Does it get any better??

I have an entry in my head that I need to write..all about how Emmie is taking Prevacid now, and is a different child. I wrote it last week, but blogger ate it. I wrote about how I could hear the angels singing with me..HALLELUIA. Do you hear it?
It turns out that Emmie is silly, and loving, and just a great baby. For 18 months, we've struggled with her. It kills me to think that she was just hurting.
Right now, I'm sitting here, she is beside m eon her own chair. Everytime she looks at me, if I'm not looking at her she says, "mama" then I look, and she blows me a kiss.
How did we get so blessed??

Pepto Chango

So I'm still waiting to hear from Emmie's pediatrician about the reflux.
I'll tell you, that looking at her through reflux eyes, I can totally see a pattern to her fussiness. Nighttime is worst, I'm assuming because she actually eats dinner. She barely eats the rest of the day.
So, last night, while she was screaming and screaming and screaming and writhing and screaming we gave her a children's pepto. Even though, technically, she's too young. But, we were desperate.
Within 5 minutes she had completely relaxed and conked out.
I feel like such a bad bad mom. How could we not have caught this before??

Pictures

Pictures of Emmie's surgery. And the night before.
I'm no longer doing slide shows because my dear friend lives in the boonies and doesn't have high speed internet. So, for you Theresa..normal pictures!




It was 5:30 am, and she was so sleepy. She loves her baby.



Not too tired to play games though!



All dressed up and ready to go.



Unfortunately, it was a long wait, with lots of time to kill.



When it was about time to go, they gave her some versed, nasally. Now, versed is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't matter how it is administered (nasally or orally)it is icky. It tastes bad, so it's tough to get babies to drink it. But who really likes the feeling of fluid being pushed up their nose?
This picture was taken when the versed was starting to work. Not enough for her to be drunk yet, but she had been crying a lot before this. She was settling down at this point. Please don't pay any attention to how tired I look here.



Relaxing, almost drunk. If you look closely, you can see my watery eyes. Let me take this opportunity to tell you something. It does not matter how minor a procedure is, it is still very difficult to think of your child being sedated and undergoing surgery. You would think, after open heart surgery, I would be able to say, "hey no big deal, it's just teeth" but no. She's still my baby. And it's still hard.



Finally drunk. I have pictures that are almost identical to this one of Matthew and Zachy. The mouth falls open, their eyes droop, and their heads flop back. Hello giggle land!



Bye Bye Sweet Girl.



And then it's all over and we're ready to go home! Still sleepy, but awake.



OK, I had to take this picture. They insisted on pushing her out in a wheelchair. This is how the pictures always look when there is a new baby, but I'm in the chair, holding the baby. I told Matt now he knows how it feels to be a total goof being wheeled out when you are perfectly fine!

