Ear Tubes Round # 2

Liam finally slept last night through the whole night, first time in 3 weeks since his ear problems came back

Our poor Liam cannot catch a break when it comes to getting sick and he has had a rough time with his ears since he was about 6 months old.  About 3 weeks ago, I came home from work and was spending some cuddle time with my boy.  He loves his head rubbed, and I noticed he had some dry yuckiness on his ear when I was playing with his curly hair.  When I looked closer he had drainage from both ears.  I figured he had an ear infection and the ear tubes he had placed last year were doing their job and draining the infection.  Up until now, his ear problems had vanished once he had the tubes put in.  We monitored his ears through the weekend, which continued to drain, then on Monday it was back to the doctor we went.  His ears had started draining green fluid at some point throughout the night.  Unfortunately we only got to see the PA and she said she couldn't visualize the tubes, but said he had a pretty good infection going, and put him on antibiotic ear drops.  By the end of the antibiotic coarse, his ears looked normal again!!

Unfortunately about 4 days after we stopped the antibiotic, the ears started draining again.  I used the drops again we had been given, but there wasn't any change, and poor Liam was not getting any sleep at night.  Last Wednesday morning after he ate breakfast, I noticed "something green" laying on the outer part of his left ear.  Crap, his left ear tube had fallen out.  I got him back into the doctor that afternoon, and I was happy to be able to see his pediatrician that had followed his ear problems last year.  He said Liam had a big infection going on in the left ear and put Liam on two antibiotics. He said the right ear looked great, but the left ear was very infected.  He also said we needed to take Liam back to Phoenix to see the specialist who put his tubes in to see if Liam needed another surgery and have his hearing checked.  I called his doctor in Phoenix, and the soonest appointment they had was Feb. 24th, that was no good for this Mama that had a child with crap draining from his ear and was in so much discomfort from the pressure in his ear.  I called again the next day, and luckily they got us in yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday we drove up to Scottsdale to see Liam's ear specialist.  He said Liam's right ear looked great, but that he didn't like the way the left ear looked.  Liam's left ear is completely full of fluid again.  Liam passed his hearing test, but the doctor isn't sure how much Liam is actually hearing from the left ear, if anything and thinks his right ear is overcompensating for the left ear.  Due to the two infections he has had in the past three weeks, the doctor says it is best to do another surgery and put a second set of tubes in.  He doesn't want his learning and speech to be affected by the left ear if we wait or for his ear to get further damage if he continues to have more infections.  The office should be calling by the end of the week to schedule his surgery, and we hope he has it sooner than later, because he will be finished with his antibiotics on Wednesday, and we don't want his ears to get infected again.

Making Progress....

It's hard to believe our boy is 21 months old already, time is flying by, and I wanted to share what our little guy has been up too.

                                                  He loves to eat!!!

At his 15 month check-up, he wasn't talking.  He called both me and my husband "mama" and pointed or cried for what he wanted.  I discussed this with my pediatrician, and she said he could be delayed because of all the problems he had with his ears or because he is a boy and boys can be "lazy" compared to girls.  She suggested we say everything he asks for several times so he hears the word, continue to read to him, and talk to him about what's going on around him in his world.

Within the last 2 1/2 months or so, I am happy to say Liam has made so much progress in his speech, even saying two syllable words.  It seems like he remembers words more once he hears them, and has something new to say everyday!!  I have noticed he gets a lot less frustrated now because he can tell us more about what he wants or doesn't want.

We continue to talk to him, pronounce things he wants, and read to him; but his speech has made huge improvements.  Unfortunately his ears are giving him problems again, and we will probably be going back to see his ear specialist to check on the tubes and have his hearing checked.

We are so proud of him!!! We know he is very, very smart, but he just didn't know how to say what was on his mind.  We mostly think it's because he wasn't hearing properly before the tubes were placed, and he just had to play catch up.

Mommy loves you Liam bean!!!!

Happy New Year from the Fitzgeralds!!!

We just got home from a fun filled family weekend in San Diego with our children and my husband's family.  Usually I end up having to work on New Year's, so we were excited to get out of town.  We drove up to San Diego Thursday night when I got off work. 

