Follow-Up On Maryn's Ears

This post is long overdue but I've been wanting to do a follow-up post after Maryn had tubes put in her ears. She had her post-op appointment probably 3 weeks ago now and the doctor said everything looked wonderful. We will be going back every 6 months for a check-up and obviously in between if she has any problems with ear infections (we're hoping not).

The changes we have noticed in Maryn have been positively drastic. She started saying more words and talking more clearly on the very afternoon she had the surgery. Her talking has just taken off and we are amazed by the difference in her ability to communicate in just one month since her surgery. She is much more willing to try new words and now loves it when we read picture books that she can point to the pictures and say all her new words! She also has learned how to tell us what animals say :) She can tell us what a cow, duck, pig, sheep, dog, monkey, cat and possibly even a chicken says. The funny part is that she can't differentiate between cows and horses yet so she is constantly saying "moo" when we drive in the country! She thinks there are cows everywhere!

The other noticeable difference in Maryn is her demeanor. I've often talked about how Maryn was our laid back, easy-going baby and that she got a feisty bone in her body after she turned one. Well she has seemed to have reverted back to her laid back, easy-going self since the surgery. She obviously has some of the typical toddler characteristics (occasionally gets frustrated, doesn't like to be told "no", has a hard time sharing, etc) and is a very determined little child, but her ability to deal with these frustrations has increased dramatically since the surgery. It's like she feels so much better now that she can cope with all of life's other stresses so much easier.

Josh and I are so thankful that we went through with this procedure for Maryn. It has truly been a blessing for us and we are so glad that our baby is feeling well and can hear better!

Our happy baby playing outside! What a big girl!

Cold Feet Update

Just wanted to give an update on my cold feet.... they are starting to warm up a little :) Josh encouraged me to try open water swimming again on Monday morning. It was much warmer out, the wind was fairly calm, and the sun was actually shining so I figured it was in my best interest. Logically I knew it was a good idea to try again before the race but I was seriously sick to my stomach the entire drive out to the lake. I couldn't imagine making myself go through it again.

Well there were a bunch of triathletes out at the lake swimming so I had hope that maybe it was better :) Josh went first and everything seemed to go well for him. I took my time getting acclimated to the water (probably 10 - 15 minutes before I would finally put my head under!) and then finally I swam! And it went very well!! I actually did it! I comfortably swam the crawl stroke and didn't swallow water every time I tried to breathe! I was so pumped when I got out of the water! Whew! What a relief! I think I thanked Josh 20 times for encouraging me to try again before the race. Now I know I can do it, I just need probably 20 - 25 minutes to warm up in the water before the race begins!

With that all said, my feet are still slightly cold... :)

Allergist Appt.

Today was Makenna's appointment with the allergist, Dr. Brown. We were referred by our family doctor based on a number of reasons... past food allergies, sun allergy/sensitivity, eczema, and most importantly her apparent allergic reaction to antibiotics. It was not a fun appointment. Makenna used to LOVE going to the doctor and I think this may have changed her mind now :( We had to wait for what seemed like forever... this is hard for us because we are spoiled at our family doctor (the very longest we've ever waited is probably 10 minutes). So Makenna was already antsy by the time the appointment started.

I got some really good information from Dr. Brown. Regarding Makenna's sun sensitivity/allergy and eczema, we have everything right on track and she wants us to continue doing exactly what we've been doing already. The only thing she really wanted to emphasize was to make sure that we give her a dose of Zyrtec every single day during the warm months when the sun is out. She also took a look at her tonsils and her exact word was "ginormous." Yes this child's tonsils are so big on a regular basis that you can't even see the back of her throat. Dr. Brown told me this is not normal (I have heard this from other doctors as well) and that if it were her child she would take her to an ENT to be seen about getting her tonsils out. Her large tonsils are most likely related to all of her allergies. Anyway, we are to watch for signs of sleep apnea in Makenna and also if she gets another round of strep throat the doctor said that she will most likely need them out. She said the combination of Makenna's likelihood for strep throat and allergy to antibiotics is a bad combination and she wouldn't want to mess with that situation for very long.

