Usually when I go into well child check-ups they are usually quick and straight to the point...the doctor asks how it's going, and I respond good, no concerns and we go on with the routine exam. You all know the drill.
This time was out of the ordinary. I did have to talk through some concerns about Tucker. His constant runny nose and blood shot eyes.
Since Christmas 2o10 he's had a runny nose and been very congested. He's definitely had his fair share of ear problems too. We've alreay been to the ENT and the plan we came up with then (which was a month or so ago I believe) was to watch him through the summer months and hopefully he'll clear up, if not...I'll have him looked over again and we'll talk about tubes but try to hold off on the tonsils and adenoids til he's a little older.
So today, Dr. Pals begins her exam and determines he still has fluid in the ears so we did a tympanigram to make sure the movement in his ears is good. The results were sub-par but not HORRIBLE, so again we're just going to "watch" it. I feel like that's all I'm ever told with this kid, let's just "watch" it. She agrees that we're most likely dealing with allergies and recommends we up our daily dose of zyrtec from 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp. And also says that his blood shot eyes are a symptom of his allergies. The Dr. said that I can have the allergist take a look at him and test him to see what we're really dealing with. I'm not sure if we'll do this or not, although I think it would be nice to know for sure what's going on. I'll just wait and see how he does the next few weeks and then decide whether to do the test or not.
That pretty much covers all my concerns. She also checked over his birth mark that he has on his tummy and made sure it was the same size and such. She said we need to keep an eye on it, which won't be hard since it's right there on his tummy , especially as he gets older the chances that it could become melenoma is higher. That was good to know for future reference.
Now, how can I describe Tucker at age 2?
-Ornery
-Persistent
-A charmer
-A little monkey (he LOVES to climb onto bicycles that are way too big for him and can do ANYTHING at the park, a little scary if you ask me)
-Talks very well --you can definitely tell that he has older siblings, he says things like: "Let go" "Stop it" "Give it back"--notice the trend?
-Runs or hops wherever he goes
-Still sucks his thumb at bedtime
-Goes to bed at 7 and wakes up at 7 or 8am
-Is very protective of his siblings when he sees Adam wrestle them--he'll scold Adam and get right in his face and tell him what's what
All in all, Tucker keeps us very busy. It's taken 2 years for us to feel like we really are in a groove now. We're not just surviving anymore but thriving. That's such a good feeling! God's really blessed us in many ways and we'll aways be thankful for that!
What a 2011 we've had so far. Just to recap quickly. In January, Lilly and Thatch had T&A's. From January to the Present, Tucker's nose hasn't quit running (this is a whole new post in itself). In February, we all got the stomach flu bug that his every other household this winter. And in March, Adam fell off a roof.
Yep, 2011 has been a doozie. On March 1 (I think), Adam hobbles in the front door with the help of Ryan and Brandon. My heart begins to race and I get all flustered. Now what happened, I think to myself. Not again, I think to myself. Oh Man, I think to myself.
I get the scoop: The guys were measuring some roofs for the Spring and Adam set the extension ladder up onto icy concrete at a not-so-good angle. All 3 men climb the ladder, do their thing Adam steps onto the first rung of the ladder and there he goes, along with the ladder. He remembers pretty much everything, he tells the guys that he's ok but just needs a minute to catch his breath but then realizes that he can't get up. With Adam unable to help himself and the ladder now laying on the ground, Brandon lowers Ryan to the ground-they are probably about 8ft off the ground. Good think Brandon is made of muscle and good thing that Ryan is as small as he is. They help Adam in to the truck and they ask him if he wants to go to the ER or home? Of course he chooses home. Adam starts to white out on the ride home and feels nauseous.
This brings me back to him hobbling into the front door. It was a cold day so as his hands are cold but now start warming up in the house which makes them extremely painful. His right hand is cut up pretty badly (probably from trying to catch himself on the gutters as he was falling). We get that cleaned up and then he tells the guys that his elbow feels kind of funny. We pry his layers off and find this... Now don't let his face fool you. He's in extreme pain and can't stop shaking. I think he was in shock. We call Amanda, our friend who's an athletic trainer for the college, to come over and look at it. She looks it over and really suggests that we go in. She runs to get us some bandages and comes back to wrap it for us. She continues to tell us that she talked it over with another trainer while she was gone and he too thinks that it sounds like it could be a fracture so we should go in. Thanks again, Amanda, for helping us out. We wait around some more at home and Adam continues to shake so I say, we really need to go in. So we call Ryan, who's still working, and ask him if he can watch the kids. He graciously accepts.
