Snowday, Snowday, Everyone Loves a Snowday

Dear Snoclone, you can not imagine what you have done for my mental health by providing blowing snow and travel advisories to the Central Jersey area. Thank you for the three-day weekend! I mean if it is going to snow we might as well get a snow day, right?

We spent our snowday morning bumming around and enjoying the fact that this was the third week in a row that I only had four days of school rather than five. It was supposed to snow all day but luckily the snow stopped and the day ended up being beautiful. So we headed over to Josh's house for a little maze action, snowman building, teaching Josh to eat snow and sledding, followed by sushi with Buddha and desert from the Ice Cream Palace. The snowday came to a close with a bubble bath!

Dear Snoclone, can you come back on Sunday night?

Leave it All to Me

Today we headed over to Lincoln, NH to go snow tubing on Loon Mountain. As we spent the long weekend in Vermont, my parents decided that because I loved sledding so much, it would be great to try out tubing. So we drove the hour and 15 minutes to New Hampshire from Grandma and Grandpa Basner's house. It was a really nice day as the sun was shining and it was in the mid-30's which meant there were tons of skiers and snowboarders.

When we finally located the snow tube shop, we picked out a tube and headed across the way to the Tots Hill. I was so excited because I got to drag the tube around. When we got to the top of the hill, I willingly got into the tube and was ready to go. With my mom at the top and my dad at the bottom ready to catch me, I took off and slid down the hill. I landed at the bottom with a smile on my face acting like I was ready to go again. But once we got to the top of the hill I grew leery, but got in the tube again and traveled down the hill. When I got to the bottom I had a another big smile on my face. However, by the time I got to the top of the hill, this being my third time, I decided that I didn't really care for the tube. I went two more times and that was it. By the final time, I was protesting anything that had to do with the tube.









Leave it all to me to drive two and half hours round trip, spend $10 to find out I hate snow tubing, have some decent pizza for lunch, play ball with a complete stranger from Maine, and add a new state to my passport, New Hampshire. Priceless!

Cuts Like a Knife

It's time...to get tubes in my ears. But first a little white hiccup of about 15" to get in the way.

This week has been one of chaos to say the least. As you recall we got snow this past weekend which allowed me the opportunity to sled. Monday and Tuesday brought serious storm warnings to the Central Jersey area as there was a huge storm heading our way. My parents always laugh, they never had school canceled the night before the big storm; not in Jersey! Wednesday we woke to lots of snow, and we hadn't seen the worst of the storm yet. It snowed all day, more so in the late afternoon/early evening, then any other time. By the time it was done snowing we had 15" on the ground, on top of what had already fallen this past weekend and no where to put it!

With all the snow, we received a call on Wednesday night telling us that they needed to push my surgery back 2 hours until 9 am. Obviously these people have no clue what this means. This means that instead of getting up extremely early in hopes of distracting me from my early morning milk and snacking on cheerios, I would be starved for no apparent reason. I woke up around 6:30 and we stayed upstairs playing and getting ready. Around 8:00 we headed out the door to the surgery center. It took almost an hour to get there because the roads were horrible.

We headed inside and of course I was not in the best of moods. They slap a bracelet on my wrist expecting me to be okay with this. No I cried, screamed and through a fit, never mind the fact that this was all related to the extreme hunger that had set in. Out comes a nurse attempting to make me smile; she doesn't bring me food, she brings me an Oscar the Grouch sticker (no pun intended she swore)! Finally they bring me back to the pre-op area where I changed into my surgery gown. And if you're wondering, they are just like the one you would wear, it was a bit breezy in the back! After receiving instructions from the nurse anesthesiologist, speaking with Dr. Engle and the anesthesiologist, I was finally ready to head of the elevator for my surgery. I was kicking and screaming the whole way.







After arriving upstairs they put a funny mask on my face, all while I was crying, and before you know it, I was out! The next thing I know I woke up in a weird place, greeted by a nurse, and starving! My parents finally arrived and pulled out some snacks. Well I didn't really snack, I ate one and half bags of Goldfish crackers and a ton of yogurt covered raisins and washed it all down with a lot of water! After eating I was a changed man! I ended up sleeping the whole way home.



The tubes are in and working well. I'm sleeping through the night, hearing better, and starting to talk more. I guess it was worth the hunger I endured!

