Coffee and the cautiously optimistic

It's been a while since I've been here. Naughty. I've been trying to find things to write about. Okay. I've been lazy. Sometimes the need to write just doesn't find me. It's like a mental muse has lost its way and has gotten stuck somewhere in the murky fog of coffee soup that is my brain.


I still haven't found that fish. I give up. I can no longer bring myself to give a worry about where that missing pleco has gone off to. Chances are it's been filtered through the gills of the other tank dwellers and recycled. No loss. More food for the other one to eat.

It's the middle of the last week of November. How did that happen. How can it be a month until Christmas? How is this even possible?! I'm going to be 2....9? R2D2 will be 8 in January. I refuse to think this even possible. Tink is currently in her room trying to convince herself she doesn't need sleep and that I should let her out. I don't see why she's waiting for my permission. She knows how to open the gate. She does it every.single.night to come and creep into our bed.  But, there she is, laughing and making gibberish sounds to who knows what and calling out  "Hullo? ...... Hulllllloooooooo? DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA? Hullo?" 

Maybe she'll sleep. That would be nice.

You ever sit there and wonder and worry and just get yourself into a mental knot over things? There's so much going on lately that I'm surprised my eyes aren't crossing. Dinky got a set of blood work done on Monday. That was awesome to deal with. He was such a champ! They had to stick him three times. And twice they went in blind and went fishing! Because they couldn't find a vein! WHY!? If they weren't able to get it on the third try, they were going to call the Ped in and tap into a vein on his head. Thank god for third time's the charm! Even if he does have bruises.

And he was miserable yesterday. He's sleeping right now.

We had our Peds appointment today. We were walking down the hall and he was laughing about how he was talking to Dinky's Neuro and she couldn't remember what she told us so to let her know what I tell him. ... I knew she was spacey but there are notes for a reason ...

Blah blah blah.

Take Dinky out of his car seat and lay him on his belly like requested. He lifted his head up a TINY smidge! Rolled him onto his back and he was swinging his legs over a bit like he was trying to roll over. His wrists weren't at their half cocked position they have been in for so long. AND his eyes weren't crossing. Nor have they been crossing much lately. His small heart murmur sounds fine and no troubles there. His soft tissue cleft isn't causing any issues nor is his bifid uvula (that dangly thing for those that don't know what it's called).

Neuro told us at the beginning of the month that she was going to focus on the central Nervous System. Peds said that if there IS a CNS problem, they're all pretty much golden and can be "fixed" or outgrown. But he feels that Dinky will probably just grow out of it. Neuro feels he'll probably grow out of it. Genetics said there's a 60% chance he'll grow out of it.

So there's my cautiously optimistic moment.

And what is it? His hypotonic state. The never ending state of floppy. But it's not because he's weak. In fact the little goober is very strong. But he's just got low/poor muscle tone. Whichhecouldpossiblygrowoutof!

Ahem.

Physical and Occupational Therapy ladies shall be here in a few hours. Which means I should put some thought into vacuuming the floor. Because that's always nice. And I'm just looking for an excuse to use my kickass vacuum. But who wants to sit on a floor that's got dog hair on it? Fingers crossed for good things from these ladies.

Oh. One more small thing.

We now have...

11 FREAKING POUNDS ON THE SCALE!


In fact Dinky's exact weight is 11lbs1.4oz.


BOOM baby!

Turnips and downs.

The mail this week held a few things from our genetics specialist that I wasn't really expecting to see. I forgot (or maybe I just didn't pay attention to this) that they mailed out a recap of what happened/found at the consult. Let me tell you, I'm glad they did! Most of that visit now feels like years ago so the papers were nice to see. Even if they sucked just a little bit.

Regardless of what those papers say, I can tell you that they can just kiss my tushie. Dinky has been a lot more active as of late. It's funny watching him start to figure things out. He's lifting his arms up now and has discovered that he indeed DOES have a left hand! So he's slowly learning to bring it up and chew on it like he does his left.

