No News is Good News?

Lindley had her series of tests this past Friday as well as a follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist. We didn't get a whole lot of "news," but what we did find out was mostly good. Her upper GI showed that everything was normal; her chest x-ray showed a little inflamation, but was also considered normal. Her swallow test showed that she is still aspirating, and we were actually told that she needed her milk thicker than what we had been doing (we were hoping for less).

I was confused as to how we could have been using a certain thickness for 4 months now without a problem and all of a sudden, need to go thicker. What we learned later was that her swallow study could have shown a different swallowing technique because she was sick (double ear infection diagnosed on Monday). So, the plan was to make her milk a little thicker while she is sick, and then go back to the consistency we have been using when she is well.

Both our pediatrician and the pulmonologist want to give Lindley about one more month on the ear infections before we consider tubes. However, if she continues to have problems throughout June, we need to consider putting tubes in sooner rather than later.

In other Lindley news, I succumbed to the pressure and cut off Lindley's Amish curls. You would think that would be easy but....Just kidding! I didn't do that bad of a job; her hair is blending in to the table cloth in the background. Here is another picture...

And, thanks to all of those who pressured me, people now ask me if she is a boy. So, thanks.

Here is one more recent pic...

We Left on a Jet Plane

I'm really late in posting this, but we went to Canyon for Mother's Day weekend. The purpose of the trip was three-fold: 1) to help my beautifully pregnant sister-in-law register for baby stuff, 2) to celebrate my step-dad's "milestone" birthday, and 3) to celebrate Mother's Day. It was a fun trip - the airport was a little crazy with two kids, but we managed to make it. Ben got a little scared during takeoff, but both kids really did absolutely great on the plane itself.

Here is Ben standing in line to check our bags:
Mom, stop with the pictures! Ben had his first experience with the ice cream truck:
Happy Mother's Day! Me with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law (Meme and Aunt Lollie) By the way, Aunt Lollie is expecting Levi Shane on 08.08.08.
The Schrib boys...
I have a picture of Steve at his birthday party, but I'll refrain from embarrasing him since I did enough of that at his party.

On the way back (when I was by myself with the 2 kids and barely made it to the plane on time), the cockpit door was open and Ben said, "Mommy, look...pilots!" And, he was of course wearing his "Jet Setter" t-shirt. So, the flight attendant took him and introduced him to the pilots while I got settled with Lindley. She didn't bring him back until he had greeted all of the people getting on to the plane, and made an annoucment thanking her "special helper."

I also have to say that I am going to write a letter to Southwest about their incredibly stupid new policy of families boarding after all of the A group (unless you have an A boarding pass). It's just not right!!!

Needless to say, fun was had by all.

Brad

My brother is doing something so absolutely awesome this summer. He is basically traveling the world in three segments with Passion World Tour. From what I understand, he is taking care of most of the details for Louie Giglio and the bands (either Chris Tomlin or David Crowder depending on the place). I'm adding Louie's blog about their tour to my links. We miss Uncle Brad, but we can't wait to hear all of the stories he comes back with...

(this is an old picture)

7 Months

Lindley turned 7 months old this past Sunday. It seems like it was just a week ago that she turned 6 months. How does the time pass so very quickly??

Not a whole lot has changed with her in the last month, except:

- She is more "curious" in that she wants to have her hands on anything she can get (especially paper)

- She does not like her baby food anymore and will purse her lips in protest

- She is way into playing with her feet

- The medicine that the pulmonologist put her on has worked wonders!! She is a totally different baby as far as wheezing and coughing are concerned!

Here is a picture of her with my Granddad. We saw everyone this past weekend on our trip to Canyon. That's another post altogether...

Imagination Station

Ben has really gotten into using his imagination lately. Most of the things he pretends to do include some form of sports event. Two quick examples:

Today, I threw him an imaginary football that he caught for an imaginary touchdown. Then, at his insistence, we both had to sit in red chairs and watch and cheer for the "blue team and the green team." According to Ben, the blue team won, in case you were wondering.

Then, later tonight, Lanny was playing with the kiddos, and Ben kept running back and forth between Lanny and one of our doorways (which serves as the goal for most sports that we play in our house). He would run back and tell his Daddy, "I winned! I winned!" After several winnings, Lanny commented that maybe he could win if he knew what the game was! Ben assured Lanny, "Don't worry; they will tell you." "They?" we ask. "The players..." we are told.

Lindley Update

Lindley had her appointment with the pulmonologist this morning. We didn't get a whole lot of "news," but he did change some of her medications. He also ordered a chest x-ray, upper GI, and a repeat swallow study (the swallow study is the same thing we have done twice before which showed her aspirating milk). We will get those procedures scheduled sometime soon.

Basically, what we learned is that the fact that she "comfortably" retracts when breathing means that she has to work harder than most people to breathe normally. And, she doesn't have a whole lot of "reserve." And, since she doesn't have much reserve, she can get into respiratory trouble really quickly.

So, we are doing the upper GI to first of all, see the extent of her reflux, but more importantly so he can observe her anatomy. He thought it was possible that there could be a vessel that is compressing her airway.

The good news was that she can use inhalers with a spacer. So, we don't necessarily have to be tied down to the nebulizer machine, unless we just can't get her breathing under control.

It's so amazing how none of this seems to phase her in the least! She is just the sweetest thing...