An unwelcome guest

Around 1am on Saturday Paul woke me up because he thought there was an intruder in our unit. After paying closer attention, he discovered the sounds were coming from above our head. Our unit was a two story unit, and the bedrooms were on the top floor, but an animal had crawled into the crawl space above the bedroom ceiling. The animal came over to the closet where the entrance to the crawl space was located, but it wasn't able to come down. The thing was scratching and walking all around. It was definitely larger than a mouse or a squirrel. We think it was probably an opossum or raccoon. Definitely a nocturnal animal! We called security, but they assured us the animal wouldn't be coming into our unit and sadly didn't seem too concerned about the fact the animal was keeping us awake. We tried switching to the other bedroom, but it was just as loud over there. I was able to sleep through it (once the adrenaline wore off after I realized Paul was wrong about an intruder), but Paul couldn't. He started pounding on the walls, and this scared the animal into being quiet around 2am. In the morning we called the front desk. They said they would send maintenance over to check on it, and we could switch to another unit, if the problem couldn't be solved. Maintenance set a trap, and they deemed this as the solution to the problem, but of course the trap didn't work during the day since the animal was nocturnal. Thankfully the animal decided to be noisy at an earlier hour on Saturday night (10pm), which meant that the front desk was still open. They sent over a key to a different unit and we packed up and moved to a different unit (very close by) around 10:45pm. We slept much better in the second unit because there weren't any animals in the crawl space above our heads!

In hind sight we didn't need to make reservations anywhere since the kids were at Paul's parents' house. We only used 2 nights of the 7 we paid for because of Oliver's ICU stay. We could just have stayed at our house while the kids were away and saved $200, but hind sight is always 20/20 as they say. I didn't know Oliver was going to be hospitalized, and I didn't know if Paul's parents would prefer watching the kids at our house or theirs. Now I know for future reference. We are hoping to do this again before another 6.5 years pass us by! We met the kids and Paul's parents at church this morning at 10:30. I usually sing in both Sunday services, but I couldn't bring myself to leave the Poconos before 7am this morning. I can count on one hand the number of times I have slept until 7:30am over the past 6.5 years because 99.9% of the time at least one of the kids is up by 6:30 at the latest (Oliver came in to Paul's parents' bedroom at 5:00 this morning, for example). I wasn't willing to give up this rare treat of being able to stay in bed later than usual (we needed to leave by 9:00 to get to the second service). Considering I went to bed later than usual since we had to switch units, I was grateful to be able to stay in bed longer than usual this morning.

We discovered that we just aren't the type to eat out three meals a day. We opted to have a late breakfast and turn it into brunch so that we'd only have two meals yesterday, and we were already tired of eating in a sit down restaurant (even though we only did that twice this weekend) so we just got takeout on Saturday night (a sub from Subway for Paul and a burrito and taco from Taco Bell for me). It was very nice though not to do any cooking on Friday or Saturday. Today I got back in gear with cooking as I made something for today plus I made a soup for lunch tomorrow, brownies, and a casserole for tomorrow's dinner. One of the things Paul and I did on our getaway was go over our budget as we have continued to spend more than we are making (not a good trend!). If we move it will be easier to live within our budget because we can make sure we have a house payment that is in keeping with his salary. If I could go back in time to September 2008, I would buy a cheaper house, but we can't undo the past. We bought the house based on my salary, and we didn't think we'd live here longer than four years. We haven't solved our budget problems yet. In part we are waiting to see what happens with Paul's search for a job for this August. I suggested that we stop enrolling the kids in gymnastics, as it's by far their most expensive "extra-curricular" activity, but Paul doesn't want to stop that. We did agree though that we will stop buying pizza or going out to eat unless we are using a gift card. We all love pizza so I am going to keep trying new recipes until I find the homemade pizza we like best. That will definitely save us some money because we usually spend $20-30 a week going out to eat or buying carryout pizza. Now we need to find some other ways we can cut back so that we can live within our means, or I need to find a part-time job.

