Spring Break is Over

So, people seem to be enjoying my Easter Baptism story. So, just to clear a few things up about it: Only 3 people total were being baptized, so, it’s not the amount of people being baptized that caused the length of the ceremony. We were also not outside the whole time. After they lit the Easter Candle they brought it inside. From there they lit smaller candles and we each had a candle that got lit. I really wanted to sing “I’d like to teach the World to Sing,” (the old Coke commercial), but Hubby said that was unacceptable.

Thank you to everyone for your support for Courtney. Her problems are so mild in comparison to what they could be. For that, we are truly thankful. Of course it would be wonderful if there were no problems at all, but that isn’t the hand life dealt her.

We took Courtney to the park for the first time this week. Our local park is pretty large and has a playground designed for 2-5 year olds. She got a big kick out of it. She really isn’t a fan of swinging, but she loves to slide. The little play thing for her has 3 different slides. I can’t even tell you how many times she went down them.

Spring Break is coming to a close now. I told Hubby tonight that I am going to miss Courtney. He said “what are you talking about?” I explained how life gets back to normal next week, and I won’t get to spend all my time with her. I will miss her. If I could only win the lottery, I could spend all my time with her!

Nana bought Courtney a sandbox. She brought it up yesterday. We loaded it up with sand and Nana and Courtney spent lots of time outside playing in the sandbox. Nana also bought her a jungle gym. Hubby and Nana built it, Courtney doesn’t quite understand the concept yet, but I am sure she will soon. Courtney had so much fun with Nana, that when Nana left, she threw a FIT. I took pictures of Courtney and the Sandbox; I will try to get them up on the website soon.

We invited some friends over for dinner yesterday, and as we were finishing up one of our cadets called and asked if he and his girlfriend could come over. So, Hubby went and picked them up. When they got back we started a game of Phase 10. We tried to do the Hour of no Power, but we couldn’t see the cards by candlelight. So, we had the light on dimmed way down. We turned off as much as we could, and I had candles burning, including in the bathroom, which made that fun.

Our cadets spent the night; they had just come back from Spring Break. They spent the week in Wyoming working for Habitat for Humanity. They had a lot of laundry they needed to do, so they used our washer and dryer to get it all done. It took them quite a while, but they did get all of it taken care of.

These two cadets are so wonderful. They adore Courtney and she adores them. They like to spend time down on the floor playing with her. In fact, this morning, they were all in the bathroom watching the washing machine. We have a front loading washer that has a glass door, so you can see the water and the clothes spin around. You would have thought the three of them were watching a blockbuster movie, it was so cute! Courtney was very sad to see them go. I distracted her by giving her a bath. That always cheers her up.

Hubby took them back up to the Academy, and they both mentioned how they had a great time, especially playing cards, and that they can’t wait to do it again. I can see these 2 cadets being in our lives for quite some time. The funny thing is that their names are Kelly and Tobi. And Tobi used to go by Tony, which makes them have the same names as some really good friends of ours. So, we have to differentiate which Kelly and Tony/Tobi we mean. Kelly (Cadet) calls Tobi Tony, but he introduced himself to us as Tobi, so we call him Tobi. I know, rather confusing. We were kidding him that next year he needs to introduce himself as Levi, which is his middle name.

Well, it’s late, I tried going to bed earlier, but I couldn’t sleep. So, I thought I would do a blog entry. I guess I will go and try to get some sleep now.

Next swallow study

Well, we had the swallow study today. Courtney’s GI specialist had asked us to get another one done. I wasn’t really sure she needed one as she was no longer showing signs. But our pediatrician agreed that it was better for us to check to make sure it was gone, and asked us to try the Children’s Hospital in Denver for this study. I agreed.

We got up there today, and what a place the Children’s Hospital is. The sad thing is that it’s busy like a mall! It’s not a quiet place. But, they do A LOT of different things there besides it just being a hospital. Anyway, we were waiting for our turn and I am watching some of the kids go through there thinking to myself ‘our kid is healthy, why are we here?’

Our team assembled and met with us. I am not kidding when I tell you that the first team we met with was 6 women. They asked us all kinds of questions, and even had Courtney’s past reports. They took the food and juice from us that we brought, and moved us to another waiting room. Once they were set up, they came and got us and brought us into the x-ray room where there were 2 more people added to the conglomeration of people.

