Terrifying Tubes (not really)

Well, we survived! The tube surgery really is as easy as everyone tells you it is…only problem? The word SURGERY. Hello?! That’s a terrible word for any mommy to hear in combination with her baby’s name. Ugh. That combined with PMS for me (let’s be real, people) made for a dangerous cocktail for all those coming into contact with me last week. Here are some pics of our journey on Thursday:

 

I stayed up late to make sure she squeezed in another bottle at 11:30pm since she wasn’t allowed to eat/drink anything after midnight through 30 minutes after her surgery. Before I put her down, we were entertained with this post-pigtail photo shoot:

It was early for everyone…we all had some bed head. But B perked up before everyone else at the surgery center (even the plants!)

She personally inspected her surgery outfit and approved all parts (though wasn’t too into the socks…they didn’t fit her huge feet!)

Helping Daddy find something good to watch:

Jonathan loved her little karate gi for surgery babies:

We saw a lot of her back, because she was certainly not content to wait in our little exam room. Damn you, pull curtains!

Really, she owned this place, people…

Daddy gave her so many great distractions! I attribute those skills to the 3 cups of free coffee Daddy had consumed by this point (me, the coffee hater, was not so perky)

I’m holding it together. Go me!

Thankfully, they let her take Bunny into the surgery room with her. And our nurses were SO sweet to her!!! Thanks, Nurse Linda!

I kept the tears to a minimum! No all out sobbing…I was so impressed with myself :) Thank goodness we brought additional lovies with us…I needed one, too!

And see how happy we all are (well, I am) after all is said and done? p.s. this bottle filled with water was not fooling my smart girl…she was pretty PO’ed

She needed lots of snuggles from Daddy to get through that short waiting time before she got her bottle as she came out of anesthesia:

No, I’m actually NOT 5 months pregnant :). But B’s face is priceless in this one :)

And….Ta Daaaa! She’s back! How fun was it to get her first birthday present in the mail that afternoon?! Thanks to Aunt Betsy for the cool box and packaging material. How’d you know those are her favorites??

Oh…and I know the toys will be a big hit someday, too!

Recent family pics!

We took an hour in the evening about 2 weeks ago to take some pics with the amazing Cassie. Here's a look a few. Bridget was in the BEST mood (have I mentioned how awesome she is?), so Cassie just kept snapping and snapping. Sure, it was an over outside still at 6:30pm, but it was all for the good of lasting memories!






I love my little baby model!!!

Tubes, tubes, tubes (and I’m not planning a river trip, people)

Well, the short of it is: Bridget is getting tube surgery on Thursday. In 3 days. Blah.

There’s not much to the story, and I know you may be shocked because she’s not really be a “sick baby” at all. She had her 1st ear infection at the same time she had RSV in January (she was 4 mo). No ear pulling. No extra fussiness. No stress ‘cause ear infections are so common. We were glad to have gotten that far without our first one!

At her 6 month check-up, Dr. Berkowitz gave her another prescription because she had “fluid in her ears” though it wasn’t infected. Again, no ear pulling, no fussiness, no fever, no symptoms at all.

At her 9 month appointment, she still had the fluid but no infection. This was the first time he said the dreaded T word….tubes. I was so confused! So shocked! Aren’t tubes only for babies that are always in the doctor’s office and always on meds??? My baby is really healthy and happy! What’s the deal? He said to give it some time and see if it goes away. If it was still around at the 1 year appointment (on September 7th, her b-day), he was sending us to the ENT.

Well, we went last week due to the terrible double D’s (see previous blog! ugh!) and what did he want to check before anything else?? Those ears (particularly the left ear…its the pesky one). The diarrhea and diaper rash/blister central were not big deal to him…he just wanted to see the ears. A lo and behold, the fluid had apparently taken up shop to stay. So we went to visit Dr. Peskin the next day.

Checking out the exam room…she was in the best mood (but what’s new?!). The physician’s assistant just about took her home, Dr. Peskin was so impressed with all of her skills (especially how social she is!), and the hearing test girl kept cracking up due to B’s antics…

 

The lovely hearing test administrator and her special sound booth…she warned us that B may get scared by the booth/test but, of course, B was awesome and thought the whole thing was super cool:

As usual, she was hungry…thank God for Cheerios!!! 

