Battle wounds

I am not the mom who comes home from the hospital and attempts to immediately wash off all of the "hospital dirt." Removing stickers and tape and anything sticky from Elijah's body is traumatic for him, so I tend to just let it be. He has been through enough. The stickiness will come off eventually.

Elijah found his toy stethoscope this morning and had it in his ears for most of the morning. I asked him, "Hey Elijah, what do you want to be when you grow up?" He has never had an answer to this question before, but today he said, "DR. GWEMMELS!" :)



It was a beautiful day today. Totally deliciously beautiful. Elijah went back and forth between wanting to be outside and wanting to be on the couch. He has done an amazingly good job of limiting himself and listening to his body. There were times when he would sit his bottom on the couch and ask for a movie and chill for an hour or two. And there were other times when he was all over the place, playing like a crazy man. A couple times today I looked at Dan and said, "Really? He had heart surgery less than a week ago??"



Sammy has definitely been affected by our broken schedule for the past week. He is extra clingy and not being his usual happy self. Every time I hold him tight to my chest, he sucks his little thumb for comfort. That's something he usually only does at bedtime. Hopefully in the next days/weeks he will realize that his family isn't going anywhere! We love our chubby Sammy so much.



We are in the throes of surgery aftermath. Unless you have experienced it, you might think it sounds crazy. We should feel nothing but relief, right? After surgery #1, I was blown away by the emotion that followed hospital recovery. After surgery #2, I had forgotten about that emotion until it happened again and then I quickly remembered. This time, I knew it was coming, but that hasn't made it any easier. Every time I look at Elijah I thank God a thousand times. I have been crying a lot in the past few days. Happy tears, tears of relief, tears of sadness, tears of total joy and painful tears plague me all at once and all the time. This is an indescribable experience.



I saw on the doctor's discharge orders yesterday that Elijah is not supposed to return to daycare for four weeks. Four weeks?! My first reaction was not a positive one, but then I thought of the reasons for having such rules. And those reasons were confirmed today when my friend Jess graciously came to our house to bring us lunch. She almost picked Elijah up under the arms, so I had to quickly share his limitations. That just shows that it is instinct to want to pick up a cute little boy. Dan and I have to be Elijah's constant advocates right now. He has to be in the best care possible...with us! So, we will figure something out.



Elijah is doing great. He is so funny and full of energy. He is constantly making us laugh. Every night before bed I say prayers with him and sing songs. Here's an example of one of his recent prayers: "Thank you, Jesus, for this day. Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Elijah and Sammy. Thank you for Gwammie and Gwamps and Gwamma and Gwampa. Thank you for cars to drive and food to eat and toys to share. Thank you for comfy beds and for our new tway-wer and our new wittle kitchen. Thank you for drawers and doors. Amen. OH! And thank you for curtains. Amen. OHHH! And thank you for pictures! AMEN!"



That's all I have for now. We continue to heal as a family in so many ways. Thank you so much for the prayers and support. We couldn't have gotten through all of this without you all!