Tubes are In!

Yesterday was the longest day EVER...But everything went well and this little boy...

Did GREAT!!

The hardest part by far yesterday was not being able to feed Russell OR give him anything to drink.

Thursday night he ate dinner around five and had a bottle around 7pm...He only drank about 4oz of the bottle, which was unusual for Russell cause normally he drinks 8oz at night...

So the next morning he was allowed water only until 8am...Well, Russell doesn't drink water...I don't know why but he wont really drink water or any type of juice...So when we would try to give him a bottle of water he would get mad and throw it to the ground and fuss...It was sad to have him follow me around the house in the morning whining and saying "bubba" and signing it over and over :(

So I think Russell kind of knew something was up cause as we got ready to go he kept looking at me like this...lol

We got to Admitting at 10 and then from there it was a waiting game...A looooong waiting game.

Russell did ok at first...We tried to keep him busy and entertained...

Giving Daddy kisses...

But we could only keep him happy for so long...The poor kid was starving after all :(

As time ticked on Russell just got weaker and weaker and that was very difficult to watch. The Doctor was running about an hour behind we were told. By noon Russell hadn't eaten OR drank for 17hrs...And that must be difficult for a 17 month old baby!!

After a while he would just lay on Brad or I and moan...he wasn't tired, he was weak...It was hard to look him in the eyes cause when he looked at me I knew he was hungry and there was nothing I could do for him...It broke my heart.

When they finally came to get him around 1pm, we laid Russell on the bed and he didn't even move...Normally he would have been scared and fought to hold onto me or tried to sit up to see what was going on...But he couldn't, he didn't have the energy.

Anyway that was definatly the hardest part of the entire day...

The surgery was quick and went well.

What they do exactly is make a small incision in the eardrum to help drain fluid from the middle ear. The tubes are inserted into the middle ear, where you cannot see them or feel them...They stay in place for about 9 months or so and then usually fall out on their own. The tubes actually help reverse any hearing loss caused by fluid build up in the middle ear.

We are confident this procedure is going to help Russell so much. His last hearing test showed any hearing loss was only due to fluid in the middle ear, so now he will be able to hear clearly, perfectly. This of course will help with speech. So we are excited to have it done!

Russell was all smiles on the way home...

When we got home he practically dived into his Nana's arms...He wouldn't even come back to me when I tried to take him, he would just turn away and snuggle deeper into Nana...Probably cause she wasn't the one who starved him all day..That AND...This boy just LOVES his Nana!

Russell was pretty tired yesterday so I haven't noticed anything yet about the tubes and if he seems to be hearing better...He was up at the crack of dawn this morning with a big smile on his face. His ears look just fine, no swelling or drainage or anything like that.

Its all good :)

Officially...Pulling to Stand :)

Those of you who are my friends on facebook have already heard this big announcement, so bare with me as I brag a little more cause this milestone to me is blog worthy, so of course I need to do a post :)

Last night as I was putting laundry away in my drawers, I turned around to see this...

Russell had stood up in his crib all by himself for the very first time!

Its funny cause I had always thought the day I saw him actually pull to stand in his crib I would cry...but I didn't...I just stood there staring at him...And he stood there staring at me...I think it freaked us both out at first...Of course I ran to grab the camera...We need this documented after all...So this is what his face REALLY looked like right after he did it...

Haha...I think he was a little scared at first.

But after I started clapping and cheering he also got pretty excited...

I am so proud of him!!

This is a skill that will lead into other things...The more he pulls to stand the more confident he will feel...Then slowly he will feel like trying to cruise along furniture...Then he will feel more confident in only using one hand...Then eventually he will want to try with no hands...To try to stand by himself...To take steps...

All theses things are months away...But its still so very exciting to think about cause its happening...Slowly but surely, its all happening!

We have a busy few days ahead of us...Its almost Austins 13th Birthday and I still am not sure what to get him...And to top it all off we had a little incident the other day which I feel HORRIBLY guilty about so I will probably end up spending an outrageous amount of money on him trying to make up for it...

Last year Austin got a Guinea pig for his birthday...

He was very excited about it...

During the day we would take the top of this cage off and put the Guinea pig under it, outside to enjoy the sunshine and eat grass...So that's what we have done this year now that it is warm enough out...

Uggg...you can probably tell where this story is going...

Anyway, so I put the Guinea pig outside the other day...I put a huge heavy stone up against the cage like we always do just to secure it and make sure it doesn't move...Then I went about my day...In the afternoon I was walking by a window when I noticed one of the dogs carrying something white in his mouth...I kept walking, then stopped and walked back and looked again...Ran outside to see the cage flipped over...Sigh... And my stomach turned a little...