Of course this test was scheduled for right in the middle of Courtney’s regular nap time. And we had not been allowed to give her any food or drink for 3 hours prior to the test. We were really hoping that she would sleep on the car ride up to Denver, but she didn’t.

Courtney only co-operated with everyone for about the first 15 minutes and then she was done. But, by the time she was done, they felt as though they had seen enough. So, they moved us to a consult room while they finished gathering their findings. Then they came in to meet with us.

I was really hoping before the test that they would pretty much say ‘not sure why you are here as all is well.’ But once we were in the test, I knew that wouldn’t be the result. It was worse than before!

The good news is that her delay in her swallow is now gone. The bad news is that she is now silently aspirating with almost every sip. They only saw her take about 20 swallows, and she aspirated on almost all of them. Silent aspirating meaning that most of us would cough when liquid goes into our lungs. But she has been doing it for so long now, her body just feels it is normal, and therefore she doesn’t cough. So, while I thought she was better because she was no longer coughing when drinking thin liquids, it’s more like it got worse.

Next step is that she needs to see a pulmonologist to have her lungs checked now. And from what they said at the Children’s Hospital, it sounds like the pulmonologist is going to be our new best friend. Meaning, they made it sound like we will be seeing him a lot. He will need to watch her to make sure that she doesn’t develop pneumonia.

We also have to give her honey thick liquids. So, any liquid she drinks going forward has to be made with thickener to be as thick as honey. Hopefully over time we can retrain her throat to swallow correctly and not let any flash over to her windpipe.

I spoke with her pediatrician this afternoon. She is going to write us a referral to the pulmonologist here in town, who also happens to be the sleep study doctor. Courtney hasn’t met him yet, as her sleep study is scheduled for April 30.

So, overall, it wasn’t the news I was hoping for, but it still isn’t a huge deal. There are far worse problems she could have, and we are really lucky that she is so healthy. I will take this small problem compared to some others it could be.

Happy Easter!

Courtney recovered from her sore throat and fever, and her lip is healing nicely. She does still have a lingering cough and runny nose. The cough should end up going away. The runny nose never seems to go away. We actually did a breathing treatment for her last night because I do not like the sound of her cough. We will do another one tonight.

She certainly is putting phrases together. Yesterday she said, ‘You’re funny’ to Hubby. That was cute. She also says things like ‘oh boy!’ or ‘oh my’. Last night after she got out of the tub she said ‘let’s go find Daddy’. She is starting to get across to us what she wants! She also has some words that she says that we know have meaning, we just don’t understand her. And we are teaching her more and more sign language as well. She knows how to say ‘more cookies please’ or ‘more cheese please’ in sign language.

The last 3 days we have been keeping a food diary. She has her swallow study in Denver at the Children’s Hospital on Wednesday. Part of the whole process they have is that we keep a food diary for 3 days. Some meals this kid eats a lot, and other meals she hardly eats anything at all. Keeping a food diary has really made me focus on giving her a balance diet.

This past weekend was pretty busy for us. Saturday night we went to our friend’s baptism. He and his 2 week and 2 day old daughter were baptized into the Catholic Church. I was not raised Catholic so I am not too familiar with how their services work. The service started at 8pm, with the Easter Candle being lit outside off a fire pit. Normally not a problem, however, it was snowing like crazy. So, they had large golf umbrellas over those who were part of that ceremony, and everyone else watched from windows inside.

The service was 3 hours long, and got over just before 11pm. After the service, they had a reception for the newly baptized. At 11pm at night they were serving punch and cake. We didn’t stay long, as it was late and we needed to get the babysitter home still. We didn’t go to bed until almost 1am. We haven’t seen that time for quite a while.

The next morning, after breakfast and seeing what the Easter Bunny left here at the house, we went to my parents’ house. The Easter Bunny left stuff for all of us down there too! Courtney had fun seeing what the bunny left and playing with Nana and Papa. (Grampa has turned into Papa, that is what Courtney has decided to call him).

After a large lunch and dessert there, we came home. The kid fell asleep on the way, so we put her right down when we got home, which worked out well because Greg was on the way over with the new entertainment center he built us. So, we had to take the TV and all the components off the current stand and clear it out to get ready for the new one. They arrived about 1:30pm, and were here getting it installed until about 3:30pm. After they left, we had a lot of clean up and hooking up to do. We also had dinner on the smoker, so we were busy right up to dinner. After dinner, Courtney had a bath, and Hubby did some more cleaning up of all the tools. About 7pm we put Courtney down for the night and just relaxed ourselves. I read a book while Hubby was on the computer.