We arrive at the ER and find out that Dr. Clemens will be the doctor. What a blessing! Adam goes for some x-rays. Dr. comes back in with some not-so-good news. His elbow is broken in multiple places. We think that he'll need repair in 2 different places. They make some calls into CNOS in Sioux City (to the orthopedic surgeon) and after some talk, they decide that he won't need Emergency surgery. Another blessing! In the meantime, I call Adam's parents to let them know what's going on. Connie decides that she's coming to Orange City and that she'll leave at 4am in order to get here by 8am the next morning (another blessing). Dr. Clemens also decides that he should get x-rays on his head (ended up just being a concussion), his right knee (ended up being just bruised), and his left hip (also just a bruise), more blessings! We decided that this fall could have been way worse. Imagine, a crushed elbow, a broken knee, and some head injury. After however much time passes by, Dr. Clemens puts a splint on his elbow and sends us on our way.
(This picture was taken the next morning or so but this is how he left the ER)
We left the ER hoping that we could get the surgery scheduled within a day or two. We were referred to Dr. Kensinger who is the trauma surgeon and and expert in that area for CNOS and Mercy Hospital. After a lot of waiting for the phone to ring and multiple calls from Dr. Clemens to check up on us and make sure we are being taken care of, we get a call that the surgery won't be til Monday (that's going through the whole weekend yet). Dr. Clemens finds this out and makes a phone call to CNOS to make sure that this is scheduled like this for a good reason and not just because it's a schedule reason and can't fit him in. Come to find out that the longer we wait for surgery the better it could be b/c the swelling won't as bad. However, Adam calls them back and says that we need to do it sooner than that (keeping in mind that Connie is already here in Orange City). CNOS totally understood so the surgery got scheduled for Friday, the 4th.
In the meantime, we end up calling Dr. Clemens to look at his elbow again because Adam's hand is kind of turning purple and swelling. He has us come back in, this is on the 2nd I believe. He unwraps is and checks it over and makes sure there's still no exterior tear. It was still swollen but now showing bruising too. This is what it looks like now... Thursday afternoon we go to Sioux City for a consultation at CNOS. More x-rays are done and that's when we're really told that his elbow is just crushed. We got to see the images and you didn't need to be an expert to see that. It's now like a few minutes before 5 and we're told that surgery is being planned for tomorrow morning as long as they can get a MRI on the elbow and they close at 5. So we scurry to get that done (in a different building, but again they were gracious enough to let us in and do the scan). Dr. Kensinger uses the MRI as his road map for surgery. Keep in mind that this surgery is scheduled as Same Day Surgery.
I'm probably forgetting some details, but I think the main ones are getting covered.
We show up at 6am in Sioux City at Mercy Medical Hospital. Get all settled in the same day surgery center. The nurses ask if Adam's allergic to anything, "yep" I say, "he can't really handle codeine". "What happens?" they ask. "He just gets really irritable and dizzy." "Oh, that's just a side effect" they respond. Some more time passes by, they give him all the pills that Dr. Kensinger ordered before surgery-some for pain, some for nauseousness, etc, etc. I don't know how many, but it was a lot. He takes them and right away it happens. He feels light-headed and just wanted to crawl out of his skin. Before, he was really excited for the surgery just so that he could start rehabilitating but now he wanted to flee the building, that's how uncomfortable he was. He just has to close his eyes until they're ready for him to go into surgery. It's so hard to see your husband so uncomfortable and there's nothing I could do to help him but stay strong.