I called Raist and he and I went and got the Guinea pig...We ran into Mom just as we were going to bury it and her and Raist took it from there...Austin cried when I told him...Obviously he was pretty upset.

Thank God it was me who saw the dogs with it and not the kids, that would have made things a whole lot more traumatic for everyone...

And honestly its not the dogs fault...To them it was just a rodent...The dogs kill pack rats and gophers out here, which is a good thing really...So to them this was the same thing...Its my fault for not sitting out there with the Guinea pig and making sure it was safe...Damn it...

But in my defense, the dogs have never bothered with it before...Anyway...So ya, I am feeling the guilt.

So we have a Birthday on Sunday (which has not been shopped for...yet) 

Tomorrow Russell turns 17 months old... AND its his surgery for his ear tubes.

I am really nervous...I know this is such a minor surgery and I shouldn't even be concerned...But I am...he's my baby, and I am nervous about it. It sucks also that we don't go in until 10am tomorrow so as of tonight at midnight he will not be allowed anything to eat...I am going to have to watch him go hungry :(

So please remember Russell in your prayers and if you are not a prayer, send some good vibes our way!

Thanks!

One Word Wednesday...

And that word is....LEAH!

Ok, so I realize he doesn't say it perfectly...But he is trying...And that to us is super exciting!

We started noticing the other day when we would say Leah that Russell would try to copy us...And the thing about Russell is that the effort he makes in learning something new is every bit as exciting as when he can actually do it! When he is trying to learn something he studies our faces very intently, then he thinks about it, and then tries it himself. You can see that in this video.

Russell knows everyone by name...If you ask him where a certain person is he will turn and look at that person...He may not be able to say names, but he knows them.

I am often reminded of something my Doctor said to me a few months ago...He told me to never underestimate just how much Russell can understand. That he may not be able to communicate everything right away, but he can understand. 

Leah is thrilled that her name is the first out of the siblings that Russell is trying to learn...And don't think she wont rub that in to the others!!! Haha

Easter

Easter is one of my favorite times of year, it is always a fun family day for us. We go over to Nana and Papas for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. This year was a lot of fun because it was a really nice day for once! The past few Easters have had miserable cold weather.

Its been getting harder to find new places to hide the eggs...But amazingly enough even though we have Easter in the same yard every year the kids still have trouble finding everything!

Russell HATED his little blue Easter bunny! Anytime anyone would give it to him he would push it away or throw it!

My Nephew Austin turns 13 this week!! Brad and I will officially have TWO teenagers in the house! Scary!

This is as dressed up as we get for Easter...My girls are to rough and tumble for dresses!! So we go with matching Easter shirts! Funny all the girls are three years apart but almost the exact same size! Poor Amy, she hates being so short!

Raistlin doesn't hunt for Easter eggs any more, he is much to mature for that sort of thing, lol, But I do insist he take part in the family pictures!! He's getting so big...Another month and he turns 14!

We went down to the swimming hole to check it out. In a few more weeks the river will start to flood, I always worry it will wash our swimming hole away. When the river floods quite a bit it actually changes the course of the river...Here's to hoping our swimming hole survives the flooding this year!

I cannot wait for shorts and flip flops! Either can the girls...In fact they are NOT waiting, they threw on their shorts and flip flops this weekend! Not warm enough for me yet!

Russell is learning to love the puppies...Of course now that we have them all sold! But he only likes them when they are sleeping...

Probably cause then he can manhandle them...

Puppy massage!

Hands or feet, doesn't matter...The puppies don't seem to mind...

Of course when they DO wake up, its payback time...

Russell is starting to get more comfortable outside...For some reason he will just sit in one spot when we take him out...But slowly I think he is getting to be ok with it and he is starting to crawl around and explore...

Poor little guy is teething right now and he is a grumpy drooling machine...Thus the wet shirt :(

This weekend Russell had his FIRST baby cookie! That's right, his FIRST! I am a paranoid Mom...I worry about him choking on it, he only has four teeth after all!

But he did ok...And despite me almost having a heart attack watching him shove the whole thing in his mouth the entire time he seemed to really enjoy it!

My kids have this week off school...I don't know why. Its like another spring break I guess...And thankfully it feels a whole lot more like spring! My kids are outside 24/7 now that its warming up...Just hanging out, doing kid things...

Should be a fun week!

A Question and a Super Cute Video!

Last night Neleah was rolling around on the floor playing with Russell when all of the sudden she stopped and looked at me and asked...

"Mom, does Russell still have Down syndrome?"

I told her yes he did, that he was born with it and he will always have it...I then asked her why she asked.

She said...

