The end of 2013...

Hard to believe another year has almost gone by.  In a couple of short days we will be celebrating our 7th Christmas with Kassi.  Wes and I were talking the other day about how hard it is to remember what Christmas was like without her.

The biggest event of 2013, for us, was Kassi starting kindergarten.  We have been blessed with great teachers who see her potential and try to find ways to challenge her.  I am so appreciative of them.  Yesterday we had a chance to speak with her reading teacher for a moment, she told us that in her 24+ years of teaching she has never had a student like Kassi.  She said she is one of the kindest, most considerate children.  That does my heart good.  I admit I do boast about my kid, I think all parents should boast about their kid(s).  Kassi doesn't really like it though, she will talk about her achievements some, but doesn't ever want to offend others.  We also got to go to Kassi's Christmas party in her classroom yesterday.  I even got Wes to go!  It was so much fun.  I love spending time in the classroom.  Kassi's teacher asked if I had ever thought about working in the education field...can't lie I would LOVE it.  Just wouldn't work right now.

Other things of 2013...
-I finally realized what I want to be/do when I grow up...too bad it just isn't in the cards for me right now.
-Wes bought snowmobiles again.  Those that knew Wes before I did, know why this is a BIG deal.  I have to laugh, because when we had motorcycles we never had just one.  It was like they magically multiplied.  Now snowmobiles seem to be the same way.  It started out as one that he picked up for $20, then next thing I knew there was another one in the driveway, and then another one...  Oh well as along as he is happy.  Our first trip out is supposed to be this coming week.
-We finally made a decision about where to live.  While we would love to be out of town, there are just too many things going on so we will be staying in town.  It is probably for the best.  Who am I to think that I could handle maintaining a bigger place with my allergies and asthma the way they are!
-We finalized our house plans!  The new one will be so nice.

What's the plan for 2014?
-Kassi starts the Stargate program, for gifted and talented children, in January.  This is a big deal!  They do not have a program for kindergartners so she will be working with a first grade class.  January 14th we meet with the head of the program, her kindergarten teacher and the principal to discuss Kassi's scores, where to go now, etc.  This will have her going to a different school on Friday's.  She is really excited about this.  When she took the test to see if she was eligible for the program she came home and told me she did the funnest things she has done yet.  At that time she did not know she was taking a test...
-Right now  the plan is to break ground on the new house March 1st.  I have no idea what we are going to do with our current house, but we will get it figured out.

Kindergarten

Wow it has been almost exactly one year since I was last on here.  So much for keeping people updated...

I am going to try and get on here more often and make posts about what all is going on.  I like to look back through the posts myself every once in awhile.

Recently I posted something amazing about Kassi on Facebook and got some flack from people over it.  A word of warning before you read any further...I will be bragging about my daughter, I will be telling you how wonderful I think she is, and how wonderful others think she is.  I am very proud of her.  Now that being said if you want to go to your address bar and get out of here that is fine, it's your choice.

Where to start to get caught up?  Last spring they tested Kassi for kindergarten readiness.  We always knew she was extremely intelligent, but you know how it is as a parent you should think your kid is great.  When we got her test results back they proved what we had known.  Kassi tested within the top 7% in the nation.  Now this testing is just a short test to see if kids are ready for school, and where they are at with their learning.  When we met Kassi's teacher for the first time I was a little hesitant to speak up about my fears of Kassi getting bored, but I did it anyway.  She was very encouraging and said it would take a few weeks, but she would see where Kassi was at and work with her however she could.

Within the first couple of weeks Kassi was moved up to a first grade reading class.  She loves this, because it gives her a chance to read books that are more challenging and have more of a plot to them.  They are not just books with sight words.  As the month went by Kassi started to tell me she was very bored in school.  After talking to her teacher about this she informed me that she had offered Kassi a couple of other things she could do, but they would separate her from the class more, and Kassi had told her she didn't want that.  When I went to talk to Kassi about this she said the other kids talk about her when she goes to leave for reading and she is afraid they will talk about her even more if she is leaving for other things.  It was hard for me to see my baby so upset about something, but at the same time I knew something needed to change.

After several conversations and trying to figure out what was right for Kassi the teacher told me they were just about finished with their map testing.  This is a test that is completed at the beginning of the year to see where kids are at, then again at the end of the year to see what improvements they have made.  The test is computerized and as the kids get answers right the questions get harder.  The significance of this was that the teacher was hoping the tests would give her an idea of Kassi's strengths and weaknesses so she could come up with a plan to work on the weaknesses.

We waited and waited for the MAP test results.

