Doctors, hospitals and baby teeth

These past few weeks have been crazy!

Catching up last Wednesday, Nikolai was hurt playing football with his brother in the yard. He cried and kept saying his shoulder hurt.

We couldn't see anything wrong, so we decided to wait a day to see if it was just a sore muscle..well Friday, I took him to the Doctor and yep a broken clavicle. Split right in two. Poor Nikolai, his football season has ended and he will be wearing a brace for a few weeks.

On Wednesday, Oksana went in for outpatient surgery to remove an abcessed tooth in her cleft line. When they came to me to sign the paperwork, they said they were extracting two permanent teeth. Then they said they were also taking her two front baby teeth.

Of course, I wasn't prepared for THAT notion and tears welled in my eyes, as I thought of her without her teeth for years! The Oral Surgeon said it would be best, to help her permanent front ones come down. Well after surgery, he said he only removed one of her front teeth and the two others. (so that was a little relief)

Slowly she came off the anesthesia, miserable of course. I gave her a little juice, and then we sat her on the bed. Right before they were getting ready to take out her IV to be released, she began to throw up mass amounts of blood and from her nose.

The nurses were alarmed, as well as me, and they ran around in nurse fast mode. The Oral Surg came in, checked her out, and said the cleft kids often have lots of blood when extracting the teeth. He said he would stay around a while, just in case, and to call him if she did it again. So, we waited. She did seem lethargic but time had passed and she drank a little juice.

As she was getting ready to possibly go home a second time, it happened again.
Blood everywhere. Talk about ALARM!

At this point, the ansetheologist came to see what was happening. She said she was reacting to the anesthesia (no kidding) and gave her a drug to control naseua and we waited...and waited...five hours post extraction. Finally, she began to show her bubbly personality again and she was so positive about going home. So, they decided to release her.

On the way home, it happened again. Not as much as before, but still blood in the van, carseat and on her clothes.

I took her home and let her sleep, where she finally began to get better.

Now, she is very proud that she lost her front tooth before her big brother Nikolai lost his!

Growing a Foot

Oksana to mommy, “Guess what I am FOUR!”

“I know look how tall you are getting! You must have a grown a foot!”

Looking at me quizzically…

Looking at her feet for a few seconds…

Looking back at me…

Looking down at her feet again…

Giving me a look like you must be “cuckoo mom”…

“No, I didn’t!”

Turning Four

Oksana turns four today.

She has been waiting for this day with great anticipation and excitement!

Oksana what would you like for your birthday?

"A pony".

"Well we would need a barn for a pony."

"Oh, okay I want a Barbie."

"What kind of Barbie?"

"A pink Barbie!"
((And that is one of her presents.))

Yesterday at school, they celebrated her pre-birthday. She proudly wore her birthday hat and carried her birthday picture card to show everyone! At Speech Therapy, she proudly walked up to all of the parents and showed them her picture! When asked if it was her birthday, she said no it is tomorrow! How old are you they asked. I am three today, tomorrow I will be four!

As, I tucked her in last night. She sleepily she told me the following:

When I am four, I can get my own fruit snacks down. I will be able to swim in the deep end. I get to use big people shampoo! Then she fell asleep...smiling.

This morning, she awoke excited knowing that today is her birthday. We have it all a surprise but she knows it will be fun!

She is going with Grandpa to the children's museum, then to lunch. After her nap, Grandpa will take her with him to a log cabin park and then we will pick her up for her birthday surprise just the way she dreamed with pink ballons, cake, presents and fun!! ((but no pony))

Happy Birthday Oksana!

Buckeyes

I love to watch HG TV Network! They have a Show which allows you to see What You Get for the money, for the same price, in different areas of the country.

I am always amazed by the prices of some of the homes with about 1800 sq feet, in Southern CA for example, that might cost $450,000, and you could buy the same house here in Ohio for
$80-120,000.

Well on Yahoo today, the city we live near was rated number seven for the most affordable housing markets:

7. Dayton, Ohio Median home price: $102,000 Median household income: $59,800 Share of homes affordable to median-income families: 85.4% Share of affordable homes in Q2 1998: 83.8%.

Amazing!

Just think what you could buy if you sold your home in San Diego and moved to Ohio! You would suddenly have a 5,000 sq ft mansion!

I guess being a Buckeye is pretty cool after all!