The first 31 applications for August 2015 were for permanent positions, but application #32 will be for a two year temporary position because the college is located less than 30 minutes from our house. As an added bonus, part of the position involves teaching physical chemistry, which Paul hasn't taught yet although that's his area of specialty. I really, really was hoping for a permanent job for August 2015, but thus far he's only had one phone interview so it seems prudent to apply for this position although we might still need to move even if he got that local job due to our struggles with living within our means. We had been contemplating upgrading to smart phones in June, but the analysis of our finances has definitely ended that discussion. Thankfully the cable company came and turned off our cable tv last week. Netflix is MUCH cheaper than cable tv!

This getaway was the first time that Oliver slept overnight at Paul's parents house. He definitely had a wonderful time because all afternoon and evening he kept asking for Grandma and Pop Pop. While Nadia and Ian were at their choir rehearsal at church this evening I took Oliver to the grocery store, and he kept saying over and over that he wanted to go to Grandma's house again not the store. As Pop Pop says, they know how to spoil their grandkids! :) We are VERY thankful they were willing to enable us to have a 47 hour date! I imagine they'll be grateful tomorrow that no little ones will be waking them up at 5:00am.

Getaway for two!

Paul and I haven't had a night together without kids since we became parents 6 1/2 years ago. We absolutely LOVE being parents, but there are moments when we wish we had more couple time. It's good to have one-on-one time with your spouse, and it's also nice to have a meal where you aren't keeping the two year old from throwing food on the floor, cleaning up spilled milk, cutting things into tiny pieces, or attempting to get your preschoolers to eat their vegetables. Dinner time is generally my least favorite time of day. We first started talking about an overnight getaway for our 10th anniversary (2011), and then we actually made reservations four our 13th anniversary, but we had to cancel those plans due to illness (of my parents who were going to babysit the kids for us). Then we planned to head to the Poconos on January 4, but we had to reschedule due to Oliver's PICU stay. The third time was the charm for us, and we are taking advantage of the last two nights of the seven we paid for at this resort. 

This morning I did some home schooling with Nadia, and then when headed to the gym class at our church. Ian is really enjoying learning how to dribble! After the class we drove to McD's where we met Paul's parents. They took the kids in to have lunch and play on the playland, and we headed to the Poconos to stay at the same resort we stayed at last May. On our way here I got my lunch from Long John Silver's, which is a rare treat for me (maybe once a year on average). I love hush puppies! We did a little shopping before dinner, and then we used a gift card we got at Christmas to have dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. Neither of us had ever been in that restaurant before. My grilled chicken salad was delicious (had grapes, mandarin oranges, and strawberries on it), and Paul enjoyed his steak.  Tomorrow we are planning on using the jacuzzi in the building where the indoor pool is located. Our unit has a kitchen, and when we are on vacation we usually only eat out once a day, but since this is a quick getaway (about 47 hours), we decided to eat out at every meal. We're planning to have breakfast at Perkins tomorrow (I have a coupon for one free meal) and at Dunkin Donuts on Sunday morning on our way to church (using a gift card). We haven't decided yet where we'll go for lunch and dinner tomorrow. It's so nice to have two days with my sweetheart! I am sure the kids are having a great time with their grandparents. Nadia and Ian were as excited about their getaway as Paul and I were about ours! We are SO thankful that Paul's parents are willing to do this and that his mom is healthy enough to do it. She got a good report from her PET scan and bone marrow biopsy although she does need to have two weeks of radiation in the near future.

Gymnastics and Ice Skating!

