Picture of the Day

The kids and their pumpkins on Saturday evening.

Sleeping Arrangements

As of tomorrow it will be two weeks since Charlie and I have slept in the same bed.  In fact, except for one night, it will be two weeks that we haven't even slept in the same room.  Don't worry, this wasn't by design, there's nothing wrong with our marriage.  There's just something wrong with our children.  Or the power we give our children.

Sarah's surgery was two weeks ago on Tuesday.  Man how time flies.  While she was in the hospital I was there with her.  I never left.  When she got back, we were a little worried about having her sleep in her own bed in case something went wrong in the middle of the night.  We were going to let her sleep on the futon in our room (I think I've mentioned before that our room is enormous, so it's no big deal to fit a futon in there.  The room takes up all the space over the garage, so basically our master bedroom is the size of a two-car garage.  It's cool and ridiculous all at the same time.), but the futon is hard and we were worried about her back.  So we decided for a couple of days she should sleep in our bed.  She's still there.

Even better, when Amanda found out Sarah was sleeping in our room, which is hard to cover up when all the kids go to bed at the same time and Sarah almost always gets into bed before Amanda, she decided she didn't want to sleep in her bed either.  So guess who is sleeping on the futon (or buuutaaan as she calls it)?  You guessed it, Amanda.

There was one night where both my mom and Charlie's mom were here, so we let Charlie's mom have the big kids' room and I slept on the futon with Amanda and Andy slept on our floor.  Ugh.  That thing is not comfortable.  Other than that for the first couple of days Charlie slept in the bed with Sarah, but he got sick and didn't want to give it to her so now he's been sleeping in her bed and I've been sleeping with her in our bed.

We informed the kids today that tonight would be the last night they get to sleep in our room.  Sarah was cool with it but Amanda was not excited.  We are planning on moving Andy into Amanda's room and Amanda in with Sarah in the summer and thought about moving it up, but the logistics are a nightmare.  So instead the next few days are going to be a beating.  All that extra sleep I got sleeping in because we didn't have to be anywhere will be wiped out with crying and trips in the middle of the night to calm the girls.

On the bright side, I get to cuddle once again with my hubby.  That's definitely worth it.

Picture of the Day

The kids at the Corn Maze pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago.

Picture of the Day

My mom bought this doll for Amanda this week.  It's a mini Cabbage Patch Kid dressed up in a monkey costume.  The hood pulls off but the rest of it is sewn on, so that's one less naked doll we have lying around the kitchen floor.  Amanda still calls all animals, except dogs, by the sound that they make, so she calls this Baby Ahh Ahh (because monkeys say Ooh Ooh Ahh Ahh).  Every time she says it I have to laugh.

Spoiled

The hospital where Sarah had her surgery was amazing.  Really, the only complaint we really had was that her room wasn't ready when she woke up in recovery, but that was very minor and the only thing we could come up with if you made me tell you something that was wrong.  Otherwise, the facility ran very smoothly.

While she in her MRI and then surgery, they called us every hour to give us an update on how she was doing.  They had a "parents are part of the solution" philosophy, so would actually ask us if we thought she needed pain medicine or to give input on her care.  It was a little weird, because I'm not a doctor or a nurse and I would think that they know better, but they know that I know my child better than they do so my input counts.

They were constantly checking on us to see if we needed anything and they have so many activities for the kids it's unbelievable.  Sarah didn't get to do much because she couldn't leave her bed, but one day someone came in to play music with the kids and afterwards came to her room to see if she wanted to play instruments too.  The Child Life specialists came in several times to chat and give her art projects and things to keep her busy.  On the last day she spent two hours in the play room with the resident artist painting pictures, making bracelets and playing with clay.  Their resident artist wasn't any flunky off the streets either, she has a PhD in art education.

She was such a trooper through the entire visit, she even liked using a bed pan.  She thought it was very cool that she got to pee lying down in the bed.  When else would she be allowed to do that?  Of course I didn't like the bed pan as much, but it wasn't too bad.

