Life’s Little Moments

It seems like it’s been a while since I posted a non-music/personal blog. Believe me, it is not because of a lack of things going on! It seems like my wife and I have been on the go constantly with the craziness of every day life. So here is a brief update:

Happy Anniversary!

It certainly does not feel like it has been seven years, but who am I to question WordPress? Today marks 7 years of blogging on this platform for me.

This blog has been such an important part of my life the last 7 years. Those who have been with me from the beginning know that it started as my place to vent. Then I began sharing memories that I wanted to document before I couldn’t remember them anymore. Then I began to sprinkle in music, movies and entertainment themed pieces. Over time, I added features and that sort of brings us to where this blog is today.

This blog began shortly before I got remarried. The story of our courtship, proposal and wedding are chronicled here. The roads that led to the excitement and wonder of the birth of our two children are also well documented. Highlights from the last 7 years are here for future reference. The blogs here hold answers to questions my kids might have. These are for the future, just in case I am not around to share them.

I am so grateful to have this place in the Blog-o-verse/Blog-o-sphere to share things. I am happy to have connected with wonderful people – LIKE YOU – who interact with me, share your stories and offer encouragement. Thank you!

Kid Stuff

The entire country is experiencing the cold weather and many places are seeing snow for the first time in ages. I was surprised to see the snow on Pensacola Beach! There were plenty of snowy photos from my friends in the southern states on Facebook.

The cold temperatures canceled the entire week of school for my daughter. She loves school, so she was sad to miss. However, it did allow her and my son to join my wife and her mom at the local Children’s Museum. They had a blast spending the day there. She told me all about it when I got home.

They had a dress up area and a “carriage” that she got to ride in. All princesses need a carriage, right?

We have been waiting to get my son in for his CPAP sleep study. Our lab has been so busy that their first available appointment was in February. The problem is, we wanted it done before his appointment with the sleep neurologist next week. Thankfully, I heard that we had a couple cancellations this week. I called my wife and asked if she could come in that night with him. She was at Dance rehearsal with my daughter. So we made some arrangements and were able to get him in.

He wore CPAP for a short while when he was about 2 years old. He has since had adenoids removed and tonsils shaved. There is still apnea, so we thought it best to try the PAP route again.

Side Note: As a sleep technologist, I can tell you that there are plenty of adults who have trouble with CPAP. When people hear that my son (or any child) is on CPAP, they wonder how they do it! I think my son is a bit more prepared as I wear CPAP and my mask every night. He thinks he’s gonna be cool like dad with his mask.

This time around it was a bit more difficult for him. He was waking up WAY more than he did before. It was strange, because he has done it before. This time, however, he comes in with a diagnosis of Restless Leg Syndrome/Periodic Limb Movement Disorder. His arms and legs seem to move constantly!

Midway through the study, the tech asked my wife if this was what he did at home. In conversation, she happened to mention that his breathing looked shallow and wanted to know about any respiratory weakness. My wife said that he was working on core muscles in physical therapy. That was all the tech needed to know.

She returned to the tech room and adjusted the settings to ones we use for people with neuromuscular weakness. With a couple tweaks of the setting, my son settled and slept! Now all we have to do is wait for the doc to finalize the results. When finished, they will send over the script for the new machine. With that, my wife and I may actually sleep at night!

He was SO tired here!

Numb

You may recall that I have been suffering with numbness in my hands since the weekend after Christmas. At one point there was swelling, too. After a visit to my PCP, I was given a referral to another doctor in hopes of getting answers. This might include getting an EMG done.

I scheduled that appointment and it is finally happening next week. The problem I am having is that the numbness in my right hand is almost gone. Now there is just pain in the finger tips. My left had still has numbness mainly in the fingers. The pain and numbness is worse when I get up for the day. As much as I wish it would go away completely, I hope it is still there when I visit the doctor.

