Peditatric ENT Updates

On Thursday, January 26th, my mom and I took Jackson back to the pediatric ENT in New Orleans. Jackson had a pretty rough month between the end of December and January, so I knew we needed to do something. We ended up in the urgent care twice and pediatrician's office a handful of times during that period. The last time we visited the pediatrician he pretty much demanded that I take him back to the specialist in New Orleans. Jackson's right ear was draining maple syrup looking puss that was not the result of an ear infection, but his sinuses trying to drain - disgusting!

Well of course, since our last trip to the doctor Jackson has gotten a huge antibiotic shot and been on a week of oral antibiotics before the ENT could see him. So it was pretty much a well baby visit. Not that I really wanted my kid to be sick and pitiful for the appointment, but I kind of did...This specialist is under the impression that I take my kid to the doctor for a green snot nose - um no, I take him to the doctor when his fever gets above 101 and he gets his "sick eyes". I'm no doctor, but I'm a momma who knows that this is our sweet spot. If I don't rush him to the doctor at that point we end up having a hyperactive airway attack and it takes weeks to get him back to normal.

Does this look like a kid with just a runny nose?!? No, it's almost hard to believe that this is even Jackson!

 Anyway, Jackson got a complete work-up which included having his left tube pulled out of his ear (it was just sitting on the eardrum and ready to fall out on it's own).  His right tube is working it's way out as well.  Jackson's left ear has fluid/is infected, even with all the antibiotics in his system.  His right ear stopped draining the nasty puss a couple of days before his appointment.

Jackson had to have his sinuses scoped again, this is really not pleasant for anyone.  I had to hold him down while they put the tube up his nose and looked all around.  Good news was that his sinuses are free of green puss, bad news is that they are full of mucus.  Poor kid is just a mucus producing machine! The absence of puss means that the antibiotics are clearing his infection, so we're going to continue with another 6 weeks to try and keep him well for an extended period of time.  The doctor said this round would be "successful" if Jackson stayed well for 4-6 weeks after stopping the medicine...Jackson has never made it past 10 days.  He also said that a child his age should be sick about 90 days out of the year, again I don't think Jackson has been well 90 days since this all started last winter!

Our last topic of discussion was what to do next:

1. Sinus surgery: This would be hard on both the doctor and Jackson.  His sinuses are so tight that it would be hard for him to get in where he needs to - also risking additional scare tissue causing Jackson to heal even tighter.  At this point in time, this is still not really an option for us.  Maybe in another year, but not now.

2. Extended antibiotics: Keeping Jackson on antibiotics for an extended period of time, and doing so a few times a year.  We did this in the fall, and again now.  We'll see how it goes! Thank God for probiotics.

3. Booster shots: We have a list of vaccines/booster shots that may help boost Jackson's immunity and help him fight the common cold better.

4. Tubes: We go back in 3 weeks to see if the antibiotics cleared up the fluid in Jackson's left ear and asses the need to do tubes again.

And an hour later, we were back on our way home with a lot to process and pray about!

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A weekend worth recapping!

You know those weekends that just make your heart happy and warm - we totally had one of those this weekend! Jackson and I are still fighting terrible sinus infections, so it was pretty low-key and just what the doctor ordered. It was the first weekend in a long time that we could focus on just being us - not running the roads or unpacking suitcases or working more than playing.

T.G.I.F.

Friday night we went on our first family date night since I can't remember when! Even Jackson was giddy and screaming "date night, date night!". We went to one of our new favorite restaurants, Cochon, and Jackson totally shocked us with the amount of food he put down! Typically, he's not a great eater when we're out and especially not when he's on antibiotics. But, Friday night he ate pork cheeks and shortbread, grilled cheese, half of my smoked chicken and pumpkin rice, and then split apple cobbler with salted caramel ice cream! Our meal was amazing and Jackson was so good.  He's turned in to such a little dude, and I love it.

