FAQ's

I'm getting questions from every direction, so I'll answer some of your most pressing ones so everyone knows what's going on. You know, since I'm an expert now.

True statement. I read a blog and watched a YouTube video. Certifiable expert.

Or just certifiably crazy.

NOTE: I'm really not an expert. I'm just a parent who is soaking up as much info as I can from doctors, audiologists, therapists, the internet, other reading materials, parents on this journey before me and yes, a blog or two. And maybe YouTube. I may not have all the answers or the correct terminology. Heck, I may have completely inaccurate information. But I'm telling you what I know. Correct me if I'm wrong.

What does CI stand for?
Let's just get this out of the way and save my fingers a few extra keystrokes. CI is cochlear implant. Got it? Good.

What exactly is a CI?
No need in me recreating the wheel. See what Mr. Wikipedia says about it HERE. And here's a super scientific cartoon drawing to help you see all the parts.





How long will the surgery take?
I've been told any where from 2-4 hours. We'll pray for 2.

How long will she have to stay in the hospital?
Believe it or not, cochlear implant surgery is outpatient. Yeah. I'm shocked too! Seems like after you cut into my kid's head, you'd want to keep her around for a little while for monitoring. Oh, well. I'm no doctor. So, here's our two scenarios. If we get pushed up to 8am time slot as we are hoping and all goes well, we'll be home later that day. If we get stuck with our original 3:30pm surgery time, I've been told they may keep her overnight simply because the surgery is so late. And you know surgeries are never on time, especially that late in the day. Another reason to pray for that 8am time slot...

But this is brain surgery...
No, it's not. Yes, I do know I may have said that before in passing. I also may be a little dramatic and exaggerate things sometimes. They will be making an incision behind her ear and also using a procedure called a blind sac closure because her little ears are so tiny. (I'm in the process of trying to find out more about this...) It's a closure of the external ear canal and without it we risk things like facial paralysis and other things I don't want to talk about, so we'll just let the guys with the medical degrees do their jobs. But no, not brain surgery.

So, she'll be able to hear right when she wakes up from surgery, right?!?
No, Sam, she won't be able to. (Clearly he's not grasping this concept. It's a conversation we have on a daily basis.) She will need 2-3 weeks for everything to heal and then we will have an appointment with her audiologist to turn the implant on and get everything working. Her activation day is January 3rd!!

Ok, so she can hear everything on January 3rd?
Well, can she hear things? Yes. Will she know how to respond? No. Think of it like this...a hearing newborn doesn't always respond to sounds or your voice and most of the time just generally ignores you and any other sounds in their environment. January 3rd will be her ears birthday! They will be one day old. So, just as we wouldn't expect a newborn to listen to everything we say or talk back to us, neither will she. For quite sometime.

So when will she be able to hear us and talk back to us?
After a CI is implanted is when the real work begins. We have to teach a two year old what sound is, how to respond to it and how to use her voice to make sounds....other than the cute little kitten sounds she makes right now. I really can't honestly answer that question. It completely depends on EK and how well she responds to all this new stuff. But years of work lay ahead of us. Although I'm encouraged by her little attitude and how fast she catches on to things. Hoping that bodes well for her in the future.

Wow, how will you know how to teach her all that stuff??
Well, obviously I'm a genius. And her Daddy's pretty smart too. We did graduate from THE University of Alabama. (Roll Tide.) But she will also continue in a program called First Steps, Kentucky's early intervention program. (Remember...where I used to work as a Service Coordinator??) She is currently seeing a Teacher of the Deaf and a speech therapist (will be moving our focus from feeding to speaking). All that will continue and we also hope to start a play group at Heuser Hearing Institute in January, which is where our audiologist is and also a pretty awesome school for kids who are deaf or have hearing loss. All these fantastic people will obviously be telling me what to do to help us achieve our goals of hearing, responding and using speech.

Why do you have so many appointments with the audiologist?
Well, for one...we like Dr. Katie. And she jumped way up on my scale of favorite people when she agreed to come in on December 16th to do EK's surgery, even though she had planned to take the day off to recover from the Justin Timberlake concert. And who doesn't like a little JT?? (Honestly, I haven't followed him since his NSYNC days, but I hear he's quite the character.) And the actual reason...we will be doing something called mapping. It's explained HERE, but in short, it's what we will do to make sure EK is hearing the best she can with her CI. And it will also ease her into hearing, gradually being turned up as she can tolerate the sound. Imagine not hearing anything for 26 months, then one day BAM...you hear everything!! I'd imagine it will be a little overwhelming, so we'll ease her into it.

What's that thing on her head? I thought it was on the inside.
Well, there is an internal piece to the CI. Hence the "implant" part of that. But on the outside, she will wear a processor, which is the part behind her ear (similar to her hearing aids). Attached to that is a transmitter that sticks to the outside of her head pretty much like a magnet. Well, because it is a magnet. Yes, my daughter will be a giant magnet now. Without the processor, she won't be able to hear. The external piece is the key to her actually hearing. So, if you see her with it off, holding it in her hand, chewing on it, stepping on it, giving it to a friend, shoving it into some random toy, smearing poop on it...any number of things you might expect out of a toddler...please let me know. ASAP. It's kinda important. And not at all cheap to replace.

Speaking of hearing aides, why has she only been wearing one??
Let's just say "we" permanently misplaced the left one. This house, the van, the car seat, etc has been searched and researched, turned upside down and inside out. No hearing aid. And no fingers pointed. I think it is probably at the soccer field, crushed into a million pieces by little people cleats. But that's just my two cents worth. Which is why I'm terrified of losing the CI. TERRIFIED. I may just glue it to her head. Joking. Sorta...

Does she know sign language?
Similar to a child learning spoken words, EK knows a lot more signs than she can actually do. Honestly, she signs "more" for just about everything, no matter what she wants. Except bath. She's got that one down pat too. I've gotten a vague "all done" and "water" a few times, but that's about the extent of her "words". She also knows milk, eat, no, thank you, sit down, hearing aid, Mommy, Daddy, dance, socks and shoes, but she doesn't do the signs herself. Working on upstairs and downstairs. I think she's getting the hang of downstairs because she looks towards the baby gate now when I ask if she wants to go down. We'll continue to use signs even as we incorporate spoken words. Her latest "tricks" include giving high fives, giving "knucks" and giving kisses...but only if she's in the right mood.

