Kevin's last day of school was on the 12th of June. On the 11th, his class celebrated the three summer birthdays and invited the parents of those kids (including me) to come to the party. The school has a policy of no treats for birthdays (which I think is a great policy!), but they asked if we wanted to do an activity with the kids. I suggested that we should do elephant toothpaste and slime. I think it was a hit. I was a little nervous that Kevin's teacher wouldn't appreciate the mess, but she said she thought it was great because it was so hands-on. The elephant toothpaste was very cool. The teacher assistant and one of the parents had no idea that you can buy yeast in the grocery store, which kind of threw me off because I buy the four-pound bag at Costco and I forgot most people don't know how to make bread, or at least don't make it very often. I think the kids enjoyed the slime, but you really have to get your hands in it for it to work, and most of the kids didn't want to touch it, so I don't think they liked that one as much. I haven't been able to help out at Kevin's school a lot this year, so I was glad I was able to find a babysitter and help out this time.
The day after school let out (a Saturday), we did some rearranging in the kids' room. We had been planning on it for a while, but we wanted to wait until school was over because changes like that tend to make Kevin hyper. The main change was that we converted the kids' twin beds into bunk beds. Then we moved the toys and shelves to conform to the new bed configuration. It's been a good change. There was barely any room in there to play before because the beds took up so much space, and now there's a nice big space in there to play, so the kids spend a lot more time in their with their toys. It looks a lot less cluttered now too.
Monday was a rough day. Kevin was really disobedient the entire morning and kept being mean to Heidi. I was filled with despair thinking this was what the whole summer would be like. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that we were going swimming with friends at 11:30. I didn't dare threaten to not go swimming because I knew it was the only thing that would help us survive the day. It helped a lot to spend time talking to friends, and Kevin calmed down a lot.
That evening I got to work making a morning routine chart. I had been planning this for a long time but wasn't sure what format I wanted to use. I think the chart has helped a lot. Kevin's behavior has improved a lot over the last couple of weeks, and he actually spends a lot of time playing and pretending independently most days, so I think he just needed some time to get used to having a different schedule and different sensory input.
Our chart has five responsibilities: Get dressed, brush teeth, fix hair, do chore, and pick up toys. Picking up toys is the hardest one. For some reason Kevin and Heidi are really, really resistant to picking up toys. We've tried all sorts of things and they just refuse, so it's a battle every time. I seriously can't figure out what their problem is. It seems like they're just lazy, but I don't know if it's normal for kids to turn into goo or completely lose their sanity when somebody tells them to do something as simple as put books in a pile. I am trying to view this as investment, because hopefully if we establish the expectation now it won't be so bad when they're older. Chores are working pretty well. I put an extra magnet under the flap for chores on their chart and made several pictures of chores with magnets, so each day they can choose one of the chores and put it on their routine chart. The main battle is that when they want to do the same chore they fight over it, which really messes things up. I tell the kids that they have to have all their flaps closed before they can have any screen time, although we do usually save picking up toys for when Ryan gets home because I need serious reinforcements for that one. Generally the chart seems to be working fine.
Kevin has swimming lessons twice a week. I talked to his teacher and he said that Kevin could easily be in the next level up, so for the next session he will be moving up a level. The level he's in right now is more for helping kids get comfortable in the water, and since Kevin's already putting his face in the class is too easy for him. In the next level he should be learning more about floating independently and swimming.
Our ward has a park day every week, which is great because both the kids and I can spend time with friends. It's pretty hot outside, but if we stay in the shade and try to get there early it's tolerable.
I have a goal to take the kids on a hike every week. When Ryan and I got married one of the things we decided we wanted was for our family to go hiking and camping, and we haven't been doing it as much lately. There are several trails that I've been wanting to explore and since this is probably our last year here there's not a lot of time left. I am looking for trails with quite a bit of shade so it's not as hot.
