So long, Pillow Pets!

Our living room today before the Pillow Pet delivery!

SO many people gave generously in order to make this Pillow Pet ordeal happen and we feel so grateful for the generosity of our friends, family and perfect strangers! When we got to the hospital I went inside to let the security guard know what to expect. His response: "Uhhh...300....Pillow Pets?!? Okie dokie! Bring 'em in!" So we did! We unloaded FIVE carloads of PPs!

I think we overwhelmed the poor security guard a bit. :)

Here is Elijah and his heart pal Eli, posing in front of 300 snuggly Pillow Pets!

The delivery crew! We are so thankful for these kind friends of ours for donating their time today.

And here is our kitchen, minus hundreds of Pillow Pets. It felt strange to look at this empty scene upon arriving home. We have gotten so used to the PILE, literally climbing over bags just to use the restroom. The boys infused love into every single PP that entered our home, so we were a little bit sad to say good-bye. But we are so very happy knowing that each one of them will be in loving, happy arms.

The boys were able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa this afternoon while Dan and I sneaked away for a movie. It was a huge treat all around. Elijah and Sammy LOVE time at Grandma's house and Dan and I rarely get time "away" alone.

This week: memory-attention-learning testing for Elijah, attempting to juggle his school schedule and a special ed re-eval meeting (gulp). We're still in the process of figuring things out for our oldest cutie, and we know it will only get easier from here. Thank you so much for checking in!

Pillow Pet power!

We won't have our final numbers till Sunday, but I wanted to share where we are at with our big Pillow Pet project! We currently have 270 Pillow Pets (along with 35 other stuffed animals/comfort items) for the kids at Children's Hospital!! This is INCREDIBLE! We are still receiving boxes in the mail almost daily (the UPS, USPS and FedEx drivers must be downright SICK of us!), but we plan to make the big delivery this Sunday. Thankfully we have had a handful of people offer to help with transport because we have two cars, one of which is not running. We would need to make approximately 25 trips if we were doing this on our own!

Every time our doorbell rings, the boys excitedly yell, "MORE PILLOW PETS!" and they run to open the door and literally SQUEAL when they see more boxes sitting outside. Elijah asks at least daily, "Why are we giving Pillow Pets to the kids, Mom?!" I am loving this lesson in Giving. This is the perfect way to show them why it is good to do kind things for others. Elijah has fresh memories of being sad and sick in a hospital, so he knows how good it feels to receive love during times like that. He gets it. He always ends our conversations with, "Yeah, it'll make the kids happy, Mom."

I'll wrap up with a few Sammy and Elijah funnies:

Me: Sammy, did you just wipe a booger on me?!
Sammy: Nooo! It was just some stuff from my nose.

Me: How are you feeling this morning?
Elijah: Extremely exstrangeable. 

Sammy: "Elijah, leave my toy ALONE! ..... MOM! Elijah is traumaticking me!"

Pillow Pets for "the kids" and our first day of homebound schooling!

Wow! Dan and I were FLOORED when we saw all of the Pillow Pets we had received in the mail today. Not only did all of these packages arrive at our door, we also received donations with very heartfelt notes included. One in particular moved me to sobbing tears. It was from a long-time friend who confessed that Elijah's recent ordeal in the hospital moved him to pray for the first time in ten years. Not that I would ever wish for either one of my boys to ever endure hospital time and sickness, but if it could bring even one person to know Jesus..

Back to the Pillow Pets! If you haven't yet and would like to contribute to our "cause" that is growing with each passing day, please help in any way that you can! When we are finished collecting (not sure when we'll be done, but at least a few more weeks), we will deliver the Pillow Pets to Mpls Children's Hospital to be distributed to the kids there. It has been so much fun to see Elijah get excited about it (Sammy isn't totally wrapping his head around the concept of giving quite yet). With every one that arrives, Elijah asks me for a new count. "NOW how many Pillow Pets do we have for the kids?" I love that he refers to them as "the kids." In standard Elijah fashion, he asks me what their names are and how old they are. :)

Elijah had his first day of homebound schooling today. It went GREAT! Elijah's homebound teacher (his sp ed case mgr at school) is awesome and we love her. She had the idea of having Elijah's classmates write him get well cards, so he received and read through those today. He was SO HAPPY about each one and read through every word. One card had "I love you" written on it. Elijah dropped it to the ground and said, "Ugh. That just doesn't make sense." :) He was particularly excited to read two of the cards, both from girls that I have never heard him mention. One had a heart-shaped hot air balloon colored on the front. They were all adorable. Ms. W told us that his classmates have been asking a lot about Elijah and that they miss him. I think it makes him feel good to hear that.

The lesson part of the visit went great! He did his math and reading and spelling with ease and with total cooperation. She was impressed that he grasped all of the concepts so quickly with as much school as he's missed. It was nice to be able to have her here and chat with her about specific concerns we have about him going back to school. She understands and I think she'll stand behind our boy.

Tomorrow is our first appointment at the attention-learning-memory center. I feel SO hopeful about it. I just confirmed today that all of the visits involved are 100% covered by insurance, which is a huge blessing. We are thankful for Medical Assistance!

I'll end with a few cute Sammy-isms!

Sammy turned around and punched me square in the face.
Me: WHAT in the world was THAT?! NOT OK!
S: But I didn't do it! My puncher did!

Newly-invented word of the day:
Sammy: "Elijah, leave my toy ALONE! ..... MOM! Elijah is traumaticking me!"

And tonight as we were finishing dinner, Sammy leaned over and put his head in my lap. He sighed deeply and said, "Ugh! Mom, I do NOT love bad guys."