Currently as I'm writing this out he's in the pack&play trying to kick at a toy I hung up for him to play with. And while doing that he's pulling on his dragon quietly chattering to...whatever. It's just nice to see all these small developments happening. And the best thing, he hardly makes his derp face. Where he sticks his tongue out and crosses either one or both eyes. It makes me laugh and then I just close his eyes for him and call out for an "Eye reset!!" It generally helps.

It's the third week of November. The second to last week of the month and it's done nothing but rain and then freeze. Rain. Freeze. Makes me wonder what the heck is in the making for us later on. Is Old Man Winter taking a vacation this year?

On the low front of the spectrum, we need to do blood work for Dinky every week for a few weeks out of town where they have better ... whatevers. I know that some of them are time sensitive and so we have to do them before noon. First round happens on Monday. My poor Dinky-Do.

Another down... I still haven't found that missing fish. I've written it off. Pretty sure particles of it are floating around in the tank. Oh well. RIP little pleco.

High front, I've got a few ideas lined up for some DIYs. I've been very... in need of a hobby. So I think this is something I will be able to do and enjoy!

ALSO!

Tink has almost cut the rest of her missing teeth (save the two-year molars).

Husby and I have finally decided on the remaining gifts for the kids.

AND!!

R2D2 has his Star of the Week in school this coming week. He's very excited! He's also highly enjoying his new piano.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE more!!

Dinky has been trying to roll over. Well at least today. He got up onto his side and flopped back over onto his back. Tried it a few times. And he can almost lift his head 100% during tummy time (not 100% on full recline, but we're working on it! )

And riddle me this. Why do I like peeling turnips but not potatoes? I hate peeling potatoes. I leave that up to husby 99% of the time. Poor guy. Welcome home honey, peel potatoes if you want to eat.  I'm surprised he doesn't just turn around and leave again.

Greys, coffee and reflections.

Alright. It's been well over a week since I have updated this. I've been able to actually sit down and try to actually process what happened while we were down in Vancouver. I've also been able to read over the rest of the paperwork and slowly digest.

While we were away my mum not only had to deal with both R2D2 and Tink having Hand-Foot-and-Mouth, being stuck in town (which really isn't a place she wants to be stuck in for a week!), cleaning my house and then bleaching it all...she took the time to actually start and make progress with getting Tink potty trained! I'm not sure what she did exactly 100% or her methods but my little 2 year old makes YAY on the potty! Both kinds of YAY! She's been using the potty for almost a week now and she's in panties almost all day now except for nap and bed time. Granted, we haven't taken her out of the house without diapers, but hey, progress!

R2D2 is happy to finally be allowed to go out and do things these days rather then being stuck at home without being able to go to school, friends or go out and doing whatever it is he wanted to do. He missed almost a week of school and was able to catch up on his missed school work within a half hour, ace a spelling test he didn't really have time to study for and got to try out his brand spanking new digital piano we got for him.

It's hard getting back into the swing of things after being away from home for so long. I don't really want to do much of anything these days. I'm not sure if it's the whole lack of motivation or the weather...or possibly the whole shebang of everything that happened. Or a groovy combination of it all. My head feels foggy and strange. Like there's a large disconnect between head and shoulders. To much coffee? Is there ever really a thing?

I tried to clean the fishtank yesterday. Somehow though I have managed to misplace a pleco. I'm wondering if it stupid thing is dead in the gravel somewhere, which could explain the massive amounts of algae we had growing in there. That and you know, my mum didn't realize that the light turned off! So pretty sure that didn't help matters at all. Do fish eat other fish? I mean, I know sharks do. But will goldfish and guppies, hell even the other pleco turn on a dead one and eat it? Can goldfish even digest bones? Wait... are fish seriously cannibals?!

I'm finally all caught up on the newest season of Grey's. I started it yesterday. Finished it today. Now waiting for Thursday to come along so I can watch it. I think I quite possibly might be needing some GAA. There should be a group. I know fellow Grey's Addicts. Pretty sure we need help! I wonder if there's a 12-step program. I wonder if there's a 12-step program we can take to get Yang back. I'm worried Owen's going to start in on Amelia. Or Maggie. Ew. That would just be weird. Amelia seems to be right up Owen's broken alley. C'mon Yang. Come baaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaack. Owen neeeeeeeeeeeds you.

