The Ear Tubes Are In, My Talker is Here

After 11 ear infections, two doctors (the ENT and the pediatrician) who initially opted against ear tubes, and much more worry than was necessary...Olivia has tubes in her ears.

The ear saga has been quite a long one. Olivia got her first ear infection Thanksgiving 2008. She was three months old. Since then she's had 10 more...5 of them just since September 2009. There was more than one occasion when she'd finish a 10 day anti-biotic only to wake up the next day with another snotty nose or cough and the ear infection would always follow within days. There was more than one occasion when I took her to the doctor for a well-visit only to be told she had a bad ear infection. I had no idea. She never complained. Never woke at night. Never pulled her ears.

The pediatrician would ask me questions like "How is her speech." Compared to other kids I know her age, very good. She says "mommy, daddy, bye-bye, baby" clear as day. She says countless other words that only me and my husband (sometimes just me) can comprehend. She says "dooo for dog....nuuu for noodle...beee for binkie." I thought he was just asking me about her speech. What I didn't realize is he was trying to figure out how much the non-stop ear infections and the gunk in her ear were delaying and/or affecting her speech. 

No one wanted Olivia to have tubes. At ear infection #10 the pediatrician told me to finally see an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat specialist). I'd been asking about this since #7 or 8. When we saw the ENT he said: she has no hearing loss, she has no damage to her ears, she's tolerating the medications (all 4 she'd been on) fine...let's hold off on the tubes.  A few days later, I took Olivia back to the pediatrician for her 15 month vaccines (she was 16 months, but was so behind on shots b/c we could never fit them in between all the illnesses and anti-biotics) she had another ear infection. Her doctor looked at me and said he was running out of medical options; she was becoming immune to the anti-biotics. He said he was calling the ENT - tubes were a requirement for Olivia. That was a Friday, 10 days later I woke Olivia up at 5:30 am, we were on our way to the hospital.

Surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am, we had to arrive at 6:15am. (I must say, this is cruel for both the patient and parents). Not only are you waking your child up, you are then required to withhold anything to eat or drink. They called us back around 6:40 and I was excited that the surgery was going to happen earlier than the allotted time. Nope, they just changed her into a hospital gown and put us in a 'room' (really just an area separated from the next patient's room by a curtain). We were within feet of the nurses' station and all that equipment. Starving, thirsty, tired, squirmy, and generally miserable Olivia had to be confined to one of our laps for the next 45 minutes. It was brutal and by far the worse part of the 'surgery.'

Around 7:25 Olivia's ENT came out to see her. She had her hand raised over her head and was opening and closing her fist frantically. The doctor, thinking Olivia was waving 'hi' to him said "Oh, hi Olivia." That's when I informed him that she wasn't saying hi at all, she was signing desperately for milk. The higher the arm, the more desperation!

About five minutes later my husband went back to the OR with Olivia, two nurses, the doc, and the anesthesiologist. He held her as they put a mask over her face and she was put under. I was warned by several people that I would not want to see this...my daughter's eyes might roll back, she would go limp...it was not a memory I would want. But there was no way she was going back by herself...so I elected Daddy.

In the meantime, I went to sit down in a special waiting room. Not five minutes later my husband joined me and said Olivia was heading into surgery. I walked down the hall to the bathroom. When I got back Bob went and got a coffee and a bagel. He returned. I took one bite of my bagel and the doctor came into the waiting room. Just like that, the surgery was over.

The second most difficult part was now waiting for us. Waking up from anesthesia, I was warned Olivia would be erratic, screaming, thrashing, kicking, crying. She was all of the above. For a good 20 minutes she cried hysterically and we couldn't console her.  Not even Elmo or her milk could console her. About 20 minutes after getting out of surgery the nurses said she was good to go. Still crying slightly we packed up and headed out to the car. As soon as she got into her car seat we put on her Raffi music. When the first song finished she said "a-dain." At the same time, Bob and I both looked at each other and said "she's back." She always asks for "again."

That was the end of it. No pain, no drainage, no crying, a little more sleep that day than normal, and since then no more ear infections.  Knock on wood.

In the week and a half since the surgery, I have noticed a dramatic difference in her speech.  She has tried to repeat nearly everything we say, she attempts far more words, and the words she said before are now becoming even clearer.  I was told before the surgery Olivia was probably hearing like she was underwater. Meaning, she could hear, but it was very muffled. Now she's hearing as she should and we've got the talker to prove it.


Has your child/children had tubes? What was you experience like? Leave a comment and share your concerns, the differences you noticed in speech after surgery, or if they've had post-op ear infections.

