4 car garage

For the first 5 1/2 years we lived in this house, there were only two vehicles in our garage, unless you count the Little Tikes Coupe (foot powered) that has also been in there for a couple of years. Paul's parents gave Nadia and Ian each a battery powered car at Christmas. Ever since then I have had in the back of my mind that we needed to organize the garage so there would be room for those vehicles, and I have been thinking more of it lately now that the weather has gotten warmer. Yesterday I finally buckled down and tackled the project. I moved some things to the basement and reorganized other things within the garage to make a space for two cars. I thought that once the trampoline was put back up, there would be room (the trampoline parts were in a large box in the garage).

Paul's parents came up this morning to take care of Nadia (and take her to her 12:30 soccer game) while Paul and I took Ian and Oliver to King of Prussia. They brought the cars in their truck. They also planned to take one of my curio cabinets (that has been in the garage for 20 months) to Paul's sister-in-law in the truck, but it was raining this evening so we'll keep the cabinet in our garage until there is a sunny day when it can be transported. When we arrived back home at 4:30pm (the appointment was at 1pm, which shows you what a long day we had), we were shocked to see that Paul's dad had almost finished setting up the trampoline! What a very pleasant surprise that was! Nadia had been asking to have it set up, but we had been waiting to find out if we were moving or not. Paul finished assembling the trampoline. The kids had a blast jumping on it and also driving their cars around the yard this evening. Oliver loved being a passenger in Nadia's car. Pop Pop thinks Oliver will be driving a car by the end of the summer. As of today, our garage is a four car garage.

There were several parts of our drive in which both Ian and Oliver were crying. We are very glad we are not driving to Florida. The iPad and dvd player help some, but those boys just don't like to spend that many hours in a vehicle. Hopefully Nadia will do okay when she drives to Florida with Paul's parents. I actually wasn't in the van for the entire trip. Paul dropped me off at a restaurant about 35 minutes north of the doctor's office. This gave me two hours to spend talking to my friend, Carol, whom I hadn't seen in six years. The last time I saw her was at a baby shower when I was pregnant with Nadia. I'm usually the one who takes the kids to all their doctor appointments, but Paul took the boys to the urologist today, which I greatly appreciated. He picked me up on the way back home. Carol suggested a Mexican restaurant, so that was another added bonus as it had been more than a year since I had been in a Mexican restaurant. Yum!

Ian hadn't seen the urologist in almost 3 years. The last time he saw him was during the second surgery. The doctor was very pleased and said that Ian doesn't need any more follow-up appointments. The doctor was generally pleased with Oliver. There was one small area of concern, which he said we can't really assess until after he's potty trained. Hopefully there isn't any problem, as I'd love to be done with urological surgeries.

Thankful Thursday

1. I am SO thankful that Dr. Canning was able to complete the entire hypospadias repair in just one surgery! Here's to hoping and praying that many years pass before anyone in our family has another surgery. I've entered an operating room six times over the past 5 1/2 years, Ian had four surgeries, and Oliver had one.

2. I am also very grateful that Paul's parents were able to watch Nadia and Ian, especially as we ended up being gone from the house for 29 hours straight (longer than expected).

3. We've been enjoying our Olympic unit the past couple of weeks. One of the great things about teaching is that your students aren't the only ones who are learning. I learned a few things about some different sports and famous athletes as well!

4. My former Dean, my former Department Chair, and a former colleague all agreed to write me letters of recommendation. I was able to obtain a report of my cumulative student evaluations from 2004-2012.

5. Paul got a snow day today! He's had two weeks in a row of just teaching two days a week. I'm sure his students were even more appreciative of the day off today because he was going to be giving an exam in his 9:30 class.

6. We went to a program at the library on Tuesday afternoon about soup. The kids cut up potatoes and carrots and dumped other ingredients into the slow cooker to make chicken vegetable soup. The librarian read a few books about soup, they made a craft about soup, and of course ate the soup. Well my kids didn't eat the soup. They ate the crackers and rolls that were served with the soup. There was a reporter from the newspaper taking pictures, and they were in the newspaper yesterday!

7. Paul called me last night during choir rehearsal. Normally I wouldn't take a call then, but I knew it had to be important for him to call me then. I came home right away when he told me Oliver's stent came out (7-9 days before it was supposed to come out). It was still attached to him by a stitch, but it was hanging outside his body. When I got home I called the hospital and the urology resident on call called me back a few minutes later. He talked with Dr. Canning and then called me back and told me to snip the threads, put a diaper on Oliver, give him fluids, and see if he peed within an hour.

A few minutes later Dr. Canning called me, and he said I could call him back on his cell phone at any time during the night (even though he wasn't officially on call that night). He said that some urologists only leave the stent in for 7 days (he does 12-14). It would have been "disastrous" if it had been in for less than 48 hours, but he was hopeful that since it had been in for 5 days, it would be okay. They knew the snow storm was about to start and didn't think we could drive to Philadelphia safely in a snow storm. If he wasn't able to pee, then we were to take him to the local hospital, which also has a pediatric urologist, but Dr. Canning was hoping that wouldn't be necessary as he felt that someone else putting a stent in Oliver might do damage to the construction he did during the surgery last Friday. Oliver did not pee within the next hour. I called Dr. Canning back at 9:30pm, and he said to put Oliver to bed because if Oliver wasn't able to pee he would get very uncomfortable, and we'd be sure to know about it. The resident had said we had to take him to an ER if he didn't pee within one hour. I was glad I was able to talk directly to Dr. Canning. His diaper was wet this morning. Yahooo! We are thankful that he seems to be doing okay even though the stent came out too early. It sure is easier to change his diaper now! The bruising and swelling has also improved tremendously over the past 6 days. The worst is definitely behind us!

