No more thumb sucking. . .

Ginger loves her thumb, however, a few months ago, a dentist advised me to stop her thumb sucking immediatly because she sucked too hard and it was shaping the roof of her mouth. Well, I didn't want to make her stop right when I was going to have Jack for fear of her regressing. So, I finally decided that this week I would work on getting her to not suck her thumb. I've been dreading this for a long time. I wondered how I was to teach her that after all this time, it was okay for her to such her thumb and now all of a sudden it's not.

My resolve? I had an idea. I painted her nails. When she went to suck her thumb, I told her it would be bad to do that since her nails are so pretty. She gave me this look like, "That wasn't part of the deal" it was so funny but nevertheless, it worked! She hasn't sucked her thumb.

Then, last night, after being put in her crib, she went to suck her thumb out of habit but to my pleasant surprise, she stopped herself and looked at her nails and then put her thumb down. hahhaha I'm so glad that I didn't have to turn to cayenne pepper or sewing sockes on her sleeves.

Pretty nails!

Possible cause to my hearing loss..

I went to the ear specialist to find out about the blood vein thing in my head and it turns out that it just may have caused my hearing loss. The nurse accidentally wrote down that I lost hearing in my left ear instead of my right ear, so when I went in yesturday and had to correct them on that, they realized that the blood vein in my head is pressing up against some nerves around my ear which is known to cause hearing loss (I forgot the name for that). They noticed the vein because it's not supposed to be there. To fix it, they would do a small surgery and just move the vein out of the way.
The doctors aren't sure if this is really the cause or not, so they have to pass my info on to a specialist above my specialist to do more studying.

I was glad to find this out. Even though they aren't sure this is the cause, it makes the most sense and gives me some piece of mind to know it isn't anything really serious or anything I have to deal with immediatly. Though, if this is really why I lost my hearing, I'm not in a hurry to have surgery on my head. With my luck, a problem would arise from having the surgery ..like over swelling or something and then I would have to take medicine with super bad side effects to make it better and then that would make it so I would have to borrow Teija pump again which would probably break because it would be the third time borrowing it and then Jack probably wouldn't go back to breast feeding because it would be the third time switching him back and forth meanwhile I would get sick from the side effects and then I would probably die.... all for what? ...getting the other half of my hearing back because I'm not grateful enough for getting at least half of it from losing all of it. ...okay I know I know..a little exageration. (those who know me well, know that in my younger years (like around age 9 and 10) I would get worried about something and then dream up a whole senerio and then start crying over somthing that didn't even exist or take place hahhahhahhhahah (remember Holly, "what if, what if, what if ?? wha wha wha!"))

My little Punky Brewster!

Mom- you're right, this outfit is really cute on Ginger. Thanks for getting it. Notice the animals in a line on her bed frame? hahah She loves to line them up.

I just thought this was a cute side profile of her. :) squeeze those cheeks!

Jack pics for gramma and grampa Bennett

Jack at 2 months old. quick facts. 10 pounds 11oz. 23 inches long.

Jack wakes up twice a night to nurse. (much better than every two hours!!) He can lift his head up 90 degrees and roll from back to his side. He smiles easily when I'm face to face with him and talking to him.

We are so grateful that he is a part of our family!

Update

so, I had the MRI scan and they didn't find anything that had to do with my ear, however they found some abnormalty with a vein. So, I have to go in this week to learn what that is about. I don't think it's anything serious since they didn't make me go in last week.
So, it's up in the air about what caused this sudden hearing loss. It's frustrating and now I'm paranoid when my other ear starts to ache. I fear that I'll lose the hearing in that ear as well.

I went in last week to do more testing. The good news is that I got to stop taking the miserable medicine. The bad news is that the medicine wasn't doing me any good anymore. It did help a some, but I didn't get all my hearing back like the doctor predicted.

My mom knows someone who had the same sudden loss with no prognosis and she ended up getting all her hearing back in three months, so there is hope.

Sometimes I'm not so sure I want it all back. Mostly for night time though. It is nice like Marge said to be able to put the good ear down on the pillow so you don't hear your spouse snoring. :) I have to admit, I'm getting better sleep. Jack's cries are muffled. It's like I have an ear plug in my ear without the discomfort of a plug. :)

house plans

A few nights ago Glen and I finally went over a bunch of house plans we've had in mind and fine tuned it to this. Here is the house plan that we think we want to go with. Tell me your ideas and what you think! We had to design it keeping in mind that Scot might have to live with us in this one too, (hopefully not though...we'll see how things go. It would be nice to have our own place, but I guess I should be glad we are out of an RV and apartment.)

We will build some time this year..not sure when..depends on work schedule.

Jack

I can't believe Jack is almost 2 months old! I just think he's so cute! cute cute cute! squeeze that baby!

Jack is doing really well during the nights. He's been going to bed around 9-9:30 and wakes up at about 2am and then again at 5-5:30am. and then he sleeps again until around 7:30-8am. It's way better then having to nurse every two hours! I think having to bottle feed him formula has helped him stay full longer. He goes right back to sleep after feeding so that's been super nice too.
We'll see if he sticks with this schedule once I can go back to nursing him. I'm crossing my fingers!

Hearing Update...go see your specialist not your primary doctor!

okay, so this is frustrating. I just typed a bunch on this post and then right when I was about done, it disappeared! grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

okay, so here goes for the second and last time!

In order to see the ear specialist, I had to first see my primary physician and then see him again when what he prescribed didn’t work and then get a referral from him to see the specialist. I was told the specialist couldn’t see me until the 22nd!! It has already been two weeks since I lost my hearing, so that would make it a good month or so when I finally could get some help. But what do you do? In the meantime, I had to take Ginger in and that doctor told me I probably just have some fluid in my middle ear and that it should be gone before long. Her explanation helped me to relax a bit until I got a call yesterday from the ear specialist’s nurse. She said that she was just reviewing my notes and felt that I needed to be seen right away. She asked if I could come up that morning.
Thanks to Shari (mother-in-law) for driving me around in her jeep (my car would have never made it in all this snow!!) we made it to the 11am appointment. They did extensive testing and found out that I have no fluid in my ear. They also learned that I have 100%hearing in my left ear and 28% in my right ear. The doctor said that it was good I got a little back, but that my pattern on the chart looked very bad and that my situation is an emergency case and that I should have been treated a day or two within losing my hearing. (that would have been impossible since I have to go through my regular doctor first etc. like I explained earlier). Through the testing, he was able to eliminate some possible causes, but won’t know for sure until my lab results come back and until I get my MRI done on Monday. He said it could be something viral or a tumor. I was shocked about both. I haven’t felt sick at all and I didn’t know a tumor could cause hearing loss.
But since talking to my mom, I’m guessing it’s a viral thing. She said there are different viruses that attack different parts of the body so you won’t necessarily feel “sick”. She said that two of her patients lost their sense of taste and never got it back because of some virus they got. I thought that was sad. (I can’t imagine never tasting chocolate or cheese again.)
Anyway, I’m am now on another medication (Prednizone) which is supposed to help me get some of my hearing back, but because I’m starting it so late, I won’t get it all back. The side affects of this is no fun! Major headaches, feeling sick to my stomach , achy muscles and it keeps me awake. Blah!

Heidi Celeste Wells!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations to my sister, Wendy and her husband Dustin. She had little 8lbs 30z. 20" long Heidi two weeks before her due date. This is her first girl (she has three boys) and her smallest baby!

I can't wait to go visit them down in Texas!!!!!!!!!!