This week is Spring Break. Because Courtney goes to the daycare associated with the college, the daycare closes when the college closes. So, no day care this week for her, and no classes for me. Hubby and I will take turns working from home to be with her. I woke up with a sore throat this morning so staying home today worked out well for me! But tomorrow I have a class in Denver I have to go to. So, Hubby will spend the day working from home.

We are supposed to have beautiful weather the next few days, so that will be nice also. Hopefully we can spend some time outside. Since we moved all of Courtney’s outside play equipment inside for the winter, we may need to go to the park, or our friends’ house to have some outdoor activities.

Please be sure to check our webpage of pictures. We have been putting up lots of pictures and movies of Courtney and other events!

Well, we are getting ready to go get some dinner!

Firsts

Some firsts are good, some firsts are bad.

Today Courtney had her first ‘cooking’ session. She was instrumental in helping me make Rice Crispy Treats. We are having 3 cadets over, they are celebrating Recognition. It’s something special for freshman, and now they will have more freedoms such as wearing civilian clothing when off duty, and other small things that make a world of difference to him. Supposedly the last few days have been miserable for them, lots of physical activity and mental anguish. So, they all want to celebrate. So, Courtney and I made Rice Crispy treats to go in the treat bags we are making for them.

Another first started 2 days ago. Day care called about 4:00pm on Thursday to say that Courtney was running a fever of 101.4. So, Hubby went and got her. During the course of the evening and night the fever got up towards 103.4. Finally at 3:30am we called the pediatricians office. They had the Children’s Hospital in Denver call us back. I spoke with a very nice lady who assured us that we were all going to survive. Courtney is just not one to have fevers very much. In fact I think the highest I had ever seen her fever before that was about 102. We made it through the night, up quite a lot, and lots of Tylenol. I kept her home from daycare the next day, and she was just miserable. Today she didn’t have much of a fever, but her throat was defiantly bothering her.

Then tonight we had our first emergency trip due to blood. She fell over in the kitchen and put her tooth through her lip. It sounds a lot worse than it actually was, but it didn’t look good. So, off we went to Urgent care, which on a Saturday night during flu season is NOT a good place to be. There were so many sick children it made me nervous. Courtney is fine. The cut did not go down into the skin part, it stayed in the lip part, so no stitches required. But her throat did not look pretty, she has a virus. So, we are just supposed to poor liquids in her for the next couple days as well as Tylenol and Motrin.

I did get a 100% on my test this week. That was very nice! I was pretty stressed because it was a lot to memorize for the test. But, I apparently did it! I couldn’t believe I got 100!!!

Our office is all moved and we are settled. We have a class coming in next week. Our new office is so nice. It’s so big, and new! I did post pictures on our website of the new office.

Finally moved!

We have finally moved our office! Saturday morning we got up early. Hubby went to the Academy to pick up a cadet, and I drove down to my parents’ house to drop Courtney off. Then we all met at the office at 8am. Our friend Rick also joined us. Greg brought his son, and Ed brought his son in law. Plus there were a few other people. We basically got everything moved in about 2-3 hours! Then we all spent some time organizing until lunch arrived. Once we ate, I had to take the cadet back to the Academy. After I did that, I came home and crashed, I was exhausted! Hubby stayed and worked for a few more hours. We will be moving the “technology” tomorrow. Meaning all of our computers and servers that keep us up and running get moved tomorrow. So, I won’t be able to get much “work” done. So I can spend the day organizing still, which is great because we have a class in our new office next week!

I have spent very little time studying for this next test. I just have no urge to!

It was a fairly nice day here. Rick and his dog Hershey came over tonight. Courtney love’s Hershey. She was giving him hugs, and laughing at him. We all spent a few hours outside enjoying the nice day. Hubby and Rick used lacrosse sticks to throw a tennis ball back in forth that Hershey would chase back and forth across the yard, like a big game of keep away. Bristol played for a while, but gave up much faster than Hershey. Buddy and Maggie (the hounds) were much more interested in smelling everything in the yard. Courtney actually played with a mini lacrosse stick called a fiddlestick. She had a ball in it and was carrying it around, driving Hershey crazy. She enjoyed sitting on the swing, playing in the rocks and just enjoying watching the dogs.

