Off Track Isn't really off Track

I have heard a lot of horror stories about tonsillectomies. Enough that I really wasn't convinced that I wanted to have hers out. Here we are at day 3.... looks horrible doesn't it..... knock on wood. Our ENT said if you have a child that is disagreeable, ornerie, wets the bed, and snores, pulling the tonsils usually corrects all those things. Can I take a few more of mine in to do take them out?. I have already seen a huge difference in her demeanor. Not that she was ever bad, but we had a few months there when she had constant ear infections, and ear aches, where I needed a break from her. The past 4 weeks when she has been on antibiotics have been wonderful. She felt good, you could tell. I think the hardest part of this, will be keeping her on soft food for 3 weeks. She wants pizza and goldfish and pretzels. The day before surgery, mom my came into town to watch the kids. So we got up on Friday and took the baby to my MIL, who live down the street from the hospital. I needed to be able to go feed her. Checked 4 of 6 in, and waited, and waited and waited. When they finally took her back, we went and ate and she was done shortly after. When we checked in, her oxygen levels we at 96, after surgery, she was between 96 and 98. Even sleeping and on drugs she saturated well. She was doing so well, she ate and napped, and they let her come home instead of keeping her over night. Unfortunately we got a call from my MIL saying my SIL had to take her little boy into the ER because his oxygen levels were too low. They are running tests to find out what is wrong. His ped thinks they should just pull out his tonsils and that would fix the problem. I hope its that easy of a fix.

A little Codeine with your Tylenol???? We actually haven't had to give her more than a few doses of reg. Tylenol. And she's fine.
My kids have been off track for 2 weeks now. A few times our house has looked like this. We were having Ramen for lunch, and they ate 5 packs.....
I love that they want to play here.
You can't see very well, but these are the skirts I made for the girls. I would love to learn how to follow a pattern well enough to make boys shirts.
It's funny, because I never feel like I have a lot of kids, until we have to go someplace and people look at you like, 'wow, you have a lot of kids'. I would have a few more, if Trent would let me.

This is from my friend Jen's blog,

USING ONLY ONE WORD

Not as easy as you might think! Now forward, change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to send back to the person you received it from!

Where is your cell phone? Computer

Significant other? commuting

Your hair? brown

Your mother? employed

Your father? unemployed

Your favorite thing? quiet

Your dream last night? none

Your favorite drink? Water

What room are you in?Kitchen

Your hobby? music

Your fear? suffocating

Where do you want to be in 6 years? here

Where were you last night? inlaws

Something that you aren't? skinny

Muffins?yes

Wish list item? carpet

Last thing you did? rearranged

What are you wearing? shirt

TV? loud

Your pets? lots

Friends? yes

Your life? amazing

Your mood? antsy

Missing someone? yes

Drinking? no

Your car? van

Something you're not wearing? shoes

Your favorite store? none

Favorite color? blue

When is the last time you cried? pregnant

Who will resend this? ?

Where do you go to over and over? kitchen

My favorite place to eat? kitchen

Favorite place I'd like to be at right now? camping

Four people I think will respond ?Korrie Michelle Kristy Stamps

Tag you are it! Copy and fill in your own answers.