A little more about Emmie

My dad was here for the weekend and is now home safe and sound in Oregon. We had a nice visit, and it was really nice to have him here for Emmie's surgery. We had to be there at 5:30 and it was nice to not have to worry about the boys.
Emmie's surgery went well. It took them three hours instead of one and a half because nothing ever goes as planned with my family! Most of the time was spent trying to get an IV in place. Her hands and feet are now massive bruises. Poor punkin.
I keep thinking this may have been a blessing in disguise. The dentist said she is definitely refluxing. The decay on the back of her teeth was so great they were cupping. So like if you took them out, laid them on their fronts, they would be like a cup.
I hope so much that we will be able to treat this and finally have a happy baby.
We had looked into reflux a long time ago, and she was actually treated for it, but it was more in response to the fact that she couldn't breathe. That has resolved itself, but evidently the reflux hasn't.
I was looking on line for symptoms in toddlers and they fit her to a T so I'm really hopeful that she will get treated and finally be happy. Or at least not totally miserable.
Pictures to follow, so be on the lookout. After we get school done I'll work on uploading them and posting them.
~~~~~
My kids are outside playing, would you believe it is cold here?? I need to check the temperature, but they are all in pants and jackets and sock and shoes. Very unusual for them!

Emily

Just wanted everyone to know that Emily is home from surgery and doing well.
As usual, things took longer than normal. The one and half hour surgery ended up being three hours. But alas, all is well that ends well!

To put your minds at ease

I've received several emails asking me about Ike.
As of right now, it doesn't look like we will get much of anything from the hurricane.
Last night, on the news, they were telling us to get our emergency supply kits together, and to be ready because we would likely lose power and deal with tornadoes.
However, Ike appears to be headed more east today, so they are now predicting some strong winds and rain, but not much else around here.
The people who really need your prayers are the folks from Houston and Galveston. Last I checked, there wasn't a mandatory evacuation for them, and our newscasters were saying they are VERY concerned about that.
At any rate, we should be nice and safe here in San Antonio!

Drum Roll Please

We got the cast list today!
Matthew got the part of Grandpa Joe, and Dillon got Mike TeeVee.
They are both really excited about it!
And now, some pictures..that have nothing to do with any wonkaness, just pics I came across and are too cute to not share!






This picture makes me laugh. While she is thrilled to love on her brother, she's not so sure about the cousin hugs!! So cute!

How to look good Naked

Lifetime has a show called How to Look Good Naked. I have never watched this show, but was alerted by the CHD community that last night's episode would be about a girl named Heather.
Heather had a complex chd and had a very hard time getting past her scars.
Ya'll I sat there with tears streaming down my face the entire show. It was so good.
Kudos to Lifetime for even getting the words Congenital Heart Defect out there. I believe people can live their entire lives and never hear that term. And yet, it's the number one birth defect. Go figure.
I desperately hope that boys view their scars differently. Although, in some ways I think it may be harder for them. After all, girls wear swimsuits that cover the midline scar nicely.
The other day, we were looking through scrapbooks. Now, Zachy asks me why his face was purple. At five, he doesn't get that his heart was broken. That makes no sense to him. He will also ask why he has scars. Again, he doesn't grasp that there is a machine in his body telling his heart to beat!
I just hope that he doesn't deal with self esteem issues because of his scars. I hope he knows always that he is a hero.

If you're of the praying variety

If you happen to be a praying person, please say a few for my family.
First, on Thursday, Matthew has an ophthalmology appointment. If you recall, awhile ago, I wrote about Matthew having pain in his eye. He hasn't had any recently, but this appointment will tell us if the drop still has his pressure under control. So please pray that his glaucoma is being controlled.
Secondly, Emmie is having surgery on Friday. It's minor, just to cap her teeth, but she will still be under general anesthetic. Just pray that all goes well there.
My dad is coming in tomorrow, so he will be able to watch the other kids while Em is in surgery, so that is nice. Pray for a safe trip for him as well.
Thanks in advance. If you aren't of the praying type, please think good thoughts for us!

Willy Wonka Jr

Matthew and Dillon are taking an acting workshop.
They will be putting on Willy Wonka Jr in November, but besides just doing the play they are learning things. The first two nights they've learned how to do a proper audtion, how to project, and upstage, downstage, stage right, etc.
Sunday they auditioned. I think I'm more anxious than they are to see what parts they got. We have to wait till Thursday, and it's killing me!! I do hope they get good parts because they worked hard on their auditions.
You may recall them doing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory three years ago, and they were oompa loompas. I hope they don't have to be oompa loompas again, but they both said they would be happy even if they had to pull the curtain.
I'll keep you all posted!

A sight to behold

This morning, I was in my room and peeked out the window. I thought, "how odd, it doesn't look that windy" but there were leaves flying all around. And then, I realized it wasn't leaves at all, but butterflies!
I called all the boys up and we just watched the butterflies for a bit. They weren't too impressed.
I decided to google why in the world there were so many butterflies, and came across an article from 2006. When the drought caused the wasps that normally eat the butterfly larva to die, and we were beseiged by butterflies. Snout butterflies to be exact. I had forgotten that. I don't know how, because I put pictures of it and everything on my blog.
I wonder if that is what is going on again. Because there are just hundreds of them.