8. Yesterday we took a trip to a consignment shop, as they were having a 60% off sale. I got some great bargains on some winter clothes, shoes, snow boots, etc. for next year for Nadia and Ian. I got Ian one thing for now - a Superman hoodie. He has been wearing it round the clock since I bought it. They were supposed to dress up in what they want to be when they grow up for AWANA last night. For awhile Nadia has been saying she wants to be an artist when she grows up, so she wore s smock and had a couple of paint brushes in the pockets of her smock. Ian had been planning to dress up as a fire fighter, until I bought this hoodie. There was no talking him out of it, and I am sure he's not the only four-year-old to want to be a superhero when he grows up. :)

23.5 hours at CHOP

If I could go back in time, I wish we had gone to CHOP for Ian's first urological surgery. We went to our local hospital instead. My guess is that had we gone to CHOP with him from the start, Ian would have had only one urological surgery instead of two. I've been a parent for 5 1/2 years, and I've now survived my two boys going through a total of five surgeries. Nadia has never been under general anesthesia. She asked me the other day if she had ever had this surgery (when she heard me talking about Ian and Oliver). No, sweet girl, it would be impossible for you to need this surgery. I am SO glad we did the testosterone shots, and I am thankful that even though a longer than ideal time passed between the last shot and the surgery (because the surgery was postponed), Dr. Canning was still able to complete the entire repair in one surgery. He had said if we didn't do the shots it would have to be two surgeries. I have been praying fervently and asking others at ladies Bible study, church, etc. to pray that the repair might be able to be done in one surgery, and the Lord answered this prayer request with a YES! What a relief, especially as we don't know what health insurance we'll have in August. The reason we did his surgery later than usual was because we were waiting until we were back on Blue Shield insurance. I am also glad because of course it means one less surgery for Oliver, it means I can potty train him this summer (that couldn't have been done until after the repair was completed), and it means that he won't be sliced open for the next 6 months like Ian was. It was really disgusting to change Ian's diaper for those six months.

Paul's parents arrived at our house around 7:45pm on Thursday night. We left the house at 6:20 yesterday morning. Last time I was 25 minutes late so I allowed 30 minutes longer than I allowed in January, but the traffic was better this time so we were 30 minutes early. We sat in the surgery waiting area for about 90 minutes and then we were in pre-op room #2 for about 90 minutes. A Nurse Practioner did his exam, and she said he has an innocent heart murmur, which was the first anyone ever mentioned that. He had his Versed (to make him drowsy) at noon and was wheeled into the operating room at 12:25. At 1:30pm a nurse came and told us the wonderful news that the doctor had decided the repair could be done in just one surgery. I was thrilled! The surgery was over around 3pm, at which point we talked with the woman doing her fellowship with Dr. Canning. Around 3:30pm we were allowed to join him in the recovery room. It felt wonderful to have him in my arms again although he was really wanting the iv and cords to come off. He was still on a little oxygen because his saturation levels weren't very good. After a time, he was given some apple juice, but he had a bloody nose during the end of the surgery and some of that blood had gotten into his throat and this made him nauseous and the poor boy vomited like he had never done before. Because his saturation levels were still dipping when he was on room air, they said he needed to spend the night at the hospital.

Around 5:30pm we moved to an inpatient room that we shared with a 6 month old baby and his parents. Since Paul and I were both here and there was only one small couch, they replaced the crib with a bed. Oliver and I shared the bed, and Paul slept on the couch. We didn't get much sleep as it was, but at least we were both able to be horizontal. Paul's assistant coach lead the practice last night. They moved the team photos from 11:15 to 1pm so Paul could be in them. We got home just in time for Paul to coach the 12pm game. Oliver and I didn't go to the game. I didn't bring the iPad to CHOP (so the kids could use it) or the camera (one less thing to bring), and if I took a picture with my camera I'd have no way to transfer it anywhere else. So we used the webcam on my laptop to take a few pictures. They are grainy, but they are better than nothing. As u can see, Oliver really enjoyed his blueberry popsicle! I brought the laptop because Paul and I worked on his application for Bucknell during Oliver's surgery.

We didn't bring toothbrushes, pjs, or anything like that for Paul and I because we didn't expect to spend the night. I was really wishing I had worn my glasses instead of my contacts yesterday. My eyes were killing me, as I didn't have any saline with me. While Oliver was in my arms he ate a couple of blue popsicles (very messy endeavor), vomited profusely (filled several basins), and gushed blood all over the place. Amazingly, I didn't get any vomit on me. A little bit of popsicle dripped on me, but not very much. I had a larger spot of blood but it was nothing compared to the blood all over his gown and the sheet on the bed after they removed his iv this morning. My brown jeans helped to hide the blood. Oliver went through three hospital gowns in less than 24 hours as the first was covered in vomit and the second was covered in blood.

I am very glad to be home. When we've been at Geisinger, Evangelical, and Harrisburg Hospitals over the past 5 1/ 2 years, I can say the kids or I have never been discharged at 8:30am. I was pleasantly surprised when the urologist showed up before 7:30am to do his rounds. The dressing will come off on Monday, and the catheter will come out sometime between the 19th-21st. Changing his diaper is not exactly going to be my favorite thing to do over the next two weeks. This too shall pass. The worst is over. I will sleep well tonight!

Thankful Thursday

1. Last Friday Paul received an invitation for a phone interview with Indiana State University for a three year visiting position. He interviewed there in person last July for a one year position. He had his phone interview on Tuesday afternoon (two days ago). Today he is driving to Indiana for an interview tomorrow for a three year visiting position at Earlham College. We're praying for God to open the door wherever would be best for our whole family. I'm hoping that he might receive an offer for a permanent position elsewhere, but Paul said he'd much rather have a three-year job than another one-year one. We shall see what God has in store!

2. The Leopards did a great job on Saturday! Paul did a nice job coaching them during the game. I am glad Nadia has the opportunity to learn some new skills. I am grateful the assistant coach can lead the practice tomorrow night, and Paul should be back in time to coach the game on Saturday.

3. We all enjoyed seeing The Wizard of Oz on Sunday afternoon.

4. Paul bought Nadia a dresser (I found it on Craigslist) on Friday. Ironically her old dresser was in better cosmetic shape, but the new one is a definite improvement because it has a mirror (she loves that!), is wider but not as tall (she could only reach 3 of the 5 drawers in her old one), and most importantly all the drawers work. The main reason we wanted a new dresser for her was because one of the drawers fell out almost every time you opened it. Also, the handle broke off another one of the drawers. We could have bought a new handle and solved that problem, but we didn't since we couldn't repair the other drawer. The new dresser doesn't hold as much as the old one. Everything fits now, but it's going to be tricky when we reach that time of the year when the weather is fickle and we're doing back and forth between wearing spring/summer clothes and fall/winter clothes. It won't be a problem once the weather turns and I put the winter clothes away. We'll figure something out! The old dresser was too heavy for me to help Paul carry it down the stairs so I made room for it in Oliver's closet, and that's where it will stay for the time being.

5. I have been very thankful that Oliver is a great eater, but I was taken aback when he fed himself a lot of my salad on Monday night. Nadia and Ian haven't eaten any salad yet, but my 17 month old has. He has been eating raw baby carrots for several weeks. Way to go, Oliver!

6. Nadia loves to read! Sometimes when I'm reading to Ian or Oliver she asks if she can read to them instead. This week she's reading Frog and Toad Together to me.

