Sleep Study Success!!!

We had done all the prep ahead of time to prepare Carson for this big event! We told him that all the medical play we did on Friday was now his turn for. He seemed to be pretty acceptant on that fact. As a matter of fact, he would periodically ask on Sunday, "What minute do we go to sleep center, mom?"

We thought that we'd make this a special event and go pick out a new movie for him to watch while we were at the sleep center. We gathered up Carson's favorite pajamas, blanket and pillow...as well as his music and 'Moon & Sun' night light! We also picked out a soda, a candy treat and popped a bag of popcorn (sounds like we were going to the movies, huh?). With that combination, we thought that he would easily be content while his tech did the "hookin' up"! Daddy even let Carson take daddy's favorite teddy bear with him to cuddle with! So, off we went to the sleep center (check-in was at 7:30pm)!

We knew that Victor was going to be our tech and were quickly introduced to him when we arrived! Let's take a shot before the procedure gets started! We were already in our jammies (we came prepared!), so we got our stuff all out, went potty, put the movie in and waited for Victor! Victor had Carson be his "helper", so Carson helped Victor put the sensors down his jammies (to be attached to his legs and chest). He also helped put the breathing belts on (those purple belts) and was very proud when he clicked them into place!

They had one of those cool barber chairs for him to sit in while the probes were being attached to his head and face. It didn't faze Carson in the slightest when Victor started this part of the process! Carson was just chomping away on his popcorn and watching his new video (Over the Hedge)! It was very cute!



After Victor was finished applying the probes, he put a mesh ski mask on Carson (to help keep all the probes attached for the night). It was a bit itchy, but once Carson got used to it, it was OK. He never tried to pull ANYTHING off! WOW!!!

By now, it's 9pm and it's time for bed! So, Victor and I got Carson into bed (this is a feat with all those darned wires, let me tell you!) and then Victor left the room. It was at this point that Carson got a bit scared. He started complaining about the mesh mask itching and that he was a bit scared (completely understandable!!). I gave him lots of reassurance, hugs and kisses and explained that I was going to be sleeping in the bed next to him! I also gave him daddy's teddy bear and his blanket again...and he was very thankful! It probably took him 30-45 minutes to finally go to sleep (yikes...that's a late bedtime for a little boy who usually goes to bed at 8pm!). Once he was asleep, Victor quietly walked in and put on a nasal prong to Carson's nose (I think this is the worst part of the sleep study, from my memory of my sleep study...OK the whole thing is NO fun!). He managed to keep the prong on for a while and then OFF it went...until Victor finally taped it in place! (Hmm...guess it's not coming off now, huh?)

Carson woke up many times in the night (many more than usual) crying when he woke up. I think he realized how confined he was with all the cords and stuff. But, he was easily consolable with me talking to him from the other bed. Then, came the "Mom? I wet the bed, mom!" Kinda weird, really because he wears a night time pullup to bed and it wasn't even soaked! Oh well...I wasn't in charge of changing the sheets, so it wasn't a big deal to me! (he he he he) I changed his pullup and cuddled with him while Victor changed the sheets. Then back to bed we went...waking up at 6:30am!

YIPEE!!! It's over! Off comes the probes and into the shower we go! Now we have to get all the goop out of his hair! I washed his hair twice and there is still some in there...oh well!

He was very excited when it was finally over! We came back from the shower and found 6 stickers waiting for Carson on the bed! Carson said, "Who in this world gave these to me?" Very cute!



So, as promised...we were off to eat breakfast out at a restaurant! Carson wanted lots of pancakes, sausage and orange juice! Okey dokey, dude!

I am soooo proud of Carson! He did a magnificent job! Carson even got to pick out a special toy at the toy store today! What a big boy you are Carson, mommy and daddy are so proud of you!!

Special thanks to Robyn and Terry for 'playing with us' on Friday! And, special thanks to Victor for being very kind and patient with us...and for changing the wet sheets in the middle of the night!