Well, Dr. P agreed with Dr. B’s diagnosis and said that tube surgery was a logical prescription. However, he said that most tube surgery patients they see are parents tired of constantly getting prescriptions and making doctors appointments. Rarely do they get a smiley, happy little one like my Noodle Doodle, he said…so he recommended we either go ahead and set up the surgery or go home and wait another 6 weeks to see if the fluid dried up.

So, J and I talked and agreed that we should probably just do it but no hurry. I’m in the middle of switching to his insurance and mine is up September 1st. What does this mean? Right…our deductible was satisfied by B’s labor/delivery/recovery and we also paid 1/2 of our out-of-pocket maximum…sooooo….we’ve got to do this s*%& quick before September 1st rolls around!!! I made the appointment today…and then cried about it :(

It’s been a stressful week. I’m ready for a break. Oh wait, that’s never happening with this Mommy gig! At least I love every minute (well, most every minute)! I’ll be happier when my little girl has a clean bill of health and back to giggling, playing, and romping again…not that she’s ever stopped that stuff. She’s TOTALLY the awesomest!

Prays for her on Thursday. I know she’ll do great (and the surgery is only 5 minutes long), but no mommy likes to watch her little one lay on a hospital bed. Go ahead and pray for me to have peace!! :)

 

Mommy out.

This Week in Mommyhood: the dreaded double D’s

I’d hinted about Bridget’s horrible diaper rash a few posts ago, but nothing could prepare you for what we had been dealing with for the past week. Ugh!

My next post will be a quick review of our Austin trip for our friend’s wedding, but for now, just know that the cool Texas capital is where the horror all began.

She starting have the 1st of her “d’s” (diarrhea) at the bar we stopped at on the way to the wedding (oh, did I need to say this was a Williams family event?). Yes, Pop was holding her and she leaked on his nice, crisp white button-up. Good thing it was right on the edge of the cuff. He was a great sport about it :). Too bad I had to remove her now-stained bloomers…ruining the outfit, if you ask me! (who am I now??) phew…I had a suitable back-up in the diaper bag. She had another blowout at the wedding. And another in the morning. And 3 on the drive home.

The 2nd D is starting to rear its ugly head (diaper rash) for very obvious reasons and we were fully prepared. Or so we thought. We had already promised a lake visit with Cory and couldn’t, in good conscience, back out. She we went…super fun for Jonathan, horrible for me (it just happens sometimes, ladies, right?). B was tired, I was tired, she didn’t feel good, Penny was about to drown from swim exhaustion…yada, yada, yada.

Doesn’t she look thrilled to be there?

Well, this was Saturday night and Sunday-Thursday were all pretty much AWFUL! Long story, Carmen and I put up with stuff (and I put in a call to the nurse, who recommended the BRAT diet –banana, rice/cereal, apples, toast – just as Carmen had already done) til Wednesday then I finally took her in. Doc said probably due to another ear infection, so it was time to visit the ENT to discuss tube surgery (upcoming post about this visit!). He prescribed an antibiotic (which didn’t make her diarrhea worse…surprising!) and Lotrimin for the rash and it started to dry up and get better after another 24 hours. Now, it still looks bad but I no longer have to put on Desitin every hour and wake her up twice in the night to change her. And she’s back on regular food!

Long story:

1.I will only use Desitin now and I’m out on Boudrouxs Butt Paste (BBP has worked just fine on mild rashes, but not on this one). That stuff literally glued her diaper to her butt (its SUPER sticky, for those who haven’t used it yet) and was super painful to get off…Desitin was much creamier.

2. I will never use Huggies again, if I can help it. I’m pretty sure those diapers made her rash worse, too. I bought some at CVS because they had a good deal going and I’m moving them to the “transition” diaper pile (ones I use between diaper/grocery runs). I’ve always said they were leaky (still true for us), but no they are also irritating to booties (Carmen agreed…she had to stop using them on her last 2 little ones due to irritation). I’m a Pampers mom, through and through. They’ve always been my favorite, anyway!!!