She also received so many gifts.  By the time we left the hospital she had a teddy bear from the chaplain, a stuffed frog from one of Andy's teachers, gift baskets from a classmate and her school, a stuffed tiger and a book from one of my friends and she even scored a Halloween pillow on the way out the door.

There was even more at home.  Are projects galore from her aunts and uncles and neighbors and friends.  Nail polish and balloons and candy.  Everyone has been so generous, it's been better than her birthday. 

Her therapist warned me that the biggest problem we would have after the surgery was that Sarah would be spoiled.  She was right, but the rest of us have been as well.  I've been spoiled to have my mom and now my mother-in-law here to help cook and do dishes and wash our clothes while I hang out with Sarah.  Amanda has been spoiled to have Sarah home everyday to play with.  Andy has gotten a little more attention out of this as well, but probably the least of everyone.  Even my mom has been spoiled a little in that she gets to hang out here with us with no responsibilities other than helping us - except I think she's probably ready to get back to her normal life.

Next week Sarah will go back to school and we will, mostly, go back to our normal schedule.  One more way I've been spoiled it that a lot of our after school activities have been put on hold for the next couple of weeks until Sarah gets the okay to continue more physical activity.  So, other than Andy's football season, which is almost over, we don't have gymnastics or yoga or therapy to get to and we can slow down and relax.

So far that may be the biggest positive so far.

Picture of the Day

I found this hat at Walmart today.  I didn't go looking for it, I was just kind of wandering through the store, as I often do when I'm at Walmart, and ran across it.  It's a little large on her, it was in the big kid's section, but she doesn't care.  I just hope she doesn't fry in it waiting for winter to come.

Stickers

Amanda LOVES stickers.  She puts them all over her body and they are everywhere in the house.  Today I even found one on the toilet paper holder in my bathroom.  It's almost like her tape obsession, only worse.

The problem is, since Sarah's surgery a lot of people have given her stickers as something to do while she is on bed rest, so we have an overabundance of them right now.  Which means Amanda is in little sticker hog heaven, and I am picking them off everything.

The funny part is that Andy hates stickers almost as much as Amanda loves them.  He has never liked them.  When he was little I had to teach him to say "no thank you" when someone offered him a sticker instead of screaming in horror.  You would not believe how many people at stores and other random places just put stickers on your kids without asking.  You don't even think about it until you have a kid that freaks out whenever someone comes near him with one.  He's pretty much the same way with tattoos, face paint, and stamps. 

So, it's been kind of interesting to see him react to stickers all over the house.  Overall he's been good, because I don't hear him yell too much at the girls about them.  However, I know deep down it's driving him nuts to even be in the same room with the rampant use and waste of stickers.

It's a good thing Amanda doesn't know how to put on tattoos, or he would go over the edge.

Picture of the Day

Amanda and her best buddy, Max, hanging out at Andy's football game.  It was about 80 degrees and she refused to take off that crazy rain jacket.

Corn Maze Part Deux

Last Sunday we took the kids to the Corn Maze.  We'd been putting it off and I knew if we didn't do it before Sarah's surgery we wouldn't make it at all.  Charlie didn't see what the big deal was to miss it this year, but he doesn't talk about it with Sarah on a daily basis.  There was no way I was missing that Corn Maze.

It was way better than I expected.  I thought it would take them a couple of minutes, but would be very simple.  It really wasn't.  No, we didn't get stuck and have to call 911, but it was still a little bit of a challenge.  It was especially a challenge for me because Amanda was scared of the corn and refused to walk so I had to carry her 30-pound self through the entire thing (except the short time at the beginning when Charlie carried her).  Corn is not scary, so I don't know what her problem was.

There were dead ends and multiple paths to try and the kids really had a great time.  I was so happy that it didn't suck that I enjoyed it too.  The word is still out on Charlie, but secretly I think he liked it as well.  Afterwards the kids stayed and played on some tires and hay and the slide and then we bought some miniature pumpkins that we put by the front door.

