A traumatic but necessary experience

The hardest thing I've done as a parent so far was to watch as Charlotte went down the hall screaming in a nurse's arms on her way to surgery.  But after four months of colds and continuous ear infections that wouldn't respond to any of the antibiotics we tried we knew we had to.  She didn't act sick most of the time, especially to people not usually around her, but we knew she wasn't feeling good and in the weeks leading up to surgery she was crankier and more pitiful than she had been before.  We could see that she was sick of her ears hurting her.  So we made the decision to get tubes put in and were just thankful that we didn't have to do tonsils and adenoids also which would have made it so much worse.

We had to be at the center for surgery at 6:45 am for a 7:45 am surgery time.  For a lot of parents this wouldn't cause an early wake up but can I just say that we're some of the luckiest parents alive in that Charlotte stays in bed until 8 am every morning.  So we knew that getting her up early might prove to be a challenge but what would probably be the trickiest would be that we couldn't give her any food or drink (even water) before surgery.  Thankfully, even know she was pretty confused, she was fine with us waking her up and putting on a new diaper and getting her in the car.  I think the picture to document our morning might have worried her more than anything! :)

We got checked in at the center and had to wait before we were called back to prep.  Charlotte enjoyed sitting in her own chair for some of the time and for the rest of the time she laid on my lap with her head on my chest since she was so sleepy.  But for a child up almost two hours earlier than usual she didn't display any fits or anything which was very nice.

Once they called us back the first thing they wanted was for her to step up on the scale and I was just sure that this was where the tears and screaming was going to start since she flips at the doctor's office when they do the same thing.  But we learned a lot that morning! Not only did she do nothing but smile at the nurse while she stood still on the scale but she's put on around 3 pounds since her last ear check at the doctor at the end of January! We thought we had noticed a growth spurt but Charlotte shot up to 26.2 pounds!

After the weigh in we headed to our hospital bed and Charlotte started to get a little nervous.  (Honestly, so did her Mommy and Daddy!)  She sat down on the bed and was excited about the Surgi-Bear that was waiting for her but she was a little tense while they checked her blood pressure and her pulse.

It turned much uglier though when we tried to get her in the hospital gown.  I don't really blame her, because compared to her comfy pj's the gown felt like cardboard, but she was doing everything in her power not to have to put it on.  Eventually we did get it on though and she went to Daddy's lap for a little Wonder Pets on the iPhone (thank you Apple!) which didn't totally appease her but kind of took her mind off of what was going on.

However, the itchy nature of her hospital bracelet on her wrist would not be ignored and she kept trying to pull it off.  It was pitiful to see how uncomfortable she was and not be able to do anything about it!

Since she wouldn't calm down for Daddy I tried to get her to sit or lay on the bed with me.  But the pillow was filled with (maybe?) styrofoam balls and made funny sounds when Charlotte touched it so that wasn't going to happen.  Back to trying Wonder Pets and the books that we brought!

Dr. Mike came to talk to us before he did one of the procedures and Charlotte was perfectly comfortable with him and remembered that he had a big inflatable ball that she had played with before.  He came back once the procedure was done to show us exactly how short it was and it was very short which made us feel a little better.  But then the nurses came to take Charlotte and it was horrible.  She didn't know what was going on at first.  She'd just been talking about the orange ball and now there were strange ladies there.  But then one of the nurses reached for her and I leaned down and said "I love you" and she lost it and we had to watch her cry and yell all the way down the hall.  If I didn't know that the tubes were absolutely essential for her to prevent any speech or hearing difficulties later and for her comfort now I probably would have grabbed her and left at that point!

We went and sat in the waiting room and it probably was only 5 or 10 minutes before they came to get us for recovery.  They sat us down in these recliner chairs and said that they would bring Charlotte to us once she woke up.  We had to wait a minute or two but soon two nurses came in with her all wrapped up in these big blankets.  She was crying (they told us she would be so we were as prepared as we could be) and just looked so small and sad.  I took her and started rocking her and she was just sucking her thumb and crying.  She also does this thing with her hair where she pulls a piece down in front of her nose and rubs it with her index finger while she sucks her thumb.  She likes doing the same thing with my hair too when I'm singing to her.  So she was doing that and, honestly, wasn't all awake yet and kept drifting in and out of sleep.