I'll update everyone when we hear the results!

Cute Stories, My Birthday and Sleep Study Preparation

I am sitting in the family room right now...drinking my iced latte, enjoying the fact that both my boys are outside playing nicely with each other! (I'm not too happy about the fact that Logan was pounding on his door to get up this morning at 5am, despite the fact that the sun on his night light hadn't appeared yet...but that's another story!) They have really enjoyed this 'cooler weather' since our 103 degree record breaking weather here in the Seattle area this week! But, believe me, even that hot weather did not stop the boys from playing outside!

We had another good week! (I'm hesitant to say that statement for fear that I'm going to jinx what we have going on here) I honestly believe that these good weeks are a compilation of Carson's medication being titrated to an optimal dose for him, the good weather (since the boys love being outside) and no preschool this summer. Now the boys are still going to daycare, Carson is just not attending his developmental preschool, since they are closed for the summer. He loves preschool, but it does introduce two big transitions into his daily routine and transitions are very tough for Carson!

Dad even mentioned that Carson's behavior was getting better and I commented back to him with what I thought were the reasons. His response was "or he's growing out of this" and I just chuckled to myself. I just thought to myself, "No honey, I don't think you grow out of this in a couple of weeks, but you can believe what you want. Don't think for a minute that we are going to stop his medication!" It's interesting how we all have our own perspectives to life. It's really not about who is right or wrong...it's all in how it is perceived and handled! I'm OK with that!

Monday was my birthday! I had kind of forgotten about it until my hubby said "Happy Birthday" to me while I was in the shower! I had to work on my birthday, so as I was getting the boys ready for daycare, I told the boys that today was my birthday. Carson promptly began calling me "The Birthday Girl!" It was very cute! Even when I dropped the boys off at daycare, Carson gave me a hug and kiss and said "Have a good day Birthday Girl!"

I arrived at work and it was same 'ole, same 'ole work! Then a guy arrives to the pharmacy window with a vase of flowers and a balloon! I took a look at him and said, "Oh, those are for me!"

"How do you know that?"

"Well, today is my birthday and I bet those are from my hubby!"

"Well, I guess you guessed correctly!" They were beautiful! Thanks hubby!

Later that evening, I fixed a birthday cake. Have you ever added a can of diet soda to a cake mix? Well...it's a good Weight Watchers technique I have learned. Just add a can of any diet soda to any cake mix, mix it all up and bake per box directions. Voila! It's very moist and delicious and much less calories than adding the oil and eggs! So, after dinner we had birthday cake topped with cool whip and raspberries/blueberries! Yum! We all had birthday candles on our cake (per Carson's request) and we all took turns singing happy birthday to each other! It was very cute! The boys both gave me a birthday card and daddy gave me a present! (speakers to enjoy my computer music outside!). All in all...a good birthday day for me!

Both boys went to daycare again on Tuesday and I was home on Wednesday. After I picked up the boys from daycare on Tuesday, I was telling them that they get to stay home with me on Wednesday and Carson started to cry.

"But mom, they are having pajama day at daycare tomorrow! I don't want to miss out!"

"Oh really? OK Carson, I guess you are going to daycare tomorrow! And Logan, you get to have mommy all to yourself tomorrow!"

So on Wednesday, I took Carson to daycare and which pajamas do you think Carson chose to wear? He chose he two piece FLANNEL LONG SLEEVED pajamas! Yep, he did! It took me all morning to convince him that he was going to be hot with those jammies on and he was dead set on wearing them...until we got to daycare and he got out of the car!

"Mom, can I put that T-shirt on that you brought?"

"Yep, you can!" WHEW, I thought, as Wednesday was predicted to be the hottest day EVER in Seattle!