As I've gotten older I've found that I really don't like being hot, although I think I hate being cold more. I don't like feeling sticky and sweaty. I really resent that Kevin had to be cooped up inside during the spring and fall when the weather was gorgeous, but he missed all that school in the winter from Christmas break and snow days and now that it's in the 90s or higher school is out.
About a week ago or so I decided to stop nursing Ann Marie. I was kind of planning to nurse her before bed for a couple more months, but she's so hyper these days that it was really unpleasant for me, so I decided I was done. It's kind of sad because it feels like the end of an important chapter. I'm really blessed to have very little trouble with nursing my babies. She's finally starting to show more interest in walking with help. It's only started in the last few days. She will even walk while holding just one of my hands. I'm looking forward to her learning to walk because crawling around at the playground she gets so dirty.
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Saturday, June 27, 2015
I generally avoid posting or commenting about same-sex marriage on the Internet. I have prayed and pondered a great deal about this topic, and I have had some sacred experiences in which the Holy Ghost confirmed that I need to stand with the prophet. Perhaps the church's position doesn't make logical sense. I can't transfer my experience to you, so you might not understand and you might not believe what I do. But I know what I have felt and I can't deny it. I prayed and the Holy Ghost told me that I should stand with the prophet. The reason I don't comment much about same-sex marriage is because most people already know what they think about this issue and aren't going to change their minds if I make a comment, and much of the time there's going to be someone who will trample my sacred experiences under their feet.
I'm disappointed in today's Supreme Court decision. The Constitution doesn't give them the authority to make decisions like this, and it scares me that increasingly our leaders are disregarding the Constitution. I worry about our religious freedom and I worry about what schools will teach my kids about the family. Maybe now people insist that religious freedoms are not in danger, but we are already on a slippery slope.
I'm disappointed in today's Supreme Court decision. The Constitution doesn't give them the authority to make decisions like this, and it scares me that increasingly our leaders are disregarding the Constitution. I worry about our religious freedom and I worry about what schools will teach my kids about the family. Maybe now people insist that religious freedoms are not in danger, but we are already on a slippery slope.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Last day of Kindergarten reflections
Today is Kevin's last day of Kindergarten. It has been quite a year. Last year we prayed and pondered a lot about what to do about Kevin's school this year. His birthday is in July, so he made the cutoff for Kindergarten, but I worried a lot about whether he was ready. We considered an extra year of preschool (which we couldn't really afford) and homeschooling, but as time went on it was clear that the Spirit was telling us he should go to Kindergarten this year. Logically it didn't make any sense to me. He knew maybe half of the letter sounds and only a few of their names, the mere mention of writing and drawing would often trigger a nervous breakdown for him, and I worried that behavior was going to be a problem. Logically it made more sense to wait a year before putting him in public school. But whenever I thought about waiting it felt wrong. So we went for it.
To my amazement, Kevin picked up on handwriting and letter names and sounds very quickly. It didn't take long before he caught up. I think maybe it helped to see other kids writing and drawing, plus his teacher showed him how to draw people in a way that made sense for him. Now he can draw all sorts of things (and does so for fun quite frequently) and he writes sentences too.
Behavior was a problem for a while. He had a lot of problems on the bus and I found out that he was getting in trouble at recess and lunch too. That was when I finally looked into getting him into occupational therapy. I had been considering it ever since I first learned about sensory processing disorder when he was three, and the problems at school were a sign to me that we really needed to get help. Kevin's OT gave us a lot of suggestions to help him do better at school, and he also got an assigned seat on the bus, which was a big help to him because being uncertain about who would sit with him caused him a lot of stress. Going to therapy every week helped him to deal with his sensory problems and be more stable. We started seeing huge improvements in behavior.
At home we have seen big improvements too. There are still a lot of hard things, but he has calmed down a lot. I think having a routine at school was a huge help to him, and I couldn't have given him that kind of routine at home.