Mr. didn't sleep well on Friday night, so for a change, I got up with Jackson Saturday morning and we went for a little date of our own! Since Mr. stayed in bed, our first stop was coffee and blueberry muffins.  Then, we tackled a few of my favorite shops and the grocery store.  It was so nice to get everything done Saturday morning and be back home just in time for our noon nap! I may or may not have even laid down for a little siesta myself:)

Mardi Gras front door

close-up of front door wreath

Saturday afternoon was so beautiful that Mr. mowed the grass and I finished decorating for Mardi Gras.  It's technically winter here, so we hadn't been outside or seen our neighbors in months.  But, since the weather was so nice everyone was out and about and we all needed to catch up. So, we decided to host a little wine and cheese happy hour.  A few bottles of wine later, the cheese was gone and it was time for us all to retire!

decorations on the back porch

Sunday was another nice day and we continued to enjoy every minute of it together.  I overcame the urge to sleep in and got up with the boys at 8:30 (I could sleep until noon, easily!).  Our morning was spent fishing, coloring, and playing.  Jackson wants us right next to him all.the.time. while he's playing.  "Look mommy, look.  Sit down, no on the carpet.  Come on mommy." It's hard to resist his sweet little voice!

Gone Fishin'

Jackson spent the entire day in his big boy undies, and I'm happy to report that they remained dry all day.  We're still working on nap and night time training, but it's progress! So to reward him, we had a PB&J picnic outside while daddy and the neighbors cleaned out the weeds in the pond. 

Finally, the big boy bed makes it on the blog!

Our next big project for the weekend was to finally hang something above Jackson's bed.  My dad gave us an awesome framed newspaper print from the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series.  And I had hoped to do the same thing for LSU this year, but I had to make do with something else until we have that win - next year!

And lastly, to end our family fun weekend, my mom made us homemade lasagna that was the bees knees.  We all were fighting over who would lick the bowl clean.  Amazingness, seriously!

I hope that y'all weekends was just as fun and worth the Monday recap!

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Maybe it's just the calm before the storm...

Hello, is anyone still out there?!?

I know, I'm quiet.

I have yet to blog about our amazing trip to Disney or Jackson's big boy room, that was so last year.

There was no year-end recap

or reflection.

I'm quiet.

I'm processing.

I'm just trying to make sense of things.

Everything happens for a reason, this I am sure of.

It's trying to understand, make sense of, or discover the "why" of everything that I'm processing.

That's making me feel oh so quiet.

We've spent the entire month of January thus far, sick.

One morning I woke up nauseous and late and prayed that this was it... Only minutes later I realized that I was sick as shit, and not with morning sickness.  It was the stomach flu - and now a sinus infection and bronchitis.

We're taking Jackson back to the specialist in New Orleans tomorrow to discuss possible options to get him off antibiotics and out of the urgent care every other week.

I've peed on more sticks this month than I will share with you.

They all turn negative faster than I can put them on the counter.

I'm ready to loose my mind.

I'm ready to move forward.

Ready for the next step.

Ready to embrace our "infertility" title yet again.

I pray that you'll stick with us and be just as amazing and supportive as I become vulnerable and put it all out there yet again in our journey to grow our family.

Because looking into these eyes, and having his smile light up my life - I know that we cannot have just one of these precious gifts.  I know now more than anything, I need to give him the greatest gift of a sibling.

I know that we need to grow.

And the overcoming feeling of this finally being right for us has kicked in and I will do whatever it takes.

So bring it on cycle day 1.

No, really let's get this show started.

I am ready.

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BCS Championship Weekend

Mr. and I had the best tickets to the worst game ever Monday night. That's pretty much all I want to say about that...especially because the weekend before said game was too much fun not to blog about:)

Saturday afternoon we filled my car with everything purple and gold and dropped Jackson off at my mom's before we headed to the big easy.  Truth be told, I think Jackson may have been more excited to spend 3 days at Lolipops then Mr. was to see his Tigers play in the national championship game! Seriously, we got one kiss bye and were basically kicked out of their house.  It brought tears to my eyes, but also warmed my heart knowing how much Jackson enjoys his grandparents...that and the fact that they had big potty-training plans for the weekend:)

Mr. and I made it to New Orleans just in time for kickoff for the Saints game.  We checked in to our little hotel, quickly unpacked and caught a cab to the House of Blue to meet up with friends.  We watched the Saints win and called it a night so that we'd be fresh for our Sunday Funday!

Waiting for our cab on our private balcony!

Our day started with brunch at 11:15 at NOLA and quickly progressed to a pub-crawl until our dinner at American Sector much later that night.  I may or may not have ended up a hot mess, but it was oh so fun!

Mimosas at NOLA

Honey Badger shots at Johnny Whites

Absinthe at Pirates Alley Absinthe House

the crowd on bourbon...

