And It's Still Bonkers-Crazy Here

 

Have I ever told you that the life at the Casa de Jacob is just slightly crazy?  Ah heck, who am I kidding?  It's Full Blown Looney toons Cray-zee.  Our lives are so crazy we make an insane asylum look like Disney World.

So what's been going on you ask?  Well, let's start with

THE JACOBS PERMANENTLY MOVE INTO CINCINNATI'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Okay, this is only a slight exaggeration, but it's so close to the truth that it's sad.  But for real, all three Jacob children have spent at least one full night at Children's Hospital over the past 10 months.  Do you remember I had the shingles?  I mean, it's so outlandish that you think I made this up, right?  I wish I did.  It only happened three months ago, and I am pretty much all the way fully recovered, but then all of a sudden

KARE BEAR HAS TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL

So this is what, like, three weeks ago, and poor Kare Bear had the Worst Night Ever of "sleeping."  "Sleeping" is in quotes because sleeping was not to be had, by either Kara, Mommy, or Daddy.  Daddy and Mommy wish I were exaggerating.  Kara fussed fussed and fussed all night, coughed coughed coughed.  Finally, at about 7:00 a.m., Mommy listened to Kara's breathing and it was very heavy.  Like, this-is-not-good heavy breathing.  Mommy decided to take Kare Bear to the emergency room.  Long story short: Poor Kare Bear had this thing called Bronchiolitis.  It is as bad as it sounds.  She had to be monitored by all these machines for a super long time to make sure that she could breathe without all this junk blocking her airway.

But you know what's funny about this situation?  Not funny ha ha.  But funny wah wah?

KARA'S ROOM WAS LITERALLY RIGHT NEXT TO THE ROOM THAT I STAYED IN WHEN I HAD THE SHINGLES.

Did you think I was kidding ya when I said we should move into Children's Hospital?  I mean, I was in 510 and Kara was in 511.  Not. Even. Joking.

And yet Kare Bear's ordeal still was not finished.  So after Kara stayed at Children's overnight and they said that she could finally go back home, a week later guess what happens?

KARA GOES BACK TO THE HOSPITAL.

So it was another very rough night with Kare Bear, and her breathing was heavy again, so Mommy took her back to the emergency room.  This time around, she didn't have to stay overnight, but we had to give Kare Bare some medicine through this thing called an Inhaler.  But we had to give her the medicine stuff from the Inhaler through a big ole mask.  So Daddy had to 1) hold her down, 2) then put the mask on, 3) spray the Inhaler, and 4) then let her breathe six (!) times; AND then do that same thing again three more times IN A ROW.  This was done every four hours the first 24 or 48 hours or whatever it was (the days get pretty hazy at Casa de Jacob).

Finally, Kare Bear is pretty much All Better.  She's a trooper, though.

And now, we come to Owie.

OWEN HAS MINOR (KINDA SORTA) SURGERY

Before surgery

So Owie is my special little dude.  He's not as vocal as Ms. Talkative over there.  Kare Bear makes Consonant Sounds like Da-da and Hey Da-da.  Owie goes Ahhhhhhhhh (non-consonant sound).  Owen has to wear a hearing aid because he flat out has no hole in his left ear.  Owie also has to sleep with a cannula to help him breathe at night because he has sleep apnea (non-obstructive, central apnea).  And on top of all of this, Owie has four Skin Tags, a Dermoid above the left eye, and a Small Cleft Lip.  Those three things are what he had surgery for.  So Skin Tags are essentially additional balls of skin that protrude from your skin.  These things were on the side his face, and one of them was blocking his ear.  So they needed to go, because who wants extra flesh sticking out of your face?  Dermoids: a slight bump beneath the skin.  Owie's was about the size of his eye, right above the eye.  Cleft lip: he had a slight divot in his lip.

So the surgery took place exactly a week ago (4/9/15).  Mommy and Daddy take Owen to Casa de Jacob -- I mean, Children's Hospital -- at 9:00 a.m. for his 10:30 surgery.  As they are prepping Owie for his surgery, the Anesthesiologist examines Owen and says, "I think we may have to reconsider giving Owen surgery today."  WHAAAAAAAT?!   If you could feel Mommy's stare, you would feel a Mack Truck smacking you right in the face.  Long story short: the lady thought that Owen might be too sick for surgery, but Owen wasn't really sick, so it was all good.