Surgery was scheduled to last 1.5 hrs. I waited in the waiting room and worked on taxes, that was a good way to keep my mind busy. I was updated personally by one of Dr. Kensinger's nurses. She came out at about the 1.5 hr mark and said that it'll be longer than expected but it was going good but just a lot of pieces to put together. It was a pretty big jig saw puzzle. She informed me that I could have a call into the surgical room for an update anytime I wanted. I did that once, I think. After 3 hrs, I was called and told they were done. I met with Dr. Kensinger and he told me that he got it all put together and then took an x-ray and found another piece of the joint that wasn't right so he had to take it all apart to fix it and then put it back together again. That's why it took so long. He said he wasted more screws on this surgery than he ever has. Adam ended up having 9 screws put in and one plate. There's a 50/50 chance that after 6 months the plate will bother him so it will need to be removed but I think otherwise it'll stay in. Ok, so the surgery was a success (Blessing!) and he's recovering in the operating room right now. He's already very nauseous. So they're trying to have that subside before he gets moved to the same day recovery room and I can see him. An hr or so passes and I am told that I can see him. They couldn't even transfer him from his bed to the chair they usually use b/c he's too nauseous. He's so pale. The only thing he can do is sleep. He sleeps the afternoon away with them still medicating him with morohine through his IV and trying to treat his nauseousness with everything they can think of. Remember me saying that he doesn't handle codeine well? Well, now they believe me. I start to get frustrated at this point because it's nearing the end of the day and he still can't do anything but sleep and they just let him.
He finally wakes up and teases the nurse and asks if he can go home, and she believes him, she says, "yep, just ..." He stops her and says, "I was just kidding, I can't go home right now." Now, I am no nurse BUT, what nurse would just say yes to a patient who just had extensive surgery and can't even sit up without being nauseous and who has slept all day long just because he can't stand to have his eyes opened???? I was so frustrated! There are other details that had lead to my frustration at this point... -a nurse who was frazzled right away when I came to see Adam after the surgery. As they were changing shifts she kept apologizing saying she's tried everything under the sink for him. this is the last thing I want to hear. I realize she was probably frustrated too but don't let me see that. -the new nurse on duty now barely checked on him. I was in the room the entire time she came on shift and not once did she try to talk to Adam and see how he was doing. She just let him sleep. I realize also that he needed some sleep, but what they didn't GET was that the meds were making him sleepy, AHHHHHHHHHH! -Once he woke up and was still nauseous, I finally had it. I asked for the patch they put on the back of his ear for the nauseousness to be removed-it was for motion sickness. Well, knowing my husband, he's tried motion sickness meds before and they just wipe him out--kind of like this. -there were 2 nurses at the end of the day and they were very unprofessional, I asked for ice chips at one point, and watched her and she instead sits down at her desk and talks to a friend who happened to stop by, so I go out and ask again and she got the point that I was frustrated. They were also saying that they thought they were going to be out of their early that day, hello, we're still here and can hear you. We were the first ones there and are the last ones there too, I am a little frustrated too.
After a little more time passes by I convince Adam that he should try to stay awake and sit up since it's getting late, we try to stand. We didn't get too far, no steps were taken. He was too light headed. We did this a couple more times and just decide that he can't go home in this shape. We ask to be admitted.
I am still trying to be brave and strong for Adam. They take us upstairs to his room. The nurse there was WONDERFUL! I finally just totally lost it. She was very consoling and compassionate. I know I probably was more tired than anything. I knew in the back of my mind that this would probably happen but was hoping for it not to happen.
They told me that they usually don't let family stay overnight (Adam had a roommate named Howard, who was like 90) but that I could if I wanted since Howard wouldn't care (or wouldn't even know). We decide that I would rest better if I just stayed at a friend's house. So to Dave and Rebekah's I went. I slept so good.
The next morning, I show up at 8ish. He's still light headed but mildly better. He still just sleeps. We decide that the game plan is to have no more morphine since we won't be able to go home with it. He starts taking the first prescribed med (Lortab) and it just doesn't settle well with him. He gets a different pain med prescribed (Tramadol-50mg). This seems to do the trick. He starts feeling a little bit normal. The day goes well for the most part. My biggest frustration was that I felt like Adam and I had to figure it out all on our own and he wasn't even able to think straight most of the time. I told them right away that he doesn't react well to meds with codeine-all the meds they were trying to give him had codeine or codeine derivatives in them. I felt like they didn't take me seriously.
