Magical Tubes of Relief

For those of you who've not known, we've been playing the "to get tubes or not to don't get tubes" game, with Knox, now for about 5 months. Seems he's been snotty, ear infected, or runny more times than not. I'll take my small blessings though and much prefer the boogies over the vomiting.

After 5 ear infections and fluid that would not disappear, we were immediately fit in to see the Ear, Nose & Throat Specialist this past Friday morning and Knox's ear tube surgery was scheduled for this morning.

Bada-bing-bada-boom.
Let the proverbial flood gates open... or in Knox's case, puss. (Gross, I know.)

I figured we'd carry on like normal - mild fussiness, runny nose, a waking or two a night after getting the 5th infection diagnosis on Friday. Saturday panned out normal -- well, minus our insane garage sale. Sunday ---- ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE.

I was up all night with him super fussy and inconsolable. I never thought I'd be so eager to have a child of mine have surgery. I'd sit and watch the minutes go by in anticipation of relief for him. So grateful to have the ability to just have a "fix" presented to you and be able to take advantage of it immediately.
So blessed.

Here he is tucked under my armpit, in Nash's bed (Nash was at my parents for the night), elevated:

I was up early (well, all night like I said, but it was still early). We were set to leave for the hospital's surgery center at 5:15a. 5:00a I was ready to go!!!

It was an odd drive to the hospital. Ty and I took separate cars as he had an 8am meeting that couldn't be moved and since the surgery was at 7a, we knew it would be cutting it close. The dark sky was still showing itself and I found the car's atmosphere to be very still and solemn. I couldn't put my finger on what was the deal... I was having a "moment". I'd remembered driving that very same way, around the same time, the morning my Grandma passed. Was that it? Maybe she was with me?? A few prayers ran through my mind. I prayed the Good Lord would grant me strength, faith, patience. I prayed to my guardian angels that they'd hold Knox's hand as they put him under. All those things you say in times like that... I said them. In my head... While Flo Rida rang true through the speakers (oh my!).

**Come to find out today marks the 2 year anniversary of the passing of my beloved Grams. Ahhhh... it all makes sense now; the odd presence in the car. She was with me. <3

At the surgery center, I was calm. I was comforted in knowing my little guy was in good hands.  Here he is pre-surgery with Ty and the bear they give patients as a "lovey" to hold if they're scared.

The surgery was fast. I barely had a chance to use the restroom, return to my seat and text my mom of what was going on before I looked up at the noise of the door shutting and saw Dr. Peiffer walking toward Ty and I. Actually, my heart landed like an anvil in my stomach that something might've gone wrong and then I put myself through a gut-check. Duh. It wasn't supposed to last long anyways.

All went well. Both his ears were completely full of puss and fluid that had been sitting in there for months. The pressure of the fluid was what was keeping him up all night. Cue the Mommy-relief sigh. All is well... now when can I see my kid???

He spent the better part of 30 mins crying coming out of his anesthesia. The same sort of thing that Nash did after his adenoidectomy.  It wasn't anything a big ol' bottle couldn't cure.

After our discharge instructions were given and a big goodbye was had, we loaded up for home.

He crashed hard en route home.  Killed me to take this kid out of his car seat:

While he was taking his first of many cat-naps today, I tried to muster the strength to straighten up, what looked like, WWIII in the kitchen from my up-all-nighter. I stopped to snap a pic of the bear he was given. Truth is, it'll probably end up in another Chambers Family garage sale... but not without a moment to think about what wonderful relief this morning has bestowed on my sweet little Monkey.

A Monkey in the Mirror

I'm loving this age. Knox is a hoot.  These pictures / video are about a month old. But, they're keepers. 

(I'm doing a quick run of posts to try and catch up. Bare with me!)

...and the crown jewel...

Welp. Monkey's up from his afternoon nap and the house is going to show in 30 mins. I'm off the blog for now, but hope to return later. I've got some great little nuggets stored on my iPhone that need a new home.

Happy Good Friday!

Nothing Better for a Nana

I'm seriously horrible at this continuous blogging. What is my deal?!