On Friday morning (while Oliver and I were waiting for his discharge from the hospital), Ian and Nadia had their first homeschool gym class at our church. The church did VERY little advertising for the class (in fact it was never mentioned in church through the bulletin or anything like that), and more than 50 kids signed up for the class! Paul had planned to drop the kids off and go do some other things, but Ian had a total and complete meltdown. I talked to him on the phone and helped settle him down, but the gym director understandably didn't want Paul to leave in case it happened again. The women's basketball coach from Bucknell taught the class, and both kids said they had a lot of fun working on dribbling and such. Tomorrow will be their second class, and it will be on basketball again. Over the course of the nine weeks they will also be doing volleyball, dodge ball, self defense, etc.

This week the other athletic classes began. Yesterday Ian had his first gymnastics class in a year. He and Nadia are now in a homeschooling gymnastics class taught by the gym director. There are currently three kids in the class - Anna (5), Ian (5), and Nadia (6). Anna's dad is a professor in the religion department at Bucknell, and her family goes to church where I went to ladies Bible study last semester. Anna has two sisters who are 3 and 9 years old. Ian did MUCH better than he did a year ago. Time will tell if I stick with this class or not. I am hoping that Nadia can still make as much progress in this class as she was making in the Level 2 class she had been in on Mondays. The gym director takes care of his kids during the day, and his wife takes care of them in the late afternoon and evenings when he's at the gym. So in order to make this class work I agreed to watch his two kids. His three year old son just wanted to stay with Daddy so he became the fourth member of the class in essence, and most of the time his two year old daughter stayed with Oliver and me. Oliver had fun walking on a balance beam, jumping on the trampoline, etc.

The kids had a very late lunch yesterday (after 1pm!) after gymnastics because Oliver had a doctor appointment before their class. Even though it was just a quick hospital discharge check, we were still there for 45 minutes. Frankly, I was planning to skip the appointment to save the $20 copay because I knew he was fine, but someone from the hospital has been calling periodically to check on him and I knew she was going to ask about his PCP appointment. The one perk of this appointment was I did get a referral for Oliver to see a pediatric pulmonologist next week.

Today Nadia and Ian had their first ice skating lesson. Unfortunately it again started with tears on his part. I thought he had outgrown the separation anxiety phase! Nadia did a FABULOUS job. She was one of the best students in the class. Ian was one of the least adventurous, but he also definitely made progress. They were skating without holding on to anything! I am excited to see how much progress they will make over the next 10 weeks. The lessons cost $50 for ten 45 minute lessons and that includes skate rental. Very reasonably priced in my opinion! Of course the homeschooling gym class at our church is even more affordable - $25 for nine 90 minute classes! The gymnastics class is by far the most expensive. Oliver and I hung out near the fireplace to keep warm during their ice skating lesson. Unfortunately I had to wake Oliver up at 3:45 from his afternoon nap to take them to their lesson. I will have to put him down a little earlier than usual on Thursdays to prevent that from happening again. I hate waking my kids up when they are sleeping!!! The day ended with Nadia's second basketball practice. She had one practice in December. She will definitely be getting plenty of exercise on Thursdays for the next 10 weeks!

Four Floors and Three Days

Although we've had appointments in the main part of the hospital (ENT and lab for me, allergist and urologist for Ian, and cardiologist and neurologist for Paul), over the past 11 years I have spent quite a bit of time in the one wing of the hospital. I started with regular visits to the lowest floor (LL2) because that's where the fertility clinic is located. I also used to get my bloodwork done on that floor (although that is no longer possible). With two of my pregnancies I saw the MFM doctors on that floor, and I also was seen by an OB there for the second half of Ian's pregnancy. I ate many meals at a cafe that used to be on that floor (no longer there) when Nadia and Ian were in the NICU. My first trip to this hospital was in July 2004 (RE), and my last appointment on LL2 was again with the RE for the embryo transfer on September 26, 2013.

My first experience with LL1 was when I had a little tour during my pregnancy with Nadia, and it was on that floor that I gave birth to Nadia and Ian. The NICU is also on that floor so I spent more than five weeks on that floor altogether between the three kids (Oliver's first week was in Harrisburg).

