Instalife....December

Rounding out 2014 (At least as far as Instagram is concerned!)

We started day 1 of December getting up early and heading down to OHSU surgi-center for Ainsley to have her adenoid removed. In October I really started noticing that she sounded like she was snoring, even when she was awake. She woke up multiple times a night, she was tired all day. After seeing her pediatrician, she was referred to ENT for evaluation. A quick scope was done in the office and after looking in just one nostril, the doc said "See this mom, this is her airway. The adenoid is blocking the entire thing!" 2 weeks later we were scheduled for surgery. I cannot say enough good things about doing a surgery with a team that works only with children! They talked to her, even though she is only 2, and explained that she was going to use her special mask to blow up a big green balloon with the special doctor. The mask was sprayed with a flavor (watermelon and grape were the options today) so it was fun to put over her face, and then she was allowed to play with the mask for a good 45 minutes before surgery. She kept asking if she could take all of the equipment home....blood pressure cuff, pulse ox, mask, special jammies. We decided to not premedicate her as they said kids tend to wake up crankier if they had the Versed pre-procedure and it takes longer for them to wake up. She had no anxiety issues at all going back. The crib looked like a "coach" and the nurses played right along with taking her for a ride in her coach.

Sweet girl did amazing. She woke up before they left the OR and she was quite cranky, they gave her a little more medicine and then once in recovery she just wanted mommy. I held her for 30-45 minutes and we walked back to her room. She slept the entire time and the nurse told me "I'm going to go get some juice and a popsicle for you to have in here once she wakes up." And just like that, she popped her head up and asked "Do you have chocolate?" After the nurse gave us the popsicle (it was the twin pop kind) Ainsley looked at me and said "You can have the other one, I don't need 2." She was awake, she was back to herself and at 11 o'clock (surgery time was 9AM), we walked downstairs to go home. They told us in our discharge instructions to not worry if she doesn't eat much today, just make sure she drinks. She proved them wrong, ate an entire coffee shop muffin before we got home! Then had some of Aubrey's sandwich and cheese at home. If you asked if she had an ouches she would say no, its all gone (the IV was the only thing she ever said hurt her.) She had the pain medicine all of maybe 4 times total and once she woke up in the middle of the night asking specifically "I want the cough medicine from the doctor." I was definitely surprised that such a young child would notice the difference in the narcotic pain medicine.

You know you are a nurse's child when....you take home the medical equipment from the hospital and then play with it in its intended form!!! Ainsley wasn't detoured by the fact she didn't have a monitor to hook her blood pressure cuff into, she just used her mouth to pretend to inflate the cuff. Ella. Now I have to say how impressed I was watching her. During swim lessons, the very last day of each session is safety day. She has moved through the levels of swim lessons to a rather advanced level and that level includes rescue breathing with their safety day. Sorry, little bit of back story! Ella took swim lessons in July and this is the beginning of December. I look over and not only is Ella using the mask correctly, but she is counting out the correct rescue breathing!!! Makes this momma nurse so very proud!

Oh thank you internet for such simple, yet sanity saving ideas!! I had read multiple people comment about setting up 2 Christmas trees- one was mom's pretty tree with the ornaments placed JUST.SO; the other is a blank canvas for the kids. The girls strung their own lights, placed their own star, clustered ornaments here and there. In the end, we had 2 beautiful trees which wonderfully represented our family.

Quick weekend trip to Sunriver. Love spending some quality time with these girlies. We didn't get much snow to play in but it was still a fun weekend away with Grandma Marian.

"Looks like everyone made the nice list this year... I'm shocked I made the cut! Santa HQ is definitely not what a visit to Santa used to be. 🎅" Who knew that a visit to Santa could be so much fun!!

Zoolights with our neighbor friends! Ainsley, Aubrey, Keira, Erin, Ella and Ali!

5 matching dresses and a coordinating suit all made by Great Grandma Marian. Those are some seriously cute kids!! Ainsley, Aubrey holding Bailey, Kolby, Ella holding Aspen

Christmas caroling in our neighborhood then ending the evening with cookies and hot chocolate. I love this time of year!! And this was our first time caroling, but definitely not the last =)

As if the Christmas season wasn't busy enough, add in yet another tradition... Elf on the shelf. Basic concept is this, Santa sends the Elf to check on the kids before Christmas. Elf tends to create a little bit of mischief (makes snow angels in the flour, wraps Christmas tree in toilet paper, etc). Here Twixie (our elf) decided to have a little tea party with the Brownie elf.

Here's hoping that I post the rest of our Christmas fun before summer vacation!!!