Well, I guess I should go and get some studying done.

New Phrase

Well, Courtney has a new phrase. “I need (and insert something here).” Usually it’s “I need cookies”. Hubby is gone for 48 hours to Texas. Since he’s been gone it’s been “I need Daddy”. But she is using that phrase quite regularly now a days.

We have still been having snow basically every other day. It snowed last night, and I am sitting in the library looking out the large windows at about an inch of snow covering everything. Thankfully so far it’s been a pretty mild winter. So, I haven’t reached my “sick of it” level yet, which is really good because March and April are our snowiest months.

We have our next test in my class next Tuesday. Again it’s an essay test. I am really realizing that I have a very hard time remembering all the answers we are supposed to remember for this. I struggle with this memorization stuff.

Well, I need to go and work on homework before class starts. Love you all!

Have you ever thought about....

Did you ever stop to think about how recession or the War in Iraq affects animals? I know I never did. But this past weekend I worked at Wag N Wash as a fill in on Saturday. One of the rescue groups was there doing an adoption fair as normal. I was talking with one of the ladies. She said that when the war started, they had an influx of dogs due to a lot of Ft. Carson soldiers going to Iraq. She said that was just finally starting to slow down. But then the foreclosures really started to rise. People either can’t afford to take care of an animal anymore, or when they are kicked out of their home, the go to an apartment that doesn’t accept animals. She said that they have been getting 5-6 calls a day of people who cannot care for their animal anymore. She also was telling me that petfinder.com has over 28,000 dogs listed now for adoption. That is a record. It just makes me so sad to hear these things. There are too many animals in this world.

Please have your pets spayed or neutered. And if you are interested in getting a pet, please check out petfinder.com. They have cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, etc. Lots of choices!

Life has been busy here, still. Last week it seemed we had something to do after work every night. Usually when we are at home and Courtney is awake, I spend all my time with her. So then once she goes down for the night is when I have time to do the cleaning, homework, etc. So, it all keeps me busy.

Courtney continues to amaze us daily. Yesterday on the way home from day care she said ‘I know’ to something we said to her. She used it correctly and it just blew us away. We swear last week she said “I wanna color”. She didn’t want to go to daycare. She walked over to her table where the crayons and paper are, looked at us and said it. We just couldn’t believe it!

She has also peed in her potty 3 or 4 times now. She certainly knows what it’s all about. She doesn’t ask to go during the day. Only on bath nights right before she gets in the tub is when she goes. We aren’t going to push the potty training issue as she is still pretty young, but she certainly gets the concept.

So, yes, I worked this last weekend at WnW. They opened a brand new store in Castle Rock. The assistant manager from the Woodmen store went up there to help with the Grand Opening. So, I filled in for her at the Woodmen store by opening Saturday morning. It was nice to be back in there for a little bit. The day was very busy, but that made time fly by. It was a beautiful day, and they were predicting snow for the next day, so everyone was out getting things done before the snow hit. Hubby took Courtney to the zoo. They were having a “Leap Day” special event. Our zoo is one of 14 zoos nationwide involved in a frog breeding program. So, this year the focus of the zoo is to bring people’s attention to the importance of our amphibian friends. Hubby and Courtney got there right at 9am when they opened, which is a good thing because they were letting kids in for free that day. So, as the morning went on, the zoo got pretty crowded. Hubby said that when they left the line of cars to park was backed up all the way down the mountain!

I was supposed to go up to Castle Rock on Sunday to help out in the new store, but we got a heck of a snow storm. I didn’t want to have to drive over Monument Hill where it was the worst, so Dan said they could live without me.

This weekend we are going to spend Saturday moving our office! Finally our new space is done, and we get to move in! Just a month and a half later than the original move in date! Saturday is the only day that all 3 guys are in town together for a while. So, we are all going to meet to move the furniture over. Then on Monday, Hubby will work with his employee and I to get the technology side moved over. Meaning we will move all the computers over to the new suite and set them up.

So, as you can see, life has been busy. In fact, I am currently in the library waiting for class to start at 10am. I should be working on my marketing plan, but I figured I would get in an update first! Hope everyone is well!