Eliza's preschool evaluation

Eliza's preschool sent home her evaluation and she is doing great! She is all ready to go to kindergarten next year. She can write her whole name,count to 39, and has great preschool skills. Way to go Eliza was are so proud of you!!!!

Carli's ear tubes and hearing test

Well the whole story is going to be a lot funnier in 10 years than it was last night that's for sure.
First of all it seem that if I have to drive to Ann Arbor it will snow and someone will get a snow day. The day we went in January was the only snow day Gretta has had all year.  Tuesday the drive over was horrible. I am so happy I made it safely. It was snowing the whole time and the roads were snow covered. It took forever too because I had to go so slow. The last 9 miles once I hit the city limits of Ann Arbor were the worst. That really surprised me. Ann Arbor had a snow day on Wednesday.
We got to the hotel that was arranged by the hospital and got all check in. Everything was okay until I got woken up at 1:50 am in the morning with Carli's monitor alarm going off, but it wasn't going off because her levels were low. It was going off because it was out of power. Then I realized the power was out and had been for quite a while.
I used my phone as a flashlight and went out to the front desk. The front desk clerk was getting into the donuts that were out for breakfast. I think the stress of the night was causing her to eat. She told me she had been on the phone for 2 hours with the utility company and that now her cell phone was dead and that since the power was out that the hotel phones didn't work she didn't have anyway to call out of the hotel any more. The maintenance guy was at the hotel because shew as worried it was gas leak because the restaurant across the street still had power. She didn't instill any confidence in me. In fact she told me she was holding the flash light like a weapon because she couldn't even call 911 if someone crazy came into the hotel. After that interaction I had a hard time going back to sleep.
Then when I woke up in the morning it was hard to get out of bed into a cold hotel room and get ready in the dark, but thanks to my phone I was able to get up and ready and get Carli ready too.
At first the car wouldn't start, but it finally did. Then we got stuck in the parking lot because it still hadn't been plowed. They got 7 inches of snow over night and I have no idea why no one had come to plow. Most plow companies come after 4 inches. So the maintenance guy had to shovel me out.
They just kept saying it was an act of God and they didn't have any control, but I felt like saying we live in Michigan and it snows so you need an plan. To bad everyone isn't Mormon and doesn't have an emergency plan! Lets just say I don't think I want to stay at that hotel again!!! Luckily for Carli's cleft palate repair I already have reservations at the hospital hotel.
Then I got lost going to the hospital and almost got in an accident parking, but we made it. After all of that I was thinking maybe I should go home. Luckily the hospital was business like usual and things went well.
Carli did great and the surgery went well. When she was done the audiologist was anxious to talk with me. She was surprised when she did the sedated abr that the test end up different than it had in December. In December they told me that her left ear had the mod-severe hearing loss that seemed permanent  and the right ear had a mild to moderate loss that looked like it would be helped with ear tubes. Well today the audiologist said her right ear had the mod-severe hearing loss and the left ear has the mild to moderate loss. What?!?!? It seems like the hospital in Grand Rapids must of gotten their left and right mixed up. I never meet the audiologist in Grand Rapids. But Katie assured me she did it 3 times and she was sure of her results.
So if we hadn't gotten another test and just put hearing aids on Carli they would have been on the wrong ears!!!!
I will go back in 4 weeks to have them retest her in the booth. We are hoping that her left ear will be in the normal range after all the fluid drains out and that her right ear will be a little better too. Lets just hope it doesn't snow March 21st!
The good news is that her sleep study results were fine. We didn't get to go over them in detail, but at least I know they are fine.
It was a long day, but we made it home safe and sound.  I was so glad to be home and get a hot shower!

Inspiration

I just have to write down two very specific things that happened yesterday because they are such great examples to me that God is involved in the small details of our lives.

First I lost my keys on Saturday. I haven't ever lost my keys. I knew I had them when I got home from the store, but couldn't find them anywhere. We looked all over the house and we prayed and prayed,but I still couldn't find them. Then I realized they were in the garbage, but I didn't really want to go through the bags of trash, but knew I needed to. Eric helped me last night and we found them. I really felt inspired to look for them in the trash and knew that it would take some work, but would be worth it.

While we were in Hawaii I had the thought that I should check when my DEA license expired. I even wrote it down on my to do list when I came home. I know it was inspiration because why would I even be thinking about my DEA. I haven't worked in over 18 months and don't have plans to work anytime soon. I knew I renewed it when I worked at the Health Center and though it was good for 5 years, but figured I should check.