The only bad thing about the whole trip was the weather.  Looks gorgeous in the photo, doesn't it?  Yes, it was, too gorgeous.  It was 85 degrees.  Now I know my friends up north would probably love to hang out at the pumpkin patch on a sunny day in 85 degree weather, but it's not as fun as it looks.  I'd like it to be fall, just a little, and feel the brisk air as we're walking through the Corn Maze.  I don't want to be sweating, or in shorts, I want to wear jeans and a sweatshirt and drink some hot cider.  Oh well, the price you pay so you don't have to shovel snow.

As for the Corn Maze, we'll be back next year.

Sarah's Surgery

Sarah had her surgery on Tuesday.  She had a full MRI first, to make sure there were no other issues with her spine, and then they did the procedure to fix the tethered cord.  Everything went really well and the doctor was pleased.  She had some nausea due to the anesthesia when she woke up, but slept most of it off and didn't get sick the rest of the day.  She did really well the last two days following the doctor's orders to stay flat and today she got to come home.  Looking good so far.

In general, all is well.  She's having a few issues with sharing me and the other two are craving some time with Mommy since I've been gone the last two days.  Amanda wants to play with Sarah but doesn't understand that she has to be gentle, and Sarah isn't feeling so bad that she doesn't want to play as well.  The next couple of days Sarah will comply with the rules of taking it easy but next week is going to be hard.  I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for her to go back to school when the time comes.

As for her physical condition, only time will tell.  She can't do anything active for at least a month, which will be kind of nice because our schedule won't be quite as hectic going to all her activities.  Plus, I don't have to feel bad that she's not doing anything, because she's not supposed to be doing anything.  Whether or not the surgery is a success and will have an impact on her constipation and/or legs is yet to be seen.  We are trying not to get to optimistic about the latter and hoping at a minimum we get the former.  If not, we will continue on as we always do.

I'm just glad she's safe and sound and happy and at home.  Right now that's all I can ask for.

Carpooling Makes You Fat

I have two days a week where I am in the car for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  It's not so bad for me, but I do feel bad for Amanda.  It's a long time for a two-yr-old to sit.  Unless, of course, Elmo is playing on the DVD player, then she could sit there all day.

Today I had to drop Andy at gymnastics and then take Sarah to art class.  Her art class starts at the exact time that gymnastics ends so I have a little bit of time before we need to get to art class and then Andy has to wait for a few minutes after he's done.  It's not ideal, but everyone is fine with it.

After we dropped Andy off I drove across the street to Sonic to get some iced tea.  I was so good for the longest time about no caffeine and now I drink way too much.  But we had some time and it was happy hour, which means all the drinks were half price.  The problem is you can't go to Sonic without getting something for everybody else, so I got a drink for me and fried mozzarella sticks for the girls.  Except there are five, and how do you split five equally between the two of them?  You give one to mom, that's how.

After I dropped Sarah off and came back to get Andy, he asked if we could go get a treat.  Specifically he wanted a chocolate dipped cone from McDonald's.  I was about to say no, but then felt bad because I had already gotten something for the girls.  Kids talk, and he would have found out.  Plus I had a ginormous Sonic cup in my cup holder.  Dead giveaway.  When we got to McDonald's I got Andy his cone and Amanda asked for cookies.  I was going to tell her no because she already had the cheese sticks, but it wouldn't be fair that he was eating an ice cream cone in front of her.  McDonald's cookies come in sets of three.  I gave one to Amanda, saved one for Sarah and ate the other.

This was not a normal day.  I don't always make those stops and the kids don't eat treats that often.  But they do almost always bring snacks in the car, much to my chagrin, and a lot of time time I will bring one too.  Not because I'm hungry, but just because.

So how do mom's get so fat?  Eating off their kids' plates and eating as many snacks as they do.  The kids are running it off at the activities, I'm just sitting on my butt driving the van.