After surgery

Anyway, once Mommy and Daddy got the Green Light for Owie's surgery, they STILL had to wait another hour+ before they took Owen into surgery.  And THEN they had to wait four more hours before the surgery was over. But Owie did a great job!  They fixed all the parts of his face.  However, poor little guy, he looked like he got into a bar fight once they were finished with him.  His lip got really swollen (almost comically so), and he had to wear these things called No-No's on his arms, which prevented him from touching his face and making the Ow-wees on his face any more Ow-wee-er, if you know what I mean.

But a week after the surgery, Owie is doing awesome!  His lip isn't swollen anymore, and the stitches will eventually just disappear or something magical like that.  Science is pretty cool, you know?

NON-HOSPITAL RELATED STUFF, THANK THE LORD

So there have been other happenings and going ons other than the ridiculously absurd amount of time that we've spent in the hospital over the past few months.  Let's focus on the positive things!

Kare Bear Stuff

She is getting big!  She is over 20 pounds now!  And that's after she lost her appetite because of that darn Inhaler and nearly hacking up a lung with Bronchiol-whatever.

She is getting to be more interactive!  She likes to imitate other people around her. When Owen gets excited and waves his arms, she waves her arms as well.  She likes to make a clicking sound with her tongue when you make that clicking sound.  And now when you say, "How big is Kara?  Soooooo big!" she raises her arms up in the air.  She can also say Roar! and Ba! Ba! like a sheep, but she is a little sheepish with her sounds.  Ms. Shellie can get her to do it all the time, but not so much with Mommy and Daddy.

Kara is also a champ at sitting!  She has a VERY solid base (it's all about the base, no trouble), so she doesn't tip over very often. And she loves to clap!

Owie Dough-We Stuff

Owie is also getting bigger!  Not quite as big as Kare Bear, but he is catching up and getting some more chub.  He is over 18 pounds now.  

We are a little disappointed that Owen hasn't been vocal after wearing the hearing aid, but he is smiling more now and more interactive.  He is Very Super Focused when he has the hearing aid on (and even when he doesn't), and sometimes he looks at you like you're crazy when you're talking to him.  Like, Daddy, what in the world are you talking about, you crazy man?  

Speaking about the hearing aid, sometimes that sucker just won't stay on his head.  He doesn't have to wear it all the time (he doesn't need it while he's sleeping or eating his Ba-Ba), but when he does, it sometimes ends up in his mouth, especially after he has worn it for a while.  And even Kare Bear is getting in on the act!  She is borderline obsessed with the hearing aid.  Whenever she sees it, she will automatically reach for it, and Daddy will tell her No No.  She stops and looks at Daddy very sweetly and innocently like, I would NEVER do ANYthing naughty.  And then the next thing we know, she has the hearing aid in her mouth!  Just snatches it right off Owie's head band!  That's only happened twice (on Daddy's watch, but it's not like he wasn't watching her. Kara is a Budding Ninja, okay?).  It's like Kara's hands are a magnet and the hearing aid is heavy metal.  

Owie also is clapping now!  He is so proud of himself when he does it, too. Good for him, little guy.  

Will-I-Am Stuff

As mentioned before, I am pretty much all good with the shingles stuff.  HOWEVER, I did develop a bad rash ALL OVER my body one day at daycare, and that worried the You-Know-What out of my parents.  So Mommy picked me up and took me to my pediatrician.  While we were waiting, a nurse mentioned that it looked like the Measles.  Mommy's Mack Truck Stare came back.  I saw her eye twitch.  I was a little afraid for a sec -- like her head might explode or something -- but the doc came in and he said it was NOT the Measles.  It was some allergic reaction to something that we have no idea what it was.  But I got SUPER rashy for like, three days, but I am all better now.  I wasn't even feeling bad.  Just rashy.

I am still doing karate and I kick butt!  I have three colored stripes on my belt!  

Daddy took me to Perfect North for some Tubing on, like, the last weekend of the year to go Tubing.  We had SO much fun. We went down a really big hill six times. I even mentioned it to Daddy yesterday and said we needed to go Tubing again sometime, but, alas, winter is so far away.  

AND THE COOLEST THING THAT WE JUST GOT...

A new Play-Set from Grandma Nancy!  It is so Super Awesome!  It has swings for me and the babies, a climbing wall, a climbing rope, a tree house, and a super fast slide!  Thanks, Grandma Nancy!  

And thank you, Papi, for helping the Workers out while they were building the Play-Set in the backyard.  He helped make sure the Play-Set is level.  It is really really cool!  

Well, I really, really, REALLY hope that life will start mellowing out for everyone at Casa de Jacob.  Daddy likes to remind everyone that for all the stuff that we deal with, it could be worse.  Not exactly the most comforting advice, Da-da, but I guess we have to take it.

Hope all is well with everyone!

WDJ