Anyway, we finally were discharged Sat. afternoon. He looked like this... He was put into a 180 degree cast/more like a splint. Elevation was very important still.
On Monday, the 7th, we went back to CNOS and they took the splint off. This is what it looked like... and had Adam bend his arm to 60 degrees. This was very painful for him. They just wrapped it up to protect his incision and put him into a locked brace at 60 degrees. Elevation still important.
(picture taken at Sioux Falls Surgical Hospital at Lilly's teeth procedure (another post in iteself))
Another 2 weeks later, March 21st, we had another appt. This time they unlocked his brace so that he could bend it from 30 degrees to 90 degrees. Throughout the next 2 weeks, he just worked on this movement.
Another 2 weeks later, the 5th of April, they took the brace away completely and Adam is suppose to try and stretch his elbow as far as he can (just so he feels a stretching feeling not a sharp painful feeling) to full extension and full flexsion.
He's doing well. Dr. Kensinger said he could be surprised but doesn't think that Adam will get full extension and flexsion back but as long as he's withing 5-10 degrees of that. If Adam can do most of that on his own over the next 4 weeks then he won't need any physical therapy, otherwise he will.
I don't have an updated pix now. But it actually looks like a pointy elbow now. I will update that soon.
Thatcher and Lilly begged to play in the little snow that we had one last time. It's so fun to see them play with each other. Most times they play well together, Lilly usually does the bossing and Thatcher is usually ok with just going along with it. (once in a blue moon, Thatcher will have none of Lilly's bossiness which in turn doesn't usually work out too well then)
They had a blast trying to have a snow fight. I happened to be watching little Orin this day. They were having just as much fun-but only from the window. It's been great having Orin here usually a couple days a week. He loves when Lilly reads to him and when Thatcher will share his trains with him. But boy oh boy, when he and Tucker get together, it usually means trouble. I can usually find them downstairs, in the bathroom, or their favorite spot--the closets.
Lilly turned 5 in February. She already had the opportunity to attend a couple of her classmate's birthday parties so I knew that when it was her turn she was going to want to have friends over also. I was not prepared for this stage of life so soon. It seems like just yesterday that we were still making all her decisions for her and she had no will of her own. What happened? So we scheduled a Saturday to play with her school friends. I was one of those moms who limited the number of girlfriends she was able to ask. This decision was a little difficult for her since she is our little social butterfly. I originally said 4 friends plus her would be great but she "convinced" me that she had to ask 5 of her friends, so she did. Five is was, unfortunately 1 got sick so was unable to attend.
They had so much fun. Just so I remember for future reference, they all came over around 12:30pm. They played for a while and then we did some craft projects. We put together candy necklaces and made bead bracelets. They each received their own goody bag with jewelry, candy and their finished crafts. After the crafts we opened gifts and had ice cream and cupcakes. Then it was playtime again. At 3ish we dropped them all off at their homes. It was so fun to see Lilly play with her classmates. It's such a different kind of play that I am used to seeing with her brothers and her friends of our friends. Some of the girls did imaginative play while others just chased each other around the house. We're looking forward in seeing how Lilly develops as she enters Kindergarten with and without some of her preschool friends.
At 5 Years Old... -You are such a Little Lady -You love anything Pink -You love to nurture your babies -You love to play with barbies, babies, my little ponies, princesses, or polly pockets -You love to play kitchen-coming up with all sorts of recipes -You love to draw pictures and write your letters -You love to go to school -You love to dance -You love to rhyme and make patterns -You are the life of a party -You are a Daddy's Girl -You love to go shopping with Mom or Grandma -You are starting to eat or at least try anything -You no longer wet the bed -You still won't fall asleep in your own bed by yourself. You fall asleep on the couch and then we transfer you to your bed (anyone have suggestions on this one: she's too scared to fall asleep by herself in her room????) -You don't take naps; otherwise bedtime is way too hard -You love to take care of your brothers or cousin Orin We love you so much Lilly. We are so excited to see all the neat things God has planned for you. Keep growing into that lovely little person and remember that you can always count on God!
On January 19th, Lilly and Thatcher went in to get their tonsils and adenoids removed. Crazy is what you all may be thinking I know. However, we knew that it needed to be done and it needed to be done on both kids, so why not just be super focused with it one time instead of having to do it twice??? That's how we decided to do it the way we did, also with the advice of the Specialist.