3. If a diaper rash is painful to the touch, it could be combined with a yeast infection (why we were asked to use Lotrimin). Also, don’t continue to use regular wipes if the rash is painful. Either use a regular towel with warm water or wash the wipes in the sink (what we did…worked great) to get rid of the excess chemicals. Even the “sensitive” wipes were too much for her :(

Here are a few pics of her little booty, but they certainly don’t do her any justice (these were taken on Thursday when the rash was still very red and blistery…that’s right, blisters…but dry and no longer painful). She was such a trooper through the whole thing. Still smiled, giggled, played, ate food, slept…no extra tears! The only time we knew she was uncomfortable was during diaper changing time…so sad :(

She loved getting her naked time, though!!! This really helped dry out the rash as lot. It’s not easy to keep the floor clean with a walking toddler (sniff, sniff…not a baby anymore) scurrying everywhere! And check out that butt…and that was the mild part, ‘cause it was on the back. Ugh. My poor little doodle bug :(.

 

How to: tie-dye paper!

As I’ve mentioned, Miss B is hosting a tie-dye themed 1st Birthday party for herself in a couple of weeks. I wanted to do a full party and all, but certainly had to do it all on a wee, tiny budget (like everything else in my life!). I got a lot of ideas from this blog post after I’d come up with this genius idea (it’s SOOO “us”), and one of the great ones was how to tie-dye paper. Here’s the how-to…and it really works and is pretty cool!

 

Ingredients:

1 pkg perforated post cards/index cards (or, in this case, invitations! i pre-printed mine ‘cause i wasn’t sure if i should dye before or after printing…dying after worked GREAT, which is the easy way)

1 can foam shaving cream ($1 at Dollar Tree)

1 box liquid food coloring (of course, already in spice/baking cabinet!)

1 cookie tray

1 rubber spatula

newspapers or similar floor/table covering for messes

 

 

Step 1: Spray enough cream into pan so the entire bottom is covered

Step 2: choose colors and place a few random drops of food coloring on to tray (i started with 3 colors at once and it didn’t look as nice as just one color alone…my opinion)

Step 3: Using rubber spatula, smear coloring into cream to make swirly designs

Step 4: Press paper face down onto cream, flattening as much as possible

Step 5: pull back paper and set onto newspapers

Step 6: Using rubber spatula, scrape remaining cream off paper and place back into tray for next piece of paper (watch the MAGIC!)

Step 7: Hold up your finished product! Voila! (the how-to I read mentioned ironing the paper through a dish towel to prevent wrinkles…I tried that and it didn’t work well. I preferred just stacking the dried paper - takes about 5 minutes to dry - and flattening overnight under some heavy books)

Here’s another color I used for some of the invites. After its all done, you just have to separate the individual cards and place them in an envelope!

I didn’t show a pic of the “final” product, but just so you know…I cut the cards so they looked like little t-shirts with the information on the “front” of the shirt. So cute!

Since I already had some of the materials (coloring, envelopes, stamps), all in all I spent about $7 on everything including mailing. A steal AND they’re pretty, ta boot!

Just plain great stuff on The Mom Creative

Blogging from work...shh!

I wanted to share a link to a Mommy blog I've been LOVING recently. As usual, I got the idea from Jill (well, I'm 99% sure you gave me the suggestion, friend! Mommybrain card out..) and I've been grabbing the best deals from this mom! Here are a couple of the deals I've snagged:

1. A FREE vinyl banner from ShindigZ (I'm using it for Bridget's tie-dye themed party next month...they had tons of designs and I got to choose from multiple tie-dye ones AND personalize it for FREE!). I wish I had a pic on me of it to show you. It's really nice and will be the icing on the cake (besides the real icing!) for her big "shindig" :)

2. 5 FREE 8x10 photos from Ritz Camera (I've been meaning to put up some nice pics around the house and have just not gotten around to it...nor have I wanted to pay for them...now I just have to buy the frames!)

3. I'm getting ready to order my FREE photobook from Picaboo...that deal is good til August 31st, so you, too, can take advantage! Wahoo! Check out her recent post for that goody.

Each of these deals was FREE (except for shipping fees) and so far I've saved $80 if you include the photobook I'm getting. I love saving money on stuff I already need!

The blog is called The Mom Creative and its absolutely fabulous. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do...

OMG…I forgot 11 months!

Yes, yes…my Doodle Bug is over 11 months (well on her way to the big 0-1) and I apparently forgot to post her most recent stats:

This picture is the FIRST time she hasn’t smiled for the camera in her monthly pic (this includes the pic hours after she was born!). It makes me so sad! It means she’s a big girl now and notices all the stuff around her so much more AND can easily grab at them all the while not letting me restrain her anymore :(. It was all I could do for her not to grab the sign! And just check out this list of what she can do now that she’s a month older:

-WALK! Not just a few steps, people. She is practically running!  I give us one more week before she’s actually running.

