Multi Ear Infections Lead to Tubes

How blessed I considered us to be that Gabriel didn't have his first ear infection until July 2010. Brandy and Jeremy both had ear infections quite frequently before they turned 1. Jeremy had one that was so bad we had to take him to the ER for antibiotics to be administered through a shot because he couldn't sit up straight and had high fevers. Back in the 90's it wasn't a common practice for ear tubes to be inserted. Now a days, if a child has more than 3 ear infections at a young age they do consider the tubes as an alternative to help with drainage. 

Gabe was 11 months old before his very first ear infection!! We took him and Kien to the neighborhood pool for the first time early in the morning (so we could escape the sizzling heat by 11 AM). I used the bathtub rubber ducky as a "boat" for Gabe to get used to the water. Within 10 minutes of entering the water, Gabe had fallen asleep! So, since the air filled duck was cushy, and the swooshing (probably reminded him of being in the womb) eased him to a nice siesta! Little did I pay attention to the water inside the duck when I would splash a little water on his feet to keep him cool. Some water did get in his ears. No more that 24 hours later, he had a fever. 

Over the next 3 months it was a constant ear infection diagnosis with antihistamine and 3 different types of antibiotics with no relief. I finally after his last round of high fever that eventually hit 104. degrees, took him to the ER where they gave him a shot of antibiotic to really knock out the infection. When I talked with the doctor for the follow up the next business day, they gave me a number and scheduled an appointment with a specialist to have tubes put in his ears. The surgery was scheduled October 19th, and we had to be there by 5 AM!! 

Kien had a spend over at our sweet friends house with her children so that we could have a smooth transition getting to the hospital with out having TWO children up at such a terrible time of the day! It's even too early for the birds!! LOL 

When we got to the hospital, the scheduled surgery was for 7 AM but had to go through all the prep list. Finally, we got to the room where we dressed him the the cutest little gown for children. They gave him a nasal mist to to make him "not have a care in the world" to help with the separation from daddy and mommy back to the operating room. 

Gabe was a hoot being all loopy. It was so hard to hold back the tears watching him in this state. He was extremely "lovey dovey" with us. :) :)  

 And very drunk! Poor baby, he couldn't hardly hold his head up.

 When we first put him down, he didn't like the bed. But it wasn't too long after the medicine kicked in that he was ok with it.

 He had to give mommy love first. It was a different world in there!

 The wonderful nurses just love him, commented how adorable he was with the curls and big blue eyes. They gave him a teddy bear that had a gown and face mask on. He loved it!

 Then, to help him with getting ready to be wheeled back to the room, they gave him a toy! A driving toy! The batteries were dead though, so no noises.

 The surgery literally took 3 minutes to insert the tubes. We walked out of the little pre-op room, sat down in the waiting room and  posted on facebook that Gabe was in surgery and prayers were appreciated. Then, the doors opened, the doctor came out and said all went well and we could go back to hold our lil guy. The doctor did inform us that Gabe would have what he called a "6 pack hangover" and will be very fussy. Sure enough, when we went back to get him he was crying as if he had a bad headache. Nothing consoled him until I asked the nurse if I could possible give him a bottle since he hadn't had anything to eat but had been up since 4:30 AM. Anyone who knows Gabe is aware that this child doesn't miss a meal!! (HA!)
So I gave him his bottle with 6 OZ of formula and he sucked it dry. Then wanted more. Finally after 30 minutes of the nurses watching him after the anesthetic wore off, they gave us our instructions and we left.

I was on my way to the pharmacy to fill Gabe's prescription with plans to then pick up Kien from our friends house. Instead, she was right there at Starbucks a few buildings down from the pharmacy! So we met there and this is how the both of the boys were within 10 minutes!

Apparently, Kien and his friend Kai were awoken at 5 AM from the alarm in our friends house that had gone off when she opened her window to let some early morning air in and the boys never went back to sleep!

All in all, the surgery went great and will have to go for a post op check of Gabe's ears in 4 months.

****Update-- His appointment is scheduled for March 2011 with the specialist, and has seen our family doctor a couple of times since then and the tubes look great! They have not fallen out and their placement was perfect!

Grant's Visit To Texas

While Brandy had her competition, Grandpa was also landing in good ole' Texas. He wasn't going to be able to make it in time in order to attend her event, but trust me, he heard plenty of it at dinner.
Grandpa was a HIT with Gabe! He even had him smiling!

 Greg, as you know, has a new hobby in the mean time of building his REAL hobby truck which is Miata racing. So, guess what Dad and Son did together?!

 Grampy and Brandy!

 Dinner was always fantastic since it was at Salt Grass Steakhouse! YUM!

 Kien was not happy that Grampy had to leave to go home the next morning. It is hard being so far away from our family. Which makes for great visits when they come see us! =)

Birdville Marching Contest

Brandy had a contest at Birdville Stadium and it was a success!! They were getting SO much closer to making the State Contest!
Here is Brandy and her friend all dressed up in their marching outfits! SO GROWN UP!!!

 There are over 250 marching students in her band. It was a VERY large group, and talk about some talent!!! Their band directors are AWESOME!

