Toddler Sleep Study

So I guess it's been a long time since I have blogged about my family.  I've been doing some soul searching recently and realized how much I missed my blog.  Not because I truly enjoy writing or think anyone really enjoys reading, but it really is a great way to document and be able to look back on our kids little lives, which are flying by way too quickly.  Hopefully later this week I will be able to do a quick update post on the family again, but for now I just wanted to document my experience with having a sleep study done with my toddler.

Kayla (almost 4.5 years old! what?!?) had tubes put in her ears for consistent fluid and ear infections about 18 months ago.  It has been great since then.  We went for a 6 month follow up with the ENT doc last June and were supposed to go back in December for another follow up 1 year post, however I was putting it off because I didn't know how much it was needed and I wasn't the biggest fan of the ENT we had seen.  Recently, it seems that her snoring has gotten worse, teachers at day care have mentioned things to me, and she and I had a sleep over in her bed one night because she had been so great at bedtime for an extended period without me begging.  This "sleep over" turned into her sleeping and me up all night, literally, just making sure she was breathing.  Her snoring is like an old, large truck driver - huge, extensive noises coming from a very petite little girl.  I couldn't sleep due to the snoring and then between snores, I found myself staring at her chest almost willing it to move.  I was pretty convinced she wasn't breathing in these 6-10 second breaks between snores.  Bolstered by the fact at the end of the pauses she was taking large gasping breaths, I decided to set up another follow up appointment with a different ENT to check the status of her tubes and talk about her snoring.

The new ENT was super nice, Kayla was extremely well behaved.  One ear tube is still perfectly in place, one has pretty much fallen out but there is no sign of infection in the ear.  The ENT said her tonsils were very "significant" and said we had two options: 1. just have her tonsils and adenoids taken out or 2. have a sleep study done to find out exactly what is going on.  I opted for the sleep study since she has been snoring for pretty much her whole life and I had only experienced this fear of her not breathing the one night I slept with her.  So we scheduled a sleep study for the next week.

Oh yeah, we are expecting Baby Hales #3 incase you weren't aware already!

We arrived at 8:30 for the sleep study.  Kayla was pretty anxious and nervous, clung to my side, but overall did great.  We filled out some paperwork, get settled into our small room and watched the end of the Blackhawks Stanley Cup playoff game.  The tech then came in to put the "stickers" or monitors on Kayla.  These monitors involved 14 stickers on her head, 1 on her neck, 2 on her chest, 4 on her legs and a finger (pulse oximeter).  She was actually quite good during the placement of all these stickers, and actually was extremely fascinated by the red light on her pointer finger.  When I turned the lights off, she even was shaking her finger around to see the little red light in the mirror on the back of the door. This whole thing was pretty painless, but pretty jarring to see as a parent.  She looked like she was getting out of brain surgery, but all it was was little electrodes on her head.

No so sure about this. 

Warming up to the process

What is that thing?

Eventually, probably around 9:30-10:00 we went to sleep.  Well, she went to sleep and I lie awake for pretty much the whole night.  At first, I was worried she would have a great night where she failed to snore and was breathing normally. Then the snoring began, I was already emotional about her looking like she did and my nerves were on high trying to figure out if my little girl would have to have some surgery or something worse.  The snoring seemed worse than normal and the lack of breathing seemed worse than before as well.  I have never wanted to get out of a place and go home as much as I did this night.  Kayla slept great, we even had to change her nasal cannula in the middle of the night and she barely stirred.  At 6:15 am, the tech woke us up and came into our room to remove all the stickers from Kayla.  This was the worst part.  Kayla cried a bunch because I'm sure it felt terrible removing all the tape, etc.  Her sensitive skin turned red almost immediately but I was so glad to be headed home.  The tech said to me, "You didn't sleep much did you?"  I said, "No, I'm already anxious and it's impossible to sleep when you are laying next to your daughter who you KNOW isn't breathing properly."  She said that she couldn't say anything but "we got what we needed."

