My turn for surgery

I've been complaining for awhile now about my left ear bothering me.  I could feel something moving around in there and I knew it wasn't right.  It would actually hurt at times and I could tell that my hearing was decreasing already too even though I'd just had a stapendectomy on that ear in April 2009 by an ENT in Pocatello (right before we moved). 

Well after seeing an ENT in Spokane (the same one who did the stapedectomy on my right ear in 2002) I was told that they couldn't even see the prosthesis in my left ear (they could see the one in my right ear clear as day) and that what I was feeling was most likely due to my quickly deteriorating jaw joints.  Ice/heat twice a day, stay away from any foods I have to chew much.  Yeah...okay.  I set up an appointment with an ENT in Missoula instead and he had the same findings (i.e. not seeing the prosthesis) but he decided I was a good candidate for exploratory surgery because he thought that the recurring ear infections I was having might mean a problem with my ear drum. 

So on Thursday May 27th Ed took me to St. Pat's (Mom & Sarah came down and hung out with G for us) and after the surgery the doc came in to tell us what he'd found.  The stapes foot plate had fallen over and the prosthesis was in place, but it had all grown over with a large amount of scar tissue.  In addition, the ear drum itself had grown into the scar tissue and it was being pulled inward, which is not a good thing.  So the ENT lasered out all the scar tissue and set the stapes footplate upright and replaced the prosthesis with one that he likes better.

I felt horrible after leaving the hospital, I was so incredibly nauseous.  I could not focus on anything and trying to do so only made me feel worse.  I kept my eyes closed for almost the entire drive home and still don't know how I made it.  I got home, kissed my G man and went to bed.  I slept and slept and was woken up by Ed to come have dinner.  Mom had made potato and bacon soup.  So tasty!  But when I was done eating I took another two pain pills and went back to bed, still feeling incredibly nauseous.  I woke up and remembered that I still had some Zofran from my April 2009 surgery so I took some of that, along with my next dose of pain pills.  I did that on and off for the first few days after the surgery and although the naseausness has gone away for the most part, the pain hasn't.  In fact that's why I'm awake at 2 am right now!  For some reason I have an incision above my ear, which I was not expecting and don't remember being told about.  I found it on Friday when I went to wash my hair in the shower.  Not a pleasant surprise!

But after all that, something tells me this will have really helped my hearing.  I'm looking forward to having the packing out to give my new ear a test run and to hopefully make me stop walking like a drunken sailor!!!

Visitors from another planet...er from Pocatello!!!

Robert (aka Uncle Mongo) and his wife Cindi came to visit!!!  They showed up on Wednesday the 26th at about 3 pm and spend one night with us!  G wasn't exactly hesitant but not exactly shy either.  But Uncle Mongo won him over quickly because he too likes to play play play!!!  We got to play outside for about 20 minutes before it started pouring rain and then they got to see the demon that is G when he's made to come inside.

After helping me fix dinner, Robert offered to sit with G after I scrubbed him down in the bath.  We were out in the living room and could hear exclamations of, "That's not the right fire hose to use when spraying the trains boy!"  or "Let go of your fire hose so your hands are free!"  or "Hey - I don't need to take a bath too you know!"  "Chugga chugga choo choo - your fire hose isn't going to fall off buddy!"  It was entertaining for those of us out in the living room and it must have been for them too since I heard plenty of giggling and all out laughter.  After his bath G talked Robert into coming into his room and playing with him.  Robert was sprawled out on the floor reading him books and bouncing a foot ball off his (G's) head.  I'm the only one who goes into G's room with him and plays so I know G loved having the company in there to show all his toys to!

It was nice to see our old friends.  I wish they'd gotten to stay longer because I enjoyed the little bit of time I got with them.  Maybe if I promise to teach G to quit playing with his fire hose so much they'll come back to visit again soon?

Ed's broken nose

Ed had a septoplasty done on Wednesday May 19th.  I had asked him to see a specialist (ENT) about his sinuses because he's complained about them for as long as I can remember.  Every primary care doc we've ever seen has just given him a nose spray and sent him on his way.  Well the ENT went to put a scope up Ed's nose and immediately said, "Uh, I know what the problem is, your nose is/was broken."  It turns out that at some point in time Ed's nose was broken (he has no idea when) and the right nostril was all but grown closed.  I took him into town and dropped him off at the hospital and G and I ran errands, a lot of errands.  I sat in the car with G and Crash while G napped and then we went up to the day surgery are of St. Pat's.  Ed wasn't in recovery yet, which was odd because it was a few hours past his surgery time. 