Last week we had our first parent teacher conference.  We of course discussed the usual she is friendly, helps the other kids, kind, caring, only a couple of times where she has had to be reminded of her behavior.  The teacher also told us that she had some 1st and 2nd grade worksheets that she was going to start giving to Kassi when the other kids were doing their kindergarten worksheets.  It was at that point that she pulled out a piece of paper and apologized for the fine print.  She said these were the scores we had been waiting for, these were Kassi's map scores.  I was nervous I thought maybe she had done poorly the way she pulled them out.  She then said they were absolutely amazing.  Kassi tested in the 99th percentile, her scores were amazing...I am still learning about the map testing, but given the way the questions change and looking at the actual scores it appears Kassi is in line with the average 2nd Grader!  This is amazing, and yes I do and will continue to brag about this, I am very proud!  We discussed the scores a little further.  She explained to us that she was waiting to see the final scores, because the test shows you areas where children need work.  Kassi's test shows she is High in everything, there were no areas that were lacking.

During our time at the parent teacher conference we were also able to meet with Kassi's first grade teacher for a bit.  This was our first time to get to speak with her.  She said that Kassi was doing amazing.  She has placed Kassi with her top readers and even then Kassi is ahead of them.  The one thing that really stood out to me was that she also said Kassi was very good about waiting for the other kids and that she never really boasted about being able to read better than them.  She said she had some books she would like to start having Kassi read, but she wanted to check with us and Kassi's kindergarten teacher to make sure we were all okay with the content.  She said the amazing thing about Kassi is her ability to really take in the story and understand what the author is writing about, because of this she wants to give her books that do have a plot, unfortunately they don't make many books for 6 year olds that have a plot.  She said it is rare at this age for a child to have such a good overall understanding like Kassi does.  She said she has seen lots of strong readers over the years, but not ones that really understand what they are reading.

Kassi's teacher has recommended her for the gifted and talented program.   We have filled out the parent permissions sheet and are awaiting the response and results.

Now that I am done boasting... how about a few more updates.

You may recall my last post was about Kassi's bunny breaking her spine.  Well Bun Bun has recovered fully and is living very happily in the back yard.

Our house has been for sale for over a year now with no takers.  We have taken it off the market and are waiting a bit to figure everything out.  The scary part is our new house plans are at the architects and the excavator is scheduled to begin on March 1st.  So rather this house is sold or  not, our new one is starting construction March 1st.  I am excited and petrified at the same time!

Kassi is still dancing away.  She is in tap, ballet and jazz this year.  She will have her first Christmas performances this year as well.  She has three places she will be dancing.

Well I suppose that is enough for now!

BunBun

After having to re-home Kassi's two roosters this summer we had an empty coop.  We couldn't just let it sit there so when we went to fair we let Kassi get a rabbit.  BunBun (Kassi calls her Daisy, but I have already had a Daisy...) is very friendly she doesn't like you to pick her up.  She loves to run around the yard and has spent most of the summer and fall running around or yard, that is until a couple of weeks ago when something got a hold of her and injured her spine.  We always locked her back in her hutch at night and she was usually in it eating and resting by the time we got out there.

Well on that one night I noticed she was acting very skittish and had wet spots and tufts of hair pulled out.  It was apparent that something had gotten a hold of her.  She didn't want to move so I put her up in her nest and figured I would check on her the next morning that maybe she was just in a little shock.  The next day she had managed to get down her ramp to her food and water and was laying in the corner.  Usually when I open the door she comes hopping up waiting for me to let her out.  That day she didn't move.  I noticed she was sitting funny and I put her water and food up in her nest as usually she would go hopping after it too.  She tried, but couldn't get up the ramp...it was apparent to me then that she had a spinal injury.  I know it is common for rabbits to get spinal injuries and they don't normally recover from this.  I was dreading telling Kassi, because I knew we were going to have get her put down.  This was especially hard to think about since we had recently had to find a new home for one of her roosters and she can't see him anymore...the thing with roosters is they can become aggressive and when they are as big as Kassi's they can really hurt someone so it was either a new home or the stock pot.  Fortunately he got a new home.  Kassi was really bummed though she is so hopeful that our house will sell and she can have her roosters back.  Anyway I thought I would give her one more day and then call the vet.  The next morning there was no progress so I called the vet and made an appointment.

The vet confirmed part of what I thought.  She did have a spinal injury and it is uncommon for them to recover from this.  Understanding that this was Kassi's bunny she did say that it was low on the spine and she could feel what would be equivalent to her hips, but couldn't feel from about mid thigh down.  She said she could give her some metacam, but we would likely have to decide what quality of life we wanted her to have.

So we brought BunBun home and prepared her little cage in the garage.  She was not in apparent pain, she just could not move much and would get frustrated and not move.  Our once crazy rabbit that was litter box trained was no longer either of those things.  We were going out several times a day to set her on her litter box and clean out the corner where she laid all day.