Showing off her little red light finger

We stopped for breakfast and donuts on the way home and were home by 7:30 probably.  We took it VERY easy all morning and watching movies huddled together in the basement.  Then the waiting to here from the doctor began.  

I did hear from the doctor last Thursday (5 days after the sleep study), which wasn't so bad, except it was in the morning while I was waiting to begin my last weekend intensive of prenatal yoga teacher training (more on that in a later post). She has SEVERE obstructive sleep apnea and the ENT suggested a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, so we are in the process of trying to schedule the surgery ASAP, as I can barely check on her at night without crying due to the fact she isn't breathing properly.  I know it's a pretty routine, quick surgery, but my little toddler is still having SURGERY.  I'm nervous and anxious and I just want it to be over so we can be past this.  I want her to feel better and sleep better.  I will keep you updated! 

Household Update

So I took Brody to his 18 month check up last week so I figured it was time to actually post instead of just saying I would.  So here's a semi quick update on the Hales' Household:

Kayla: 3 years + 2 months

Height: About 5-6 inches taller than Brody I think (however his measurement was likely off...see below) so I'm guessing around 3' 4".

Weight: Hovering around 30 pounds and not eating that well lately...she's still a peanut.

Likes: Frozen, movies, coloring, writing her letters and numbers, "reading" (a.k.a. reciting books she's memorized), Mommy, her friends "Sydney and Sara" which she states every time something starts with the letter "s", asking what every word starts with, writing words we help her spell, singing any song she can remember especially songs from Frozen and the Sound of Music, airplanes, baby dolls, Barbies, the swings

Dislikes: Sometimes Daddy (and Mommy), listening to directions, sitting down on chairs/couches, standing still, being dropped off a school, when you don't give her hugs and kisses when she wants them, when you try to give her hugs and kisses when she doesn't, trying new things (food, the dentist, swim lessons, etc...)

This kid has been a breeze so far, but the 3's are turning out to be no fun.  Everyone is right, three year olds ARE assholes.

Brody: 18.5 months

Height: 34" although this is probably wrong as he was ridiculously fussy and he is insanely strong therefore impossible to straighten out enough to measure accurately.

Weight: 26 pounds 10 ounces (my hefty boy)

Likes: Mommy, Daddy to put him to bed (ALLELUIA), music/singing/dancing, swinging, slides, running, climbing, jumping on anything and everything, being obstinate, his tiger/paci, giving hugs and kisses, cars, things that move, balls, food, milk, technology (don't even THINK about taking the phone or the note away from him), movies especially ones with music, blowing his nose, reading especially Brown Bear and Hippopposites, bathtime

Dislikes: sometimes waking up from naps/bed, getting in the car, sitting down, being told what to do, getting his diaper changed, everything noted above under "likes" at certain times, being hungry, going to bed

Overall, he's a really happy kid.  But when he's not, it's like the exorcist.  God help me.

Mom and Dad Hales: 364 and 379 months respectively

Height: 5'9" (on the roster), 6'4"

Weight: decreasing since starting to use our fitbits and eating out less.  Back to meal planning

Likes: Our kids (most of the time), each other (most of the time), our jobs (most of the time)
           Mom: yoga, photography, reading, tv, movies, volleyball, alone time in the shower (that can be construed as dirty but it's definitely not)
           Dad: relaxing, the time after this kids go to bed, figuring out/fixing house situations without anyone else's help (backup sump pump anyone), watching sports when he has the chance

Dislikes: our debt (all of the time), when our kids don't sleep (all of the time)

Basically we are all doing great.  We've made it through the winter without any serious sickness (at least for the kids) and have come out of this Polar Vortex alive.

I've slowed down on my photography.  I still love it, but it's not at the top of my want to do list anymore.  I still want to take photos of my kids but it's not as important to me that they are "good" anymore.  I love yoga and am hoping to pursue that in the future as it's up my ally and it relates to my job.  I love my job and am starting to work a few more hours a week to help us start paying down our debt.  We are reading/read Dave Ramsey's book and we are on the bandwagon.  We have a plan and are "gazelle intense" to pay off some of this stuff so we can live a bit better and easier.  Overall, we are great.  I am going to try to get back to posting, just know that pictures may not always be involved at this point.  It takes to much time and effort to take/edit a ton of photos.