7. CHOP called me on Tuesday to move Oliver's surgery from February 12th to February 7th. Paul can either go with me or stay home with Nadia and Ian on the 7th whereas he has to work on the 12th. Praying that he'll be healthy enough on February 7th to really have the surgery this time around.

8. Ian continues to talk about the fact that he's a Christian now. I found one of his prayers amusing because at lunch one day he was thanking Jesus for dying on the cross and for coming into his heart and the next sentence was and thank you for the Scooby Doo matching game (a Christmas gift).

9. I thought I was going to have to miss Bible study on Tuesday morning because Ian had a high fever, but it turned out the study was cancelled because the school district was on a 2 hour delay due to the frigid temps. I'm glad I didn't miss the study! Hopefully the weather will be warmer and my kids will all be healthy next Tuesday morning.

10. The kids and I had a nice dinner at Friendly's last night. Everyone fed themselves their own meals! Nadia and Oliver tried mandarin oranges for the first time, and they both loved them. YAY!

11. Nadia and Ian slept in past 7am this morning. It's been a LONG time since Ian did that. WOOHOO! Oliver slept past 6am. I feel much more rested this morning than I have lately.

12. Ian is doing a GREAT job learning to write his upper case letters! He can now write L, I, H, E, F, T, O, P, and R. We've been working on "U,", but he hasn't quite gotten that one yet.

First two sentences!

Oliver's four favorite words are "mama," "dada", "yes," and "eh" (the sound he makes when he points to whatever he wants). I have found it interesting that he says "yes" or "yeah" rather often and thus far hasn't said the word "no." I'm sure it won't be long until that word makes it into his expressive vocabulary. The last few months the only time he had put two words together was to say things like "hi mama" or "bye bye dada." Today out of the blue he said two complete sentences! Usually when he wakes up in the morning I go and get him from the crib and then bring him into our bed and snuggle with him for a few minutes before we go down and have breakfast. This morning I went and got him and then immediately passed him to Paul because I needed to use the bathroom. Paul was disoriented because he started hearing "I want my mama," and he thought it had to be Ian because Oliver hasn't been talking in complete sentences, but then he realized it was in fact Oliver. I came back into the room and heard the third time he screamed "I want my mama." I couldn't believe it, and Paul and Nadia told me he had said it three times in a row. Paul was proud but also had his feelings hurt a little that Oliver was so distressed at my brief absence. I was at the periodontist when it was time to put the kids down for naps/quiet time at 1pm. When Paul was tucking Ian in and said "I love you" to Ian, Oliver also said "I love you." Whether he was directing them to Ian or Paul, they are words that melt a parent's heart!

The urology office called me today to reschedule his surgery for February 12. Paul won't be able to go with me as that is a Wednesday, and he teaches on Wednesdays. They said we'll have to arrive much earlier that day because he's only operating in the morning that day (half-day) compared to he was scheduled for a full day in the OR last week. Oliver's 18 month check-up had been scheduled for the 14th, but I called today and moved it to the 10th. First, I didn't want him to get shots and such two days after having major surgery, and second, I wanted a pediatrician to listen to his lungs and declare him healthy to avoid another wasted trip to Philadelphia and back. Hopefully the next time we go out there he really will have his surgery.

Much ado about nothing

Three youngest cousins; Grace was the only one feeling well

Oliver and I were gone for 10 hours today, but not much was accomplished since the anesthesiologist didn't like the sound of his lungs. They had me give him a nebulizer treatment to see if that would do the trick, but the verdict was the surgery needs to be rescheduled due to wheezing. The good news was that the surgeon was pleased with the effects of the testosterone shots. He thinks that they not only enlarged but also straightened his penis. He says that even if the volume goes down some in light of delaying the surgery, we do not

Grace and Julianna are only 6 weeks apart in age. Grace is the youngest.

need to give him any more shots. I will be praying all the more fervently that it will only take one surgery (Ian's took two and Dr. Canning presumes Oliver's will probably take two) because if Paul is working in another state in August (such as FL) then we won't be returning to CHOP for the second stage surgery. At least six months have to pass between surgeries. And even if we are still in or near PA, we have no idea what health insurance we'll have after June.

Here are some random observations and lessons learned today:

Paul and Oliver napping on Saturday

 1. If I leave the house before Paul gets up, the bed will not be made. If I find an unmade bed at 5pm, I find myself compelled to make it even though it's getting closer to the time we'll be going to bed.

2. It is very hard to wipe your baby's nose while driving a car.

3. Although MapQuest says it takes 2hr and 45 minutes from our house to CHOP, you should allow for at least 3hr and 45 minutes because the traffic on 76 in Philadelphia often moves at a pace around 5mph. We were 25 minutes late today even though I allowed 3hr 10 min.

Oliver loves to climb into the dishwasher or dryer.

4. Don't pay your parking at the machine located near the elevators. I was charged $9.50 even though I had my slip validated. If I hadn't used the machine (I thought it was mandatory to use them), I would only have paid $3 for parking.

5. If you get off the turnpike and get back on, your total toll bill will be higher even though you are on the toll road the same amount of miles. On the way down we never got off and it cost $7.80, but on the way back I stopped for a VERY, VERY late lunch and the two separate toll charges added up to $8.45 for our return trip.

My laundry buddy!

6. If your child is scheduled to have surgery in the near future, do NOT let them be around sick children. I am embarrassed to admit the thought NEVER crossed my mind while I saw my nieces and nephews (and brother-in-law) dropping like flies. I only connected the dots after Oliver got sick. The trip today cost us $71.66 and was unpleasant for both of us. Oliver hates being in a car seat and he was in one for seven hours today. He also was not very happy at the hospital because he was HUNGRY. I am not a fan of being in the car that long either. I'm pooped.  I am definitely not up for mother of the year this year that is for sure!

7. Oliver hates having a nebulizer treatment. Ian and Nadia have never had one. I hope it's a long time before Oliver ever has another one as it was sheer torture for both of us.

8. If a child is scheduled for surgery and develops a cough, I will just call and tell them the surgery needs to be postponed. That was my gut instinct last week. Had I gone with that, we wouldn't have gone through all we did today.

9. I should have brought a stroller. I had no problems until I went to get lunch with Oliver. I thought I'd be alone when I got my lunch. I walked into the cafeteria, picked up a jug of milk, and couldn't envision how I was going to carry a tray with food and drinks while holding a 23 pound child who would be grabbing at whatever I was holding. I only bought the milk.

