Ear drama

As a kid I don't think I ever had an ear infection.  Like never.  I consider our little family of four lucky.  Neither Layla nor Hayden had an ear infection as babies.  Layla had her first ever moderate ear infection last year when she had what the doctor said was strep throat.  Gary has had swimmers ear a few times and that is it in the ear department in our house.

Until me.

When Layla was 3 months old I had a sinus infection and with the sinus infection I got an ear infection.  It was my first ever ear infection and it was wild.  I thought it was sinus related so I chose an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor in the same hospital Layla was born in three months prior.

I arrived at the doctor a new mommy mess.  Layla was 3 months old and it was my first time to leave her.  I left her with her father, but I was still a wreck.  I was all kinds of emotional due to hormones.  The doctor took one look at me and sent me to the audiologist for a hearing test.

After the hearing test he noticed I had some hearing loss.  He sat me down and said, "There is a possibility you could have a benign tumor in your brain or on your inner ear."

Really dude?

Why would you freak a young woman out like that??  I was a wreck.  I was sobbing when I called Gary.

Gary had an established relationship with an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor a few cities away, so he called them and made me an appointment for a immediate second opinion.

Thank the Lord for my husband.  When I got there his doctor {who preformed a sinus surgery for Gary a year prior} was super nice.  I told him what the other doctor said and he laughed.  He quickly prescribed me medications and asked me to take them for the prescribed time and return after for another hearing test.

When I returned 14 days later the hearing test was perfect.

I clearly have seen a change in my sinuses since having children because after I had Hayden I also got a yucky sinus/ear infection.  It was cured with prescription drugs as well.  And right now I am in the midst of my third ever ear infection.  I suffer from allergies now and I didn't before children.  Having those babies sure does change a woman's body, you know?

If you follow me on twitter you know that I have been fighting this particular ear infection for about 2 months.  I don't have a sinus infection this go around.  I just have an odd clicking and staticy sound in my ear.  It is beyond annoying and I am pretty sure my family is about to go bonkers from my constant complaining.  Loud sounds are amplified, I am constantly trying to "pop" my ear.  I yawn on purpose.  I have been avoiding the water because I was told I had swimmers ear at the beginning of the summer.  I have had prescription ear drops, a super strong shot in the hip, and a few rounds of oral antibiotics.  I am beyond irritated and just want to feel better.

And because all those years ago a quack doctor told me I may have a benign tumor that horrible thought crosses my mind.  Those words echo in my head.  I worry about that now because this ear infection has lingered longer than any other.

After visiting with my primary care physician we decided I need to see a specialist.  I called a few Ear/Nose /Throat doctors in my area and they are so busy.  The earliest appointment I could get was August 17th.  I accepted that date and settled in for the long, irritating & painful wait.

This morning I was so frustrated and in tears, and I knew I couldn't wait.  I almost passed out in Wal-Mart on Friday (which is a whole other blog post) and my ear seemed to be the reason.  Today I called and begged to get an earlier appointment and they said,"Yes, come right now!"  Yeah!!

I literally dropped everything and Gary thankfully was able to watch the kids.  I drove as fast as I could to the doctors office in hopes of a miracle cure on the spot.  I was desperate for relief.

I love the doctor I saw.  She was amazing and listened to my whole story, even the brain tumor part.  She honestly thinks I have a severe infection and my ear isn't draining the fluid properly.  She prescribed me more drugs and even though I am not happy about taking them...I will do exactly what she says.

I am scheduled to have a hearing test in a few weeks.  Even if the medication clears the infection the doctor wants me to take a hearing test .  I didn't realize that a hearing test can tell so much more than if I can hear or not.  The hearing test can tell her so much about the anatomy of my ear and why I have had ear infections that don't clear easily.  If the medications DON'T clear my ear then the doctor will order an MRI.


If you made it to the end of the post you are a total ROCK STAR.  Thanks for listening and reading.  I am super positive I will get relief soon.  I took my first round of the new medicine and they make me feel  disgusting.  Dizzy and yucky.  Blah.  BUT isn't it supposed to get worse before it gets better??

Bless all you Momma's who's kiddos have ear infections.  I know what those babies feel like.  It is misery.

I refuse to be a Debbie downer.  I'm trying my best to stay positive. Now you know WAY more than you ever wanted to know about my ear ache ;)


Have you had an ear infection as an adult?

sibling love

I have waited so long for the kids to play together independently.

Does that make sense?  

 I mean Gary and I had kids because we wanted to have kids, but I wanted Layla to have a sibling.  Someone to talk to and hang out with.  I wanted her to have a sibling so that when she is older and as an adult she can have family other than Mom and Pops.


And I wanted them to entertain one another so I can have some peace and quiet.
I know you know what I mean ;)

They finally grab each other and go play.  They don't need me to 'help' them play.  They play in the playroom or each others rooms for hours.  Yes, it has been happening this summer...whoo hoo!  

{throw glitter and confetti} 

Honestly, I think they have really enjoyed each other lately.  It is crazy how all of the sudden they play and I don't hear bickering and complaining.  They are ages 6 and 3 and are able understand each other better than before.   They still have their fights and disagreements, but those are mostly about TV shows.  Layla likes to watch girlie shows and Hayden likes to watch, well, boy shows.

This past week and this weekend have been somewhat low key.  We have been inside staying out of the 110 degree heat.  The kids have played a million different things.  Gary and I give them ideas, but then they just play and play so long, together.  They play games, cars and Barbies.  They play video games on the Wii and on the computer.  They have tea parties and cook in the play kitchen.  They have been dressing up in old Halloween costumes.  They wrestle with Bogey.  He is the best dog ever to be gentle and loving to the kids.  They watch movies and request popcorn.

I am thankful for their friendship and I hope they are always great friends!

