Because I don’t want to forget the beauty of Motherhood

Disclaimer: none of these pictures were taken today.

This morning, I thought I got to sleep in a little.  Billy got little dude up and changed his diaper and left him playing in his room while Billy went to start breakfast.  The stairs are right by his room and so far, all he does is throw stuff down them – like balls, socks, shoes and other random items from his room.  He thinks it’s great fun!

Then I am awakened later by a “thump, thump, thump… WAAAAAA!”  I bolted out of bed and down the stairs.  He had gotten all the way down the first set and fell down a few at the bottom of the second set.  Billy already had him and was comforting him.  Thankfully there was no blood! (We have had a couple bloody falls since his surgery but they were both when he was crawling and his face was 6 inches from the floor.  There’s no way to catch that!)

Guess we’ll be using the gate now.

During breakfast, a certain independent little girl got herself some juice and the bottle slipped and juice went everywhere on the floor.

While I was feeding Tommy his lunch of ramen noodles, he was so tired, he couldn’t hold his eyes open.  I tried to take the hi-chair tray so I could get him out, but he would cry and hold it back.  So I would give him another bite and before it was gone, he would fall asleep again.  Finally, I risked the wrath and just took him out of his chair and up to bed.  He fought sleep pretty well, then.  For an HOUR AND A HALF! while I sat there dozing and waking up to see him standing up and chucking stuff out of his bed.  Finally Billy took his iPod in there to lull him to sleep.  I got out of there at 2pm but didn’t bring out the iPod.

At 3pm, Billy’s alarm is set (on the iPod) to remind us to go pick up Abby.  Yep.  It woke up Sleeping Beauty.  Arg.

While I was setting the table for dinner, I brought in Tommy’s bowl of mush and, I don’t know how, but dropped it on the floor before getting to the table.  It splattered everywhere – up the wall, on the keyboard, in the heating register and of course the floor. It was like cleaning up puke. Yuck!

I’m glad God’s mercy is new every morning!!!

BTW:  Tommy is recovering nicely from the surgery.  The stitches above his lip came out last Monday and then the stitch on the top of his nose came out Friday (both were trips to the Dr.).  He is wearing a steri-strip over his lip to get that to heal further but it looks really good.  The nose stent is still stitched in – for now.  There are stitches on his lip and in his mouth that will dissolve eventually. He kinda looks like a cat with the “whiskers” coming out of his nose.  And he’s drooling more than ever.  When will it end?

So if we can keep him from falling anymore…

Abby got glasses

She was complaining of headaches when reading at school, so I scheduled an appointment.  Sure enough, she needed glasses.  She picked out some pretty purple frames.

Sometimes, I have to remind her to put them on, but most of the time, she has them or knows where they are.  But a little unfortunate accident involving leaving them in the school yard all weekend, and the frames now need replaced.  Good thing they’re under warranty!

Surgery Update

Tommy surgery was Thursday.  The main reason was to repair his cleft lip but he also had ear tubes put in. He wasn’t too thrilled about being in the hospital and having people check his blood pressure and temperature.

But then he relaxed enough to take a little nap.

He didn’t cry at all when they wheeled him into the OR.  I was glad about that.  They gave him “laughing gas” before they put the IV line in.

The Ear Doc gave us a report after he had completed his part.  Tommy had a lot of fluid build up in his ears and it was the consistency of jello.  Now that he has tubes and we’ll be putting in drops three times a day, hopefully he’ll be able to hear a little better.

The whole surgery took almost 4 hours from the time they wheeled him in til we got to see the Plastic Surgeon.  Here he is waking up in recovery. He’s still pretty out of it.

The doc showed us how to clean the stitches and his nose stent. The stent is stitched in right now to hold his nostril in the correct position.  A cleft lip also makes the nostril a little flat so the doc is hoping to make it match the other side.

When they were checking his blood before surgery, they saw that he was anemic and so wanted to keep him at the hospital over night to be able to check his blood levels again.  We were not prepared to be spending the night, but you do whacha gotta do.

The nurses had wanted to put Tommy in a bubble crib and I said I would rather have a regular bed so I could lay down with him and be able to comfort him. It was not a fun night what with sharing a room with another patient and his parents, and the nurses coming in at regular intervals to poke and prod, etc.  I told Billy it was one step up from that 14 hour plane ride with Tommy home from China.  The only improvement being I could stretch my legs and lay down. 

The attending doc came early (6 am ish) to check on Tommy and said he was cleared for take-off but we didn’t actually get out of there until 11:30 or so.  At around 9 am, Tommy had had enough of the tubes and the arm bands and the nurses and me actually getting out the bed to go to the bathroom that he had one colossal melt down. He managed to pull out one of his IV inserts out of his hand.  Thankfully it wasn’t the one attached to the tubes and machine.  Just the one they had used to draw his blood.

After another visit from a doc on the plastic surgery team that confirmed what I thought: he doesn’t need more meds. Tommy’s not in pain, he’s just mad!  So the doc talked to the nurse and asked her to remove the IV and get him ready to go home.  Yippee!

His face is a little swollen but his eyes were really swollen from crying so much.  Poor baby.

We were happy to get home but still just worn out from the whole ordeal.  Tommy was and continues to be frustrated at the arm bands he must wear to keep his hands out of his mouth while it heals.  He likes to suck his thumb for comfort and also likes to put toys in his mouth – both are a no-no for now.

He slept all night last night and so did I. It is a real blessing that he’s such a good sleeper.

We will take him on Monday to have the stitches removed and learn how to apply the bandages for further healing.  They will put him out for that one too, as he thrashes about when touching his boo-boo.

Thanks for all the prayers for his surgery!  We are so blessed to have such caring friends and family.

Easter

We had a pretty low-key weekend.  Spring Break started on Good Friday and Billy took that day off too.  I took the opportunity to go shopping with my sister for some goodies to stash in the Easter Baskets.

Saturday morning is when we give the Easter baskets.  That way, they can consume all the chocolate they want and it’s not right before church.

Tommy likes his new ball.  It’s as big as he is!

He’s not as thrilled with the basket of chocolate. 

Hannah and I then took the kids to a local Egg Hunt which was an “Epic FAIL.”  We got there 1 minute late and the eggs were gone!  At least they got to see the big furry guy.

Let the dying begin!  A favorite annual tradition, we always use the regular kit with no fancy glitter or tie-dye.  Abby likes to color with crayons first and then dip.

The annual family photo after church on Sunday.  Something was wrong with my camera and it was really windy – this is the best of the bunch we took.  I tried to get a couple before church, but Tommy was uncooperative . And I didn’t think to take some of just the girls in their pretty dresses.  Oh well, I’m sure they’ll wear them again and I can take a picture then.

We went home, took naps and then went to Mom’s for dinner.  We also had a redemptive Egg Hunt in Mom’s yard and brought home too much candy.  It will probably last until the Fourth of July parade.

I am gonna miss this smile

I know it’s for the best, that he has this surgery.  But I must say it makes me sad to think about it.  I love his little face. And pudgy cheeks. And those cute lips.

Tomorrow, it all changes.

I know I haven’t posted Easter pics yet. I will. But I wanted to get this on here so you could be praying for Tommy.  And me.