I'm going to try to update on our progress with Dave Ramsey's plan, our meal planning and I've been contemplating a every Monday post "The Happenings at the Hales'" with some weekly iphone photo updates and meal ideas.  Anyways, sorry for the radio silence...again.

Happy Monday!

Big Milestone

I realized this week that a large reason why I keep this blog is as a sort of digital scrapbook of sorts.  So I can remember the milestones and the memories and look back on my kids little lives.  So we are still decided on getting rid of cable right now, but either way, no more TV during the day for me, back to blogging, learning to sew, photography, etc.  I'm looking forward to spring.

Anyways, back on track.  Kayla has hit a pretty big milestone I think.  I'm not sure if this is early or late and frankly I don't really care because I love that she can do this so much.

She can officially write her name.  On her own.  Without any help.  On Tuesday, at school, they have a sheet where the kids can "sign in" themselves by writing their names in little boxes.  She was so excited to show me when I picked her up on Tuesday.  Now she wants to write her name in everyone's little box.  I didn't get a photo at school, but I took some photos of her writing at home.

She also loves to write Daddy, Papa, Lolo and Brody.  She sometimes writes Mommy or Meme, but I think she's still working on M's.  She always asks me to write all family members names so she can trace them and try to write them herself.  I'm so proud.  She even writes things backwards, which I'm sure might be sort of normal, but I think it's awesome and hilarious.  Wasn't there a famous person who wrote from right to left? Oh yes, Leonardo da Vinci.  She's my own little da Vinci.

Big Plans, Small Successes

I had some really big plans to write thoughtful and well written post on one of the three deeper topics I have my gmail list "Blog Posts" (see I do INTEND to write more, once a week is a start...), but I just came in from shoveling well more than 3 inches of snow that was called for last night during both kids nap time for an hour.  Only to step inside, take off my snow gear, and hear the freakin' plow FINALLY come to plow the street and promptly blow another 2 inches of snow BACK ONTO MY DRIVEWAY.  Curse words, curse words, curse words.  I even shoveled INTO the street to try to help and avoid this.  More freakin' curse words.

Anyways, I'm tired and I don't want to write a deep post while I'm tired.  So I will leave you with some not so great photos I took of the kids before Christmas.  I tried to get some Christmas light bokeh pictures, but the kids weren't really cooperating.  But the next day I got some cute ones of the two of them.  I'm still trying to figure out clean editing...it's not really working too great but what can you do.  I'm thinking I'm going back to the Aperture setting instead of Manual...it just works better for me, especially inside during the winter.  Maybe I'll be back to manual when I'm back outside.

Anyways, here's some photos, and I DO have plans for more posts.  A list even.  And I think Sundays are going to be my phone dump/things I'm loving post days to get some photos off of my phone. :)

Brody is never too interested in sitting where I want him to.

Daddy is pretty cooperative

Both kids are pretty cooperative when it comes to sitting with Mommy.

Kayla did NOT want to sit with Daddy.

Kayla took this...she's quite the little photographer.

Little hands helping me.

Much better mood.

Fish kisses

This series of photos is called "Kayla cheesing for the camera, Brody playing peek-a-boo with the camera"

These eyelashes...

Terrific Threes!

One little girl I know turned 3 a week ago.  Because of my favorite app, TimeHop, I realized the past two years, I have done a year in review with photos so I'm going to try to keep that up this year as best I can.  Forgive me as my memory is starting to fail me at an early age...

January 2013:

• Celebrated my 2nd birthday
• Got some photos taken with Jordann
• Passed sickness back and forth with Brody. (Double ear infection)
• Took my first dance class! And was the only one the first week not in ballet clothes.