Elmo Raincoat

It rained today, which is a pretty big deal because this is only the second time it's rained in like 70+ days.  Needless to say it's been a very dry summer.  It wasn't just raining a little bit when we left the house, it was pouring.  So much so that I actually got out coats for the kids, which I hardly ever do.  It's just easier not to, and when it's only misting or drizzling, the coats just get wet and then bring the wet into the car and their car seats and make everything a mess.

I found this rain coat for Amanda.  I bought it for my niece, Megan, when she was about Amanda's age.  She is a senior in high school now.  After Megan and her siblings used it and Andy was going through his "I love nothing more than Elmo" phase, my sister-in-law sent it to us.  He used it and loved it, Sarah wore it a couple of times, and now it belongs to Amanda.  Let's just say she did not want to take this off today.

If you look closely at the picture you can see two other things.  First, the Elmo t-shirt showing under the coat, because there is never a day that she does not have an Elmo t-shirt on, even though she only has three.  Second, her shoes are on the wrong feet.  She put them on herself, so I can't complain, but really why do kids always do that?

In true old style rain coat fashion, when she finally did take it off she was all hot and sweaty.  That thing does not breathe at all.  Luckily, she didn't care one bit.  I have a feeling we're going to get a lot of use out of this coat.

Kid Quote of the Day

"I'm skinny for free and I have curly hair for free.  Aren't I lucky?"

-Sarah

Picture of the Day

After school, uniform shirt off, fairy wings on.  Ever the girly girl!

Picking Your Battles

I was going to title this post "Compromise", but then I realized there is very little compromising going on.  With this third child I have thrown so many rules out the window.

This morning Sarah got herself dressed, which up until a couple of weeks ago was a  miracle, and when she picked out her navy tutu Amanda instantly decided that she was going to wear her tutu as well.  The navy tutu is our way of pushing the uniform envelope at the girls' school.  They are required to wear navy or khaki bottoms at school.  Of course they would rather wear something more girly, like tutus.  When I found navy tutus last year I bought a couple different sizes because I knew they would be a hit.  I wasn't wrong.

If you look closely, she has another shirt under her uniform shirt.  You guessed it, an Elmo shirt.  That is the only way I can get her dressed for school without her crying.  Put an Elmo shirt on first.  She doesn't really care that she has two shirts on and as long as the uniform shirt is on top neither does the school.  I never allowed the other two to do something like this.  On school days they wore their uniform, end of story.  However, I don't have time to fight with her about her clothes and get the other two ready and to school on time, so this is one fight I'm not going to fight.  It doesn't hurt anybody and as long as she is happy with twice as much clothes on, so be it.

Same goes for the shoes.  It has been a long-standing rule at our household that you do not wear Crocs to school.  This is because when the kids go out on the playground they get wood chips or rocks in their shoes and it's a pain for the teachers to get them out.  Ever the rule followers, we want the teachers to like us and therefore don't want to annoy them with constantly having to remove things from our childrens' shoes.  Therefore, no Crocs at school.  Again, if she wants to get crap in her shoes, so be it.  She also won't wear socks and has big blister marks on her heels because of it, but if she doesn't care I guess I shouldn't.

Someone on Facebook recently asked how you know you're done having kids.  No question, I'm done!

Miss Me?

I just got back last night from a four day "vacation" in San Diego.  It wasn't actually a vacation, but it seemed like one.  Better than one, because we left the kids at home with my parents.  Charlie was invited to the American Airlines Celebrity Golf and Tennis charity event to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation.  It is an absolutely amazing event.  He was invited by one of his partners at work, so technically we were there for a work function, but there was very little work to be done.

I love this even for many reasons.  First off, they raise a ton of money for the foundation.  The silent auction on the last night alone raised almost $900,000.  Awesome.  On a personal level, I enjoy it because some of my friends from American are there (as well as new friends that I met through this event and only see when we come), who I don't get to see nearly enough, I get some time to myself, and Charlie and I get some quality time together.  Nobody eats my food, wipes their dirty hands on me, asks me to do anything for them (on the contrary everything is done for me), and the word "Mommy" is not uttered for four days.  I get to regroup, play some golf, and hang out with adults that talk about adult things.