Unfortunately, we have reached the point now where her lack of language is frustrating her. And me. Lots of crying and whining and more crying when a simple word or sign would fix the problem. I have to remind myself on a very regular basis that this is the only way she knows to communicate with us. How else do I expect her to get my attention when I'm doing something else? How can I expect her to let me know she'd like some mac 'n cheese when she can't even sign "eat"? We are on a huge learning curve right now, so be patient with both of us. She may cry to when all she really wants is for you to play with her...and I may very well use sign language to talk to your dog. Or your hearing child. Both true stories.

Ok, information overload.

Go process it and let me know if you have a question I didn't answer. I'll try to find the answer.

Let the countdown continue...T minus 20 days until surgery!

Hambone.

Sam.

Oh, Sam.

I've yet to figure out how I can be doubled over in laughter one minute. And be so completely frustrated with someone the next.

But so is life with Sam.

He is hilarious.




Completely literal. About everything....I'm sorry, I know I said we would eat dinner in a minute, but what I actually meant was 30 minutes. Please go away.

Comes up with the wildest stories to explain why things happen. Like why both his sweatshirts ended up at school when he clearly only took one...he was seriously considering my theory that sweatshirt #2 walked itself all the way to school from Spencer County... Or the logistics of how you lose two belts in the span of a week and a half when he swears he never even took them off.

Loves Alabama Football, Diners, Driver Ins & Dives and anything electronic.

Adores his Daddy and his little sister. And will use both to get around anything I've asked him to do. Because he knows I can't argue with him stopping to give hugs and kisses.




Never (EVER!) misses a meal or snack opportunity. (If he does say he doesn't want to eat, he's about to throw up. Guaranteed.) And will stand beside you, tongue hanging out and drooling, if he is done with his meal and you are still eating. As if we totally forgot to feed him. (See above. Also does this while watching Triple D.) His favorite part of school is lunch time. Seriously. Don't joke about missing meals. It's one of the few things that will make him cry.

Plays soccer, but doesn't like to play goalie and would rather watch Charlie play, than play himself.

Cannot follow multi-step directions unless he's playing a video game. "Sam, go put your school stuff up and change into soccer clothes." And I find him 10 minutes later in the hallway naked, with the exception of socks and shin guards, licking his open lunchbox for spare crumbs and sitting on his homework folder. Because he has long since forgotten what the task at hand was.

Drives me nuts with his endless questions about things he already knows the answer to and nonsense statements. If he says something, regardless of whether it warrants a response or not, he will repeat it....over and over and over and over. Until you have acknowledge he has spoken. For example, right now he's giving me a play by play of what EK is doing. I'm counting and he's said the same statement 11 times now. Eleven. All is have to do to stop it is say, "Ok." But it's funnier to see how long this will last...




Doesn't know how to play. We are working on this, but ask him to just go find a toy and play and he can't. Never has been one to play independently with a toy. Now, you want to wrestle? Or go ride bikes or jump on the trampoline? Or play a video game of some sort? Then you are golden! But send him to the playroom to find something to do by himself and you'll find him laying face down on the floor rolling a marble around. And usually asking when the next meal/snack will be.

His catch phrase..."Wha you said?" never fails to make me smile. Translated to be, "I'm sorry. I wasn't listening. What did you say?" It usually follows almost anything I've said because he never hears something the first time. I chalk it up to being a 6-year-old boy and paying zero attention to his surroundings. Unless food is involved. But that simple question is known by all who know Sam. Just be prepared to repeat yourself.

Is so stinking smart. But does things like wear his pj's to school under his uniform...simply because he forgot to take them off.

So now you can see why parenting Sam makes us laugh. And makes us scream. All at the same time.

We are almost halfway through 1st grade and he's rocking it with straight A's!! And only a few warnings for talking. No color changes. He's very proud of that!

I'm shocked each week when I get his Monday packet of work from the previous week....this kid is smart!! But has horrible doctor-like handwriting.

SAM STATS: 6 years old & 1st grade
Weight: 58.6 lbs
Height: 53 inches (he's seriously as tall as some of the kids in Charlie's 4th grade class)
Shoe size: 3.5
Shirt: 8, but also wearing 10/12's
Pants: 10

Love my middle child and all his quirky-ness.

Sambone Hambone.

Confirmed!

One huge step in the right direction... We are confirmed for surgery on December 16th!! Dr. Katie (bless her heart, I love her!!) is coming in on her day off to play a huge part in helping my baby hear. We see her tomorrow for our Cochlear Implant Evaluation and I may just hug her!

Now, continued prayers for moving that surgery time to 8am. I haven't updated you guys recently on our food issues with EK, but let's just say she puts as much importance on food as my boys do. And if you know the boys, you know that will be a long, hard day with no food! Food is important stuff around here!!

Just cause she's cute...



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What's about to happen.

I can apologize again for the lack of posts....but it still won't make me post more.

None the less, here we are, the middle of November. WHAT??!!

I can try to update you on the going-ons of the Cooks in another post (if you are lucky), but right now I've got a little bit of big news about those ears attached to the princess who lives here.

Last week we saw the surgeon for a follow up to her tubes that were placed back in October. And also to talk about the fact that the tubes hadn't really made any significant increase in her hearing. (I'm gonna glaze over that fact that the visit to the doctor's office was a FOUR hour ordeal. It's too fresh. I can't talk about it yet...)

As I eluded to in the previous post, it appeared the only option left, should we choose, would be to do a cochlear implant.

Know that lots of prayer and discussing and worrying (maybe just from Mommy) has gone into this, but our sweet Ellie Kate is scheduled for a cochlear implant on December 16th.

I know. Wow.

I'm a little past the being-overwhelmed-with-it part. Although, I'm sure that feeling will return before it's all over with.

Here's what you can pray for now:

1. Apparently there has to be an audiologist there during the surgery. Duh. Honestly I hadn't given that much thought until today. And EK's audiologist has December 16th off. Not conducive to doing surgery. They have submitted a request for her to come in and do EK's surgery, but right now we wait to see what she says. If she can't come in, surgery would be pushed off until Janurary. And the biggest bummer about that is we have met our deductible for the year already. Would be mighty nice to at least get the surgery done in 2013. Mighty nice. While I hate to ask someone to change plans just for us, it's kinda a big deal in my little world. So prayers for Dr. Katie to decide to come to work on December 16th!

