April has been filled with activity-- some usual, some out of the ordinary. We have enjoyed a few warmer days, although spring hasn't really arrived yet, and are starting to get anxious for school to be done for the year!
Abigail has started gymnastics lessons once a week for the next 10 weeks. She absolutely loves it! She has always loved doing somersaults and cartwheels and headstands all over the house and now she has a creative outlet. It is a great introductory class where they get to try different events and she really is thriving at it!
We learned that Leah and Andrew are now old enough to go to the library to hang out by themselves, so they usually go there during gymnastics to read & play on the computers. Jacob comes with me and he gets to ride on the ride-along vehicles they have at the gym, or we go outside if it is nice enough.
The first nice day we could, we headed to the playground!
So for several months, I have had some concerns about Abigail and how she is learning and her attention span and her emotional state. She isn't picking up reading well, although I know she is very smart. She rarely sits still, and she seems to be tired often. She sleeps usually 12 hours a night but we have to wake her up in the morning and even then she may fall asleep in the car later. She can be emotional or grumpy throughout the day. I feel if she was in public school she may have even been diagnosed with ADD or some type of learning disorder. BUT-- I did some research and some studying and realized many of these kinds of issues can come from sinus and allergy issues.
She has a narrow face, which has always led to the doctor saying she doesn't have much room in her nose for breathing. She did have her adenoids removed three years ago, which helped some with her hearing, but still was not consistently passing hearing tests. She doesn't seem to have a lot of allergies or colds-- BUT-- if she isn't breathing well (and she does breathe through her mouth), she's not getting good QUALITY sleep and therefore not enough rest. So that is what was making her tired and emotional and not able to concentrate. We considered getting a sleep test or academic testing but decided to start with ENT. That doctor took one look at her tonsils and said they definitely were big enough to come out (which he had told us three years ago would be a possibility in the future). While I didn't want to subject her to unnecessary surgery, he assured us that it is better to do it while she is young and she can avoid getting sick more often as a teenager and there is really no harm in having them out. He felt like this would solve many of her sleep issues.
So the surgery was scheduled for only 2 weeks after our initial meeting with the ENT!
The experience was actually really simple and painless. She did well on the anesthesia, was only really "out of it" for a few hours afterward, and went home and was already ready to have yogurt and applesauce and pudding. The next day she was able to eat some soup broth and some macaroni and cheese. She loved getting special smoothies (which she always asks for and I never buy!) and ice cream and Jell-o. She really only needed this soft diet maybe 4-5 days, and even before that she was outside playing & running around. She bounced back quickly! We haven't really seen a huge change yet, but hope after a few weeks we will start noticing a difference in our Abigail!
Meanwhile, this little boy, who loves anything that he can sort or stack or line up, had his annual MRI and check-up to be sure his brain tumor isn't coming back. He did so well! I don't know that he cried at all, even though it was 6am, he hadn't had breakfast or his juice, and they stuck him with an IV. In fact, he loved being pulled around the hospital in his wagon and getting the "star" treatment. We had a great experience at the hospital this time and they gave him tons of attention. Best of all-- he had a clean scan! We were able to meet with the doc that same day and she said there was nothing new on the scan and he has a clean bill of health for another year!
Through his experience, I think I have drawn closer to Jacob as a kid than maybe any of the other kids (I am NOT saying he is the favorite!). I have spent more time with him alone than any of the other kids, and it has made him cuddlier and able to sit still for longer periods of time. He has such a sweet temperament and definitely loves being with his mommy and his family.
Just a couple more shots of my sensory-loving Abigail with her kinetic sand, and then her Playdoh. We have been watching a baking show lately and she went to put PlayDoh in a baggie, cut the tip off and pretended to "frost" her PlayDoh cake. This was all her own idea!