I was very upset for a while about the way they taught reading at Kevin's school. They started with a lot of sight reading and guessing based on the pictures, and I worried a lot about the bad habits that would cause him to develop. I felt that they should be starting with more phonetic reading. But listening to Kevin read some books this week, I realized that for Kevin it was a big help to learn all those sight words. While I loved the phonetic approach of the reading book we were using last summer, it was very frustrating to Kevin to have to sound out all of the words and take so long to read the stories. The nice thing about knowing so many sight words is that he can read much more quickly and confidently, and he's a lot more willing to sound out unfamiliar words because he is reading most of the words more quickly. It's not the way I would have chosen to teach him to read, but I think that for him it was a better method because he's not so frustrated.
So it's been interesting this year to see the effects of our choice to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. It didn't make logical sense to send Kevin to Kindergarten, but God knew what Kevin needed better than we did. I'm so amazed at all of the things he has learned and the changes we have seen in him this year, and I'm grateful that we trusted our inspiration. The impression I kept getting was that he was ready for the things he was going to learn this year, and I think if we had waited a year we would have just delayed all of the progress he was going to make.
To my amazement, Kevin picked up on handwriting and letter names and sounds very quickly. It didn't take long before he caught up. I think maybe it helped to see other kids writing and drawing, plus his teacher showed him how to draw people in a way that made sense for him. Now he can draw all sorts of things (and does so for fun quite frequently) and he writes sentences too.
Behavior was a problem for a while. He had a lot of problems on the bus and I found out that he was getting in trouble at recess and lunch too. That was when I finally looked into getting him into occupational therapy. I had been considering it ever since I first learned about sensory processing disorder when he was three, and the problems at school were a sign to me that we really needed to get help. Kevin's OT gave us a lot of suggestions to help him do better at school, and he also got an assigned seat on the bus, which was a big help to him because being uncertain about who would sit with him caused him a lot of stress. Going to therapy every week helped him to deal with his sensory problems and be more stable. We started seeing huge improvements in behavior.
At home we have seen big improvements too. There are still a lot of hard things, but he has calmed down a lot. I think having a routine at school was a huge help to him, and I couldn't have given him that kind of routine at home.
I was very upset for a while about the way they taught reading at Kevin's school. They started with a lot of sight reading and guessing based on the pictures, and I worried a lot about the bad habits that would cause him to develop. I felt that they should be starting with more phonetic reading. But listening to Kevin read some books this week, I realized that for Kevin it was a big help to learn all those sight words. While I loved the phonetic approach of the reading book we were using last summer, it was very frustrating to Kevin to have to sound out all of the words and take so long to read the stories. The nice thing about knowing so many sight words is that he can read much more quickly and confidently, and he's a lot more willing to sound out unfamiliar words because he is reading most of the words more quickly. It's not the way I would have chosen to teach him to read, but I think that for him it was a better method because he's not so frustrated.
So it's been interesting this year to see the effects of our choice to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. It didn't make logical sense to send Kevin to Kindergarten, but God knew what Kevin needed better than we did. I'm so amazed at all of the things he has learned and the changes we have seen in him this year, and I'm grateful that we trusted our inspiration. The impression I kept getting was that he was ready for the things he was going to learn this year, and I think if we had waited a year we would have just delayed all of the progress he was going to make.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Ann Marie's first birthday
It feels like a big accomplishment that this child has made it to her first birthday. She has gone from being a mellow, easy-going baby to a very active, determined, opinionated, resourceful one. She seems like a bottomless pit these days when it comes to eating, and she can shove an impressive amount of food into her mouth. She had another tooth start to pop through recently, and it's apparently a sweet tooth because all she wants is fruit and ice cream! (She doesn't generally get much fruit other than bananas because the result is terrible diaper rashes.) Despite all that eating, though, she's still a little thing at about 18 pounds, which is between the 10-25th percentile. She loves exploring cupboards and drawers. She's starting to enjoy reading books. She copies me when she watches me clean up. And she has no interest in walking, even with help.
Getting presents is interesting when you're the third child and it's your first birthday. We have a house full of toys and I didn't want to get more baby toys. So I opted for practical yet slightly frivolous and bought her some adorable new Sunday shoes. She had so much fun trying shoes on at the store. When the shoes were on her feet she grinned and rubbed them against each other as fast as she could.