Bingo!

Hayden isn't really into games.

He'd rather be running around the house in his BuzzLightyear costume.

I found this Toy Story Bingo set at the store the other day, and BOTH kids love it!

Layla loves to help her brother play the game.

She does get a bit upset at him when he messes up his bingo board.

When the boards get all messy they have to start all over again.

I'm not sure if they have ever played an entire game of bingo.

But they have fun anyway!

Bingo is an easy fun game the whole family can play!

things that make me crazy

It makes me crazy when chicken wings are called buffalo wings. I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat a buffalo.  haha! j/k But still, I call them hot wings.

It makes me crazy that The Scooter Store emails me every day.  I always send it to my spam folder.  It never fails. They send the email every.single.day. I'm pretty sure I don't need a scooter.

It makes me crazy when people say, " I had spaghetti tonight."  Oh ok, so you just had dry spaghetti? Spaghetti is a type of pasta. How boring to sit down and eat a big bowl of dry spaghetti with no sauce.  It should be I had spaghetti with tomato sauce, or meat sauce. Now you know.

It makes me crazy when people say "Exspecially." It is especially.

It makes me crazy when people say "ATM machine."  It is an automated teller machine.  Not an automated teller machine machine.

It makes me crazy when people put seasonings on meat while on the grill.  It burns right off.  If you want the meat to have flavor marinate it. Marinating takes 30 minutes or longer and it happens before you cook the meat.

It makes me crazy when a waiter or waitress says, "No problem."  I ask for a refill on my water and they say "No problem!"  Well why would it be a problem?  It is your job.

It makes me crazy when my kids give me that blank stare.  I ask Layla or Hayden for help with a task and they just stand there as if I am talking in another language.  Uggh!

It makes me crazy when people don't RSVP.  It doesn't even have to be a super fast response.  I'll even accept a few days before the event, but to not even respond.  RUDE.  I'm not perfect.  I have not responded before, but I am working on this!

It makes me crazy when people are so negative all the time.  I can see every once in awhile we all have bad days and very sad things happen in our lives.  We need our friends and family to help lift our spirits.  BUT every single day:  another sob story.  It makes me crazy when people want to create silly drama for themselves.  My honest opinion.... I think life is what we make of it.  I take a bad day and make it good.  I don't want to hang out with negative people and I'm sure no one else does either.

So what makes you crazy on this steaming HOT happy hump day?

fried eggs ??

So ... what did you do on August 1st??  Us, oh...we tried to fry an egg on the sidewalk.

The heat has clearly gone to our heads.  The kids were WAY too excited about the possibility of cooking an egg on the hot sidewalk.  Look at their silly faces.  They are so sweet.

Hayden threw his egg down pretty hard.  

I was cracking up!  Get it?? har har!

So yea, the eggs just sat there.  They didn't fry, not that we really expected them to, but it was fun to see the kids get so excited about something so silly.  And since a dozen eggs are 49 cents at our grocery store we didn't feel so bad wasting a few.  We left 2 eggs out on the counter top for several hours and then splatted them on the side walk for a little bit.  Nothing happened,  and the kids were bored in 2.5 seconds so I washed the eggs away.  Like I said ... the heat is making us goofy!

Today if we make it to 100 degrees we will have had 32 consecutive 100 degree days. 

 That's HOT y'all!

Happy Tuesday!

a recap of our relaxing weekend

Our weekend was all kinds of low key.  It was awesome. The kids have summer colds and we needed some down time.  Their colds aren't super bad, but they are just stuffy enough to drive us bonkers.  At first I thought Hayden was icky from his 3 year old shots on Tuesday. I think that is not the case now that Layla is stuffy too.  Thankfully they are feeling WAY better today!

I took pictures of the clouds.  I was hoping they would produce some rain for us, but nope!

Friday we picked up our new vehicle.  My Chevy Trailblazer was my favorite car EVER.  I really didn't want to let it go, but the air conditioner was giving us trouble.  I didn't want to pay the big bucks to get it fixed, so we just traded it in.  It was about to have over 100,00 miles on it, so it was time.  Gary has a Ford Bronco and it is paid for.  We love the Bronco and really love that it is paid for!!  We decided having one car payment is in the budget, so we got a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.  It is the perfect vehicle for our family.  We took the t-tops off on Friday afternoon and the kids were beyond thrilled.  It was a bit hot for having the hard top off, so the t-tops were just enough for the kids to feel the wind through their hair.  I can't wait until fall and camping in the new 4 door Jeep!!  We can take all four doors off and the hard top too.  I'm loving the versatility of this Jeep.  It is an SUV with tons of room but also a fun adventure vehicle too.  I'll have to take a few pictures soon.

Saturday morning we hit up a few garage/estate sales.  

I found a few fun things and then we came home to play in the pool and grill out.

Sunday was pretty much the same.  We really needed and wanted to go to church, but with the stuffy-ness we decided to stay home.  I'm glad we did.  Hayden sneezed about 100 times throughout the morning.   Due to the heat and nasty noses we didn't play in the pool too long on Sunday.  The water was hot in our little pool.  It only refreshed us for a few minutes and then it was unbearable outside.  Sunday night we grabbed a fun dinner out & watched America's Funniest Videos. AFV is a Sunday night favorite for us.

Our plans for this week are to stay cool.  It should be around 111 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We are going to try to fry an egg outside.  I hope it works.  I plan to take pictures and blog about it.  :)  Otherwise,  I think we will hybernate here in the coolness with the A/C cranked down!  Layla starts school in just a few weeks.  We are so excited for a new school year!!!!  She is planning to do a fashion show for me today.  I need to know what fits and doesn't fit for 1st grade!  I know for sure we need a few dresses and some fun shoes.

What are your plans for the week?