This recent hospitalization started on the first floor (one floor above LL1) while Oliver was in the PICU. I took my showers in a family room on the third floor while he was in the PICU. I pray that my kids are never patients in the third floor unit because it's for pediatric oncology. We spent about 15 hours on the 2nd floor after Oliver was transferred from the PICU to the regular Pediatric unit. Those rooms are definitely more comfortable for parents than the PICU rooms, but at least I was able to stay with Oliver in the PICU, which isn't even possible in the NICU unless you are in one of the two "demo rooms."

As I walked through the halls of the hospital a wide variety of memories and emotions kept rushing over me, but the bottom line is that these kids are worth every second of the emotional and physical pain endured in that hospital over the past 10+ years. We didn't have any hospitalizations in our family in 2013. I am hoping maybe 2015 might turn out the same way. Oliver was hospitalized three times in 2014 in three different hospitals. That still was much better than 2012 when we spent almost 18 weeks in hospitals between Ian's feeding program in Hershey, my antepartum hospitalizations, and Oliver's NICU stay.

Yesterday was the third consecutive day of Oliver not having any accidents! He has also been waking up dry after his naps and overnight most of the time. The biggest improvement is that he has been telling me when he has to go potty a lot more often and he has been pooping on the potty either because he told me he had to go or because I happened to have him on it (not because I caught him pushing and rushed him to the potty which is what happened the first 3 months of potty training). What a relief! In addition to learning how to stay dry while asleep, he eventually has to learn how to dress himself after going potty and even later than that learn how to wipe himself. One thing at a time! I am very relieved we are over the worst of potty training, especially in light of the fact he wore diapers 24 hours a day for almost 4 days last week.

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.

Fifth day of Christmas

Because of our trip to Maryland, we gave our kids their gifts on December 21 (first day of Christmas). They received gifts from my parents and siblings on December 25 (#2). We had planned to celebrate Christmas with Paul's side of the family on the 29th, but those plans were cancelled due to Oliver's illness. When Paul's dad came up on Wednesday , he brought Oliver one gift at the hospital (Mickey slippers) and gave Nadia and each each two of their Christmas gifts (#3). They enjoyed playing with their new Lego sets and reading their new books while he was here that day. The hospital had a holiday shop filled with really nice games, puzzles, toys, dolls, etc. for the pediatric patients and their siblings. I was given a bag and told to pick out 3-4 things per child! Oliver played with his new toys in the hospital, but Nadia and Ian got theirs on Friday (#4). Nadia also got a belated birthday gift from Wendy in the mail that day which she loves - Mulan and Li Shang Barbie dolls! The hospital gave Nadia a singing Cinderella Barbie, some Crayola window markers and window clings, and a Sofia the First set (included 5 small dolls). I had picked out a Star Wars figure, a Jake and the Neverland Pirates memory game, and a large die-cast jet from Disney's Planes: Fire and Rescue movie for Ian.

Originally we had planned to go to church this morning and then meet Paul's parents somewhere and leave the kids with them on our way to the Poconos for a little getaway. Those plans were changed due to the hospitalization, and because we hadn't celebrated Christmas with Paul's family yet we drove to Paul's parents house after church this morning to celebrate Paul's birthday and have our fifth day of Christmas (over a 2 week period). The kids received gifts from Paul's parents, brother, Aunt Debbie, and Gram. I think this concludes our celebration of Christmas! The kids played with some of their new toys at Grandma's house, but some things (like Lego sets) are still in the boxes, and the kids are really looking forward to playing with them tomorrow. Originally I had planned on doing schoolwork this past week (which didn't happen due to spending four days at the hospital) because I didn't think we'd be doing schoolwork this coming week (due to being in the Poconos), but in reality we are more in synch with a traditional school schedule in that we didn't do schoolwork the past two weeks but will be getting back in gear tomorrow. The kids have written a few thank you notes, and Nadia has done some reading, but other than that they've had a two week vacation.