No snow for me...no, really, no snow

I've been waiting for it to snow.  Not because I love the snow but because I wanted to see how Olivia would react. Plus, I got the deal of the century on snow equipment for Liv. My mother in law found a baby sled at a yard sale. As she debated on whether or not to get it, the man selling it told her to take it...for free! Then, the lady who watches my dog while when we're away gave me a bag full of snow gear that her daughter NEVER wore. She was born the same day as Olivia, just three years earlier! So she has a pair of brand new boots and snow pants. I did buy her a puffer, eskimo-looking coat at Old Navy, but heck...I got the $40 coat for $10! Can't beat that. Oh and the gloves were $1.

A week or so before Christmas we got dumped on with what was, no kidding, two feet of snow. I figured my 16 month old is 31 inches so she should be fine, right?  From our window I kept showing her the snow. She'd repeat 'nooo.'

While my husband was clearing the driveway (for the third time in one day) I got Olivia dressed to go out. The entire time she was saying "nooo." At first I was excited she was saying, in her own little way, 'snow.' But as I piled on the layers, the coat, the hat, the mittens, the leggings, the snow suit, the boots, and the scarf I finally admitted I was in denial. She wasn't saying 'snow' now saying 'NO!' But I didn't just dress her like this and work up a sweat for my own health, I was determined she was going to experience snow. I quickly got myself bundled up and we headed outside. She was okay for a minute or so....then it all went down hill (and I don't mean on the sled).

She actually decides it's not too bad.

She quickly realizes she misjudged...it is that bad.

 

Still no good...

Even worse...the sled ride ended with Olivia face down.

About 5 minutes after we walked out the door, we were back inside still saying "NOOOO." Determined, I was, I got her dressed one more time the following day, hoping that since the snow had stopped falling she might like it better. Here's Olivia (posing as Rudolph) with her BFF Conor!

 

Oh well, maybe next year!

2009 Christmas photos (all for .50 at Snapfish, coupon codes included)

I just looked in my inbox and I have three emails from family members with links to Christmas pictures. Every last one of them is adorable. I just love holiday pictures. The whole family is together. The house is decorated so nice. Everyone is wearing their Sunday best. And, if you're lucky, everyone is smiling because they're genuinely happy to be standing in front of the same Christmas tree! Here's a quick sampling from our 2009 Christmas Season.

First thing I did when I got those email links, some to Snapfish, some to Shutterfly, another to Facebook was to look for a picture for our annual Christmas frame. My husband's grandmother started a tradition for us a few years back.  The first few years she purchased a Christmas-themed frame for us to display a picture taken that holiday season. Every year, I put all the pictures up and enjoy looking at how much things have changed year to year. Last year was the first time Miss Olivia joined us. This year, it's amazing how big she's gotten.

While looking for the perfect family portrait, I kept coming across pictures I wanted to have. Not just on my computer, but something that I could hold and look at. You know, like when your mom used to put rolls worth of pictures in albums. Now, digital photo albums or even just computer file folders hold so many of our memories. Anyway, I decided to print a few of my favorites. Actually, I decided to print 50 thanks to Snapfish's awesome holiday deal. If you still have holidays pictures waiting to be printed, Snapfish just extended their Penny Prints sale so you can still get 50 pictures for 50 cents! I think I paid a total of $2.99 including shipping for all of my holiday photos!  
Log into Snapfish or sign up for a free account through this link then use code NEWYEARS50 at checkout. Sale ends January 31!

How I bought $40 worth of meat for $6

I just got back from what was supposed to be trip to the grocery store for milk, bread, and fruit. But as my ordered tallied up on the register passing the $140 mark, the man behind me looked at me and said, "It adds up quick, doesn't it?" What I felt like saying was mind your own business. But as I slid my club savings card and the price dropped to $107, I simply said to him, "I bought a few gift cards as gifts, as well." What I didn't tell that nosy man, but I am going to share with you, is that I also bought $39.93 worth of meat for a mere $6.  (And just to point out, that wasn't included in the $37 in savings from using my club savings card.)

A few weeks back I noticed this small little "Clearance" sign on a freezer hidden between the ground beef and the frozen chicken nuggets. I took a glance in and was shocked to find the same meat that's in all the other freezers (just with a fast approaching "sell by" date), but these were significantly marked down, plus they had an additional 30% off coupon that would be swiped at the register. I picked up some stuffed pork chops that were originally about $8. I'd never purchased anything like this before, but I figured for $3 they were worth a try especially on a busy night when all I had time to do was throw something in the oven. (Tip: There were no cooking directions on the package, so I asked the butcher and he told me exactly at what temperature and for how long to cook the chops.)  Since my money-saving meat find I've been checking out the clearance meat freezer ever since.