Friday after we all got up, our family,  my two sister-in-laws, nieces and nephew drove to Lego Land.  It was a little cold, but we all had a blast.  It was our first time taking the kids to Lego Land and they loved it!  After Lego Land, we drove back to San Diego to meet my mother and father-in-law at the hotel we were all staying at to spend New Year's.  It was also time to say bye to my sister-in-law Tracy and our niece and nephew because they had to go back to Florida after the holiday.  It was great getting to see them over Christmas, and we are looking forward to seeing them again this summer.

                                                   Liam & our niece Kaitlyn

                                         Liam lost his pillow(Rylie's shoulder)

                                                               Pirate Rylie

Saturday Bill and my mother-in-law took our kids to the beach while me, my sister-in-law Melissa, and niece Kaitlyn went shopping and got pedicures(relaxing).  Once we were done at the mall, we headed back to meet everyone for New Year's Eve dinner.  Unfortunately Liam was not liking sitting still at all, so everyone was taking turns entertaining him in between eating.  I felt bad that we couldn't enjoy a quiet dinner, but with an almost two year old, it isn't surprising.

We drove back today from San Diego after spending a nice weekend with our family.  We learned that we most likely will not be eating out at a restaurant until Liam outgrows the, "I don't care if you wanna have a nice sit-down dinner out, I wanna climb out of my highchair and run around!!!" stage.

We are looking forward to the New Year and the exciting things our family is going to experience.  I will start a new job at the end of the week on the Pediatric floor of the hospital I work for now, our Rylie will be turning 5 years old and Liam will be 2 years in April, we will be registering Rylie for kindergarden, with her starting in August, and our third child will be here in May!!!

We hope everyone has a healthy and blessed New Year!!!!

Our Baby is a ......!

So with all the excitement of Christmas, I just found time to blog/announce the sex of our third child.  On Friday we had our ultrasound appointment, and got some great pictures of our little one.  Today marks 20 weeks pregnant and half way til we get to meet our baby.  Right now the baby weighs 11 ounces and is about the length of a banana.  I am feeling more and more movement everyday!  We decided to keep the sex of our baby to ourselves until Christmas Eve to share with the rest of our family when they came over.  Bill helped Rylie cut in to the gender cake to reveal a blue or pink center. Our family was devided pretty evenly on who thought the baby was a girl and who thought it was a boy!

                                               Profile of our baby

We are happy to announce

                                                              It's A

                                                               BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are very excited about the new addition we are expecting to our family!

Pregnancy Update: 19 weeks and Counting

Today marks I am 19 weeks pregnant, I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going, and that I'm almost half way there to meeting our third child.  I definitely look pregnant now, and I look and feel bigger than I was at this point last time when I was pregnant with Liam.  I hear it's normal to get bigger faster the more babies you have, it doesn't make me feel better about my expanding waistline though.  I asked Bill last night, if he wanted to get me a Christmas present that he could carry the baby for the next 4 months, he just looked at me and smiled.

Rylie asks me everyday if I have a baby in my belly and when is the doctor going to get "her" out.  She is in total denial that she could be having a brother. I asked her if she would be okay if she had another brother and she replied, "Yes, a brother would be okay, but then could you give me a sister?"  I told her mommy wouldn't be having any other babies and she might just have two brothers.  I feel bad and if I could guarantee her a sister, I would have one more(Bill will probably roll his eyes at this), but since we don't get to pick a boy or a girl, we are stopping at three children no matter the sex.  All that matters is a healthy baby, and I'm sure Rylie will love and accept her brother or sister.

I do have a few pregnancy cravings.  My favorite breakfast is cinnamon/raisin bagels with honey nut cream cheese and butter with chocolate milk to drink.(explains my expanding waistline right!)  I love milk when I am pregnant, it has been that way with all of my pregnancies, and I can't get enough of it.  I crave Mexican food, we are having a Mexican food themed Christmas Eve dinner!  I also crave a big cheeseburger every now and then.

I am pretty much over my morning sickness.  Brushing my teeth does make me gag and sometimes vomit.  I know it's weird and I've tried different toothpastes, but I still gag.  Some patients come into work smelling like cat, makes me sick, as well as smelling smoke and raw meat.  I am happy that most of my nausea is gone.