The nurses had told us that once she got some liquids down her and didn't get sick from them that we could take her home so we were trying to get her to drink some of her juice but she just wouldn't.  She kept dozing and crying and wasn't interested in her cup at all.  This made us pretty frantic because we knew that she'd be better once we got home but also knew that we couldn't take her until she'd had something to drink.  She did eventually start drinking and once she drank a fourth of her cup and it had been 5 to 10 minutes without her getting sick we made a pretty quick beeline to the car.

The closer we got to home the better she was but she was still crying and upset in the car.  When we got home Memma and Papa were there with big Elmo and Curious George balloons and some stickers which Charlotte loved.  We took her upstairs and changed her clothes and her diaper and then tried to find something that she wanted to do.  Play on the gym? No.  Watch tv? No.  Read books? No.  Watch a movie? No.  Lay in Mommy and Daddy's bed? No.  Finally she announced that she wanted to go on a walk so, we bundled her up in her wagon and set out around the circle.  Being outside finally fully calmed her down and she enjoyed watching the birds on her walk and would say "Charlotte's house" every time we walked by our house but showed no interest in going inside.  Did I mention that it was pretty chilly this morning as we were walking and walking and walking??

I was finally able to tempt her inside with the promise of a milkshake but once I got the milkshake mixed and in her cup she immediately wanted to go outside again!  We were kind of afraid that we were going to have to walk circles for the rest of the day but as time passed and, I guess, the anesthesia got more and more out of her system she got more back to normal.  She eventually was ok with going back inside to watch Elmo so we went in and climbed on our bed and turned on Elmo and she snuggled between Jason and I for maybe 15 minutes before hopping down off the bed and starting to run around like her own normal self.  By the time it got to lunch time she was acting almost entirely normal which was such a relief to us.

Our first moment of amazement at the miracle of science came when I laid her down for her nap.  For the past few weeks she had been whimpering a little and fussing a little when I put her down but no more than, what I thought was, a normal 21 month old who didn't want to go to bed.  But when I laid her down for her nap that day she didn't make one peep.  It was a relief for me to know that already her ears felt so much better because pain in her ears must have been what was causing her to express a little bit of dicomfort for the past few weeks.  And still, two weeks later, she hasn't made one peep when we put her down for her nap or her bed -- other than the constant chatter that we hear for a few minutes, of course!

Our afternoon was pretty calm too since Charlotte was pretty much back to normal and Jason was home which was a treat.  Dr. Mike wanted to make it up to Charlotte though so he brought the big inflatable ball over to play once he got home which made Charlotte very happy!  She had a great time pushing it around with Matthew and Megan but couldn't work up the nerve to get in.  Dr. Mike finally said it was time for them to go and then Charlotte got up the nerve and hopped inside the ball!  She loved it in there and if anyone knows where I can get one I guess we better buy one ourselves!

I am very thankful that this whole ordeal is, hopefully, over.  Charlotte is showing no signs of ear pain any more and while she was never showing any speech impairment her sentence forming abilities have taken off since the surgery.  I sincerely pray that we never have to send her off for surgery again because it was so difficult but since that's what we had to do to get her well we knew we needed to do it.

Recipe Wednesday - Oven Fried Pork Chops

This weekend we had some pork chops and were looking for a new way to cook them so I put Jason in charge.  He stepped in and found an oven fried recipe that sounded good, was easy, and that we could make all from ingredients that we had in our pantry -- the perfect trifecta! The pork chops were pretty good although ours were thick so took about twice as long to cook as the recipe said.  But we will definitely be making these again!

Oven Fried Pork Chops

* 4 pork chops, trimmed

* 2 tablespoons butter, melted
* 1 egg, beaten
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* (We added 1/4 teaspoon of salt)
* 1 cup herb-seasoned dry bread stuffing mix (we used half panko bread crumbs (plain) and half italian seasoned bread crumbs)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Pour butter into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Stir together egg, milk and pepper. Dip pork chops in egg mixture, coat with stuffing mix and place in pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Turn chops and bake for another 10 minutes, or until no pink remains in the meat and juices run clear.