Things aren't as crazy as they've been, but are picking up this next week with some fun plans for our family. So, I thought I'd take this nap time to throw up a post.
A few weeks ago, on our Monday visit to my parents, Nash was all in a tizzy to make a "fort". I just had to share these few (terrible) iPhone pictures I snapped while he was enjoying.

I mean, who doesn't have memories of making tents and forts as a kid?

I know he'll adore this little composite of pictures one day. So sweet :)

Gag be-gone!

A little background here: Knox has been gagging at everything. It's so frustrating because he's ready for table food: grabbing the spoon, grabbing your plate, watching you eat, etc.

This is how I feel about the situation:

I started him on some Gerber Puffs. Gag.
Stage 3 foods? Gag.
Mum Mum? Gag bigger.... in fact, welcome back up everything he's already eaten for the day. Ew.
The list goes on and on.

Fast forward to Friday afternoon. I pulled Knox's highchair over to the kitchen so his separation anxiety would lessen from me and I'd be 4 ft. from him so I could be allowed to wash dishes sans hysterical screaming.

Enter the 3 year old big brother. I go back to my chores, answer the phone, turn around and Knox has a blue chin:

What. the. hell. I'm perplexed.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh yaaaaaahhhhh. I gave Nash a handful of M&Ms. (tap tap tap on the forehead. duh.) And evidently he thought Knox needed to give some a whirl. I can only imagine: "here monkey... have one. der yummy!" After my moment of "ut oh" I stopped long enough to realize he was actually chewing and not gagging. Woooooo Whooooo!!!! Who would've thought Nash was such a good problem solver at 3? I mean, half the time he kid has his finger up his nose. (Well, I guess that's problem solving, huh?)

Ok, true test. M&M again? No gag. How about some peanut butter on a spoon??? (All the while in my head I'm certain he'll gag.) 

Um. No. 

No gagging, but by far VERY interesting, this oddly sticky, tan-colored yummy stuff:

These next few photos crack me up. It was like a switch went off and he couldn't get enough. I just love watching him feel, touch, explore with his fingers. Hilarious that as an adult we would never dig in like this. 

He was so happy and proud of himself. All I can say is....

"Thank you, Nash. Thank you, Boogs. YOU figured out the magical key to unlock the non-gag."

Smiles!

A virtual playdate...and a date with an Aunt. :)

Had to share this. So precious. How much does this child love his Aunt? We call her "Ti Sissy" (a.k.a. Tia Sissy - or Aunt Sissy) and we also love Facetime.  Thank you, Apple.

He's very aware and very fond of Facetime. We facetime with Nana, with our little girlfriends, we facetime with whomever will answer.

Today, "Ti Sissy" answered the call of the Facetime Warrior and was then on the phone with Nash for upwards of 30+ mins. Hi-lar-i-ous.

Here's a little diddy play-by-play of their date:

It's important to offer your guests something to eat while they are visiting.

Maybe some pizza?

"Which slice would you like?"

 "Maybe you'd like suga all ober ur face?"

"Sit here Ti Si, I need to show you sumpin."

"Nook. I see you."

These are the last few minutes of enjoyment before she hung up and he went into FULL TILT hysteria that he wanted his Ti Sissy... tears... hyperventilating... coughing.

..........So post, this post, I got an email from my sister. Evidently, this was her view of the evening playdate:

*view from her ipad. :) LOVE!!!!

Boys will be boys... bumps, bruises and missing teeth.

Pregnant with Knox last summer (this was June 2011), we were playing outside. Well... Nash was... I was perched in a lawn chair sweating like mad (or like some say, "a whore in church"). He ran from the garages to me and tripped on his own damn feet landing front teeth first on the concrete driveway. It wasn't until 30 mins later did I realize he'd cracked his front left tooth in half.

**I think I posted on this prior... it was a while ago, though.

Here's the right after -- 

On the left you can see that just a piece is missing. A little Madonna gap? 

Not so much. Missing tooth piece! 

On the right you can see us at the dentist. 

No pediatric dentist was open on the Friday is happened so entertainment was limited. 