We find out the sex of our baby on Friday, and we are very excited to finally know if we are having a boy or girl.  Hopefully the little stinker cooperates so we can see between the legs!!  We have been told by three different ultrasound techs what the baby mostly likely is (shh, don't tell my mom, she will hold her Christmas cookies hostage for not telling her), but we are keeping it to ourselves until Christmas Eve when all of our family comes over.  I still don't believe the sex that the ultrasound techs have told me. I just had in my mind what the baby was when I found out I was pregnant and I am unsure of what they see the baby is.  We will find out for sure who is right on Friday!

So that's the scoop on what has been going on with the baby, the pregnancy is going pretty good so far.  I will post some baby bump pictures soon.  Once we share with our family what the baby is, I will try to blog our ultrasound and some pictures of our growing baby.

Getting All Caught Up & Ready for Christmas

I've been a bad blogger, mainly because we've been so busy.  Sure I've made sure to catch up on my friend's blogs during the kid's nap time, but my blog has been neglected. So you'll have to read my previous posts, back-dated, to get all caught up on what the family I love so much as been up too!

We are getting all ready for Christmas, actually I'm much more ahead of the game than I was last year.  I do apologize to those just now getting their Christmas cards.  I had to finish a thirty page paper for one of my classes to wrap up the semester, and when I tried to get to the post office during the flooding rain on Tuesday, well the drive thru lane was flooded and I wasn't going to risk my children's lives trying to make it through a flooded street to mail Christmas cards. I hope they are worth the wait, and if I had to be slacking on the whole Christmas front, then mailing our Christmas cards late is my slacking moment.

As far as Christmas shopping, I'm pretty much done. I have a few things left to get, but my plan is to wrap up all shopping and having to go out to any store, including a gas station by the 23rd.  This pregnant mama is not going to be fighting through any crowds or traffic trying to get last minute Christmas items or anything that makes me have to deal with people other than my family.

The kid's are very excited for Christmas! Okay Rylie is the only one really excited, but Liam does love the decorations and lights.  I get excited for Christmas too, not because of gifts, but because I get to see Christmas through their eyes and make Christmas special for them, like my mom always did for me.  I love hearing, "Mom our tree is beautiful," "Our gingerbread house is so cool," and "Daddy you did a good job hanging up the lights." See for Rylie and Liam(when he gets older), it's not about presents, it's about the traditions and memories of Christmas that we are making together as a family.

This week we will be wrapping up last minute Christmas details, doing Christmas projects with the kids, and getting ready for our 2nd annual Christmas Eve dinner at our house.  Last year was the first year we stayed home on Christmas Eve and had people over. We kept it small, only having my friends and parents over, but this year it grew to my parent's, my in-laws, Bill's brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews for dinner.

Christmas Eve dinner will be very special because we will be revealing to our family if our third child is a boy or a girl. Yep on Friday the 23rd, we finally will see on ultrasound if I am carrying a boy or a girl.  Then, we will keep it a secret until Saturday night at our Christmas Eve dinner.

I hope everyone has a great week as the countdown to Christmas is here, and nobody goes insane trying to get last minute Christmas stuff done!!!

Raining Christmas Project

Today, it has been pouring rain all day long!  Most people in Yuma welcome rain since we NEVER get it, but I hate it, especially with two small kids.  When I went to get them from preschool today, it was still pouring, so I had to make a plan to get them to the car and keep them as dry as possible.  I decided to run with Rylie to the car first, however I needed to hurry to get her coat on and make it out before Liam saw me.  Well the plan failed because it took a little while to find Rylie's coat and Liam saw me only taking Rylie.  Poor guy had a meltdown, thinking mama was leaving him at preschool and only taking Rylie home.  Luckily his teacher held him until I could run back in and grab him.  He practically dove into my arms!  I kept telling him I wasn't leaving him, but until he was in my arms, he wasn't so sure.

I decided since it had rained all day and the kids hadn't got to play outside, that I wanted to do a fun project with them.  I decided we were going to make a gingerbread house.  Rylie was excited and Liam could care less, except for the candy.  So Rylie and I spent a couple hours making our gingerbread house, and I think Rylie ate just as much frosting and candy as went on the house!  It was a fun project and Rylie says, "Our gingerbread house is so cool mom!"
                                           Our finished project and Rylie