10. I don't function well if my lunch is delayed a few hours. I had planned to grab lunch while he was in the operating room. No food or drink is allowed in the surgery reception area or the pre-op area, which is where we were until 1pm. As soon as they said his surgery was cancelled, I put on our jackets and headed toward the cafeteria to buy my hungry baby and I some food and drink. I had an English muffin and banana at 6:30am but nothing to drink because I didn't want to have to go to the bathroom on the way there. Oliver hadn't had anything since his 7am apple juice. As mentioned above, I only bought milk for Oliver's sippy cup. I headed out to the parking garage and overpaid for my parking ticket and then proceeded to drive around level B of the parking garage a few times until the neurons in my brain finally grasped the concept that we would be there ALL day if we kept this up. I was just not functioning well. Thankfully I did manage to find a way out of that garage, but I didn't know how to find a place to eat, and Oliver fell asleep and I didn't want to wake him up so I wanted a drive-thru. Eventually I just took a random exit off of the turnpike. I accidently drove past a Dunkin Donuts (with a drive-thru) which I would have preferred had I actually seen it, but I ended up going inside a gas station that had a Subway inside. I got Oliver a pack of peanut butter crackers and myself a meatball sub.

11. I am sick of fast food right now. We had more than usual in MD (Chic-Fil-A, pizza twice, McDonald's) and then on Saturday I made fish sticks and fries at home because I was feeling so lousy, and we had more of those yesterday. After more fast food today, I need a long break from any pizza, burgers, fries, nuggets, fish sticks, etc.

12. The next time Oliver and I make the trek to Philadelphia, I must bring WAY more toys for him to play with in the car.

13. Getting worried about something in the future is really pointless. All those nerves I had about his surgery today were over nothing.

14. You can be in a hospital for 2.5 hours before they decide a surgery can't  be completed. We spent 95 minutes in the waiting room and one hour in a pre-op room. He was weighed and measured shortly after we arrived, and then nothing else happened for almost 90 minutes. This was a challenging time because he made it very clear to me that he wanted his sippy cup ASAP. Then he was changed into a hospital gown, blood pressure taken, etc. The next thing would have been to give him the Versed, but that is when the plans were changed to the nebulizer treatment and then the surgery was cancelled.

15. I am really, really ready to get back into a routine. Our last "normal" day was December 23. I need to get back in gear with my routines (Motivated Mom chores and such) and home schooling. I haven't been reading to the kids from our chapter book (in part because my throat is too sore), and I miss it! We are in the middle of a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book, and then we already have four books sitting on the counter waiting to be read (The Magician's Nephew, Voyage with the Vikings, Attack at the Arena, and Peril in the Palace) that Nadia received for Christmas.

16. It is a very bad idea to leave the house without any cough drops when you have a bad cold. Ouch!

17. Daddies are great at playing with kids but not so great at accomplishing other tasks at the same time. I had repeatedly asked for ONE thing to be accomplished today in my absence - Nadia's room to be cleaned by Nadia and Daddy. It didn't happen. Well she and I will have to tackle it tomorrow or a bunch of her stuff is going to end up in the basement.

18. Paul asked me to pick up McD's for dinner for Nadia, Ian, and himself on the way home. I wasn't hungry due to my really late lunch at Subway. I learned that McD bags aren't very strong as it broke and the contents spilled all over the floor of the garage. Yes, that pretty much was how my day went today.

19. I brought the iPad with me as I planned to use it during the hours Oliver and I were separated during his surgery and the beginning part of his post-op recovery. I found out when I got home that this did not go over well with Paul, Nadia, or Ian. I will bring a book or my Kindle next time!

Forty-Four

Grandpa and Grace

Paul turned 44 years old two days ago! He drove back to Maryland in my mom's car on Thursday morning, and the Benners returned to Maryland from Virginia that afternoon. All twenty-two of us were together for about twenty-one hours, although I was in bed for eleven of those hours due to being really sick. Paul had a special birthday breakfast of Captain Crunch cereal. It's one of his three most favorite cereals, and I very rarely buy it. He had a very special birthday lunch as my dad took Paul, Maurice, and Joe to Outback Steakhouse. All four men really love steak! It was Maurice's last meal in the US, as he started his flights back to Brazil that evening. I was amazed he was able to enjoy eating steak, as Maurice had a root canal on Thursday. We were down to 15 people around the table for his birthday dinner, but that is still more than are usually with us to celebrate his birthday! We had spaghetti with meatballs, green beans with almonds, and garlic bread, which is definitely one of Paul's favorite meals. Yvonne made two delicious pies - cherry and blueberry. Paul had brought most of his birthday presents to Maryland, so he was able to open those on Friday morning. I gave him one last present yesterday morning (a Penn State sweatshirt). I had planned to make white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for his birthday; I had already purchased the nuts. I wasn't up for that task yesterday, but my fever is gone so I made his cookies today. Better late than never! I also made some brownies, and I told the kids that the cookies were only for Daddy.

Playing Uno

The drive home from 6:45-10:15pm wasn't the highlight of his birthday, but we were very grateful to be back in our own bedrooms that night. The previous night Ian slept in bed with us because his fever was so high, and Oliver's pack 'n play was in our room as well. I got almost no sleep that night between my very high fever, Ian's hot body kicking me, and an almost constant chorus of coughing between Ian, Oliver, and myself. I can say with assurance I have never been sicker on Paul's birthday (since I've known him). On New Year's Eve I unknowingly ate sausage in some spaghetti. I am allergic to sausage. It causes me to spend a lot of time in the bathroom. Then on top of that I had a very high fever (I went to bed under my sheet, blanket, and comforter on Friday night wearing my winter coat and kept it on almost all night if that's any indication), very sore throat, headache, and cough. I had little voice on Friday and Saturday. Last night I went to bed at 7:30pm with an extra quilt instead of my winter coat, and I was in bed for eleven hours straight. Today my voice has started to come back, but now I sound like I could sing bass in a choir, although actually the thought of singing anything causes me to wince in pain. Friday was the last of the intestinal problems, and now I know to ask before eating any spaghetti to make sure there isn't any sausage in it.



Nadia and Rachel both have the same size 11.5 Dora sneakers!