If you are interested in watching any of their performances (or a part of them) please go to http://www.youtube.com/ and type in SOS Marching Band Saginaw, Texas

High School Carnival

Brandy's school was hosting a carnival and the marching band played on the field during the introduction. They also had yummy cotton candy that Kien and Gabe just had to try! It was a hit with Kien, not so much with Gabe. He thought it was funny feeling and it ticked his nose!

 At the end of the marching show, they displayed fireworks! Our location was not all that great as you can see the light pole was in my way! =/ And there were WAAAY too many parents/students/children there to be able to move in time to get a better view. I will know this for next year! (of which BOTH of my high schoolers will be in marching band!!!)

 The iPhone was not great at taking photo's in the dark. =( but Brandy IS in the photo's... somewhere...

A Small Project... I don't think so!

 I performed a "power clean" of the children's bathroom and I noticed the ceiling was peeling off above the shower. I decided it was time for a quick and easy fix since the bathroom isn't like a monstrosity such as a master bathroom. Easy? Quick? I DON'T THINK SO! No project is a small project. I should know this by experience through the crafting projects I STILL haven't completed yet!! *sigh*

After a decision of a color change, (I was going to have to repaint the ceiling anyway, might as well go all the way) I calculated a full days work. Did it happen to be a full days work? NO WAY! It turned into a 3 day project!!

Once I was started on the ceiling, it was super easy to scrape off the "popcorn" above the shower. Mainly because of the amount of moisture in that specific area. However, when I worked my way out toward the door it became near impossible to get it down to the drywall. After a phone call to my dad, he gave me some advice on spraying warm water over the area that was difficult, let it sit for 30 seconds and WHAAAALAH! It was easy easy easy!!

Good thing I used news paper and plastic to cover the floor, tub and sink! =D

After the daunting task of scraping the popcorn ceiling off, I was going to re-popcorn the ceiling until I discovered the paint was no good. (It was left over from the man cave project) So, I went ahead and applied bathroom ceiling paint. :)

After 7 years of life in this house, the ceiling paint made the baseboards look lacking the original "white" color. I went ahead and repainted the baseboards. :) :)

Here you can REALLY see the difference! However, the thought of a project in and of it self to paint the door frame was a NO WAY JOSE' because well, lets just say it would take DAYS!! (once one starts, one would  have to go all around the house.. um, HELLO!??! I have four kids, I don't have time for this!)

At that point I was going to just be creative and sponge the same color of the walls on the ceiling. Did that work out?! UM-- a big fat FAIL! LOL! So, I just painted it solid grey to match the walls. =D

So, I painted the entire bathroom a dark grey, accented it with a nice space saver that I built above the toilet and whaaaalah! My masterpiece! It actually turned out quite nice, and with the flick of the light switch off after my few minutes of basking in my accomplishment, the promise was made to not start another project such as this again for a VERY long time!! :)

Bad Dukey!

Duke is our beloved old man boxer! Don't let him fool you, yes, he can be such a sweet loving boxer, but when we leave him alone, there is no telling how he will communicate that he was mad we left!
This time, it kinda backfired on him. He just THOUGHT he could get away with digging through Brandy's trash can looking for some sweet yummy left over crumbs from a candy bar or chew toy. Instead, he was caught immediately since the lid to the trash can was stuck around his neck! Poor doggie! It's quite funny, but he sure didn't think so!
Do you think he learned his lesson this time?! Are you kidding me??? LOL!

A Typical Day Twice a Week...

Kien sure knows what to do! He is eager to hop out of the car and walk right in to his school for class. He knows the way to his classroom, and since this is the first year for Gabriel to attend, Kien likes to go to his class first! :)


Gabriel is not such a big fan, at least not for the first 3 weeks of school. It is much easier on mommy to bring the stroller or this nifty (lifesaver is more like it) wagon to transport children, backpacks and lunch boxes!

Glenview Treehouse is awesome! It's quite an activity that the kids just drool over every time they walk by and parents cringe when their child runs out of their personal close space to attack the entry way to such bliss! The cringes are not because we don't wish for our kiddos to not have any fun, of course, that's one of the benefits of attendance! More so because the majority of us don't care for the idea of trying to crawl through those spaces to retrieve our children!! (LOL)

Here is a glimpse of the tree, and the kiddo's right before class!

An absolute favorite in our routine is the elevator! Gabe loves the feeling it gives when the elevator begins to go up, and then stop. He chuckles a little.

Kien LOVES to push the buttons! He can't quite reach the 2nd floor button, so I give him a little lift. I don't think anyone would appreciate hearing the emergency bell that rings when the emergency button is pushed! Luckily it only rings when it is held down and I was able to catch it before it was considered an emergency!! LOL!

Here is Kien's name tag outside the room where he is to place his backpack! He memorized the letters to his name and could place his belongings with out help! YAY!

Kien is usually one of the first children in class. When I leave by 8:10AM to drop the teenagers off at school, a visit to Starbucks along the way we usually get to the school fairly early!

Here is Gabe's name tag! Of course we don't expect him to put his things there. :)

I love being able to let him go to his room and watch him through the one way window! It didn't take but 3 weeks before he stopped crying and actually LUNGED to his teachers to go to class! It was a definite bittersweet moment!

Ready, Set, GO!

My wonderful hubby having fun in his little toy :)