Tonight, I discovered a gold mine....well, at least I thought I had. (More on that in a minute.) The store circular said chicken breasts were buy one get on free, but when I looked in the chicken freezer I found a package originally marked $5 was now selling for "Clearance: $1.50." I swooped them into my cart as fast I could. Then I headed over to my trusty clearance meat freezer. There was a stack of steaks and ribs all of which were marked with the same "Clearance: $1.50" price. Seeing as how I'm no steak expert (all I really know is filet is good!) I went to call my husband to decipher the difference between a porter house, spare ribs, strip, t-bone, etc...but of course I didn't have my cell phone. So I did the next most logical thing.  Thinking that the "best" steaks would likely cost the most, I looked for the highest original prices and I bought those steaks, never mind that I had no idea how to prepare any of them. (That's what AllRecipes.com is for!) I think I got two porter house steaks and pork spare ribs (but to be honest, I'm still not exactly sure). They were marked $11.69, $10.85 and $12.39....but I got all three for a total of $4.50. Take that, nosy-man-behind-me-in-the-check-out-line!!!

When I got home, while we were unpacking the bags I told my husband, "I think I hit the motherload." He looked at me totally confused by my uncertain statement. Then I pulled out the cow (and pig and chicken) that I just bought.   He, who doesn't get excited over deals like I do, actually said out loud "This was $1.50??" And so was this, and this, and this! Yes, my friends, I hit the motherload and you can too if you know how and exactly when to shop your grocer's clearance meat freezer.

More money saving grocery tips

As a quick side note, another easy way I've found to save money on quality meat is to buy extremely discounted bulk meat from Omaha Steaks. Yes, their meats are gourmet and without a coupon are higher compared to prices that'd you'd find in the grocery store, but you can land huge discounts this time of year when Omaha Steaks is really trying to push their products as holiday gifts.  So stuck up NOW!

It's Signing Time!

I mean I hate to brag, but I've got one smart kid....at least when she wants to be! Let me explain....

We've been working on about half a dozen ASL signs for several months now.  As I've blogged about in the past I started signing "milk" when Olivia was about 6 months old and I was still nursing her.  She didn't start using the sign until she was close to 11 months and coincidently right around the time I was weaning her to whole milk in a sippy cup. Anyway, she's consistently used the sign since which, let me tell you, has avoided more than a few meltdowns from me not knowing what she wants.  "Milk" may be her most used sign, but she's also used "more," "finished/all done" and "food" since around the same time.

Once she got those down I would occasionally (but not consistently like is recommended) sign the word "thank you" and finally one day she mimicked me. In the past few weeks she's started signing "thank you" without any prompting and at the appropriate time, ie when I hand her her milk.

Every time I go to the library I get a few signing DVDs out. She doesn't watch many videos, but I figured these would at least help me pick up some more signs and then I could start using them with her.  So the other day my husband, popped one of the Signing Time DVDs in for the first time, and was watching it with Olivia. The host was singing the theme song and signing the entire song. The song goes something like "It's signing time with Alex and Leah...There's signing time, and playing time so many words and so little time." As you can see she says the word "time" a lot in a short period of...time.  The song ends on the word "time" and as it ended my husband spotted my daughter signing "time." She wasn't doing it exactly right; instead of pointing at her wrist with her opposite pointer finger, she was using her pointer finger to point at the palm of her other hand. But she did it every time the host said "time" and she's done it every time we ask her "what time is it."

So what am I getting at here? Yes, "time" for a 15 month is rather useless, let's be honest. But the point is how quickly these little sponges of ours can pick up things.  After seeing just how quickly Olivia picked her favorite new sign, I decided I'd work on another sign "play." She copied me immediately. While Olivia's ASL signs aren't exactly correct in technique they are working the way they are supposed to as far as communication. She can't yet say the words "milk, more, play, time," but we can communicate with each other, without meltdowns, because we can understand each other.

Some argue that using signs delays speech, but I've found it to be totally opposite. Now that Olivia realizes that communication is a cause and effect and that something happens when she signs, she wants more. In other words, she wants to say words so she can get more reaction to her needs and wants. One thing I have noticed is she won't or will rarely sign for a word that she can say. For example she has NEVER signed "mommy" or "daddy" and I believe it's because she has been saying "mama" and "dada" since about the time she started with her first signs.

Have you successfully used baby sign language with your baby or toddler? What's your experience been?

Related Links

Signing Time DVD series
How to teach baby sign language
How I got started teaching Olivia ASL baby sign langauge