Favorite Childhood Book

I will begin posting the contributions from other bloggers for Share Your Nostalgia Part 2 the first week of February. It isn’t too late if you want to take part. The topic is to write about your favorite book from your childhood. It could be one your parents read you or the first book you checked out of the library. It could be one that you read to your children as they grew up. If interested, drop me a note at: nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com

Time Off – But Not For Fun

I am hoping to work ahead on the blog. At the end of February and early March I am taking time off work. My wife is having some surgery and I will need to be home with her. She’s not going to be able to do much, and I will have to play referee to the kids. She’ll be in a lot of pain, and so I need to be there with her. I’d appreciate if you would keep her in your thoughts.

I will try to post updates as I am able during that time.

Thanks so much for reading!

The Kid Has Good Taste

We had an 8 year-old patient in the sleep lab when I got to work today. He finished his overnight study and was in the middle of his day study. The day study (called an MSLT) consists of a series of 5 naps – 1 every 90-120 minutes. Once the nap is over, the patient has to stay awake until the next nap.

Now, for an 8 year-old patient, this can really be difficult. They are basically in their room that whole time. Yes, they will have breakfast and lunch in between a couple naps, but it’s not like they can go outside to play. We encourage parents to bring books, video games, tablets, or things that will keep the patient busy (and awake).

When I got to work, the kid had just finished his next to last nap. He was sitting on the bed watching a tablet or a phone. Through the speaker, I could hear the theme song to one of the great classic TV shows.

Yep. He was watching I Love Lucy! My co-worker said that he had been watching it all day! He was laughing and totally engaged in it. I thought this was fantastic!

A good show is a good show! I think about all the old shows I watched growing up because my dad introduced me to them. The Honeymooners, F-Troop, Get Smart, The Munsters, Batman, and the Jack Benny Show were all “must see” TV to me as a kid. I loved when I was home sick from school because they always played the Dick Van Dyke Show on the station out of Canada. Some of those shows were 10-20 years old by the time I was watching them – and my exposure to those shows set the bar for anything else I watched very high.

“This kid has great taste in TV shows,” I thought to myself. Kudos to him not getting sucked in to the garbage that most kids are watching today. I couldn’t help but wonder if he also liked old music or old movies. I bet he is a Three Stooges fan! I guess I kind of saw a bit of myself in this kid.

He has no idea, but he sure made me smile today.

Ready for the Holiday Weekend

It’s lunch time at work. In just a few hours I will punch out and head home for the holiday weekend. I am truly looking forward to four days with my family. It’s been a very busy year for all of us.

I was ready to write that my son had his last appointment for the year today, but I remembered he still has one more. Today we saw his neurologist. We discussed the results of his sleep study, the MRI, and his EEG. It was a long appointment and we have some direction and a plan of action.

I left the appointment and went right to work. I’m only a mile or so from the doctor, so I punched in early knowing I will be able to leave early. I was able to get most of my work done before lunch, so I thought I’d blog.

The other appointment, incidentally, will be to pick up his AFO leg braces. This is something that will help eliminate the toe-walking. Hopefully, he won’t need to be in them too long.

I recently blogged about our family tradition of getting a new Christmas ornament at Bronner’s. We had yet to go this year, but someone (maybe someone who read my blog) did the work for us. We received a Bronner’s box in the mail and the message inside said, “It looks like Daisy needs an ornament for that tree of yours!”

This week, I found out that McDonald’s has adult Happy Meals. Sam took the kids to get lunch and they brought me back one. Ella apparently said that mom and dad needed a toy, too!

How silly is that?!

Money has been a bit tighter this year than in the past. Normally, I would try to get something small for my boss and co-workers for the holiday, but I just couldn’t swing it. One of my coworkers got bags for everyone. There was a small gift and some chocolates. My gift was socks! Go figure, right!? Well, they are actually pretty cool.

If they only made socks with the Miser Brothers on them …

I’m looking forward to Christmas for many reasons. One of them is that the Elf on the Shelf goes back to the North Pole! It becomes work to do something with it each day. Some people really go all out! It’s crazy. My favorite one from this week ties into the last bit of news to share …

I don’t care if I use this one every year! Here is Twinkles, the elf, reading from the Bible. I said that it ties in with my last bit of news.