Note the latex glove balloon. 

There wasn't a whole lot we could do. After we were given the "okay" at the adult dentist, Monday I took him to a pediatric dentist who told me that, that tooth would eventually die and turn grey. That's when it would have to be pulled. But, other than that, he was fine. 

Fast forward: January 4, 2012 and I pick up Nash from Mother's Day Out and he looks like this: Note the swollen left side of his face around his nostril and cheek. It even distorted his smile. 

I called around and found a pediatric dentist that could see us ASAP. Did I mention that we were leaving the next morning for Miami for Nash to be in a wedding? Missing tooth on a 3 year old? Ohmygoodness.

Sure enough it had to be pulled. It was abscessed. And here he looks now... toothless wonder until they grow back in around 6-8 years old. :)

Here's Nash's recap on his tooth I took this morning. Doesn't really coincide with my rundown above. Figures. :)

Nash Has his Adenoids Removed

January 24, 2012

Nash has his adenoids removed by Dr. Mehendale in Frisco. By far one of my best "Mommy-moves" yet.

His second year of life was riddled with snotties, runny noses, stuffy noses and sneezing and often unrelated to a cold or illness. We'd tried a run of nose sprays, OTCs and the like; nothing seemed to work. Whenever he'd get sick, the first thing that would drive him nuts was something related to his nose. We just couldn't figure it out.

After we returned from Miami and Disney, he was very sick with a virus. But, oddly enough his main symptoms revolved around his nasal passages. I had a gut feeling something was up, but not having my medical degree limits me on what is mommy worrying and what is an actual something I need to be concerned about. Oh that mommy gut. It is always right!!

My godson has had tubes put in by this doctor and my OBGYN (the one who delivered my boys) had her children's tubes and tonsils removed by the very doc I decided to go with for Nash's needs. He is simply amazing.

Anyway, I took Nash in for an eval on a Tuesday and, 1 week exactly to the day, we scheduled his surgery.
A little background on the symptoms and the whys of an adenoidectomy (at least in our scenario): Nash was consistently congested and/or runny, he snored at night regardless of whether or not he was dealing with some sort of cold and I'd caught him a few times having a sleep apnea "moment". Clear cut need for an adenoidectomy.  In fact, we were told that his adenoids were 3x the size expected for a child of 3 years of age. Yikes!

Here's a few of our hospital pictures followed by a short clip of him right after he got his "funny juice". Watch his facial expression toward the end. You can tell he has trouble focusing on anything. Sorta funny.

I'm happy and thankful to say that since the surgery he's sleeping 1000x better. His snoring is gone and so are the bags under his eyes from poor sleep.

Well worth the worry. Well worth the time and money.
Thanks Dr. Mehendale!

Sometimes you just need to be reminded.

It's been a trying day with the boys. After taking them to look at 3 houses, AFTER I had to wake them up from their naps to make it to the first appointment on time, they were melting down. Or maybe it was me?

Nash had the living room a wreck. Knox was going from whine, to cry, to laugh, to complaining and it was on repeat. Dinner was on the stove. Nash was repeating "I want salsa!... I want salsa!... I want salsa!"

In one sweep, Nash went from a tolerable temperament to being punished. If you're not a spanker, don't judge me here. We are - when necessary. He was in complete meltdown over salsa. You read that right -
S-A-L-S-A. A huge indication that they were ready for bed - STAT.
I started with time out. No go. We went to taking away his want to make salsa and then we went to spanking once it all failed. Cue Knox's crying over being exhausted, drooling from his teeth, snotty from the allergies. Add trying to juggle all of that and Ty and I making dinner. I'm grateful he was here as an extra hand. So thankful.

Why I'm taking time to post tonight is because I know I'm not the only Mom who can come crashing down like a deck of cards after a crazy day. I know I'm not the only Mom who can feel guilty for just wanting the crying to stop, the whining to stop, the screaming to just stop. Every, single, time I think this my eyes well up with tears because of guilt.  You need to know you aren't alone in this. But, that it will pass... pass onto bigger kids with bigger meltdowns. Ahh... mommy-hood :)

I canNOT imagine my life without my boys. They are my life. My family is my life. And so the guilt.