Here are some highlights from the birthday party. We just had a quiet family party at home, just the way I like it.
My friend Elizabeth said that their tradition is to give their kids their first ice cream cone when they turn one, and I thought that was a great idea, so that was what we did for Ann Marie. Here is a video of her first ice cream cone experience:
At first she was a little surprised and didn't know what to think about it, but pretty soon she thought it was great.
Oh, and I totally forgot to put her bib on.
Heidi's haircut
I don't think I mentioned yet that I cut Heidi's hair short about a month ago. She had been asking for a short haircut like her friend Avery's for quite a while. I've trimmed her hair a couple of times before, I was a little reluctant to do a short haircut because I was afraid I would mess it up. If you do a short haircut there's not a lot of wiggle room for mistakes. But one day I went temporarily insane and decided to go for it. I was shaking the entire time, and Heidi was giggling with excitement the entire time.
When I was done cutting everything to the right length I checked to make sure both sides were even and realized that one side was shorter than the other, so then I had to try to fix that. Once I was done cutting I pulled the hair away from her head a little and cut the ends at a slant so that they would have a little bit of layering. That's my trick for hiding my mistakes. It's not a perfect haircut, but the mistakes are only really noticeable to me, and it looks darling.
I promise Heidi loves her haircut. In this picture she was pouting because she didn't want her picture taken.
I had to fix a couple of spots the next day.
I have actually really enjoyed her short hair because it's so easy to take care of. It used to be a pain to brush her hair because it would get so tangled and often she would get food in it. Now it just takes a few seconds to brush and there is a lot less crying about it. I still miss her long hair because it was so pretty, but I think for now short hair is a better arrangement for us.
When I was done cutting everything to the right length I checked to make sure both sides were even and realized that one side was shorter than the other, so then I had to try to fix that. Once I was done cutting I pulled the hair away from her head a little and cut the ends at a slant so that they would have a little bit of layering. That's my trick for hiding my mistakes. It's not a perfect haircut, but the mistakes are only really noticeable to me, and it looks darling.
I promise Heidi loves her haircut. In this picture she was pouting because she didn't want her picture taken.
I had to fix a couple of spots the next day.
I have actually really enjoyed her short hair because it's so easy to take care of. It used to be a pain to brush her hair because it would get so tangled and often she would get food in it. Now it just takes a few seconds to brush and there is a lot less crying about it. I still miss her long hair because it was so pretty, but I think for now short hair is a better arrangement for us.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
What a day.
Several months ago Heidi had a bump develop on her inside lower lip. A couple of months went by and it still hadn't gone away, so when we were at a doctor appointment for Ann Marie I showed it to the pediatrician and she sent a referral to the UNC oral surgeons. When they called us I wasn't home, so I spent about a month calling them back and leaving voicemails that never got answered. Before giving up on them and finding somebody else to do the procedure I looked on their website and found an email address for the person who had originally called me, and after I emailed her she finally called us back and we scheduled an appointment with Dr. Blakey.
Getting registered for Heidi's appointment was a rather convoluted process involving going to the first floor which was actually the second floor, signing in, then going to up to the second floor and getting registered, then going back down to the first floor with Heidi's chart to wait (and asking directions every time because it wasn't obvious where we should go).
When Heidi's name got called we went back to the exam room and met Dr. Blakey and Dr. Rasmussen (who is in our ward and is a resident there). I wasn't surprised when Dr. Blakey said the bump was a mucocele because I had done a google search and that was what I thought it was too. I was a little surprised to learn that they would need to put Heidi under general anesthesia to have it removed, but as Dr. Blakey pointed out, Heidi would probably bite him if he tried to take it off while she was awake.