This week, I finished my 1st semester of the second year of my Bible classes. I will have three tests to do over the next week or so. Then I will move on to the second semester. I feel like I have really accomplished something. Actually having a lunch hour (which we really never got when I was on midnights) allows me to watch an entire class and take notes without any real interruptions. I’m hoping to keep it up and press toward the mark.

I know many of my blogger friends are taking a break over the holidays. I’ve got plenty of things lined up over the weekend, I don’t know that I will not blog, but just in case I don’t, I want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. As we get ready to wrap up another year, I find myself grateful for you. Your own personal blogs, the comments you share here on my blog, and your friendship has brought me much happiness.

I look forward to a year of sharing experiences with each other.

“It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that’s important, but rather who is around it.”

“The best Christmas gift is to realize how much you already have.”

“The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much.”

“From home to home and heart to heart, from one place to another, the warmth and joy of Christmas brings us closer to each other.”

Another Surgery Soon

My youngest son, Andrew, has had his share of challenges in his almost two years. After his first sleep study, he was diagnosed with laryngomalacia. It was causing him to have sleep apnea. A surgery was done to correct that problem. While in surgery, a cleft was discovered and the surgeon filled it.

Three months later, he had a second sleep study and his sleep apnea index had gone down, but not quite enough. We opted to try CPAP, which meant a third (CPAP) sleep study. It worked for a while, but because of a lack of proper pediatric CPAP masks, we wound up stopping and attempting to treat it another way. Medications to help open nasal passages and the airway were prescribed and they seemed to work well, as he was sleeping a bit better (despite some louder snore).

Just before the Fourth of July, he had a fourth study and we discovered that his apnea is worse than it was last time. We also found that the laryngomalacia, which he should have grown out of by now, was still an issue.

Andrew had his visit to the ENT today and there was quite a discussion. It seems to the doctor and his colleagues that the main issue is the cleft. They will probably have to do a deeper scope to make sure there isn’t another cleft. The goal is to repair the cleft or clefts. They may remove tonsils and adenoids, too. Either way, it is a much bigger surgery than we anticipated.

He will probably be in the hospital for a few days, perhaps in ICU. We’ll be awaiting a call to schedule surgery Monday. They think it will be sometime in August or September. I found this video on YouTube, which only scared me more.

My wife and I are quite overwhelmed right now. We can only hope and pray that this will take care of Andrew’s issues and the healing will be fast and easy.

I thank you in advance for your good vibes, your positive thoughts, and prayers as we anxiously await a plan of action.

Proud Papa of a Papper

My son, Andrew, has had a hard time sleeping since he was born. We took him to an ENT and they found that he had laryngomalacia. A sleep study was ordered and it showed that the laryngomalacia was leading to sleep apnea (That’s what the photo above is). This led to a minor surgery to try to correct it. I blogged about that here:

Under the Knife

A few months after the surgery, Andrew was back in my sleep lab to see if the surgery had indeed corrected the sleep apnea. This time around, our pediatric neurologist wanted to check for seizure activity and muscle movements as well. The study results showed that the apnea got better, but hadn’t gone away completely.

My wife and I knew exactly what that meant – CPAP. We both have run many sleep studies on children and many CPAP titrations as well. They are not always an easy thing. I will be honest, I was not looking forward to running his CPAP study, anticipating that he was going to fight us all night long. However, to our surprise, he actually did quite well and slept most of the night.

Sam went and picked up his CPAP machine today. Before going on, I will tell you that the past week has been very difficult for us (more for her). They terrible twos are kicking in BIG time with Ella. Both kids have been a handful and hard to deal with. That being said, knowing that Sam was going to be the one to be with him for his first night at home with CPAP had me praying that all went well.

Sam said he cried for a little bit, so she put on Elmo. He calmed down and when she told him it was bed time, he laid down and went to sleep! She sent me this picture:

I couldn’t be more proud of my little C-Papper! What a champ! I know that this is going to really help him in the future. Hopefully, he will only need to wear it a few months.