2. As of right now, they have EK scheduled for 3:30pm surgery. Yeah. 3:30 PM. You know what that means. Somebody is at home all day with a toddler that is awake and can't eat. Totally not cool. They have already asked for a "push up" to 8am, but we likely won't know if they have granted that request until the day before. If we get left at our original 3:30pm time, we may spend all day in the bath tub. Because that is where she is the happiest and most occupied. Only way I could think to legally (pretend I didn't say that) get through the day with a starving kid. Prayers for an 8am surgery time!

3. And of course, prayers for a successful surgery. Wisdom for the doctors who are having to do things a little differently than normal because of her extremely tiny ears. Technology to work. Anesthesia to do its job. And calm nerves for a nervous mommy. I mean, you are cutting into my child's skull!! I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to feel like I may puke all over the place.

I watched a story earlier this week about a teen from China who was deaf. He made the comment that deaf people aren't "wanted" in China. I know that unfortunately that's how many cases are, but having a child who is deaf made that statement hit home. Made me wonder where she would have been at age 14 when she aged out of the system, a deaf teen, who no one wanted. Made me feel like I may puke all over the place. Again.

I'm so incredibly thankful we've been given this precious child to be Mommy & Daddy to for this time. She has turned our lives upside down, makes us smile and laugh out loud almost constantly and is teaching us new things every day. I mean, who knew I'd be teaching myself sign language at the ripe 'ol age of...over 30...

More details before surgery date.

Just know my brain is officially consumed with December 16th right now.

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More about those ears.

Today we spent our third (and hopefully final for a few weeks) Monday at the lovely Kosair Children's Hospital doing testing on sweet EK.

Last Monday was tubes and a little investigating to see how those ears looked on the inside. From an anatomy stand point, they look great. Everything that should be there, is there. And the things like the fluid and puss from 20 months of untreated ear infections that shouldn't be there, are now gone. Yes, puss. Gross, I know. The surgeon said there was a ton of it. And if I had to make an uneducated guess, I'd say that she never had a treated ear infection while living at the orphanage.

And before you jump the gun and start pointing fingers, no, her having multiple untreated ear infections didn't cause her to go deaf. I already asked. It didn't help her case, but certainly wasn't the cause.

She bounced back from the tubes pretty fast and was her normal chipper self after a 4 hour nap.

Today we repeated her sedated ABR (fancy word for hearing test while you are asleep) that was first done back in August. We knew we'd have to repeat it bc she had so much fluid (er, puss) that they weren't able to get good results from the first test.

Once again, she handled the not eating, the being poked and prodded, being stuck, the being wrapped up like a tiny burrito, the sedation all like a champ. It doesn't hurt that all the nurses and staff think she is the "most precious thing in the whole wide world" (said in a sing-songy-squeezing-your-cheeks kinda voice).

The hope today was that with the tubes and all that junk being gone from her ears, it might give her a boost in what she can hear with the hearing aids. I wasn't really holding my breath since I hadn't really seen any indication last week that she was hearing anything more than before. Please don't read that as a lack of faith. God could restore her hearing any 'ol time He chooses. Just like He can keep her deaf. I just hadn't noticed any huge changes.

And once the results were in, there wasn't really any substantial changes. Left ear stayed the same. They did get a response a little higher this time in the right ear, but it still falls in the severe to profound hearing loss range.

What is the next step?

Well, we go back next week to have her hearing aids reprogrammed to compensate for any changes after the tubes. And we return to the surgeon the first of November for a check on those tubes and to discuss our next options.

I think I know the fork in the road we are coming up on and while it excites me for her, it terrifies me as well. To make a choice to give her ears to hear and a voice to talk is a huge deal.

But a post on cochlear implants will be another topic for another day.

Possibly in the very near future.

Right now she's playing in the tub, biting the tail off a mermaid while attempting to wash her hair. Very unsuccessfully, I might add. As I dodge splashes and blog from my perch on the toilet. Seat down, of course.

Carry on, little one.

Your world as you know it may soon be completely different.


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Two.

Today our sweet baby girl turns 2.

I can't help but mourn the 20 months of her life we missed, but whole heartily celebrate the 4 we have had with her.

Well, 3 months, 2 weeks and 1 day.

We've gone from being totally bottle fed to tolerating some solid foods (still working on that).  Barely moving at all to walking (almost running!) all over the place.  From no communication to following signs.  And imitating a few.  From a scrawny 13 lbs to almost 17.

She has grafted into our family almost perfectly.  Almost as if that was God's plan from the beginning.

Go figure.

She is funny.  She is feisty.  She has attitude.  She is tiny.  If it wasn't for the mouth full of teeth and the reasoning skills of a two-year-old, I might would think they were wrong about her age and should be turning just 1.  She is so stinkin' smart!

She has melted my two big boys into "Super Brothers" who are totally wrapped around their little sister's finger.  And the Daddy...well, let's just say he's pretty wrapped, too.  And completely in love.

I'm pretty smitten, as well.

I love how she wiggles her tongue when she laughs with her mouth wide open. 

I love how she cocks her head to one side and shakes her whole body when she is trying to get your attention. 

I love her attempt at signing with us, especially when she tries to tell me "no"! 

I love the way she sticks her little foot in the air when you come any where near her with a shoe....whether it's hers or not. 

I love how she tucks her little arm around me like a newborn when she is taking a bottle, to make sure she is as close to me as she can get. 

I love how she loves pasta and just simply tolerates veggies.

I love how she uses her tiny little finger to try to poke her hearing aid back in when it falls out.

I love how she stands at my feet, begging for puffs, while I cook dinner.

I love how just making eye contact with her can elicit the biggest smile ever.

I love how she brings me things she knows she's not supposed to be playing with.

I love how she loves ribbons, strings, bags, boxes, empty Mt. Dew bottles and any stuffed animal she can hug. 

I love how she gets to giggling at herself for no good reason.

I love how she loves to play "chase" with big brothers.

I love how she covers up her little face with her hands when she gets upset.  And then how she reaches for me to make it better. 

I love how she makes a little sound like a kitten when she is trying to tell you something important.

I love how she likes to play peek-a-boo anywhere, anytime.

I love how she looks at me when she hears something for the first time.

I love how she looks at me before she tries anything new.  And I especially love when she looks at me before she does something she knows she shouldn't.  As if to say, "Whatcha gonna do 'bout it?"

I just love her.

Ok, I'll stop.  You're all entitled to your opinions, but my kid is cuter than yours. 

Hands down.

Not too keen on the cupcake.  But she warmed up...

