Capper's Quick Surgery

Daniel and Capper arrived at Children's Hospital Oakland this morning at 6:30am for his surgery. I wanted to bring him but Daniel and I agreed that I should stay home to get Anellah ready for school and get a few things done this morning.

Posing in his hospital gown. Note the continuous drool on his chin, hopefully our future holds some DRY shirts.

Capper was sleepy but had a good attitude about the entire process. Daniel told the nurses who were impressed by his good nature that it was Anellah who deserved the credit in teaching him how to be happy while hospitalized.

The surgery went well. His doctor removed adenoids, removed tonsils, and placed tubes in his ears. According to Daniel's version of the post-op update, "his nose was completely blocked by his adenoids and his tonsils were huge, and he had a ton of thick mucous behind his eardrum." So it's good they did the surgery and I am sure after the initial recovery period he will be feeling MUCH better.

Within 2 1/2 hours Capper was awake, happy, talking, eating, and drinking so he was discharged MUCH earlier than planned. We had hoped for discharge this evening knowing could be tomorrow considering his age. Yet he was discharged at noon! He is pretty hilarious still considering he is dopey from the anesthesia and morphine along with having a voice that sounds like he has been sucking helium. We can't help but laugh when he talks.

The only down-side to such an expedient discharge is that Anellah was really looking forward to visiting him in the hospital. Instead we had a good time looking at old pictures of her from her surgery back in 2011. Her surgery was much more serious and required a much longer recovery but she still looks on it fondly and loves seeing photos of herself.

Happy to be home and having a popsicle party!

Thank you all for your prayers today!

Breakfast

Cooking a few weeks ago with everyone in matching aprons, including Bunny.

Capper's cooking apparel today

I didn't get much sleep last night. I did sleep from 6am-8am since somehow the kids decided to sleep until 8:00 but that was the longest stretch. It was a "bad blood sugar night," or as I accidentally emailed Daniel at 3am, a "beef blood sugar night." It makes me thankful that we have been having MUCH fewer nights like that and in fact they've become quite rare.

So this morning when the kids got up I hadn't prepared anything for our usual "Special Saturday" breakfast, plus it needed to be something somewhat low carb due to the night-time blood sugar struggles. I couldn't convince Anellah that she wanted bacon and sausage but then I saw some over-ripe bananas on the shelf and coconut flour in the refrigerator. We proceeded to make coconut-flour banana pancakes and scrambled eggs together, the kids taking turns helping with the steps measuring, pouring, mashing, and stirring. 

I let them pour their own pancake batter on the griddle...some would say that's dangerous.

While I was finishing up cooking pancakes they seated themselves at the big table and enjoyed spreading their own butter/almond butter and cutting their own pancakes. And sitting in whatever chair they chose. Pretty much it was one of their most fun breakfast times ever.

So now there is flour on the counter and salt on the floor, there is batter dripped all over the stovetop, there is almond butter in the butter dish, the existing butter is all smashed, there is food on the floor, there are crumbs and drips on the table, there's a fork under the table too far for me to reach with my big belly (I forgot to have Capper grab it before they escaped to play), there are plenty of dirty forks, knives, and dishes, and there are some banana peels hanging off the edge of the garbage can that didn't quite make it all the way in.But my kids are happy, and they ate a nutritious breakfast, they had a BLAST being "big," and they are upstairs playing together with pretend food while I finish up my cup of coffee and chill on the computer for a few minutes. I'd say the morning was a success. And I should be able to clean up quickly as long as I don't have any "help" from littles.

I guess pouring batter isn't the only dangerous thing we do in the kitchen, do you think this stool was made for three?

A Few Updates

Summer is almost here! It has felt like summer for a few weeks now, but I define "summer" as the weeks kids are out of school. Last year was the first year I actually counted the weeks...I have a feeling it will become a tradition. I'm busy coming up with our "Summer Fun List" which we will definitely be needing this year as I'm sure all creativity will go out with door with a newborn in the home. I also feel like I should give you a few updates on how things are going with the kids.