Beauty Salon

We made sure to give Charlotte a bath the night before her surgery because I was nervous about washing her hair immediately after her tubes went in and wanted to at least be ok for a day or two.  But we were pushed for time that night and so ended up getting out of the bath right before bedtime instead of 30 to 45 minutes before.  I didn't want to send her to bed with wet hair so I convinced her to come down with me and let me blow dry it. 

Charlotte has loved watching me dry my hair over the past month but has always hesitated when I ask her if she wants me to "dry" hers.  Recently she started showing a little more interest in it and had started to let me "dry" her hair for a short period of time so I thought she might be ready for this step.  Boy was she ever!

She sat on the edge of the tub and let me dry her hair completely!  She had a big grin on her face most of the time and was sad when I stopped because her hair was dry!  She definitely looked older after the blow out since most of her curls that she usually has had dried pretty straight.  Jason told me that he was never going to let me dry her hair again after seeing that!  Thankfully when we got her up the next morning her curls were back.  Charlotte is definitely a girly girl and loves being pampered!

Annika in Training

They say girls marry their fathers.  Well, while Jason and my Dad aren't clones of each other, they definitely both love golf.  Even though Dad's been playing his whole life and Jason just picked it up in college, their passion for the game includes everything from weekend rounds to exotic scouting of courses to their love of watching golf on tv. 

Growing up I was hard pressed to think of something I wanted to watch less on tv than golf -- it put me to sleep any time it was one when I was in the room, even if I was engrossed in a book!  So I was a little dismayed when I realized Jason's love of golf had extended into love of watching tournament's on tv as well as playing the game.  Imagine my surprise when, if given the option, Charlotte will almost always choose to watch golf over another event on tv!  She loves watching it!  She says "Boom!" when the players hit the ball or the ball lands.  She claps when everyone on tv starts clapping and yells, "Yay Golf!"  And (most humorously) she thinks her Papa is out there in the tournament and when any number of players come on the screen to hit she says, "Hey Papa!"

Jason got a new putter for his birthday and hadn't had a chance to test it out on the course yet so he was practicing on the rug in the den during one of Charlotte's nap times.  After Charlotte got up he picked it up again to see what she would do and she had the time of her life chasing down the golf balls for her Daddy!

Showing Mommy one of the golf balls

Showing me how she mastered holding two in one hand!

Charlotte did great retrieving the balls and would run after them to get them and then put them right back in front of Jason's putter.  Sometimes she wanted to stand right in front of the ball which made it a little difficult for Jason to putt but other than that she was a great ball bringer backer!  But, eventually, she got tired of returning the balls and started holding on to one herself while returning the other two.  That gradually turned in to her holding two and returning one and then her not wanting to return any of them.  So at that point Jason decided to try and have a little putting lesson which Charlotte enjoyed almost as much as Daddy putting!

It cracked me up to see Jason try and fix her feet into the correct position every time she lined up over the ball, but he was trying his hardest to teach her the correct stance from the get go!  Who knows, maybe we'll have a little Annika Sorenstam in our house!

The Park

Now that the weather is getting warmer we are taking more and more walks.  Sometimes (when I have reinfocement) we head down to the park.  Since last summer Charlotte has gone from a little girl who was too afraid to go down the slide to one who wants to go down the big slide again and again!  We are going to have so much fun this summer!

When Daddy's Away....

A few weeks ago Jason had to go out of town for work training in Washington, DC.  So, since I'm a scaredy cat and wasn't up to the challenge of single parenting for an entire week, we headed down to my parents to stay with them all week.  Charlotte had a great time with Memma and Papa G and I enjoyed some much needed help.  Charlotte did lots of fun things that week like....

Sleep with as many animals as we could fit in her crib

Make our own jewelry

Make the airplane toy out of the kids meal and fly it around the house

Discover Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

AND Mommy's old stuffed animals!