G was a.HOLY.TERROR.  He was screaming like a banshee, impossible for me to physically control and he just wanted to motor all over the dang hospital.  He was trying to dig in the trash can, he was trying to drink coffee out of unattended or abandoned cups, he was trying to take magazines right out of people's hands.  Thankfully my Aunt Linda called and insisted on taking G home with her and Uncle Rodney.  I kept telling her that she didn't know what she was getting into but she insisted she did.  She came and took G and I went back in and waited a little bit longer before being called back to Recovery to sit with Ed. 

Once he was released we made two stops and then went down to Stevi to pick up G.  As we were driving down their road I saw a woman standing alongside the road with a half naked little boy.  It took a moment for it to register that it was Linda & G.  My poor aunt looked spent!!!  She admitted to me that, yes, she really didn't know what she had gotten herself in to.  She said first there are busy kids, and then there is G.  She said, "Not in a bad way, he's very inquisitive but he never, never stops."  It's the truth.  She said she's never met a kid with no fear like G but that they enjoyed having him.

It makes me wish that much more that they weren't moving to Tennessee and wish that we had spent more time with them over the last year that we've been up here and close.  Ed adores Linda - he thinks she's his favorite Broden yet (well, besides me). 

Meet CRASH!!!

He's my little Boston Terrier that I told y'all about earlier.  Such a cute little fart he is!  For only being 8 weeks old I am super impressed with his potty training skills already!  He's a snuggler and I haven't heard him bark yet.  G adores him and calls him "Pubby."  I wanted to name him Remy (Remington) or Riot but I relented to Crash.  Ed and Sarah both liked Trigger and we threw around some other obviously cop themed names:
Seven (code 7)
Gunner (or Gunny)
Winchester
Roger
Recon
Speedy
Charger
Glock
Sam Brown
Badge
Radio
Captain
Trooper
Sarge

And the list goes on.  But since G already knows the word crash, we went with that.  And it sorts of fits since he runs into stuff (he's kind of spastic).

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I'm 32 today.  Wow.  When did THAT happen???  Most days I can't hardly even imagine myself as anything more than a gawky, annoying and weird 14 year old girl.  Most days I feel like I blinked and here I am - 32.  I have to say that 30 was my favorite birthday thus far just because six weeks after I turned 30, G was born.  I worked that day too and got no party or anything, but the gift that I had been waiting so long for was incubating in my belly! 

Ed sure made it a nice birthday for me - with G's help of course.  I got to sleep in (that's gift in itself if you ask me) and they made me breakfast.  I no sooner sat down than I was given my presents - a wonderfully cozy waffle weave robe (purple of course since that's my favorite color) and a pink Gerber tool for my purse.  My favorite part of birthday was dinner though!  Ed BBQ'd some steaks AND shrimp made baked potatoes.  Then he had picked up a cheesecake for my birthday cake (I don't do cake).  It was so nice to be pampered on my special day!

Mother's Day 2010

I am so spoiled!  G and Ed, with my sister's help, got me a beautiful "momma" necklace.  It's heart shaped and it has diamonds around it and there is a momma holding a child inside it.  It's not my style but I love love love it!  I'm not much of a jewelry wearer but I haven't taken this off since Sunday.  Ed seemed so nervous for me to open it but I had every confidence that he'd done something wonderful and sweet for me.  :)

Then Ed BBQ'd some steaks and shrimp, made baked potatoes and french bread.  To top it off he had picked up a cheesecake sampler.  :)  Seriously - could he be any sweeter.  All day long he'd stop and say, "You are such a great mom," or, "You're the best momma," etc...

I love my life as a momma, it's what I was destined to do.  I would have missed out on so much if I hadn't had a child.  I can't believe that I have this opportunity and I try to do a good job.  I'm not overly patient with G and sometimes I'm too patient with him.  It was such a struggle to get my body to make a baby that I worry I'll coddle him just because of that and I think it'd be a disservice to him if I did that.  I want him to be respectful, to take responsibility for his words and deeds, and to know how to love people.