It was quite the experience and I want to remember how it all went so if our other children need it in the future, I have reference to how we and the kids handle things.
Why the Surgeries?: Lilly: Although, we didn't really take Lilly into the doctor every time she said her throat hurt, she would complain quite often that it did. Only a couple times we actually had her diagnosed with strep and treated for it. Throughout her life, mainly the last 2 years, whenever she had her tonsils looked at, the doctors were floored with how big they were (even healthy, they were big). At one point, I remember that she was on antibiotics and we went in for a recheck and her tonsils were still HUGE, like they said there was only 1 cm space on each side between her tonsils and her uvula. Another reason for the surgery is that she hasn't slept a full night sleep since who knows when. This could be caused by some sleep apnea-she snores more than any little kid I have ever known. Lastly, not to embarrass her, but she also wets the bed often and they say that there can be a connection to wetting the bed, sleep apnea, and big tonsils. So all these things combined lead us to our decision for the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.
Thatcher: Common with Lilly, his tonsils were just as big as hers. Again there was only 1 cm of space in between his tonsils and uvula. He never really complained of pain, though he never really complains about anything in life. His speech we felt like was not coming along as well as it should. When he talked, it really sounded heavy and full (kind of hard to explain). Also, he was a snorer too and ALWAYS only breathed with his mouth open. He was a very heavy breather. Like Lilly, he had been waking up in the middle of the night multiple times for a long time. I teased parents who had newborns that I wasn't even getting a full nights sleep and my kids weren't newborns. Background Info: I must first note that we tried to get the surgeries scheduled for the end of December, but they were swamped so we opted for January. We knew we were going to be visiting family at the beginning of January and with a 14 day recovery period, the 19th was the soonest it worked out in our schedules. We celebrated Christmas in Grundy Center until the 10th with the CA cousins catching the flu bug while we were there. I was crossing my fingers that with Lilly being in school, maybe we were immune to this bug. On Monday night (2 days before surgery I remind you) Thatcher ended up with the flu, but it was short lived. He threw up in the middle of the night and that was it, no fevers or anything. I was praying so hard that things were going to work out. Tuesday evening (the night before surgery) rolls around and poor Lilly starts throwing up. Her sickness lasted a bit longer, she was sick until about 11pm and then was finally able to get some sleep. All night long I wonder what's going to happen in the morning. Thatch and Lilly were not to have anything to eat or drink starting at midnight, so I guess we didn't have to worry about that for Lilly.
Morning of Surgery: I call the hospital right away, we were scheduled to be there at 8am. I explain to them that the kids had the stomach flu but that I think they were over it (Lilly had slept the whole night without waking up and Thatch was already fine on Tuesday). She contacted the surgeon and they said that it was my call. My gut feeling said that we'll just go ahead with the surgeries, but I was kind of second guessing myself at the same time. But I just had to trust my feeling and went with it.
At the Hospital: We showed up and did a lot of just waiting. They had 2 recovery rooms for us, but we all hung out in 1 room until the surgeries were over. Thatcher was very timid. He barely said 2 words the whole morning. Lilly was taking it all in. In fact, we had to use code words so she wouldn't get scared just talking about it. It was a delicate balance on how much I thought Lilly should know and how much to just keep to ourselves. She knew that once they took her on the really cool bed that she was going to "get" to smell the cherries in a little mask. She was actually kind of excited about that. I thought that I should at least prepare her for that much. I DID NOT mention that she was going to have an IV in her arm. Thatcher didn't have a clue about any of this.
After all of the paper work was done, they finally came in to get Thatcher first. His eyes just screamed "Mom, don't let them take me from you." I was so crushed and saddened that he was sad, but I knew that this all had to be done. The actual procedure takes just a fraction of the time that he was actually away from us. My memory has forgotten exactly, but I think that he was gone for like 1 hr or so and it only took like 5 min to do the procedure. The rest of the time is preparation and recovery. The surgeon came and talked to us about Thatcher and he said that his tonsils/adenoids were HUGE! He also said that he could tell that he had pretty bad allergies.
