turning a corner + whitney's ear surgery + mani-pedi

My mom seems to finally be turning a corner. She saw the cardiologist yesterday and had a good appt. When I talked to her earlier in the day she did not sound all that great but as the day went on and I talked to her a couple of times after her appt she sounded better and stronger on the phone. This morning she still sounded much better than she has been sounding on the phone, although later in the day she was tired, but this is a major improvement compared to how things have been going for the past 2 1/2 weeks. I think she is finally starting to feel better and hopefully will be getting past the liver and lung issues soon and able to focus on healing her heart from surgery and beginning cardiac rehab therapy this coming week. I know she is so READY to start feeling better, and we can't wait to have her feeling strong and well again!

As for Whitney, we are supposed to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning for her to have tubes placed in both ears. She has fluid in both ears and the hearing tests show mild hearing loss in both ears and we are hoping this is from the fluid and that tubes will help her be able to hear much better! Because of her heart condition, the surgery will be performed at St. Vincent Hospital rather than the surgery center where Whitney's dr. normally performs this surgery. She will also have a special anesthesiologist and the nurse practitioner has spoken with our cardiologist to be sure there are no additional precautions they will need to take. Whitney's ear canals are too narrow for the normal tubes they put in, so they have ordered special tubes called "Tiny Tabs". Hopefully they will be able to successfully place these tubes and Whitney will be able to hear 100% when we leave tomorrow.

While the surgeon is putting in tubes she is also going to do a scope, as she said, since Whitney's tonsils and adenoids are enlarged, to see if they are causing any undue strain on Whitney's heart when she is sleeping. If this is the case, although the ENT said she is much too young to take out the tonsils and adenoids, they will go ahead and take them out to be sure that there is no additional stress or strain on her heart. From what she told us in our appt at the beginning of June, we will not know until she comes out of surgery whether she has just tubes or also if they have taken her tonsils and adenoids. If they do take them, she will have to spend the night in the hospital, otherwise we will probably be able to go home soon after surgery if all goes well :)

Last week I had an appt to have my hair done and I brought Anne and Whitney with me. Usually my mom watches the girls for me when I have my hair done, but she obviously is not up to keeping up with a 3 year old and 10 month old, so they came with me and they were very well behaved. The girls at the salon were SO NICE to them and when Anne started to get a little antsy, one of the girls took Anne to the manicure station, when she wasn't busy, and gave Anne a manicure. Anne LOVED it, and her nails looked so pretty. Later, one of the other girls asked if she could paint Whitney's toes. I said to go ahead if she could actually paint her tiny little toe nails - the pedicure was a success and Whitney's toes looked adorable. Here are a few pictures of their first manicure and pedicure: