Braska Bear

We are home from school today. Our heads are really hot. And our bodies too. Dr A says no school tomorrow either,  so I'll miss my field trip. I don't like that!  KiKi is hotter than me,  but she still smiles for mommy...

I’m feeling a little better… but my little nose is hurting so much from all the icky snots coming out of it.  And my mouth hurts from these pesky big teeth trying to get in my mouth.  I’m ready to feel better.  We did find a way to help my nose get better a little… Desitin Creamy. Amazing what it can do for a super ouchy nose.

Mommy had a meeting at work this morning, and while she was gone I started feeling bad again.  I got really REALLY hot (104.8) and cried a lot on Daddy.  I slept for a few hours after Mommy gave me some medicine when she got home. I felt a little better when I woke up, so I played with my blocks for a while. KiKi plays with me, and when we need to move the blocks, which are kind of heavy, we do it together.  That’s called cooperation, and we’re practicing it so we get good at it. It’s bedtime now, and my fever is gone. I’m down to my normal again. (96.5-97)  I’m going to bed because I am tired, and I need good sleep tonight.  I can’t go to school tomorrow since I was so hot today, so we’ll stay home and rest. (Mommy note: Braska has taken to moaning the last few weeks on and off but more frequently as time goes, not just when she’s not feeling well—that I know of—but it’s been much more this afternoon.  I can’t identify the problem, but i...

Today, Daddy took us to dance class. We have cards that we give to Miss SJ each week and at the end we get a sticker. Sometimes we sit in a circle and make ourselves really small and then we count to 3 and say “SURPRISE!!!” with our hands and feet out real fast. Then we went to Grandma C’s house.  We played, but mostly I slept.  I was not feeling very good.  KiKi watched the movie with Daddy and Grandma C. (Can anyone name that movie?  Be specific!) When Mommy got home from work, I got some medicine and was feeling a little better. So we all played for a little while. KiKi got in Daddy’s jacket with him.  It looked pretty funny! I played with my blocks.  They have my name on all of them.  But I like the side with the letters on them. I took lots of naps today, but I am ready for bed again.  Mommy gave me some more medicine, so I hope I can feel better tomorrow.

KiKi hasn’t felt very good for the last couple days.  She was really hot last night and again today. (You can read what Mommy said about it here and here and here .) Dr. A wanted to see her, so we went after school.  She was not very excited about going.  She said it was supposed to be my turn at the doctor, not hers.  I do go see doctors more than KiKi, but today it was all her turn. She did pretty good, and she picked a smiley sticker at the end.  She still isn’t feeling very good, but I hope tomorrow she’s better.  We’re saying prayers that I don’t get her germs and fever.  You can pray for that, too, and we would say thanks!

Me and KiKi and Mommy and Daddy are sick. Yep. All of us.  It’s not much fun at our house right now. Yesterday, me and KiKi went to the doctor because I got very very hot and KiKi said her ear was hurting a lot.  Dr. A said we both have one ear that’s sick, so she gave us medicine.  When we checked my temp-a-chur, the numbers said 103.1. I was feeling very bad, for sure. When we got home from the doctor, KiKi and I went to nap.  She decided to sleep on the floor behind the big chair. I guess she was hot and wanted to be close to where the cold air comes out. Mommy’s been sick, too, but she had to go to work last night anyway.  She looked really bad!  Today she sounds really funny and can’t talk right. And she keeps coughing. I’m coughing, too, but KiKi isn’t.  She is feeling better, so her medicine must be helping.  Then Daddy got sick and said his throat was hurting. He is feeling bad tonight, so Mommy didn’t go to work (because she is ...

Just a quick note for those of you who have been wondering how the eyes are doing postop.  Bottom line: She’s doing great. She is a champ and the recovery was really SO much better than I expected.  We have had no glitches in the postop process  There was a moment on Saturday evening when we thought there might be some concern, when she had some goo coming from the eyes that was very abnormal.  But with a couple days more of the antibacterial ointment, she was all good.  There is a little redness still there, but that’s within the range of normal for this point in recovery. We’re seeing some much better alignment with the crossing issue, and she seems to be more comfortable in general, especially asking for her glasses when they’re not on.  The head tilt to the side is still there, but we hope she re-learns proper posture as her brain and eye muscles heal to their new normal.  The chin-up tip is still very there… we’ll probably be addressing that...

Today I woke up and I didn't feel good at all. My nose was all clogged with alot of really gross stuff, and I couldn't breathe. So I didn't sleep very well and I was grouchy. Mommy checked my temp-a-chur and it was 100.8. She said that wasn't very good for me. We went to see Dr. Az this morning, since she worked on Saturday today, and she was really nice. She told Mommy we can get me over this gunky stuff and make my nose all better. She said I have a sinus inf-ex-shun. And I just finished my medicine for the other stuff yesterday! So I have new medicines, and Dr. Az says that she is gonna get me all better, no messing around! Mommy likes that idea. (Mommy note: Dr. Az is in the same group as Dr. A, our regular pediatrician, but she was who was in on the Saturday shift this morning. She always is great, and I keep thinking we might switch. She agreed that amoxicillin is useless for Braska, apparently, and so we're going to hit with the bigger guns and go ...