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ellie Kate!!!

A week in review.

We've had quite the adventurous week.

Well, adventurous in the life of a 23-month-old and her chauffeur mommy.

Let's go back to Monday.  Mainly because the tears of that 23-month-old MADE. MY. DAY.

Before you accuse me of being totally void of compassion (almost, but not completely), let me explain.  We went to Bellarmine University to help out this years current crop of budding Physical Therapists in their lab.  They needed kiddos to evaluate.  I have kiddo.  Match.

She did great letting them play with her and watching them attempt to get her to do things was entertaining to say the least.  And in her typical style, she would do her thing while checking back over her shoulder every few minutes to make sure Mommy was still there.  Until they got a little too far away from Mommy and I got out of her line of sight. 

And she lost it.  Lost it.

Heart wrenching, hysterical cry.  With no notice.

She couldn't see me.  Thought I was gone.  The security of a Mommy that she had come to know over the last two and half months wasn't there.  And she let the whole room know about it.

But then we locked eyes.  She saw me.  Realized I wasn't gone.

That outburst only lasted a few seconds.  And the students apologized profusely.  They didn't understand, but I told them it was totally fine. 

And at that point, any fears I had about her being attached to me flew right out the window.  She knows who her Mommy is.  And she needs me.

Like I said...made my day.

Now, moving on...

On Wednesday, we saw a neurotologist, which is basically a supped up ENT.  (Forgive me if that is wrong.  I'm not trying to downgrade anyone's profession.  Just trying to explain in normal people terms.)  After a fairly extended time in the tiny waiting room, the lady beside me leaned over and told me she waited 3 hours the last time she was here to see him.  We were pushing 2 hours at that point (yep, in a waiting room the size of a large closet with a nap-deprived toddler) and all I could think was that he better be pretty darn good at what he did if I was gonna have to wait that long.  Fortunately, EK had been entertaining the population of the room.  You know, because she's just so stinkin' cute.

We finally saw the doctor and decided that our next steps will be to place tubes in EK's ears since she seems to have fluid in there every time we do any kind of hearing test.  And with the fluid, they aren't getting a true picture of what her hearing is.  Or isn't, really.

A week after the tubes, we will repeat that sedated ABR that we've already done once and will hopefully move forward from there with a plan of action. 

The good news is her MRI and CT scan looked great and she has all the physical parts of the ear that you need.  They just don't play nice together and work.  Which is why she can't hear.

And I did like the doctor.  Which was fortunate for him after waiting almost 3 hours.  EK didn't care for him.  Mainly because he woke her up by sticking stuff in her ears and who wouldn't be pissed off to be woken up in such a manner??

Friday brought us another trip to Heuser Hearing Institute to see the audiologist and get fitted with loaner hearing aids. 

I should provide some further explanation here.  Everyone thinks she can hear everything now with the hearing aids.  Including her brother Charlie, who follows her around asking her if she can hear him..............

While she can't hear Charlie, she can hear really (really) loud noises. 

After really ticking her off by sticking more things in her ears, we took her, her hearing aids and her fancy little kitty clip to keep us from losing said hearing aids to the sound booth to see how she would respond.  We got some responses around 70-80dB, which would be something as loud as a lawnmower or a piano.  Her hearing without the hearing aids is between 100-110dB, which means she can't hear a train or a chain saw.

"Are you gonna buckle me in??  If not, I'm sittin' up front with you!"

So, the question I've gotten the most after seeing her with the hearing aids and making the discovery that she can't hear us talk with them, is why?  Why have here wear them when she can't hear us?

It's simple, really.  By exposing her to noise, we are teaching her brain to listen.  We are helping her to realize what that strange sensation that has just hit her senses actually is.  And how to respond to it.  It's just a step in the process to help her make up for 23 months of no sounds.

We haven't noticed a whole lot of reaction yet.  Today at Charlie's soccer game, there was a sudden cheer and clapping session after a goal and she definitely perked up and looked around as if something was going on.  Same thing happened this afternoon when I took her outside while Daddy and the neighbor were mowing their respective lawns.  A look of interest and confusion crossed her face and she got really still.  Something was going on.  She just didn't know what.

She climbed up there by herself.  And was quite impressed with herself!

And I completely expected to spend my days  putting the hearing aids back in her tiny ears over and over and over and over.....  (Which by the way, is terribly difficult to do with only one functioning thumb.  I sliced one of mine up pretty good last week.  Looks like chewed up meat.  No worries...they glued it back together.  Because it was too jagged to use stitches.  You're welcome for the mental picture.)

She has actually left them alone for the most part.  She redirects pretty easily if you tell her "no" to something.  So after a few "no's" and a few tears on her part (she cries a really pitiful cry when you tell her no), she really hasn't bothered them.  HUGE answer to prayer.  With the exception of nap time, she has had them on almost all day today.  Oh, and dinner time.  Things were getting a little out of hand.  And I wasn't sure how a hearing aid would tolerate smeared broccoli chicken casserole, so we quickly got them out of harm's way.

So, a quick recap...

1.  EK loves her Mommy. 
2.  Tubes put in on October 7.  ABR repeated on October 14.
3.  We like the slow doctor.
4.  Hearing aids staying in the ears.  Yay.
5.  You need both thumbs to put hearing aids in tiny ears.

"I'm just gonna read this book while these other folks watch the Bama game.  Please excuse the path of destruction behind me."

Multitasking is no longer in my vocabulary.

I love to multitask.  I used to be good at it. 

Although I've found as I've aged (I'm older than I look) that my multitasking skills are a little more ADD than normal. 

I can start a task, only to start another task, only to be interrupted by a child who has lost a lego or pooped their pants or needs to play a game of "Go Fish"...and then I forgot what I was doing.  See how that works?  Instant aging.  Multitasking skills to pot.

Last Friday night, Kenny took the big boys to soccer practice, leaving me with a few hours in the evening to knock out some chores with my little sidekick.  Laundry and cleaning the bathroom.  That was my goal for the evening.  (And a little playtime, but that's understood.)

Please don't be jealous that this is what I do on a Friday night.  I can barely stand the excitement myself.

While I was cleaning up from dinner, I had the brilliant idea to put EK in the tub while I cleaned the rest of the bathroom.  She loves playing in the water!  Entertains her for hours.  I only need a good 15 minutes to clean the rest of the bathroom, including mopping the floor...perfect plan.