Nadia, as always, wins the prize for being the most expressive of our kids. It is SO easy to get pictures of her just radiating joy and excitement when she's opening presents. The boys hardly even smile even though I know they like the gifts they got. Editing the pictures will take me longer than usual because I was having the hardest time with the white balance. Everyone looks very jaundiced at the moment. I thought using the speed light would help with that, but it didn't. I have so much to learn when it comes to taking pictures without the aid of natural light (or how to fix them in Lightroom as my editing isn't perfect either). I REALLY prefer natural light!

Oliver woke up dry the past two mornings! Also, he didn't have ANY accidents today, and he pooped on the potty twice today. This is a HUGE relief to me. Our trip to Gordon (the town where Paul's parents live) threw off his nap schedule. I thought he might nap on the way to their home after church, but he stayed awake. I tried to put him down around 2pm after the gift exchange, but he couldn't seem to fall asleep in their guest bedroom. He did fall asleep on the way home around 6:30pm, but I think that counts more as going to bed early rather than a "nap." When we got home I gave him a breathing treatment, changed him into his pjs, and put him to bed.

Forty-Five

Paul turned 45 years old today! He had just turned 27 when we met. In just 9 more years I will have known him for half of his life. I was almost 25 when we met, so in 7 years he will have known me for half of my life. When I met him 18 years ago he hadn't gone to college, but he started working on his bachelor's degree a year after we met and now with his Ph.D. he's half-way through his second year as a college professor! I'm praying that before he turns 46 he'll be starting in what hopefully will be a more permanent job. The kids and I are very thankful for him, and we all love him very, very much! Over the past year he had his first experiences with coaching- first he coached Nadia's basketball team and then he helped coach two soccer teams this fall (Ian's coed U6 team and Nadia's all girls U8 team). He has started teaching Nadia how to play chess, and he enjoys doing puzzles with the kids and building things with Legos with Nadia and Ian.

Last year I bought him Captain Crunch cereal for breakfast, which is one of his favorites, and I very rarely buy that kind. Ian had requested donuts for his birthday last month, and I thought afterwards that donuts for breakfast on each person's birthday might be a nice tradition for our family as we all love donuts and we don't buy them very often. I planned to pick up some donuts yesterday so we could all enjoy them for breakfast this morning, but Paul got the donuts yesterday since we were still in the hospital. Nadia and Oliver helped me make his favorite cookies last night (white chocolate macadamia nut). Ian wasn't able to have a donut because he hadn't eaten his dinner from last night. The plan had been for Paul to take the boys to McDonald's for lunch today for his special birthday lunch while I took Nadia to a Frozen tea party (a fundraiser for the local library, which isn't the library we usually go to), but Ian still hadn't finished his dinner so Paul made himself an omelette for lunch. This evening Paul and Nadia had dinner at the Watson Inn, which is a fancy restaurant in our town that gives you a free meal (up to $20) on your birthday; so this was a very inexpensive Daddy daughter date because he just had to pay for his soda, her kid's meal, and the tip. Usually Paul and I go out on a date for his birthday, but we thought after church tomorrow we were going to be headed to the Poconos for a two day getaway without the kids. In light of Oliver's hospitalization, we have postponed it until next weekend. If it happens, it will be the LONGEST date we have had in 6 1/2 years! Our getaway was my birthday present to him this year. At breakfast he opened his gifts from my parents and my sisters.

I was going to start taking down the Christmas decorations on Monday, but the kids asked me to leave them up a few more days. Ian still objected when I started to take most of the stuff down yesterday (I leave out the snowman stuff), but I told him that we needed to decorate for Daddy's birthday. Although I enjoy Christmas decorations, I am also glad to pack them up. I don't usually wait until January 2 to do so. Oliver's PICU stay gave Nadia and Ian an extra few days to enjoy the tree.

Daddy blew out the candle twice so they both could help!