February 2013:

• Spent some time outside pulling Brody on the sled
• Celebrated Valentine's Day and all the people we love
• Became more independent at dance class
• Tried to stay healthy - unsuccessfully
• Had a playdate with some long time very good friends!

March 2013:

• Celebrate St. Patrick's Day and Brody's half birthday
• Still tried to stave off the sickness (still not working)
• Had more playdates with friends and more ballet class
• Took a photo with the Easter bunny and had chocolate chip cookies at Abt.
• Celebrated Easter, painted eggs, found eggs at Gigi's
• Celebrated my Aunt Lauren and Uncle Kevin's upcoming wedding

April 2013:

• Apparently didn't do much since Mommy didn't take any photos this month (pretty much at all)
• Still sick!!!  Probably my 5th double ear infection.
• Moved into out new house!!  Got a new room, took me a while to get used to sleeping there.
• Explored the new park by our house.

May 2013:

• Celebrated Mother's Day
• Painted for Gigi and Nini
• Got very very sick before I was supposed to be the flower girl in Lauren's wedding
• Aunt Lauren and Uncle Kevin get married!

June 2013:

• Celebrated Father's Day in Milwaukee on the beach with Kevin, Lauren and Liam
• Went strawberry picking with friends
• Had a playdate with two long time friends of mommy's
• Had fun playing with my brother in our new house

July 2013:

• Spent a lot of time outside while Mommy took pictures
• Celebrated the 4th of July
• Celebrated Brody's baptism

August 2013:

• Went to the WI State Fair
• Celebrated Daddy's birthday
• Celebrate's Liam's 1st birthday
• Visited Aunt Meme's apartment and went to the park
• Visited a lot of parks near our house
• Wore my favorite summer dress as much as humanly possible

September 2013:

• Celebrated Brody's 1st birthday (Nini and Pampy come to visit)
• Had more photos taken with Jordann
• Spent lots of time at parks in our new hometown - Mommy didn't take a lot of photos because she was frustrated with her camera this month

October 2013:

• Went apple picking
• Picked pumpkins and saw some horses and chickens and Wagner Farm
• Dressed up as a spider for Halloween at school
• Went trick-or-treating at school

November 2013:

• Celebrated Mommy's birthday
• Celebrated Thanksgiving with family
• Had fun playing in the leaves when Mommy and Daddy were raking
• Finally after a long year of ear infections and pain, had tubes put in my ears (I haven't had an ear infection or really even been sick since!!)

(No photos, because I'm getting too tired of posting them.  So look back on my Thanksgiving posts and my post with the photos from the leaves if you are interested. :) )

December 2013:

• Had fun decorating the house for Christmas
• Celebrated Christmas with my family.
• Enjoyed the snow, shoveling and sliding down the big snow piles, making snow angels
• Went on a trolley lights tour of the city with Mommy

(Again, no photos from December.  Still working on it.)

From Mommy:

I cannot believe how much my little girl has grown in the past year.  It's actually amazing the giant leaps toddlers make from 2-3 years old.  Kayla looks so much more like a little person.  She's definitely lost all of her baby fat.  She talks like a 5 year old sometimes.  She is officially sleeping in a normal bed (queen size - lucky girl).  She potty trained, learned to jump, and learned to eat better!

My little peanut loves parks, slides, running, singing, dancing, playing with dolls, puzzles, books, airplanes, fountains, snow, being outside, swimming, and so many more things.  She loves helping me with EVERYTHING around the house.  She helps me with the laundry, she helps me fold the laundry, she loves to help me clean the house.  She loves brushing her teeth and washing her hands.  Overall, she's a relatively easy toddler.  She doesn't really like to go to sleep at night, but things could be worse. She loves to do everything mommy does.  She loves photography and she loves yoga.  I honestly can't think of too many things she doesn't like.  

My little girl is curious and creative and sensitive and loving and caring and kind.  I can't wait to see her grow up.  I am so lucky to have such an awesome little person in my life.  I will forever be grateful she made me a mom, and my journey as a mom sure started with a bang because of her.