Here's a run down of how the next 2 hours went:

• Collect cleaning supplies in the bathroom so I'm ready and can be efficient as possible with my time.
• Fetch dirty child from food crusted highchair.  You know, the food she was just playing with, not actually eating.
• Get dirty child situated with toys in tub.
• Begin cleaning.
• Remind EK with gentle tone and a sign to sit on her bottom in the tub.
• Receive phone call.
• Wreck on the way to soccer practice has road closed.  Boo.
• Remind EK with gentle tone and a sign to sit on her bottom in the tub.
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Receive phone call.
• Another wreck on alternate route has this road also closed. 
• Give Kenny directions for 3rd and only other alternate route to soccer fields.
• Physically sit EK down in the tub from her standing position.
• Text coaches wife to let her know boys will be late to practice.
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Use Mommy eyes to tell EK to sit on her bottom in the tub.
• Receive phone call.
• Coach needs to know what size jersey Sam registered for. 
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Fetch rubber ducky that has been tossed out of the tub.
• Receive phone call.
• Coach gave Sam's jersey to wrong kid.  Confirm size.
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Remind EK to sit on her bottom in the tub.
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Watch as EK pours entire cup of water onto the bathroom floor.
• Fetch towel.  Dry floor.
• Wonder if I will actually get bathroom cleaned before rest of family returns home.
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Comfort crying child who bumped her head because she slipped.  While standing in the tub.
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Rescue mermaid toy and starfish who narrowly missed a swim in the toilet.  Toddler has good aim.
• Wish it was bedtime.  For mommy.
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Wonder if I already cleaned the sink...  Because I can't remember.
• While contiplating sink cleanliness, toddler pours another cup of water on bathroom floor.
• Leave toddler alone in tub while fetching more towels.  Bad mommy.  Dry floor.
• Sit on bathroom floor and wonder if two full cups of water on half the bathroom floor count as mopping.  They were big cups of water...
• Return to bathroom cleaning.
• Catch toddler as she prepares to pour another cup of water on the floor.
• Decides it's time for toddler to have bath and get out.
• Realize no laundry has been done.  And now another load of wet towels has been created.
• Bathe slippery toddler who is mad her toys are gone.
• Diaper, lotion and clothe mad toddler.
• Mentally decide bathroom floor is probably clean enough.
• Bottle, rock and put toddler to bed.
• Return to bathroom, observing what's been cleaned.  Only the sink.
• Finish cleaning bathroom.  Minus the floor.  It looks fine.
• Decide a stout drink is necessary.  No Mt Dew.  A glass of chocolate milk will do.
• Welcome home dirty soccer players.  And all their dirty laundy.
• Watch as semi-clean bathroom returns to state of filth via yucky little boys.
• Make mental note to only clean bathroom at midnight while children are sleeping.  Then I know it will at least stay clean for roughly 6 hours.

At this point the bathroom had barely been cleaned, no laundry had been completed, but two more loads created and I just discovered the crusty highchair from dinner that I was going to clean right after I finished in the bathroom.

Two hours ago.

But now I've decided that my multitasking skills are only suffering because of the people that live here.  Not me.  It's clearly not my fault. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm writing my to-do list for tomorrow that I'm planning to only do a third of.

Just setting realistic goals, folks.

A gotcha day to remember.

Four years ago today we met the boys for the first time. You've heard the delayed-I'm-gonna-hop-on-a-goat-if-someone-doesn't-take-me-to-my-boys-fast story, so we'll go at it from another direction today.

After getting the boys back to our guest house on August 24, 2009, we played for a while and enjoyed our first dinner as four until the time came for baths.

It had been a long day, but we had two dirty, smelly little boys and I couldn't wait to clean them up, get them smelling yummy, in fresh pj's and snuggle up as we spent our first night together.

Ha. A lofty goal for this first time mom of kids who had a way different daily routine.

First came Sam. Remember, he's about two and half at this point. And has pretty much just gone along with anything we say...as long as we had food to offer. Oh, how that was a precursor of days to come...

He willingly hopped in the tub and began happily playing with a few cups and other toys in the tub. After about 5 minutes of fun, Sam gave us a little surprise. He pooped.

In the tub.

Let's reference our recent poop adventures....it wasn't giardia poop, but it definitely wasn't solid-easy-to-clean-from-a-tub poop.

I don't remember all the details that follow, probably because I've sub-consciously removed them from memory, but Sam did get a bath that night. In a clean tub.

I do know I went downstairs to the front desk of the Guest House we were staying in to see if I could get some cleaning supplies. I didn't want them to have to clean the poopy tub. What I underestimated was our severe language barrier when you are trying to get something anti-bacterial to clean a bathtub in the middle of Addis Abba, Ethiopia.

It's nearly impossible.

I ended up with a mop. That's the best thing we could come to that we both understood.

I do remember Kenny just shaking his head at me when I returned to the room with a mop. I offered to let him go to the front desk and see if he could do any better, but he couldn't stop laughing at me.

A mop. To clean a poopy tub.

I don't think I even used it. But I did use a complete container of Clorox wipes and was so thankful I had packed them. I'll leave the rest of the details of poop removal to your imagination. Just know it all went away.

Charlie (aka Nuredin, at the time) was carefully watching all of this. And when I called his name and motioned to the bathroom, he was quick to put his little finger up and give it a quick little shake and he said, "No...No, no."

And can you blame him?? After the hour adventure that he had just watched his little brother go through, he was not about to agree to what these crazy Americans were calling a "bath"!

We did eventually coerce him into the shower and with a little help from Daddy, he realized that his bath looked way different than Sam's. And fortunately agreed to repeat it again the next night....although still a little apprehensive about the whole thing...



This is Sam's "holy crap on a cracker" look. You know, seeing how his evening had gone...

He told me later once we had a little English under our belts that we took way too many showers. He only had to take one once a week, maybe less at the orphanage. I'm all for preserving culture, but that habit was one that had to increase!

I'm thankful for my first night of parenthood, although I will always remember it as the night Sam had diarrhea in the bathtub.

Welcome to motherhood, Mommy!!

And thankful for the two little fellas that made me Mommy! You've permanently changed our lives forever...for the better! And although I know the situation that made you mine wasn't the best, I know it was all part of God's plan for Nuredin & Edasso Tuna to one day be Charlie & Sam Cook. You've changed numerous lives all around you, you've helped countless people see that love has no boundaries and you've increased the faith of many as they saw God make possible the impossible.