Logan and I had a nice day together! He ran a bunch of errands with me and then we had our speech therapy appointment later that morning! Our speech therapist walked into our house and you could just see the look of relief and smile on her face as she says, "Oh Kari, you guys have air conditioning?" Poor thing...she goes from home to home providing speech therapy services to folks and I can only imagine how hot some homes truly were!

On Friday, Carson got to stay at home with mommy all by himself! It is very nice to be able to give them some one on one attention! It just isn't the same when you have to share mommy's attention with your brother! And, believe me...they are highly competitive for mommy's attention! We had Carson's occupational therapy appointment early and then we were off for our tour of the Mary Bridge Sleep Center. Carson has his sleep study on Sunday evening and I was on a mission to prepare him for this event! Thursday evening, I made a story for Carson about all the steps of the sleep study process, so he would know what to expect when we actually went for the study. I gave it to him that morning and he was very excited to have 'his own book'. He spent a lot of time just looking at the pictures! I just let him look at it on his own and didn't read it to him until we were at the Sleep Center.

If you are interested in viewing the 'book', you can download it at one of the following links:
Word document Format
Power Point format

We grabbed our Sleep Study Book and were off for our personal tour. We met our Child Life Specialist (CLS) and one of the sleep center technologists there. I had previously spoken with Robyn, the CLS and we planned on what we were going to do with Carson. She brought Carson his personal 'sleep buddy' which was a white fabric stuffed doll. She also brought markers for him to color his 'sleep buddy!' He was all over that...coloring it from head to toe, front and back! We let him get comfy in the room (the actual room that we would be sleeping in) and then we slowly introduced the 'stuff' and read him the story. He got to touch the electrodes that would be placed on his head, face and body. He thought it was pretty cool to put them on us, but wasn't too interested in putting them on himself! We did a lot of 'medical play' and just let him get comfy with everything that was going to happen to him. I was really proud of how well he did with this process. We continue to read the book and talk about this test and I'm hoping that he will be able to make the leap from 'having it done to others' to 'having it done to himself!' We talk about it all the time, so I'm hoping that he will be comfortable with what will happen on Sunday evening. Keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer for us on Sunday evening!

Well...that was our week in a nutshell! Let's hope for a cool and pleasant weekend! Hope you have a nice one as well!

Update on our Week

It's been a while since I have posted on the blog and I am getting a lot of anxious friends wanting updates on Carson's neuropsych testing. Our original plan was for Carson to have 4 two hour testing sessions. Well, after the first session, it was clearly obvious that two hours was going to be a bit much for Carson! Surprise, surprise!!! So, instead we opted for 7 one hour sessions...we planned to drive to Bellevue every day this week to complete these sessions. Well...the good news is is that Carson completed his testing in 5 sessions!!! The bad news is...mom got a speeding ticket on the way home from a session! Nothing like Logan telling me that "mommy drive too fast!"

I attended the first session with Carson and dad attended the second session. By the third session, I had to bring Logan with us ('cause he was sick with another ear infection....poor guy!), so we opted to try having Carson test by himself. No big deal! As a matter of fact, he did a really good job all by himself! So, by the 4th session, I thought that we would just continue with Carson attending these sessions by himself...and he did! Way to go Carson! We did a lot of rewarding Carson...before and after these testing sessions, we would walk around the business park! Carson (and Logan) were in heaven! The business park, in their eyes was like a camping area, complete with trees, paths and 'rock walls'! Carson would climb up and down the rock wall and when Logan came, Carson had to 'teach' Logan how to climb the rock wall as well! This particular office was the only pediatric practice in the business park...and it quickly became clear that the business park was not used to having kids in 'their area'. By the end of our testing sessions, we had a big dude come up to us saying that they had a complaint of kids playing on the rock wall! Yep, those are my kids! He says, "Please do not allow them to climb on this rock wall." "Why?," I ask. "Well, if they get hurt on the rock wall, then you can sue us." I thought...my boys WILL hurt themselves because they are boys...and believe me, you are the last person I would think of suing. Can you tell there were lawyers in this business park? ARGH!!! Now I have a devastated little boy because he cannot decompress on the rock wall! Hmmm...maybe that gentleman should have neuropsych testing done and see what sort of stress he needs to work off? I bet he would want to climb the rock wall too! Oh well...luckily that night we were notified that Carson had completed his testing, so we wouldn't be 'bothering' them anymore! Believe me, I was ready to allow Carson to continue climbing the rock wall and have them call the cops...and then kindly explain why my child needed to climb the rock wall! Bummer that I wasn't able to enjoy that...I would have enjoyed the look of guilt on his face! We won't have the results until August 12th!!!