Nadia and Paul both succumbed to the bug so we are all sick at the moment. Nadia and Paul didn't get the fever that Ian, Oliver, and I had. Paul only has a sore throat, but it doesn't hurt him to talk (yet anyhow). It felt like my throat was being ripped to shreds every time I had to utter a word yesterday. Nadia has a little bit of a cough and a runny nose. You can tell Oliver, Nadia, and I have been blowing our noses a lot because the skin around our noses is bright red. Oliver's nose is still a little runny, but the nurse in the anesthesia department on

Six kids enjoying an iPad app together

Friday said that as long as he didn't have a fever and his cough wasn't constant, his surgery wouldn't be rescheduled. Originally my parents planned to come up to watch Nadia and Ian tomorrow, but that was before they knew my sister and her family would be staying with them until January 10. Paul's parents volunteered to come instead, but I don't think Paul's mom should be near all these germs. I would feel horrible if she ended up back in the hospital because they spent the day with Nadia and Ian. The current plan is for Paul to stay at

Paul's birthday dinner!

home with Nadia and Ian, and I will take Oliver to Philadelphia. It's a three hour drive each way, and we'll probably be at the hospital for about eight hours. We're supposed to arrive by 10am. I plan to leave at 6:45am. He's allowed to have apple juice until 8am, and after that he can't have anything. Hopefully he'll take a nice long morning nap in the Prius on the way there. Prayers for a successful surgery are greatly appreciated. The best possible outcome would be an uneventful surgery in which Dr. Canning is able to complete the entire repair tomorrow (otherwise he'll need a second surgery in 6 months).

Paul and Oliver napping on Saturday

Normally I am in super charged mode when we get back from Christmas, but I couldn't move at my that pace yesterday due to being really sick. I did two loads of laundry, one load of dishes, unpacked our suitcases, went grocery shopping, and took almost all the Christmas decorations down to the basement yesterday. Today I finished putting away the Christmas decorations and our new gifts. I put a few things in the basement to make room for some of the new toys.

These three cousins each have two missing teeth

Ian loved snuggling with Grandma, especially when he wasn't feeling well.

Birthday Cake!

Ian turned four years old three days ago, but today was only the second time he ate cake for his birthday, as he didn't eat any his first two birthdays. He wouldn't eat his dinner last night (white chicken chili), and he still refused to eat it at breakfast or lunch today. I think he would have caved a bit earlier if he hadn't eaten so many goldfish crackers at church this morning. Thankfully after he woke up from his nap, he ate his chili for Daddy while Nadia and I were attending a three hour musical (Narnia). Paul's parents came up to join us for pizza and birthday cake, and the kids were thrilled that we were finally using the Monster's Inc. paper plates and cups. Ian made up for skipping a couple of meals by eating one slice of pizza, one sugar cookie, one piece of chocolate birthday cake, and part of a chocolate covered pretzel. Aunt Millie made his cake! I forgot to check our supply of candles and discovered we only had two. OOPS! He didn't seem to care. This was the fewest family members in attendance for any of our children's birthday parties thus far, and I have a feeling that his will always have the fewest attendees in light of the snowy weather that often comes in December (we got 6 inches of snow yesterday). If we move far away next summer, no extended family might be able to attend any of the children's birthday parties. At some point I'll need to find a way to start inviting other kids to their parties, but thus far they haven't noticed. This is one of the (very few) downsides of home schooling.

Oliver had his second testosterone shot today, as his surgery is now only three weeks away. Our neighbor, who is a nurse, gave him the shot, and Oliver didn't cry! It's the first time he's had a shot and didn't cry. He definitely cried on Friday when he had his second dose of the flu shot. What is rather ironic is that their son (Westyn) who is a few weeks younger than Oliver also has hypospadias. This condition effects 1 in 125 boys in the United States, and in our two houses (we live across from each other) all three of our sons (they have one boy and one girl) were born with hypospadias. Their son might need as many as three surgeries to complete his repair. Oliver will need one or two surgeries. I can't wait until it's over.

2 Interiews and 1 Party

Paul had his first phone interview this morning for a tenure track position to begin in August 2014. It was with Rowan University in New Jersey. Shortly after he finished that interview, he received a call from Florida Gulf Coast University inviting him to participate in a phone interview on December 6. It's very encouraging to get the interview process going again. I have submitted 11 applications thus far, and one of those schools withdrew their job posting without completing the search. So this means 2 of the 10 schools have invited him for a phone interview. I have 7 more applications to complete in the next few weeks. The newest one added to the list is in Frederick, Maryland. On a cold day like today, I have to say that Florida sounds pretty wonderful!

I took the kids to a two hour long Thanksgiving party this morning. I felt badly because the one mother put a lot of work into planning many crafts, games, and snacks. She brought four gallons of apple cider, but in fact there were only five children there, and Nadia was the oldest, and the only way Oliver participated was to eat popcorn. Nadia and Ian loved the turkey races with the balloons as well as the snacks. They each filled a sugar cone with dried papaya, dried pineapple, dried dates, chocolate chips, and candy corns to make "cornucopias." Oliver had his first testosterone shot this evening, which means his surgery will be six weeks from today. I am very thankful that our neighbor (who is an ER nurse) gave him the shot.

If Oliver's eyes had been more open, this pictures would have be the "winner." I'll keep on trying....

Surgery Scheduled

I scheduled Oliver's first hypospadias surgery today. It will be taking place 9 weeks from today on January 6 in Philadelphia. Our neighbor who is a nurse has agreed to give Oliver his two testosterone shots. He'll have his first shot three weeks from today.

Oliver woke up at 4am this morning. We let him cry himself back to sleep. I have no idea why he woke up that early. Then he woke up at 5:45. That made sense because he used to wake up at 6:45, which is what time it would have been prior to the time change. We let him cry himself back to sleep. Nadia and Ian climbed in to bed with us at 6am, which again would have been their normal wake up time of 7am. We put them to bed according to the new time, but they woke up according to the old time, which means they lost at least one hour of sleep (Oliver lost a lot more than that). We shall see how many days it takes their bodies to switch to the time change.

Carving Pumpkins!

Yesterday morning Nadia had her last soccer game of the fall season. Each child received a really nice medal at the end of the game to commemorate their participation on the team this season. That didn't happen last time; it was a pleasant surprise. We were very glad it was the last game because the wind was blowing and the temperature was only 48 degrees. We were COLD! My parents left their house early that morning so they could arrive in time to join us for the game. They were impressed with how much Nadia had improved since they had seen her play a game last spring. She's not the strongest player on the team, but she's no longer one of the weakest. She wants to play again in the spring. Maybe she'll score her first goal next year! If both kids want to play soccer next fall, Nadia would be on a U8 team, and Ian would be an a U6 team.

We came home, had lunch, and then Paul and I started our trek to King of Prussia with Oliver. There's a REALLY huge mall there, but we went see the CHOP urologist who did Ian's second surgery. It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to get there, and we were there for 2 hours. I wish they had let us wait in the waiting room where they had toys, but we spent almost the whole time in an exam room, where they didn't have any toys. Dr. Canning said that Oliver needs to have two shots of testosterone 6 and 3 weeks prior to the surgery because his penis is too small. The other option would be to wait until he is 2 1/2 years old to have the first surgery, but that would mean he couldn't be potty trained until he was over 3 years old, and it also means he might remember the surgeries. We opted for the testosterone shots. He thinks that it will take two surgeries (like Ian) with at least 6 months in between, but he says that he won't know for sure until he's in the surgery. It would be awesome if would only take one surgery, but it's probably better for me emotionally to just assume it will take two surgeries. We're hoping the first one will take place in early January. We shall see when the scheduling coordinator calls us.