At the same time, the kids get to spend some quality time with their grandparents, which means they get a little spoiled, and they learn that it is okay for mom and dad to go away for a couple of days.  They will survive.  There was a lot of moaning and groaning the first couple of days, but by the end they were doing pretty well.

I would love to share some pictures with you, but unfortunately I came home while Charlie and the camera stayed in California for a couple more days.  When he gets home I will post a few, especially the one of us with Magic Johnson.  How cool is that?

Picture of the Day

I took Sarah to Fort Worth today for a follow up appointment on her knee braces.  The Orthetist used a little moleskin and a few other tricks and they don't bother her at all anymore, yay!  She still doesn't like them that much, but at least they don't hurt her.

On the way to the specialist building we passed this restaurant.  Paco & John Mexican Diner.  Oh how I want to eat there.  You know that some of the best restaurants in this area are hole in the wall mexican joints that you wouldn't think twice about if you passed them on the street.

I guess that's a positive side to the surgery.  I have to eat, maybe one day I can sneak out and get some Paco & John.  Then if it is horrible, at least I'll already be at the hospital.

Knee Braces

As if it weren't bad enough that she has to have surgery in a couple of weeks, Sarah also got a pair of knee braces last week to go with her ankle braces.  While we were visiting the Neurosurgeon last month he pulled in a Neurologist (yes, apparently there is a difference and the former does not liked to be called the latter) who said that she hyper extends her legs so badly and often that if she didn't get something for her knees she would need a knee replacement at 30.

So, we picked these babies up on Wednesday.  She is smiling for the camera, because she will always smile for the camera, but she was not happy about it.  She did like that she got to pick the color, but now I'm wondering if hot pink was the best choice.  They sure do stand out.

She was pretty bummed about them for the first couple of days, had a few pity parties and whined a lot, which was pretty hard to listen to.  It's bad enough that you have to do this to your child, but then to listen to them complain about it is torture.  It makes you feel like a horrible parent, even though you know you are doing what is best for them.

So, after a couple of days, I told her I was so, so, sorry, I wished she didn't have to wear them, I hate that it was the decision that we had to make, but sometimes Mommy and Daddy have to make decisions for kids that aren't the best thing because that is what is best for the kid.  I think it finally sunk in, plus she realized no matter how much she complained I wasn't going to give in and not make her wear them, and the last few days she's been really good about the whole thing.  It helps that her friends and the kids at school don't give her a hard time about them.  In fact I'm not positive that some of them don't even realize that she has them on.  Thank God for kind, accepting Kindergarten minds.

I have no idea how long she'll have to wear them or if they will do the trick, we'll just have to wait and see.  It would be awesome if six months down the line after her surgery they decide she doesn't need them anymore, but I'm not banking on it.  One day at a time.

Next Steps

I've spend the last thirty minutes or so going through all my posts, major blast from the past, looking for a post that told you about Sarah's medical history.  I've touched on it briefly before, but I guess I've never really told the whole story.  Most of the people that read my blog know most of it, but not everyone.  I can't give you the entire story, because it's too long and too detailed and too emotional to tell it the right way.  But here is the basic rundown.

Sarah was born with a coarctation of the aorta.  That means that in one spot her aorta was like a pinched hose or an hour glass.  The blood was pumping but it couldn't get through.  Usually this is found on an ultrasound and is fixed within days of the baby being born.  They just go it, cut out the pinched piece, and then sew the two pieces of aorta back together.  End of story, long happy normal life.  Unfortunately for Sarah her coaractation wasn't discovered until she was 10 days old.  That is a long time for blood to not be pumping to all the parts of the body.

When they determined the problem she was rushed into emergency surgery.  Suffice it to say if we hadn't taken her to the emergency room that day she would have died very soon after.  Many things fell into place the day of her surgery and for that we are eternally grateful.  Her surgeon and cardiologist are amazing as well as the teams of doctors and nurses that worked on her.  Because babies are incredibly resilient she was able to come home with us after only a week in the hospital and she had a fabulous recovery.