You are rock stars! My mini (or not so mini) rock stars.

Happy GOTCHA Day, Chuck & Hambone!!

Little ears.

As I type this, little chicken wing is fast asleep in a hospital room behind me having an ABR. She has already had a CT scan and a MRI earlier today. All while sedated.

So, a synopsis of the last 24 hours...I kept her up super late playing in the tub so that she would sleep super late this morning. We weren't scheduled to come to Kosair until 11:30am, which meant no food after 5:30am. Not a good scenario for my very scheduled eater. She got a huge bottle beefed up with cereal at 5:30 and slept til 10:15am. I got her up and whisked her straight to the car. It took her about 5 minutes to figure out I wasn't getting her a bottle and she lost it. LOST it. I feel her pain. I don't like to miss meals either. And I actually eat food that tastes good.

They were able to get her back pretty fast once we got here. Of course, the screaming baby may have motivated them to move a little faster than normal. All was going well, they had given her a shot of silly meds in her little nose, so I had drunk baby on my hands, when the MRI tech informed us that the order from the doctor didn't specify a body part. Really?? And while we all knew what needed to be MRI'd, that's not something they can just take my word on.

That nurse lady thinks she's putting these cords on me, but she's got another thing coming...

So a call to the pediatrician. Oh, they are closed because its lunch time. Fantastic. Let's try the insurance company to see what had been pre-certified. But I had to call to give them permission to talk to the hospital....and off the nurse took with my phone to let them talk to the appropriate people. All while drunkard is getting the floppies and is being hilarious because she is just grinning ear to ear. In between falling over. She refused to lay down. Because that would have been too easy.

At least she had forgotten that she was mad at me for not feeding her.  And I got a few cuddles in.

---------------------------

Tests are done now and EK did well in the aftermath.  Fortunately, no adverse effects from anesthesia.  Instead she sucked down two bottles and decided tonight would be the night she ate some actual solid food.  We watched in awe as she crammed bread and scrambled eggs in her mouth faster than she could chew them up!!  Remember, this is the kid who barely tolerated stage 1 baby food a few weeks ago.  And that was just a fluke!  I'm wondering if starving her this morning was what helped or if she had lingering effects from being knocked out most of the day and she really had no idea what she was doing.  We'll see in the morning, because I'm trying those eggs again!

I should probably rewind a bit and fill you in on why we were at the hospital in the first place.  I know...if I would blog on a regular basis, you would know.  This ain't China, folks.  The people that live here demand my attention.  A lot.

We had a fairly easy well-child check right after returning home.  She got caught up on her immunizations.  And we got caught up on why she was pooping so much... 

We followed that with a visit to Heuser Hearing Institute to see a pediatric audiologist the end of July.  That visit revealed a no response sound booth hearing test (which we expected) and while we had her good and ticked off, we made molds for hearing aids, should we decide those will benefit her in the future.  This required three people holding down 15 pounds of mad while we got this nice, not-at-all-messy, pink goo in her ears and waited patiently for it to dry.  Between the hearing test and the molds, I felt like I had been wrestling a wet pig by the time the appointment was over.  I was pooped.  And she passed out in the car almost immediately.

But we left that appointment with a little more information and a better understanding of what will happen over the next several months.

Which leads us to today.  They sedated her and completed a MRI, CT scan and ABR all at one time.  My elementary understanding of it all:  the MRI was to check for the presence of an auditory nerve, the CT scan was to look at the physical anatomy/structure of her ear and the ABR is just a more precise hearing test.  You know, since a fighting mad 21-month-old with little doo-hickeys stuck in her ears isn't exactly the easiest way to determine the level of hearing that she may have...

Yes.  Doo-hickeys.

The only results we got today were another no response test.  But there is also still fluid on her ears (same as the test in July, even after a round of antibiotics).  The audiologist told me we will probably have to repeat the test since the fluid doesn't allow them to get full results, but we will wait until after our appointment in September with Dr. Gadre (oto-neuro-ENT-surgeon-guy...That's his official title.  Look it up.) to see what the plan of action there may be.  And we also follow up with the audiologist at Heuser that same week.

I'm done here.  Let's go home.

All this testing is really to give us a better idea of what her level of hearing is....if there is any...and what's going on inside those tiny little ears of hers.  And to see what types of treatment options may benefit her best.  Will hearing aids help her?  Is she potentially a candidate for a cochlear implant?  Do we need to focus more on learning sign as a way to communicate with her?

Honestly, I can tell you what I think.  She is perfect.  Complete.  Whole.  Just the way God intended her to be.  She's not broken.  She's not disabled.  She's not handicapped. 

She is mine.  And I love her just the way she is.

If there are options to help her hear and communicate and we feel that's the best path to pursue for her, we will.  If she will never hear any more that she does now and we use 100% sign to communicate with her, then fantastic.

Just keep praying with us that the Lord will guide us as we make decisions that will affect her for the rest of her life...

In the mean time, we are also having an OT work with her soon to help us get past our feeding issues.  Although, if we keep cramming scrambled eggs in our mouth, that may not be necessary.  And she will also have a Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing working with her.  All these folks are from my former First Steps stomping grounds.  And while it's odd being on this side of things as the parent, it gives me a little more perspective on what we put parents through.  But also thankful for the expertise of others.  Because I don't know everything. 

But don't tell Ellie Kate.  She doesn't know yet.

My apologies. I've been busy.

I know, I know. I'm behind.

What can I say? Jumping to 3 kids has been an adjustment. (And those of you with 15 kids can laugh at me. Go ahead.)

Of course, adding one that makes as much laundry as the 4 of us previously did doesn't help things. My one kid poops as much as 15 kids combined. Does that count?

Here's a run down of the last few weeks....

Multiple doctor appointments. And various other appointments. I'll elaborate further with this later. Just know it's happening.

Kids Camp. Each year, we take our 3rd-6th graders from church to camp with all the church staff. It's always a highlight of the summer for the kids! And an exhausting 3 days. (Really just 49 hours. But who's counting, right??) Earlier in the summer, I was fairly certain I might be in China during Kids Camp. Instead EK just joined me and all the big kids in all our campy fun! She was a hit with all the girls as they ooooo'd and ahhhhh'd over her the whole time! EK enjoyed all the attention, Charlie had fun being a stinky boy and not taking showers and Sam got to spend a few days playing with different buddies.

