Avery's Adventure

Our new chickens are finally laying. We get about 18 eggs/day. Also, we noticed most of are eggs are fertilized. You can tell because there is a "bullseye" spot on the egg. We bought an incubator and we are hoping to hatch some chickens. Its not that we need more chickens but I think it would be really cool to experience. It takes 21 days for the chickens to hatch. You have to keep the temp at 99.5 degrees and the humidity at 40-50% for the first 18 days and then the last 3 days you change the humidity to 65-70%. We starting incubating and itss amazing that chickens can hatch by hens sitting on the eggs. Its crazy that they keep the eggs warm and humid enough. We dont have any chickens that are broody (sitting on eggs) so that is why we bought an incubator.

Avery is so excited for the Easter Bunny. Everyday she says Easter Bunny and everyday we have to tell her she still has to wait a few weeks. We decided to color some eggs. We bought something called "Egg Mazing". It spins the egg and you hold a marker there and it makes a design. It is actually really cool. Avery and Reagan also wanted to hand draw on some of them.

Avery walked up to Tim one day and handed him the ear tube that fell out of her ear..lol. She had an infection. Not sure if it was infected because it fell out of her ear or not. I have never seen one before. They are so small (see pic below). Reagan also had her first ear infection. We have an appointment with ENT next month to determine if she will need to have surgery to have another round of tubes put in.

We just got a denial for Avery's new hearing aid. I originally signed a form saying that Cleveland Clinic insurance will pay $3000 towards it and we would have to pay the remaining $3000 if her secondary didnt cover it. Normally if her primary pays anything, her secondary will cover the balance. We are going to send in an appeal but I emailed her two audiologists for help. It sucks because if she finally does end up getting her new hearing aid, it will be after school lets out for the summer.

Reagan has been doing so well with potty training. She wears underwear all day (except for when she is napping and also wears a pull up at night). She moved up to a new class at daycare because she is doing so well.

Here is the bullseye of an egg that is fertilized.

Here is Frank the Tank. He is the black one with the curved tail.

This is the tube that fell out of Avery's ear

Party in Momma's bed

Decorating eggs

Reagan's hair is awesome when she wakes up from a nap

Here are the eggs we are incubating. We candled them and it looks like 4 of them have something growing inside.

I told Reagan we were going to the mall and this is how she dressed

Everytime we drop Avery off at the Play place at the mall, she plays dress up. Last time she was a chef. This time a princess/fairy.

I came home from work the other day and thought one of our chickens got out. Nope, just a wild turkey

Trying on their new nightgowns

Me and Aves

We have had a lot of exciting things happen since the last post.

Tim was working one day and his stomach was killing him. He was throwing up and went to the ER. The ER he went to wasn’t attached to a hospital so he had to get transferred to Fairview. He ended up having emergency surgery that night for a bowel obstruction. Back in 2006 he had hernia surgery and they used mesh. Fast forward 13 years and the scar tissue from the surgery caused a bowel obstruction. Luckily they caught it in time and they were able to do it laparoscopically. It basically looked like someone stabbed Tim in the stomach 4 times. He was on a liquid diet for a few days and was able to come home 3 days after the surgery. He wasn’t able to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk for 2 weeks so I had to take the kids to daycare every morning. Let me just say, it made me appreciate Tim that much more because getting the kids ready in the morning is ROUGH. Avery DOES NOT want to get up, ever…except on the weekends of course.

I looked down the one day and noticed that Joe kept licking his foot. I looked closer and he had broken his nail right in half somehow, down to the quick. I knew it was painful so I took him to the vet. They ended up putting him under anesthesia, taking a xray to make sure the bone wasn’t infected, cleaned it up really well and then put him on an antibiotic and pain med. He did end up braking his nail all the way down to the toe bone. He was supposed to wear a big, plastic e-collar too. He wore it for a few days and then somehow (I think on purpose) managed to crack a huge part of the collar off. It was very sharp so he lucked out and didn’t have to wear the collar anymore. Tim was home recovering from surgery so he could yell at Joe if he started licking his paw. While at the vet, they suggested pet insurance for Joe. Between this and him needing staples/stitches 3 times this past summer, it probably would have paid for itself. We are still considering it since Joe is only two and he has had quite a few injuries already.

A few weeks after the surgery, we had a bad wind storm here with gusts up to 60 mph. Our power was out and a transformer blew and caught fire. Tim was smart and went out and bought a generator that day. Thank God he did because our power was out for a total of 4 days. Yes, we could have stayed somewhere else but we would have nowhere to take the 3 cats, 2 dogs and it would be a pain to go to the house to take care of the chickens every day. We are fortunate that Tim who knew how to hook up our fridge and heat to the generator. He even managed to get us each an outlet to use to have a light on in our room and to charge our phones. The kids were a little lost without internet/You Tube but they managed. When I told Avery her iPad didn’t work she said “Just plug it in” and I had to try to explain to her that we have no electricity so it wouldn’t work.We went ahead and ordered Avery’s new bone anchored hearing aid headband. I had to sign a form acknowledging that Cleveland Clinic will pay $3000 and if Avery’s secondary insurance doesn’t pay, we will be stuck with the remaining $3000 bill. Typically, if Cleveland Clinic pays, her secondary insurance normally covers the balance. We should get her hearing aid in a couple weeks. Fingers crossed that it helps her and she actually wears it.

Avery has been complaining of her eyes hurting so I made an eye doctor appointment. I asked Avery if she needed glasses and she said yes. Sure enough, she needs glasses. The doctor dilated and examined her eyes and performed some tests. He said she is a little far sighted and that she has astigmatism in both eyes so she does need glasses. Her prescription isn’t too strong at +1.25. The whole family went with Avery to pick out some glasses. When we first got there, Avery was being, well Avery and refused to try any on. She then tried on a pair that were really big but she said she liked them. She ended up getting that pair and a smaller pair. I paid the extra $30 for the company to replace each pair in the first year, no questions asked.

I am sure this equation will come into play at some point…. Joe+Buddy = eaten glasses

Reagan has been using the potty pretty often so daycare recommended we bring in underwear and extra pants for her this week. She has even pooped on the potty a few times at home. Reagan is starting to become Little Miss Independent, like Avery was/is, having to do everything herself.

Reagan and snapchat

Medes normally sleeps in Reagan's crib but she wanted to sleep in my bed this night (and on my hair)

Poor Joe's toe was injured. I was giving him a hug to make him feel better. He didn't keep my sock on for very long

Joe's nail broke in half

Everyone at the vet loves JoeJoe. They just kept saying what a good boy he was and he would lay down and want belly rubs.

Joe had to wear a bag on his foot when he went outside...yeah. that last about two days.

This is how Reagan eats suckers

It says "If I had $100, i would buy 10 LOL houses"....lol
I am obsessed with LOL dolls right now

Happy Valentines Day!

Reagan has been getting scared lately and sleeps in Mommy's bed. Mommy looked over and she had her hand around Buddy. It was very cute. When Mommy asks Reagan what she is scared of, she always says the Minnie Mouse pillow. lol. It used to be in her room but now they are both in my room and she is still scared.

Reagan also likes to make a scarf out of toilet paper when she is pottying.

Thanks for the Valentine's Day treats Aunt Lauren and Uncle Greg!!

Reagan...you cant really see but Reagan is not wearing any pants. She hardly ever wears pants!

This was a day we all slept in Mommy's room..she had few inches of bed to sleep on (to the one side of Reagan)..Me, Reagan, Joe and Buddy were all in the bed...even Medes joined us for a little bit.