After a week I decided to start letting her run around the garage a little bit.  One day when I went out she had hopped back in her cage and was sitting on her litter box!  Progress...unexpected progress.  I spoke to the vet tech and she said given the vets notes she thought we would be back in, but not for progress...  She suggested another round of metacam, which we have just finished.  BunBun still has no feeling in part of her right hind leg, but that doesn't slow her down much.  We are still making her still cooped up in the little cage, but are thinking in the next week or so we may try putting her back in her hutch and see how she does.

Now I know some people who would say we are crazy for taking a rabbit to the vet, but she got better.  Most would have written her off and figured it was her end.  Kassi had faith in the vet fixing her bunny and by golly that faith paid off!

Disneyland!!!

For Kassi's 5th birthday we went to Disneyland.  Now I don't know how we will ever top this birthday!  It was so much fun and we will go back some day.  We did so many fun things and enjoyed almost every minute of our vacation.  I don't even know where to start, here are a few of the over 500 pictures we have from our trip.  These pictures are all ones that the Disney photopass photographers took.  (What a great thing, we got so many pictures of all of us together!)

Disneyland at Halloween is amazing!  Everything is decorated and has lots of pumpkins.  We spent one night at the Halloween Party and Kassi got to meet her favorite princess.  We also got to see a lot of the villains which only come out for the Halloween Party's.

Our trip started out on Sunday night as we headed to Billings to spend the night so we could be at the airport by 4a.m.  Our flight was to leave at 6 and get us to Anaheim by 11a.m. that morning so we could have most of the day in the parks.  Yeah we got there by 11, 11p.m. that is!  What a horrible day to be flying.  Some of the people on our flight did not even get out of Billings that day, all because the flight attendant got sick!  The next flight we could catch out of Billings was at 11 a.m., this flight was late, but we had a 4 hour layover in Denver so it didn't matter to us.  Then our flight leaving Denver was late...  By the time we made it to the hotel all we wanted was a pillow.  We had been up since 3 a.m. and finally laid down around 11:30 p.m. Needless to say we didn't get going non too early the next day either.  We didn't even make into the park until late in the afternoon.  We did enjoy the Halloween Party though.  Our hotel was amazing too, we stayed at the Paradise Pier which is the lower end of the Disney Hotel's, but still a great place to stay.  Well worth the extra money!

Wednesday was Kassi's birthday and we had all sorts of big plans. We did a couple of rides before going to the Boutique so Kassi could see a fairy godmother in training and get her hair and makeup done.  I think this was her favorite part of the trip.  From there we headed over to Aerials Grotto for a late lunch.  We  had been told the food was not very good, but we really enjoyed it.  Everywhere we went that day people kept stopping us and commenting on how beautiful Kassi was and several asked if they could take her picture.  The cutest part was when a boy, probably around 13, saw her coming, got down on one knee, lowered his hat and said something along the lines of fair maiden.  Kassi thought that was so cool, that was something that would only happen to a real princess.

After Aerials Grotto we headed to Aladdin the Musical.  It was a great show.  The theater they hold this in is incredible.  One of the best things we did was later that night in the California Adventure Park.  We got front row seats for the World of Color!  Now that was an absolutely amazing show!  The water shot way higher than we though it would.  I had thought this would be neat, but it was way more than just neat.  We were also able to watch this from our hotel!  So we got to watch it a couple of nights.

Since we had spent a little bit of time in each park we decided that the next two days we would spend one whole day in each park.  In Disneyland we rode the tea cups, went through it's a small world, went to ToonTown, and did several other things.  The best thing that day was when we went on the Mark Twain's paddle boat...Kassi got to drive!

The next day we headed to California Adventure Park, I LOVED this part of the resort.  We visited Cars Land, Bugs Land, the Pier and went on so many different things I don't think I can remember the names of them all.  Our favorite was the Grizzly River Run, we had to do this one twice!  We also really enjoyed Soarin Over California.

We of course had to go to the Cozy Cone and get our cone drink.  We also ate at Flo's!













Kassi got to meet Russell after she finished his Redwood challenge.

We went on this trip thinking this would be the only time we went...we left trying to figure out when we could come back.  I had been to Disney World for a day when I was 11 and it was okay...  To get to spend a whole week here and see how excited Kassi got with everything we did was so wonderful.



 I love that we got so many family shots.  There was a bit of time where Wes went back to the hotel for awhile and Kassi and I spent a few hours on our own checking out some different things we liked so there are a few with just her and I.  Normally I am the one taking the pictures so there are very few with me in them.

Almost five years.

I should probably be doing some laundry or finishing our last minute preparations for going on vacation, but instead I am sitting here thinking back to nearly five years ago.  It was on September 19th that we received our formal acceptance from our agency.  They had told us that the average time for adoptive parents to wait was 7-9 months.  This was a very short time compared to other agencies we had spoken with, which was part of the reason we chose them, but that was only a small part.  Anyway on October 3rd I received a call at work from the agency.  We were gonna be parents, that day!  I was so overwhelmed with joy I was shaking and crying.  I could not wait to meet my baby girl.  I will never forget the moment I held her for the first time.

