And we're back!

I'm sorry there's been such a delay since my last post, friends. There are some internet issues going on here at 2161B. The Comcast people have been here investigating and claim they have fixed the problem, but I still don't have internet for most of the day. Jay recently moved something that was sitting behind my laptop and suddenly the internet is a little more reliable. I refuse to believe the problem was that simple. But here I am with an internet connection - so I may have to concede that the geek is right. Of course, as soon as I finish typing this post and try to publish it to the blog, I'll lose my connection. (It's already happened twice.)



School finally started in Chesterfield County which means Princess Margaret is officially a kindergartner.I'm so glad I was here to watch her choose her first day of school outfit, pack her new LL Bean backpack, and prepare for her first day of school. That morning, as I stood with her and waited for the bus to arrive, I tried to imagine 5 years from now when my butter bean will be heading off to school. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to put her on the school bus without getting on with her. Or following in my car. Mr. Hogan is going to need to arrange for some radical therapy for his wife before we tackle this milestone.


Both Maggie and her Mama seemed quite ready for this momentous occasion. When the bus came, our girl strapped on her backpack and climbed the stairs of the bus and waved out the window with a big smile. We all need some of this girl's spunk. You go, Maggie Moo.


Of course, it was also the first day of school for Greenfield Elementary newest fourth grader. Andy stood and smiled for his obligatory first day of school pictures, but seemed a little confused as to what all the fuss was about. Andy loves school. Loves learning. Gets a charge out of in-depth study of random topics. His brain is a veritable treasure trove of minutiae. In other words, he aint like his Aunt Cappy.


And the bean? Well, you wouldn't believe how much news there is to report about such a tiny little person.


First, this picture is from July because I have no new pictures to post. Why, you ask? Because I live in a dark basement, people. OK? Can you imagine what a nightmare that is for white balance? OK, I confess - that's just a random photographic term I'm throwing out there to make myself sound knowledgeable. I don't really know what white balance is, but I know it's nearly impossible to get a good shot of Lois in our current living situation. Yes, I could go upstairs, Mom. But I don't. OK?


Today I took Lois on a LONG walk through my sister's serpentine, densely forested neighborhood in search of a playground that had infant swings just so I could get some pictures of her in all her swinging cuteness. She talked (aka screamed) most of the way there - and when we finally arrived, she was sound asleep. I put her fanny in that swing and tried to wake her up - but her little head just swung around like a limp turnip. I decided to take the picture anyway - we had walked 30 minutes and she looked so cute in her hand-me-down ball cap. It was then that I discovered my camera battery was back in the basement being charged. We walked the whole way back with me sweating into my flip flops and Lois snoring. The minute I pulled the stroller through the basement door......she woke up. This is why some animals eat their young.


Here's the other newsworthy item about the bean: She's having tubes put in her ears on Thursday. ( I hope my Dad didn't just gross out at this picture and stop reading. Sorry, Dad.) At least, that's the plan. She's on Dr. Gibbons' schedule for Thursday morning. But she's been chock full of snot since Friday and although she's swallowing chalky white antibiotics twice a day, the snot remains. I haven't spoken to the nurse, but I have the feeling if she's still snotty on Thursday, they won't do the surgery. We'll see what happens, I guess. You can tell I'm not very worried about it. There's no IV required. They just stick a mask over her face and knock her out for a few minutes. I think I'll volunteer to get knocked out, too. Sounds relaxing.


Why does she need the tubes? The short answer : Because she has Down Syndrome. The long answer: How long do you have? Lois has consistently failed numerous hearing tests, but once had a very involved test called an ABR that indicated she could, indeed, hear. We can tell she can hear. You saw the "Lois Can Giggle" video, right? The girl can hear her Dad making sheep noises. DUH! But what she can't do is localize sounds. In other words, she hears my voice in the room, but has a hard time finding where my voice is coming from. The professionals seem to believe that might be due to fluid in her ears. This is where the whole DS thing comes into play. Kids with DS have very narrow ear canals, and they run almost completely horizontally to the nose/back of the throat. Our ear canals slant downward. Lois's are like a straight line. That causes fluid to just sit there. And considering she's currently blowing snot bubbles out her nose - I can imagine there is quite the back up of snot in those poor ears. So there you go. Fingers crossed we get this taken care of Thursday morning.

Here's hoping the third times a charm and I can get this posted. Apparently the Ya-Ya's friends need a Lois fix!!

More news to come.....