Wordless Wednesday: Fun with Oma and Opa

Spring Has Sprung!

We had a great little spring break get-a-way to see Aunt K and her crew in southern Indiana.  With the arrival of the early spring this year, a hike in Brown County was a MUST.  The boys and C had a BLAST!! We planned a hike around Ogle Lake, but the trail was optional.  There was much "off roading." 

 The beavers seem to be particularly industrious around this lake, as we found several chewed trees.  Here are the kids checking out the "beaver chips" on the ground.

 Aunt K getting in touch with her Children's Museum past--she actually caught a leopard frog and let the kids pet it.  A true highlight of this nature walk!!!

 Noah....well...let's just say he got closer to nature than anyone else. Notice the soaking wet, mud-covered jeans--my little explorer lets nothing get in his way--including a lake.  We had to stop several times to empty the water out of his boots.

 Alex took the following pictures of sunbathing turtles. 

 Here is Nature Boy sneaking up on a GIANT bullfrog right at the water's edge,

After a nice long hike and playground time, we decided to climb the fire tower in the park...it's much taller than I remember it, but we made it to the top!!!

After a nice bath and and a yummy dinner, the gang settled down for a little movie time. 

We had a great time on our mini-vacation and hope to explore more of the trails that wind through our State Parks...next time, however,  I am going to bring a portable shower for Noah.

We Now Return You to Your Regular Programming....

You may wonder what happened to Post Op Days 4 through......  Hmmmm....good question.  Not sure.  Noah seemed to do well overall, except at night.  During the night, he breathes with his mouth open, which dries out the surgical area and makes it quite painful.  Getting him to drink/take medicine when he was dry was very difficult, but the more he did it, the better he felt.  My only advice with the medication and drinking is "tough love" and LOTS of patience.

Noah is now back at school and eating even more than usual (if that is at all possible).  He is making up for the days of silence by chattering endlessly.  It's great to have that giggle back in the house!!!

Wordless Wednesday

POST OP Day 3:The Sound of Silence

Yesterday was strange.  I went to work, and I left Noah in the capable hands of Oma and Opa.  They said he had a good day, slept two hours, but he barely ate anything.  When I got home, we all hung out outside, and I just kept thinking, "something is NOT right."  Then it hit me:  Noah was not talking.

If you know Noah, you know that he chatters endlessly--it can actually be quite exhausting just listening to him.  WELL, last night, I felt like I was watching a silent movie.  Noah was all over the place playing, but he did NOT speak.  Truly a weird sight to behold.

The night was rough again.  What IS IT about night time???  As much as I try to keep his medicine schedule, it doesn't always work because he does NOT want to take his meds at night.  Wish I had a solution for that one.

On to Day 4.....

POST OP Day 2

Day 2 was...interesting.  For most of the morning, Noah was pretty puny...in pain and just wanting to snuggle on the couch.  He DID still eat and drink for me, so I was not worried about him at all.  He finally fell asleep in the early afternoon for 2 hours, but he was still in pain when he woke up. 

The weather in the hood was AMAZING yesterday--70 degrees and sunny.  And you know what THAT means....chilren and adults all coming out of hibernation and gathering on someone's lawn.  We had the privilege of hosting the first gathering of 2012, so Noah watched from a lawn chair for a good long time.   Finally, he could not take it anymore....this is how he spent the rest of the afternoon:

I TRIED to keep him quiet....yeah, right.  Good luck with that!  Did he pay for it later? YEP!!  We went to bed early, but he woke up about every 20-30 minutes in pain, so I'd comfort him back to sleep.  This went on ALL FRIGGIN' NIGHT.  This morning I left for work (to get some rest--hahahah) and left Oma and Opa in charge.  He was still pretty miserable, but maybe he will learn to take it easy (doubt it!).  He did start running a low grade fever this morning, but that is totally normal as long as it stays under 102.
KEY POINTS:
1.  If the child is on a narcotic, make sure they have LOTS of fiber or a laxative....those meds are VERY constipating....and the last thing you need is a kid that is cranky because he/she can't poop!!
2.  Have I mentioned that you should keep your kids on a pain med schedule??????
3.  Popsicles seem to be the best thing to soothe the pain.

A Tale of Two Tonsils

I know I have been very remiss about blogging, but that seems to happen every February when our little family gets sick.  REALLY don't like that month. 

Noah had his tonsils and adenoids removed on Friday, aend I wanted to chronicle his recovery 1) because my cousin's daughter is having this done in the fall, and I promised I would take notes; and 2) in case Alex ever has to have this done, I can refer back here.

The day of surgery was not so bad.  Noah was a CHAMP--in fact, they said he was the best kid patient they have ever had. I firmly believe that it is important to be honest with kids when it comes to scary stuff like this.  We talked about this surgery ad nauseum, but he knew exactly what to expect, so he was not apprehensive at all.  I answered all of his questions honestly.

At home that day, he rested until about 6pm, when he decided he wanted to play Angry Birds.  I left him on the couch with Kindle and headed to the kitchen to get him another popsicle....that is when I heard it....THAT noise that we all know...that one little wretching sound that makes you grab the nearest recepticle and launch over anything in your way just to catch what you know is coming: vomit.  I dove around the corner to find Noah holding the Kindle in one hand and throwing up in a little bowl in the other.  He never even stopped playing Angry Birds!

Coici helped out all day and even ran errands for us so Noah would have everything he could possibly need.  She even went and brought us dinner from a local fish fry.  When Noah saw what we were having, he slyly snuck up to Coici, batted those beautiful eyes, and said, "Coici, can I have your mac-n-cheese?"  Even though she was starving, she let Noah have her dinner.  Now THAT is love.  He rounded out his dinner with applesauce and chicken nuggets.  No joke.

 POST OP DAY 1:

Uh....what surgery???  Unreal.  That is the ONLY way to describe Noah this day.  He had energy, he ate everything in sight, and he just plain wore me out!  Ms. Amy and Aunt Katie send care packages for Noah full of nice quiet activities.   We DID do some of those, but Noah also played trains, built a fort and even did a few laps around the front yard.  UNREAL.  By last night he was EXHAUSTED....

We had a ROUGH night last night.  I have been keeping Noah on a schedule with pain medicine, which I believe is the KEY to weathering this storrm.  Last night, my alarm clock died during the night.  SERIOUSLY!!!!????  That thing has been on my nightstand for over three years and LAST NIGHT IT DECIDES TO RUN OUT OF BATTERIES!!!  SERIOUSLY!!!  I totally overslept one of his doses, and BOY did I pay for that...he was in so much pain and fought me the whole night.  KEY POINT 1: STAY ON THE PAIN MED SCHEDULE SO THE PAIN DOES NOT GET AHEAD.

I will report back on how today goes---here we go!!!