Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Hey There, Baby!

These shots just make me smile...


He's such a sweet little guy!

FYI - He thinks Isaac is going to give him the cell phone. :-)

Jason's Surgery

The surgery went off without any problems. Yeah! I was really worried about it.

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Medical procedures are different now. They aren't little babies who can't really understand what is going on around them anymore. Now, they know there is a strong possibility they are going to be hurt by the person wearing white. (Because, let's face it, doctors are always doing something to them at this age!)

Now, they are afraid.

On the 14th, I had to take Jason to the pediatrician to get a medical clearance for the surgery. He completely lost it once we entered one of the exam rooms. He wouldn't let them take his blood pressure and literally ripped the cuff off of his arm. We decided we would have to wait to take his blood pressure on surgery day. He wouldn't even let them take his height (37.5 inches!- 84th percentile people!) and weight (30.2 pounds!) without screaming his head off.

After those checks were done, he just sort of clung to me and said, "Are you okay? Yes, I'm okay." in a sad, hiccupy voice over and over for the rest of the appointment.

It was heartbreaking. :-(

You can see why I was expecting the surgery to be an awful experience.

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On Tuesday, Jason started crying the moment we got up to go back to the pre-op area. He again wouldn't let the nurse weigh him (thankfully she took my word on it), and she had enough sense to wait to do anything to him until after they had put him to sleep in the operating room. That was really helpful.

About 10-15 minutes before our scheduled time, the nurse brought a cocktail of Tylenol and versed and let me give it to him. Then we changed him into his little hospital gown.

Jason pre-op, just after he took his little cocktail. He is quite loopy here. (Notice his right eye is turned. They alternate turning in, which meant his surgery was bilateral, or done on both eyes.)

They had me suit up in an outfit and let me carry him into the operating room, where I held him while they gassed him to sleep. Let me just say here that holding your crying child while doctors and nurses place a gas mask over his nose and mouth isn't the most fun you can have in a morning. Feeling his little body go slack as the gas took affect was no fun either.

I placed him on the gurney and went into the waiting room.**

He was away from us for only about an hour. It only took approximately 15 minutes to do each eye. (If you're curious to see what the surgery is like, you can see an actual procedure here. I warn you, though. It is...kind of creepy. Edited to add: Isaac says I have to give you a stronger warning about the video than the one I gave you. I heard a few "Oh, Lord!" and "Whoa!" from him while he was watching it. He says it's not for the faint hearted. -- What a wimp! It took him a little off guard.) Most of the time Jason was gone was spent prepping him for the surgery.

His recovery cubicle was the exact same one I had for my surgery last month. He had the same nurse, too. (She remembered me...or at least my hives. lol. She said she was worried about me. Aw shucks.)

They let me get into the bed with him to hold him. He slept on me like that while the anesthetic was wearing off. Well, he slept when he wasn't crying or violently thrashing around trying to hurt me. The anesthesia made him pretty volatile.

Such a sweetie pie in this photo. It was sort of like the calm before the storm--and very misleading!

They let us leave after about an hour.

Tuesday afternoon with Jason was beyond horrible. It didn't matter what we did, it wasn't right. He screamed on and on for hours and was generally inconsolable for the entire day. I am not kidding. We couldn't talk--or be quiet. We couldn't move. We couldn't leave his sight.

Awful. I likened it to him being bi-polar, schizophrenic, and possessed by a demon all rolled into one! (Did I say it was awful? Cause, um, it was.)

Thankfully, he has been in a better mood since Wednesday, although he is still really grumpy when he gets up in the morning.

Note to self: Anesthesia and my two year old = a bad combination, that is for sure.

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His eyes look great. The opthamologist warned us that it could take up to 6 weeks before his eyes looked aligned (and for some kids, there is a need for a revision to improve the alignment at that point), but Jason's eyes immediately looked better. They are still pretty red in the corners of his eyes, with the right eye more red than the left at this point, but they still look awesome.

If you look at this picture from Thursday, you can see the redness in the corners of his eyes. (Sorry about the food on his mouth. The only time I could get him to stay still for a shot was when he was eating!)

He's over the picture taking at this point...

He's getting Tylenol three times a day for the next few days whether he seems to be in pain or not. He is also getting an antibiotic/steroid dropped into each eye three times a day for the next week. He does NOT enjoy the drops. I am not sure if it is because the drops hurt his eyes or that he just doesn't like being restrained so we can put them in his eyes. Let me tell you, the boy has freakishly strong eyelids. When those suckers are sealed, it is a challenge to get them open again. That shouldn't surprise me, I suppose. My boys are the ones who could close the eye speculum the opthamologist used in the NICU. (Apparently that isn't very common for a newborn!)

I think he has a bit of double vision happening as well. That is a side effect that was possible with the surgery. His aim isn't as good as it was. He'll just miss grabbing a hold of things on occasion. The good news is that should subside by the 6 week mark, too.

A special thank you to Mario and Stasi. Mario watched Shawn while we were at the hospital with Jason on Tuesday. Stasi watched both the boys the night before. You both were lifesavors during a very hectic time!

**Thanks to Mona who brought us donuts and water and kept us company while we waited at the hospital. :-)

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - The Picture Can Speak For Itself...