Three days later at church, Dr. Rasmussen came over and said that they had found out that they would have to do the surgery at the children's hospital instead of at the dental school since Heidi is so little and needed general anesthesia, which meant that a different oral surgeon would be doing the procedure. He also said they could do it the next Thursday (May 28th), but they would call to confirm that appointment. They didn't end up calling until Wednesday morning, so even though I knew we were probably having the surgery on Thursday I hadn't done a lot of planning and it felt a little rushed. Our neighbor, Malica, agreed to watch Ann Marie for a while since Ryan would need to be at work before Heidi and I got home, and I got juice and some soft foods at the grocery store.
We had to check in at the hospital at 6:30 am on Thursday morning (since Heidi couldn't eat anything after midnight the early time was actually nice because missing breakfast wasn't so much of a problem), so Ryan dropped Heidi and me off and then came home and got Kevin off to school and took care of Ann Marie. Checking in took a long time because there were some issues with the patients ahead of us in line, and Ryan told me later that he got several panicked calls from the children's hospital wondering where we were because we were stuck at the check-in. But the nice thing was that after Heidi was checked in they took us right back and started getting ready. We met the surgeon, Dr. Golden, who was a really nice guy, and talked to the anesthesia team about what to expect. Heidi was scared. When I tried to change her into the hospital clothes, she lost it. The nurse anesthetist came in and said that since Heidi was obviously having a hard time, there were a couple of options: They could give her a pre-medicine to help her relax, but the pre-medicine can make waking up after the procedure a little harder, or I could get into one of the bunny suits and come into the operating room with her to help her until she was asleep. She wanted to make it very clear that I should only choose to come back with them if I felt like I could handle it and be helpful. I was pretty sure I could handle it, so she brought in a bunny suit and I got dressed. I tried to cheer Heidi up by pointing out that her hospital clothes were much cuter than mine, but she wasn't impressed.
Once I was dressed it was time to go back to the operating room. The nurse anesthetist found a Daniel Tiger video on her smartphone for Heidi to watch while they were getting things ready, but once she was on the table Heidi was pretty inconsolable. Poor thing, it must have been so scary for her. When they brought the mask up to her face she tried to hit it away, so I kept one arm around her and held her arm with my free hand, and at that point she cried really hard. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, though, and then I left and took off the bunny suit and tried to stay occupied in the waiting room by checking my email and reading my scriptures.
After a while Dr. Golden came out to tell me that the procedure went perfectly and Heidi was doing fine. They removed the mucocele and a couple of the salivary glands that looked like they had been affected, so hopefully the mucocele won't come back. Dr. Rasmussen also came out a while later to tell me basically the same things. It was actually really reassuring that someone we knew was there helping with the surgery.
I still had to wait quite a while before I could go back to see Heidi because she wasn't awake yet, and that seemed to take a long time. But they brought me back to the recovery room just a few minutes before she woke up. She was a little disoriented at first, and then she was really mad about the IV and the wires that were all over her, but the nurse had to leave those on her a little longer. They had used some numbing medicine on her lip, so she was also upset that her lip felt weird. She refused to take any Tylenol or drink juice. (We also realized that at some point Heidi's ducky had disappeared, and the nurse wasn't able to find it. Fortunately Heidi hasn't really been upset about it, and in some ways it's probably a good thing it's gone because it was getting a little gross.) After a couple of minutes the nurse took off the wires and the IV, but she had to tape a gauze bandage over the IV location, so Heidi was upset about that.
Soon we left the recovery room and went to one of the private rooms in front. I changed Heidi's clothes and they turned on the Disney channel to distract her. I think this was when the pain kicked in, because Heidi started crying really hard and said she wanted the medicine, so when the discharge nurse came in I asked if she could have the Tylenol now, and the Tylenol seemed to help. After that the nurse went over the discharge instructions and then we left to ride the bus home.
Here is Heidi waiting at the bus stop. The purple mark on her chin was to show the various doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists where-ish they're supposed to be operating. (Kevin got dots by both ears.)