I went to bed early last night, but that won't be happening tonight because the Steelers' game starts at 8:15. Unfortunately our star RB was injured on Sunday, Hopefully we can win with without him. It was SO nice to sleep through the night last night on a comfortable bed, Ian came in at 6:00, but Paul sent him back to bed. Oliver woke up at 6:45. He had one (#1) accident this morning, and he pooped in his diaper right after I put him down for his nap, but he woke up dry this morning and peed on the potty several times and pooped on the potty once today. He has regressed some, but we don;t have to start at square one again. Thank goodness! He has smiled a lot, but he's also angrier and more fragile than usual. Hopefully he'll return to his usual temperament in the near future. I wore a gown, latex gloves, and a mask most of the time for 3 1/2 days. My hands are very glad that is no longer the case!

Discharged!

What a difference 24 hours can make! In less than 12 hours Oliver went from 6 liters of oxygen (at 60%) on the high flow cannula to the low flow cannula to room air which moved us upstairs one floor. His feeding tube came out this morning, and gradually other things were taken off of him (heart rate monitor, pulse oximeter, one IV, etc.). When the doctors did their rounds around 9:00 they said he could be discharged. I know from experience it usually takes two hours from when a doctor says those magic words until they actually return to your room and hand you the discharge papers. It actually took over three hours this morning, and the final step was to have the last IV removed and the "FALL RISK" tag removed from his ankle. I had changed him into regular clothes even before the doctors did their rounds (at the suggestion of the nurse). I had packed extra underwear, but I hadn't packed extra pants. He had one accident. He had gone into the bathroom but didn't make it on the potty in time. Although after I took off his wet clothes and put him on the potty he did pee and poop on the potty. They gave me some detergent, and I went up to the third floor and did a tiny load of laundry so he could go home in clean pants. I was rather nervous the rest of the day about how much regression we'd experience with the potty training, but he didn't have any other accidents today. Whew. Here's to hoping and praying that there won't be any major regressions. I was dreading starting that process up all over again after he wore diapers for 3 straight days after having worn underwear during the daytime for more than 3 months.

He fell asleep on the way home, and once we got home I put him in a diaper (which stayed dry) and put him in his bed. He slept for 3 hour and 45 minutes altogether. Last night I had put him to bed at 8pm in the PICU but then they woke up him to do the evaluations for the transfer, and the lights didn't go out in the new room until almost 10pm, and they woke him up at 2am and 6am with taking his temperature and blood pressure and such. All that to say, he didn't get nearly enough sleep last night, which is why he took such a long nap. He could finally sleep on his belly without any wires, tubes, arm restraints, etc.  We are both SO glad to be home! I have more I was planning to say, but the bed is calling my name even though it's only 8:30pm. It's been more than 11 days since I've had a good night's sleep. My back in particular has paid a price. Here's to hoping and praying that the kids let me sleep until at least 6:00 tomorrow morning!

We moved up a floor!

I usually am asleep at midnight on New Year's Eve, but last night I was awake to ring in the New Year in the PICU. I fell asleep at 8:45, but I woke up at 11:15 when the doctor came in to check Oliver and a bit later when they were doing rounds. Paul was surprised when I called him to wish him a happy new year. They have completely weaned Oliver off the sedatives. He has gone from sleeping almost all the time to being awake most of the time, even in the middle of the night. I held him for a couple of hours around 3am. He threw up and got a sponge bath around 5:30am. He hadn't been given anything by mouth since Monday, but today they allowed him to first have some water by sponge and then some jello. He was so happy to have some food in his mouth! He has been asking for all the stuff to come off him, and he keeps pointing to the door and asking to go. He is ready to get out of here!

