The Little Stinker Can Hear!

Whitney's surgery to place "t tubes" in her ears was successful on our second attempt of the day! Although Whitney had other plans this morning (by eating a tiny piece of paper from the package her hospital socks came in while I was talking to the anesthesiologist) we were able to come back this afternoon (after her paper had "digested") and the surgery went well. I was very happy that all went well... Whitney did NOT share my feelings! She was FURIOUS when they brought her back to me. She was just so mad and she screamed and cried loud enough for the entire wing of St. Vincent Hospital to hear her!!! :) I did not get any pictures of this display (because I was trying to hold her and she was just distraught) but I did get a few pictures of her just before her surgery (and we were sure to keep all forms of paper away from her!!!)

loooking so sweet and innocent

showing a little leg

playing with a toy (not a plastic package w/ a paper label)

too sweet! (but still a little stinker!)

Whitney the Paper-eating Troublemaker!

This is the face of a paper-eating troublemaker! We arrived at the hospital bright and early for Whitney's surgery to put in her second set of tubes. Her first set was placed in July of this past summer and at the beginning of December we realized she had fluid in both ears. We tried ear drops and also a hydrogen peroxide/water mix that the ENT's office suggested to clear her ears... neither worked and at the beginning of February, at her 6-month checkup from her tubes surgery the otolaryngologist said that both tubes were no longer in place. We have been looking forward to March 9th for a month, just waiting for new tubes so that Whitney could have the fluid out of her ears and hopefully be able to hear properly. Well... Whitney had her own plan for how today would go --- as we were sitting in the room waiting for her to go to surgery, the anesthesiologist came in to talk with me. She and I were talking and Whitney was sitting next to me on the hospital bed playing with the package that her hospital socks came in. This package was plastic with a paper label that you peel apart and take the socks out. I was paying attention to the anesthesiologist and realized that Whitney had put the package in her mouth. I turned to Whitney to get the package out of her mouth and noticed that the paper label was wet and a piece was missing. I looked in her mouth and there were two pieces of paper - I swiped her mouth to get the paper out and was able to get the bigger of the two pieces. I went back in to get the smaller one that I had seen toward the back of her mouth and she had SWALLOWED it! The anesthesiologist then said, "I hate to tell you this, but we are not going to be able to do surgery now." WHAT???!!!! She explained that while she is out for the surgery that her gag reflexes would not be working and that there was a danger that Whitney could aspirate the piece of paper into her lungs and that would be very dangerous. I certainly did not want to take any risks, but I also did not want to go home without the tubes placed in Whitney's ears. I asked if we could try gagging her, since she had just swallowed it, to get the piece of paper. She looked at me in shock that I would even consider gagging my own daughter on purpose (not something I would ever normally want to even think of doing... but I would rather do that and still get the tubes, I guess I am just a heartless mom??? :) Anyway - she said she would speak with the surgeon and see what we should do. Luckily, they are not making us reschedule - but we have to wait at least 6 hours since Whitney ate the paper but we are to arrive back at the hospital by 1:30 p.m. even though they will not be able to operate until 2:30 or 3p.m. So.... please keep Whitney in your thoughts and prayers --- especially that she can get through this day without food or drink and that she will not be so desperate to eat when we go back that she decides she needs to eat more paper!!!!!! Whitney is seriously a little troublemaker!!!! She has made what was supposed to be her easiest surgery yet, complicated! :) As I was walking out this morning the word had already spread with the nurses and other doctors on the floor - they smiled at us and one nurse said, "make sure you get this in her baby book"... our nurse said she has been on this floor for 20 years and never had anything like this happen or heard of anything like this happening... guess we just don't like to make things simple or easy. Oh, Whitney - I love you, even if you are a paper-eater!

Spread the Word to End the Word

I missed the official "Spread the Word to End the Word" day on 3/3/2010 but still wanted to post this video in support of ending the use of the "r-word" in everyday speech. For more information go to http://www.r-word.org.

A goodnight poem by Sandra Boynton

When we are finished reading stories every night before the girls go to bed, we always read the same goodnight poem at the end - the poem is "The Going to Bed Book" by Sandra Boynton

Tonight, Anne was saying it along with us and so we asked her if she knew the poem. She said almost the entire poem without us hinting to a few of the words. We loved it so much that I asked her if she would say it again if I got out my camera - if you haven't heard it before, it is a very cute book/poem... here is Anne's re-telling of "The Going to Bed Book":

Mountain Girl Silver (Feb. 21st - Feb. 28th)

I ordered a necklace from the Mountain Girl Silver store this week because part of the money from the cost of the necklace will be donated to the Saving Sofia adoption fund. I just ordered it on Monday and it arrived in the mail today (Friday)!!!!!!! I love it!!!!! I am so excited to wear it... I actually spent some time on etsy.com looking at additional charms and things to add to it after ordering it - I will share the completed look when I have all of the pieces - for now, here is the necklace I received (completed and mailed to our house in Indiana in 4 days!!!!)



Thank you for sharing this website with us, Jennifer!!! Hopefully some other people have been able to order this week and help toward Sofia's adoption :)

Johnny Knoxville on the "r" word

I just LOVE Johnny Knoxville!

Lilybugs

I have been meaning to write a post on this for a few months now. I was just "reminded" of this after reading Adrienne's post at Our Unexpected Journey. Bennett (Adrienne's son) is 9 months old today and is learning to use a sippy cup. Although he is practicing with a sippy cup, Adrienne has ordered him a Honey Bear Cup so that he can transition from a bottle to a straw cup, and it has not come in yet. Here is short article from Parenting magazine that gives a brief summary of the benefit of a straw cup vs a sippy cup.

Anyway - Adrienne mentioned how she wished there were handles on the Honey Bear Cup (and I don't think I have found any straw cups that have handles) & I thought the same thing. I found something called Lilybugs on the website http://www.mom4life.com (I have found LOTS of great things on this website:) I thought it looked like something that might work... I ordered one (they have free shipping!) and Whitney LOVES her Lilybug! It really does help with learning to hold your own straw cup (although, Whitney has figured out that she much prefers to have us "hold" her cup for her, even though we KNOW she is capable of holding her own cup. She is working us!!!) Lilybugs have even won the 2006 iParenting Media Award in the categories of "Feeding" and "Hot New Product". The best price I have found is on the mom4life website (especially with the free shipping... it is a better deal than ordering direct from the lilybugs website). They have both "boy" and "girl" designs... Here is a picture of Whitney's "Lilybug" :

Little Miss Chatterbox

Whitney has started to really babble and just talk about "whatever" (I have no clue what she is talking about) more and more... here is a little bit of her chatter w/ a little meltdown at the end :)
Enjoy!