Except for her legs.  Fortunately, the coaraction was low enough that that was no permanent damage to her brain or upper body.  The lower half was not quite as lucky.  Apparently, and nobody really knows this for sure, the lack of blood to the bottom half of her body caused damage to her spinal cord.  We don't know exactly what happened, because it is a 1 in 20,000,000 kind of thing and really has no name associated to it, but there was damage to the nerves and muscles in her legs from the waist down.

We saw a neurologist who didn't really know what the problem was but told us she would never walk again.  He recommended we get her into physical therapy as soon as possible.  That is when we met Kelley, Sarah's wonderful therapist who has done amazing things with her, such as teach her to walk.  She is not the same as other five-year-olds when it comes to gross motor skills, but she does pretty well and continues to do better and better.

About a year ago, at the beginning of school, she started having a lot of bathroom accidents.  We didn't know where this was coming from or why she was having them.  Was it because she was four and they do that, or was it some medical problem that we weren't thinking of?  After a month or two we went to an urologist.  He gave us a few things to try but ultimately sent us to a neurologist (our old one had discharged us when Sarah started walking and was also no longer practicing so we didn't currently have a neurologist).   Suffice it to say I hated him.  Neurologists are famous for having horrible bedside manners and this guy was no exception.

Luckily a friend of mine knew of a fabulous neurosurgeon (the polar opposite of the other one we saw) and we were able to see him.  He came to the conclusion that Sarah needs surgery.  He believes she has a tethered cord.  We are hoping after the surgery we will see some improvements but that remains to be seen.  Her surgery is on the 18th.  She will have two days of recovery in the hospital and then can't walk for a week after she comes home.  Keeping a five year old down for a week, that will be a challenge.  Luckily my parents are coming for part of it and Charlie's mom is coming for another part, so she will have lots of people to keep her occupied.  I have also bought a few new art projects to work on that will hopefully keep her busy.

Yes, I'm scared.  I'm not scared about the decision to have surgery, I fully believe that it's the right decision and I'm very comfortable with it, but any time your child goes into surgery there is a fear factor.  She's so little and delicate.  However, more than anything, I'm just glad we're moving forward.  Charlie and I have always thought surgery would be an option.  Not this particular surgery, but some kind of surgery that may be able to fix some of her issues and bring her closer to the abilities of her peers.  This surgery may do absolutely nothing for her, but it could also solve all the bathroom problems she's been having, make her legs stronger and fix issues we thought would never go away.

We aren't banking on anything.  We are trying not to get our hopes up.  But we are heading in the direction that we've been wanting to go for a long time.  No longer waiting to see when we are going to do something, but actually doing something.  Hopefully it will all go smoothly and we can continue on this path.

Octoberfest

October is my favorite month in Texas.  After months of ridiculously hot weather it starts to cool down and I even get to break out my jeans.  It's cool in the mornings, some days you can even wear a sweatshirt for an hour or two, but still gets warm by afternoon so it isn't a total weather shocker.  Jeans and a t-shirt for the entire month, ahhh.  The air starts to get crisp and the humidity fades away.  It starts to get darker earlier, but not too early, and it actually cools down at night when the sun goes down.  It's the one month of the year (okay, maybe April too) that remind me of home and gives me happy thoughts.

To celebrate the beginning of October this year, we took the kids to Octoberfest a few towns over.  It wasn't a huge celebration, but the perfect size for us.  The kids got to go in bounce houses, eat corn dogs, roasted corn and elephant ears, go on a ride and do a little craft.  I got to drink a beer while walking down the street, which is always fun, and enjoy the outside.  I've been holed up inside for the last 3-4 months, it was nice to go outside without melting for once.

The big hit was the yard sticks that a local Chevrolet dealer was giving out.  The kids all wanted one to use as a cane, a light saber, a sword, whatever.  I was cool with it because a) they were free, b) the kids were happy, and c) I got three yard sticks out of it.  We will never need to buy another one again.

What more could you ask for on a nice October afternoon?