Beware: Infected Household!

It was been an interesting few weeks and there have been a few ups and downs.  Amelia was so happy to get her cast off!  I think she thought that she was just going to have that thing stuck on her leg forever; however, as soon as they sawed it off, she wanted down to try and walk around.  She walks a bit like Frankenstein, but every day she’s improving.  

The rough part of the last two weeks is that Noah caught some nasty flu virus and passed it on to both Amelia and me.  This in and of itself wouldn’t have been so bad if Amelia hadn’t gotten her fifth ear infection in five months.  Yesterday morning she woke up with a really high fever and was pulling on her ear.  I took her to her pediatrician and, sure enough, it was another infection.  They said that it was time to go to an ENT specialist and discuss the possibility of putting tubes in her ears.  When I was leaving the doctor’s office, I got a phone call from Noah’s school nurse saying that he was in a lot of pain and that it looked like HE had an ear infection!  So, I left straight from the doctor’s office to get Noah and then right back to have his ears looked at; he, too, was diagnosed with an ear infection (his first ever).  I knew he was in a lot of pain, because he’s usually not one to complain . . . but he couldn’t stop crying since it hurt so badly.  They prescribed antibiotics, so I headed to our usual pharmacy to fill them.  Upon arriving, I discovered (after waiting in line for 20 minutes with two crying kids) that my prescription card had expired.  So I went home, found the new card, and headed back to an even LONGER line at the pharmacy to find out that they had no record of us under the new plan!  After about two hours of waiting and calling, we FINALLY got the medicine and, boy, did my two kids need it!

I have gotten a lot of feedback from friends and family about how great tubes worked for their kids, so I was okay with hearing the ENT specialist say that Amelia needed tubes.  I didn’t realize it was considered a surgical procedure and she would need to be put under general anesthesia.  Thankfully, the surgery is scheduled for a week from Friday, so Mike will be able to come with us.  They said that right now she has mild hearing loss but that it should improve once the fluid in her ears is cleared.  I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that the surgery, anesthesia and hospital stay are all 100% covered by the insurance we get through McKinsey & Co -- what a drastic change to the insurance we had while Mike was in graduate school!

I haven’t really been worried about her hearing, since every day she is saying more and more words.  One of my favorites scenes:  she has learned how to open the pantry door and will get one of her bowls, a box of cereal and then come up to me and say “Mommy, give more cereal, peezz!”  Another big step she made is that she has started feeding herself!  It really came out of the blue . . . one day she just grabbed the spoon and said “ME!”

On another note, my brother Jason, his wife Emilie and their adorable two little boys (Parker and Preston) stopped by our house for lunch on their way home from Houston.  It was great to see them, even if it was only for a little bit.   I think it is wonderful that all the cousins are so close in age!

A few other pictures from the last two weeks:

They love to play hide-and-seek!

Amelia crawled into the dryer while I facing the other way folding clothes...uh-oh!

We celebrated Mike's Birthday on January 17th.

One Day Left!

Amelia's last day with her leg cast and she walks like a pro! 

Tuckered Out!

Sorry for the long hiatus… December was a crazy month!   Our Christmas break got off to a rocky start – while leaving the gym, Amelia fell and got a “toddler fracture” on her lower left tibia.  Initially, I wasn’t sure what was wrong.  I saw her fall, and the fall itself didn’t look bad; there was no swelling or bruising, but she wouldn’t put any weight on her left leg.  I took her to the ER, and before getting an x-ray, the doctor said it might be a toddler fracture.  A toddler fracture is basically a hairline fracture that happened when the bone goes in a twisting motion.  It didn’t show up on the x-ray, so they sent us on our way, saying it was probably a sprain.  I was not convinced; so after doing more research and finding out that it’s very common for the fracture to not show up in x-rays, I took her back the next morning to her regular physician who agreed with my thoughts.  We were referred to an orthopedic specialist.  Luckily, Mike got home in time to go with us to this appointment.  They said that they needed to do a cast to immobilize Amelia’s leg and that the cast would have to cover her entire leg to ensure it wouldn’t come off.  So, we left their office with Amelia in a full pink leg cast with instructions to come back on January 11^th to have it removed.  It took her a while to try walking with it, but now she’s quite the pro.  I’m so happy we only have a week left until she gets it off!

Since this is the first time we’ve ever had our own home with a fireplace and a real Christmas tree, we decided to spend Christmas in our new house, just the four of us.  It has been an intense couple of months with moving to Texas and Mike starting his job, so it was really wonderful to have “down” time together.  We left for Orange County a couple of days after Christmas to spend the rest of Mike’s time off with his family.  We had such a wonderful time, not only did we get a lot of quality time with his parents and sister, Shelley, but also got to see a lot of friends!  I would say the highlight of the trip was having Mike’s dad, Ray, help with Noah’s Pinewood Derby car!  It looks awesome; I don’t know what we would have done without him!

Grandma Sandy knitted sweaters for Amelia and Noah; they both LOVED them!

The weather was PERFECT while we were there – close to 80 degrees and sunny every day!  We took Noah to Knott’s Berry Farm theme park and had a really fun time before it got really crowded.  Mike’s mom, Nancy, is an amazing cook, and we enjoyed so many goods meals.  Not only did our suitcases come back packed with presents, but I pretty sure we gained a few pounds … which were totally worth it!

We got an exciting gift from Mike's Grandma Sandy!  She makes beautiful quilts, but the one she gave us for Christmas was extra special . . . she used my Aunt Amy’s kit (see www.amybradleydesigns.com).

Of course, I had to include this year's Santa picture, especially since it took trying over four different weekends.  Mike and I were not planning to be in it but once we TRIED to sit Amelia on Santa's lap, it became very apparent that was not going to happen without her mommy or her puppy!

Most of you know Mike as a guitarist, but when he was in the band "Patton" with four of his best friends he played the drums.  On New Years Eve, we went to a "Patton" reunion party and Mike played drums on one of the songs.  It was so much fun to see him in element with his best friends!  It was an amazing way to ring in the New Year!