Kevin's ear tube surgery went so smoothly that I figured Heidi's surgery would be a similar situation. I don't know why, but I didn't really factor in the fact that she's younger and more emotional and that her surgery was in a place that would be a lot more bothersome. So when we got home she still needed a lot of cuddling and attention, plus she wasn't very steady on her feet, and I also had Ann Marie to take care of. We watched Frozen, and towards the end of the movie I was finally able to convince her to eat some yogurt. The main diet restriction was that she couldn't have sharp foods like chips or crackers that might poke her lip. By the time we picked Kevin up from the bus Heidi was still a little sensitive, but doing a lot better.
It's been a week and a half and Heidi doesn't really mention her lip anymore unless she wants to tell people the story. It doesn't seem to bother her anymore, although a couple of days after the procedure she did tell me a few times that she missed her bump and wanted it back. :) I know going into the operating room was a scary experience for her, but I feel like we made the right choice for her in having the mucocele removed. In my prayers the night before I asked whether we should proceed with the surgery, and I felt that it would be fine. After nearly five months I don't think the mucocele was going to go away on its own, and it was causing her discomfort quite frequently, so I think once her lip has completely healed and the stitches have dissolved she will be a lot happier. She has a little scar where the bump was, but it doesn't really look gross anymore, so it seems like it's healing well.
The day was further complicated by a bad flood in our bathroom. We had some friends over, and their mom and I thought they were just playing nicely in the bedroom when I heard Kevin giggling about how they were going swimming. My initial reaction was to wonder if they were taking their clothes off, but when I went to check on them I saw water flowing out of the bathroom and realized one of the kids (no idea who) had plugged the sink and turned the water on. So the other mom put towels down to keep the water from flowing out of the bathroom anymore, while I cleaned up most of the two inches of water by swishing it into a plastic container and dumping it in the tub. Once I had gotten most of the water cleaned up this way we were able to use towels to mop up what was left. After our friends had left the maintenance men stopped by to ask if we were having plumbing problems because there was water pouring through the ceiling into the garage, so then I had to explain to them what had happened. We went to pick up Ryan from work and I showed Kevin the huge puddle of water that had fallen through to the garage because of the flood. Hopefully it didn't cause much damage. I don't think Kevin appreciated what a pain it was to clean all that up.
On top of all this, I was also hosting book club that evening to talk about the book Ender's Game. Yes, I agreed to schedule my child's surgery on a day when I knew I was hosting bookclub. She had been bothered by that bump for so long that I wanted to get it taken care of as soon as possible, so I took the first appointment we could get. It worked out just fine, and we had a nice time. I hardly ever invite people over, so this was pretty far out of my comfort zone, but it was fun. I started going to book club last fall and have really enjoyed it.
Getting registered for Heidi's appointment was a rather convoluted process involving going to the first floor which was actually the second floor, signing in, then going to up to the second floor and getting registered, then going back down to the first floor with Heidi's chart to wait (and asking directions every time because it wasn't obvious where we should go).
When Heidi's name got called we went back to the exam room and met Dr. Blakey and Dr. Rasmussen (who is in our ward and is a resident there). I wasn't surprised when Dr. Blakey said the bump was a mucocele because I had done a google search and that was what I thought it was too. I was a little surprised to learn that they would need to put Heidi under general anesthesia to have it removed, but as Dr. Blakey pointed out, Heidi would probably bite him if he tried to take it off while she was awake.
Three days later at church, Dr. Rasmussen came over and said that they had found out that they would have to do the surgery at the children's hospital instead of at the dental school since Heidi is so little and needed general anesthesia, which meant that a different oral surgeon would be doing the procedure. He also said they could do it the next Thursday (May 28th), but they would call to confirm that appointment. They didn't end up calling until Wednesday morning, so even though I knew we were probably having the surgery on Thursday I hadn't done a lot of planning and it felt a little rushed. Our neighbor, Malica, agreed to watch Ann Marie for a while since Ryan would need to be at work before Heidi and I got home, and I got juice and some soft foods at the grocery store.