While we were driving to and from the urologist, my parents were doing things like carving pumpkins with Nadia and Ian, taking the kids to McD's for dinner and to enjoy the play land, and giving the kids baths. We got home shortly before they went to bed. I was really dreading having Oliver in the car for 6 hours as that was the longest he ever spent in a car in one day in his life, and he doesn't like being in the car, but he did pretty well. He slept for two hours on the way there, and he slept for about an hour on the way back. We kept him up an hour later once we were home (until 9pm) in the hopes that he wouldn't wake up too early this morning, but he still got up an hour earlier than usual this morning. My parents spent the night and went with us to our former church this morning because I was playing the handbells. After having lunch at Perkins we came home and watched football with them. Paul took Nadia and Ian to a church's trunk or treat event this afternoon, which they really enjoyed. My parents left after we ate dinner. The kids have never gone trick or treating before, but we are planning to take them this Thursday night. No one goes trick or treating around our neighborhood. They'll probably wear different costumes on Thursday, but today Nadia went as Rapunzel and Ian went as a clown. It was great seeing my parents. Hopefully we'll see them again next month for Thanksgiving! I have more pictures, but I'll save some for later this week!

What a mess!

I absolutely cannot wait until Ian outgrows the reflux. Please tell me it will be soon!!! There are times when it has seemed to be improving, but lately it's been awful again. I lost track of how many times he threw up today - two different times in his crib (had to launder the sheet and crib mattress and give him a bath more than once today as it was in his hair, eyelashes, etc.), once in the car while we were at a gas station, and a whole bunch of times in the family room, highchair, and kitchen. Now that he's eating more solid foods and drinking whole milk, it smells a million times worse than when he was drinking formula. I kept a food log the past two days. Yesterday he was only 1 ounce over what the doctor said was the limit for milk intake in a day. I started keeping a food log today, but then I just gave up since it seemed he was up-chucking more than he was intaking. The positives were #1 that he didn't puke at Nadia's gymnastics class or at the State Farm agency (Paul and I enrolled in a 20 year life insurance policy today  - wow that isn't cheap!) and #2 I tried giving him one or two small bites of yogurt today, and he liked it. This constitutes the first time he's eaten something that counts as table food. I was elated! There are more types of baby food that he can eat now, but there are still many (baby cereal, Gerber puffs, Gerber macaroni and cheese, etc.) that immediately cause him to vomit. As soon as he outgrows this reflux, we definitely need our carpets and couches to be cleaned by professionals.

His poor little face also continues to be quite a mess. His rash comes and goes and pops up on random parts of his face. His chin is where it usually starts. My mom proposed the theory that maybe he was allergic to metal spoons as one of my sister's son's had that allergy. Well he hasn't come in contact with a metal spoon for over a week now, so I don't think that's the culprit. Any ideas?? I would love to figure this mystery out so we can keep this rash at bay.

He's also fallen apart with his sleeping habits. I could not get him to sleep in his crib today (or chucking ensued). I finally let him take one nap in my arms. He did sleep a little in the car on the way to and from gymnastics. He also was up many times during the night last night. I think the trip to Philadelphia just goofed him up. He always seems out of whack after we travel. I am fearful he's going to be waking up during the night when we cruise, and if that happens I can't let him cry or he'll wake Nadia up as the four of us will be in the same room. I'd appreciate prayers about that because it's not going to be a very enjoyable trip for me if I'm only getting say 4 hours of sleep a night. I really wish all four of us could get rid of our bugs by Saturday. That seems dubious. I think the congestion is why Ian is having so much trouble with his reflux.

The recap from yesterday would be that Dr. Canning wants to see Ian again in April and will likely do the surgery in June. I was hoping he'd only be seen once prior to the surgery, but it turns out we'll be making at least 3 trips out there prior to the surgery. I will say Dr. Canning was VERY thorough and patient, which made me feel better about the 6 hours we spent in the car getting to/ from the appointment. He's the chair of the department, and this pediatric urology department is rated #2 in the USA. Many people come from around the world to see him, so in comparison our trip was very brief. He might have participated in a surgery of my brother back in the mid 80's as he was at Children's Hospital in DC at that time.  I had the same thing happen to me when I saw an ENT in Pottsville in the late 90's. When he saw my list of previous surgeries, he said that he had participated in a surgery I had in Philadelphia in the early 80s. Small world!

We were gone for about 12 hours yesterday. I was in the shower at 3:55am, and we were out the door by 4:45. The kids cried for about 15 minutes and then slept until almost 7am as we were entering Philadelphia. We got there about 20 minutes early. We spent one hour in the urology department and then went downstairs and had breakfast at McD's inside the hospital. Then we drove to the zoo and spent 2 hours walking around the zoo. Of course there were some animals we couldn't see since it was too cold. Nadia's highlight was feeding the ducks in the children's petting zoo portion of the zoo. In general she didn't seem to be too thrilled with seeing the animals. It was her first time at a zoo, and I thought she'd really like seeing bears, tigers, lions, monkeys, etc. I didn't expect it to be such a thrill for Ian, but he LOVED it. We never had to point out where the animals were. He would find them and be looking in the right place and would be squealing with delight. He laughed many times throughout the day. In the bird part (boy that was a contrast to go from being in the cold temperatures outside to the rainforest type climate in that building), it sounded like he was having a conversation with the birds. Other adults in the room started laughing as he was jabbering away at the birds. I'm sure it won't be our last trip to a zoo this year since I bought a membership on Monday night.

5 Random Updates

1. Nadia did sleep through the night last night. YAY! She woke up and started coughing around 5:30am, but she didn't call for us or cry and went back to sleep. I had put her to bed much earlier than usual (6:50), but she actually got up later than usual. She was in bed for 13 hours! I hope that sleep will help her get rid of this cold she's been fighting for 2 weeks.

2. Last Tuesday someone from Early Intervention came over to start the process with Ian. The evaluation is the next step. They'd do that next week except we'll be away. It's been scheduled for Jan 18th. She said even if he doesn't technically qualify (which I don't think he will as I don't think he's at least 25% delayed), they can still get him help for medical reasons (eating). He's also going to be seen by the feeding team at the hospital this Friday morning.

