First sleep-over!

My nephew Brett turned 5 and had a fun birthday party at Andy Allagators. Well, Price and Brett didn't want the fun to end, so Brett with his precious high pitch voice and folded hands under his chin asks (begs) for Price to "spend the night"....."pwease!" Oh my, how can I say no? I talk to Price and let him know that he will be there all night. He seems fine with that. Brett and Price have a dramatic embrace and celebrate all the way to the car, making plans about what they will do when they get to Brett's house. I was a little nervous because my parents are the ONLY people Price has stayed with overnight without Jon or myself being with him. Around 9 p.m., my sweet sister sends me a picture on my cell phone of the boys all tucked in and ready for bed. When morning comes, I meet Randy half way to get Price. He is so proud of himself for spending the night, and is already asking when he can do it again. "I already miss Brett" he says.

Wow!

Am I crazy? It seems Maggie Beth is already benefiting from her tubes! She is sleeping better and eating better. She is happier during the day. Wow! I rejoice for her!

Surgery Day

The surgery went great! Jon was a nervous wreck and was anxious to get his daughter back in his arms. She was screaming when we went back to the recovery room (common side affect of the anesthesia. It makes them disoriented and frieghtened). She really calmed down once we got her in the car. She slept all the way back home and was ready to eat when she woke up. She slept for another 2.5 hours this afternoon!

Ear tubes, coming soon!

Frida,y MB and I made a trip to an ENT. She had a hearing test before we saw the doctor. The audiologist said there was in fact hearing loss (which is reversable) and that her ear drum was not functioning properly because of all the fluid behind it. When we saw the doc, he confirmed those results and scheduled her for surgery next Friday January 14th. Maggie Beth is his youngest patient that day, so she will be his first surgery, that way, she won't have to go too long without food or drink. Her procedure is at 7, we are supposed to be there at 6, so we have to leave the house at 5 a.m.! Sheesh! I am glad we get to just get up and get it over with though. We are praying for her to respond well to the tubes and that my little angel will be getting the relief she needs to feel better. Now, I just need to figure out the details of how to get Price to school......

What is going on?!

Since a week before we left for Durango, Maggie Beth has been sick. She had the classic signs of an ear infection (runny nose, cough, fever, not sleeping well and the obvious sign of pulling at her ears). After 10 days of Amoxacillin, and no improvement, we moved on to Omnicef. With high hopes it would work, we took that antibiotic for 5 days. After continuing to run a fever, we returned to the doctor's office. Maggie Beth still had an ear infection!! On to med #3. This time it was Augmentin. Twice a day for 10 days, we wrestled our beloved daughter aiming to get a dropper full of chalky white medicine down the hatch. Finally, after nearly 4 weeks of medicine, the doctor gives the all clear! No more ear infections! Yay! .....

But it is short lived. Maggie Beth starts running a fever again Dec 19. High fever. 104.5 We go back to the doctor on the 22nd. This time, it is not her ears. No one knows what is causing the fever. Our wonderful doctor and P.A. are concerned and very thorough. They do a catheter to test her urine for a UTI. Negative. They do a flu test. Negative. They order a chest xray. Nothing. We are thankful all these things came back normal, but what is causing our baby to be so sick? We really start praying and asking God to heal her and to make her better for Christmas day. 48 hours later, she is fever free....

December 28th, I come home from the church, and Price has a fever! Oh My Gosh!!!! His temp is 104 through the night. For the next four days he runs fever every 4 hours (as soon as the Motrin and Tylenol start to wear off). Saturday night, Maggie Beth is back at it again. This time with a runny nose. What in the world?! I take her back to the doctor on Monday. Ear infection. This time we get a referral to an ENT. She is back on antibiotic and Price is still running fever in the evening, but doesn't have a fever through the night or during the day. Weird.

My sick children; they make the world fall off its axis...(okay, not really, but that is what it feels like). No one is sleeping well in our house. No one but me has an appetite (Braums Rocky Road Ice cream is so comforting). Maggie Beth is cranky, Price is whiny and Jon is grouchy. I am a zombie, totally going through the motions of the day, just focused on making it to 8 p.m. without having a breakdown! Wow! Doesn't this make you want to come hang out with us?

Durango

The plan was to leave early in the morning (2 a.m.) Wednesday for Colorado. Jon called Tuesday mid morning and said "do you want to leave this afternoon? Maybe 4 or so? I am ready to get out of town!" I was excited to go to and had most everything ready to leave. So, I agreed and off we went. MB took a nap. Price played his Leapster. We stopped in Elk City to eat at McDonald's for dinner. I put the kids in their pj's and off we went. We stopped again about an hour later for a potty break. The kids watched the Polar Express then fell asleep. We stopped again at Loves for gas. From there I drove us into New Mexico. We stopped at a Days Inn in Tucumcari to stay the night. The kids had a midnight snack of cheese cubes, blueberries and Price chowed half a jar of pickled okra. The night was sort of restless because Jon is battling a head cold, Price coughed alot during the night and Maggie Beth was just confused about where we were I think.

None the less, we were up and at'em by 7. We had waffles at the hotel and hit the road again. We made our way through NM. The kids did so awesome!!! MB was content watching Praise Baby videos and Elmo. Price watched them too, played his Leapster and colored. He played silly games with Maggie Beth that made her giggle. We stopped at a Walgreen's in Albuquerque to get more meds for Jon and take a potty break. Around Cuba NM, I climbed in the back and made turkey and cheese sandwiches, chips and apple slices for the fam. We ate and kept driving on. Price got all kinds of thrilled when we spotted snow on the sides of the road! When we got to Bloomfield, it started snowing! Yay! : )

We pulled into Durango and were so taken with its charm and beauty. What a lovely town!! Our hotel is wonderful. Price and Jon hit the hot tub last night. We walked the town and ate at Tequila's Mexican Restaurant. We came back to the hotel room for hot chocolate and a game of checkers. The four of us snuggled in the king size bed and watched Beauty and the Beast on TV (the whole thing). Then off to bed. So far the trip has been sweet. Not sweet as in "cool" but sweet as in special. Jon and I have been so blessed with our little family.

I'm Ba-aaaack!

After exactly a 3 month break from writing, I am back to blogging! I will catch you up on the details of why I was unavailable to blog about my life the last few months, but for now I will just give you the short version:

1) I was packing our 2,800 square foot house to move!

2) I was garage selling our stuff....lots of stuff!

3) I was hauling stuff to Goodwill

4) I was moving what was left into a 2 bedroom, 1,000 square foot house

5) I was unpacking and settling into our new residence

6) I started a part-time job at our church as the secretary

7) We are preparing to take a family road trip over the Thanksgiving holiday

8) I am planning Maggie Beth's first birthday party! (OMG!!!! Can it be possible?)

(Sigh)......it has been a whirlwind to say the least, but we have been so blessed through it all! I can't wait to update you on what God has been doing the last several weeks!