On The Mend

The snot has dried up, the coughs have quieted, the sleeping is sound, the crying has subsided. I can sit for a few minutes now. It has been a rough month. January is usually excruciatingly long. This January has been no exception. Last year it was because of the inversion. This year is was the sickness. The baby got a stuffy nose about Christmas. It kept up until she caught this latest sick that turned into an ear infection. So she is on day 5 of her antibiotics, which caused a yeast infection. But she feels good, she can breathe and a happy baby makes for a happy rested mom. 5 of 6 got it bad too. She has tubes in her ear so I didn;'t worry. Even when she started having accidents a week ago I thought, she just doesn't feel well. Well, last night either her ear drum burst, or her ear drained, but it was gross. The problem with her, we're used to 4 of 6 just laying down and taking medicine, letting us put drops in her ears and eyes. 5 of 6.... no. It's full blown screaming wailing, pinning down, tourture. She also got pink eye last week so were putting drops in her eyes, ears, and medicine in her mouth. So on to 4 of 6. Yes, once again we are on antibiotics. The surgery didn't happen because she got the sick too and the anithesiologist wouldn't touch her. She actually tried to send us to the emergency room. The ENT sent us home, and even after he told her that, the nurse still tried to send us. He was so mad. then they argued in front of us. I'm glad the ENT won. In this state, it's not really up to the parents. They have taken kids away from their parents to treat them if the parents refuse medical treatment.
So he sent us home with antibiotics. This time it was a 2 week supply to get us through to her next surgery date. She had just finished a dose 5 days earlier. I will be so happy to get her off antibiotics and not have to do this again for awhile. That is the expected outcome of the surgery. We have also decided to do a diagnostic kindergarten with her. I think that will help us decide what the best place for her is for her school career.
I am looking forward to Feb. 5 of 6 will turn 2, and 3 of 6 will be 7. 3 of 6 was tested for the accelerated program this month, and I have no doubt he will pass. He is reading at a 2nd grade level, and can sound out any of the words when we read scriptures together at night. He's one of those kids that just gets it. He loves his piano lessons, and has almost gotten the song memorized that he is playing for his recital. 1 of 6 is also bright, but she has an 'imagination brain' she spends a lot of time in la la land. Therefore we are failing a few subjects in school. Not because she doesn't know how. She just doesn't turn her assignments in after she does them. So we will be putting her on a different on a different track. It'll be a pain in the butt for the family. But, if it helps her succeed in school, I will do it. I don't know what else to do. Plus, when 4 of 6 starts school there she won't be able to be on D track. That's the track with the accelerated program. So the girls can be on 1, the boys on the other. And it's only for 2 more years. Then she'll be in JH.
I was reading a friends blog this morning. It put into words my gaols for being a mom. So far it has been working. We have a happier better run home. It's still not as clean as I would like. But that won't happen until we're done remodeling. I did however go pick out paint colors for the entry living room and kitchen last night. I am so excited. Anyway. I feel content Trent and I are happier and the kids listen better. it's amazing what a difference a mom's change in attitude makes in the home.

Gross

Since my last visit to my blog..... a few things have been happening.
We had a visit from my sister in OR. She has 2 cute little kids that are the same age as my youngest. Unfortunately the stopped in Vegas and picked up a burly cold before they came. So I have 1 really sick 5 of 6, a 6 of 6 who has been stuffy for 5 days and a cough starting, and a 4 of 6 who has started coughing. I normally don't mind my kids getting sick. Kids get sick, it's good for them to get a cold and fight it. But, 4 of 6 was supposed to have surgery this Friday. that will probably not happen. I am really disappointed. This really needs to happen, and the sooner the better. She was healthy for a whole 10 days before yesterday. That is probably a record.
And there is nothing worse than a sick baby. I don't sleep, she doesn't sleep. And I still have to get up and take care of a sick 2 year old. On top of that, we have picked up remodeling again, so Trent gets home and starts working on the house. Which means no break for me from the time they get up until they go to bed. I'm tired.
6 of 6 found her thumb. Not a good thing. The okay thing, is that she takes a binky too. 5 of 6 NEVER took a binky. We tried. She doesn't seem to have her heart set on her thumb like 5 of 6 did. She just needs to suck on something.
We also had our first bout of pink eye. Hopefully our last. But since it was the 2 year old who got it, I'm sure she is working her hardest to spread it.
And it is IEP time for 4 of 6. I am actually torn as to what to do with her. I thought I had my heart set on mainstream. I don't anymore. I saw her in a class setting, and playing with other kids her age, and it broke my heart. They don't play with her. She can't even play with them, she doesn't understand the games. they play 'keep away from Eva'. I was sad. There is a group of women I exercise with in the mornings (when 5 of 6 doesn't have pink eye) and all the little girls go off and play, then get invited to each others houses for a play date after. She's just not part of it. Every once in a while I get reminded that she is different. Does she care? Probably not yet. But she's not going to keep up if she is main streamed. Will she be included by the other 'typical' kids? Will she care? Will she learn better and more if she is in a small segregated class? Do I want her to have a more social school experience? Or academic? I just don't know. I am going to go talk to the principal of the school tomorrow, who also has a son with DS, and maybe have her give me her take. Other than that, we are here, trying to not spread the gross.