Braska and KiKi have been at Grammy’s since Friday afternoon.  I was supposed to go get them on Monday morning.  That didn’t happen because I got progressively more sick over the weekend.  I started antibiotics yesterday morning for a bacterial infection after seeing my doctor, but I was not diagnosed with strep.  This morning, Grammy said Braska needed to be seen, so she packed her up and brought her home. Braska obviously didn’t feel well. She has had fevers of about 100+ and 101 the last few days, but it went away with Tylenol, so until today, we let it go.  She had a bit of a rash starting to pop up by the time she got home, and we headed for our afternoon appointment.  She has fluid in both ears, which we knew would be the case, and the ears are partially infected.  But the real problem is the throat, which is very red and swollen.  Even her cute little voice is raspy and hoarse. The rapid strep test came back positive.  So Dr. A came ...

This week I don’t have to go to school. I guess we get to take a week off to have some fun with Spring.  But my mommy got sick a few days ago, so I went to Grammy’s for a few days with KiKi so Mommy could get better.  The bad news is that I got sick anyway, but it’s probably not the same as Mommy has.  Grammy’s taking me back to my house today so we can go to the doctor after lunch.  My ears are hurting again, and I’ve been kind of hot.  I hope they get to fix my ears soon, but Mommy says I have to wait til after next week when I get to go to the hospital so that doctors can watch me sleep.  Then they will tell Mommy and Daddy about my sleeping and decide what to do about my ears and some other stuff. KiKi is staying with Auntie Julia while Grammy takes me home, and then Grammy and Papa will bring her home in a few days.  Mommy can’t drive the car since her eyes are all icky and she can’t see very good.  So Grammy will take us to the doctor a...

What’s new, you ask?? You might have seen on the Twitter gadget on my blog that we had several things to talk to the ENT about yesterday when Braska saw him.  I took my handy dandy fancy clipboard with my questions ready.  We addressed her sleep issues, waking frequently, and apneic episodes that have been getting worse lately.  We’re now waiting for the sleep center to call and schedule her appointment. Depending on what is found, she may be having tonsils and adenoids removed. We addressed her hearing issues, the fact that she’s been getting lazy with her speech, and seems to show that she’s not hearing as well as she has in the past.  After the oh-so-fun microscopic exam of her ears, she has fluid again, 4th time in 3 months, and we’ll be scheduling surgery to insert tubes after the results of the sleep study are in.  If we need to do the tonsillectomy, we’ll combine the procedure with her tube placement to avoid anesthesia twice.  Most likel...

I’ve been feeling not very good the last few days.  KiKi and Mommy are sick, too.   Mommy says we’re tired, also.  She keeps saying she’s “sick and tired” of this junk. So this week I get to stay home from school, and we’re just going to try to get better.  When I was a baby I didn’t get sick like this, and I don’t really like this part of being a big girl.  Mommy says none of us used to be sick til I started bringing bad germs home from school.  And I like to share, so I give them to everybody. It’s not going to be much fun to have nobody to play with and no playtime with my friends, but I think I want to get better, so I’ll try to have fun with KiKi for a while. Me and Mommy are working on lots of new stories and pictures for you to see, some on all of our blogs.  You know, since we’ll have some extra time at home this week.  So don’t miss ‘em!

Virus.  Sometimes I hate that word.  But so far her ears are clear. (As much as she can see…it’s always debatable with little missy’s tiny canals. THOUGH, we’ve had a couple docs tell us recently that hers aren’t as small as many, so that’s good.  But I’m off topic….) For now she stays home from school, and we wait it out.  KiKi will be next, no doubt. I never realized how awesome those first three years of no colds, coughs, and viruses were.  I miss those days! She was asleep before we got home—it is a long 1 mile trip from the dr office, you know.  So she’s in bed now, hasn’t moved since I put her there 30 minutes ago.  Hopefully she can sleep it away.  Even with her other sickness recently, she never slept in the morning.  Hmmmm. She had an appointment for her ENT for this coming Monday but I had to move it last week due to a conflict with another doc appointment.  Now I wish I hadn’t.  The reschedule isn’t til 2/22.  ...

Last night Braska started acting a little more mellow than usual—and she is pretty mellow. She had just the slightest fever, and she fell asleep on the floor before we could even get her to the bed. Her buddy Jack has been sick, and I was hoping she didn’t catch what he had from the same source that gave it to him. But I think we did… This morning she was very warm when she got up, and she’s been very limp and fussy. Here’s how she is watching Sesame Street this morning. If you’ve ever seen her watch Elmo and company, you’d know how big a sign this is. So we’re headed to the doctor again this morning. She says “ears hurt” and I’m going to believe her and have them checked. She’s also got a pretty deep cough. I don’t want to just wait and have it get badly infected again like last time. The good news is that Kinlee is well for now… praying that continues. Question for you pros: We’ve debated some issue with our carpet (it’s old and the previous owners had animals and weren’t a...