Way to go, Kiddo!!!

I Forgot To Tell You

I’m finally getting back into a normal routine again. Last week I had a couple nights off work for Ella’s birthday and all the days have been running together. Here are a few things I neglected to post about over the past couple days.

PAP for the Little Man

Last Wednesday, Andrew was back at the sleep lab. He has apnea and he was back to try CPAP. I can tell you it is difficult to get some adults to use CPAP, let alone a 15 month old child. My wife and I expected a night of hell! At first, it looked like that was going to be the way it was going to go. There aren’t many pediatric CPAP masks, and the one he started with seemed to really be bugging him. We collectively decided to try the only other mask we knew of, and it worked like a charm. He went right to sleep with the new mask and slept through the night.

We got the call today that his machine and mask will be ready on Friday. The doctors hope that he will only have to wear it for a few months. Fingers crossed.

Fruity Call

My best friend Jeff came over the other day. Sam and Andrew were both sleeping. Ella gets excited whenever folks come over. So she’s running around, hopping and hollering. Sam woke up for work and comes out and joins the conversation.

As we are talking, Ella grabs this toy banana, puts it to her ear and begins yelling, “Hello!? Hello?! I can’t hear you! I’ve got a banana in my ear!”

She repeats this over and over and each time she laughs harder at her joke!

No idea whether she heard this somewhere or she made it up, but it made us all chuckle!! She’s my little comedian!!

What Football Game!?

It’s funny. For years I always had a Super Bowl party to go to. Over the past couple years, I just watched it from home. Over the past few days, anyone I have talked to asked if I watched the game on Sunday. “No.” I had to reply. You see, when you have a three year old, you basically watch what she wants or you suffer with a melt down.

No. I did not see the game. However, I did get a couple hours getting to know Gabby and her dollhouse!

A Busy Weekend!

Where did the weekend go?! It was so busy for me that it flew right by!

Friday night, Andrew had his sleep study. He had it done at my lab, so we all drove together to the lab. Ella got to have a sleep over with her cousins. They all slept with the blankets that Sam’s mom (Nana) made for them. In the morning, Aunt Emmy sent us this picture –

What a PERFECT picture. Her cousins love her so much, how awesome to see them holding her hands.

Meanwhile, back at the sleep lab, Andrew was all hooked up and ready for his night. It went MUCH better than we thought. Any time you are dealing with a child under 5, the hook up can be difficult. The fact that I was in there hooking him up probably helped a lot! He never cried once! After he fell asleep, I was able to get the final couple pieces of equipment on and I only had to go in to fix things a couple times. We neglected to get a picture of him while he was still awake, but we snapped one of him sleeping.

He was a champ! We follow up with ENT on Friday.

Saturday, we all took turns napping. It was a long day Friday and Sam and I were both exhausted and Sam had to work Saturday night.

Sunday, I took this kids to a cute little park. It is at an early childhood center. It isn’t a park I can take them to when school is in session, or there are kids there, but on Sundays, no one is there. There was a variety of things for both kids to do and many were toddler specific. It was completely fenced in, so they could run and I didn’t have to worry about them getting away from me.

While some areas were in the sun, there were many shaded areas where they could play and not worry about sunburn. It was fun to run around with them and let them burn off some energy,

He was so happy to be able to run around. We started with shoes on, but they only lasted about 5 minutes!

The slides are always a hit with Ella! She loves them. They even had some smaller ones for Andrew, but he didn’t quite get the concept ….

He always wanted to climb up instead of slide down the slide!

One of my favorite pictures from the day is the one above. By itself, it is a great picture of Ella. However, I love it because she walked over to this step and sat down announcing, “I’m a Queen, Daddy! This is my Queen’s chair!” I wish I had a crown to give her!

After they ran around for an hour or so, we all grabbed something to drink and sat beneath one of the trees in the shade. I knew it was getting close to lunch time, so before we packed up to go home, I tried to get a selfie. It is harder and harder to get pictures with Ella now … but I was lucky to snap this one.

Priceless memories made!