See? Told you I need help.

Dinky is now 10lbs11oz. Meaning next week, if he keeps going the way he's going, he will be an even Stephen 11 lbs! I also need to call his Ped tomorrow to see if we can get an appointment locally to discuss his head x-ray that happened almost 2 weeks ago (holy crap it's been that long already?!), to see if his soft heart murmur is really benign or not (Gen Spec said it was but how can you really know) and just give him an all around once over. He's got a bit of a cough going right now and it's not making me very happy.

He needs to have the rest of his lab work done but I'm still waiting for the papers that the lab at BCCH forgot to send to us. The longer they take, the longer it is before we possibly know what's going on with him because you know, genetic mapping and all that funky jazz takes forever. Did however talk to one of the nurses for the Cleft Palate people for almost an hour the other day. Once we know the MRI date, she'll hopefully be able to get us in for a consult for the Peds C/P plastic surgeon to take a look at him and see what's going on. So the referral has been sent in and we should hear from them in the next couple of weeks.


We also have an appointment with the Peds Ophthalmologist for December 30th in PG. Which is nice. Just a daytrip with a bunch of driving. No big deal. What's approximately 6-7 (total -- round trip) hours in the truck? Nothing if you ask me!

Enough with that now.

So, Husby is done for Christmas. I ordered a few more things for the kids. A coupe stocking stuffers for Dinky as we have all the stocking stuff for the big kids stashed away in Dinky's closet. I'm awesome. I'm also a little sickened as to how much has been spent so far on Christmas. Though not just for my kids/husband. That's including Husby's parents, my SiL and her two kids, something for my mum...and then well, husby and the kids.

I need a hobby so I can try and cut the cost of Christmas down even more for next year. But for now...

I'm wondering if I should go get a wooden spoon and dig around in the gravel in that blasted tank and see if I could maybe stir up that stupid missing pleco. It's a fish. How could it have gone missing?!

Oh joyous

It has been a very, very long few days. In fact the last few days has felt as if it were a week that lasted all of eternity. We got out of the house slightly later then we wanted, had to drop a cheque off at husbys parents, then drove for a few hours and had to stop fairly often to feed Dinky. Went to Walmart and grabbed food for the road so that it cut the cost of eating out. And we were still able to eat and drive without stopping. Needless to say we were driving for 15 hours.

Checked into the hotel and settled in. Next day we went on our walking adventure. Learned that when someone suggests taking the bus, do it. I have a healthy respect for mothers that walk in the city with strollers.

My legs STILL hurt. Or at least it's all phantom pain. BCCH is a maze. I have an appreciation for maps and helpful people. So, bring on the genetics meeting. Learned a few things there.

Firstly, Dinky is 10lbs6oz!! Way to go chubs!! 

Secondly.. it's going to be a long year. Dinky has mild ptosis (droopy eye lids), a celft soft tissue palette (new to us), minor umbilical hernia, weak stomach muscles... So he will be referred to a cleft specialist and the Peds opthamologist. X-rays on his skull to see of his plates have fused at all. If they have, he needs surgery. His soft tissue cleft will probably need surgery...

He's also been classed as failure to thrive. Was wondering how long that would take. Been worried about that for a while. He's growing, well for him. But he's not growing enough for anyone at all.

Neuro the next day... He's not weak. He's just got really low tone. He's showing certain reflexes and then not such strong ones in other areas, or so that's what I think. So they're going to start looking at the central system to see if they can find the problem.

Loads of blood work...that was a giant headache but Dinky took it like the damn champ. I'm so proud of him. But now we have a lot of waiting games. MRI in 2-3 months. Ugh..

Just a quick post tonight. I'm tired.

On the big kid front...

Both of them AND my mum have hand-foot-mouth disease. I feel so bad for them all. I miss my kids but we can't bring Dinky home and risk him getting it.

Boo..