Trip 1: Wednesday ~ San Diego
Shane had another doctor appointment in Balboa in San Diego. We've been doing a lot of these Balboa trips lately. This one was with the Pain Management Clinic. The appointment was at 10 AM and it's a 3 hour drive there, which meant being on the road by 6:30 AM. It was supposed to be an hour long appointment. So I decided to take the kids to the zoo which is located across the street from the hospital. Shane would meet up with us after his appointment.
We only saw a quarter of the zoo. We stayed there from 10-2. We wanted to be back on the road for Kade's nap time, which is 2. It was a juggling act with two little kids by myself at the zoo, but not impossible. We got there around 9:30 and I breastfed Kallista in the car while Kade had a fruit pouch. Then I loaded all of our stuff in the stroller, strapped Kallista in the front pack and Kade went in the stroller. Off we went and Kallista decided she was mad and wanted more milk, crying through the front gate. So after going through the entrance I sat down and fed her on the bench. They were showing a type of dog on the stage in front of us that kept Kade's attention for a bit. He loves dogs and acting like dogs, so immediately he turned to me panting with his tongue hung out, acting like the dog on the stage...silly boy. We went into the children's zoo area where there is playground equipment. Kallista still wasn't calmed down, so I let Kade play, put Kallista in the stroller and laid her back to feed her more milk. Kade got shy around some of the bigger boys and preferred to stay around me. Finally...somehow...Kallista got calmed down and I put her in the front pack where she dozed off. Kade was in the stroller and we looked at the flamingos, camels, zebras, meerkats, elephants, giraffes. Kade figured out he could stand in his stroller, one had held onto me and the other hand held onto the railing and he could get a better look. There are various spots to check out for kids, so I would let him down and he would run around scoping it all out. He was fascinated with the camels, waving at them, and cried when we had to leave them. We got an up close and personal view of the giraffes. With Kallista in the front pack, it was hard for me to take out my nice camera and snap some pics. So I realized halfway through...duh just use my cell phone, so I did. Then we got the call that Shane was done, so we met up with Shane and ate our sandwiches I had packed at the car...then went back in. We saw the monkeys and gorillas (Shane's favorite). We wanted to see the koalas, but they are remodeling their area to make an Australian Outback...so they are temporarily located clear in the back with the Polar Bears. There was no easy way there or a shortcut, so we just decided to go back to the children's area and let Kade run out his energy before the car trip. He actually played on the playground, I went and breastfed Kallista.
We headed home at 2, where Kade quickly fell asleep and I sat in the back to feed Kallista as she was a bit cranky still. She finally fell asleep and when we stopped for gas I sat up front. The ride home wasn't bad. Kade was really good the whole day. He is a good listener in general with a few trying moments, but he follows directions very well in public. He loves to just take in the experience and people watch but can enjoy. Kallista was a little on the cranky side, but wasn't too bad.
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| Looking at the gorillas |
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| Kade kept getting on the ground to get a closer listen to the animal and cricket sounds...he finally discovered it was coming from this green box, the speaker. |
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| Asleep on the way home |
Trip 2: Thursday ~ Pomona
Kallista had her long awaited fourth hearing test with an audiologist. Kallista failed her first two in the hospital as a newborn. I had to take her back at a week old to redo the test again which she failed again. She has to be very still and she was probably a little more squirmy than she should be for good results. So, she was referred to an audiologist.
She was supposed to go to Loma Linda but they were booked until February. Pomona is only 30 minutes more so I elected to go there to just get it done with. On the drive there, I had to sit in the back with her to keep her awake the entire trip. That way I could breastfeed her and put her to sleep when we arrived at the clinic for the test. I thought she would be mad and hungry, but no she was the sleepiest I had ever seen her. I kept having to blow in her face and tried tickling her to stay awake. It was a difficult 90 minute drive. We also ran into a traffic issue on the freeway with 2 of the 4 lanes closed from a Big Rig wreck that had rolled over and looked completely demolished. It was a pretty horrendous accident and it looks like possibly a fatality occurred.
We finally reached the clinic. Shane kept Kade entertained outside while Kallista and I were called back into the sound proof booth. It all actually gave me flash backs of my coursework for my degree I just finished. This test seemed to take forever mostly because we had to wait for her to fall asleep. So she was fussing and definitely ready to eat. The audiologist stuck the adhesives to the top of her forehead and on both sides of her head. Then I got to breastfeed her and got her to sleep after 10 minutes or so. The audiologist came back in, hooked up the wires to the adhesive...then put the earplug in one of her ears. This Kallista did not like and woke up crying. She is not allowed to suck on a pacifier because it interferes with testing. So I breastfed again and got her back to sleep yet again. The audiologist came back in, adjusted the wires and the ear plug, then began the test. After a bit she had finished with that ear and said Kallista's waveforms are hard to read, but believes her hearing is normal. She has a couple more little tests at the end to double check. Then it was time to move Kallista to the other side to test her other ear. I moved her, she woke, adjusted wires and ear plug in the other ear. I breastfed again and got her to sleep AGAIN. This side was very quick and was done quickly. The last couple tests could be done with her awake. An instrument was put in her ear, similar to an eye scope thing you would see at the doctor office, but with a little computer screen on the one side of it. This tested her eardrum and it was fine in both ears. With that, we could go...she cheked out fine and could cancel our afternoon appointment with the ENT. Kallista's hearing was finally reported as normal. I stood up, then BLECH, she spit up all over my back side. It was a lot...so lucky I brought an extra shirt for just this purpose.
We got in the car, hit the freeway and she fell asleep. We stopped for lunch at Panda Express...then I took Kade into a furniture store there to look at bunk beds and for Kade to run off some energy. Shane and baby girl stayed in the car. Kade minded very well in the huge furniture store. Then I drove home. Shane, Kade, and Kallista were all three crashed in the back seat of the car. So alone...Haha!
Shane said he knew her hearing was fine and I thought so too, but you need to make sure. Sometimes you just don't know if there is just a little residual hearing loss.
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| Wearing her Paris outfit that cousin Sienna got her. |
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| All ready for another trip |
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| semi accident that i was unable to get a picture of...it was a bad one, if you saw the other side. |
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| On the way home |
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| Finally Back home...one of the rare moments she took a pacifier. |
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| She was happily having tummy time later that evening. I walked into the kitchen for a second and walk back in to this...the little girl had decided to completely propel herself forward and onto her face. She was completely fine, otherwise I would not have taken the time to snap a picture. |
1 comment:
Looks like Kade had lots of fun at The Zoo! I will have to show Sienna, the pictures of Kallista in that outfit!
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