With all the yuck that goes on in this world I want to put him in a bubble and keep him attached to me somehow so that no one can ever hurt him.  But that'd be a disservice to him as well.  He needs to experience life and people and culture and everything that comes along with it.  Being a mom is so hard on the heart and yet the most fulfilling/enriching thing I'll ever do with my life.  I can't imagine that I ever didn't want to have children.  He is my heart and soul 100 million times over.

A few days at Mom's house

It was kind of last minute but I decided to go up to Mom's house while Ed was in Lewiston for training.  I had finally found a breeder of Boston Terrier's who wasn't asking an astronomical price for them but she is in Kettle Falls, Washington.  I knew at the price she was asking that I'd have to jump on it quickly!  So me, G and Siren packed up and went north.

I had a broken tooth so I went ahead and made an appointment and got that fixed.  Josiah (aka Uncle) was nice enough to watch G so I wouldn't have to take him to the dentist off with me.  Can you imagine the disaster that would have been?  The girls at the dentist office told me, "Oh we would have watched him for you."  Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, sure.  For an hour and a half?  G would have torn the place apart.  I know he would have gone into and met every.single.patient there.  So I actually got to relax (and read a little) while Uncle pulled G duty.  I think poor Uncle was pretty happy to see me coming through the door after his 3+ hours with G (I was a wench and ran an errand too but I did pick up lunch to make it up to him).

Then the next day Mom had to stick around the house as the furnace guys were coming to put in a new furnace.  The furnace that was there is the one that was new with the house back in the 70's.  That took up the majority of the day and we hung out with Mom while that went on.  The furnace guys were nice to G since they have little ones his age.  It never fails to amaze me how friendly G is even to strangers.  You would think that with the amount of isolation we have he'd be a shy kid but he NEVER has been.  Even when he was an itty bitty he would smile at people and didn't mind changing hands.  I don't know that he ever cried when someone else held him. 

On Friday I had a "date" to meet with the Boston breeder in Colville and after meeting her and exchanging puppy for money we were able to go to Bob & Vicky's house for the first time.   Oh yeah, and Mom went with us!  I unfortunately listened to the GPS and we ended up taking the longest possible way to Colville but it was a really pretty drive!  What a great house they have - I can't imagine how amazing it would be to have 3400 square feet of living space.  Too much for our little family of three but still awesome for them!  G and Siren played and played and played with the puppy and after a few hours we headed back to Mom's house.  Sarah's friend Morgan dropped her off at Mom's house around midnight that night, so that was a treat!!!  She played with the puppy (she loves puppies) and her and I hung out until I went to bed at like 2 am!  Eek!

When we all woke up the next morning I called the Roost and ordered breakfast (an early Mother's Day brekkie for Mom before she went to work) and brought that back to the house.  It was so much easier than trying to get all of us ready and out the door before Mom had to be at work at 10 am.  G and I headed home at about 10 am but we got waylaid in Kellogg when we stopped to say hi to Grandma Dee (Ed's mom) and drop off a picture for her.  I was so happy to finally make it home (God bless you red bull, you did it again!) to Ed but it sure was nice to have lots of time with my Mom!!!

Easter pictures 2010

We hit the Sears again on Easter 2010, much to Ed's chagrin.  

It was, well, a disaster.  It was at 1 pm Montana time, after church.  In other words, G's naptime.  He wasn't fussy or anything he was flat out B.U.S.Y.  I felt so bad for the poor photographer!  It was impossible, seriously impossible to get him to sit still or look at the camera.  We used every distraction and trick in the book that we could think of and nothing worked!  I was sweating so bad by the time we were done and I just wanted to cry.  Ed wasn't much help because him and G feed off each other and so he was getting crankier as the minutes ticked by.  Of course as soon as we gave up G fell asleep.  I'll try to get 2 year old pictures done with him in June instead and I certainly will be picking a morning appointment when he's a little more chill!

1 year on the Lochsa!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by!  While I still miss our house in Poky and especially my friends and my job at PPD, I am so happy we made this move.  Our first winter was super super mild according to the the "locals."  I guess maybe God was trying to break us in gently?  It's May 1st and the snow is all gone from the yard.  Last year we had snow in the yard until June!  The lack of snow pack is worrisome because this forest hasn't been logged in a long time and it's just waiting to go up in smoke.  Even around our house we have a lot of dead trees and fallen timber (aka fire starters).  I don't know how our allergies are going to survive a fire season.  Let's hope that's not what the summer of 2010 holds for us though. 