"I don't know, its just that he is doing so many things now and he just seems like a normal person"

My heart always beats a little faster when the kids ask questions about Russell...I don't know why, I just feel nervous. I guess I feel like I might explain things wrong or not tell them enough, or tell them to much...I just want to do everything right and I am afraid to do it wrong...Make sense?

I told Neleah that Russell and others with Down syndrome ARE normal, they just take a little longer to learn something new and they may have other challenges and maybe do things in a different way, but they are just like every body else.

I hope she understood me.

I didn't tell the kids that Russell had Down syndrome until he was a couple months old. I stand by that decision to this day. It felt right for us, for my kids. I was very emotional for the first few months and the last thing I wanted to do was have the kids see me crying over the fact Russell had Down syndrome. If they had seen me cry they would have thought something was wrong with him, something bad. And of course there is not. I also wanted to know more about Down syndrome myself so I would feel more prepared for their questions. And mostly I wanted them to fall in love with their little brother for who he was and for them not to focus or think or worry about him having Ds.

My main goal was to have the kids learn about Down syndrome over time...I mean as Mothers we all know how we felt being hit with it all at once...At least I know how I felt...I was overwhelmed and scared. As Russell grows and they see things pop up here and there and ask questions, I will answer them, and they will learn.
The kids have been having a lot of fun with Russell lately because he is doing so many new things...And he has the best, funniest, interesting little personality to boot!

I will end this post with the CUTEST video EVER!

Yesterday while I was sitting in the living room I could hear Russell in Raistlins room chattering away, he was laughing and talking like he was with someone...So I quietly peeked around the corner and saw him up on his knees looking into the mirror talking to himself! I ran and grabbed the camera...The angle is a little weird because I didn't want Russell to see me there...But I managed to capture a video that just melts my heart!!

I Love This Boy!

Russell Randoms!

A post about all the random things Russell has been doing lately!

I have been super impressed by Russell's progress the past few months, it really seems like he has just taken off in so many different areas...He is a four point crawler, he never army crawls at all anymore. It was kind of weird cause it happened over night it seems, he army crawled for months and then one morning out of the blue he started four point crawling...And he never looked back!
Now that he is four point crawling we are seeing a lot more of this...

Russell sitting on his knees!

Now this may not seem like a big deal, but really it is! It prepares Russell for so many other movements he needs to learn in the future. For one it teaches him how to balance his body really good, it helps him learn to bend his knees, and it helps position him better to learn to pull to stand.

Nothing is cuter than when Russell crawls over to the couch and sits on his knees and peeks up to see what we are doing...Usually when he does this he knows we have food, lol, maybe he has been hanging out with the dogs to much!!

Pulling to stand.

Now I have seen Russell pull himself up on certain things, like in the bath tub he will lean over the side and pull up and stand leaning over...On the couch in the kids toy room he will put his legs way back and then lean himself over...But he gets kind of stuck in that position...He cannot get himself standing proper...So I would not say he is pulling to stand just yet...But he is half way there!

See how far back his legs are? Because he still will not bend his knees he cannot move his legs forward after pulling himself up...So he will remain stuck like this...

So that's why I wouldn't exactly say he is "officially" pulling to stand yet. The day I see him pulling up and standing in his crib or his playpen or the couch in the living room...Then I will say he is pulling to stand...So far this is where we are at, but we are getting closer everyday!

He just doesn't have the upper body strength yet to pull his full weight up I think....Ha...And its a lot of weight, he is no small kid!

One thing I look forward to a whole lot, is the day I walk into the bedroom and see Russell standing in his crib!

I just know I am going to burst into tears!

Russell has been getting teeth all over the place in no particular order. He has two bottom teeth, one on the top and some coming in at the very back! Poor little guy. He is handling it quite well though...One thing I cant stand is he grinds his teeth!! Uggg, worst sound in the world! I am afraid he will chip away his little teeth, but I don't know how to stop him!!

Russell is saying "Mama" now, TO ME! He has been saying that for months, it was just one of his babbling sounds he could make, but now he is saying it to me...If he is fussing and I walk by he will follow me saying "Mama"...Nothing is sweeter than hearing him call me!

Another thing we are working on is crawling over stuff. Its actually really hard work for Russell, climbing over cushions, or one of his siblings laying on the floor...It works a lot of his stomach muscles and arm muscles.

The one thing I love most about Russell is that we celebrate every small thing...That even the small steps that come just before the actual milestone itself are every bit as exciting as that final accomplishment!

The kids love having Russell try to climb over them, they think its hilarious!

Russell adores his sisters...In this video you can hear him giggling away at the girls as they jump rope!

I love watching my kids interact together...There simply is nothing greater than family!

And that's all the Random Russell stuff I have for today!