Awwwwww...

A letter from my 8-year old...

Jodi,

I feel very

lucky to know you because

you are very silly and

nice. And you are very

loveing to me. You are

my favorite person in

my family. Love you forever!

Jake

Passing The Torch

Tuesday was Jake's FIRST Pack Meeting as a Cub Scout and it was Davis's LAST Pack Meeting as a Cub Scout.

Jake was so excited! He grinned from ear to ear when they did the flag ceremony.
Tuesday was also the only Pack Meeting I'd have three Cub Scouts attending. (I forgot Kyle's scarf at home-dangit!)
Jake-Wolf, Kyle-Bear, Davis-Webelo

Davis received his Webelos badge after lots of work and we are very proud of him. Next Pack Meeting he'll receive his Arrow of Light and we're very excited.

Scouting is a big part of our family and will be for a long time.

Jake Turned EIGHT on 3/23

Jake had his first birthday party yesterday and BOY was it CRAZY!! Here's a picture of Jake with his friends (and a couple of brothers) that were able to make it.

They playes games, ate pizza, watched Jake open presents...

sang Happy Birthday and had brownies and ice cream.

I forgot to put the candles in his brownies he wanted, so we made due with candles in the ice cream.
I love this picture. It catches 1/2 the candles still lit and you can see the smoke.
Jake had so much fun being the center of attention and can't wait to be baptized and participate in Scouts.

That's What We Like to Hear

Davis had a post-op appointment last Thursday (a week from his surgery) and the doctor said his ear is healing nicely. He then asked me if I wanted to have Davis' hearing checked real quick and warned me not to be disappointed because Davis still has dry blood and gunk in his ear. I was thinking, "Um, YA-AH I want to test him!!" but I toned it down a bit and told him I'd be very interested in seeing if there was a difference yet. So, our favorite audiologist tested his right ear and Davis could hear at 20 db, which is the bottom of NORMAL - that's right...NORMAL!! I'm so excited and can't wait until his post-op appointment in Spokane on April 7th. I'm hoping his hearing will improve even more.

And the best news for Davis was when our audiologist said she was cancelling his hearing aid...since he DOESN'T NEED it anymore! (Now it's time for a haircut)

Does *this happen to anyone else when they stress??

*Actual size of cold sore bigger in person.

PICTURES of our New Floor

Now remember-we're still in the process of rearranging and decorating again... But here's a peek of our floor.

~

Living Room

Stairway
This picture shows the "flow" of the floor

Walk-through

Family Room

Did I Mention...

OUR FLOOR IS FINISHED!

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Mick finished while Davis and I were in Spokane.

I will post pictures when our house no longer looks like a construction site. :)

~

And...I'm no longer going private.

ISN'T IT "IRONIC"

Or as LKP titled one of her recent posts, "When It Rains It Pours."

I just got back from taking Davis to the doctor...again. He was up ALL NIGHT crying that his left ear (his "good" ear) "was going to explode" - it hurt that bad. AND he has been throwing up NON-STOP since he woke up this morning. He even threw up in the car on the way to the doctor's office and then again in the doctor's office. He just plain ol' doesn't feel good. He even fell asleep between the nurse taking his vitals and the doctor coming in. Anyway, he has a REALLY BAD ear infection (even while being on antibiotics from his surgery) and has the flu and is a little dehydrated. Poor guy. He was so excited to go to school today too, he's anxious to share his surgery experience with his friends - guess he'll have to wait a couple/few more days.

And did I mention I just took Bennett to the doctor on Saturday with a really bad ear infection.

I'm SOOOOOO TIRED!

DAVIS SURGERY

I'm happy to say that the surgeon said the surgery went very well and is very optimistic about Davis' surgery on Thursday. The surgeon removed Davis' stapes bone and replaced it with a micro prosthesis.

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The stapes is the third of the three little hearing bones in the middle ear that transmit sound vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear fluid so that we can hear. We hear when sound vibrations set the EARDRUM in motion. The eardrum, in turn, activates the first middle ear bone, the MALLEUS. It, in turn, sets the second middle ear bone, the INCUS, in motion. It, in turn, causes the third middle ear bone, the STAPES, to vibrate. The stapes sets the inner ear fluids in motion which excites the hearing nerve to carry the sound on to the brain. It is by this mechanism that we hear.

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So, by replacing Davis' stapes bone with the prosthesis, this will allow sound vibrations to be transmitted properly to the inner ear fluids for hearing. The surgeon feels strongly that Davis will hear normally when his ear heals from surgery.

Davis was very brave and excited for surgery. I took this picture the night before his surgery. My brother and sister-in-law were very generous and let Davis and I stay with them for a couple of nights. We had a great time visiting with them and Davis loved playing with his cousins. Thanks guys! Here's a picture of Davis after they put in his IV. He was very interested in everything the nurses were doing. He actually watched them put in his IV and thought it was cool (except for the blood).
When the nurse came to take him to the operating room, she put this lovely hair net on him. He couldn't understand why he had to wear it, but was a good sport about it.

While Davis was in surgery (about an hour) - it was SNOWING outside. It was so beautiful and relaxing.

When the nurse came to take me to the recovery room, Davis was still OUT! There was no waking him. When he would wake up for a few seconds, he'd say some crazy stuff. First it was, "Mom, why are there two of you?" Then he asked me what year it was. The nurse overheard him and said, "You haven't been asleep that long Davis." It was pretty funny.

Now for recovery, he has some pretty strict rules. He's supposed to sneeze with his mouth open, he's not supposed to blow his nose too hard, he's not supposed to do anything to raise his heart rate, basically anything that can disrupt his eardrum from re-sealing (they lifted his eardrum and "flapped" it over to get to his inner ear and it needs to re-attach). He's also not supposed to get his ear wet for a month.

Right now he has dissolvable packing in his ear canal (for 10-14 days) and a cotton ball over that. And even with all that, Davis already says that he hears differently. We're really praying that when he's all healed (about 2 months) that he will have normal hearing.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.

DAVIS

Davis and I are here in Spokane at my brother's.  Davis' surgery is scheduled for 8:45 a.m. tomorrow.  Davis says he's not nervous at all.  Especially since he found out they're not going to "cut his ear or head open" for the surgery. :)

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THANKS everyone for your prayers, thoughts, and fasting!

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I'll be sure and post how everything goes.

With Pleasure Comes "Pain"

We are still hard at work on our flooring and it's about half way finished. We should finish it in the next couple of days. Which brings me much pleasure.

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Having a husband and kids who are willing to help with the project brings me pleasure.

Having the living room complete brings me pleasure (even if it's filled with misc. furniture while we work in the other rooms).
Knowing we'll be finishing this room next and can hook the t.v. back up for the kids brings me pleasure.

Having to cover up my new pedicure with shoes while we work brings me "PAIN."