When Kassi was 18 months old we had this and much more made into a book for her.  She loves to hear her story and we love to tell it.  We always want her to be proud of who she is and never let anyone tell her any different.  

Next week my baby girl is going to turn five.  Happy birthday baby girl!

Preschool

Kassi has started her second year of preschool.  It is still amazing to me that they have to go to preschool for two years before they go to kindergarten and then kindergarten is a full day!  The things they are expected to know are just crazy.  I never went to preschool and had half days of kindergarten and I think I did okay.   I don't have any worries about what she will know and how she will do in kindergarten though.  As she is sitting here reading me a book right now!

The other day I picked her up from preschool and the teacher stopped me and said she needed to talk to me.  Of course my instant reaction is to think uh oh what did she do and I start to feel defensive.  So as everyone else is leaving I wait to hear what she is going to say.  She leans over and quietly says "I have to tell you...Kassi has a couple of kids who actually fight over her.  They fight over who gets to sit next to her, who is line by her, etc."  "So I asked her if she needed her upcoming vacation just to get away from these kids and she said yes, yes she did."  This was so not what I was expecting to hear.  I just kind of laughed and said "yeah she kind of has that affect on people."  Last year when she was out for her tonsils the teacher said some of the kids cried because she was out so long and when she got back they kept hugging her and telling her not be gone anymore.

I am not sure what to think of all the attention she gets, most kids and adults just adore her.  She makes friends wherever we go and people are always complimenting us on her.  Wes says it is a good thing he has a few shotguns for when she gets older.  I love how confident she is and how she is a leader and not afraid to  get up in front of a crowd.  All of these things I was not, and am not so it makes me really proud to watch her.  God truly blessed us five years ago!

Just a picture...

I just wanted to share one of my favorite pageant pictures of Kassi.  She was so cute in her 50's wear.  For her talent she danced to and sang "Rock Around the Clock".

No turning back now...

Well it is official now.  We signed a year contract with a Realtor so there is no turning back.

Here it is!

I am so nervous now.  We know what we want to do and we know that if everything goes as planned it will happen.  I think I am just scared of the unknown time, that time frame between selling our house and our new one being ready.  We have not decided on a firm plan for what we will do, and some of it depends on the time of year.  Our original plan was to stay in our camper on the lot we had found until our house was built, but due to covenants we aren't able to do that.  Now to decide if we try to park our camper somewhere else or just try and find somewhere to rent.  Where in the world are we going to find somewhere to rent with two dogs and a rabbit?  As a backup plan we have been looking at other houses and have decided that we do have lots of options, we just really have our hearts set on one specific place and house.

It is funny the realtor said that the average time a house is on the market is one year.  The last time someone told us the "average time" for something was when we were accepted by our adoption agency.  They told us the "average time for most placements was 7 to 9 months".  Two weeks later we got a call and were told we were going to be parents, that day!  I wonder if this "average time" will work the same way?

Nothing like midnight blogging...

I am so not a night owl.  So no this will not be a normal thing.  Just happens that Kassi and I have the flu so I don't think there will be much sleep tonight.  After an hour or more of clean up from her first spurt I do have to kind of laugh.  This will is the second time she has ever really had the flu.  The first time I am not sure if it was the flu or food poisoning, because we were both violently ill.  Come to think of it, it was about this same time a year ago.  We always get our flu shots in October, seems they don't work on the fall flu!  Anyway I have to kind of laugh, because each time now she has been in Wes and my bed when she got sick.  Fortunately Wes has been up and out of the bed each time.  I am however thankful that she was not in her top bunk.  I am dreading the day that happens as that will be one heck of a mess!  Poor kid, I know how I feel so I can only imagine how that poor little body must feel.  It is times like this when I feel absolutely useless as a parent, I can't take it away and make it all better and I hate that.

Since I don't foresee sleep in the near future I guess I could do some more catching up...I am supposed to be to work at 6 in the morning.  I don't think that is going to happen.

Kassi has started Kindergarten Prep.  She loves school and really wishes she could have started kindergarten this year, unfortunately she misses the cutoff date by about two weeks.  I think she can already do most everything that they do in kindergarten and would do really well, but I guess they have the rules in place for a reason.  It is hard to believe she is going to be five next month.  Of course as her mom I am going to feel this way, but I really do think she is super smart.  I hope she doesn't get bored with school though.  She already knows all of her sight words, can count to more than 100, figures addition and subtraction and is getting really good at reading.  She has been working on tying her shoes, now I don't know when kids are supposed to be able to tie their shoes, but she does pretty darn good.  Sometimes I think I need to step back some and remember she is not a baby anymore and that she can do a lot of things for herself without mommy stepping in!