This afternoon he made a lot of progress with being weaned off the oxygen, and I asked the nurse if we could do a room air trial. She agreed to a short one, but he did so well they haven't put him back on the oxygen! What a difference in 12 hours! PTL! At 9pm we were moved upstairs to the Pediatric unit in the 2nd floor. This room is SO much nicer. There is a bathroom and shower! The sofa bed is MUCH bigger and more comfy than the cot in the PICU. They let him have regular food this evening, and his feeding tube is coming out in the morning! Praying we get discharged tomorrow! I miss Nadia and Ian something fierce, and Saturday we have special plans. Oliver wants all the tags, wires, IVs, and tubes to come off. He really wants to be home also! Hopefully his saturation levels will be good tonight while he sleeps on room air so we can all sleep in our own beds tomorrow.

Goals for 2015

Many people think it's pointless to set goals each January, but I find the process helpful. I certainly don't accomplish all my goals, but I think more positive changes happen than if I hadn't set any goals. For one thing it's just helpful to stop and think at least once a year about what changes I would like to see happen in my life or in the kids.

Last year my focus was on traditions and habits. It is a little hard to establish a new habit at first, but wow is it helpful. For example my kids don't even bat an eye any more when it comes to the rule that they have to eat a fruit or a vegetable at both lunch and dinner almost every day. And Nadia and Ian have also adjusted to the idea that at one meal a day they must drink water instead of milk. The list could go on and on. So although I don't think habits are my main focus this year, there are a few habits I hope we instill this year:

1. Nadia practicing the piano five days a week
2. Having Ian start to do some schoolwork in the morning at the same time Nadia does hers. he is perfectly willing to do this. I am the one who needs to make this adjustment! I have enjoyed just having two hours of one-on-one time with Nadia (while keeping an ear tuned to make sure Ian and Oliver are doing okay). His schoolwork will take less than an hour so I'll still have one-on-one time with Nadia.
3. Pick a night of the week that will be "game night" for our family as too many weeks we forget to play any games.
4. Get back in the habit of a family fun night, which fell by the wayside somewhere along the way

The word I want to focus on this year is grace. Rules can be broken. I have a mindset that the kids ONLY watch tv once a day, which is a good rule, but it's okay if from time to time I let them watch another 20 minutes of tv at some point for whatever reason (maybe because I need to accomplish
something and this will keep them occupied). I am just using this as an example, but I feel that there are times like this when I am overly rigid with rules. I am breaking my usual rule of Nadia only being in two "sports" at a time in a big way over the next 10 weeks as they'll both be taking ice skating lessons, gymnastics, and the homeschool gym class at our church. Nadia will also be on a basketball team. That all translates to four sports and five commitments a week when you count the basketball games on Saturday. Hopefully I won't regret breaking my rule. I am by nature a goal oriented, "driven" type person, but I realize that sometimes I just need to "take a chill pill.". For example, I don't keep track, but I am sure we do school far more than 180 days a year. I need to be more flexible to taking days off because we're going on a field trip or because it snowed. Nadia is way above grade level in most subjects. She can afford to take a day off here and there! God has lavished grace on us, and I want to show more grace to my children and also to myself.

Finally, here are a few goals for each of us:

• Me - lose at least ten pounds and keep it off, continue to hone photography skills, continue to try new recipes (including crepes), continue to try and develop friendships with other women, continue to work on getting in a good routine with my quiet time and household chores (in particular dust more regularly)
• Nadia - completely break the thumb sucking habit, get her to ride a bike without training wheels, increased thirst for reading chapter books, fewer reversals of letters and numbers when writing, and learn to eat stews, soups, peas, lima beans, and corn.
• Ian - break the belly button rubbing habit, write numbers and lowercase letters, ride a bike without training wheels, swing on his own, walk across the rope at the playground, count to 100 by ones, fives, and tens, less fussing and crying,  better at using scissors, learn to tie his shoes, become more comfortable being alone in a room, and help him make huge strides with his reading skills
• Oliver - eat with utensils instead of his fingers, become night-time potty trained, identify the letters of the alphabet, count to 20, identify his shapes and colors, and able to do 24 piece jigsaw puzzles independently, begin memorizing Bible verses