Brazil!

Cooper's second grade class has been studying all the continents and focusing on one country from each. On March 2nd, Adam was invited in to share a little about Brazil! He took with him a Brazillian flag, pictures, a soccer ball, music, and this very cool statue-


-which apparently means Good Luck!
He had a fun time sharing with the kids and was surprised when Cooper brought home a large stack of Thank You notes the next day.




Imagine our surprise to find these striking 'Good Luck' renditions...




We couldn't stop laughing! Keeper's FOR SURE!

Emma's Hospital Adventure(s)

On Tuesday, March 2nd, Emma and I drove to Children's Hospital in Waltham for her surgery. She was scheduled at 10:30, with an arrival time of 9:15. She arrived like this-



Prior to surgery-



The plan was to remove her tonsils and adenoids and open her ears enough to see her ear drum, then determine if she needed tubes. Our surgeon spoke with me before the surgery to see if I would be ok if they put in tubes no matter what. Then, as we further explore the hearing loss issue, we will always know it is not fluid (as it is common for fluid to come and go, which can result in hearing loss). I agreed that the tubes were a good idea. They took me back in the operating room with her while they put her to sleep- and though I know she was in no pain, it was very hard to watch her go under. Her little eyes rolling around and smiling faintly... I had to work hard not to cry!
After about an hour, our surgeon came out to let me know that everything went well. Emma's tonsils and adenoids were very enlarged and showed signs of repeated infections (though Emma has only been diagnosed with Strep once!) The Doctor reported that Emma's ears were the smallest she has ever worked in and they could only fit the smallest titanium tubes in her ears. There was no fluid in the ears or sign of past fluid. So the Doctor asked me to schedule Emma's follow-up visit at the same hospital so we could check the tubes, test her hearing, and have a CAT scan all in the same day.
Emma had a really hard time coming out of the anesthesia. She cried and cried. They finally gave her more morphine to put her back to sleep a little. When she woke up she was much happier, but then the nausea set in. 4 hours in the recovery room stretched to 5 and she still could not hold anything down, so we were admitted. Nothing like an un-expected hospital stay to shake you up a little. Here's what Emma looked like once she was settled in her overnight room-

By 9pm she was holding food down. When her breakfast came at 7am, she was so hungry! But because of all the trauma in the back of her nose-she couldn't smell, which meant she couldn't taste and she was MAD! I'm not talking just a little mad-but full on kick and scream in her bed mad. I couldn't blame her, she hadn't had anything to eat for over 36 hours! Finally, by 9am, the hunger overcame her and she just ate the food anyway! We were discharged that day and here's what she looked like on the car ride home-


Emma was recovering great at home! She was eating and drinking well and I was feeling really positive about her healing. Then, Wednesday at 4:40AM, Emma woke up crying. She said she had a big hair in her throat. It took me a minute to wake up- then I realized she had something dark on her pillow. I turned on the light to find a pool of blood on her pillow and blood on her hands, neck, and face. Luckily, she's been sleeping on a crib mattress next to my bed ever since we got home and the nurses, doctor, and hospital had warned me this could happen. The 'scabs' that form after a tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy will typically slough off between 7-10 days after surgery. In a small percentage of cases, when this happens, bleeding may occur and they take it very seriously. I called the on-call doctor at Children's and took Emma to the nearest Emergency room. They then transported her by Ambulance to Children's Hospital Boston. I was holding it together until they put her in here-


and I got in my car to follow. The on-call Otolaryngologist determined that Emma would need to go back into surgery to re-cauterize the bleeding spot. Gasp! They got her into surgery within an hour and a half. She was only 'under' for about 20 minutes. When the Surgeon came out to talk, he told me we were very lucky. Once they got into her throat, there was a spot further down that was actively spurting blood across her throat. We feel blessed that it was taken care of now, instead of suffering from symptoms of internal bleeding several days later! They had already determined to keep her overnight for observation, so the rest of the day went well.

Our recovery clock was reset, so Emma cannot return to school until Wednesday, March 24th. Overall, she feels great, so now my challenge is keeping her calm so she can heal. And we'll keep praying that when these new scabs slough off, history will not repeat!! Pray for my sanity! We have 9 more days of at home togetherness!

Sunday Afternoon Fun

I always laugh when the kids get ahold of the camera. This is a small snippet from a Sunday afternoon, three weeks ago (but since I just barely uploaded the photos...)
When I asked Bekah about it, she said, "What, I was just doing what Emma told me!" They always make me laugh!

Winter Vacation

I'm a week late on this vacation update- Here's what 4 kids look like after taking "the scenic route" (which took about 2 hours longer than taking the Mass Pike- but we loved it anyway Daddy!!) to Rome NY to eat dinner at Denny's. I know, Denny's would not have been our top pick, but when you're in Rome NY, you eat what you find! Lately, we cannot get Brayden to smile for a picture. He always pulls a weird face, so when we teased him about it- this is what happens... He's got a great smile!
All the kids wanted to do was swim in the hotel's indoor pool-
The entire family Monday night-

The kids and I Tuesday morning (for 3 hours while Adam was working)- The kids love to make bubble beards in the hot tub. I remember those days. I used to annoy my sister to no end with my bubble antics!
Again Tuesday night (with Daddy only- I stayed poolside reading a book!) and Wednesday night at our hotel in Buffalo, NY-

AND THE BIGGEST AND BEST THING TO COME OUT OF THE TRIP-
And
So cute!

Other highlights include-
Chair Beds-

A visit to Fort Stanwix National Monument

Watching Old Looney Toons Cartoons from the front row of the Mezzanine of the Capitol Theatre in downtown Rome-

Dinner at Jim's Steakhouse, which had a huge cow statue out front and this old carosel in the bar (very random)

And finally, what could be better than Niagara Falls in the winter?



If you ask my kids, they'll tell you the hotel's indoor pool is much better!

This is the news...

We had some friends over last Sunday for a Super Bowl Party- thus my lack of blogging. We had a great time- unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures.

Bekah's indoor soccer season came to an end Monday night. They had a fun time and learned a lot throughout the season! Adam called it a 'building year' as none of the girls had ever played indoor before and they let the other teams win every game! It didn't get them down though and Bekah is looking forward to playing on a travel team this spring (with Dad still as her coach!)

Our long awaited appointment with the pediatric otolaryngologist (have no idea if I spelled that right) came on Thursday. Even the specialist cannot see Emma's ear drum! We will start to unravel the great hearing mystery with the removal of her tonsils and adenoids, either late this week or early next. While they have her under, they will also check if she has fluid in her ears. If yes, they will put in tubes. If no, we will return for a CAT scan once Emma has fully recovered from her surgery. The Dr suggested that Emma will need to stay out of school and all activities for 2 WEEKS. It felt like a death sentence the moment it left her mouth! Has anyone else had their school-age child's tonsils and adenoids removed and if so, what was their recovery like? Adam and I both feel confident in our Dr and the path ahead!

All the kids were very excited for Valentine's this year. Cooper and Emma were both eagerly awaiting their class parties- as was I, since I am the party Mom for both classes and the Valentines party is the final party of the year. Both parties were great!
I made my usual pink heart pancakes with bacon and OJ for breakfast today. Adam and I gave each of the kids a valentine candy-since their valentine cards for school could not include any treats.


Here's the kids all ready for church! (We had to stay after church today for a parent meeting, so the kids were all packing a lunch- Brayden chose cold pizza!)


We have Winter Break this week- so the kids and I are going with Adam on his business trip to upstate NY until Thursday. It will be fun to get away- even for a few days!