Quick update

Aidan's fever is gone and she's feeling better, except for her ears and her teeth (you should see the size of her front, upper teeth!). The doctor rescheduled her surgery for Tuesday morning up in Plano. We have to be there by 6:00a, which means leaving about 5:15. Hooray. But it will be done and hopefully everyone will sleep much, much better really, really soon (says the mommy who was up 1.5 hours with a crying Aidan last night).

On more positive news, I think Aidan said her first word on Thursday (6/28) and it was "mama" to me. It was sooooooo sweet. She's done it one other time since then and now she's keeping her own counsel again. But she does that: has a developmental milestone and then rests from it for a couple of weeks before she tries it again.

Thanks for all the well-wishes and prayers. We'll let you know how she does after we all (hopefully) take a nap on Tuesday!

No tubes yet

Well, we have no tubes yet because Aidan has had a fever since early Wednesday morning. The fever broke last night and she's finally eating again this afternoon. We are waitng to hear from the doctor's office to see if we will go in on Monday or Tuesday. I'll update when we know more.

What the ENT said...

Well, the ENT (a very nice doctor who was running ONE HOUR behind) took one look at Aidan's ears and said, "Young lady, your ears are a MESS!" Despite being on antibiotics for the last 12 days, Aidan's ear infection that we have been trying to treat has only gotten worse rather than better. At this point, only one ear is infected, which is nice - I guess. Anyway, the doctor recommended tubes and, while we would rather not subject her to anesthesia and surgery, we both agree it is the best thing for her. At least we will be able to stop putting so many antibiotics into her system and breeding supergerms. And, if she gets an infection in the future, it can be treated with antibiotic ear drops rather than having to give her oral antibiotics (no more diaper rashes!!!). So, the surgery is scheduled for this coming Friday (6/29). We go in at 6:30, the surgery is at 7:30. The doctor said it should take about 10 minutes and she should be pretty much herself again by the afternoon. I really hope it works. She is clearly uncomfortable again and not sleeping well. She fussed most of last night. Never really woke up, but never really slept well. Poor little girl. After they place the tubes, we go back in 2 weeks for a follow-up appointment and they will do a hearing test to make sure there is no hearing loss as a result of the fluid and infection in her ears for the last several months. That's the update for now! Say prayers for Aidan and for her worried mommies.

Clarification

Hi everyone.

It seems that I may have been confusing when I wrote about our home study for adoption. The home study is part of Christianne being able to adopt Aidan (a second parent adoption). We are NOT thinking of adopting a second child. Aidan, in all her glorious curiousity and determination, will keep us both busy for a long, long time. :-) To all of you who have had or have more than one child - hat's off to you!

Aidan had a good weekend, "making do" with two sets of babysitters. Thanks for Linda and Greg and Aunts Kathryn and Susie for babysitting this weekend. Separation anxiety is hard on everyone! But Aidan had a good time and we hope our sitters did too. Aidan is just a busy bee these days, exploring everything she can get her hands on. She crawls all over the house and is so curious. And she's beginning to eat some solid food. Yesterday, she had a few bites of nectarine and assorted melons. Most went down and she didn't act like I was trying to choke her. Today, we meet with the ENT about her ears. I'll post how that went later.

Pictures from Galveston

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Aidan helps pack her things


Breakfast with Cousin Andrew


Talking to Heather


At the restaurant with Heather and Glynn


I only like cherries if you eat them first, Mommy


You've heard of Dancing with the Stars? This is Aidan dancing with the duck


Nap with Steve the Mouse

Ears, trip, etc.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while - or really been in contact with anyone. I've been sick (with Aidan's cold!) and had some major things going on at work, both of which have left me with energy for little else.

First, those ears. I took Aidan back to the doctor the Wednesday before our trip (just 2 days after I posted that her ears were clear, just to remind you) and she had the start of an ear infection again. She's back on antibiotics and I'm hopeful that, since we caught it early, we'll get it cleared up. She's got an appointment with a pediatric ENT on June 25th to discuss what to do. Christianne and I would prefer to avoid surgical interventions, but Aidan can't live her life on antibiotics until she's 2 or more! So, we'll see what the ENT has to say.

Our trip. There were positive things about it. It was nice to spend time with Kathryn, Susie, Andrew, and Mark. Aidan loved playing with them! And we got to see cousin Kathy and her son and daughter-in-law. They brought down a WONDERFUL meal for us and everyone had a great time. And we spent time with dear friends of Christianne's, Heather and Glenn and their kids. It was really special to get to meet these amazing people.