My bed sits a bit higher than the bottom of my window, so whilst I was nursing Emmie down for a nap, I just watched the butterflies swirling all about.
I'd put up pictures, but I just don't think you can really see the butterflies that well. You just have to imagine, tiny black butterflies, flitting about like mad. Once in awhile, I'd hear a tiny "thud" as they hit the window.
Totally cool, if you ask me!

*edited to add, I tried to take a picture of them, but they are just too fast.

Just stuff

Last week, one by one, my kids battled illness. From ear infections to bronchitis. Loads of fun, and doctor visits. Now, thankfully, everyone is on the mend.
To celebrate, we went to six flags yesterday. Well, not really to celebrate. We simply went because it was the last day the water park was open, and we hadn't been yet. It was hot. And crowded. Lest you be concerned that we can't keep track of all our kids amongst throngs of people, let me assure you that they are easy to spot. You see, my kids are TWKEs. The Whitest Kids Ever. They stand out among the crowd. It is impossible to see that we live in south Texas and that we wear shorts year round. We have no tans to speak of. All I kept noticing were the darkly tanned bodies around me, and how conspicuous our family was!
As we were leaving, a crowd of young people (early 20s? dang, I'm old) was in front of us. In short time, there was a fight. Two guys against one. Right in front of us. The sound of fists hitting bodies is still fresh in my ears. What point does fighting serve? Seriously. I guess it's human nature though. Thankfully, security was there in no time flat. Then the girls were trying to convince the security guards that no one was actually fighting. Here's the sad thing, during the fight, a little girl went and grabbed her dad's arm, "PLEASE STOP DADDY!!" While he was hitting the other guy. She was not hit at all, but can you imagine??? Horrible.
Today was our first day of school. It was a smashing success, and tonight I'm tired. No rest for the weary though. It's now time to get kiddies ready for bed to start again tomorrow. It's looking like it's going to be a great school year. I officially have a 7Th, 4Th, 1st, and K this year. And little Emmie tagging along. Fun times indeed!!

Great Wolf Lodge

On our way back from Missouri, we stopped at the Great Wolf Lodge. The kids had such a good time that we would like to make it at least a yearly trip.
There is a game there where you buy a wand that is programmed by a computer. On all eight floors of the lodge are pictures and statues and different things. There are 13 different games and 3 adventures. It is like a big scavenger hunt. You read the clue, then find the object it is talking about, wave your wand and move on to the next item. At the end you battle a dragon. Matthew and Dillon did all of it, and Collin and Zachy did parts of it.
They also all got airbrushed tattoos. For some reason, I don't have a picture of Dillon's in the slideshow, but it was a wolf head.
There was also an animatronic show in the lobby that the kids thought was cute.
We wanted to stay in the area and finish the scavenger hunt game, so we actually stayed in a campground the second nigh..that's where the s'mores picture is from!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Fall is on it's way

I love fall. I love the smell of cool crisp air. The crunch of leaves under your feet. The cozy feel of rainy days. The smell of baking (cool days lend themselves to lots of baking around here!) in the oven. Everything about fall..I love it.

But, my love of fall is being threatened. For one thing, there is no fall in San Antonio. The leaves never change color. They just die, and one day they're gone.
There is no cool crisp air. There are rarely any rainy days, and when it rains, it's still quite warm outside.
More than that though, the last two falls have been very dark times in our lives. Two years ago wasn't as bad as last year, but last year was one of the worst times of my life.
I have been praying that this fall will be different. That there will be no upheavels. That life will go on as scheduled.
I do not want to hate fall. I want to love it again.
No matter what though, there will always be pumpkin ice cream, and cheesecake, and bread, and......

Come back please, and comment!

Will the reader who searched for "post TAPVR repair & pacemakers." to get to my site please come back and post a comment? I can only assume that you too, are dealing with a TAPVR kiddo being paced. I would love to chat with you! Please come back! :-)

How did that happen?

Yesterday, my sweet baby boy turned 12. He was born at 11:54 pm and stayed up till then. Which is why I'm still awake. He yelled out, "I'm TWELVE!!" My heart sank.
How is time getting away from me? I remember that night, twelve years ago, so clearly. How could twelve years possibly have passed already? And how quickly will the next twelve go? If he follows in our footsteps, I'll be a grandma in twelve years, twice. Wow, that's an eye opener.
He is turning into such a wonderful young man. His sister is certain that he hung the moon, and he urges her on! He loves that little girl so fiercely. At night, she goes and crawls in bed with him, lays her head on his pillow, while he talks to her and tells her night night. She says, "ni-ni" and kisses him, then climbs down. She does this all on her own. So so cute. It makes my heart melt.
All of his brothers adore him, even if they don't quite want to admit it. Just today, Zachy said, "you're a good brother, Matthew" AWWWWWW!!!
To celebrate, he decorated his own cupcakes. We then went to the mirror maze and went through the maze for about an hour. We also did a lazer vault thing where you had to dodge the lazers going across the room and make it to the other side. The boys thought that was so much fun.
And now, I officially have a preteen. I don't feel like I've been a mommy for that long. I still am astonished when people ask for any kind of parenting advice. I shouldn't be, because we've been at this for awhile now, with several different personalities, but I still feel like a novice. Some day, when they're all grown, I may feel a bit more experienced.
I love this kid more than anyone could love their first born son. He is such a precious, precious gift. We are truly blessed to have him

I'll share pictures soon, for now I'm off to bed!

