Mr. Jensen's Tubes

Our little guy had surgery last Thursday to implant his ear tubes. We had to be at the surgery center bright and early on Thursday morning, so Charlotte (much to her pleasure) got to spend Wednesday night with Grandma and Grandpa. Brian and I took advantage of having only one toddler and took Jensen to a little pre-surgery dinner at Spring Creek. I would like to say we had a pleasant evening out; however, Wild Man was escorted out of the restaurant by his mommy for shrieking at the top of his lungs (leaving almost an entire dish of ice cream behind). Sigh. Parenting is hard.

That would be a roll in one hand and a fistful of mac 'n' cheese in the other. Yes sir, that's my baby!

This was probably 30 seconds or so pre-shriek.

In the morning we woke up a groggy Jensen and arrived at the surgery center at Cook Children's at 6:50 a.m. We were soon checked in and escorted to our room, where Jensen changed into this very fashionable hospital gown and blue socks:

One of the nurses asked what kind of toys he liked and returned with a monster truck and little construction set. I cannot say enough good things about the staff at Cook's; you can tell each person who works there truly enjoys working with children and also cares about making the parents as comfortable as possible. Jensen, of course, was thrilled with his new toys and got right down to business.

When it was time to get started, a nurse came in and gave Jensen some nasal spray that they called, "Happy Juice". He did indeed begin to get a bit loopy (there was even some drooling going on). After about ten minutes, another nurse came to get him and he was off to surgery. I know getting ear tubes is a very minor procedure, but there is something about the sight of your baby being wheeled down the hall on a hospital bed that is terrifying and heart-wrenching. Despite my best efforts, I got a bit watery-eyed and sent Brian to get some coffee for us so that he could have a bit of a distraction.

Probably less than five minutes after they wheeled Jensen away, the doctor came to tell us that he was all finished! Everyone told me how quick the procedure was, and they were not exaggerating. The doctor told us that Jensen did great and that he did indeed have lots of fluid in each ear. A couple minutes later they wheeled a very disoriented and displeased Mr. Dude into the room. As he was thrashing about, the nurse told me to sit down and she would hand him to me. As soon as she did, Jensen snuggled his head into my neck and calmed down almost immediately. The nurse noticed and said that even though Jensen was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia and not quite sure what was going on, he could smell his mommy and knew that everything was okay. Brian was standing right beside us and told me later that indeed Jensen had been sniffing away at my neck! Sweet boy.

I held Jensen and he gradually he woke up and began to calm down and figure out where he was. One of the nurses brought a popsicle, which Jensen quickly enjoyed before asking for (and receiving) another!

Once he was fully awake and had proven that he could keep the popsicles down, we were headed home (another cute touch about the hospital: they pulled Jensen to the car in a red wagon!). Aside from the fact that I think Jensen was feeling a bit nauseated, he was okay. Once we got home he looked at fire truck pictures with Daddy...

...then settled in for a nice long nap. When he woke up, he was completely back to normal. We've noticed him messing with his ears a couple of times since the surgery; maybe they feel different or maybe he it's odd to him to be able to hear well with all that fluid gone. We have actually already noticed a slight difference in his speech...he is pronouncing a few words more clearly and we're hopeful that the tubes will eliminate the need for speech therapy, but we'll see. For now we are just incredibly thankful for the uneventful surgery and recovery.

Fossil Rim!

A few weeks ago, Brian took a Thursday morning off so we could take the kids to Fossil Rim. They love animals and I really wanted to do something fun with them before my knee surgery. We woke up that morning to thunderstorms, but a check of the weather revealed a break in the rain from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. We figured this was a perfect amount of time to cruise through Fossil Rim and that a little rain wouldn't hurt us on the way there or the way back...heck, it would even be less crowded due to the inclement weather! A perfect plan...we are so smart!

When we were about halfway there, the hail started. It was absolutely pouring and the sound of the hail hitting the car was so loud (although my car had no damage so it couldn't have been that big). Fortunately the kids did not freak out and all Brian and I could really do was look at each other and laugh at our brilliant plan.

We finally arrived at Fossil Rim and I ran out of the car in the pouring rain to pay for our admission. The nice girl behind the counter informed me that the rain should stop soon and that the rhinos were in their pen and the giraffes, too, as they are "walking lightning rods". She did say that our admission fee was good for all day, so we figured we would go ahead and cruise through once and go back again if need be.

Before we left, we figured we knew exactly how things would go: Jensen would scream with delight at the animals and Charlotte would flip out and have a meltdown or two. And the minute we reached the first animal (some kind of deer or something, I didn't really consult my handy guidebook) our children proved once again that we really, really don't have them figured out: Jensen began shaking his head saying, "No, no no!" and retreating in fear to the opposite side of the car from the animals while Charlotte squealed with delight and reached out to feed them.

