Kale's ears

I know lots of you have been wondering what's up with the Dude-a-Man's ears, so here's our basic rundown. When we were home in June for Andy and Katie's wedding, I took Kale into the urgent care where he was diagnosed with an ear infection (his official 2nd one). Since June we have been bouncing back and forth between actual infections and just having fluid in one or both ears. Since we have not been able to clear this up we started the tubes conversation about a month and a half ago. The final decision was made today and on Thursday, early in the morning we will head in and have them put in.

We made this decision after only having him off of antibiotics for a grand total of less than a month (since June). The rounds have been made from Amoxicillin to Omnicef, to Zithromax and back around to Amoxicillin again and a daily regimen of Zyrtec. One major concern is that he could possibly become antibiotic resistant. Probably our highest concern is his speech development. At his 12 month well baby, he was about 1 word behind where they consider normal (he had 4 out of 5), while this isn't huge, it could become an issue. We took him last week to an audiologist for an evaluation and found that at the time (with a double ear infection - since he'd been off antibiotics for 4 days) that he was hearing at about 25 decibels (15 is normal, anything above 35 is considered deaf), they called him borderline. We will re-evaluate this 4 weeks after tubes to see if he's made any improvement and I will make the call to begin Early Intervention for speech therapy evaluation. It's pretty likely that once tubes are put in we'll begin speech therapy for him just to keep him on track.

The surgery will take only about 15 minutes to complete and he will only be put out with a mask (no IV required). It will all be done at the Air Force Academy hospital by the Ear Nose and Throat doctor. He said that if all goes well we should be on our way home by 9:00am. The tubes should last about a year before they fall out and the doctor believes that we will likely have to do this at least one more time before his ears properly mature (I think it's hilarious that my HUGE baby boy has tiny ears). There will be ENT checks at 1 month and 6 months to make sure the tubes are functioning properly and haven't fallen out, and also by the pediatrician at any well baby check ups. If you feel you'd like to know way more than any person (aside from the doctor) should know about this you can look here or here. Prayers that all goes well with the surgery and recovery are very appreciated (and also for his mom's peace of mind since I'm about to lose it worrying about him and this whole thing).

Haley Haley Haley

I did the post before this then downloaded pictures and video that were just hanging out on the camera and decided that it was time for this little girl to be the star of her own post. Lately her favorite dress-up costume has been her new tutu from Grandma Linda. She will dance all around the living room in it, doing her best moves. I love it.

You'll have to excuse the state of my living room, it was laundry day.

She is officially in 3T clothing, this is a bit of a pain in the rear because the 2T's finally started to fit her in the waist, but one morning we woke up and her jeans looked like really bad high waters so we're back to having to cinch up the waist again. Thank God for adjustable waist jeans!

The following are some of my new favorite pictures. Jeff went up to bed last night and then called down to ask me for the camera. This is what we found at about 10:00. She was dead asleep on the floor outside hers and Kale's room. I have no idea how she ended up there since we didn't hear her stirring, but whatever she was doing I guess she got tired.

You'll note in this last one, she has, in the hallway, all the things she needs in her actual bed: a book, Amen Baby and her Gaga. Maybe she needed more space and it's time to move her into an official big girl's bed.

Growing up too fast!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are in trouble when it comes to these two kids. I knew I wouldn't quite be prepared for it when it happened but I now have two fully mobile kids, they both go up and down the stairs, and even though Kale is still a fair bit slower than Haley, they chase each other. This gives Haley a greater chance to push Kale down (continuing to rack up Karmic points) and there is never a shortage of "fires" for me to put out. Oh how much easier life was when they just laid on the floor.


Haley lately has learned to use some hilarious phrases... "whatever mama" is her favorite, "no way Jose" is also up there. This kid has more personality than I possibly know what to do with. I remember when she was brand new I looked forward to the day when she would say to me "NO mama" and show her independence. Ohhh boy did I need to be careful what I wished for, at two going on three going on 17, this little girl definitely has an independent streak.

Showing me how she bows, she learned it from Elmo, followed by a few of her phrases.

Hot Air Balloon Classic

Yeah, so there's so catching up to be done around here... every Labor Day weekend, Colorado Springs plays host to the Hot Air Balloon classic. As many Labor day weekends that we've spent out here, neither of us had ever been to it. We woke up extra early and got the kids all ready to go for the day, headed out to the Yukon, started it up and found a flat tire. We were supposed to meet everyone at Starbucks, but they all headed back here and between the Burich's and the Tsitsilianos' piled everyone into their cars and were on our way downtown.

The group at the beginning of the morning.

Noah's Ark Balloon - you can not grasp how big this balloon is unless you see it in person.

Another one that was just larger than life. Haley is still talking about the big bunny (especially when we see Energizer batteries).

The one on the bottom is actually higher up and is behind a cloud.

There were about 75 balloons that took off that morning.

On our way out we walked past the Velodrome and there were riders practicing - it was pretty cool to seem them ride on this track that has such an incredibly steep bank.

Once we were done with the balloons it was time for Brunch (and mimosas, duh). We went to a little restaurant called the Pantry in Green Mountain Falls (just our side of Woodland Park). It was so neat to eat right next to a little creek that went right through the restaurant, they even let the kids play in the creek if they wanted to. We got some really great family pictures there (spoiler: you'll probably see this on our Christmas letter).

Spiro, Andrea, Yanni and his stick.

Great day spent with good friends, can't wait to do it again next year. Possibly next year we'll keep the kids up late and go to the glow (done at night and there isn't a lift off, just the balloons inflated and glowing like big night lights).

COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!

Game Day is sacred in this house. Period. End of story. We tell Haley that she can have the TV 6 mornings out of the week but, without sugarcoating it, Saturday is for Dad. Jeff and I have always had an Apple Cup rivalry in our house. I, having spent some time at WSU am forever a Coug fan... he, on the other hand, well, he supports that other team (don't know why). I'm proud to say that my daughter is a coug fan. Check out this video. She gets a little confused for a minute, but figures it out, I mean, she is only 2. By the end of the season (or more importantly, Apple Cup) she'll have it down. Now, we just need to get Kale to come around, sounds like the Cougs could use a future big guy like him (then what would Jeff do?!).