And play "Where's Charlotte?!?"

But our week wasn't complete until Daddy made it home on Friday!  Charlotte got to watch airplanes at the airport while we waited on him and then while we waited for his luggage he squatted down to be on C's height but she wanted to be like Daddy so she squatted down too!  We were glad he got some valuable training for work but we definitely missed him while he was gone!

Shoes

Charlotte is still all about shoes, especially when the shoes are Mommy's or Daddy's.  At the beginning of the month I was still wearing my boots and I left them out for a few days and she thoroughly enjoyed trying to tromp around the house in them.  They were almost too heavy for her to pick up her feet in but she did manage to shuffle a few steps!

The Elephants go Marching One by One

We didn't make plans to go to the circus when it was in our area earlier in the month so I decided that Charlotte might enjoy the elephant walk from the train to the arena.  When she woke up that morning I gave her the option of gonig to music or to see the animals.  She, quickly, replied, "Animals!"  So we got bundled up and headed to the parade route. 

We got there almost an hour before the scheduled time and I expected to be able to wait in the car or maybe drive to Sonic and get a drink after scoping out our best location but when I got there the roads were already packed with kids and parents!  I was thankful that I had dressed Charlotte warmly and brought a blanket along with snacks to keep her occupied.  We found a fairly unoccupied street and set up camp and waited for the elephants.

As you can see Charlotte didn't really mind waiting and was perfectly content to be bundled up with some goldfish!

The police finally came and blocked off the street and we could see the elephants start to walk towards us.  At that point Charlotte's happiness turned into wariness and quickly into fear.

As they got closer she tried to scoot farther and farther back into her stroller and started softly saying, "No."  I reassured her that the elephants wouldn't hurt her but I had to admit that they were pretty big and got really close!

Of course as they started moving away from us her bravery grew and she started leaning forward to see more of them.

As I turned her stroller around to head back to the car she started saying, "More, more elephants!" and as we got to the car her pleas turned into cries.  I heard "More, more elephants" the entire ride home until I could distract her with lunch.  At least maybe the shock will have worn off by the circus next year or in case we get to see an elephant in Tuscaloosa this year!

Ear Update

I've got lots of pictures from the morning but wanted to post a quick update saying that C is doing great.  It was rough coming out of anesthesia but by lunchtime she was herself and took a great nap and has been playing hard ever since she got up.  Thank you so much for your prayers!

Ears, Ears, Ears

I've got a lot of posts going on in my mind right now but not a lot of time to sit down and right them.  So in the meantime I wanted to catch you up on Charlotte's ears.

We went in on the 10th and found (like I suspected) that she still had fluid in both of her ears.  That means we went through four rounds of 10 day antibiotic treatments in addition to the big antibiotic shot with no change in her ears.  Thankfully she's a sweet little girl and is still sleeping good and, for the most part, acting like they don't bother her but in the past few days I've noticed her touching them a lot more so I'm pretty sure she's close to her breaking point as are we.  So after discussion with our ENT, who is a close family friend and someone we greatly trust, we have decided to go ahead and get tubes put in Charlotte's ears tomorrow morning.

We have to be at the center at 6:45 in the morning and the surgery is slated for 7:45 am.  Our doctor has told us that it will be quick (he keeps saying we won't have time to go and get a cup of coffee before it will be over) and he says that she will be perfectly fine by the time we take her home soon after the procedure.

If you could join us in prayer about tomorrow and tomorrow morning we would really appreciate it.  Some specific prayer requests would be:
- An easy morning getting to the center.  C normally sleeps until 8 am and we have to be there at 6:45am so it's going to be a very early morning with her and we can't give her anything to drink (including water or milk) once she gets up.  If we don't get her her milk pretty soon after she wakes up she asks for it so please pray that she will be able to handle the change in her routine without really upsetting her.
- A painless transition from us to the surgery team.  I'm sure they will give her some loopy meds to make her not as upset when they take her from us to go to surgery but I'm doubting it will erase all of her fears.  So please pray that she goes to them ok because I'm not sure how well we'll be able to take it if she is really desperate for us not to give her to them.
- A quick, painless, problem-free, sucessful surgery.  The procedure is supposed to be super routine and quick but just pray for Dr. Mike and his team as they operate on C that everything goes smoothly and without problem.
- A good morning/afternoon/evening of recovery at home so that C doesn't have to go through too much pain or discomfort after the procedure.