We took our annual summer trip to Bama. You know, the one that is usually about 2 weeks long. But since we went to China, we just squeezed in 3 days of fun the last week of summer. (And our KY buddies Nicole, Grace and Emma joined us.) A brief synopsis: EK has no fear, which she showed us by crawling herself right out into a wave pool without a second look back. And she has now been introduced to all grandparents and several great grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Sam cannot be trusted to sleep in a room with multiple kids without waking up at least half of them at 3am. And Charlie is now taller than his grandmother and only has about a quarter of an inch (and that's generous) to catch up to me. And traveling in a car with five kids under 12 is always an adventure. Always. And a tad bit smelly.

 

Don't worry. I don't let Charlie leave the house looking like this. For fear of his life. But this is his preferred "ninja" look these days.

Visits from various family members. Cousin camp, visits to meet EK and visits because we just happen to be a good stop between Birmingham and Indianapolis. Either way, it's been good to spend time with everyone and hang out around home.

Note: I did a much better job staying put for a while ("cocooning"...for those of you familiar) when the boys came home, but I have found that a harder task this time around with big kids. Although we continue to to provide for all her needs, etc we have done more than I anticipated. She's such an easy going, rollin' with the punches baby!

I'm updating more as we speak...type...whatever...

So stay tuned. I'm serious this time!!

News from both ends of the world.

Well, in case anyone is wondering....poop still abounds.

Thanks for asking.

I'm certain it's never ending. Although I'm getting really good at catching it before it escapes. Except for the incident this afternoon, but we won't talk about that...

Also went down a diaper size to help contain it. That puts her wearing a size 1 diaper in case you are wondering. Yes, she will be 2 in October.

Explains why she's been dubbed Tiny Chiny Hiney.

Just a little term of endearment.

In news on the other end of things, we have struggled with taking anything other than a bottle from the beginning. As in, it just wasn't happing. After 21 months of nothing but a bottle, she has no interest in real food, raking anything I put in, right back out just as fast as it went in. Although, sister obviously has no idea what she is missing.

We've played with spaghetti noodles, torn pancakes into a million tiny pieces, finger painted with baby food, played with our spoons, tried different sippy cups and bottles....and finally, at the cheering and excitement of two big brothers and a cousin, we got some bites of pear baby food in without a total meltdown. She even opened her mouth for me!

Then we tried these. But they weren't quite as good.






And washed it all down with this. I was thrilled she let me actually put the cup in her mouth, but just don't quite have the sucking thing down yet.



Now, don't take this to mean she's moved on to hamburgers and pizza just yet. We tried again this morning, with some success, but she definitely let me know when she was done.

We'll keep trying. And hopefully she'll keep liking.

Here's some more pictures. Well, just cause she's cute...












(As you can see, bath time is going a little better too. I think she just resigned herself to multiple baths a day...no sense in screaming about it when you can get fun toys to play with and fling water all over the bathroom for Mom to clean up...)

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The G word.

Note: This post is about poop. If you are offended, please close your browser now. I make no apologies. This is a blog about my family. We fart and poop and sometimes we talk about it. That's just how we roll.

While I am not an advocate for curse words, nor do we use them in our house, this past week I have discovered one I wasn't aware existed.

Giardia.

Being immersed 3 kids deep in the adoption world, I had heard of this nasty little parasite called giardia, but fortunately have never had personal experience with it. Until now.

Let me explain giardia in very scientific terms...

Ellie Kate takes bottle. Several hours later Ellie Kate poops. Poop runs down legs if standing or up torso if I am lucky enough that she is standing on her head during said incidence.


Charlie and Sam make dramatic gagging noises and act as if they may throw up, which is where I threaten to make them clean it up themselves if they even think about it. Ellie Kate requires full wardrobe change. Ellie Kate fights full wardrobe change. Poop gets on the wall, on the floor, on the bed, on our toys, in our hair, in our ears, between our fingers, under our arms...pretty much anything within a 3 mile radius. For more examples...the highchair, car seat, crib, stroller, bathtub, etc. Requires full bath because... well... once you have that much poop on that many things, it's just easier to go full immersion. Ellie Kate screams as soon as foot is set in bathroom because she now hates baths because she gets 3-4 a day. Bath is given. (Bath is a loosely defined term. She screams and squirms and flings her little legs over the side of the bathtub in an attempt to get out. And I carefully hold on to a wet, slippery, poopy baby all while trying to get said poop off and not break her tiny arm because she is doing her best to get away.) Bath is finished. Screaming stops. Fresh, poop-free diaper and clothes returned to better smelling, happier baby. Mommy cleans poop from all above listed surfaces. Mommy sanitizes all previous poop covered surfaces. Mommy does laundry for all washable items that came in contact with said poop. Ellie Kate watches Mommy with sly smirk on face. Repeat process every 4-5 hours as needed.

That, my friends, is giardia.

A curse word in this house.

In all seriousness (I can do serious too), we are almost 3 days into a 7-day-round of metronidazole, that had to be prepared at a special compounding pharmacy that doesn't file insurance. I'm seeing tiny slivers of improvement. Such as, yesterday only required one wardrobe change. And we escaped multiple baths as well due to well-timing and the watchful eye of a Mommy who is weary of cleaning poop-stained carpets. But this morning was spent in tears refusing a bottle because our belly was clearly hurting. The upside to that was lots of snuggles.


Remember those poop samples from our first week home...yeah, this is what that's for. I had a pretty good idea that we may be dealing with it even before the doctor called to give me the good news. I mean, there is only so much poop that can come out of a tiny little body...there had to be something going on!

So, here's your fair warning to all those Mommy's heading home with your bundles of joys. Demand that your doctor do stool samples. And cross your fingers and hope that you don't slap your forehead with an open hand as you mutter under your breath....

"Giardia!"

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A sign of signs.

We have been using the sign for milk for Ellie Kate's bottle from the beginning. It's an easy sign and honestly, that's what is in there now, so that is the correct sign! She hasn't really imitated it or really let us know that she understood what that meant...

Until Tuesday.

She was upset because I wasn't moving fast enough and we were past the angry cry. She was giving me that real pitiful cry while laying her head on my shoulder. And I was in the middle of preparing breakfast for one of the other mouths that lives here, so it's not like I was completely ignoring her!

After fixing a bottle (yes, I said fixin'!), I reached around to her line of vision and signed "milk" and was shocked when she immediately popped up and signed milk back to me, frantically searching for her bottle at the same time!