For two years now we have promised Kassi that for her fifth birthday we would take her to meet the princesses.  It is hard to believe that we are now counting the days until we go and not the months or even weeks.  Well it is still a couple of weeks away, but it is close enough to count the days.  Kassi is so excited and kind of scared at the same time.  She tells me she is nervous about flying and being around so many people.  Truth be told I am pretty excited too.  I have had a lot of people tell me she is too young to take and we should wait.  I think right now is the perfect time.  She is almost tall enough for all of the rides, those she isn't I don't think we would go on anyway, she has an incredible memory, sometimes talking about things that happened when she was a baby, and even though she knows they are just "characters" she is so excited about meeting all of the characters from her favorite shows.  It has been a long time since I have been on a plane, around 20 years.  As a child I flew a lot and it never really bothered me, now I am not so sure.  Wes hates flying and flew for the first time two years ago.  Kassi is excited to fly for the first time, but is nervous.  So this could be an interesting flight.  I hope to have lots of pictures to share with everyone, but no guarantees as I might be too busy to take many!

Well we have gotten tired of answering all the calls and questions about us leasing our house, or doing a rent to own option, or providing owner financing so we went and met with the realtor on Friday.  He is supposed to come by this morning and take a look and get some pictures so we can get it on the MLS.  I guess I better call him and reschedule...  He says the market is pretty flooded with houses at the price we have set for our house.  I just hope ours has something the others don't and appeals to someone.  He said when you have so many in the same price range, it really tends to come down to the location and neighborhood.  I did notice though that most of the houses in the same price range were either much older, did not have four bedrooms and three baths, or were duplexes, which I guess could make ours standout a little bit more.  If it doesn't sell by next summer we will just stay here.  I am extremely nervous about all of this and have nights when I toss and turn worrying about everything turning out okay.

Well it has been quiet for a little while now so maybe I will try and get a little rest now.

Too long...

Wow has it really been that long since I have posted anything here?   I wonder if anyone has noticed?

It has been so long that it might take me awhile to figure this out again.  Of course I don't think it is all just my memory because I do think Blogger has a very different look.

I don't even know where to begin.  Kassi healed up really well after her surgery last winter.  She did have a bought with night tremors though.  I felt so bad, there was nothing I could do.  She has recovered from this though and is now sleeping well again. 

We have been so busy I don't even know where the last few months have gone. 

I guess I will go in order and touch on a few things and then maybe expand more in later posts.

We decided to let Kassi raise a couple of chicks this spring.  She really had fun with them and they were definitely her pets.  Unfortunately one of our neighbors decided to call the police and complain that they were too noisy...note their dogs bark all the time, but that doesn't seem to matter.  The rooster did make a little noise when I first let him out of the coop in the mornings, but it was not near as loud as the dogs barking or the party's that go on, during weeknights, sometimes almost all night long.  Anyway we decided to be good and a friend has agreed to foster Kassi's enormous chickens.  It may be a good thing that they are there for now as I don't think they would fit inside their coop anymore. 

Flower and Stormy at about 3 months old.

Kassi decided she wanted to be in a pageant so we agreed as long as it was an all natural one.  She won the local pageant which meant we were headed to state.  She did really well and got first runner up and State Tot Beauty.  Of course as her mom I think she is the greatest.  It was really fun to see just how outgoing she was compared to some of the girls.  While I wasn't sure what to expect I will admit that we made some good friends that I will look forward to seeing at the different pageants.

We had told Kassi that we would also let her get a rabbit when she had her chickens.  It just never seemed to work out, when the people we were going to get one from would have a litter ready we would be out of town or have something going on that kept us from getting one.  So when we went to fair and there were some for sale I let Kassi pick one and we brought it home with us.  Bunbun as I call her "Daisy" as Kassi calls her is now occupying the chicken coop.

Probably the biggest thing that is going on right now is that we have decided we have outgrown our house in town and are finally at a point where we are ready to move.  We are finally looking to move out of town and build a house.  I am so excited and nervous at the same time.  We have had the house listed by owner for awhile and have had a few bites, but honestly I have gotten tired of all those who want to know if we will rent to own, lease, or finance because they have bad credit, so I have contacted a realtor which we will meet with this week.  I think I am most nervous that our house just wont sell and then our hopes will be crushed.  Kassi's hopes will be crushed.

What else?  I know there is more...

I will get back to here...

So I just realized how long it has been since I have posted anything.  Yikes!  I don't have much time this morning so I will say I will get back to here in the near future.  So many things to update everyone on.

Before I go though do know that Kassi has recovered from her surgery and is doing very well.  She has some new interests which I will touch on later.

