It's Going to be a Long One!

No, I'm not referring to the winter in this blog's title, although that would be an accurate statement! I mean it's going to be a long blog because I was lazy over the holidays and only wrote blogs in my head -- never managing to get anything posted. I never got around to writing a separate post about the bronchoscopy (as advertised in the last post). So beware, this will probably be a long one, if the kids cooperate and let me get it done before demanding some breakfast (they're so gosh-darn needy, silly kids -- I have to feed them and everything, ha ha ha).

I'll start with the medical stuff so you don't have to hang in for the long haul: First of all, we started the new ACE-inhibitor drug for Annie that I mentioned in the last post. It has made an incredible difference in our lives! Annie's meds are now only at 7am (beta blocker, ACE-inhibitor, Digoxin, Lasix, and her reflux med) and 7pm (just beta blocker, Digoxin, and reflux med). Honestly, the freedom this change has given us has made a world of difference. No more late night dose, no more midday dose (the hardest one to remember!), and no refrigerated meds. I won't go on and on about it, but if you have gone through it with your kids you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't gone through it yourself, you have no idea! (All the same, I found myself wanting our Christmas vacation in Missouri to be a vacation from meds, too. It doesn't work that way ... but thanks to Scott I did get a bit of a vacation from them. He did all but a couple of doses the entire time we were gone. He's the best!)

I continue to be indecisive about Annie's scheduled procedures for her swallowing issues. As it stands, we will be going to her pre-op visit this Tuesday, Jan. 8. We now have an echo and visit with Dr. Smoot scheduled for the same day, so there is no way I want to cancel that! Still, I'm not sure we'll be going through with the bronchoscopy on the 16th. I think my latest decision has been to wait until we talk to Dr. Smoot personally. If she feels that she would not want Annie to go through a laryngeal cleft repair surgery, I really can't see the point of putting Annie through the bronchoscopy (which will determine if she has the cleft). If it's not going to change what we're doing right now as far as feeding Annie, I can't imagine why we would go through sedation, a hospital stay, an IV, etc. As for the CT scan and MRI currently scheduled for March, Dr. Smoot was leaning away from that when I spoke to her about it on the phone last month. Again, I am looking forward to speaking with her in person about all of this. So stay tuned for an update next Tuesday!

Other big Annie news: she's a chunk! Scott fed her and fed her and fed her over the holidays, stuffing her full every time he could get her to swallow (mostly when she was asleep!). She put on some weight -- about a pound and a half! -- in about 10 days. She is noticeably pudgier, with round cheeks and her toddler belly leading her way as she franken-walks around the house. It's wonderful to see her so chunky, but it also was a lesson learned. Between Annie's b-day party and the holidays, life was very busy around here the last few months. Scott's full-time feeding of Annie and the obvious results reminded me to slow life down a bit and focus on Annie more. Too often, I stop feeding her as soon as she falls asleep so that I can hop up and attack the ever-exciting, neverending "to do" list. I learned from Scott that I need to keep feeding her until she absolutely refuses another swallow. (Many times Scott brings her to me, telling me that "Bug is a stuffed tick!") So we'll be doing a few less playdates and generally trying to keep life a little less hectic ... easier said than done as school gets back into swing and life just rolls along, but I'm going to try!

So what else is going on? Well, thankfully winter "officially" started right before Christmas. Thank goodness! I don't know how we would have known it was time for Christmas otherwise.

Exhibit A (The view out my front door):

Exhibit B (Scott snowblowing a path for our elderly dog-kids in the backyard so they wouldn't have to mountain-goat-pee on the wall of snow immediately outside our sliders):

Yep, it's a snowy one! Snow affected our travel to and from Missouri for the holidays, as well. We had cancelled flights both ways, but we knew ahead of time in both cases so it was best-case scenarios: we were never stuck in the airport (or on the tarmac, for that matter!) and even got an extra night with Mam and Pap! Our poor dogsitter (thank you, Auntie Val! Nikki and Sandy, too!) had some adventures taking care of the pups, but she was a trooper. The dogs had a field trip to Val's house for the last (snowiest) night, and I hear they even made a friend!

In other news, we said goodbye to part of last year's struggle with Annie; a sad goodbye. Sheila, the wonderful friend and nanny who came to the rescue at just the right time (our need for help coincided with my friend Beth's maternity leave, so we were able to have the most fabulous Sheila for several months last year), headed home to Canada and the teaching career she was so clearly born for. We'll miss you so, so much Sheila! We look forward to hearing about all of your teaching adventures and we know exactly how lucky your future students will be to have you.

A couple of housekeeping things, too: We had birthday gift trauma at Annie's party in November. In the cleanup at Old Town Hall (in the pouring rain! -- thank you everyone who got us cleaned up and packed up in under an hour!!), gifts and cards became jumbled. I am so, so, so sorry! If you have not received a thank you note from me, it is because I don't know what you gave to Annie. Please, please let us know so I can thank you properly! (And please don't turn me into the etiquette police!) Also, if you haven't received a Christmas card ... well, I ran out! Our Christmas list has grown since last year, thanks to all of the wonderful folks who have become a part of our lives lately. Apparently, I didn't adjust my card quantity accordingly! I didn't have time to order another batch before heading out to Missouri for the holidays, and it was just too darn late by the time we got back. If I missed you ... um ... Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! (The photo at the top of the blog is the photo from the card, by the way.)

I know have more little things I have been meaning to write about, but time is up. Jamie just came in and said "I'm hungry. Will you please make me something?" Needy, needy. :-) Annie is awake next to me now, too. Morning has broken!