The Tapp's are now a family of 5! Kellen completes our clan. We welcomed him April 1st and life has been a whirlwind ever since. In a short recap, we had a baby, Jason's team (Union Hockey) won a National Championship, Ella had surgery (more on that to come), and we celebrated my nephew Justin's 1st birthday. It's been almost seven weeks of fun, excitement, happy tears, plenty of diapers, and not a whole lot of sleep. I wouldn't change it for a second. These truly are the best days of our life!
Kellen is growing like a weed. He is already tipping the scales at 10+ lbs. He is happy and healthy...a very easy baby. This boy doesn't miss a meal and it shows. He already weighs what Ella weighed at a year. She was tiny!!! The girls are very good big sisters. They have adjusted pretty well. I still can't believe I am so lucky to have 3 beautiful children :-)
Getting back to Ella's surgery...she had her tubes replaced and she had her ears and sinuses vacuumed. She also underwent an auditory brainstorm response (ABR) while she was sedated. This test gives information about the inner ear and brain pathways for hearing. It can accurately tell us exactly what Ella can hear. We have had a number of hearing tests over the years. We know she can hear, but to what degree is always in question. Prior to this most recent surgery, Ella had been really off balance and would not respond to us calling her name. It was more than just typical 4 year old ignorance. The procedure revealed that her ears and sinuses were filled with fluid and hardened wax. She showed mild hearing loss in the left ear as well. Her recovery from surgery was very fast. The results have blown us away. She is hearing so much better and this has improved her speech clarity and expanded her vocabulary more than we ever expected. Even her ENT was impressed. He said he hasn't seen a child make such a dramatic improvement so quickly. Now we just have to monitor her closely. She will likely need to have the vacuuming procedure on a regular basis (2-3 times a year). We will also have to have regular hearing tests to see if the hearing loss is something that is degenerative or caused by the fluid. Time will tell but for now we are happy with her progress and hopeful she will continue to talk our ears off.
We have been busy, busy, busy and that trend will continue as we get ready to celebrate both girls birthdays. Avery turns 2 next week. I can't believe it. School will also be wrapping up in a few weeks and Ella will dance in her ballet recital. I'll have lots of updates to come.
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