Here's the crazy part of this day and why I felt like someone was trying to remind me of something:
While we were in the midst of all this chaos, Ty put his ipod on the dock and fired up the music. Something had to soothe to mood, right? A little soothing country music maybe? After hurrying through dinner we then scurried upstairs to tag-team bath and bed. Ty took Knox and I took Nash (which means I was finished with the bedtime routine first). While Ty rocked sweet Knox to sleep, I gathered two loads of wash and dragged it downstairs.

I dropped the basket in a moment of shock.

This song by Trace Adkins was playing in the background and I panned the room:
(http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/adkins-trace/youre-gonna-miss-this-23933.html)

She was staring out that window, of that SUV
Complaining, saying I can't wait to turn 18
She said I'll make my own money, and I'll make my own rules
Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
Then she kissed her head and said I was just like you

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her It's a nice place
She says It'll do for now
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and says Baby just slow down

'Cause You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
She keeps apologizin'
He says they don't bother me
I've got 2 babies of my own
One's 36, one's 23
Huh, it's hard to believe

But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna miss this
Yeah, you're gonna miss this

I walked to the kitchen counter, placed my hands on the cold granite to brace myself and stared into the distance. Why was THIS song playing when I was at my breaking point. Tears. There's that guilt again.

I glanced to the laundry hamper overflowing, the kiddie kitchen mess that I told Nash he HAD to clean up (and he didn't) and the kitchen table chair sprinkled with bits of ground beef and broccoli. sssssssiiiiigggh.

Last week my girlfriend posted as her status update the chorus from the song above and nothing else. I KNOW she feels this. I want to remember all these moments. Every single booger. Every single tiny hangnail, splinter, messed up hair, dirty finger nails. I WANT to remember, the messes, the tears, the on-repeat "Mommys" from Nash. I just want to be more patient about them. Maybe that should've been my lenten choice? Was God speaking to me today? Did I miss something at mass this morning?

Let me mention that I am grateful every day for each of my boys. I lost a baby long before Nash and Knox came along. Their lives are a treasure.

I'm working to find the beauty in it all. But I wanted to share that I am real... I am a Mommy... and I am working every day to be better, more patient, more accepting of the imperfections and more treasuring of the tiny moments; both in meltdown and in laughter.

If you've been there, I hope you find some comfort in this post.
Cheers to a bright Monday full of tears, meltdowns, laughter, and more :)

As I promised:

I did. I promised I'd post. I didn't, however, see a random curve ball post coming. This is what I LOVE about photography. I keep my camera living in my kitchen by the telephone. Design savvy? Not so much. Practical for a photog-Mommy? Yes. I can NEVER get to my camera fast enough, especially if it were tucked safely in it's padded case in the cabinet.

Well. Today, that's where it was and I ran with all my might to get it in time to capture my boys rollin' around on the floor while we made dinner. For me, it's those lazy... every day... nothing special moments that are -- in fact -- special to a Mommy. It was put away from our Miami trip and from the house being on the market.

First, let me preface by telling you that Knox is majorly working on pulling himself up. So, the fact he found Nash's "time out chair" nearby wasn't a surprise... neither was Nash's jealousy toward Mommy's "camera attention" toward Knox:

Needless to say my lens has some Nashy-love that took some elbow grease to remove. I'll take it <3

Here's what was happening prior to that:

I just love this. It's a great depiction of how they usually are together: lazy, comfortable, happy and content. 

 Can you just imagine what it's going to be like when he is actually crawling? 

Nash didn't crawl... what. am. I. going. to. do.

 So, this is Knox's new "face". He does it just about the entire day. I know it will stop and am so thrilled I snapped quick enough to get it on film. It's gonna be a keeper ;p

 He's so proud. 

It was a lovely Saturday here at Casa Chambers. I will continue to commit to my blog and work on incorporating some of my "to dos" around here. Tomorrow is mass and house hunting. Bring it! Until then... I'm going to enjoy to gin and tonic and my Mommy-tv.
G'night!