Finally, a new post!

The change in Isaac's breathing since having his tonsils removed, is incredible. I've known that the tonsils were a problem, but had no idea, what an impact they had on his breathing. This makes me very, very happy, because in the days leading up to the surgery I couldn't stop praying that this would be the surgery that made the impact. And I think it did!

We used to be able to hear Isaac breathing at night from our bedroom, with the door closed. I couldn't hold him while he was sleeping because he snored so loud, and literally sounded like that thing at the dentist that sucks the spit out of your mouth. Now, he's quiet as a mouse. I take that back, the last mouse we had in our house, was definitely not quiet, hence the reason it is dead. Anyway, I'm really happy for Isaac and the blessing of the tonsillectomy and the potential that that may have been our last surgery! Hooray for that, right?

In addition to improved breathing, he also much louder and babbles significantly more. Obviously, this is wonderful for speech and sound progress. So that's been really fun to experience. And now he's saying, "ma" consistently, so you know I'm all about that! Isabella was so advanced verbally by the time she was two, that it's been hard for me to wait for this verbal progress. I never thought I would have to wait until my child was almost two before he would say, "mama". I guess it just makes it that much more exciting to hear.

In ten days Isaac will turn two. Before he was born, I never pictured our life the way it is now. The last two years, and specifically, the last year, have been quite the journey. Isaac's first birthday was very hard for me. I felt like we were stuck, and I felt like I still had a baby, when really, we were supposed to move toward the toddler years. I don't feel stuck anymore. I feel like we're making really good progress and doing all of the things we should be doing. But I do feel sad. This is not what I wanted for my son. I didn't want this overarching diagnosis that may mean he may not be able to have a girlfriend or get married one day. Or he may never drive a car, or live on his own, or be able to go to a store on his own. I didn't want for my child to not be able to eat or drink anything by the time he turned two. Or not be able to walk and run and chase his sister around the yard. That's all we used to tell Isabella: when your brother is two, he'll be able to chase you around the yard and play with you at the playground! Well, he does chase her, while scooting, and he does play at the playground, but only ones without mulch, because he refuses to touch it.

I want to be able to make a cake for him, or at least have him understand to some extent that his birthday is a day just for him. But we're not there yet. And while I watch my friend's daughter turn two, just fourteen days before Isaac, she sings Happy Birthday, and talks, and walks, and run, knows her shapes and colors, eats cake, and gets excited that everyone is celebrating her, I know that Isaac,

-is getting stronger
-is incredibly funny
-is good at puzzles
-loves tiny Legos
-is beginning to act out stories with his toys
-loves to paint and color
-is starting to climb
-can roll over and pull to stand
-can let go of furniture and stand on his own for up to thirty seconds
-loves taking a bath
-loves his sister
-has wonderful receptive language skills
-will touch pretzels and gold fish
-is obsessed with Toy Story
-gets mad when we turn on the wrong show
-can sign: eat, read, book, play, help, car, bird, fly, airplane, more, tree, cat, dog
-can say: Isabella (ba ba), mama, dada, car, ball, star (dar), dog (by pretend panting), eat (eeee), bug (bzzzz), cat (ka), baby (bebe), up (uh), on (uhn), duck (duh), quack, quack (kak kak)
-knows these animal sounds: cow, dog, duck, sheep
-can identify a multitude of items on pages in books

Sometimes I get dreary and melancholy, because we have no idea what the future will hold for Isaac. But about a week ago, I was watching Isaac play, and I thought, everything will be okay. I don't think I've thought that in a really long time. But I know it. No matter what, we'll be okay. And I feel like Walter and I have been through the hardest parts of the grieving and acceptance process, and since we don't need to jump out of a helicopter to prove the strength of our marriage, I know that the two of us will be okay too (in case you haven't been reading my blog, that was a reference to The Bachelor).

Have you seen the show Parenthood? First off all, best show ever and you should watch it. Secondly, one of the couples on the show has a son with Asperger's Syndrome, and it shares their journey with a child who has special needs. Obviously it is just a show, but still, I think that in the short snip-its they are able to show, it's a fairly accurate portrayal of what it's like to find out your child has special needs and the whole process you go through after that diagnosis is given. Anyway, great show, watch it.


Helping Papa fill the bird feeders. For some reason, Molli likes to eat bird seed. 

On a night that Walter worked late, I painted a chalk wall. We're having fun with it and it's a good place to display our weekly Memory Verse and Isabella's reading lessons.

While we were in Columbus, the kids and I took several walks around the neighborhood in an attempt to keep Isaac happy or get him to sleep. I've always been a very efficient "walker". I don't see the point in dawdling, just get up and go to the destination. Walter usually appreciated my slower pace when pregnant, and now, that Isabella walks on her own, I have to slow down considerably. She often walks very slowly, and I usually want to scream, but I try really hard to be patient. I suppose it gives me a chance to see the little things, like these blue flowers that I may have missed otherwise.

Isaac loves all things that fly. So he was thrilled to watch the planes fly over my grandma's house all hours of the day.

He sees a bug...

He squishes the bug...

He can climb on by himself!

Isabella was very excited to paint her own nails...

And one last thing, we got the results of Isaac's MRI. I wasn't really shocked by anything, and at this point, it's always good to have answers. Basically, he has abnormal thinning of the corpus callosum and "mild periventricular changes consistent with periventricular leukomalacia." The neurologist was very positive and encouraged us to continue to work with Isaac's therapists and agreed that he is making really good progress and is beginning to meet some good developmental milestones. Feel free to look up all of that terminology. Basically they are fancy words to say that he will have delays (duh) and some form of mental retardation (I believe it will be more mild than moderate).

Isabella just told me I look like a beautiful ballerina. So on that note, have a good day!