I was so excited that she finally made the connection between the two that I did a little happy dance for the two of us, all while she looked at me like I'd lost my mind!

She had her bottle, so she didn't really care.

Tonight we practiced please and thank you. She seemed to be picking up the please, but would wait for me to take her hand and do it, instead of doing it herself. I would get a real big grin when the please resulted in what she wanted. Ha...if we could all just get what we wanted by saying please...

I'm learning very fast that she is all toddler. And toddlers have opinions and things to say! She just hasn't been given any way to communicate other than screaming or crying. I've said before she has an attitude, but that attitude is really just her talking to us. We are still pouring on the Mommy and Daddy love, but hopefully....slowly...giving her tools to communicate with us.


A quick lunch with brothers at McDonald's, which was a first for her. (No judging. Life must go on. And big brothers still need to feel like they are the center of attention occasionally.) Ain't no way she's eating those fries. But see...it doesn't always have to be spoons...anything she can hold in each hand will work!

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One week home.

About this time one week ago we were boarding a plane from Chicago to Louisville (I think) and getting ready to finally be home with our sweet Ellie Kate.

(Okay, so I wrote this yesterday. But I've lost several brain cells due to all the different time zones I've been in lately. And I forgot to post it.)

What a week it's been...




We have been to the pediatrician. She has gained a pound and a half, putting us up to a whopping 14.5. We still need to do the dreaded blood work, but Dr. Church thinks we have a perfectly healthy baby. Just tiny. And the poop samples. Got that checked off our list. (Hey, just keeping it real for those of you to come behind me. You will spend time scooping poop from a diaper into tiny vials. I'm just glad she's still in diapers...)




She is still pounding the bottles down. Switched to whole milk with no problems. We've had no luck with bread, pasta, bananas, puffs, cereal, baby food.......basically anything to come from a spoon. Or a sippy cup. Or not out of her bottle. I just keep putting it in front of her. And she just keeps looking at me like, "Really lady?? I thought the gagging from the baby food was enough to deter you from trying again?"

Nope. I don't give up that easy.




Our one problem is she will only take the bottle we bought in China. And I only bought two. And those won't last forever. Soooo....she's gonna have to give it up and take a different brand of bottle. Or just realize that what we are eating is way better than that cereal and green peas milkshake she's downing...

She has been to Target. A side trip with Mommy after the doctor office. I'm sure she loved it. Who doesn't love a little Target action?




We have learned to love bath time, once we discovered that toys could be involved.







Still no walking, but pulling up and cruising. It will only be a matter of time. I'm still shocked that 18 days ago, I was given a child who barely moved. Very newborn like. And now she's crawling and scooting all over the place!

The self-soothing behaviors? They aren't totally gone, but have drastically decreased. Again. Totally shocked at the changes in our sweet little girl in such a short time.

Oh, and the temper...oh my, she has a temper if she doesn't get her way! 99% of the time she is a happy baby. But don't delay in getting that bottle...




What do the boys think of their new baby sister??

Well, I had my concerns about each of them, but honestly they have both done very well. They willing sit and play with her, fight over who gets to sit by her in the car and constantly are giving me a play by play of what she is doing if I'm in the other room. (I know once the new wears off, so will all this. But I'll take it while I can. I know they might not always like each other.)

Sam likes to pick her up and she doesn't care for that. The two of them are also learning to "share". Meaning Sam is learning that a toddler doesn't know how to share. And if you take her toy, she will scream until you give it back. He is also a little stressed by her eating habits. It is beyond him why you would throw perfectly good food in the floor (from her highchair) when you could eat it! He just doesn't get it!




Charlie lets her crawl all over him and is very patient with her. He shares his monkey with her and for Charlie, that's like a declaration of his undying love. He doesn't just let anyone gnaw on his monkey's face. (He looks so big next to her! I don't like it.)




This week hasn't been without its tears, moments of frustration, toddler attitude, big kid Grandparent detox (Yes, thats a real thing) and Mommy impatience. And exhaustion. BUT...I wouldn't change a second of it.

Well, maybe the second while I was playing in poop.

But we'll consider that understood.

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Coming home.

So here's my excuse...

Well, technically, my excuse is a 14-pound cutie, but the last 3 nights I've put my big kids to bed before the sun has fully set because I literally could not keep my eyes open any longer.

And the little one wants to keep all kind of crazy hours. Like rising at 2am for the day. Or sleeping from 1pm to 5am the next day.

Which means the hours needed for blogging, have been spent sleeping.

Our bodies are totally having a civil war within as we will them to stay awake for just a little longer, while the troops inside are kicking the bucket one by one.

Jet-lag, my friend, is no joke. Especially when you are a toddler. Who cares if it's 11pm and dark outside? I'm not tired.

Well, Mommy is.

In all seriousness, as of Wednesday afternoon, I think we may have finally got our days and nights switched back around. Still working on a daily schedule of napping, etc, but the sleeping at night when all the rest of the family is sleeping will help tremendously!

When I last left y'all, we were in Hong Kong, getting ready to make the long trek home. It honestly went waaaay better than either of us could have imagined.




She took a nap while we sat on the runway in Hong Kong and then was awake, but happy, for the next 10 hours. Yes. Ten. But by then it was her bedtime and she conked out peacefully. Oh, there was the whole poop incident about 2 hours into the flight where me and her both ended up with poop all over us, but so is the life of a 20-month-old in Chinese diapers. I'm not impressed, by the way, and have never been so excited to get a hold of a pack of Luvs!

She arrived as the newest American citizen around 9am on July 4th and was super excited about it...




She slept through customs and most of the flight from San Francisco to Chicago. One tiny meltdown. But by that point, I was ready to meltdown too.

I think by the time we made it to Louisville, Kenny and I had slept a total of 3 hours combined since we left China. I told him at one point I didn't know if I could even walk all the way to baggage claim carrying her; I was just that exhausted. Which was really bad because I knew what was waiting there for us.

The thought of just laying down on one of those seats in the terminal and taking a nap seriously crossed my mind. How ticked off would y'all have been if I had stopped to take a nap at that point??

I haven't gotten any of the airport pics yet, but as with the boys, you guys didn't disappoint and we were greeted by many smiling faces even though it was after 10pm on the 4th of July! And the best...the smiling faces of my two boys who I think grew a foot each while we were gone!!!!




American flags, Alabama football, our monkeys and my whole family together again......I couldn't have asked for any more...

Except for a few hours of sleep!!

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