It was Lilly's turn next. I should mention that one of the checks that they did was listen to their lungs to make sure they are healthy and that are good to go for surgery. Since Lilly was just sick, she could hear some gunk in them, but it was low enough that it wasn't a problem. The surgeon and nurses also remembered that Lilly is a fighter, usually, so they were ready (even ready with some medication to sedate her if need be, good thing they didn't need to use that suff). Another good thing to note is that they wheeled Lilly off before Thatcher came back to his recovery room. I am not sure how she would have handled seeing him? The nurse who had been by her side the whole morning wheeled her off and usually once patients get to the surgery room the nurse doesn't even step foot inside, HOWEVER, she told us that Lilly's eyes were telling her "please come with me, don't you go anywhere." So, her nurse went in right by her side and comforted her (her nurse was named Gracie, and she is soooo wonderful, she actually knew us from church too). They got her settled and then she got to smell the cherries and she was good to go.
The surgeon came in to talk to us about Lilly. He said that Thatcher's went as smooth as can be, by the book he said. With Lilly, there was a lot of infection in there and whenever there's infection, more blood vessel like thingy's (that's a technical term by the way) attach themselves to the tonsils and so it was VERY difficult to get her tonsils to come out. Her surgery was much more traumatic than normal. Which also put her bleeding risk at a higher %. (Oh great is what I was thinking.) He also said that her's were just as big as her brother's.
In the meantime, we see Thatcher come rolling by so I scurry to his recovery room (right next door to the one we were hanging out in-joined by a bathroom). He was so lethargic looking. He had his little arm wrapped up so he wouldn't bother the IV. I got down real close to him and he looked so confused, I am not sure he was quite with it yet. Eventually, he reached for me so I cuddled him on my lap in his bed. At this point, he was trying to talk but couldn't really. He was really horse sounding. He kept trying to ask for something, but none of us could make out what he wanted. We offered him some popsicles and he ate lots of them over the course of the next couple hours. He even asked for chocolate popsicles since his dad told him he could have those after his surgery. For now, we only stuck to orange and purple popsicles and ice chips. He LOVED the eat the ice chips. After a while, he took a little nap. He continued with the ice chips and popsicles.
After I got all comfortable with Thatcher, we know that Lilly is done too. We know this because we can hear her screaming down the hall. Picture this: Thatcher comes back, all calm and just laying back while riding on his bed to the room. Lilly is the complete opposite. She's sitting up screaming at the top of her lungs. Adam went into her room to comfort her while I stayed with Thatch.
One of the things that they told us to watch for during the time that we were still recovering in the hospital was for them throwing up the blood and such. Thatcher never threw up once, however, Lilly was more coughing up junk then throwing up, but nonetheless was much more uncomfortable than Thatcher. I couldn't see what was going on with her but could hear her. It sounded much worse than it actually was after talking with Adam about it.
After the kids proved that they were doing well-they took their medicine well and it stayed down, we finally got to come home. It was probably around 2 or 3pm.
The first day home was not so bad. I have to mention that my mom was hear watching Tucker and stayed with us for 6 days and Adam's mom came to help out for 3 days or so. That was so nice to have them there to entertain Tucker so we could focus on the other 2. Day 2 & 3 were really hard. Thatcher was great. He LOVES chocolate milk so that's what he lived on mainly and so his throat never really tightened up like Lilly's did. Lilly's throat began to hurt so she would stop drinking and that would just make it worse and so a vicious cycle would begin. I had to resort to telling her that if she didn't continue to drink that we would have to go back to the hospital and get a needle in her arm so she wouldn't get dehydrated. That scared her enough to suck it up and drink or eat popsicles or do anything like that. Neither of them fought us in taking their meds which was a HUGE answer to prayer. Usually Lilly doesn't take medicine so good, but she was a champ. Even after the good tasting stuff ran out-she did awesome. I think she understood that if she took the meds that she would feel good. Throughout the next few days, they would have low grade fevers on and off but nothing that we had to go back in for.
