The Myringotomy Chronicles...

It's official. Little A will be the proud owner of bilateral myringotomy (aka tympanostomy) tubes come Wednesday morning.

They will make a small incision in each of her ear drums, drain and culture the fluid, and place the tubes to prevent further infections and improve ventilation to the middle ear. Or something.



To make a long story short, her ears failed to improve, and even worsened, despite regimens of Omnicef, Augmentin, and IM Rocephin injections daily. Can I say stubborn bacteria???

Combine that with multiple ear infections over the course of her short 15 months here on earth, and you get... TUBES.

We are still leaving for Dallas in the morning. Our children will now be accompanying us, thanks to... stubborn bacteria. Ah well, everyone was looking forward to seeing them, anyway. It may mean a few less glasses of wine for me, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

To be continued...

Can You Ear Me?

I am sick of talking about ears. Ear infections, ear tubes... you name it. So, instead, I will answer a few of the Qanda questions you lovelies submitted... 3 months ago. Remember?

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Mandy asks If you and the hubby could take an all expense paid "vacation from the kids" for a week where would you go and what would you do? Would you feel too guilty to leave your kids?

A fine question, Mandy. There are about a million places I would love to go. For some reason, I have had an intense obsession with visiting Banff as of late. Not to ski, though. I think I would enjoy a mid-June visit. I'd also love to go somewhere tropical or take a nice, relaxing cruise. Tyler and I never did have a honeymoon.

But, really, this is where I want to go:



Castle Colmberg.

In fact, I'd like to be there April 10, 2010... the day one of my BBFF's (boy best friend forever) gets married on his home turf. Tyler and I are still dreaming up ways to make the trip.

It doesn't bode well that we will (hopefully) travel to Dallas tomorrow for the American wedding- you know, for the folks who can't make it across the Atlantic. I'm just not ready to lose hope, not quite.

Oh, and yes, I would feel completely guilty about leaving the girls. But, too guilty? Um, no.

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Lisa asks What cartoon character best describes you?

Is this supposed to be deeply psychological? Hmm, let's see. Have you ever played the game where you just say the absolute first thing that comes to mind? Well, if I were to play that way, it would be Daria.



But, I really don't think I am quite that cynical, dark, and twisty. Well, at least not all of the time. Now, a combination of Daria and Quinn... now, I could possibly agree to that.



Or, maybe Penny from Inspector Gadget... because I'm smart like that...

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Mandy asks When you took the photos of Sassy's fall fashion palette, did you do that all in one sitting?... if so, she has a TON of patience!

Um, no.

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Sarah asks What is your all-time favorite junk food?



Haha. Where to begin? I ♥ air-popped popcorn with real butter and salt, chips & salsa, white chocolate covered pretzels, skittles, salted caramel cupcakes from Sugar Sisters, my mom's shortbread cookies, Jr. whoppers with cheese from Burger King, and cheesecake... to name a few.

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Shannon asks What is your guilty pleasure? The one thing that you refuse to give up no matter what?



You know... to go along with all of my junk food.

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OK, I think that's all for today, girls and boys.

In other random news, I dyed my hair this morning...



I suppose I was feeling rather dark and twisty.

The Collector...

Sassy is a girl with many hobbies. She loves to play dress-up. She is an avid movie watcher. She likes to paint and color and cut things with scissors. She is great at many, many things.

But, there is one area in life where her greatest talents lie...

Collecting things.

Since she was very small, she has had a knack for grouping toys, meticulously separating the foods on her plate, eating all of one flavor fruit at a time... you get the gist.

When she was old enough, we allowed her to choose rocks from various locations to keep as a "memory". What started off as a few nice rocks from the beach suddenly became several minuscule pieces of gravel from some parking lot that she just had to have...

I try to choose my battles. Often, if she asks for a rock, I will say on the way out, hoping she may forget by that time. More often than not, her collection grows.

Her rock collection has evolved into small sets of other collections- acorns, nuts, beans, berries, dragon tears from the Renaissance Festival, coins, and so on. We have little snack-sized baggies lined up on our kitchen counter, filled with all of Sassy's treasures. It gets annoying having to push them aside every time I have to cook. I get disgusted and end up tossing the entire bag when I occasionally discover some berry beginning to grow mold...

But it's so endearing to watch her play with her collections. To hear her talk about them.

We were in the middle of a PAT visit last month, and I made reference to Sassy's stashing of small things to Miss Debbie, our parent educator. (Yes, I still receive PAT visits. Yes, I feel like I learn a lot from each and every one) Anyway, I was explaining Sassy's fascination to Debbie, and she said, "Oh, so she's a collector?".

Hmm...

Yes.

A collector, indeed.

For whatever reason (understanding? validation? reassurance?), hearing her say this made me forget about how annoying the habit is and start focusing in on what a smart little girl she is and how her inquisitive mind is growing every day!

With that, I would like to share my precious girl, and a few thoughts...

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I wish I could find excitement in all things, just as you do.

