Will it ever stop?

Will the big man upstairs EVER cut me a break??? I am thinking NOT!

As I posted before, Carson had a few doctors appointments this week. On Tuesday we met with the ENT. He tested her hearing, checked for fluid behind her ear drums, and was ever so nice to tell us she has a lower tone hearing loss AND she needs to have surgery to put tubes in her ears. Great. Oh but wait - it gets better. On Thursday we meet with the opthamologist. Carson has a clogged tear duct. Wanna take a guess at what he told me??? If you guess SURGERY - You WIN!

It has just been a nightmare for this tiny tot.

Ok, I understand that each surgery last a whole 10 minutes, but it's the fact that she has to go under for each that kills me. In between appointments and a rummage sale I did a little research and figured a few things out. Carson's Eye doc is at Children's in Milwaukee. The ENT is here in town. So, I decided to find a ENT at Children's so the 2 docs can work together during ONE surgery. Doing it this way postpones her tubes by almost 2 months, but I think it will be better that she only has to go under once instead of twice.

She is truely becoming my MILLION dollar baby.

~NICU bill for 26 days: $700,000 dollars

~MRI for Craniosynstosis: $4,000 dollars

~Surgery for Craniosynostosis w/room and board: $150,000 dollars

*Each and every day with my baby: priceless.

The View

Just a few things that hang on our walls -

Matt and I had this made in Key West on our honeymoon.

Our neighbors were throwing away this old window and decided to use it for our "art work".

We got this as a wedding gift.

A picture of all four kids "piggies"

A hand painted plate from Mexico

What's on your walls?

Mumbo jumbo

I know I haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog. It has just been so hard to get a few minutes to type. It's summer time and everyone wants to be on the go!!!


This week is no different. Tuesday, Carson has an appointment with the ENT - Ear, nose, and throat guys. We are trying to figure out why she has been struggling with ear infections. They will check for fluid, they will do a hearing test, and let us know if she needs tubes or not. Wednesday, Carson and Cooper have and appointment with their physical therapist who is from the county Birth to 3 program - that is at our house. Thursday morning, Carson has an appointment with the Ped. Opthamologist (sp?). He is with Children's hospital, but we got lucky and got in while he is here in our town. We believe Carson has a clogged tear duct. Not sure what they will do, but we have been told that she may need a minor surgery to fix it. Thursday afternoon I am going to try to get a rummage sale started, and Carson and Cooper have an appointment with the Early Childhood teacher who is also through Birth to 3 - at our house. Friday, I am going to continue my rummage sale and get packed for our trip on Saturday. Saturday, My mom, all 4 of my kids, and I are driving out to New Jersey to see my grandma. In between, we will be staying for few days at my MIL and we'll stop to see my cousin in PA. I think we will be gone for 10 - 12 days.


Sometime during this week I will take time to use the bathroom, take a shower, do the dishes, clean the house, feed the kids the dog and my dear husband, and if I am lucky, I will get in a few loads of laundry.

Oh yah, and today - I finally hit a loss of 80 lbs! Wahoo!

Man's best friend ~ again

OK, so I know all of you are going to think I am totally whacked, but I have an announcement to make. We have an addition to our crazy family. Let me be the first to introduce to you Jake, our new 6 month old black lab.

It's kind of funny how Jake (aka CoCo) came to us. Friday there had been a bunch of rummage sale within a couple of blocks of our house so I decided to take the kids for a walk. The first sale we stopped at was just about 5 house down from ours. I had bought an almost new Britax Marathon car seat for 35.00 and JAKE! Yup, We bought Jake at a rummage sale. The family that was having the sale - their daughter and her family live in an apartment and they are going to be moving. They have 2 dogs, but could only take one to the new place so they had decided that Jake need to find a new home. He was perfect and I fell in love. He is house trained, kid trained (they have a 4 yr old boy), he came with all of his shots and was very well behaved.

When Matt came home for lunch, the kids and I walked him down so he could meet Jake (aka CoCo). 15 minutes later, Jake was on his way back to our house!

He is such a good dog - we couldn't be happier.

This past Saturday, Appleton had their annual Flag Day Parade. This parade is the longest parade in the US. The twins club that we belong to walked in it. This is our 3rd yr walking. It was a ton of fun. This year is also Appleton's 150 yr birthday and because of that, the University of Wisconsin's' marching band was asked to join the parade. If of you know anything about the UW band - you'll know that they are a fun and crazy group. After every football game they play what is called a "5Th quarter". They play a ton of fun songs that everyone gets up and dances to. Anyhow, unexpectedly, we were lined up right behind them in the parade. It was fun to listen to their " 5Th quarter" music while we walked.

Hope all of you had a great weekend.