Its hard to believe summer is over already and I haven't managed a blog post since July.  Suffice it to say life has been a little hectic lately and regardless of how many times I told myself I had to update my blog, something else always became a priority.  So today, my laundry is taking a back seat to this post.  Trust me, I'm not exactly heartbroken about that.

Since its been so long, I am going to try to organize this as best as possible and its going to be a picture bonanza because I've got lots.  Heck, its been so long that I even though I'd post the video I compiled for Finley's 2nd birthday.  I shared this on Facebook on her birthday but the entire reason I created it was to post it here.  So here it is!

The first harvest from my container garden!

Cicada stew!

Brother/sisterly love

In the interest of keeping this organized, here are the top few "goings on" in the Roth household since July  (in no particular order).

1) Mike and I attended our first CHARGE Syndrome Foundation conference in July in Orlando.  As my friend Paula would say, "It was Africa hot" while we were there but we really enjoyed ourselves (aside from my trip to the ER...more on that in a second). This was the first time Mike and I have gone on "vacation" by ourselves since Nate was born and we were one of the only families who didn't bring our kiddos.  While we did miss them a ton and wished they were with us, we wanted the opportunity to really immerse ourselves in our first conference - we knew we had tons to learn and that the schedule would be hectic.  The first day we met a couple of other families out by the pool and just relaxed and enjoyed the sun.  There was a nice reception that evening and the formal sessions kicked off the next day (Friday).  By the time we went down for dinner on Friday night, I wasn't feeling quite well and things began to get worse as the evening wore on.  After we attended the Conference Idol event (which I cried through) we headed upstairs rather than meeting some friends out by the pool for a couple of beers.  Needless to say, about the time we got up to our room, the full blown yuck started and I pretty much spent the rest of the evening in the bathroom - including passing out while vomiting - not once, but twice.  I'll spare the rest of the details but suffice it to say, by the time Sunday morning rolled around, I was in even worse shape and made a trip the local ER where the nice folks at Dr. Phillips hospital hooked me up to an IV and gave me some nice things to stop the vomiting, etc.  Funny enough, I found myself less worried about being sick and more worried about what sort of quality rating this hospital that the taxi driver dropped me off at had (darn my job in health care!).  Needless to say, this is what I was Googling in the waiting room whilst doubled over in pain and trying not to vomit.  Good times.  Happily, we did get to still enjoy a ton of the conference (which is good) we just didn't get to be as "social" as we had hoped - but that is okay - there will be lots more conferences and we are happy to say the next one is in Scottsdale, AZ!!  We hope to be able to make it a nice vacation and spend some time with my sister and brother in law and little DZ (they live in Scottsdale).  And in honor of Auntie Panda, Uncle David and DZ - a few photos of them....

Uncle David came to visit me one day when he was in town to surprise Aunt Panda.

Nate's best friend DZ and Aunt Panda.

2)  Both kids celebrated birthdays in August - Finley on the 8th and Nate on the 21st.  We had little celebrations for each the day of their birthday but given the craziness, and I am horrified to say this - we just had Nate's party last weekend. And it was super last minute because we had planned to do it the last weekend of the month but we had to move it up because Finley is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow (more on that to come) and so we worried, God forbid, if Finley doesn't make it home as expected tomorrow afternoon, the whole party thing could go out the window.  So, we moved it up a week and we are absolutely GRATEFUL that all of our friends and family were able to make it on such short notice.  We had a blast!  Now that Nate has officially had a party he finally considers himself to be "real" five.  Apparently he wasn't really five until he had a party.  I will post pictures once I have a chance to upload them : o )

Nothing better than celebrating the Princess' 2nd birthday (the Deerfield's cake is a close second)

3) Nate started preschool on September 8th and so far, its been hugely successful.  Our little man who we used to drop off at daycare every day a crying mess has been good to go at preschool since day one.  He is in the "Lion" group at school and he absolutely adores his table teacher, Ms. Rodriguez (who he affectionately calls Ms. Ma-riguez).  We are so happy to see that he's happy going to school and doing so well we feel confident that not starting him in kindergarten this year was a good decision as his experience in preschool already seems to be doing what we'd hoped - increasing his maturity, helping him to grow his social skills and making him more confident.  We love First United Methodist Preschool in Arlington Heights!

"Look at me!"

This scene has MENACE written all over it.  This was the beginning stages of Finley ripping that mobile down!

Caught in the act!

4)  One of the factors lending itself to our crazy last few months is Finley having tons of doctor's appointments.  While we are fortunately at  maintenance phase with most of her docs, we do have to check in with all of them every couple of month and those appts tend to hit right around the same time so we often find that we will have 2-3 appts/week for two weeks in a row. Then, throw a couple of unplanned pediatrician visits for colds, ear infections and the like and you have a recipe for not updating your blog in three months : o ).  I am happy to report that there is nothing but good stuff going on doctor wise.  Finley's echo at the cardiologist was great - no changes from the one she had 6 months ago and she also wore a holter monitor for 24 hours and that all checked out fine.  She also went to see the opthalmologist who told us that he doesn't think Finley will need surgery on her left eye (the one that was turning in) because the glasses seem to have done wonders for that.  YEY!

5) As I type this I am sitting in Finley's room in the hospital (THIS is what it takes for me to find time to post).  She is scheduled to have an MRI tomorrow so that her surgeon can confirm which ear will be best for implantation for her cochlear implant.  Yes - I said cochlear implant!  We got the good news at the beginning of September - that Dr. Young, the cochlear implant surgeon, has deemed Finley a good candidate for an implant and she wants to proceed with the surgery.  The immediate next steps are getting insurance approval (this is in process - I have been told that an implant on one side only can cost upwards of $100,000!), and getting this MRI which will confirm the particulars of Finley's cranial nerve structure.  I am definitely nervous about what they might find as this is one of the last "unknowns" we have at the moment about Finley and CHARGE Syndrome.  Cranial nerve abnormalities are very common and Finley has never had an MRI so this will provide us with that one missing piece of information. Frankly I don't what, if any "bad" news can come of this.  I suppose its possible she might be missing a nerve or two but in terms of the consequences of that happening - I don't know. I am just worried.  So, keep your fingers crossed.

So, as has been routine for Finley, we always have to be admitted the night before a procedure in which she needs anesthesia in order for her to get an IV and go on IV fluids to keep her blood sugar up because she's never been able to actually go "NPO" or without food because of her blood sugar problems.  Today we came with the purpose of actually try to have her go without food and monitor her to see if she can go without food.  The desired end result would be that she is able to maintain her blood sugar overnight so we can discontinue her continous feeds overnight. For some reason though, things never go off without a hitch and most often, that hitch seems to be that no one seems to believe me when I tell them Finley HAS to go to IR (Interventional Radiology) to get her IV because its IMPOSSIBLE to get an IV in her.  But yet again, they had up come in late, after the IR team was gone.  So then they tried the IV at the bedside and....didn't get it in.  DUH!  So change of plans now - we will what happens overnight.  If she isn't able to maintain her blood sugar, without the IV, they are going to have to feed her through her g-tube and thus her MRI will be delayed until later in the day - until she can get an IV in the morning and then go NPO for several hours before anesthesia.  We will see....

One very long winded post later, I am sorry its been so long and I appreciate all of you sticking with me and continuing to check this blog!  I promise I will update more frequently!