I wonder what it feels like to possess the world's treasure in the palm of my hand.

I wish I could find the beauty in ordinary things, just as you do.

I wonder what it would be like to experience as much excitement as you do about sharing your new found discoveries and bright ideas.

I wish I lived in a world where this was the currency I dealt in.

I wonder what it's like to have possibilities that are endless.

I wish that I could focus on molehills instead of mountains, just as you do.

I wonder what it feels like to be sun-kissed and beautiful, just as you are.

I wish I had all my ducks rocks in a row.

I wonder what it feels like to know that my biggest worry lies in choosing the right one.

I wish I had one ounce of your spirit; one teeny-tiny drop of your beauty, one iota of your ability to make other people laugh in the tip of my little finger.

The world would be a better place with more of you in it.

This is the Song Ear Infection That Never Ends...

Yes, Little A is still sick. She is still waking up in the middle of the night screaming. She still seems bothered by her ears. In fact, she has taken to making a fist and punching herself in the right ear whilst screaming.

This afternoon, we made trip #3 to the doctor. The good news- her left ear looks clear. The not so good news- her right ear is not getting better. No, not at all. Since two different antibiotics have failed to help, today they pulled out the big guns needles.

Tyler had the pleasure of accompanying our sad wee one today since I had a work visit. It's not even December yet, and our little girl is receiving 3 days of injections, 2 extra hugs, and a trip to the E-N-T... (cue music)...

So, I will be bringing Little A in each of the next two days for an additional injection of antibiotics, and I will be calling an ENT tomorrow. We are supposed to be leaving for Dallas early Friday morning, and I just don't know what to do...

But, enough about me. Little A is grumpy and tired and glassy-eyed...



...for the most part. But, every now and then she decides that are still smiles in there, just waiting to come out...



...and, even a giggle or two...



...now, all she thinks that we need to talk about is this whole shot business. Another tomorrow? And then another? She thinks her mama's cRaZy!!



I ♥ this face!!

The Wild Things...

We spent the afternoon at the zoo yesterday in honor of Lil' Miss Kumquat's 1st birthday!!

The big kids spent a chunk of time performing a rousing rendition of Shoo Fly...



Sassy was quite the wild thing:



Little A enjoyed some time out of the house, but she is still not 100%. When she is under the weather, those fingers find their way to her mouth 24/7:



Here's the birthday girl!! She had the most adorable giraffe party hat:



Sassy was elated to have had the chance to hang out with her friends and walk around the zoo!



Happy Birthday, sweet girl! Thanks for having us!

Wiggle.

Let me bring you all up to speed...

Thursday, I took Little A back into the pediatrician's office. She does, indeed, still have a double ear infection. For whatever reason, the antibiotic originally prescribed was not working effectively. So, we are on antibiotic #2 with high hopes that things will resolve.

Worse case scenario- if she is not feeling better by Monday or Tuesday, we will have to return for IV or IM antibiotics for three days followed by a consultation with an ENT for tubes. Ugh.

The good news is that she has not been tugging at her ears or shaking her head, and her fever has finally gone away! So, I am optimistic that we will be able to continue on this treatment plan! She is still doing the breathing treatments twice a day and has not woken in the middle of the night with breathing troubles since Wednesday!

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Along with lack of sleep, I blame my blog-slacking on work. I have been doing a lot of it this week. Yesterday, I traveled to Salina for a conference on collaboration with various early childhood organizations. Good stuff.

During one breakout session, we discussed getting along with others. We completed a version of the DISC assessment on ourselves, and talked about how to shift perspectives when dealing with different types of families. Anyway, I about fainted at how insanely accurate this was for me. Like, really.

It's humbling to have insight into your own shortcomings. I really liked what out presenter said about strengths overused equaling limitations. It was a great presentation!

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Following the conference, Parents As Teachers held a special story-time in honor of Kansas Reads to Preschoolers week, beginning the 15th of this month.

This year's book selection is Wiggle by Doreen Cronin. The theme is fitness. We held a pajama party, and had 4 craft areas- dog ear headbands, lunch bag balls, cover your sneeze plates, and the glitter germ hand-washing station. Miss Debbie read Wiggle, and the kids "exercised" with rhythmic dance ribbons I threw together with ribbons and straws.

At the end, the kiddos enjoyed some milk and cookies. It was really nice to get out of the house with the girls, after a week of near-seclusion! Here are some pictures:

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As if yesterday wasn't long enough, I took the opportunity to meet up with some friends for dinner at HuHot, gelato at Cocoa Dulce, and a Woodchuck Cider at Old Chicago.

I ♥ my peeps!

Now, I must be off to take Sassy to gymnastics and get ready for a birthday party this afternoon! Have a wonderful Saturday!

Hi ho, Hi ho...

It's back to the Dr. we go
(whistles)
Hi ho, Hi ho, Hi ho...


Photo Credit here

Little A is still a sicky wheezy poo. She's still a-tugging at her ears. We have been ordered to return and check if her medication regimen is the right fit. I will update later!