We had to check in at the hospital at 6:30 am on Thursday morning (since Heidi couldn't eat anything after midnight the early time was actually nice because missing breakfast wasn't so much of a problem), so Ryan dropped Heidi and me off and then came home and got Kevin off to school and took care of Ann Marie. Checking in took a long time because there were some issues with the patients ahead of us in line, and Ryan told me later that he got several panicked calls from the children's hospital wondering where we were because we were stuck at the check-in. But the nice thing was that after Heidi was checked in they took us right back and started getting ready. We met the surgeon, Dr. Golden, who was a really nice guy, and talked to the anesthesia team about what to expect. Heidi was scared. When I tried to change her into the hospital clothes, she lost it. The nurse anesthetist came in and said that since Heidi was obviously having a hard time, there were a couple of options: They could give her a pre-medicine to help her relax, but the pre-medicine can make waking up after the procedure a little harder, or I could get into one of the bunny suits and come into the operating room with her to help her until she was asleep. She wanted to make it very clear that I should only choose to come back with them if I felt like I could handle it and be helpful. I was pretty sure I could handle it, so she brought in a bunny suit and I got dressed. I tried to cheer Heidi up by pointing out that her hospital clothes were much cuter than mine, but she wasn't impressed.
Once I was dressed it was time to go back to the operating room. The nurse anesthetist found a Daniel Tiger video on her smartphone for Heidi to watch while they were getting things ready, but once she was on the table Heidi was pretty inconsolable. Poor thing, it must have been so scary for her. When they brought the mask up to her face she tried to hit it away, so I kept one arm around her and held her arm with my free hand, and at that point she cried really hard. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, though, and then I left and took off the bunny suit and tried to stay occupied in the waiting room by checking my email and reading my scriptures.
After a while Dr. Golden came out to tell me that the procedure went perfectly and Heidi was doing fine. They removed the mucocele and a couple of the salivary glands that looked like they had been affected, so hopefully the mucocele won't come back. Dr. Rasmussen also came out a while later to tell me basically the same things. It was actually really reassuring that someone we knew was there helping with the surgery.
I still had to wait quite a while before I could go back to see Heidi because she wasn't awake yet, and that seemed to take a long time. But they brought me back to the recovery room just a few minutes before she woke up. She was a little disoriented at first, and then she was really mad about the IV and the wires that were all over her, but the nurse had to leave those on her a little longer. They had used some numbing medicine on her lip, so she was also upset that her lip felt weird. She refused to take any Tylenol or drink juice. (We also realized that at some point Heidi's ducky had disappeared, and the nurse wasn't able to find it. Fortunately Heidi hasn't really been upset about it, and in some ways it's probably a good thing it's gone because it was getting a little gross.) After a couple of minutes the nurse took off the wires and the IV, but she had to tape a gauze bandage over the IV location, so Heidi was upset about that.
Soon we left the recovery room and went to one of the private rooms in front. I changed Heidi's clothes and they turned on the Disney channel to distract her. I think this was when the pain kicked in, because Heidi started crying really hard and said she wanted the medicine, so when the discharge nurse came in I asked if she could have the Tylenol now, and the Tylenol seemed to help. After that the nurse went over the discharge instructions and then we left to ride the bus home.
Here is Heidi waiting at the bus stop. The purple mark on her chin was to show the various doctors, nurses, and anesthesiologists where-ish they're supposed to be operating. (Kevin got dots by both ears.)
Kevin's ear tube surgery went so smoothly that I figured Heidi's surgery would be a similar situation. I don't know why, but I didn't really factor in the fact that she's younger and more emotional and that her surgery was in a place that would be a lot more bothersome. So when we got home she still needed a lot of cuddling and attention, plus she wasn't very steady on her feet, and I also had Ann Marie to take care of. We watched Frozen, and towards the end of the movie I was finally able to convince her to eat some yogurt. The main diet restriction was that she couldn't have sharp foods like chips or crackers that might poke her lip. By the time we picked Kevin up from the bus Heidi was still a little sensitive, but doing a lot better.