3. Today was Paul's 41st birthday. We went on a date to Red Lobster (his favorite) to celebrate. He hasn't felt well today; it won't go down as his favorite birthday that is for sure.
4. Tomorrow we're leaving at 4:30am to drive to Philadelphia. I had schedule Ian's appointment for the afternoon, but last week they called to reschedule it to 8:00am. Hopefully the kids will sleep most of the way there. I figured it wouldn't be good for the kids to get right back in the car after the appointment is over (since it's a 3 hour drive one way); so we're planning to be at the zoo from 9:30-12:00 and then head back home. I purchased a family membership since if you go even twice in a year it's cheaper to have the membership; plus it includes a lot of reciprocal agreements such as the Baltimore zoo and the zoo in DC, which we could definitely visit while we're at my parent's house. Prayers that we have a safe trip tomorrow and that Ian doesn't cry or sleep too much would be appreciated! I assume Nadia will be fine as long as we bring 321 Penguin and VeggieTale dvd's.

5. I have to keep a food log this week in preparation for our feeding team appointment on Friday, and Ian only had 24 ounces of whole milk today so he's not as far off the mark as I thought. The pediatrician had said 15-20 ounces a day, and the days I've kept track he's had 24-30 ounces. I'm not going to keep the log tomorrow in light of our trip, but I'll keep it again on Wednesday and Thursday. They asked me to keep a log for 2-3 days.

Urologist #2

I thank each of you who prayed for us today. #1 Ian's reports were faxed to his new doctor on time, and #2 the kids did pretty well during our long road trip. The only time Nadia cried was when I turned off the DVD around 12:15 and insisted she take a nap. She had a VeggieTale marathon, lol. Ian did very well on the way down. He played happily, slept, played happily, and slept some more. He played for awhile on the way back, slept, and then cried for the last part of the trip. We left at 10:30 and got home at 6:30. We were at the doctor's office for about 30 minutes. If we hadn't made any stops, the trip would have taken 2hr 45 min. We stopped for gas and for lunch at Wendy's on the way down. On the way back we had dinner at Denny's as I didn't want to eat fast food twice in one day. I kept Ian up until 8:15pm to try to compensate for the fact that he had 4 naps today. Hopefully he'll sleep until at least 5:45am.

The best news was from the urologist who said that #1 Ian's first surgery was done well, #2 Ian is healing well and most of the skin that was left hanging off will be usable in the next surgery (if there's not enough they will use skin from his mouth for the reconstruction of his urethra), and #3 Ian's urethra is not as bad as the first doctor said it was. He said the size of Ian's urethra is completely normal (which is quite different from what the first doctor said) and that even if there was a problem with the native urethra, it can be fixed (which the first surgeon said was impossible). What a relief!!! He said that he would expect to use a size 6 catheter on a baby Ian's age (whereas the first surgeon said that size is only used for newborn babies). The surgeon we saw today said that robotics is his specialty. He took pictures of Ian to show his colleague whose specialty is reconstruction. He said that patients from all around the world come to see his colleague for reconstructions -especially if their first surgery wasn't done properly. He said Ian's first surgery was done properly but that still it would be best if this other surgeon did his next surgery. He thinks it should take place in February and that there is only a 5% chance that a third surgery will be needed. Today we went to Exton. He said the next appointment would be in King of Prussia in a month or two and that the surgery would be done in Philadelphia in three months. I'm not looking forward to making the trip two more times, but it's worth it so that Ian can see one of the very best pediatric urologists.

Time

Nadia's understanding of various concepts related to time has dramatically increased lately. She's very focused on what the schedule is for the day. I think she's going to take after her Mommy in that regard as schedules and calendars and to do lists are not Paul's style. She's always asking me who is coming over, etc. Although the kids are now being watched in our house again, she still asks "who's going to come get me?" Today she kept saying that Beth was going to come over after her nap, and then "Daddy will come get me," which means Daddy is the one coming home first. He'll get home at 5pm whereas I won't get home until about 8:30pm tonight. She always wants to know what's happening next.

She also asks many times a day "what time is it?" meaning what should we be doing right now. This morning she insisted it was time to go to the park, and had the weather been as nice as it was lately, I would have taken them there. I opted instead to take them to the basement for the first time. I brought in the little slide from the patio and also brought down her scooter and tricycle. I want to organize the basement more so there is more room for her to ride around during the winter months. The hard part of that organization will be deciding what to do with all the baby stuff. Ugh. I wish I didn't need to deal with that stuff yet, but I think honestly it would be hard no matter when I did it, and it probably would be hard even if we did have another baby. I am guessing that for many women that whenever they stop having kids there is a bit of grieving involved.

Two of Nadia's favorite time related words are "later" and "morrow" (tomorrow). If I suggest something and she doesn't want to do it right then, she'll say "I'll do it later" or "I'll do it morrow." I was chuckling as I was thinking about this yesterday in Sunday School as our lesson for the day was on procrastination (by Dr. David Jeremiah). Procrastination can be learned at a very young age!

Time won't possibly go fast enough for the four of us tomorrow. Neither child does that well with long road trips. Usually one or both of them throw up. I am planning on bringing extra outfits for both of them as tomorrow they will both be in the car more hours in one day than ever before. The doctor we are taking Ian to see tomorrow is almost 3 hours away from our home (one way). Tomorrow I don't care how many DVD's Nadia watches in the car if it will keep her from throwing up. I figure there's no good scenario for Ian. Either he'll sleep in the car, which will make the ride more pleasant but then he likely won't sleep well tomorrow night, or he'll be miserable in the car and it won't interfere with his sleeping at night. He only slept 9-10 hours on Friday night and Saturday night, but last night he was 15 minutes shy of 11 hours (7pm to 5:45am). Nadia still hasn't fully adjusted since the time change. Her naps have (most days) been a lot shorter than usual, and she's also getting up a bit earlier than before in the mornings. I would love to see us do away with DST.

Today I stopped at the hospital where his first surgery was done because his records hadn't been sent yet. The medical record office said that the urology office goofed this up. I am praying that they will fax them to the doctor in Exton before our 2pm appointment. I also hope that we don't have to go out there again until the day of Ian's next surgery. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day! I am grateful though that the 2nd best Pediatric Urologists are only 3 hours away from us. #1 is in Boston, and #3 is in Indianapolis. I am glad we only need to go to Philadelphia.