Charlie was cracking us up: Even though we unstrapped them from their car seats and let them have free reign of the car, she preferred to stay in her car seat where she belongs. Too funny...maybe a security thing or something? At any rate, she stayed in her car seat pretty much the whole time even though we kept encouraging her to come up front with us.

Hello!

 

 

 We stopped at the cafe at the midway point to have lunch (ignoring the fact that it was 10:30 a.m.)...

...and then we were back on the trail. The rain had stopped and as soon as we began driving we could see them: the giraffes were out!

There was even a baby giraffe (you can see him in the above pic). They were so beautiful and sweet, and one sure did come right up and stick his head pretty much in our sunroof. Jensen would have none of it, but my little daredevil Charlotte let me lift her out of the sunroof to feed our new friend.

I was giddy with excitement over the giraffes; in fact, I think I might have enjoyed it more than the kids! They were definitely the highlight of the trip...definitely better than the snobby zebras who totally thought they were too cool for our food pellets.

Jensen's second favorite part of the trip was probably this:

Just like Britney Spears, y'all!

But his favorite part of the trip came after we had seen all there was to see (or so we thought). In the parking lot on the way out of Fossil Rim, we came across the best exhibit of all (to my school bus-fanatic little boy, at least)...

My big boy is still little!

He was so excited that he was just standing there jumping up and down.

So in the end, our brilliant rainy-day Fossil Rim plan wasn't exactly brilliant, but it turned out okay. We got to see most of the animals and even threw in a school bus for good measure. I'm still finding stray food pellets in my car (the kiddos' aim was not so hot), but hey, it's better than hail damage. I had so much fun that day with my little family of four. We will definitely be returning to Fossil Rim soon...hopefully on a slightly sunnier day!

iPhone Randoms

Since not much is shakin' around here these days, I dug through some iPhone pics to find a few forgotten memories!

First up...the train. My mom and I took C & J to ride the Trinity Train. I had taken Jensen in the past with some friends but had been hesitant to take C because I was afraid of a freakout. And boy, did I turn out to be right! Despite the fact that she'd been talking about riding the train all morning, she started flipping out the minute she saw it. Her shrieks (and attempts to fling herself out of the train) were so desperate that my mom just hopped off with her and waited at the station for Jensen and I to get back. Poor Charlie. At least my big boy had fun!

Next up...my Charlie on Mother's Day. I don't think I ever posted this but it kills me because she looks so darn old! Ughhh!

Moving right along to my little strawberry thief. I was in the bathroom getting ready one morning and I came around the corner to find Jensen chowing down on my bedroom floor...he had reached up onto the counter and grabbed a container of strawberries. Then he brought them to my room, sat down, and (very neatly, I must say) proceeded to eat them all and put the stems in the lid of the strawberry container. I constantly forget that he can reach things on the counter! At least he was very orderly...not a strawberry to be seen on the carpet!

Finally, we celebrated Aunt Biff's birthday. She and Uncle Dot are getting married in April and I couldn't think of a good gift. Finally I decided that I would like to take her shopping to pick out her wedding shoes. I made this little card with Jensen's help (he enjoyed picking out pictures of shoes on the Internet).

How fab is that blue pair? I think our shopping might be done, haha!

Tales from a Bedridden Mommy

Going on day five of post-surgery...boredom and mommy-guilt are setting in hard. Brian and I decided that I'm living the life of many rich and famous moms: someone else does the hard stuff, and my only duty is playing with the kiddos once they're bathed, fed, dressed, etc. Doesn't sound like too bad a gig, but in reality it's hard watching someone else take care of your kids. Especially when that person (aka my mom) is really good at it. The kids are having a blast hangin' with Grandma and if I'm being perfectly honest I'm feeling a bit useless and sorry for myself.

Anyways, enough with the pity party...here are a few pics of the past few days.

On Saturday, I ventured out to the wedding of Brian's cousin Kate and her new husband Codi. I just love this sweet girl and could not miss seeing her say 'I do'! It was a beautiful ceremony and I wish we could have stayed for the reception, but my bed and ice pack were beckoning from home.

Jensen, my little mama's boy, hasn't left my side too often. This pic is blurry but he is eating chips in bed. (And feeding them to me. And putting half-eaten chips back in the bag.)

Yesterday, Brian and I went to a cookout to say "See you soon" (NOT "goodbye"!) to Lisa and Ryan, who are moving to Kansas City. Kim, Lisa and I were roomies in college...we have many pics of the three of us, but here is one from yesterday. One of us on crutches, one of us holding a wet diaper behind her back, and all of us listening to the shrieking of multiple children in the background. Times have changed since our college days!

