Audrey is 2 Years and 8 Months Old!

Our sweet Audrey beans is doing so well.  It's been a wild month so let's get right in it!

-We spent some time in Cincinnati in the middle of the month.  Audrey had an appointment with a renowned pediatric ENT surgeon to repair her laryngeal cleft.  We spent a super fun day exploring the Newport (KY) area and took Audrey to Build A Bear, the Cincinnati Zoo (she got to feed a giraffe-- so much fun!) and then showed up nice and early for her surgery the next day.  She stayed overnight at the hospital and we were discharged the next day.  Now begins the tedious task of weaning down her gel thickener as she learns to drink regular liquids.

 - She has made HUGE strides with potty training this week-- earning lots of Little Debbie cakes (we call them PooPoo Cakes-- she earns one for every time she poops in the potty!)  She is so proud of herself! She is nearly completely potty trained now and we are so happy for her- she is wonderful.

 - We spend lots and lots of time looking out the window for bugs and birds.  She is very interested in birds but the bugs make her scared....either way it's a very dramatic and very entertaining reaction when she sees either one!

 -We have spent a lot of time outside as well- wandering around, dancing, etc.  We are hardly inside at all anymore- so happy for warmer weather!

 - We headed to the beach for a week of vacation- so needed!  The girls LOVED Ripley's Aquarium and getting to swim for hours every day. 

 - We've spent lots of time unclothed as well (well, she has- I like to wear clothes haha).  We find Audrey buck naked more often than not...such a funny kiddo.  :)

Audrey is 2 Years 7 Months Old!

Playing photo catch-up...enjoy!

-Lots of playing outside.  She can now ride her tricycle with almost no assistance!

 -She can go about this far up the climbing wall. Last year she wouldn't even go near it so this is big!

 -She and Emily posed for me while I was shooting images for a workshop:

 -She loved on her dog, haha!

 -She went to the tball parade and watched for Emily... not very thrilled about the sirens from the fire trucks.

 -But we sat alone so she got TONS of candy...and that made up for it. :)

 - She got her big girl bed and slept in it starting about a week after we put it in- so big!

 -She had her Baptism in early April.

 -With her godparents, Damian and Ashley:

-Our family on the big day:

-We headed to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for her laryngeal cleft surgery (more on that in another post).

Emily's 5 Year Checkup

Today Emily and I went to her well-child visit at the pediatrician.  Her stats:

weigh: 44lbs
height: 43.75"

She passed her hearing and vision screenings with flying colors and things were going well in the appointment right up until the pedi had to examine her bottom area....and alerted me to the fact that Emily didn't have on any underwear!!!!!  How embarassing.... I almost died!  Emily was laughing like crazy-- I SWEAR she did it on purpose!!! She is a mess...she looked completely healthy and the doctor was very proud of her and how smart she is, how much she is reading, etc.  We had lunch together after the appointment and overall just had a great day together.  Love that sweet girl!

Audrey- 2 Year Old Checkup

Sweet Audrey girl had her well child visit today.  She is happy and healthy! 

Her stats:

weight: 24lbs 6oz
height: 33"
head circ: she was totally uncooperative and they didn't get it. ;)

Dr P thought she looked great and was very excited about Audrey's huge vocabulary.  She said she looks like she is doing well and was very pleased to hear that we've been able to cut back on the thickening gel a little bit (actually, we've cut it in half...getting so close to maybe not needing it at all!)  We had a good visit and then poor baby had to have the flu mist in her nose- she was NOT happy about that at all but we came home and played outside and all was right with the world.  Thanks for checking on our princess! :)

Audrey- Surgery Update

Paul spoke to the doctor yesterday-- called his office as it had been almost 10 days since her surgery and we hadn't heard anything (and I think he got tired of me asking).  It turns out the physician in Cincinnati didn't ever respond about Audrey's results (didn't I SAY that was going to happen??) and so he consulted a peds ENT who just recently left our area (the one we would have used in the first place, had he still been here). 

The news is not good/not bad.  Apparently she does not *quite* meet the specifications for a Type 1 Laryngeal Cleft, as we initially thought.  He (peds ENT) thinks that she will simply grow out of it and we should continue on with life as usual (so thickening all drinks, monitoring her closely during baths and swimming, etc). 

 I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed.  Believe me-- it's NOT that I wanted her to have another surgery. I didn't.  But I DID want to have this problem fixed once and for all.  Waiting this out, however long it may be, is sort of torturous.  She misses out on things because of this- I won't send her to places where I am not 100% sure that she will be monitored closely.  For instance, my good friend Andrea invited Audrey to go to summer day camp a few days/ week over in Huntington with Andrea's girls...and I said no because I just can't let her go someplace like that yet.  She is supposed to go to Emily's preschool 2 days/ week starting this fall and I am not sure if I will let her go if it's still happening.  The risk is simply too great for her to get access to someone else's cup, or to be given an unthickened liquid.  It's not that anyone is "out to get her" or something like that-- usually it's a well-meaning person who simply doesn't want her to be thirsty...and so they fill up her cup with water, or juice, or whatever...and she chokes and gags and potentially aspirates, which could lead to pneumonia (again).  It is so frustrating! And we just booked that trip to Great Wolf Lodge and I am pretty sure she won't be able to go there with us since an accidental ingestion is almost certain to occur at a water park.  :( That will make 2 vacations now that we haven't brought her on this year, and I feel really guilty about that...but there is no way she can safely go to a water park and have a problem with swallowing, you know?

 I did ask Paul how long the ENT thinks we will have to wait for her to "grow out of this" and he said that the doctor offered no time frame for it at all.  We were already told it would be by the time she turned 1, which obviously wasn't true.  I know that no one has a crystal ball but I hate that we didn't really get an answer out of the study. :( And I hate that this is so open-ended and we have no end in sight for the gel.  I am very discouraged. 

 Nevertheless, I am very happy that she was fine during the surgery, and I guess I'm sort of relieved that we aren't facing some risky procedure to fix it.  BUT...... I still wish we had some answers.