Thankful Tuesday

It's been exactly two weeks since I wrote a thankful post. Last week was a very hard one. This week isn't going as planned because of last week's hospitalization, but it's a MUCH better week. Thankfully the kids seem to have forgotten about our plans to stay at the hotel and go to the indoor water park, which is a blessing. I am definitely not ready for such activities yet. Paul and I are still hoping to use 2 of the 7 nights we paid for.

1. Oliver and I are very glad to be back home. Oliver has been very clingy (to me) since the discharge. Paul's feelings have been hurt, but I reminded Paul that the same thing happened in April after that hospitalization. I'm sure it's just temporary.

2. I greatly appreciated the help we were given during the hospitalization. Two ladies helped get our Prius from one hospital to the other on Tuesday, a couple from our new church took Nadia and Ian to McD's and watched them for four hours on Thursday while Paul got some work done, Paul's parents brought me clean underwear on Tuesday, Paul's dad watched Nadia and Ian on Wednesday so Paul could visit Oliver and I, and a homeschooling mom delivered a meal to Paul on Friday morning. Also we had two visits from the church and they had 3 balloons delivered to Oliver's room.

 3. We're very thankful for the 45 years of life God has granted Paul thus far, and we pray for many more!

4. We enjoyed celebrating Paul's birthday and Christmas with his parents, brother, sister-in-law, and grandmother on Sunday afternoon.

5. We are so grateful for the many gifts we were given from my side of the family, Paul's side of the family, and the hospital. Nadia has been listening to her new Frozen cd, and she insisted on taking a bath last night (not a usual night for the kids) so she could play with her new mermaids in the tub. Ian has been doing an excellent job following the instructions to put together his new Lego sets, and he loves to sleep with his new Yoda pillow pet.

6. Oliver and Paul managed to escape the tummy bug the rest of us had. Oliver threw up a LOT last night, but he immediately asked for some cheese so I knew it couldn't be the flu, and sure enough he hasn't thrown up since. Whew.

7. It's so nice to see Oliver smiling again. He did not crack one smile on Tuesday or Wednesday last week. He went over 72 hours without smiling, but he gave the first one to the PICU resident on Thursday night.

8. Oliver brought many smiles by singing at the hospital although he didn't sing when he had the Bi-PAP. In April when he had to get a chest x-ray at Evan, he screamed his head off when placed in this thing that resembles a torture device (bicycle seat with a plastic cylinder around his entire torso while his arms must remain straight up in the air). This time he *sang*. Yes, read that correctly. My sweetheart sang "You are my sunshine" and "Jingle Bells" while in that awful contraption. I don't ever plan on taking him back to Evan. I plan on just taking him to Geisinger as long as we live in this area, and they have a MUCH less uncomfortable way of taking x-rays.

9. Over the past few days I've submitted a few more applications for Paul bringing the total to 30, although he had to withdraw from one in RI today when we found out they wanted the person to start ASAP. Please pray that he'll start getting calls for interviews. That has been very slow going this year compared to the past two years.

10. The kids slept until 6:40 this morning, and I went to bed at 9pm, which translated to me waking up without a pounding headache for the first time in two weeks. YAY! I am still very tired, but I am starting to recover, and hopefully in a few days I won't constantly have the desire to take a nap.

11. Nadia had a great time at the Frozen tea party on Saturday afternoon! She said her favorite parts were the sing-a-long and the sweets (cookies and ice cream). There were about 25 kids there (only one boy). The entertainment was a ventriloquist, It was Nadia's first time seeing that type of entertainment.

12. Paul and Nadia enjoyed their dinner date on Saturday night, and the cost was less than $7, which included a steak dinner for the birthday boy.

13. The kids enjoyed attending the New Years' Eve party last week at the library with Paul.

14. I am very grateful we were discharged in time for me to attend the tea party with Nadia and also so that we could all be home for Paul's birthday.

15. We brought home some yummies on Sunday that Aunt Millie had made. Oliver and I have been devouring the apple cake, and Nadia and Ian have been consuming the sugar cookies!

16. I can kiss Oliver again! Wearing a mask for 4 days caused me to realize how much I missed kissing his sweet cheeks with my lips. It's just not the same with a mask on!

17. Although I wish with all my heart that Oliver didn't have to endure all he went through both physically and emotionally last week, I am thankful that we only have to pay co-pays thanks to health insurance and that he was able to get excellent medical care. I'm taking him back to the pediatrician tomorrow, and I am planning on asking for a referral for a pediatric pulmonologist so we can better address his asthma in the future without it escalating to the point of needing to be on a Bi-PAP.