run for my mom b/c the 23rd I have to work during the day (gasp...) for a training day at work and mom is going to take over gym and swim for the day. I think she felt more confident before the practice run than after... at least now she knows where the Y is. After class we made a run to The Knitting Knook in town b/c we always have to run to the yarn shop when Nan is visiting. I love local yarn shops (LYS)- they are so cozy and fun and there is so much beautiful yarn to look at but the LYS with both boys was a bit much for my patience! I did get some lovely yarn though... After the Knitting Knook we hit McDonalds for lunch of the way home- Xander was quite content with his chik'n-n-fries (yes it is all one words...). James fell asleep on the way home but Xander unusually only dozed and didn't seem to really want to take his nap when we got home.

Shortly after we got home Naomi and Reba came for a visit so I guess all things considered it wasn't a bad thing he didn't nap but I was worried that he would be cranky, luckily he wasn't really. So we had a lovely afternoon playing. Read more here. We even all tramped out to the barn to visit the animals and discovered a new baby! Sometime this afternoon Boop delivered a pretty little white female lamb! Not sure how the black mama and the black daddy had a little white lamb but I have given up trying to predict the color of anything- heck look at Xander!

After our visitor left we packed everyone up into the car and headed off to Ash Wednesday Mass, which for some bizzaro reason is one of my favorite masses of the year. I have no idea why but I just like that one! The kids were pretty good- Xander was zooming his "racy car" up and down the pew but he seemed to be bothering me more than anyone else! They both fell asleep on the way home and it was a quiet end to a nice, long day.

Surgery Day

I have a had a ton of posts sitting in my queue for awhile and for some reason they never got published so here I go blitzing again!

Today Xander had his PE tubes replaced and his adenoids taken out. We had to be at the hospital at 6:40 so today I guess it is a good thing that Xander is an early bird but then again trying to explain to and 2.5 year old that he can't have anything to eat or drink isn't exactly so much fun either. Luckily we were able to distract him until it was time to go. Nan came over to watch James while I took Xander to the hospital so Frank could go to work. She just got back from Italy yesterday afternoon from a skiing trip so we got to hear lots of fun stories about that and she brought the boys carnival hats- basically they look like jester hat with bells- but Xander insisted on wearing his Carnival hat to the hospital- what a cutie!

Anyway we got there, got checked in and headed off to the short stay unit to get ready. Everything went smoothly- all of the nurses loved Xander's jingling hat! I had a long talk with the anesthesiologists about Versed vs. no Versed. Xander had such a hard time coming out of the anesthesia the last time that I was really nervous about doing the versed again b/c I was concerned that would compound the effect of the anesthesia but after some much needed reassurance from the Dr (whom I work with and know from there) we decided we would use the versed but would go with a lighter dose than he received last time. Versed is dosed in a range and last time he got the upper edge of the range so this time we used the lightest dose- which actually ended up being 1/2 the dose he was given before. I signed all those consent form- yuck! We gave him the versed and waited about 10 minutes until that took effect and then they wheeled him away in their little plastic wagon. I think that is the one of the hardest parts of the process b/c at that moment you lose total control of what is being done to your baby.

So b/c he was having tubes and adenoids this time they said it would take about 30 minutes. I headed out to the waiting room after I gathered up all our stuff- I brought a bunch of toys etc to keep him occupied while we waited beforehand. I had brought some knitting with me in an attempt to keep myself occupied but that wasn't really working so I called home to check on James- who wasn't very happy that we had left him all alone with Nan but decided eventually that he was just going to take a nap. So I am sitting there with my knitting and 30 minutes comes and goes, then 45, then 50, by then I was getting pretty nervous but luckily before I could totally freak out DR Wilson came out to get me. Apparently they had a little bit of trouble getting his IV in so it has taken a little longer than expected. He said he still had quite a bit of infection in his left ear and so he irrigated out the middle ear. I guess his adenoids were quite enlarged and nasty looking as well so he wants him to stay on antibiotics another 2 weeks to make sure that we really get rid of this infection. Then I asked him about his tonsils and he said, "well... one thing at a time." So not the response I was hoping for. I guess they didn't look great but the Dr. was concerned about doing tubes, an adenoidectomy, and a tonsillectomy all at the same time unless it was urgently necessary. We had discussed a tonsillectomy prior to the surgery but at the time Xander didn't seem to really need it so... hopefully he won't still need it in the future.

So Xander was still asleep in a nurses' arms when I got to the recovery room which was a big change from the last time when I got in there and he was already freaking.... They transferred him to me which woke him up so it probably wasn't the best thing ever but I needed to hold him and make sure he was alright. He was pretty feisty again this time but it was better all and all. He still cried and trashed a lot but I at least felt like this time you could calm him a little and he did have periods where he would doze back off and rest quietly. He really did not like the oximetry probe and the IV though- he kept shaking his foot with the oximeter on it until they finally had to take it off b/c he was so wild about it. He would have ripped that IV right out if he had been able to get a hold of it but we managed to keep it out of his grasp. This was a better experience overall too b/c I didn't feel like they were kicking us out the door the second he was remotely awake. He had to be able to drink before we could leave and they could take the IV so we were quite so rushed- he was really fully awake and more himself before we left. It was really funny though because I was sitting in the rocking chair with him and he was drifting in and out and then all of a sudden he was awake and he says the me "look mama there's a train track!" and he started pointing at the ceiling where there was indeed some train tracks running across the ceiling. It was just as if you had flipped a light switch and he was totally and complete awake and aware- it was just kinda weird!