Funny, this says I posted at 8 this evening. I started it then. I actually posted it after midnight on the 25th, which is why I said his birthday was yesterday. But Matthew's birthday is indeed the 24th.

He is a funny one, that boy

We're watching soccer. US against Brazil. US just scored first. The crowd went wild. Dillon jumped off the couch, "YES!!" Zachy says, "USA Exclamation point wins??"
Where in the world did he get the exclamation point part???

Craniofacial Board Today

We had a long, busy day today.
Matthew got hooked up with the craniofacial board today. The purpose of this was to establish him with the plastic surgeons and ENTs here on base. Of course, the craniofacial board includes speech, audiology, oral surgery, orthodontia, pediatrics, genetics, plastic surgery, and ENT. Everyone sees him. Except, genetics. We needed to see them, and they didn't show up. Phooey on them! We had some unanswered questions for them.
Everything was as expected, except for a couple of things.
The first being that this base actually provides orthodontic care for children. Most do not. I didn't know this. Matthew is to the point where he just needs braces. Once all his permanent teeth come in. We've already used up his lifetime maximum amount of insurance coverage, so we are looking at paying 100% of his braces. If I can get him taken care of on base, it'd be free. We are definitely going to go forth with this plan as his teeth come in.
The second is that the ENT says it's time for his tonsils and adenoids to come out. Matthew says no way, he thinks his body parts need to stay right where they are. We go back in September, after Matt and I have discussed it, to schedule everything. We will be going forth with this too.
The plastic surgeon and ENT both agreed that he still has too much growing to do to be worrying about his final rhinoplasty. Originally, we were told 12-13 years old. Today they agreed on 15-16. So that makes Matthew happy. Although, when we left, I asked him how he felt about it. He admitted that sometimes his nose really bothers him. There's not much we can do about it though. Just wait.
So that is about it from the board.
In different news, Emmie saw the dentist last week. She essentially has bottle rot. We are so devastated about this since she doesn't take a bottle and we brush her teeth regularly. After finding out about the different meds she's been on, including inhaled steroids for months while her teeth were coming in, and reflux and whatnot, the dentist said her poor mouth didn't have a chance. So I feel better about that, at least we didn't do anything wrong. But, she has to have caps on all four of her front teeth. Which will be a sedated surgery at the hospital.
So, this year we will have had Zachy get a pacemaker, Matthew have oral surgery to remove teeth that were ankylose, Emmie getting caps, and Matthew's tonsils and adenoids out. That's about 4 too many surgeries this year for me!!
So that's what's up in our neck of the woods today!

Vacation!!

I don't know what's wrong with me. I just haven't had it in me to post. Since returning from our trip I've been busy cleaning out rooms. Just going through kid clothes and getting ready for the upcoming school year. Speaking of which, we'll be starting sometime in September. My dad is coming to visit on the 10Th, so I think we'll wait till the following week. That way we don't do three days and then stop. Or maybe not, we'll see how things go.
Some of you asked about our trip. Here are some details.
We left Friday after Matt got off work and camped in West, Texas. Which is actually in east Texas. It was hot and miserable. We had to roll over every once in awhile because we were sweating so much. Just to air off the side that had been down.
The next day we drove to Missouri, where we were able to camp out in my brother and sister-in-law's house. THANKS GUYS!!
When we got there, all of Matt's family was already there. They had come along to help drive the moving truck.
We stayed with them until Wednesday. We had a great time, and got to meet our niece for the first time. Now we just have one other niece that we have yet to meet.
While there, we celebrated Zachy's birthday. He's such a big boy. Although yesterday he said to me, "mommy, why do you love me so much? Oh, I think I know why." Me, "oh? Why?" "Because I'm so little!" HA!! I'll love him just as much when he's big.
So Wednesday afternoon we headed out. We made it into Wagoner, Oklahoma, where we got a motel and stayed the night. They only had suites left, so we took a suite. I tell ya though, it was the size of a regular hotel room, I'm sure of it. Two kids still had to sleep on the floor.
We loved the vegetation in Oklahoma and Missouri. Who knew they were such beautiful states?? I wouldn't mind living there.
Thursday, we went to Grapevine, Texas. To the Great Wolf Lodge. My oh my, that was so fun. If you're not familiar with the Great Wolf Lodges, they are hotels with indoor water parks. Only guests of the hotel can use the water park, so it isn't overly crowded. Although, it was packed when we were there, so there were still lines for water slides. We used the water park on Thursday and Friday. We had read about Grapevine, and decided to camp there Friday night and just look around the town. We hung out till early afternoon on Saturday, then headed home.
Sunday was Collin's birthday. He's the big 7. How is this happening? We took him to chuck e cheese's for dinner.
It was such a great vacation, but we were glad to get home. Lots of driving involved. And Emily didn't really enjoy that part, so it was a bit stressful.
I don't know why I didn't put pictures of Matt and his brother in the last set. I know they don't like their kids on the net, but I put his sister and sister in law on, so here's a picture of Matt and his siblings. And his whole family. In case you're new to my blog, my beloved is on the left.


Please know that we don't always dress alike. The pictures had been thoroughly planned, and yet we still forgot to do one of Matt's parents with all of us. They wanted it for their Christmas card. Silly us! By the time we remembered, his sister had already left. But I tell ya, there were probably hundreds of pictures shot that day, scrolling through them is quite dizzying! All those stripes!
There w as also a ton of laughter going on, and honestly, it's a miracle there are any decent shots!
So all in all, a great trip!

Photos from our trip

Just some random family photos we took on the trip