Regarding the allergy to antibiotics, Dr. Brown seemed very positive. There is a blood test that will basically tell us if Makenna has the severe allergy to these antibiotics (ie. resulting in anaphylactic shock) or if it's just going to be a mild reaction (ie. rash). This is very important information for us to have in moving forward in treating her in the future so the doctor's know what their options are. Well I kept thinking "Just a blood test, can't be that bad." Poor child got stuck with some lady who had NO clue what she was doing. After digging around in Makenna's arm with a needle for what seemed an eternity (in reality I think it was only a few minutes) I finally told her to stop. I was so irate I asked for my lab papers back and told her I was going somewhere else. Despite Makenna screaming from being in pain (wouldn't we all?) she actually held very still and I helped to hold her arm so I know she was still. The lady wasn't competent and just couldn't get it. She even told me that Makenna was the perfect patient and that her veins looked great, for some reason she just couldn't get it. I was SO mad. My daughter is now terrified of doctor's offices and has been emotional the rest of the day as a result. So after all of that, we have NO blood for this test. UGH! So I called around to find a competent lab that could do this quickly. I found a lab in town that specifically caters to pediatrics so I am taking her there tomorrow. I would honestly just forego all of this if it wasn't so critical to Makenna's health care in the future. She's such a little trooper. Say a few prayers for her (and me!) as we plan to go in again tomorrow.

Cold Feet

I would like to start this post by saying that I don't ever recall having cold feet ever in my life. Not when I started my first "real" job... it just felt right. Definitely not about having kids... I knew part of my life's calling was to be a mom. And not even a smidge of cold feet when Josh and I got married... we were ready to be married five years before we actually were so there definitely were no cold feet at that big day in our life. Even though all of those events in my life are WAY more important than my triathlon next weekend, for some reason I have cold feet about doing this. I know this triathlon is definitely out of my comfort zone and is somewhat of a risk for me (I am definitely not a risk taker), but that's part of the reason why I wanted to push myself to do it in the first place.

Yesterday Josh and I got the genius idea that we should go open water train for the swim portion of the triathlon. Sounds like a marvelous, well-planned idea until I tell you that by the time we got to the lake it was gusting winds of at least 25 mph and the temp wasn't even up to 60 degrees yet. In all seriousness, thank God for the people that invented wet suits. I don't know how else I could've survived yesterday. Jumping in was horrible. It honestly took the breath right out of me it was so cold. I had to just stand out there and get acclimated for probably a good 5 - 7 minutes before I could even consider moving. Then I attempted to swim. HA! I maybe swam half the distance of the triathlon and then had to turn around and come back... that's when I started swimming into the whitecaps. Every time I turned my head to breathe I would get a mouth full of water. To say the least, it was a horrible experience. Thankfully my seasoned triathlete husband went for a swim after me and told me that it was the worst he's ever seen it so I shouldn't worry, it will definitely be better than that on race day. Right?!!! Oh please!!

I have been training for the triathlon for 9 months and now I have one week left. I am proud to say that I am in the best cardiovascular shape of my life. I am running the fastest and farthest I've ever run, I'm biking farther and faster than I've ever biked and I'm swimming lengths I've never even attempted. I feel confident about the run and the bike and I was feeling confident about the swim up until about 24 hours ago. Give me the nice warm indoor pool at my gym and I'll be set. But NO!!! They're going to throw me in a freezing cold lake with 750 other crazy people who will probably try to swim over the top of me! I guess if worse comes to worse, I'll just side stroke the whole thing :) Agh!! So anyway, here's to a week of having extremely cold feet! Everyone say some prayers for me!!!

Big Sister's Shoes

Maryn decided that she just had to wear Makenna's shoes and socks around the house today. They are much too big so she just clunked around in them for awhile. You could hear her coming from a mile away :) As cumbersome as they were to walk in, she wouldn't take them off for anything. She even ate lunch in them! I think she was having fun emulating her big sis!