Bye, bye little John. Rest in peace. The four days you were with us were filled with--well, not much more than ignoring you, but there were so many possibilities. Plus, you had an awesome condo filled with loads of expensive things for your last few days. Surely that was better than being some bigger fish's dinner, right? And, the cats just thought you were wonderful.

Next time I think we need to tell the clerk to find fish that will last through the week...

The Fab Four Are At Our House!

We now have quads! Well, maybe they should be considered twins with a mother and a father? Or maybe they are all siblings? Whatever. We got four new fish. They are darn cute, too.

Meet John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The Fab Four now reside at our house.

We headed out to the pet store Saturday afternoon with the intention of picking up a bowl and a few fish for the boys. Jason has a new obsession with all things animal, and if Shawn continues the pattern he's been on lately, his obsession with animals will follow within a few weeks. So, we thought why not. It is a relatively inexpensive addition to our budget, right? We went for it.

We were off to the pet store, wide eyed with the thrill of the hunt. We had few expectations. We'd get fish. We knew we'd also get the chance to look at some of the small animals while we were there, too. A win win.

Right off the bat, the hamsters and the snakes were big hits with our younguns. Score for me! I had a good idea! Things took a turn downhill once we left the small critters and moved to the aquatic area. The boys were impressed with the water turtles, too. But the fish were apparently not that great. We couldn't get the boys to even hardly look at them.

We picked out a tank with a lid to keep the cats out. Jason picked out pink and blue (but mostly pink) rocks for the bottom. Shawn picked out a pink flower. (I have no idea why everything is pink. Real men love pink, right?) Isaac picked out some natural colored rocks to offset all the pink, and we were off. We rescued four little feeder fish. I let the clerk choose which ones we got. I just told him to choose four that would likely still be alive in the morning. (So far, so good on that one. Everyone is still alive and swimming.)

$69.00 later, Isaac and I were sitting in the car, shell shocked and wondering what the heck?

I looked at the receipt. The fish were $0.52. Four all four. That works out to $0.13 each.

We bought $68.48 worth of stuff for $0.52 worth of fish. Um, no. Then Isaac piped in with a whole commentary about how I should have sent him to the pet store on his own and he'd have us all set up with the whole deal for under $20.

Sigh. Back into the store I went.

I returned the $44!!!! fish tank set up we purchased by accident (apparently it was in the wrong place) and got a the one that we should have gotten for the price we thought we were paying, which happily I like even better than the first one. Then I had to lie to the stupid clerks who tried to badger me into getting the bigger tank because the fish! need! a! gallon! of! water! per! fish! technically making us need a 5 gallon tank for the four freaking feeder fish. (Later, I was told that these babies can reach 22 inches long. If they live that long that is. All I am saying is that these fish have been elevated from the projects of the fish world into a pretty darn fine condo in the suburbs. They should be happy. I'll just pretend they're living in the cramped world of New York...or Los Angeles and leave it at that!) Anyway, I got my money back, changed the tanks, and hightailed it out of there before even more money tried to fall out of my pockets into their cash register.

I was happier. Isaac was happier. The boys could have cared less--they were still playing with the rocks and the flower.

At home, we set up the tank.

And now?

The boys keep asking to see and smell the pretty pink flower and could care less about the fish. I am not even sure they really even know that the fish are in the tank with the flower. Well, maybe they know, but I can assure you that they don't really care. Had I known that originally, I could have sent Isaac out to get the stupid flower, put it into a reptile tank, and left it at that.

Jeez.

We like them, though, so it is all good in the long run. :-)

Itsy Bitsy Spider...

Not his best performance, but it makes me smile every time...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Oh, and please excuse the...um, voice singing. (If you can call it that! I use the term loosely.)

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Vroom, Vroom!

After visiting with the Easter Bunny, Jason wanted to try these...

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Shawn? Not so much. He preferred to check out his new coloring book, snug in daddy's arms.

Who can blame him? ;-)

Happy Easter (A Tad Belated)

We had a lovely Easter!

Four things we learned this Easter:

1. No matter how many times we see him, or even how many times he gives us a high five, the Easter Bunny is still a great, big, scary...thing. And he can still make us cry...

or look off in the sunset with a dazed look on our face...

(Help me, mommy!)

You'd be happy to know that Shawn was all smiles again, the second he was rescued from the great, big, scary...thing's lap.

2. Chocolate is YUMMY!

It doesn't matter how much you eat for dinner, you can always add chocolate!

Chocolate was so yummy, Jason woke me up this morning with a "I want chocolate, please!" and Shawn practically starts sprinting toward you if he thinks you have any.

(They come by this obsession naturally for those who don't know. I rarely meet a chocolate I don't like. Ahem.)

4. Give the boys chocolate, and they get all lovey dovey!

Mmm...baby toddler kisses...the best way to end a day!

3. Trains attack.

The boys got a small train set for Easter. They weren't too sure about it when they got it, and they've continued to ignore it--until it mysteriously started moving Monday afternoon. It scared the crap out of both of them, making them both cry hysterically! Jason flew across the room and into my lap. Shawn, who was already on my lap, tried to climb over the top of me. (I know! Brave little guys, right?) I was laughing so hard I was almost crying, too! Jason asked, "Did the train scare you, mommy?" for the rest of the night. Clearly they are traumatized.

We hope your day was just as fabulous as ours! Happy (belated) Easter, Everyone!