I like school alot, and when Mommy gets me up in the morning I always tell her “Sa-kool tuh-day!”  And today was P-Jammie Day!! But I didn’t feel very good when I got up.  I tried to tell Mommy what was wrong but she didn’t understand.  So I just laid on the couch and cried.  She knew something was wrong, but she didn’t know what it was. So we went to pick Daddy up at work so he could come to the doctor with us and help with KiKi.  Doctor told us that I have a bad ear infection in my right ear.  (My first one ever in my life!!!) And my throat is really red and spotty.  Doctor stuck a thing in my throat—that I did NOT like—and it told her that I didn’t have something called “strep.” On the way home, I went right to sleep.  Mommy snuck a picture with her phone. I got new medicine, so I hope it makes me feel better.  I don’t want to be sick for Christmas!

Braska’s been in preschool 3 weeks, today started her 4th week.  And she’s been snotty and congested since day 3, not surprisingly, but still annoyingly.  She’s missed one day because I didn’t think anyone would want to deal with the excessive snottiness, but generally she’s been going.  Today the school nurse called at about 11am to say that she had been lethargic—she was zoning out and not wanting to eat snack--in the classroom and they’d taken her temp, then they sent her to the nurse who also took her temp and got 100.8 F and that she needed to be picked up.  This is interesting to me because she’s never had a fever due to illness before. Yep, in 3 years…not a bad record.  She might have been up a degree here or there, but never a “fever” that needed attention.  And not wanting to eat, well, we know that’s no new thing.  And zoning out, depending on the context, she does sometimes do that.  Wish I could have seen it to be sure, but I’m not w...

Well, we're on day 12 of this crazy cough, cold, icky stuff. Braska's first cold, and it's lasting this long? I think there's more to the story. Since she developed a rash yesterday to go along with the rest of the stuff, I took her in to the pediatrician today, and the verdict is a sinus infection to start with. Then the rash is a strep rash, but the strep test came back negative. Many of you know that sometimes these goofy kids of ours can trick the strep tests and carry it to others without actually showing all the signs, like fever, themselves. So we're treating for sinus infection and strep, and hopefully this will prove to begin the end of this. I'm hoping that her getting better will mean I can finally start to get over my side of things too. So we'll be hanging out for another couple of days and hoping that by the time we need to head down to my parents on Wednesday we will all be well down the path toward being all better. Merry Christmas!

I've been feeling a little bit better, but only sometimes. I still want Mommy to play with me or hold me all the time. And now I've got another tooth coming in!! That makes 6 at one time!! Here's how I felt yesterday morning while I was resting in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Today, I felt like playing for just a minute, but I kind of rested more than I played. I did watch the ducks out on the lake some. Tonight I was feeling floppy again after my bedtime vanilla milk. I hope I feel better tomorrow again. This isn't any fun, getting teeth!

It's been a big week for me. Lots going on and some of it not so fun. I'm feeling better now, so I'll tell you about it. Sunday night Mommy and I came to Grandma and Grandpa's house to stay so that we could get my glasses fixed and stuff. Monday morning Grandma C gave me a bath, and we played and splashed. Then she got me all lotioned up by the fire where it was toasty warm. Then I played some with my toys, but it was hard because my glasses kept falling off. There's a picture to show you how they're broken. And there's one to show you how Mommy tried to make the broken part soft so I could use them a little. But they just felt funny on my nose because they didn't fit right. We did go out for a little bit and shopped for some stuff for me. Grandma C got me some new socks that I needed and some sleeping outfits. It was fun to go shopping. When we got home, me and Grandma C went for a walk too, because it wasn't too cold outside. Tuesda...

Braska is sick. This is the first time, except for last April's dehydration/rotavirus, that she's been sick, of any kind. It's amazing. And it's horrible that we're there now. She has been miserable since just after I put her to bed last night, around 9:30pm. She wouldn't sleep without being held all night, waking often to squirm and cry, screaming each time I tried to sneak her onto the bed with me or into the pack n'play. I'm thinking it's a stomach thing, but she's got a fever too. I stayed up with her til 4 am, snoozing a few minutes while sitting up, when she woke up Grandma C with a scream. Then Grandma was nice enough to cuddle her and keep her sleeping so I could grab a few hours of sleep myself. Big thanks to Grandma C! So today we'll sit and rock and hope she can sleep it off soon. We've got the house to ourselves as Grandma and Grandpa went to work, so we'll just have a quiet day. I was just now able to set her down for the...