Sisterly Love

Maddie just loves her baby sister! They are so cute together!

Paigey update

Paige is doing really well! She had her NAM adjustment this last Friday and she is over 14 pounds now. Little chunky butt. :) Dr. V told Hal that we need to start making the steri straps tighter as she is almost done with the NAM! She said that the tighter we make it, the closer her cleft will become! Of course, I can't over do it and squish her cheeks like a fish. LOL Dr. V also said that her nose looks awesome and she should have a really wonderful outcome after surgery! I can't wait. Not too much longer and NO NAM! I'm a little scared about her eating without the NAM but I plan to talk to Matt about that at our pre-op appt. I tried yesterday and boy is it different than feeding with her NAM in. I'm just not used to it anymore. But all in all, Paige is doing really good. Her reflux is a little more under control from the surgery when she started to spit up a LOT. But, now it's not as bad.

Talk to you all soon again. Don't forget to comment!

Proud Mama Moment

There are somethings just make you proud to be a mother! Today is one of those days. Owen and I had the rare opportunity to spend some quality time with just the two of us. So I decided it was time to teach him how to tie his shoe! I have a shoe tying pillow and I showed him 1 time how tie his shoe the "grown up way" without using bunny ears. (I hate bunny ears, I think it's harder to teach as there are too many things for their little fingers to hold). Anyways, I showed him the one time and then walked him through it one time. Then, I set him lose! He did it the very first time by himself!! I was so proud! He's growing up! He practiced a few more times on the pillow and then did it on his shoe! He did awesome! I'm one proud mama!

Life in Limbo

I can't stand when things are left unfinished! I am the type of person that when something is started, I can't sleep until it's done. Point in case, this new possible job! I interviewed almost 1 1/2 weeks ago. I finally hear from them today to tell me that they are still trying to contact my references. The problem is, I'm suppose to give Head Start a 30 day notice. So if they hurry up and tell me, the sooner I can get started! Then, my current BSC job calls today to tell me that I'm picking up 2 more kids. YEah for the pay check as it does pay well but boy is it getting hard to schedule around Head Start. I'm there all day long and while BSC and MT is flexible, it's not that flexible with families schedules. So I hate this waiting to see if I got the other job so I can quit Head Start and only work as a BSC or MT. It's getting too difficult with our already busy schedule.

Also, in other news, I have officially stopped breastfeeding. The last day I pumped was almost a week ago (last Tuesday). I finally just figured that it was more important to have a sain mother than to pump 1-2 bottles a day. That's basically all I had time for. I feel awful about it but you have to make a sacrifice some where. She is doing awesome on formula so I'm happy about that. She has been spitting up more than normal since her scope and I plan to talk to her doctor about that but all in all, she's doing great.

Madison is well too. She has been full of fire lately. I came home from work today and I think she talked my ear off. LOL I'm so glad that she is happy being home and not missing being at daycare all that much. They go on Mondays and she looks forward to that but right now, that's all we have to do. Makes for a lot less of a bill. :-) Can't afford that right now.

Owen is doing well. He has started to read. Can you believe it? He's starting to read. It's amazing, He's amazing. He really has done well in Kindergarten. You know me though, the teacher in me wants him to do super great. I have to back off and remind myself that he is doing good.

Hal is almost done with school. I can't wait! It would make my life a lot easier if he had a regular job and didn't have to go to school but I will live. I like having him home with the girls during the day. They have really bonded.

Okay, that's a brief update on us. Please don't forget to comment! I want to hear from everyone!

Paige's appointments until Surgery!!!!

These are the last of Paige's NAM appointments until Surgery! We only have 7 more NAM adjustments! Can't wait for this to be over and done with the NAM!

November 13: NAM adjustment and Eye Appointment

November 18th: NAM adjustment

November 25th: NAM adjustment

December 2nd: NAM adjustment, ENT follow up with hearing test

December 9th: NAM adjustment

December 17: NAM adjustment and Pre-Op appointment for lip/nose/gum surgery

December 30: LAST NAM adjustment

January 8th: SURGERY!!!!!

ENT Surgery Update

This has been yet another long week. I'll give you the short version

Wednesday, the entire family headed to Pittsburgh for a NAM appointment and to stay the night in a hotel for Paige's ENT surgery on Thursday. The NAM appt went as planned and I even was able to ask Dr. Vechionne if she thought Paige would be ready for surgery in January and she said "more than likely." That's about the most she can say "legally." I was pleased with that.

We then headed to the hotel and went and got dinner. Then Paige got to meet her new friend Liliana. Lily is one month older than Paige and also goes to the same cleft team. They even have the same plastic surgeon. We hung out with Lily's mom, Erica and had some really good conversations about the NAM and other fun stuff. It was really nice to get to know Erica and Lily. It was very sweet to see the girls together and really nice to know someone who understands completely what we are going through. Lily's parents knew about her cleft during pregnancy so we come from a different beginning but have defiantly the same outcomes so far. Lily is scheduled for sugery one week after Paige. Lily gets her nose shunt next week also. We look forward to getting to know them better and seeing the girls grow up to be great pen pals. :) Here are a few pictures of the girls together!