Condiments

Maryn has been cracking us up lately - she is hooked on condiments! It all started very simply some time this spring. We grilled hamburgers and I noticed she wasn't eating hers (which she typically would). She kept reaching for the ketchup bottle after she saw me put some ketchup on my burger. So I indulged her and let her try a little ketchup to dip her burger in. Well it has all spiraled out of control from there... now she wants ketchup on EVERYTHING! Not only that but if there is some left on her plate she will dip her fingers in the ketchup and lick it off! Gross!! We try to stop that as soon as it starts!

And now she's started adding to her list of acceptable condiments and will now dip things in mustard and veggie dip as well :) She is up for trying any kind of "sauce". I'm not a huge fan of letting kids eat ketchup with everything and I always serve her without it first, but how can I not when she will eat almost an entire pork chop or chicken breast if she just has a little ketchup to dip it in?! The little peanut needs to put on some weight and I think this might be just the way to do it!

Well last night her condiment obsession was at it's peak and I just had to take some pictures. She had ketchup, mustard and veggie dip all on her plate and she was eating them all together. The carrots were getting dipped in the mustard, her hamburger in the veggie dip, etc. She really didn't care because she had three condiments to choose from!

Just to make note of it, Josh is absolutely repulsed by this new obsession. He does not like condiments whatsoever. No ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles, relish, dip, etc. The only thing he likes is BBQ sauce. To say the least, sometimes he has to excuse himself when she gets it all over because the condiment mess makes his stomach churn :)

I think this newfound liking has actually come from her strong desire for salt. Actually I call her my salt addict sometimes. She loves any kind of salty food... give her a cracker and she will lick the salt off the top. Serious. I'm sure the ketchup and such is just another salty delicacy to her :)

Look at all that stuff on her plate... she's trying to decide which sauce to dip her carrot in next!


I had to include this one because you can see all the "sauces" dripping from her face and hands!


Licking the goodies off her fingers

Spring Program

Tonight was Makenna's Spring Program for preschool. She got all dolled up and just had to wear her Easter dress :) Every chance she got she was looking at her reflection in a mirror, window, etc :) We've been practicing the songs at home for weeks so she was very excited to finally sing them for everyone at her program. And it made it even more exciting that Nana and Peepie were able to come! Makenna sang all the words and knew all the motions to the songs! She likes to swing and fluff her dress around a little too much but we'll work on that as she gets older ;) Maryn had fun too... she was clapping right along and got so excited to see Makenna up there on stage!

Makenna posing before the program


Makenna up on stage!


Makenna and her teacher Mrs. Sodman :)


More smiles :)

Indy Wedding

My good friend Matt from college was married this past weekend in Indianapolis. Thanks to a very competent and willing husband, I was able to travel to the wedding and have a weekend away with my college friends. It was SO much fun! Molly shared the 14 hour car ride with me and it was so fun to catch up - I honestly didn't even think about turning on the radio even once because we had so much to talk about and catch up on! Time went by so fast! The wedding was beautiful and it was great to see dear, sweet Matt find happiness with JoEllen. All of the "girls" decided that we loved her the first time we met her. They are a very good match :) So it was a little reunion of sorts.... in college it was Matt and the girls! We pretty much had all our Health Promotion classes together all my years at the UI and we grew really close. Five out of the seven in our group were able to make the trip so it was great to see every one! It was just like old times... ripping it up on the dance floor, making each other laugh until we had tears rolling down our faces, Kristi telling all of her crazy stories (I will never look at a goose the same away again!), and closing down the wedding! I don't know the last time I was out that late! It was so great to see the gang again and I hope we do it again soon!

The Health Promotion gang back together again... (from L to R) Molly, Carrie, Matt, Katie, and Kristi. We sure did miss Katie and Amy :(


Matt ripping it up on the dance floor!


Stealing a dance with the happy groom!


Me, Molly and Kristi chilling at the wedding