Schedules

1. Ian finally has a feeding team appointment. Unfortunately it's for January 7th, which is 4 months after the referral was initiated. He's on their cancellation list so I'm hoping someone else cancels, and he can be seen sooner than that. I tried some cereal yesterday (mixed with squash), and he gagged. Another reason I hope the appointment is sooner than that is I am not 100% sure yet when my health insurance at the university will be cancelled.
2. I called another local pediatric urologist yesterday to find out if he'd feel comfortable doing Ian's next surgery. He said "no" and gave two names that he recommended - one in Hershey and one in Philadelphia (Children's Hospital). I made an appointment with one in Philly today. I was surprised that they said I could come tomorrow. I opted for Nov 16, which will be almost exactly one month after his first surgery. The clinic is 97 miles away. I chose a 2pm time in the hopes that naps will take place in the car.

3. I decided not to resign quite yet. I don't want to make a hasty decision, plus this way I can still teach the online class next summer. I just put in a request today that my leave for the spring be FT leave instead of PT leave. I'm still going to keep cleaning my office as if I won't be returning, but this gives us time to make certain before I give up my tenure and promotion. Plus it adds a little bit of money to our budget if I teach one online class next summer.

4. Nadia took a 3 hour nap on Monday, but yesterday for some bizarre reason she didn't nap at all. She was falling asleep in the car on the way home from the flu shot appointment (about 11:30), but I jiggled her and kept her awake and fed her lunch and put her down. She played in her crib for 3 hours but never slept. That was a first. What made it even more of a first was that Ian took a one hour nap in his crib during that time span. Yes, Ian napped more than Nadia yesterday. What a shock! Today after 45 minutes she woke up crying. I went up and told her she needed to sleep more. She cried some more and then fell back asleep. Ian fell asleep on the way home from gymnastics today (at 11:20) even though he'd just gotten up from his 30 minute morning nap at 9:30. I didn't count it as his nap and put him back down at 1:15. I am not sure why Nadia has had trouble napping yesterday and today. She usually doesn't give us any troubles.

5. Ian slept through the night last night!! I must give the boy credit for sleeping from 7:30pm to 6:00am. WOW! We put Nadia to bed at 8pm and she got up at 7am; I am hoping this trend will continue in light of the clocks changing in 4 days.

Forward and Backward

Here are some ways we've been taking steps either forward or backward recently:





1. I don't believe in jinxes, but if I did, I would blame the fact that Nadia had an accident this morning and that Ian didn't sleep through the night last night on the fact that I shared that good news on my blog yesterday. Well we can hope the next stretch for each of them will be a new record. Nadia went 4 weeks without an accident (until she wet the bed last night), and prior to last night, Ian had slept through the night 5 nights in a row. He went to bed at 8:15 and woke up at midnight. We changed his diaper and fed him. He was up for the day at 5:25. He got less than 9 hours of sleep last night.

Ian wasn't too crazy about this kiss from Nadia, lol!

2. Ian's wounds were bleeding more yesterday than the previous days. I called the doctor's office in the morning. They called me back at 2pm and said the surgeon wanted to see him at 4pm. I quickly called Paul to ask him to leave school ASAP, called Sarah to say I wouldn't be bringing the kids over at 3pm after all, and called my department office to ask them to put a sign on my door that I wouldn't be able to come for office hours today. The steps forward would be that the doctor was pleased and told the nurse to remove the catheter. YAY! This morning I notice a big improvement in the color of his skin. The doctor told me that I'm supposed to wipe the inside of his penis when he has a poopy diaper. That is just SO gross. It makes sense though because the skin was sewn together. It's just hanging off to the sides. I have decided to give Ian and Nadia a bath every day until Ian's next surgery to try to keep it as clean as possible.

3. Ian had been doing somewhat better in terms of his constipation, but he's pretty constipated again today. I've stopped putting cereal in his bottles. Hopefully that will help. He's been really cranky/fussy the last couple of days. I think the constipation is part of the problem. Maybe I need to put some prunes in his next bottle.

4. None of Ian's naps in the crib the past 5 days have exceeded 35 minutes. He has taken a few longer ones in my arms, which is nice for now, but not what I want for the long term.

5. The anesthesia has finally worked its way out of his system!

6. As of 2:00 yesterday I was totally caught up with grading. It was a GREAT feeling! I gave a midterm exam last night, and I am happy to say I just graded the last one, which means I'm caught up again!!

7. We weren't able to go to the park yesterday morning due to the weather, and it didn't look very pleasant out this morning, but it looks gorgeous out now. I am looking forward to taking the kids there after Nadia wakes up from her afternoon nap.

8. Ian had a regression with his sitting skills. I think it was due to wearing two diapers at once. He was leaning backward so he was falling more. He seems to be doing better this afternoon.

7 Lessons Learned

1. It's much easier to go through a surgery yourself than to have your child go through one. My heart felt like it was breaking when I put Ian in the nurse's arms so she could carry him to the OR. I used to think holding a two month old down for immunizations was hard....

2. It takes more than 2 days for all of the anesthesia to work it's way out of Ian's system. I can still hear it.

3. Nadia and Ian think a catheter is a fun toy.

4. I'm usually not overly squeamish. Seeing the digital pictures the surgeon took during the surgery didn't bother me. Putting bacitracin on the wounds makes me feel like I'm going to throw up.

5. Ian is too noisy to bring in the worship service, even if the sounds are happy ones. Bummer!

6. As awful as it was waiting for Ian to go from the OR to the 1st recovery room to the 2nd recovery room (about 2.75 hours total), once he was sleeping in my arms it felt like all was right with the world.

7. If your baby is constipated, when he finally goes he will scream with such intensity you will contemplate taking him to the ER (until you figure out what happened).

Can't come soon enough

I feel like counting down the hours until Ian's post-op appt. I have had some regret over pushing it back 5.5 hours, but I think Nadia will really enjoy her gymnastics lesson that morning. The poor boy is constipated, but I think that's been a blessing that poop hasn't gotten all over his wounds yet. The brochure said he needs to have a bowel movement by the 2nd day after sugery. Hopefully he'll have one tomorrow. He certainly was pushing a lot many times day. I was able to give him a bath around 11:30am (had to wait 24 hours). He had betadine on his back from the spinal they gave him. I'm supposed to give him a  bath every day. That is no problem except both he and Nadia kept trying to pull on the catheter. It was unfortunately their favorite bathtub toy today. Ugh. I came very close to throwing up the first time I changed his diaper today. He has this extra flap hanging out because the doctor wanted to save the skin for the next surgery. The poor guy screams when I put bacitracin on it like I'm supposed to every time I change his diaper. I wish I could fast forward to Wednesday!! He slept for 10 hours last night and took two 30-40 minute naps today. I'm hoping he'll sleep 11 hours tonight as I'm pooped.