Kaylyn's Surgery

Today Kaylyn had her scheduled surgery at Children's hospital to scope her Airway to find out why she was getting croup so often and so severely.

It seems as though every time Kaylyn so much as gets a runny nose, within hours we are off to the ER to get her medicine to open up her airway so she can breath. After several episodes within a short period of a few months, her ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) Dr. recommended that we have her scoped to see what was going on.

So today was the day. Her surgery was not scheduled until 4pm, which made for a very long day of her not eating or drinking anything prior to the surgery. We thought it was cruel for her to see Kylee eat anything, so Keith took Kylee out to get her some food, and I kept Kaylyn busy. Although she did very well throughout the morning, and was in very good spirits, by early afternoon she knew she was hungry and was asking for food. It is awful to have to tell your hungry child that she cannot have anything to eat.

We had to get there by 2 to get checked in. By 3 we met with the Dr's and anesthesiologist and they took her back. Within 10 minutes the Dr came back with a picture and told us that they found multiple cysts in her airway (the culprit of the croup!), and they wanted our consent to take care of them. Of course we consented. The Dr explained that they scrape them off, and suck them out. There were 4 in all. The entire procedure lasted a little over an hour, and the Dr came out and talked with us when it was over to reassure us that everything went great.

The Dr explained to us that there is a possibility that the cysts can return, so she will have to follow up with her again in May to check her progress and we may have to repeat this surgical procedure up to 3 times. More than likely the cysts are a result of Kaylyn being intubated for 2 weeks when she was born.

Kaylyn spent about an hour in recovery. She was a little grumpy at first (understandably so), but as soon as they brought her a Popsicle she cheered up quite a bit. We were then clear to go home. More than anything I think she was happy to be reunited with Kylee!

As scary as it was to have Kaylyn go through this procedure, it is very comforting to finally have some answers. We have been dealing with Croup for almost a year and a half now and instead of it getting better, it was seemingly getting worse. Hopefully this will solve that problem, and we have seen the last of the croup!!

Here is a picture of her Airway. Those Bumps that you see are the Cysts, and have since been removed.

Mini-Bunks

I am so thankful to be married to a man with so many talents. Sometimes I feel like there is nothing that he can't do. He always finds a way....

We had a little sleeping dilemma in our Trailer down at the river when it came to the girls. It has 2 Twin sized beds in it, but no way to attach bed rails to it and it's pretty high off the ground. We were concerned that they weren't quite ready that transition yet. In the meantime, we had been using Crib mattresses on the floor, but neither one of us really loved the idea of them sleeping on the floor either.

So one afternoon we were discussing this issue and brainstorming possible solutions and we both thought it would be cool if we could bunk them somehow. That's when Keith took the idea and ran with it.

Within hours he was at Home depot purchasing the supplies to build a mini-bunk bed, and he got right to work. The girls had a blast helping Daddy build their new beds. All Keith had was the measurements of the mattresses, and the rest he built as he went along. Apparently the plans were in his head all along. From start to finish, Keith had it completed within a matter of hours.

They turned out Awesome!! They are only a little over 3 feet off the ground, and are incredibly sturdy. Keith built the ladder at an angle (more like stairs) so the girls could get up and down safely with ease.

I thought for sure we were going to have a huge battle over who was going to sleep on top but amazingly enough Kaylyn declared the bottom bunk as her own, and Kylee took the top bunk. No problems whatsoever. Who would have known???

Needless to say, they were a success!!!

I Refuse to be Outsmarted by a 2 year old!

If there is one thing I love about my girls, it is their strong will! If there is one thing that frustrates me and wears on my patience more than anything about my girls, it is their strong will! These two constantly keep me guessing and on the edge of my seat, and this potty training adventure has been no different.

So I think where we left off last, Kylee was pretty much trained and Kaylyn had no interest at all.

Well within the last week Kaylyn asked to use the potty and this time she actually took to it! Success!! She has now been accident free for 3 days! Yay!!

BUT (there is always a But isn't there!), since Kaylyn has started using the potty, Kylee had completely regressed. She wouldn't use the potty at all, and she was having accidents left and right.

They completely pulled a fast one on me, and switched!!

One of the cornerstone's of Potty Training, in everything you read, is that you cannot get upset when your kid has an accident. Well, what if your kid purposefully soils the carpet, then do you have a right to get upset? And yes, I do mean Purposefully! After multiple accidents in one day, I finally put a diaper on Kylee. She fought it at first, but left it on for about 30 minutes until she then decided to take it off and pee right in the middle of the floor! She knew exactly what she was doing, and walked over to me and told me I needed to go clean up the Pee on the Carpet! Are you kidding me?!?!

I don't get it. Nothing had changed. She still gets just as much praise and stickers as she always had. What gives?

I knew it was too good to be true. No way could I have both of them trained and out of diapers that easily. And I was right!

They say that you shouldn't bribe your kid's, well I say you have to do what works. So bribery it was!

Yesterday after Kaylyn's 2nd day of Potty Success. I rewarded her at the end of the day with an ice cream. Ice cream is a big deal in our house, and Kylee was not happy that she did not get to partake in this special treat. I thought for sure that this was the motivation she needed to get back on the bandwagon.

I got her up this morning. We had the "talk" about no accidents, and Pee-pee goes in the potty, and wouldn't you know it 5 minutes later she peed right in the middle of the carpet!

Now I am waving my white flag!

I give up! I don't care if this kid goes to college in diapers. I am tired of cleaning carpets! Especially for a kid that *knows* how to use the potty, but for whatever reason is refusing to do so! So back to diapers for Kylee it was....

Then something magical happened at 5 o'clock tonight. Kylee told me she had to pee, I took her diaper off, and she Peed in the Potty!! I don't think I have made a bigger deal about anything in my life! I am still not even sure what caused the change of heart, but whatever it was I am not questioning it!

An hour and a half later, she put herself on the potty and peed again.....in the POTTY!!! WooHoo! Maybe we are making progress??

So, at the end of this day I am cautiously optimistic that Kylee is back on board with this Potty Training thing. I am also so proud of how well Kaylyn is doing! I feel like we are so close, yet so far away! I guess we shall wait and see what tomorrow brings!