-when asked, “where’s mommy’s nose?”, she actually points to it

-looks out the front glass door anytime its open and bangs on it (while giggling!)

-weighs 18 lbs 11 oz

-favorite food: still avocados, and cheerios, likes wheat toast with a little peanut butter, and just had her first little bite of Teddy Graham tonight…and LOVED it

-has started bringing mommy stuff she finds on the ground (string, a tiny speck of leaf, loose cherrio, penny fur…) and showing it to me – instead of just immediately eating it! wahoo!

-says, “what’s that” (sounds like “dat”) and “what’s this” (sounds like “tss”) and points…every second of every day!

-high fives on demand! claps on demand! waves on demand! next step: kisses!

-when tired, scared, anxious, nervous…she runs to mommy and wants to be picked up (it gets me every time!!!)

Where does the time go?? Certainly know that next month will have a soundtrack…my crying! Sob sob sob!

Helping the Cure!

Thanks to a comment from my dear Callie, here's a link to my 3-Day donation page for all those interested. Also, a quick update on my giveaway:

Anna's 3-Day Donation Page

The amazingly talented and beautiful Jill has offered a one-of-a-kind Jillybean Dreams pillowcase dress and matching diaper changing pad as a giveaway for my 3-Day campaign. Her designs are ADORABLE and would make a wonderful addition to any girl's closet or as a perfect shower gift. Here's a quick pic of two of her previous designs as examples. I'll pick out the fabric and ribbon (of course, I'm thinking pink for Susan G. Komen!), but you can at least get an idea of what to expect. B was gifted a precious pillowcase dress a number of months ago and we've been able to continue putting it on her through 3 seasons and through all her growth due to its versatility. I'll keep you posted once the official giveaway begins.

Changing pad:

Pillowcase Dress:

However, you can donate as soon as you'd like! I've decided that those who donate to my cause will be entered twice in the giveaway, and I'll also have other opportunities to enter as well (facebook links, etc.). Hopefully B's diaper rash horror story (certainly an upcoming "This Week in Mommyhood" post) and my busy work load will settle down so I can actually post a blog about it! Ugh. You guys all know the drill.

More to come (again!)...

3-Day...it's on!

Alright people. My 3-Day event is 14 short weeks away, so its time to get crackin'! There's not too many people that read my blog, so I'd love to do a give away as an incentive to get people to donate. I'm also thinking of allowing those who've already donated to be entered twice! They get special treatment for having helped me out already :).

Any ideas for what I should give away? I could easily do a gift card to Starbucks or Barnes and Noble, but if you think of something better...I'll do it! I just want more people to donate.

I'll also keep you abreast of my training schedule. Enough "fluff" walking. It's time to get serious, even in the heat of this horrendous summer (I KNOW this one was worse than last year 'cause I was in the worst part of pregnancy all summer long and it wasn't as bad as this year!). Feel free to ask me how its going so I can feel really guilty if I don't do my miles. My kingdom for a treadmill right now!!!

No pics (tear), but seriously...if you have ideas for a giveaway, let me know!

Colorado: its for the dogs!!

I’ve already mentioned that Penny came on the trip with us this year…

And you all know that Bridget LOVES doggies…

So when we came to CO this year with our pooch, we had to go to a dog park! We met my Aunt Charlene and her 4 greyhounds at the Bear Creek Dog Park and were totally amazing. Too bad I only had my phone to take pics, otherwise I’d have way more. There was a great wooded creek area, as well as a 1/2 mile gravel track for walkers…but INSIDE the dog park! It was amazing…

 

Woodsy!

And they just followed us all over!

That’s right, we forgot the Baby Bjorn :(…and a stroller would have done no good on this surprise trek!

Some Husky friends:

Penny LOVES to lay in the water!

Puppies!

Aunt Charlene and her pack & Bridget’s puppy friend she met on the way out:

Penny’s ready to go and take a nap just before the storm hits!

We also spied a furry friend at Seven Falls on the way to the car. She LOVED him! Maybe she’s so into puppies because MOMMY can’t resist going to pet each one :) I’m okay with that…