I need to note that Adam ended up getting sick too the first night we were home so I sent him to sleep in Lilly's bed and had Thatcher in bed with me with Lilly on the floor. Lilly only got up once or twice the first night and I just had her drink some water and then after that her sleeping habits were already better than before surgery. Praise Jesus! Thatcher really struggled the first 3 nights or so. He would wake up in so much pain. I just comforted him and told myself that the next day would be better and that helped me get through it. The first night (or maybe it was the second night, I can't remember which) Tucker also ended up throwing up so while I rocked Thatcher back to sleep in my bed, I would run downstairs and change Tucker's bedding and such and put him back to bed (my mom helped me out since Adam was down for the count). This pattern happened for the next 3 days, so night 1, 2, and 3.
Their diet for the next 14 days consisted of any liquids (we would dilute sprite so it would burn their throats), popsicles (any kind you could think of), go gurt, and eventually we even could do soft meats (like sloppy joes, taco meat, mac and cheese). We had to be careful to not give them hot things.
We sent Lilly back to school on Day 6, I think. The doc. said she'd be fine if she didn't overdo herself. So she stayed in for recess and had special snacks at school.
They said that once they started feeling good that about the time that their scabs would start falling off and they would be in some more pain. That did happen in the second week of their recovery but it wasn't that bad. Adam and I kept looking at their throats with flashlights, because it was really a site to be seen. It looked so disgusting! As time went by, we could see the white film move back further and further inside their throats. After the white goes away, then the Doc. said that little pink bumps will form and it could take up to 2 months for it to completely smooth out.
We went back for checkups on Day 13, and they both looked wonderful so they were given free reign.
Today 2-23-11: Lillyand Thatch sleep so quietly (despite Lilly's teeth grinding, that's another post). Lilly hasn't wet the bed for at least 2 weeks. She can go the night without waking up but sometimes still wanders into our room, I think it's just a habit now that we have to break. Her voice has also changed a little bit. Her cry has definitely changed, it's kind of a squeal now. For Thatcher, I remember when he went down for his first nap, he was so quiet, it was crazy. His voice changed immediately. He can pronounce words so much clearer. His voice isn't so heavy sounding now. Even though he's sleeping much more quieter, he is still waking up in the middle of the night. He probably sleeps without waking up three nights out of the week. I think it may be a habit too, but we'll see. Now that we're all healthy, it's time to break those nasty habits :)
In January Tucker visited the doctor for his 18 month well check. Here's all his info.
Weight: 25lb 2oz (50%) Height: 32 1/4" (50%) Head Cir.: 18"-Tucker is our Wild Man. If he's too quite, it usually means he's up to mischief. -He climbs on almost anything. If he can't reach, he'll find the closest whatever to stand on to reach. -He eats ANYTHING. It's so refreshing to have one of those kind of kids. -He is an AWESOME sleeper. He sleeps for 3 hrs in the afternoon and then goes to bed at 7pm til 8am or so. -He bunks with Thatcher and LOVES it! -He doesn't really play with toys yet, they're mostly just weapons. -He has quite a temper on him. We're still trying to figure that out. It doesn't really work to spank for disobedience because he'll turn right around and hit you back. He doesn't like it when we raise our voice to him and he doesn't like to be put into his bed for timeout; however, I don't want him to associate his bed with discipline so I am not sure what to do about that one yet. I will take any advice. -As mischievous as he can be, he can be all the more charming too. His eyes can just suck you in. -He loves to give kisses, loves to dance, loves to be a part of the party.
Back in December Thatcher had his 3-yr well check. Better late than never to record his stats, right?
Weight: 33 lb Height: 37 2/8" Thatcher... -loves to copy his sister or anyone else for that matter -loves to rock a bye with Mommy -loves trains/cars/anything he can manipulate himself -loves to have books read to him -loves chocolate milk -is potty training (it's taking a really long time but we're almost there) -still wears a pull-up or even a diaper to bed -wears 3T-4T clothing -wears sz 9 shoes -has a really laid back personality -sucks his thumb when he has his blankie (aka his "nose") -usually wakes up 1 time during the middle of the night (we hope that stops after his tonsils are out)
We love you so much Thatcher and can't wait to see what God has in store for you. You are growing so fast.
I am a stay-at-home mom with three wonderful children and the best husband ever. Our family is growing in many different ways and this blog will be used to share in our moments.
