Last year I was Kaden's room mom but this year I decided to just be a volunteer and enjoy the parties with Kaden. On Valentines day after Tim and I took Karson to school and had a Valentine lunch date I went to Kaden's party. The room moms this year have done a great job making the parties special. Each student brought a box for their valentine cards. The creative crafty side of me just didnt have time with Karson's surgery and recovery so I let Kaden pick out a box that included valentines at the store. Next year I will do the homemade thing. I got a ton of cute ideas from the party. I was also glad to see Kaden didn't have the only store bought box.

Valentine Bingo

Kaden won the hot potato game.

He said "Karson should have it because his class didn't have a party". He won flash cards. :)

I am so thankful I get to experience these moments with my boys.

Yesterday was Karson's first day of school. The report from his teacher when I picked him up was he had a blast and is a charm to have in the class. I am so proud of my little guy he walked right into his class gave hugs and kisses and said goodbye. This morning when I dropped him off he looked so cute with his backpack on walking to his class.

Karson telling me "no pictures".

Karson and Daddy

Rockstar pose

Karson with his teacher he was so happy to show her his valentines for his class.

Love this dude!

Star of the week.

Kaden is the Star Of The Week this week. Today we worked on his class poster. I think it turned out really cute.

Kaden picked all the pictures he wanted to use.

I love his choices.

Kaden filled it out.


3 fun facts about Kaden. Fact #2.

Kaden's favorite things.

Kaden came home wearing a reminder sticker for the Art and Literacy Fair at his school on Tuesday night. Kaden really wanted to go but I wasn't sure with Karson recovering if we would be able to. Kaden showed me those big brown puppy dog eyes and was almost in tears when I told him I wasn't sure if I would be able to go. Karson started feeling better yesterday and sounds so much better and getting his appetite back. He does have what I call the steroid grumpies but he should be over those soon.

With Karson feeling much better we attended the Art and Literacy Fair last night. I was glad we were able to and I really enjoyed it. There were different activities all over the school. Kaden enjoyed leading the way.

In the Art room there were art supplies and magazine clippings for the kiddos to work with.

Karson said "I draw choo choo train".

Kaden drew a penguin named Pingu.

All around the school the students art was up in the hallways.


Kaden called this "the snake".





All of the art went with a book theme.






The book walk.

In the library there was a silent cake auction with children's book themes.

Karson's Favorite's



This was better in person.

Karson's favorite book.

How to train your dragon

Kaden's favorite he loves penguins.

I want to say how proud I am of Kaden. In December his teacher sent home a note that he was at a reading level 4 and at the end of January he needed to be a level 8. His teacher sent home a packet of books to read every night. Kaden has been reading every night. I got a letter yesterday from his teacher that he is now reading at a level 8 and that all his work at school and at home has paid off. Go Kaden!

Karson had his surgery on Friday. When we got there to check in and the nurse started checking his weight, blood pressure, and trying to put the red light thing on that checks his oxygen Karson got very upset but once we got into our Pre Op room he calmed down and enjoyed watching a Elmo video and playing leapster. When the nurse came in to take him back he went right to her and went into surgery. He is a tough little guy I am so proud of him. He was in surgery for 35 min. during the surgery he had a flare up and had to have a breathing treatment thankfully the staff was ready. After the surgery we got to go home pretty fast.

Karson has been resting well. He is still pretty croupy and sounds congested and also has had a fever. Hopefully he will be back to his playful self soon.

Karson with his Daddy

He really liked the leapster.

The hospital provided a Elmo video.

I loved the dinosaur bed. Karson wanted to ride the dinosaur.

Karson went right to the nurse and this is when he went back for surgery.

Uncle Joe, Aunt Ronnin, Jace and Justus got Karson these cute balloons and animal cookies. Karson loved it!

I am not looking forward to this day again but it is coming up again Friday. This is a picture of Karson right after he had his last set of tubes put in. I have been debating if I should post about Karson's upcoming surgery and have decided to write about it I think it will even help me with the loads of information Im still trying to process.

Karson will be having his second set of tubes put in and adenoids removed because his last set fell out too early and he has had fluid in his ear canals since at least December. There is a risk of croup/asthma flare up happening during or after surgery due to the anesthesia but we have met with the anesthesiologist and they are prepared for the airway problems that may occur but im still pretty nervous about sending my son in for the surgery but im very pleased with the childrens hospital and the staff too and since he has these risks his ENT moved his surgery to the hospital and not the day surgery center so the area cheif ENT will be doing the surgery. Thats good news right?

When Karson was evluated by the ENT for this set of tubes he wanted to scope his nose and airways (not a pleasant experience for Karson) to determine if he needed his adenoids removed he wanted to check his airways as well because of his chronic airway trouble. He found that Karson was born with extra tissue on his vocal cords called Laryngomalacia (Floppy Vocal Cords). The strangest thing is it usually is common in infants but Karson didn't have any signs of this until he started having chronic croup/asthma flare ups. The way I understand it is that his airway flare ups and Laryngomalacia are not a good mix. His case is mild but he will need to be monitored and eventually may have to have surgery to correct the problem if he keeps having flare ups or wieght loss.

Karson has had some permanent hearing loss with all this and we will know in a few weeks how much and the extent of it. Through all of this he has had speech therapy for the past year. He was diagnosed with speech sound disorder due to his hearing loss and after this surgery we will find out how much his hearing has improved and if he will need some extra help with a device in a few weeks. He will start a language class with a curriculum based around his speech needs and hearing loss with 2-3 speech sessions a week after he recovers from his surgery this month.

In some ways I feel like we are starting over with this battle but when I step back and look he has made tremendous progress over the past year and with this new plan and his hearing improved should see great results.