Ears All Better!

We are happy to report that Madelyn's tubes went in with no problems this morning. We arrived at 6am, she went back and 7am, went right to sleep without fighting the mask and was done in 5 minutes. Dr. Case told us that she had really, really thick fluid in her right ear, and it never would have cleared up on its own, so it was definitely the right decision to have the tubes put in again. She was in the recovery room for about 20 minutes and then was brought right back to us. She was a little groggy, but then started drinking some juice and then we got to leave before 8am! She slept for the ride home and then for another hour after we got here. Now she is up and about and playing again. Here is a picture of her pointing to her ear. All better!


While Madelyn was in surgery, I saw my old surgeon, Dr. Hayden, who did all of my hand surgeries after my car accident 14 years ago. I introduced myself to him and he remembered me right away. (Pretty impressive since the last surgery he did was 8 or 9 years ago!) He took a look at my hand and was very happy to see how well I can use it.

Now we are waiting for Auntie Kiley who is coming over to play this afternoon... And hopefully I get a chance to do some cleaning to get ready for baptism this weekend!

Trips, Totes, and Tubes

We have a long post today... I got a little behind. (Imagine that!)

TRIPS
Last weekend, Paul and Avery took a trip "up north" to visit Uncle Jeff and Aunt Beth as well as Grandma Earlyce and Grandpa Lloyd. They had a blast staying and playing at the lake. Check out some of the videos and pictures. Avery got to ice fish, ride a snowmobile, go sledding, make a snowman, and play with Chewy and Jazmine.


Jeff, Beth & Chewy

Snowmobiling from Beth Theede on Vimeo.

What's More Fun? from Beth Theede on Vimeo.

Then they went in to Moorhead to stay at Grandma Earlyce and Grandpa Lloyd's house. Grandma Earlyce even bought some tomatoes to have especially for our Tomato Monster Avery.

While they were gone, Madelyn, Drew, and I did some special projects and we got to see someone else that was visiting on a trip... Auntie Melissa came to visit while she was on spring break. (Not too many people spend their spring breaks traveling to somewhere COLDER, but that's just how much she loves her nieces and nephew!)

TOTES
So, I was reading my friend Kristin's blog, and she described her new organization system she put together for her one year old twin boys. She put a variety of toys into several totes, and now she has a significantly reduced number of toys on her floor at any given time, plus the boys feel like it is Christmas morning every time a new tote comes out! After reading about it, I realized my "system" (no laughing, Paul) wasn't working. Organizing the toys by category only resulted in all of the toys out all of the time. So I went to the store and bought cute little totes to try sorting a variety of toys into each of them. Shortly after I started I realized I was either going to need about 35 more small totes, or I needed to just go with the jumbo size. So I have now filled up six jumbo totes with toys and they are stored in a closet waiting to come out and surprise the girls. But then I looked around and it seriously feels like I haven't even made a dent in the volume of toys. I'd better give Kristin a call- I must have done it wrong. Or there is the slight possibility that Paul may be correct... We could have a few too many toys. I think it is time for a Garage Sale!



TUBES
I should have mentioned in the 'Trips' section that we have once again been making plenty of trips to La Crosse to see the doctor for both Madelyn and Drew. Madelyn has had her second ear infection in a month (one of the tubes that was put in her ear last summer has become dislodged, and does not work now). So tomorrow (Friday the 12th) she will have surgery again to remove the old tubes and put new ones in. We hope these stay in longer and prevent her from getting more ear infections. (We are very sick of having kids on antibiotics!!!) And next Friday she is going to see a pediatric asthma and allergy specialist to address some of her eczema issues and her breathing issues (she seems to be demonstrating signs that she may have asthma already.) Here is a picture of Madelyn not feeling very well.