So we left the hospital and headed home and he was really good the rest of the day. He wanted to watch some TV so we let him watch some Diego and he seemed kinda sleepy and drowsy the rest of the morning. He was pretty content to just sit on the couch and he took his nap with no fussing. When he woke up from his nap he was basically back to his old self. We tried to keep him mostly contained but he was raring to go. So the plan is to go to swim class tomorrow- we'll see how he is when he wakes up in the morning!

James goes to Audiology...

As James has been getting closer and closer to his 18 month birthday and his speech has not been improving with time- he now says 4 words, "ma-ma", "bye", "Yes", and "mine"- Xander's speech therapist has been encouraging me to get him evaluated. Part of me wanted to proceed with this evaluation so that if there was a problem we could address but there is this other part of me that has said just give it a little more time, he'll be fine! Denial is a wonderful thing. I guess I didn't want to admit that something could be wrong. I kept telling myself that he just isn't talkative b/c Xander talks for him, blah, blah, blah... Well as time has marched on and he hasn't really gained much int he way of speech, he has started to get very frustrated with us when we can't understand him so a few weeks ago I started the ball rolling for an evaluation. Step 1 check his hearing, step 2 have an official developmental evaluation.

Now usually it takes months to get an audiology appointment so imagine my surprise when they called and said we have an opening next week do you want it? Scramble to change some other things around and heck yeah! Somehow I managed to make it to the appointment hideously late, even now I am not sure how we managed to be that late..I even wore a watch that day to make sure we wouldn't be late (might have had something to do with the fact that I never wear a watch so my watch turned out to be running slow by about 15 minutes- uh oh!) but luckily they squeezed us in. So we troupe into the little booth, me, Xander and James and the testing proceeds. We had some technical difficulty in that the Winnie the pooh that is supposed to light up to give him positive reinforcement wasn't working and Xander wouldn't stop talking the whole time! but despite that she managed to get the testing done. After the booth testing we went to have a tympanogram done for which James was incredibly cooperative and Xander was totally stoked b/c it wasn't his turn this time. He kept asking if they were looking for bunnies and did they find any bunnies in James' ears (in an effort to get him to cooperate at his last tympanogram the tech asked him if she could look in his ears for bunnies...). Then we discussed the results...

James can't hear. At least not very well. He has a bilateral mild to moderate hearing loss. His tympanograms are flat and yes flat is bad. Flat means he has fluid in his ears and his ear drums aren't moving the way they should. The good news is that the cause of his hearing loss is most likely the fluid in his ears and that is fixable... with PE tubes. That means surgery and our 3rd set of tubes in 9 months! Yuck! But so as not to rush to judgement since he did have a cold the week before his exam we will go back in 6 weeks for a repeat tympanogram. Only if the repeat is still flat will they refer us to ENT with recommendation of PE tubes. So now we wait on James and prepare for Xander's repeat tubes tomorrow!

Biweekly Dr visits- yuck!

Wednesday Xander's ear was still draining copious amounts of green/yellow discharge so I took him to the ENT. Apparently nobody is particularly concerned that a week of ear drops and 5 days of oral antibiotics later his ear isn't clearing up at all... except me that is! It is depressing me to constantly hear this little voice saying, " mommy, my ear too hurt!" So back to the Dr we went where they were like well he has an infection... like the pus draining from his ear for the last 10 days hadn't already told me that! But we started him on a different stronger antibiotic. So today I took him back to the ENT for his pre-op appointment and while his ear is better it continues to drain yellow, albeit thinner, discharge. At least his skin is healing up now and his whole ear lobe isn't a raw mess! The short story is that we are tentatively a go for sugery next week. The ENT said there is too much drainage to do it now but with the stonger antibiotics hopefully it will have cleared enough by Tuesday that they can take care of it... so Tuesday we head back to the hospital at some unknown hour- we have to call monday to find out the surgery time- and hope (fingers crossed, pretty please with a cherry on top) that his ear drum has healed (apparently it only takes a day to heal up...) and the drainage has cleared enough to proceed. The ENT tried to put him on a stonger antibiotic but after much hassle that I don't really want to talk about- PITA- it was determined that the only way to get a stronger dose would be for him to take pills that he would have to swallow and I don't think he is old enough for that quite yet. If it were chewable no problem but to swallow one of those antiobiotic horse pills - I'd rather not have him choke thank you! So ear drops and Augmentin XR 2x day- 4 days and counting...

PS- next week between both boys and myself we are scheduled for Dr appointments almost daily- Audiology monday, surgery tuesday, dentist wednesday, and eye dr thurs. When did my life become a round of office appointments?