The spring thaw has brought about it's own problems though.  We had a funny smell starting in March.  I smelled it (or smelt?) it long before Ed did - it smelled like something was dead in the vents.  It was so bad that for days I gagged and went to putting Vick's under my nose to try and help me not gag (old trick I learned at my first autopsy).  Mikes Heating & Air came up from Lewiston and they ran a camera through all the vents and didn't find anything in there but some of G's toys (the vents aren't screwed down and the little turkey knows it so he hides stuff in there).  They went ahead and cleaned out all the vents with their super sucker truck (even though they'd done that in October of 2009.  And they replaced the ductwork with metal so that mice can't get into it.  They did find mouse droppings in the ductwork btw - nice!  They did, however, find 18 mice (yay the D-Con works!) and 1 dead cat under the house.  Yummy.  When they located a mouse burnt to a crisp on the heating element of the furnace we decided that must have been the dead smell.  The day after they all this I still smelled something not right in the back bathroom (G's and guests).  Ed just tried to convince me that it'd take a little while for the smell to dissapate.

Imagine my surprise when a month later it wasn't dissipating and only getting worse.  But now it smelled like sewage.  I mentioned to my neighbors that we had a smell issue and they both went "Oh!"  Apparently it'd been awhile since any of the septic tanks in the compound had been emptied.  So a few more days later the smell got bad enough that it bothered Ed and he finally agreed to contact his Lt. in Lewiston to get permission to have the shit suckers come to the house.  They came up and took care of that and it alleviated the majority of the smell.  It's been a few days and I swear I can still smell something funky in G's bathroom but Ed says no way.  I'll give it a few more days and if it's not gone I'm going to be scrubbing everything in there with bleach, right down to the drain.

Doing that will make way for one of our "projects" though.  Ed has already (thankfully) finished the new floor in the kitchen and the improvement is astonishing.  It's so nice to not have to look at that old worn out and stained white linoleum all the time.  I could sweep and mop every day - sometimes twice a day and it never ever looked clean.  It was just some peel and stick linoleum that we put over it but it's a faux stone and brown so it hides the dirt much better.  Now he just has the floors in both bathrooms to do since we got enough (or should I say the State paid for enough) to cover all that nasty white linoleum throughout the house.  Once he's done with the floor he gets to build me shelving along the back wall of the kitchen so I can have a proper pantry.  It will look great and it'll be very helpful to basically have all our food stuffs in one place.  Maybe then I can quit buying so many of one item (thinking we're out of it) and noticing when we are out of something so that I can buy it!  He's also building me some small shelves in our bathroom since we only have under sink storage and no medicine cabinet of any kind.  Such a handy guy!!!

After all those projects his "big" project this summer is to build G a big boy bed.  I cannot believe we're at the stage for a big boy bed already.  It makes me want to cry when I think about it.  He's building him a twin sized captains bed (the kind with drawers underneath) that has a bookcase for a headboard.  He's never done such a big and involved woodworking project before so his plan is to take his time and do it right.  I can't wait to see what he turns out!!!  I've already done my shopping and I know what mattress I'm getting, what sheets, and what comforter.  One set of Cars sheets and one set of Thomas sheets and then just a solid blue comforter to go with both of them.  I remember very clearly the first time I laid G in his crib and I remember how tiny he looked in all that space, and now he's spilling out of it.  We changed it over from a crib in February and he's done amazingly well in his toddler bed.  Why is he growing up so so so fast.