Oh...I've been meaning to post these photos! These are drawings that Carson has made. Carson LOVES to do art! So, especially when he has gone to daycare...we bring home A LOT of art! So, I asked him about these particular pictures and this is what he said!

This is a 'golf course!' Impressive, I thought! He has been obsessed with golfing ever since he found out that Grandpa George golfs! He even laid out some clothes for going golfing with grandpa...he says that you have to wear polo shirts...and he picked out his own polo shirt! Very cute!

This second picture is a map...a TREASURE MAP! He says that the treasure is where the 'X' is!

I have been off from work this past week and have spent most of it with the boys. On Monday, I was able to help chaperon Carson's daycare classroom to the Ballard Locks (to see the cool boats going from Puget Sound to Lake Union and the salmon ladders). I was in charge of only one child (my own) while other chaperons were in charge of three! Hmmm...does that mean that Carson is equivalent to three kids? Some days I would definitely agree! Anyhow...we had a blast! Carson thinks he is the most special boy in the world when he gets to pack his lunch for a field trip...and Logan CANNOT come! Here are a few photos from our day!

We visited the botanical gardens and Carson had to 'smell' ALL the flowers! So cute!

After lunch, we had some time to run around in the fields and Carson wanted to play with the 'bigger kids' from daycare! It was so cute to see him bend down to race just like the big kids do!

Then later in the week, we got to go to a concert in the park! The boys thought they were super duper special when we got to pick up McDonald's for lunch and take our 'backpack chairs' (lawn chairs with a backpack attached) to the concert! You should have seen those boys smile!! When we got to the concert, Carson spotted Miss Rachael, his most favorite daycare teacher, and he was in heaven FOR SURE!

Like those sun glasses?

Logan forgot his cool sunglasses in the car, so he had to beg to use mommy's sunglasses!

Then after the concert, we played at our favorite water park...right next door! (water fountains coming up from the ground) They were very ready for naps and so was mom!

Our yard was in dire need of major weeding, etc., Since I had some spare time on my hands (yeah right...spare time??) I tackled the yard and got it in darn good shape by the end of the week! (Dad...don't ever say that I don't help in the yard!) It was a bit therapeutic for me...weeding is right up my 'picking everything' alley and power tools (like hedge trimmers and blowers) are great at taking out some aggression! The boys even helped me pick up after all the cutting!

In the backyard, there is a section that Carson has been watering, saying that he is watering his flowers! Poor guy didn't realize that the reason why those flowers were bloomin' was because the weeds had gone to the bloomin' stage! Not a good thing! So, when he saw me pulling is flowers, Carson was not a happy camper! I had to think real fast and came up with "Oh Carson, it's OK...we should go to Home Depot and get some really pretty flowers to plant tomorrow!" "OK mom...it's a deal!" So, off to Home Depot we went the following day to fulfill my promise! Carson picked out some really pretty flowers and was a super big helper planting them as well!



Carson waters the flowers everyday and he makes sure to water around the flowers (instead of on top of them) so the flowers don't bend (so Carson says)!

Carson even found a yummy worm along the way as well! Hmmm....Yummy!

Stay tuned for another post on our weekend! Our cousins came to visit us from Portland and boy, did we have fun!

Back to work and daycare tomorrow!