Down, Down, Down, Down, Down

Well if you didn't hear over the weekend, the East Coast got slammed with yet another snow storm. My parents always find it amusing to watch the pre-storm preparations and how crazy people get around here. Instead of heading to the store for bread and milk, my parents headed to the store to buy me a big yellow sled. They have no intentions of staying indoors watching it snow. Like all the others, they realize that on the East Coast, snow doesn't happen too often and you must take advantage when you can and wish for a snow day when it does!

Friday night I headed to bed with dreams of snow flakes. Saturday I woke up to snow flakes (dreams do come true)! By the afternoon the snow had stopped, but it was pretty chilly out because the wind was blowing. That didn't stop me though, I headed right out the front door, down my steps and into the snow-filled yard. My dad had made a little bump for me to test out my sled. He also pulled me around the driveway, sliding me from one end to the other.






Sunday warmed up to a balmy 35 degrees and was filled with lots o' sunshine. We headed over to the local sledding hill at the high school and picked out a nice slope that wasn't too steep for this little one. We had a great time, until I hit a bump, rolled over in my sled and sat upright with a face full of snow. My mom thought it was hilarious, I not so much. After that, I pretty much wanted to stomp around in the snow or ride down with her. My new sled can not be trusted! I also learned that I can eat snow; it's so tasty!









Wednesday we're supposed to get another big storm, so we're hoping for a snow day. And this weekend we're heading up to Vermont for a long weekend. That is after I get my tubes inserted on Thursday. We plan on heading over to Lincoln, NH to test out the Tots sledding hill. More on that to come...

We Are The World

This week at school we participated in raising money to help Haiti. There were lots of fun activities including bagel day, wear a hat day, ice cream day, a bake sale, and football day. Each day each child donated $1.00 to the cause which was contributed to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Overall, the entire school raised $1,205 to donate!

I thought I would attach a few pictures of the last day - football day! I decided that even if the Vikings didn't make it to the Super Bowl, I would still acknowledge that I'm a fan. Of course I was the only Vikings fan!

Sweet Nothings

Well if you thought you were going to whisper sweet nothings in my ear for Valentines Day, you have another thing coming! I visited Dr. Ortiz, the pediatric audiologist today for a hearing test, as well as Dr. Engle, to determine when the tubes would be inserted. I guess I can't hear because I have moderate hearing loss due to the rupture in my right ear.

My first stop was Dr. Ortiz. Her office is full of sunshine and lots of toys. But this is a place that you are not allowed to touch the toys, they are just there to tease you; isn't that weird? She also has lots of equipment that I'm not allowed to touch, as well as a big booth with funny boxes on the wall. The first thing she had me do was be pinned down by my mom and insert these things in my ear. I was okay until she turned the pressure machine on which caused much discomfort. Of course I screamed bloody murder. If you have never had a pressure test done, it is a test done to determine if there is fluid behind the ear drum in the middle ear. If there is fluid, it hurts and it hurts a lot! Needless to say, the test was inconclusive as I was screaming the entire time. Dr. Ortiz completely lost her patience with me within three minutes. She then shoved me into the hearing booth. I was not happy and did not want to be there. She kept showing me toys, including Elmo, but wouldn't let me touch them. She said it would prove to be a distraction. Want to know what is a distraction, when I want a toy and I can't have it! Overall, Dr. Ortiz said the tests revealed that I had moderate hearing loss but felt they were inconclusive because I cried the entire time. So who knows if I'm really deaf?

I then saw Dr. Engle, the man that loves the otoscope. He wasted no time sticking that thing in my ear. The good news is that my eardrum is healed, the better news is that I will have tubes inserted in my ear on February 11th at 7 am. The bad news is that I can't eat or drink anything before my surgery. Do these people realize that I have milk served to me promptly at 6:30 am with a side of cheerios?

Our final stop was the insurance specialist. Now I know a lot of people dislike my daddy's profession, but I have to tell you, this woman was the best stop by far. Not only did she leave me alone, but she has a basket in her office filled with toys. I promptly removed all the toys and made myself comfortable. She just laughed at me and told me how cute I was. I think she deserves to have "pediatric" in her title!

Although the appointment started off on the wrong foot, I left that building on the right one!