Thank you for supporting us with your prayers.  It means so much to know that we have this community of believers out there who are praying along with us.  I probably won't get back on to update immediately (I'll try but can't make any promises) but I'll be tweeting throughout the day if you want to stay caught up with us.  You can check out my twitter feed via this link.

Around the Wheel

We got home early from Colorado and so we got to spend some time with Charlotte.  She wanted to go on a walk and so we set out for what was supposed to be a short walk.  But whenever we tried to get her to go  home she started yelling, "More walk! More walk!"  We eventually saw Dr. Mike, Matthew, and Megan on the course playing in their plastic ball.  The kids were inside the middle of this big, plastic ball that looked like a mouse wheel but for kids!  Dr. Mike was pushing them (inside the ball) down a small hill!  Charlotte was intrigued so we headed over to check it out.

Charlotte was enthralled with the ball and was soon playing along with the big kids.  Even though she wasn't brave enough to get in it (and, truthfully, her Mommy didn't want her to!) she enjoyed pushing it down the fairway!

It's baby pool time again!

With our new baby set to arrive in September I'm pulling back out our trusty baby pool that we used with Charlotte!  You can go and see the pool board by visiting this link and can enter your guess for the sex, due date/time, and birth weight and height.  Who knows, if you win you might win a fun prize in addition to all that pride! We will close the board to guesses right before our anatomy ultrasound on April 25th!  Thanks for playing!

Beaver Creek, The Real Story

We, obviously, aren't seasoned Beaver Creek travelers but we did learn a lot while we were there so, for our future reference and anyone else's, here are our real deal Beaver Creek Tips!

1. Go to Beano's Cabin.  It's a really neat, once-in-a-lifetime kind of place that is casual enough for kids but fancy enough for adults who want a high class meal.  That being said, sit facing away from the snow cat on your way up and down the mountain! I can't stress that point enough, if you sit facing the direction that you will be moving you will be pelted with snow on your way which will increase your coldness level (which is quite high already!) significantly!  And make sure you dress warmly for the ride! They have a huge coat room where you can put everything before you sit down for dinner.  You also must make reservations ahead of time.

2. Speaking of reservations, make them!  Even if you're just guessing on where you want to eat make some reservations that you can cancel.  My favorite way to make reservation is through Open Table which is a free service and has an app for your phone.  All of the Beaver Creek restaurants that need reservations are on Open Table.  Some restaurants that we loved were The Dusty Boot, The Chop House, and Blue Moose Pizza (you don't need reservations at Blue Moose).

3. Stay in the village if you can.  The village is beautiful and you don't need to go anywhere else your entire stay.  There's a market in town with groceries or any necessities that you forget.  Doing this will make your trip a lot more stress free than if you are taking a shuttle to/from the village to ski every day.

4. Try and get as close to the mountain as possible.  We stayed at St James Place which is a condo development each individually owned.  It was very nice and pretty close to the lifts but it was still a 4-5 minute walk each morning and at the end of each day and when you're walking in ski boots and carrying your equipment that's a really long walk!

5. Store your equipment at the bottom of the hill.  We didn't do this but they found that you can store your equipment at a drop off right next to the lifts so that you don't have to lug it back and forth to your condo.  Our condo provided a locker for the equipment but that meant they had to take it back and forth every day.  I'm sure it costs some money but our group felt like it would have been a worthy investment!

6. We traveled over President's Day Weekend.  It was crowded but not too so.  That being said, even on a busy weekend all but two of the lifts closed at 3:30 pm every day.  Strawberry Park and Centennial stayed open until 4.  So be aware of that so you don't end up stuck in Arrowhead or Bachelor Gulch if you're exploring and can't get back because the lifts closed!