Yesterday, we had to be at the hospital at 6:30am on Thursday. We arrived a few minutes early and everything moved quickly. Paige was not allowed to eat after 2 am so she started to get fussy but was really great all morning. We talk to Dr. Alper and the anestialogist. We also met a nurse who had a cleft lip and palate. He told us his story and how his surgeries went. Paige went into surgery at 8:00am. She was there until 9:45 when we were called back to see her. She didn't even look like herself. She didn't open her eyes and her face was really white. She was screaming! She stopped for a minute when I picked her up but continued to scream then after. I got her to eat 1 ounce of sugar water and then waited for Dr. Alper to give us the results. She was still very upset and they gave her a really strong medication to relieve the pain. She calmed then after but I was unable to put her down. I held her from 9:45 until 4:30 with only putting her down a few minutes to go to the bathroom and to change her diaper. She wanted to be held and by all means, I was holding her!

Dr. Alper came to talk to us and told us that everything went as planned. (Although they told us it would only be a 45 min surgery but ended up being 1 hour and 45 mins). He said that her scope indicated a very mild case of reflux with a little swelling around her larynx. He said it wasn't bad at all. Her laryngo malacia is mild also and really is not a concern as long as the reflux is managed, which it is. We are good with her Zantac and thickening her bottles. He said that her ears were pretty bad. He said both sides were completely full of fluid and it was thick. They put a incision in her ear and inserted the tubes. He said that they sucked out as much as they could but her ears would still drain over the course of the week. She has drops to use for a week and can not get her ears wet at anytime. He did say that with the amount of fluid in her ear, it was a good indication of conductive hearing loss and NOT permament hearing loss. THANK GOD! She will have her hearing retest December 2nd.

At this point, Dr. Alper told us he wanted to keep her overnight for observation. I was NOT happy about this. We had the kids at the hotel with Aunt Jess and we had NO plans of staying another night. I didn't even have my wallet with me or clothes, brush, toothbrush, nothing! At this point, we had no choice but to let Hal pick up the kids and head for home. So at about noon, Hal picked up the kids and left. This was not fun as I hate it when he can't stay. However, Paige and I were fine and hung out in the recovery room until after 4pm. They then moved us to a room on the 6th floor. We did NOT have a private room and this pretty much sucked. Expecially when you share it with parents who really didn't seem to understand much of anything. They kept turning the temperature down to the point where Paige's hand was purple. I was getting annoyed. I will spare you the details but it definitly wasn't a good night and I got little sleep. Paige also was woke up many times because of the situation. So right now, she is sleeping soundly in her bed.

They released us this morning and Hal came to get us. Talk about putting mileage on our vehicles! Paige is doing well now and is in good spirit! She was "talking" to me earlier and is doing really good. I can tell a difference in her hearing already so I really pray that it does the job!

So there's a quick update of what happened over the course of 3 days. I am so happy to be home and allowing Paige a break before her January surgery. I will be requesting a private room for that!

Thanks to everyone who checked up on Paige and her progress! As always, we appreciate the people who take the time to keep up with Paige. Love you all!

Nervous Breakdown??

This might be what people call a nervous breakdown! LOL I am finally there. Years of over working myself or over working my brain has finally gotten me to the point where I think I need a vacation. :-)

Things on my mind. WORK! I started a new job! I love my job. I currently still do teach at Head Start but there are many things that I do not enjoy about my job. I LOVE the kids and I love teaching. That's where my heart really is but they quite frankly do not pay me what I'm worth with a masters degree. Sad but true and everyone I work with would agree. So I started a job as a behavioral specialist consultant and mobile therapist. Right now I'm doing a lot of MT hours (not a lot but some) but these all take place after school for most kids. This is so time consuming and hard to accomplish as I work all day at Head Start. So on Friday, I have an interview for another BSC job. This would would be ideal and I could quit my job at Head Start. I have to give HS a 30 day notice which will be hard to do but it would benefit my family a great deal more for me to quit and work only 1 or 2 jobs instead of 3!! I just don't know how I would be able to fit it all in. It would be about a 70 hour a week for a month. That's impossible considering Hal is gone Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for class and clinicals. I WILL NOT leave my kids in daycare that much. It's not fair to them. So I have a lot of decisions to make. It's difficult as I don't want to screw over Headstart.

Then another topic...BREASTFEEDING! I can not believe I want to say this but I'm so done breastfeeding. Did I mention how many hours I'm working? It's impossible for me to pump as many times at it requires to keep up production. It just isn't working. What's the point of stressing me out more just to give her 1 or maybe 2 bottles a day. Then there is this part of me that says "1-2 bottles is better than none!" I'm so torn on this. I'm a HUGE breastfeeding advocate. I get on my friends who chose not to breastfeed. I totally respect their choice but hope that they at least try it. It's so much better for them. But with Paige not being able to actually breastfeed, I'm draining in all these pumping sessions. 8-12 times a day is the recommended pumping amount. I am (on a good day) pumping only 4 times. I have a life to live and kids to raise. I do NOT have the time to sit around and pump. Wish I did, God knows I wish I did!

So I'm a bit on the stressed side right now. I'm trying to juggle more things than I have the hands for. It's rough! Then there is always Owen's homework, Madison in general, taking care of Paige, NAM appts for Hal and the kids, being home when Hal is at clinicals, scheduling clients. Boy am I tired. So bear with me if I get a little grumpy!