Doing really well here. My recovery is good. My ears feel great. There's less of the fullness feeling, less tinnitus, no more pounding, no more echo-y sounds...yes, I had all that. My ears seem healthy now. I don't think the hearing is really better yet at this point, but again, I was told it would be 4-6 weeks for the tissue to fix around the hearing bones therein allowing conduction of sound to happen. Whether this will work out well for me, depends entirely on how well my surgeon did. It is a very tricky process, putting in these little itty-bitty bones, and sometimes it just doesn't work out. I have a lot of confidence in my surgeon, though. The fact that there was no more cyst this time around says a lot of how he did last surgery. If there were any problems with the bones at this point, I would know due to extreme dizziness, drainage, etc. So far, so good. If the hearing bones don't take, that is totally fine. I am just SO SO glad that the cyst is gone, there is a tube in my eardrum, and he didn't have to cut my head open!! I think this surgeon is my new best friend. (And, yes, if the hearing bones do not take, I will have a surgery to remove them.)

I have cards to carry with me now, stating that there is metal in my head. Not enough, probably, to set off metal detectors, but I would get a kick out of that if I ever did have to show my cards.

On another note, my friend told me a CAT scan is like 300 x-rays at once. I've had two done so far, so hopefully that will be it. :D My ENT told me I wouldn't need to do anymore...unless I was bored and needed something to do. So there is always that option. On a rainy day.

Okay, so you guys don't care about this anymore, moving on.

Claire isn't walking yet, but she can do this:

This is her new favorite activity (including making the mess to begin with):

She was VERY upset when I put the crayons away and told her it was nap time.Lara was so happy yesterday to play with one of her great friends.

We are doing an ocean unit right now. Grandma got Lara a song book about a boy who pretends to be a manatee, as well as a manatee cookie cutter and cookie mix. I personally am very anti-sugar cookie-dough because I am so bad at cutting out cookies. Lara struggled a little bit too, and finally I said, "You know what, honey, you just make those cookies the way you want to!" And I walked away to do something else. Lara got frustrated with cutting out the cookies, so she, on her own, devised a new plan. You just put the dough INTO the cookie cutter, then push it out. Stinking genius, I tell you.Several days ago, I asked Dustin to make some pretzels. Lara helped him. Dustin also made his own cheese sauce. We finish these up in no time!!Some of you know about the struggle we have faced over the months with potty-training. While Lara is now in panties ALL the time, even for sleeping, we still had a BIG issue with pooping. BIG. Like, "God, help us, what do we do with this child??" We tried everything. Here she was, completely potty-trained, and still pooping in her panties/pull-up. We would sit in the bathroom all day, while she would cry and fuss. I am NOT exaggerating when I tell you that Lara would go almost a whole WEEK without pooping. My friends, we had a problem. But I refused to go to the doctor. Anyway, without warning, without any change, the problem is over. Just like that. She just ups and goes to the toilet, you don't hear a sound, and then she says she's done. Just.like.that. Turmoil is over. It's been like that for over a week. The last time she wore a pull-up, I think, was 2 weeks ago.

And Claire? Claire is staying in a diaper until she says, "Hello, Mother. Why I am still wearing a diaper? Please go buy me panties with princesses on them because I am going to use the toilet from now on."