Also yesterday, I painted my nails. I have no idea why I ever think this is a good idea because I'm absolutely terrible at it, but I guess being bedridden makes you do foolish things. Like adding a glittery accent nail to your botched manicure. Why not?

Oh hey, look! I have done some tough parenting tasks lately. Here I am clipping Jensen's fingernails. (Yes, in bed. Between that and the tortilla chips, our bed is pretty crunchy.)

That's all the news for now. I'm sure I'll have another riveting update in the next few days!

Bed Rest, Vol. 2

I had my knee surgery Thursday. Everything went well except that the doctor found a lot of damaged cartilage to fix, which will require me being on crutches for three weeks rather than the anticipated one week. I have been busy watching reruns on TV, surfing the web, and being waited on by my poor husband. Kinda like bed rest...except said husband is also trying to deal with two unruly two-year-olds! Poor guy.

The kids came in the bedroom a couple hours after I got home.  Charlotte was very wary of my huge leg brace and didn't get too close, but Jensen was both intrigued and I think also a bit sympathetic. He climbed right up in bed with me and began shoving tortilla chips in my mouth (I guess he thought I needed help eating?).

 

On Friday and so far today, both kids were happy to come in the room and hang with me. We've read books and looked at pictures on my phone and they have been reminded to be careful around "Mommy's big boo-boo" several times. My mom (who has been an enormous help, as always) and Brian took the kiddos swimming yesterday afternoon and I planted myself in a patio chair and watched. I went back to the doctor so he could change the dressing on my knee and he was really pleased with how well I'm doing and I have to say, so am I. I'm even going to try to head out to a wedding this evening so we shall see how that goes! 

Just Like I Always Imagined!

I have been dying to paint Charlotte's little toenails. So a few weeks ago, when she noticed that "Mommy's toenails are blue!", I asked if she would like blue toenails, too. She said no...she wanted "green toenails!". I excitedly ran off to grab the closest I could find to green nail polish, hurried back, and removed Charlie's shoes. As I was unscrewing the lid to the nail polish, Charlotte thought twice about having her toenails painted and began shouting, "NO! NO! Shoes back on! Shoes back on!". I tried and tried to convince her that it does not hurt to get your toenails painted but she was having none of it. I was about to admit defeat when I glanced over at Jensen to find him pointing excitedly at his own little toes.

Result?

Color: Essie's Turquoise and Caicos

 

 

Jensen is most pleased with his pedicure and likes to show people his pretty toesies. As for Charlotte, well, she never could be convinced to let me paint her toenails. My brother came over the next day and, for some reason, he became as obsessed as I was with getting her to let us paint them. He even took off his sneakers and let Charlotte paint one of his toenails (fortunately for you, I didn't take pictures) in hopes that she would then let him paint hers. Nope. I totally snuck up behind her while she was standing in her learning tower and painted her big toe, but that's as far as I got. Oh well...at least I have one kiddo (and one brother!) with bright summer toes!

Well-Child Checkup (aka Unwell-Parent Checkup)

We had Charlotte and Jensen's two-year-old well-child checkup last week (we are about a month behind in our checkups...not sure when that happened, but it did!). Charlotte, being the perceptive little gal that she is, has begun a new thing where she starts screaming the moment we pull into the pediatrician's parking lot. I am so fortunate that Brian is able to take off work and come with me to these well-child checkups because I'm not quite sure what I would do if I had to wrangle an apprehensive Jensen and a screaming Charlotte all by myself!

Anyways, Charlotte began crying in the parking lot. Brian took Jensen inside and signed us in while I tried to talk Charlotte down...no luck. She kept crying and eventually I gave up trying to reason with her and we went inside to join the boys. While in the waiting room, she kept screaming and crying and trying to run out of the doctor's office. All my efforts to distract her failed (and they were not helped by the other mom in the waiting room who kept asking, "Why is she so upset? Why doesn't she like the doctor?" and so on and so on. I don't know, lady! Leave me alone!). Anywho, the kids were examined by the doctor. Charlotte is still tall and slim, hanging out in around the 20th % for weight and 85th % for height. Jensen is in the 50th % for weight and...we aren't really sure about height. He chose the height-measuring part of the appointment to flip out, so they said he didn't really grow much since his last appointment, but I have a hard time believing they got an accurate measurement. As the doctor examined Charlotte, I tried convincing her that little Charlotte really is a happy girl most of the time...but I doubt the doc heard me over all the screaming. Charlie really did scream from the minute we hit the parking lot until the doctor left the room. Funny thing is, as soon as the doctor left the room Charlotte started singing and dancing, happy as a clam.

Anyways...all that to say, they are healthy, and we are thankful. And we need a drink.