Overall, however, our trip was miserable. Aidan is cutting her top TWO teeth, was totally off her schedule, and was not generally her sunshiney self. I spent more hours than I care to think about walking back and forth in our room with a crying baby girl who refused to go back to sleep - even though it was 3 in the morning! We went down to the beach and Christianne put Aidan's big toe in the water and Aidan went on to scream and cry for several minutes as a result and then, once calm, just about anything could set her off again. She finally fell into an exhausted sleep - for about 45 minutes. It rained and blew. The McWitzes went fishing for snapper and got waaaaaaayyyyyy seasick. On the way home, it took us 3 hours to go from Galveston to Conroe. As a reference point, it took us a total of about 5 hours to go from Dallas to Galveston on the way down. A total of 7.5 hours to get home. Did I mention that I was sick the whole time? And Christianne's plantar fascitis is coming back? I took Tuesday as a sick day, sent Aidan to daycare, and went back to bed!

Hopefully, our next trip will be better. We didn't take many pictures, but I'll post the ones that we did.

Oh, on the trip Aidan decided that she liked to eat cherries - as long as I bit into them first and saved her a bite. And she is pulling up like a pro; sitting down again is a little less graceful. She is starting to walk a little while holding on to furniture. She's crawling up a storm. And she's saying "Na-na" when she wants to express her displeasure at doing something other than what she wants to do at the moment. Last night, she ate some cooked rice that was left over from dinner and some small chunks of cooked carrot and tomato. We may be making progress on the texture adversion. She was a hungry girl, consuming several small bites of rice (you should have seen her feeding herself rice one grain at a time!) and almost 11 ounces of baby food - plus 3 ounces of milk to top it off! Tonight, we are going to try left-over spaghetti.

That's the news from Aidan Elizabeth's Updates.

No more infection!

Well, the doctor said Aidan's ear infection cleared up, but she still has fluid in her ears (which is normal after an infection). That's the good news. The bad news is that it has left us with some sleep difficulties. She slept from 8:30 to 4:30 last night, which is progress, but going to sleep was a real battle. I've got my handy-dandy "No Cry Sleep Solution" book and I'm going to develop a plan! No more screaming and crying about going to sleep - and that's not even when I've put her in her crib - we are doing to figure this out. Just about in time to have it all messed up by going on vacation to Galveston. Oh well. She was such a good sleeper at night for so long. Putting herself to sleep and everything. I'm sure we'll get this worked out. In the meantime, if you have any extra sleep, send it my way. :-)

Home Study

Our home study went well. Our social worker was a lovely woman who was very supportive of us and said she thought our adoption would go through without an problem. We spent almost 2 hours talking with her - and Aidan slept most of that time. It is looking like mid-July we will be taking a trip to San Antonio to make everything official.

After the home study, we went off to Arlington for dinner with Christianne's family to celebrate her birthday and her brother's birthday. It was a fun time and Aidan did a great job in a loud place and being up past her bedtime. Then she cried most of the way home - no so fun! Separation anxiety began last week, which was unfortunate for all the adoring family members who wanted to hold Aidan. At least it isn't showing up at daycare yet. Aidan remains happy to be dropped off and happy to be picked up. She's attached to her teachers and they clearly love her too.

Today was Christianne's birthday and we went out to lunch after church. On Friday, we leave for Galveston. Busy times for Aidan and her mommies!

If you're happy and you know it...

...CLAP YOUR HANDS! This is Aidan's newest trick. She can now, reliably, clap her hands together and loves doing it. She mimics use when we clap and she just claps because she wants to. It is so cute. Now, if we can just get her to do it on cue with the song, that would be something. :-)

Tomorrow is our homestudy. Send happy socialworker thoughts our way!

Cherrios are yummy, blueberries...the jury's out

Aidan is now a pro at feeding herself Cherrios. She actually eats more than the dogs do now. Yesterday, she ate a few blueberries as well. This morning, she spit the blueberries out, but found it fun to smash them with her thumb. We also tried a bit of fresh peach this morning and she was less than sure about that. I think it is just a texture issue as she gets used to the feel of things in her mouth. She's awfully cute as she shovels those Cherrios in!

Aidan had her last rocephin shot last night. Now, we wait and see what happens. I sure hope those ears are clear!

Those darn ears!

Hummm... It seems my last post didn't make it. Aidan went back to the doctor on Saturday because I thought her ears were worse. The dr. agreed and we decided to try rocephin shots and see if that doesn't help. It is a series of 3 shots - Saturday, today, and Wednesday. We then recheck her ears in a week. If this doesn't kick it out, it is off to the ENT we go. Aidan's been a trooper about the shots, recovering quickly from her screaming and crying, but I feel bad for her. Then there's the exploding diapers that started yesterday - despite me giving her probiotics. She got tossed in the shower last night!

On a happier note, yesterday Aidan pulled herself to standing 3 times in a row using the couch. So, it is now official - she can pull up. And she LOVES to do it! She also crawled 6 or 7 paces yesterday. That was exciting. And she said "Ma" yesterday. This morning, I heard a "Ma-Ma." It isn't associated with any person yet, but it is cool that she can say it.

That's the news from here. I'll try to upload new photos soon. Cindy