Picture Before Surgery

The large ball in the back is one of her tonsils.  And no you cannot see the uvula, because it is covered.

Here is a picture of Kassi's tonsils prior to surgery.  I tried to get a post surgery picture today, but she is too sore to open that wide so it will have to wait.

Post Surgery

Day one following surgery went really well.  Kassi is one tough cookie.  She even ate a grilled cheese sandwich for supper.  The doctor had said she needed to drink at least 15 oz of fluid a day otherwise she would get dehydrated.  Yesterday she drank 25 oz! 

This morning started out a little harder.  Which the doctor had warned us about.  He said the second morning is the hardest, because they are the driest on that morning.  Due to the doctor saying that 1 in 10 kids gets nausea from the codeine Kassi refuses to take it.  So this morning was hard until she started drinking and then things got better.  By 11 she had already drank 20 oz!!  She also ate some of a waffle.  She is one tough cookie.

I took two weeks off from work, just in case and I am not sure that I am going to get to actually take them off.  She is doing so well.  We do have to keep her home and rested for one whole week.  They warn that between 5 and 10 days they will lose their scabs and begin to bleed.  So we have to watch for this, but otherwise I think things are going excellently.

Surgery Day

Kassi had her tonsils and adenoids taken out on Thursday. 
We had to be at the surgical center at 9:30 a.m. so we spent the night in Billings.  When we got there the doctor was out in the waiting room talking to another set of parents whose daughter just had the same surgery.  They took us right into pre-op.  We talked to the doctor and the anesthesiologist.  Then after two hours the nurse came to get Kassi.  They gave Kassi a camera so she could take pictures.  Most of them are of things like the tv, her room curtain, the floor, but she did get one of her operating room and her nurse.  The hardest moment in my life as a mommy so far was having to let go of her so she could go to the operating room without me.  Next came the longest 45 minutes... 

When the doctor got done with her surgery he came out to the waiting room to let us know how it went.  He said her adenoids were not very big at all, but she did have a narrow nasal passage so it was good to get them out.  Then he said that she had as much scar tissue as an adult would have indicating that she had a serious infection behind one of her tonsils at one time.  This created an abscess.  I asked if having a fever of 103-104 for four days could have been indicative of such an infection.  He said yes that is likely.  At that point I got very upset at one of Kassi's doctors, as I had taken Kassi to the doctor for a fever of such and she told me it was nothing! 

After about 30 more minutes Kassi woke up in the recovery room and they came and got us.  She was really sleepy so she slept for about another hour.  The little girl that had gotten out of surgery when we came in was still in recovery and having a really tough time.  It made us feel really bad listening to her cry.  Kassi woke up and ate two popsicle's, drank a juice, ate a yogurt and asked the nurse for a veggie sub from Subway.  After about three hours in recovery, just to make sure she didn't get sick to her stomach, we headed for home.  Stopping at Subway on the way so she could eat her veggie sandwich on the ride home!  When we got home she had a cup of soup and headed to bed.

Posing in the waiting room.

Getting ready to go to the OR.

Showing off her grape lips in recovery.

Next Tonsil Chapter

We took Kassi to the ENT on Wednesday.  He said she has chronic tonsillitis and they have got to come out.  When we were there they were enlarged, but he said the infection was gone.  She had just gotten off of her third antibiotic so we thought we would be good until her surgery next week.  She was still asleep when I left this morning and when I came home at lunch I noticed her voice was the worst it had been.  When I looked at her tonsils they were the biggest they have been.  They were touching and the white was coming back.  I called the ENT, slightly panicked, because if she is talking like this I imagine she is having a hard time breathing too.  She says she is breathing fine, but I just don't know.  The ENT office said to start back on antibiotics and take her to the ER if I feel her airway is blocked at all. 

So here we are on antibiotic number four and me trying not to panic.  Being very familiar with the signs of lack of oxygen I am watching her closely.  I don't know what the ER here could do.  It's not like we have an ENT here that could take them out in an emergency situation.   So I wait, I watch and I worry.
 
I took a video for her to hear the difference in her voice now.

Bring on 2012

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012.

I wonder what the new year will bring us?

We do have a few things planned for the year.

Disneyland here we come!  We promised Kassi we would take her to see her Princesses for her 5th birthday and hope that Candy will be able to meet us there.  Kassi still has nine months to wait, but she is so excited.  To tell you the truth I am too.  I really think it will be a lot of fun and I always look forward to spending time with my family.

We are contemplating selling our house and building a new one.  I just don't know if I really want to.  It all makes since and we would have so much more room.  The dogs would have a bigger yard, we would have more room for company and Wes would have so much more garage space.  I also think we could have it all for what we are paying on our current mortgage.  So one would think it would be an easy decision.  It's not though.  Before Kassi was born it would have been easy, but now this is home.  This is where we have so many memories I just don't know if I can leave that all behind.