The Old Swicheroo

It has been a busy week of odds and ends and things up in the air. We finally have an answer to a few problems.
First, we have traded the diapers for 5 of 6 and given them to 4 of 6. I hesitate to say she is officially potty trained since we only started a week ago. But, she hasn't had an accident in 2 days, and has pooped on the potty every day since Saturday. No accidents. There was one problem on Sunday when 4 of 6 tried to 'help' her. She's been doing so well that I don't cringe every time she asks for a drink, because I know it means she'll have to pee. She tells me when she has to go, or will just come tell me 'mom I peed' after the fact. 1 of 6 was this easy, but that's been 7 years. 2, 3 and 4 of 6 were hard. So, at 22 months, I think she has it down. I should have guessed, she would freak out when she peed on herself, just like 1 of 6 did. She's even waking up dry.
Which brings me to the next problem to be solved. 4 of 6 is wetting the bed again. Well, maybe still. But, she was dry for about a week. Just long enough to get us confident enough to not use diapers at night. So I took her back in to the dr. and she had another ear infection. Her ped. said, just pull the tonsils out. I made an appt with the ENT to see what he thought. The idea of taking them out still didn't sit well with me yet. This was about 6 days after we started a round of antibiotics. He sat her down and looked at her ear, and said she had an infection in the right side, and a hole in the left ear drum that looked like it needed a patch. SO on the 22nd we are taking her up to PCMC to get a tube put in the right side, a patch in the left, and we decided that while she was out, we'd pull the tonsils and adenoids. I'm hoping this fixes the problem. I'm hoping that she will sleep better, and wake up dry, and knock out the ear infections. I just can't keep putting her on antibiotics. They did a hearing test when we were there, and she already had moderate hearing loss.
3 of 6 has also been accepted to test for the accelerated program for next year. He has such a strong desire to read, that he has just excelled at it. And the math just comes easy to him. It's been so much fun to see him learn to read.

The Wall

Since there is nothing new, here is a picture of what our remodel project is doing now. This used to be a solid wall.

The Start of a New Year

I'm not a big fan of resolutions. I love goals and accomplishing things. I love working on my progress. But if I set a resolution, I never stick to it. So I set goals through out the year and constantly strive to be better and do better. SO I guess my resolution, is to keep making and setting goals. To never stop progressing.
This week we started a few projects. Project 1. Potty training. She had been waking up dry and peeing occasionally on the potty for a month or so. So Tuesday, I bit the bullet, and just put the underwear on her. 1st day.... wonderful, only 1 accident. 2nd day, she only peed one the potty 2 times. 3rd day, pooped in her pants peed in her pants all day long. I was going to give up and put her back in diapers. This morning we got up, and it was still a disaster. But I remembered my own advice... get through the 1st week, then decide. I put her down for her nap just discouraged. When she got up she asked to sit on the potty, sat down and pooped. What?? seriously? Then after drinking tons, she has had 3 accidents, but made it at least 10 times. By herself. I have only had to ask her if she has to go 3 times, the rest of the time she has just gone, and said "mom, look I peed" It's funny, her vocabulary has also exploded over the past few days too.
SO, we're not out of the woods, I know we will have rough days. But, I'm feeling optimistic. And happy. And maybe she is easy, but I think ANY kid would be easy after the past 2 potty training experiences.
Trent's project.... he's putting in a new entry way. We took out the closet in the entry way to create a direct line from the door to the living room, instead of the line from the door to the kitchen. We are closing off that way and making a little nook for a bench and coat hooks. Kind of a little mud room. Hopefully soon you will see a nice entry when you walk in, instead of 1980's blah.
I am also so excited about 11 am church. I love 9, but I'm ready for 11. I am also happy that Trish has decided to be 4 of 6's primary teacher again this year. What a trooper 14 sunbeams, including 4 of 6, and one that's not old enough to be in there. all active. Thank you for loving 4 of 6.

And of course, always finish a post with a picture of a happy baby.