It's been a week and a half and Heidi doesn't really mention her lip anymore unless she wants to tell people the story. It doesn't seem to bother her anymore, although a couple of days after the procedure she did tell me a few times that she missed her bump and wanted it back. :) I know going into the operating room was a scary experience for her, but I feel like we made the right choice for her in having the mucocele removed. In my prayers the night before I asked whether we should proceed with the surgery, and I felt that it would be fine. After nearly five months I don't think the mucocele was going to go away on its own, and it was causing her discomfort quite frequently, so I think once her lip has completely healed and the stitches have dissolved she will be a lot happier. She has a little scar where the bump was, but it doesn't really look gross anymore, so it seems like it's healing well.
The day was further complicated by a bad flood in our bathroom. We had some friends over, and their mom and I thought they were just playing nicely in the bedroom when I heard Kevin giggling about how they were going swimming. My initial reaction was to wonder if they were taking their clothes off, but when I went to check on them I saw water flowing out of the bathroom and realized one of the kids (no idea who) had plugged the sink and turned the water on. So the other mom put towels down to keep the water from flowing out of the bathroom anymore, while I cleaned up most of the two inches of water by swishing it into a plastic container and dumping it in the tub. Once I had gotten most of the water cleaned up this way we were able to use towels to mop up what was left. After our friends had left the maintenance men stopped by to ask if we were having plumbing problems because there was water pouring through the ceiling into the garage, so then I had to explain to them what had happened. We went to pick up Ryan from work and I showed Kevin the huge puddle of water that had fallen through to the garage because of the flood. Hopefully it didn't cause much damage. I don't think Kevin appreciated what a pain it was to clean all that up.
On top of all this, I was also hosting book club that evening to talk about the book Ender's Game. Yes, I agreed to schedule my child's surgery on a day when I knew I was hosting bookclub. She had been bothered by that bump for so long that I wanted to get it taken care of as soon as possible, so I took the first appointment we could get. It worked out just fine, and we had a nice time. I hardly ever invite people over, so this was pretty far out of my comfort zone, but it was fun. I started going to book club last fall and have really enjoyed it.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
FamilySearch Indexing
I recently re-discovered FamilySearch Indexing, and now I'm hooked. We talked about it in the family history Sunday school class one day, and when we got home I decided to download the program and give it a try. I have a problem sometimes with checking email and Facebook too much, and I've realized that doing indexing gives me the same rush while actually being something useful, so when that itch comes I've started downloading batches to index instead. I've tried a few different types of records, but mostly lately I've been doing delayed birth records from Chicago, Illinois. If you do the same type of record enough you can do a batch pretty fast, but sometimes it's also fun to try a new type of record.
I've been in kind of a rut lately with family history. I transcribed several life histories that my aunt had sent to me, but now those are all done. I also have The History of Mapleton, both a physical copy and a digital copy that Ryan's dad scanned for me, but I'm not really sure where to start with that, so I've been reluctant to even dive in. I know there's also a lot of decluttering to do on Family Search for several of my ancestors, and I've done that a little bit, but I feel like I need a while to get immersed in it and get my bearings before I can do anything useful, which isn't always possible with kids. So it's been nice to do indexing because I still feel like I'm contributing to family history work, and I can just do it for fifteen minutes here and there. It's pretty exciting when there's a record that is very legible and has a lot of useful information because I know it could be really helpful to people searching for information about their ancestors.
I've been in kind of a rut lately with family history. I transcribed several life histories that my aunt had sent to me, but now those are all done. I also have The History of Mapleton, both a physical copy and a digital copy that Ryan's dad scanned for me, but I'm not really sure where to start with that, so I've been reluctant to even dive in. I know there's also a lot of decluttering to do on Family Search for several of my ancestors, and I've done that a little bit, but I feel like I need a while to get immersed in it and get my bearings before I can do anything useful, which isn't always possible with kids. So it's been nice to do indexing because I still feel like I'm contributing to family history work, and I can just do it for fifteen minutes here and there. It's pretty exciting when there's a record that is very legible and has a lot of useful information because I know it could be really helpful to people searching for information about their ancestors.
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