Last night I kept having the feeling I should check. I had also thought about it a few times last week but last week was crazy. Last night I really felt like I should check, so I got it out. I realized that it expired 2/28/13 which is in 3 days!!!! I was able to renew it online last night. I am not sure what would have happened it if I let it laps, but I am not sure I wanted to find out. The reason I hadn't gotten any renewal notices is because they have been going to the Health Center and I am sure the mail person just threw them away not knowing how important they were. Even with no plans to go back to work soon my DEA licence is very important and I am so glad that Heavenly Father inspired me and reminded me to check the date.

Also yesterday Pam Duffy the PT came to see Carli and helped me see a few things that might be wrong. I realized when Carli crawls she doesn't use her right leg as much.

Girl Scouts International Bazaar

Gretta's Daisy troop participated at "tourists"  at t his years international bazaar. They had a great time visiting all of the different country booths and checking out what the older girls had done. Plus they got to help by participating in the opening ceremonies. 

Gretta has really enjoyed Girl Scouts. I am so proud of her because she made her goal of selling 200 boxes of girls scout cookies. She actually sold 220 boxes. 

It was a fun mommy daughter outing. 

Mommy daughter date

Poor Eliza has been feeling a little left out lately. She is my buddy during the day while Gretta is gone at school. She goes every where with me. She is the one who missed me the most while we were in Hawaii and then when we got home I spent a lot of time taking Carli to doctor appointments. Right after we got back I went with Carli to Ann Arbor for her sleep study and was gone over night and most of the next day. The next week for tubes and we also had to take Gretta for a hearing test. Eliza was feeling pretty jealous of all of the attention Carli & Gretta were getting, so I took her on a mommy daughter date. Don't worry Gretta got one too. 

We went to lunch at Qudoba (Eliza's favorite) and then to the kids museum to see the 150 year old snapping turtle and rode the carousel. 

We sure had a great time together! I sure love Eliza and am really going to miss her next year when she goes to Kindergarten all day!!!!

Family Fun Night- Sledding

The elementary school sponsored sledding at Five Pines. It was a great night for sledding because it snowed most of the day and warmed up at night. The girls had so much fun sledding with their friends.
 We sure had a great time!!!
Eliza was asleep before we got home.

Hearing Aid Preview

I took Gretta for her 6 month hearing check and while we were there we made sure that Carli's hearing aids fit and also made molds for swim plugs. Eliza picked out her pink and purple molds. (She will get new ones about every 6 months, until she gets a little older, so I figured it would be fun to have some bright colors. Eliza was so excited to pick them out!)

We are waiting until after her tubes to get them all set up and ready to go because the tubes should improve her hearing. 

Gretta took the pictures and some of them are fuzzy, but you get the idea. 

Carli's sleep study

Carli and I drove over to Ann Arbor for her sleep study test. It snowed until we hit Battle Creek and then the rest of the trip was smooth sailing. We check in at 7:30 pm for the night. They had a crib for her and a hospital bed for me. It took two people to get her all set up. They must have put 40 electrodes, wires etc all over the body, head, legs and arms. She did much better with it than I expected. She even had to have two tubes up her noes. Poor little kid!  They put the cap on so she couldn't get to the electrodes. It was a rough night sleep for both of us. Sleeping on a hospital bed isn't very comfortable even when you aren't sick.!!!!Plus I guess the sensor in her noes kept going off because of her runny noes, so they had to keep coming into the check it. We were done a little after 6am. It took a while to get her all unhooked too. At 8:15 we had her pre op for her tubes next week and meet with anesthesia. We headed home around 10:00. It was happy to get home! We will find out in a few weeks what the results are and hopefully she will get released from her monitor. 

Gretta Star of the Week

Gretta has wanted to be "Star of the Week" all year. Every Friday she is so excited to find out who the star is going to be for the next week. They pull a stick from their class stick jar to pick the "Star of the Week". Gretta was so excited to get picked. It was the week while Eric and I were in Hawaii and Grandma Linda was babysitting. 

Everyday Gretta got to take something for show and tell every day. She took her American Girl Doll, Biddy Baby & Big Doll, Girl Scout Bear, American Girl Doll Horse, Ice Cream Pottery, and Rainbow light. Mrs Fellows told me that Gretta was very good at presenting in front of the class and used her "presenters" voice.
She also got to be line leader, and had other class room responsibilities too.

At the end of the week all of the kids in her class made these papers about why Gretta is a star. It was so fun to see their drawings and hear what they had to say about Gretta. Gretta makes friends easily and the kids in her class had nice things to say. I have no idea why they are sideways and I can't figure out how to turn them right side up. Enjoy anyway!