7. Get a private car to/from the airport.  We chose to go the Premier route with Colorado Mountain Express and it was worth the (approx) $30 extra dollars that we paid as opposed to riding in one of their vans.  Our driver met us at baggage claim, loaded our luggage, and then drove us in our SUV with water bottles and snacks straight to our condo.  On our return trip they picked us up exactly when we needed to leave (they determine that time based on your flight time) and did the same thing on the way back.  After a bumpy flight out we were so thankful that we weren't having to pile into a big van with a bunch of strangers to sit all squished together and then make a bunch of stops before we got to our condo.  You should seriously check it out because it was not much more money than the van and you got so much more!

8. Go to the top of the mountain to ski.  Beaver Creek is unique (I think) in that it has a lot of greens and blues at the top of the mountain.  You should definitely ski those because they are less crowded and are just as easy (if not easier) than slopes at the bottom of the hill around the ski school area.

9. Don't worry about footwear.  Kelly and I were worried about having boots that could get wet while we walked around town and we shouldn't have been.  We're pretty sure that there is an underground system heating the main walkways in Beaver Creek and it melts all of the ice and snow almost as soon as it falls.  It was nice to have dry surfaces to walk around on while we were in the village.

10. Get your ski equipment delivered to your condo.  We rented equipment through RentSkis.com and had a great experience with them.  For no extra cost they delivered the equipment to the condo at a time that we arranged once we landed.  They brought everything in and fitted boots (they brought multiple sizes in the van in case they didn't fit) and skis and also got everyone helmets which you can't pre-reserve.  It was so nice not to have to fight a crowd to get all of that done but to just be able to relax in the condo while they handled it.  And the return of the equipment was easy, even if they did call multiple times to remind us to turn the equipment in after we already had.

11. They serve free, warm chocolate chip cookies!  Beaver Creek chef's come out in their chef's hats at 3 pm at the bottom of the Centennial Lift every day serving warm cookies.  Their silver trays come out piled high with them and within minutes the chefs turn around and go back in for another batch because their cookies were demolished.  Such a nice treat after a day of skiing!

12. Drink lots of water!  The altitude is so different there than almost anywhere else so you need to be prepared.  We all downed bottle after bottle of water on our trip out and it kept us from getting seriously sick.  We did all get a touch of sick (headache, nausea) at some point but the water definitely helped.  We have also heard that carbs help the adjustment also.

13. Go private on the lessons.  We went on a big holiday weekend so the group lessons were packed.  For just a little extra Jason, Kelly, and Tripp had their own instructor for half a day.  He was able to tailor their instructions to their own levels and give them much more detailed instructions.  They would also recommend a full day lesson if you haven't skied before.  We will definitely be doing a full day private lesson in a few years when we take the kids!
We loved Beaver Creek and definitely want to take the kids back when they're ready to learn to ski.  It was a quaint, unique place that was beautiful!

The conclusion of our trip

Tuesday of our trip was spent (by me) being lazy and by everyone else by getting in their last bit of skiing.  At this point I was ready to get home and see Charlotte and I think everyone else was a little homesick also.  We did score a coux by grabbing an earlier flight home on Wednesday which buoyed our spirits on Tuesday.  We ended the day with another helping of Blue Moose Pizza before getting to bed early since our early flight required a 5:45 AM pickup at the condo!

Here are some pictures I think I left out during my recap.

Kelly and I our first night in town in front of one of the many bronze statues populating the village

Jason and Tripp on their way up the lift

Kelly and Tripp showing off the free, warm chocolate chip cookies that are given out every afternoon!

Waiting inside where it was warm before heading to Beano's Cabin

The snow cat that you ride up to Beano's Cabin

At the bottom of the slopes

We had a wonderful trip and it actually worked out at a good time so that it would be our last little hurrah with Kelly and Tripp before they move.  We enjoyed being somewhere totally different and the condo worked out perfectly.  It was a fun trip that allowed us to have a little adult time and friend time but we were all definitely ready to get home to see our baby girls on Wedesnday!