Thursday, May 31, 2012

Declan's Surgery Day

Once upon a time, I took Declan to a specialist for some reason - his lousy lungs, maybe? - and during the initial "head-to-toe" the good doctor discovered that the boy had a hydrocele, which is basically fluid around his testicle. It's pretty common, not a big deal, and if it ever became a big deal, it could easily be repaired with a simple surgery.

Fast forward about a year and I noticed that the hydrocele seemed enormous some days. So during his 2 year check-up, I mentioned it to our regular doctor and asked her to check it out. She gave me a funny look and said a hydrocele shouldn't come and go like that, and that she suspected he had a hernia low in his groin that was causing the bulge in the testicle. She referred us to a pediatric surgeon and sent us on our way. I assumed that would be the last we heard about it for a couple of months at least, because it takes time to get in to see specialists, right? Wrong. The next day the surgeon's office called with an appointment!

So we went to the surgeon's office. A med student did the initial assessment, then left to get the doctor - when they returned to the exam room, Declan looked up at the med student with a big grin and said "You looka my junk!" (The doctors looked to me for the standard 2 year old translation, so I just pretended I didn't understand what he had said. Jeez, kid, stop embarrassing me.) The surgeon confirmed that Declan had not one, but 2 hernias in his groin. Awesome.

Surgery was scheduled for this Friday, but last week on Wednesday the office actually called and said they were moving it up by a week. Up to that point, I hadn't been nervous about the surgery at all, but I was NOT MENTALLY PREPARED for my baby boy to have surgery in 2 days!!!!

We quickly did all the pre-op stuff and made arrangements for the girls on the big day - Uncle Kenty to the rescue! The hospital is super strict about the rules around fasting - I lost count of how many hospital employees told me "clean out your carseats because if he even finds half a cheerio and eats it, we cancel his surgery." (In my head I kept thinking "uh, yeah, if he finds and eats half a cheerio, I'M JUST NOT GOING TO TELL YOU.")

We got to the hospital right on time, got all registered and settled in the waiting room, only to be told that 2 emergencies had come in and the doctor was running way behind - instead of having surgery at 1pm, he might get in at 8pm, or might get bumped all together. What is with Declan and surgeries? The day he was born we also got bumped by 2 emergencies and ended up finally having the c-section about 12 hours later than planned. So we waited. But it ended up not being too much of a wait. He was allowed to bring something from home - I packed his monkey George but he insisted on bringing his hockey stick.

All in all, he did great. He barfed a little bit after but handled the anesthetic pretty well. His recovery has been amazing, you'd never know he had surgery last week - kids are so resilient. His mobility in general has improved like crazy - he can run much better, he can jump now, he can roll over much more fluidly than before. It makes us wonder how much those hernias held him back - would he have needed all those months of physiotherapy if we'd caught those hernias earlier? Did he not walk until he was 18 months old because he was physically limited by the hernias? Has he been in pain all this time but that was just his normal?

Here are some pics of the day:


 




Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Big Plans

2012 is the summer of YES. Whatever these kids want to do, we're making it happen. So today we started a list of fun things we want to do this summer. Here's what's on the agenda so far:






What's on your summer fun list?

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Mother's Day 2012

This year I was lucky to have my Mom and my kids with me on Mother's Day!


My day started with a little sleep-in, lounging-around the house, and some delish coffee brewed by my new Keurig!! I have only recently become a fan of coffee and had told Rainer that I wanted to get a Keurig when we got a new kitchen. We still don't have a new kitchen but we've managed to make room for my new toy. :)

Then we all got ready and went to brunch in a neighbouring community. We go every year and we love it - my brother's family and his in-laws come as well. It's delicious food, we make a reservation so there's no waiting, there is plenty of room for our big crowd..... it's perfect. It was also nice to have so much variety to choose from that fit in my healthy-eating plan!

 
All our company left right from brunch, so we came home for naps and then played outside the rest of the day.



It was a perfect day of family and relaxation.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Too Fast

My big girl is growing up so fast. Too fast. 

Today the news broke that the school here in town is moving to full-time Kindergarten next year. (They already do full days, just every second day.) 

My Mommy friends here in town are thrilled. I absolutely get the things they are excited about - it will decrease on childcare costs, make childcare easier, the kids love school and will be excited to go, they are used to full days at daycare anyway, etc. 

I myself have often thought full-time Kindergarten is no big deal. So why is it making me so sad? I am almost panicked at the thought of having only 1 more year with Talia at home. She's not even home half-time, since I'm at work, and she already goes to nursery school a few mornings a week. I know she'll be ready for it and will love it. I'm just so sad that her time to be home is quickly slipping away.

Sigh.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Random Updates

  • The kids weigh 20lbs, 30lbs, and 40lbs right now. I just think that's kind of neat.

  • Starbucks is not nearly as wonderful without the fat and sugar. In fact, it's pretty terrible.

  • We found Spare George in the toybox at Kids Spot this morning, and there was much rejoicing.

  • I am delinquent in 2 surveys for the CHILD Study. Declan is totally going to get kicked out of that study. Whoopsy-daisy.

  • Talia has informed me that Keenan, a boy in her Nursery School class, is her best friend. Really? Some boy she sees for 4 hours a week? Not her friends Charli or Olivia, who she plays with all the time? Not her friends Kelly or Stephan who she sees 3 days a week at daycare? Nope. Some boy at Nursery School that she doesn't even really play with. (Note to self: explain to Talia what a best friend is.)

  • I think we're safe to say Talia is sling-free.  She's been going a few hours a day without it and has now been to a full day of daycare and a day of preschool without it, and seems to be fine.  And she also has the giant lump, which is apparently the "Halleluia! It's healed!" sign to look for with a broken collarbone. So that's good, and just in time for Blast Ball and Soccer to start.

  • I've been back to work for about a month now, and it's good. Part-time is a great mix of work and home for me.

  • I'm down just over 10lbs so far. 1/4 of the way there. Too bad the first quarter is the fastest and easiest, there is still a long road ahead of me.