Several people around us are adding to their families this year and I am so excited and happy for them.  There will be lots of baby showers in 2012. 

As for anything else to come in 2012...I am not sure. 

I do hope to be able to see Candy this year.  It has been 2.5 years since we have seen her, unless you count Skype.  That's not near as long as it was the last time, but now that we have her back in our lives I just can't imagine her not being part of our family. 

We are so very blessed.  The year is getting off to a good start.   

I wish everyone the best in 2012.

Parent Teacher Conference

Wes and I went to Kassi's first parent teacher conference this week.  I have always been a very proud momma and this just made me even prouder.  Kassi's teacher showed us the picture of our family she had drawn.  It had the three of us and our two dogs.  The people even had all their fingers and toes.  She showed us Kassi's assessment's and said she is way ahead and more than ready for the kindergarten prep class next year.  She said that Kassi was by far the top of the class.  Kassi is very outgoing and is a leader.  We asked if these characteristics ever caused any trouble during class and were told that no actually they helped.  She said Kassi is the class leader.  Apparently she gets everyone lined out and tells them this what the teacher wants and it helps to get the others in the class to participate.  Overall she said Kassi is a real joy to have in her class.  As a parent of course you think these things about your child, that is your job.  To have them reaffirmed by the teacher, well that is just awesome.

The beginning of the tonsil story...

The first week in December I took Kassi to the doctor for a fever that was staying around 103 and would not go away, no matter what I tried.  I asked everyone I knew for advice on how to get her temperature down and nothing worked.  On day three I took her to the doctor.  The doctor's response..."I don't see anything wrong with her, unless her symptoms change she is fine."  So I take her home, mad that she didn't really seem to care that my baby was running a high fever that would not go away.  To me that says something is wrong.

A week or so later Kassi says she has a sore throat.  It was on a day after she had spent the night at my parents house and she tends to have some drainage after being there.  I think it is from their wood stove.  We run a large area air purifier in our house so she the air is really clean.  Anyway the next morning my step mom calls and says Kassi says her throat still hurts, but she has no fever.  I let her go ahead and go to preschool.  I pick her up from preschool and look in her throat and take her straight to the doctor.  Again we get the doctor that told us to go home when she had her fever.  She tests her for strep which comes back positive.  We go pick up the prescription for Amoxicillin and head home. 

After eight days of this there is no change in Kassi's throat.  Her tonsils are still covered in white and are so swollen they touch in the back of her throat.  Still no fever or any other symptoms.  I call the doctors office and talk to the nurse.  The nurse tells me that it is common for them to remain swollen after being infected.  I argue that something is wrong.  She talks to the doctor and the doctor prescribes antibiotic number two, Omnicef.  We start on this.

After four days there is no change.  Actually at this point I think they look worse. 
I decide it is time to make sure we get in to Kassi's normal doctor instead of his partner.  So off we go.  He looks in her throat, backs away and shakes his head.  He reads her chart and asks questions about everything that happened since the fever we were told was nothing.  After some discussion he checks her spleen and a few other things.  He says yes she had tested positive for strep, but he thinks there is an underlying condition naming either mono or staph.  He says that it is really rare for mono to be in children Kassi's age and after checking a few other things he does not believe that is what it is.  He starts her on antibiotic number three, Clindamiacin, and a small burst of Prednisone to get the inflammation down enough that the antibiotic can get into the tonsils and work.  He did not test her for staph so we do not know if that is really what is causing all of this.  He says her tonsils have to come out or this will continue to happen every time she catches any viral or bacterial infection.  The big concern at this time is to make sure they do not get any bigger and keep her from eating or breathing.  He says to call back on Tuesday and if there is any change over Christmas to take her to the ER and page him.  He also says that the worst case scenario would be for the ENT to be three weeks out and Kassi be out where she can get infected again.  (Hence the going nowhere rule in effect.)

Tuesday gets here and the tonsils really don't look a lot different than they had.  He says to continue on with the antibiotic for five more days.  (This really scares me, because this is antibiotic is very hard on the system.)  I ask about the ENT referral.  The nurse says it is common for them to be two to three weeks out for the consult and with the holidays...  I remind her that the doctor said she needed to get in as soon as possible.  Later in the day I get a call back.  Kassi has her consult with the ENT on January 4th.  I guess this is acceptable with the holidays as I am sure they are closed for several days.

How do her tonsils look now with only one day of antibiotic number three left?  Well...one looks better some of the inflammation has gone down and most of the white is gone.  The other one not so much.  Most of the white is gone, but now, to me, it appears to be abscessed.  She is eating well, and says she is breathing okay.  I have caught her choking on her saliva when she is asleep, but she wakes up, gets re situated, swallows it down and goes back to sleep.  She is also terrified of having her tonsils out.  I try to reassure her and be strong.  (Truth be told, Mommy is terrified right now too and just really wants to know what the ENT is going to say.)