Tonsillectomy: Part 2

I have been dragging my feet on writing a blog post. Not sure what my problem is. I feel slow, and uninspired this week. But, the kids are in the bathtub (don't report me, I'm sitting on the toilet typing away, so they are supervised) and this is usually an ideal blogging opportunity.

Isaac had his tonsillectomy on Friday and everything went very well. The whole procedure only took an hour, so this was his fastest surgery. We had a fairly uneventful hospital stay so I don't have much to report. Thankfully, we ended up with the rebel nurse who was all about breaking the rules. We were in the PICU, so they're a little more strict about visitors, etc. The rebel nurse was a good thing because guess who was in charge of the PICU floor--Nurse Ratched, straight out of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest--haven't read it, read it.

My mom and Sarah were about to head back to the PICU when Nurse Ratched said, "And who's that baby?" (meaning, Milo). Well, we assured her that Milo would do very little harm. And later, when Walter was walking around the waiting area with Milo (before she allowed Milo back to Isaac's room) she said to Sarah, "What did you do with the baby?" Left him on a bench, do you think he'll be okay? 


No joke, this is what happened when my dad and brother came to visit:

I'm pretty sure Nurse Ratched made up some excuse to enter our room since she already deemed we were trouble...


NR: Does Mary, your nurse, know that there are more than four people in this room?
My mom: Yes, we told her.
NR: No, does she know there are this many people in the room?
My mom: Yes, she said it was fine.
NR: Hmmm. Because I see, one, two, three, four, five, people in this room. (She is SO good at counting!)
My dad (showing his University Hospital Physician Badge): I'm a therapist, a family therapist.
NR: Oh, excuse me! I am so sorry, you're one of us?! My apologies, excuse me.

Right. Like we're having a family therapy session here in the PICU. Idiot. Well, at least that shut her up, and we all got a good laugh after she left.

Anyway, since we've learned the ropes of surgery and Isaac's need for his pink bouncy seat, we brought it along with us, and he stayed in the same position the entire twenty-four hours we were at the hospital. He loudly protested any time we tried to pick him up or change his diaper, so he stayed curled up in his bouncy seat, watching movie after movie. I must say, I think he relished in the fact that we allowed him to watch so much TV. Walter managed to get a laugh out of him, but oddly, until we signed the discharge papers and began walking out of the hospital, he was a complete grump. Then, miraculously, he was happy as a clam. Hmmm.

Today he seems pretty happy, but he's been in a considerable amount of pain. The doctor sent us home with baby Vicodin. First of all, that stuff causes a really amazing amount of drowsiness--I mean, it really lessens the intensity of his pain, and that's all that matters. Secondly, after his Craniofacial Reconstruction, they refused to send him home with any drugs, so this doesn't make any sense to me. Tonsils constitutes drugs and head being cut open does not. I'm not so sure about that. 

Pre-op...

I made it my personal goal to get pictures of Isaac and Milo in various sleeping positions. It was a long day, and I didn't have anything better to do since Isaac wouldn't let me hold him.

It's a beautiful day, so we're headed outside!

Sierra

Tonsillectomy: Part 1

The cold I had last week turned into a double ear infection. Trust me, that was not fun. At times, I found myself contemplating whether or not having an ear infection is worse than giving birth. The jury is still out. At least you get something at the end of birth. An ear infection just seems like a useless amount of pain that only results in moping around the house while overdosing on cough drops and Advil.

Isaac's tonsillectomy was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. (today) which meant that we were to arrive at the hospital by 5:45 a.m. Not cool. Long story short, which will probably still turn into a long story, when the six pre-op nurses and doctors came by and checked Isaac, they heard wheezing in both lungs. This also meant that I underwent serious interrogation regarding his breathing, his wheezing, potential asthma, laryngospasms, bronchospasms, breathing treatments, his coughing, his sleeping...AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I wanted to hurt someone, but I didn't. But Walter did have to remind me several times, to stay calm. Seriously, it was like one of those personality tests you take that asks you the same exact question, ten different ways, just to see which way trips you up. You silly doctors, you don't fool me! I admit though, I was getting confused after the two and a half hours...does he have a history of wheezing...has he been diagnosed with asthma...has he had a cold recently...I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT'S REAL ANYMORE! 

Well, we were sent home, and Isaac has been acting like a free man all day. I think he knows that he foiled our plans. Back again next Friday. After we left the hospital and I had a good cry, we went to lunch, and then to the pediatrician, and then to have a chest x-ray. Boy was that fun.

I'm not sure who this baby is, it's definitely not Isaac. Isaac looked like we might possibly kill him with this device or he was just having a psychotic break down. Either way, he wasn't happy. So we rigged up a different scenario because I was like, "lady, that's not going to work for my kid, so you better have another trick up your sleeve."

Photos from a Google search...




Have you ever played with those tiny Legos? Their amazing. I've been really proud of myself for innovative Lego building.

I love this next picture. He's so focused.

Isaac enjoys chasing us around the house with various animals that make a very ferocious growl. All animals (except cows, for some reason) growl.

I'm pretty sure if Milo were older, he would totally hit on me. We have a special connection and he's very flirtatious.

Isaac scooted over to show off his head lamp...

And then Isaac came back with his kitchen utensils and Milo touched him on the leg, and then their pleasant friendship was over. Isaac doesn't like when people touch him. It makes him scoot around angrily while he holds his hair and attempts to find the perfect object to hit his head on. I'm getting good at shielding his forehead before it comes in contact with hard objects. Until Friday, when we had our group of friends over, we didn't realize how protective he is of his high chair. Yeah, don't even think about touching it. Oscar touched the tray, and Isaac lost his marbles.

I'm tired. More later.