Ruby had a very busy week at the end of May. She started off with her Preschool Graduation, then her big clogging recital, and for a finale, had her tonsils removed. There was a lot going on, but we loved making her the center of attention for all of the activities.
When the school year started this year Ruby was so excited that it was her turn to officially go to Mrs. Fox's class. During the last year that Luke went to preschool, Ruby was able to go on several of the field trips and even spent a little bit of time in class. So she was thrilled that it was finally her turn to go to her own class. Mr. Fox has been the best teacher and we have loved watching Ruby learn and grow with her. Ruby has felt completely loved and at home in the Fox Den and we are all so sad to see the year end. The worst part is that Mrs. Fox is moving and no longer teaching, so this was a final goodbye for all of us. The graduation ceremony was really low key, a few songs, and mostly just a chance for the kids to show off some of the things they have learned.
We are lucky to be able to be together as a family for these events.
Ruby loved that Grandma was able to come and watch.
Besties for life. Ruby and Brexley have so much fun together and we loved that they were able to be on the same schedule for preschool. It worked out great for Tim and Nikki to trade off with the car pool, even better that their preschool overlapped with the boys' kindergarten. Perfect scheduling.
After the ceremony all the kids brought bread to feed the ducks. It was for sure their favorite part of the day. I imagine the ducks were probably a little relieved when they all finally left.
After watching Ada clog in competitions, parades, etc. Ruby decided that she wanted to try the "clickety clack". We found a clogging studio and have loved watching how much she has learned over the past nine months. The kids have loved learning the routine to "Mama Said", and got really excited when their teacher Miss Rachel started teaching them a new dance to "The Birthday Song". Ruby was so excited about her spring recital, or as she called it, her performance, and we loved seeing her on stage. I was impressed with how much she learned over the past year and that she was able to keep up with the other little ones that had been taking for so much longer. She said she loved the class and she definitely loves having a moment to shine in the spotlight.
I didn't get any pictures of "Mama Said",
But the hats made dancing to the "Birthday Song" even better
Ruby's "First Year" trophy
We always have the best family support!
Ruby barely had time to wash off her clogging make-up before switching gears and heading to the surgical center to get her tonsils removed - just a quick night's sleep and then we were ready. We had decided about a month ago to get her scheduled to have her tonsils out, adenoids reduced and a second set of tubes put in her ears. We went to see the ENT to talk through our options because we were worried about her and the fact that she seemed to always be sick. Over the past nine months or so, she has had at least 5 diagnosed double ear infections and seemed to pick up every possible bug. She had also started breathing really loud when just sitting, and often snored or seemed to struggle to breathe at night. Over the past six months she has started waking in the middle of the night and crying because she was scared, then would end with her sleeping in our bed. When we discussed everything with the doctor, he said that he was worried that the recurrent infections were going to cause permanent hearing loss. He also felt like she was likely having sleep apnea episodes because of her tonsils. After talking through the options, we decided to follow his recommendation to take care of all three problems in one surgery. It seemed like so much for such a little one to go through, but we really wanted her to get it taken care of while she was still so young.
Showing up at the the surgical center and then turning your baby over to the medical staff is always so tough. I was really anxious about this surgery and could hardly wait for the doctor to come out to give us a report on the surgery. When he finally did, he told us that the surgery had gone well and that based on what he found, all three procedures had been very necessary.
As long as she has Piggy Pig, she can conquer the world.
She made fast friends with her new lion.
We were hoping they could do a little repair on Piggy.
The nurse came to get us when she woke up from the anesthesia, but by the time we got to the room, she had fallen back to sleep. We sat with her for awhile and then she eventually woke up, sat up, and asked if it was time to have a popsicle. She had a few treats and snacks, and just kept talking without seeming to really hurt which completely amazed the nurse. I was just so relieved to see her doing so well and not seeming to be scared or in too much pain.
Over the next few days we had a lot of down time while she recovered. I took a few days off work and we spent a lot of time watching movies and trying to find something that she was willing to eat. Ruby liked the popsicles and pudding for the first few days, but eventually even that hurt to eat so she mostly stopped eating. It got rough for a few days and I even found myself trying to bribe her to eat chocolate icecream just to get some nutrients into her. We had some ups and downs and discovered that it was better to wake her in the middle of the night for more pain medication than to let her wake up when everything had worn off - that was too hard on all of us. But overall I was quite surprised at how well she did with the surgery and the recovery. We saw the ENT earlier this week and they told us that everything looked great and we didn't need to return for a year. Best news ever.
The was a particularly rough morning with a lot of pain and tears. Ruby needed some extra love and ended up going to sleep and actually slept on my lap for quite awhile.
There was a ridiculous amount of couch time with all of the pets.
Of course we couldn't leave Luke out of the fu.
Still resting, but she finally felt good enough
To have Brexley come over to relax together.
After about 13 days of recovery, she suddenly started eating and then quickly returned to normal. Her voice has changed and is a little higher, but that seems to be the only permanent change. We have high hopes for her health over the ext year.
By the time May ended, this is how we all felt.