Needless to say, Monday was a much more sober day for this momma! We met up with my in-laws around lunch time and headed to our first party at the Foundation Room back at the House of Blues. 

Waiting for our cab, game day!

Mrs. Wilson x2 at House of Blues

Love my handsome hubby in purple and gold

We hopped around a few more places, but we were nervous about getting stuck in bad weather so we headed to the Super Dome a couple hours before kickoff...and that's when the fun quickly ended.

The last smile of the night...

Even though we didn't have the outcome we had hoped for, Mr. and I had a wonderful time eating and drinking our way through the weekend.  And it was so good to come home on Tuesday! I'm pretty sure Jackson never realized we were gone, and is on his way to being potty trained.  I think it's a safe bet to say that he'll be completely trained by next season, ha!

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Christmas 2011

I can hardly believe we're a week into the new year and Christmas has come and gone. I'm in complete disbelief at how fast time is passing by and am trying to keep with my resolution to take it all in!

Christmas was such a whirlwind this year, more so than ever before. I guess the whole surprise trip to Disney the day after really put a twist on things!

My sister, brother-n-law and precious niece drove down to Louisiana from St. Louis on the eve of Christmas Eve. The day before we ended up in the urgent care with Jackson, running 102 fever and diagnosed with tonsillitis yet again, so we hung pretty low that night.

The next morning, Christmas Eve, we did something that we've never done before - we had Christmas morning at my mom's house. We normally always do Christmas morning at her house, but everyone wanted to see Jackson wake up to "Santa" at our house instead. So, the day started out with Irish Coffees, Mimosas and Bloody Mary's and progressed to lunch and presents!

Sweet Amelia is a little present under the tree:)

Jackson and Amelia were so excited to get into all their presents at Loli&Pops!

Later that afternoon, the boys started a little game of t-ball with Jackson's new t-ball set. And before we knew it, nap time had come and gone and it was time for Christmas mass.

Running the bases in his pjs:)

I love that we're all big kids at heart:)

We attempted one final trip to see Santa before he delivered packages to all the good little boys and girls. However, cutting nap time short and the excitement of the day was a little much for Action Jackson and he.was.not.feeling.it. Mr. and I even contemplated taking him back home to bed and skipping church. But, after a train ride with Loli he was back to smiles and sweetness just in time for church.

This did not go as we envisioned:(

After church Mr., Jackson and I headed to Mr.'s mom's house for their traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Nana and Papaw made a delicious gumbo that was perfect for the chilly South Louisiana evening. After we all filled our bellies, Jackson and his cousin were spoiled rotten with presents! Jackson's favorite was definitely his interactive Buzz Lightyear and Woody. 

Two Christmases in one day made for an exhausted Momma and Daddy Santa.  We got home and put Jackson straight to bed.  He was so tired he didn't even have the energy or desire to put out milk and cookies for Santa. 

The early hours of Christmas morning...

I had to put out a plate of cookies and milk for Santa...even though we had no milk or cookies...

Mr. and I stayed up a few hours longer putting together toys, making breakfast casseroles and hanging the stockings on the mantel.  Jackson was so concerned (and still is) that "Santa's stuck in the chimney".  Melts.my.heart!

Christmas morning I woke up pretty early, being that I am not a morning person and felt sick all night.  Jackson on the other hand, slept until 9AM! I kept peeking in his room, and he was sleeping so soundly.  He was finally ready to come out and see what Santa had brought for him when my family came over.   


Mr. made an awesome Christmas morning feast and we sipped coffee and opened more packages! My tree looked so bare without presents under it by the end of the morning. 

And in a blink of an eye, Christmas morning had come and gone.  All the planning and dreaming and preparing for this special morning was over, just like that! We cleaning up the leftover wrapping paper and missed Grandma terribly as we tried to save the bows just like she always did.  Once our house was somewhat put back together, my family left us to get ready for our next Christmas at Mr.'s dad's house.

We put Jackson down for a quick nap and rushed to get ready for our last Christmas at the Wilson's.  We got there just in time for dinner and more presents! Poor Jackson is having a hard time understanding why everyday isn't Christmas now:)

After a nice evening of visiting and playing with cousins, it was time to head home to finish packing for Disney. 

Our alarms went off at 3AM, and we hit the road for a magical week...

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