Cora's first day of preschool, year 2.

Cora had her first day of second year of preschool this week.

She has been SO EXCITED! If I had a dollar for every time she asked me when she was going back to preschool, I could have paid her preschool tuition for the year. She has been ready, especially since all her friends went back at least a week earlier.
This year, she has a different teacher and will be with some different kids. I hope it is a good fit! She LOVED Mrs. G so much.
The night before, she laid out her clothes, packed her lunch (or, told me what to pack for her lunch), and got a father's blessing. Brandon reminded her to be a good friend to those who may need it. I hope this will continue for a while, because Cora is a sweet little girl. Sometimes she tells me other girls don't want to be friends with everyone. So we talk about how we need to be nice to everyone.

Cora came home from school and told me she had a run in with a girl. Someone took her cheese stick at lunch, that she was SO excited to eat! But Cora, bless her heart, didn't freak out about it. The worst part was that we didn't even have any more cheese sticks left, so she didn't get any for a few days. But she was so sweet! The other girl was crying and took her cheese stick (according to her). So, I want to cultivate this kindness for years.

Cora gets ear tubes, round 2.

So, August 12 was our 3 month followup to Cora's last ENT appointment. At the last one, her tubes fell out so Dr. Lanier just wanted to make sure everything was healing well.

Cora has been nervous about going to the ENT (and she isn't nervous about any other medical appointment she has had) because of the bad memories there, so the whole way up to Fresno I told her that it would not be a big deal. All she would need to do is get her ears checked and then she would be done with the ENT for a long long time!

So, we got there and she played for a while in the children's waiting room before being called back to the ENT.

While Dr. Lanier checked her ears, I told him I wanted to get her hearing checked because some things have just been off. Sometimes we'll talk to her and it's like she's looking at us but not comprehending. She has been off with guessing what letter makes what sound, which she has not had an issue with in the past. As I was explaining this, Dr. Lanier said, "Well, her ears are full of fluid. Let's go to the better microscope to check it out."

 

Sure enough, we got to the other room and Dr. Lanier said her ears are as bad as they were before her tubes. I was SHOCKED. I don't know how that happened, but it makes me feel bad for Cora. She needed ear tubes AGAIN. I thought we were past this?! So, in a daze, we went to In-N-Out to drown our sorrows then went to the zoo for a few hours. I still wonder what I could have done to make it not as serious as it is. Did I not wash her well enough? Should I be putting her ear plugs in when she swims still?

Before we even got home from the zoo, I got a call scheduling the appointment. They scheduled it for August 20. Yes, our wedding anniversary. We had thought of MAYBE doing a spontaneous trip to San Francisco because tickets to Hamilton are super cheap on weekdays and Brandon had the 22nd off, but that ruined our plans.

So, as per our "tradition" (since this is our third trip with ear tubes in 15 months), we went to Yogurtland the night before to try to fill her up. She didn't have to be there until 7:45, which was good because we didn't have to leave so early but also bad since she couldn't eat or drink.

Cora was VERY afraid the morning off. She clung to me and sobbed that she didn't want me to leave her. It did NOT help my nerves at all. But we had her three unicorns there to keep her brave, and since we waited a while we got to read books and take our minds off of it.

 Bless nurses, man. The nurse who was going to bring her offered to let her ride on the bed. Cora seemed a little excited, so we talked up how cool that was. So all I had to do was kiss her forehead and tell her she was brave and good luck and she went off!

 I timed the procedure, and it took 25 minutes from when I left Cora until I was able to go back to recovery. As hard as that was, it continues to help me be grateful that we only have had to deal with 20-25 minute surgeries with no post-op care. We have so many friends with much more intensive surgeries, and just experiencing a tiny taste of that world gives me so much more sympathy for them.

Cora waking up was a little bit tough. She cried a lot saying that her ears hurt, but I couldn't do anything about it. She wouldn't open her eyes (except for a brief second when I came in) so I know she was super out of it.

 She didn't want to wear her shoes, and I couldn't carry her the diaper bag and her things all at once so she got to ride the wheelchair out! One cool thing she will never remember.

Once we made it home and she got some medicine and food in her, she was great. And now we see how effective this round of tubes is! Dr. Lanier said she just has something up with the development of her ear tubes, and we'll see how long it takes for them to grow out of it. I hope this round is more effective so we don't have to worry about more intensive surgeries (like maybe doing adenoid removal).

Celebrating 8 years.

We just had our 8th wedding anniversary. Since it was the day of Cora's ear tubes, we didn't celebrate until the next day.

I have been thinking a lot about the journey we have been on. Every time I see something about a wedding, they say "It's the most important day of your life, you never forget a detail". And while I think it's a very important day, it's not what I think of now when I think of us. I think of the 3 cities we have lived in. I think of the trials we have overcome. I think of all the great places we have gotten to visit (I think we've been to 22 states together by now??). We have been to 35 temples all across the country (and 1 in Ecuador). We have graduated 4 times. We have held 7 jobs. And most importantly, we have 2 beautiful children who are the joy of our lives.

(And the stress, if we are honest.)

When we got married, I thought I loved Brandon as much as I ever could. I thought I knew him as much as I ever could. WRONG. 

I thought I'd remember everything from our wedding, but really what I think of is the love we felt. Which has just compounded over the last 8 years. We aren't as young and thin as we were back then, and Brandon's hair definitely is more gray than our wedding day (I don't have any gray hair yet thankfully!). But we are partners.

Happy 8 years, Brandon. Here's to 8 more, and 80 more, and 800 more, etc. etc. etc.