But not too fast, of course.  My breastfeeding goal for him and I was to make it to 18 months and then let him lead the weaning process.  Instead of weaning he's now nursing like a newborn.  I tried for two days to go cold turkey with him but I just don't have the heart to do it.  I'm not ready to give it up and I can guarantee G isn't ready either.  The other night the "please" that I've been drilling into him backfired on me.  Him and I were rocking at bedtime and he sat up and said, "Baba?"  I said, "No buddy, big boys don't need baba to go nigh-night."  He said, "Weeze to baba momma?"  And I caved.  Oh, but polite big boys do need baba to go nigh-night!"  And from there on out I get a "Weeze" every time he wants the baba.  Tonight when he asked for it I again used, "But big boys like Garrett don't need a baba to go nigh-night."  He said, "WEEEEEEEEEZE and leaned in and gave me a big ol' smooch right on the lips."  I laughed.  This boy is not big on public displays of affection, or just affection in general so that was a surprise.  I laughed and tried to distract him and he said, "WEeeeeeeeeeeeze momma baba!"  And kissed me again.  I couldn't say no to that.  I put him on the baba and I said, "Son are you going to keep me wrapped around your finger for the rest of my life?"  He popped off and said, "Num num nigh-night baba."  I'm guessing that was his way of saying yes. 

G's language has improved tremendously but he'd still just rather use physical means to get his point across.  I know he'll come around in his own time.  His new favorite thing to say is, "Where'd he (she/it) go?"  And he holds his hands up in a questioning manner.  His little voice is SO cute when he says it!  For some reason he's started to call pictures of my Dad "Papa" but then again he also calls all dogs "Gaga's."  He "calls" dogs now too - he claps his hands and makes a noise with his lips just like I do.  It's awesome!  He's totally our monkey see - monkey do.  In fact he's been going around kicking dogs and it wasn't until the other day when I found myself nudging Siren along (she's always in the way) with my foot that I realized where he learned it.  Dumb momma!

Work for me is steady and most days I take on way too much of it.  I was able to purchase a new desk and it's gorgeous.  It's so nice to have an organized and uncluttered work space, since clutter makes me nervous for some reason.  We scrapped the old ISP desk that housed Ed's work computer and he took my old coner desk when my new one arrived.  Sarah bought me new headphones (the expensive Bose ones I was saving for) when I got a particularly bad double ear infection most likely from my ear bud headphones.  What an improvement in sound I have to admit!  The office is a decorate mish mash of Ed, ISP, and me.  :)  I wish I could say that I now find myself focusing more because I'd either get it done sooner and be able to spend time with Ed and G or I'd be able to take on more and therefore make more money.  In fact it's almost 2 am right now and I have 11:43 minutes left of an audio and here I am, blogging too.  Maybe it's just the nature of the work that keeps me from just knocking it out and getting it done.  It's not easy work and definitely not enjoyable work and so I try not to pay attention to exactly the context of what they're saying.  I think it save wear and tear on my heart to do that.


Oh, and talk about wear and tear on my heart...we decided that we couldn't keep Taser.  I tried - I promise I did.  I cried for a few days after we dropped her off at the Western Montana Humane Society (where we had adopted her in June 2009).  Her and I rarely got along but she was still one of my kids.  But her coat proved to be too much for not only my allergies but G's as well.  I was on 3 allergy medications throughout every day and I was so tired all.the.time because of that.  I swept the floors at least once a day, vacuumed once a day, and brushed Taser at least once a day.  And it only kept getting worse.  One particularly bad day I said to Ed, "I think she needs to go."  And he knew that if we were going to do it we needed to do it that day or I would change my mind.  I had had to keep her somewhat sequestered in the kitchen because of her hair and that wasn't fair to her.  She wanted to be around her people and she deserved that.  Why the Humane Society?  I figured that because of our location it'd be difficult to get out to people to be seen.  Thankfully she was adopted within a matter of days.  Sometimes I miss her, and sometimes I don't.  She was really stubborn and had an attitude problem but from the sounds of the email I got from the Humane Society she will be happy in her new home.  Siren is lonely though, everyone can see that.  Maybe this summer we'll be able to find her a male Boston Terrier buddy like I've been wanting for awhile now.

Our goals for this summer:
1.  Potty train G.
2.  Lose some damn weight!
3.  Wean G.
4.  Start my yuck methotrexate so that I might get some pain relief again (can't take it when BFing).
5.  Ed's woodworking.
6.  Aunty Sarah coming to stay for as long as she wants.
7.  HUCKLEBERRY recipe experimentation.
8.  Hikes, hikes, hikes!
9.  Jeep rides to new places.
10.  Camping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (even though we live in prime camping country).
11.  Finish painting (both bathrooms and the mud room).
12.  FUN, FUN FUN FUN FUN!

How's that for a catch-up post?