Surgery by the Real Doctors

Yesterday was the scheduled day for Nathan to go to the Shriner's Hospital for a surgical procedure to correct his curly toes. We took Josiah and Noah to Grandma's house to visit for the day while Nathan, John, and I headed to the hospital. I had been nervous about having this procedure since Nathan would be put out for the duration and I wondered if it was too risky but the concerns soon dissipated. Nathan was very excited to go see the doctors. He called them the "real" doctors. I'm not sure what that means to him. Anyway, checking in was easy and Nathan was very impressed with the bed waiting for him. He climbed in right away and made himself at home.

He loved trying all the buttons on the bed and getting his very own bright yellow hospital socks.

The Diego sheets were impressive too. He amused the nurses by claiming the bed pad was his blanket.

We were able to bring some toys to the room while we were waiting.

He had a lot of fun with the double-decker car carrier.

It's almost time and Nathan is still excited.

Grandpa came to wait with John and I too. Thanks, Dad.

Now we're in the ready room where we get to talk to the anesthesiologist and the surgeon.

There are more toys here!

I told Nathan that it was almost time for the doctor to fix his toes and that they would put a mask over his face and he would go to sleep and when he wakes up his toes will be done. By this time he was even starting to warm up to the nurses instead of being so shy with them.

When they took Nathan into the operating room, my dad, John and I went to the cafeteria for lunch. At registration the nurse had given us a $15 food coupon for lunch and I had a delicious bowl of bourbon steak chili and a refreshing bowl of fruit. The men chose the grilled chicken sandwich platter. It wasn't long after we finished our lunch that the phone rang in the surgical waiting room and we learned that Nathan was in recovery and waking up. I think it was only 45 minutes after we saw him enter the O.R.

Here he is! He is barely awake but not wanting to go back to sleep.
The first thing the nurse offered was a popsicle which he ate in record time. He really likes his blue and green bandages!

Then he showed me his blue tongue before he ate an orange popsicle then a green popsicle followed by chocolate pudding and chocolate graham crackers. I think his appetite was coming back.

After all the snacks we went to the play room and played there for a little while. He even started walking a little on the heels of his feet. Nathan was able to choose a new toy to take home too! He chose a bubble mower. I'm pretty sure it will be his favorite toy for quite a while.

Then Nathan ate an early dinner of chicken nuggets and fries just before we left.

It was a very pleasant day made possible by the caring, helpful, and friendly staff, the cheerful decor, and the generosity of the Shriner's Hospital.

Nathan is feeling great today. He's running and skipping and climbing! If he didn't have bandages on his feet it would be very hard to tell he had surgery yesterday.

A Tropical Bash

We went to Eli and Ethan's birthday party which was a joint party since they were born only 4 days apart. The tropical themed party was filled with kids, grown-ups, marvelous decorations, delicious food, and a lot of fun.

Beach cupcakes. Adorable!

Tropical birthday cake. Delicious!

The Mr. Pineapple Heads seemed to enjoy the party too.

Water and a trampoline made great activities.

A parrot pinata. Look at the determination on Josiah's face!

Pinata candy scavengers. Who let the big guy in there?

THIS is the picture I've been waiting to show you! "What's so special about this?", you ask. Well, let me tell you. It's not just a messy plate. No, no. It's a SMUSHED plate. My brother, Matt, sat on his own plate! Ha HA HA ha! It was so funny. I've see this on television before but to see it in person is great! I tried to get a picture of Matt's pants but my camera was too slow and then he was threatening to smash food in my face and before I could get John to sneak around the house and take a picture from the other side of the fence, Belinda saved Matt by handing him a towel .... so I settled for a photo of the sat-upon food. *grin*

All in all the party was a smashing success!

Saturday Fun

My nieces came over to play on a Saturday. All the kids had a blast together. After watching Madagascar 2 we spent most of the day outside. We had a very busy day. Of course, there was the girly stuff my nieces brought over... fake fingernails, glittery eye makeup, pink plastic cellphones. Those things are kind of foreign to me so I asked them to put them back in the bags so they wouldn't get lost all over my house especially since Nathan was using Bella's eye makeup to paint his whole forehead! He looked like someone from Star Trek.

The slide always seems to be a bit hit.

Josiah worked on getting the fire going again so that we could roast hot dogs for dinner. There was quite a bit of smoke for him though. I took over fire duty and we had a great time roasting and eating hot dogs, eating french fries, and drinking Kool-Aid.

We spent some time doing sidewalk chalk after dinner.

We ended our day together riding "bikes." Technically, there were only two bikes. We also got out the tractor, the three-wheel pedal car, the push car, and the scooter. I'm sure they would have gotten out more but I felt I had to enforce a limit somewhere. We certainly enjoyed having Savannah and Bella for the day even though I think John was happy that the teensy, girly, glittery, makeup and accessories left when the girls did. He likes dirt of which we have no shortage around here.

Deductions of a Preschooler

In the midst of a baseball conversation this morning I was reminded of a story.

When Josiah was in Pre-K, a baseball player from our local team came to his school. The school let us know about it ahead of time so on that day I sent Josiah's Seawolves baseball cap and a baseball from the stadium with him to get autographed. The player was the shortstop. I don't know his name because the signature was illegible and I wasn't that familiar with the team. We just watch the games. Josiah was pleased to show Grandpa his signed hat and ball since he knows that "Grandpa really likes baseball." I will admit that I forgot about it for the most part after that.

One day, which must have been at least three months later, Josiah was drawing and scribbling. When I asked him what he was drawing he told me, "I'm writing in baseball language." Baseball language? What is my child talking about? Then I remembered the illegible scribble of a signature given by the Seawolves' shortstop. Eureka! Cursive and/or signatures = baseball language. It is a brilliant preschooler's deduction.

Macho Babysitter

Does anyone need a babysitter?

Nathan lets us know that tough guys can take care of babies too.

A hard hat might not be a bad idea for me to wear some days...

My Very Own Construction Worker

John worked really, really hard on the house. He came in all dirty and sweaty.

He asks me, "You wanna make out or something?"

"Um. No!" Thanks for working so hard though. Now please take a shower. We'll talk later.

Playing in the Rain

Just a few minutes after the boys went outside to play it started to rain. I was suckered by the weather report into thinking the rain clouds would pass over. There was no reason to make the boys come back inside. The weather was warm and the sun was even partially shining.

They were very excited. Can't you tell? Bwahahaha! (Does anybody teach lessons on how to get kids to smile for the camera in sync? Seriously, what are they thinking about? "I will not look at the camera." "What?" "You can't see me!")

They had a blast.

It was like playing in a giant sprinkler ... without getting in trouble for flooding the backyard.

Nathan kept me updated on the rain by yelling to me, "It's raining! It's raining HARDER and FASTER! IT'S RAINING ON MY HEAD!" Then he came inside to show me his wet head before returning to the great wet outdoors.

Tired Day

Josiah tells me that Noah was climbing onto the couch in this picture. It looks to me as if he was ready for a break. All that climbing he does can be tiring. It takes a lot of work to overcome some obstacles.

Do you ever feel like this?

Or this?

Or this?

This afternoon I'm feeling a bit tired myself but instead of napping I am enjoying a cup of coffee and hoping for a burst of energy. If the energy doesn't come at least I've had my Dominican coffee with Cinnamon Bun flavored creamer. Yum. The only thing missing is good conversation with good friends. I may have to schedule a girls' coffee night soon .... when I'm not so sleepy.