Anellah- 5 years old

Anellah is finishing up preschool and will begin Kindergarten next year! I'm was pretty surprised but oh-so-thankful when she was approved to have a nurse with her during the entire school day next year. I didn't even have to fight for this! She is enrolled at the school across the street which is a charter school and we are looking forward to walking to school together every day. She is on track academically and although she is still a bit behind in some areas like gross motor and speech, she can definitely keep up with her peers and loves school! She has started to read sight words and continues to love being read to.

Medically Anellah's liver continues to function "ok." Her labs have shown decline over the past couple years but the progression is slow. We do not have any plans for surgical treatment at this point as her liver continues to function at a "good enough" level and we have to wait until things are really bad to warrant surgery. She takes a medication for her liver three times/day and is a CHAMP at swallowing pills! Many adults could learn from her! The current risks are some elevated risk for illness (her white blood cells are low) and risk for bleeding (her platelets are low) but these don't affect her much on a day to day basis. For the first time I think I can finally say that her diabetes is "well controlled." She has a continuous glucose monitor which is not entirely accurate and can be frustrating at times but, in the end, it has been very helpful in regulating her blood sugars. She is very good about being told she cannot have sweets or has to wait until later to have sweets (although we don't specifically tell her this is because of her diabetes, but rather tell her it is because that is what's healthy) and she is becoming quite adept at checking her blood sugar independently. Checking her blood sugar requires poking her finger and applying blood to a test strip in her meter, then calling out the number to Mom or Dad.

Anellah is my big helper...and she is actually helpful! Everyday when I tell her that quiet time is over she asks, "Can I wake Capper up now?" She runs upstairs and starts dancing for him or singing loudly or talking to him or tickling him or fixing him pretend food. It is such a joy for me to listen to and also a relief that it means he will wake up happy! She also helps with chores: folding laundry, putting away her laundry, cleaning up her toys, putting away her shoes, clearing the table, etc.

Capper - 2 years old

Capper is NOT a baby or even a toddler anymore, he is definitely a little boy. He also attends "preschool" three mornings/week for 3 hours at a time. He is very verbal although we don't necessarily understand everything he says. He is potty trained...for pee. Pooping is a different issue but it will come! I'm just happy he was able to get out of diapers before we have a new one in diapers! Capper wants to do everything his big sister does so he is pretty adept at doing things independently. He also gets rewarded by being given chores to do, although he is not quite to the point where his chores are actually helpful. He can pick up his toys, put away his shoes when we get home, and put the silverware away.

He has always had a lot of ear infections and has always been a mega-drooler. Over the past year he started snoring and over the past 6 months it has gotten significantly worse. I finally took him to an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor a couple weeks ago. She took a quick look at him and said, "yep, I can help you out!" He will be having surgery to have his adenoids and tonsils removed along with tubes being placed in his ears on June 9th (one week from today). Currently he is sleeping on an enormous wedge pillow (shout out to my friend Vanessa for supplying it! It has made a huge difference!) and often getting Triaminic before bed just so that he can sleep through the night. He doesn't always sleep well and still snores a lot, he does have sleep apnea too. In a few weeks these issues should be completely resolved though, we are very thankful to have been able to schedule the surgery so quickly and so close to home (it will be at Oakland Childrens' Hospital). 

Other than constantly having ear infections, sinus infections, and a cold, Capper is doing well and growing up so much! He is enamored with Daddy and it's very fun to watch their special bond.

Baby - Due July 30

We are looking forward to meeting our little girl the end of July or beginning of August. Things are going well with the pregnancy especially since I cut back my work hours to just 6 hours/week. The baby moves a lot; I think she knows she is going to need to fight for attention if she is not going to be left in the dust with her two Big Personality siblings. 

Anellah has lots to tell us about her baby sister and it's pretty cute how excited she is to meet her. But that's another story for another day.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post and keep us in your thoughts and prayers!