Now we wait.  Wednesday seems like such a long time away and I want to scream at the ENT scheduling office "Get her in sooner!", but I know that will not help.  I am not sure what to expect when we go.  Kassi's pediatrician said they cannot take them out when they are this swollen, but the worst thing would be to have to wait for the surgery.  What will they do then with the one that will not go down?  How long out will her surgery be?  Do I dare let her go back to school before then?  There are just so many things I do not know right now.

Christmas

Starting off Kassi was pretty upset with me about Christmas.  You see she has been fighting some kind of infection for several weeks and our third visit to the doctor was on the Friday before Christmas.  It was at that time when the doctor said her tonsils were going to need to come out, but before we could do that we had to get the inflammation and infection out of them.  Sounds easy except she had already been on two rounds of antibiotics.  So we started on antibiotic number three and Kassi was banned from leaving the house and we asked that anyone that was or thought they might be sick stay away.

This really saddened Kassi as it meant she was not going to get to see her cousin, she was not going to get to see all of her uncles and she was not going to get to see her aunt.

Even though I rained on her parade I think she still had a good Christmas.  We spent Christmas Eve with Wes' dad and step mom like we do every year.  Kassi made sure Grandma Becky read her some of her new stories.  Then on Christmas morning my parents came in and enjoyed watching Kassi opening some of her gifts.  After everything was open we hung out and played with all the new goodies.  Just the three of us.  It was really enjoyable.  Later that evening Wes' brother and mom came by and we opened some more gifts. 

In years past Kassi has been very overwhelmed with gifts.  So much so that some times she was not even getting everything open.  She would open a few and just want to play with them.  This year we decided to have a talk with Santa and limited him to the five main things Kassi wanted and a couple of little things.  We also scaled back.  Instead of several smaller things we decided to buy a Wii and some games to go with it.  When we did this we weren't sure if Kassi was really going to like it yet or not being so young.  She opened it and asked "Does this mean I get to play video games?"  I answered yes and she responded with "You are the best Mommy and Daddy ever."  She really enjoys playing the hunting games.  I think her other favorite Christmas present was actually one of mine.  Wes bought me a Kindle Fire (which is soooooo awesome) and the kid spends more time on it than I do. 

Dogs

I am sitting here with two very wet and stinky dogs!

It has been over a year since we made the extremely hard decision to put our Daisey dog to rest.  Even with as long as it has been I still have a hard time with this.  I miss my pup she was along side me through so much.  I always tell Wes and Kassi that these two mutts we have now are theirs and I don't have a dog anymore because I don't want one.  Truth be told I just don't want to get attached to them, but I think I have.  Even with all their little quirks.

Nina (aka Bug and Bugaboo) 20 months old

This is a dog that lives to hunt.  She does not have an off switch when we go out.  All she wants to do is find birds.  Most days Wes takes her hunting he has to drag her back to the truck.  She eats very little and runs constantly, unless she is in the house.  We found out this summer that she has some stomach issues and has to be on a special diet and take belly pills.  It scares me how thin she is.  It does not matter that we feed her wet food she still does not gain weight.  Once she comes in the house she calms down and lays right down.  She loves to cuddle up close and be held.  She really does think she is a lap dog.  As she gets older she gets more protective of Kassi and I.  So much so that she has to be kept in her kennel at night in case Wes comes in late from a fire call or his shift.  I do really think she would eat someone.  She loves people, but if she thinks they are intruding on us especially when she is close she gets very angry.  Nina has always been a digger and chewer and it does not matter what you do.  She has outgrown some of her chewing as long as she is alone.  When her and Minnie are together they tend to terrorize each other and tend to tear things up, more by one trying to take it away from the other.

Minnie Mouse (aka Monster and Squeakers) 6 months old

When we went to get Minnie she was the calmest, sweetest puppy in the litter.  She picked Kassi and there was no turning back.  Minnie gets car sick and it does not matter how far you go you can generally guarantee she is going to get sick (so she must always ride in her kennel).  She is a ball of fire and a little thick headed.  She gets so excited when she sees you that she squeaks like a mouse.  Once she calms down though she is very sweet and always has to see where Kassi is.  She gets very upset if Kassi is not here and loves to snuggle with Kassi in the mornings.  She is only six months old and weighs as much as Nina does.  She does not have the hunting drive that Nina does, but she tries.  She does stay a lot closer to us than Nina does which is a good thing because she just does not have the stamina to keep up with Nina.

So that's our girls.  They are honory, hyper and can drive me nuts, but they can also be the calmest, sweetest girls.