Our little teachers

Have I shown you the boys' haircuts yet? I don't think I've taken pictures of them since all their hair was chopped off! Here is the back of Sammy's head at his kindergarten music program last week..

Being in this small group was the only time he participated in actions. I suppose he figured that not participating when in the spotlight would make him the center of attention even more. When he was in the masses on the stands, he sang the songs but did NOT participate in hand or body movements. That's our Sammy! The cutest little bumblebee ever!

We have all been healing this week. I mean, I have been healing this week! Everyone else has been doing great! We are all super excited for our waterpark trip that begins tomorrow after school. This will be our sixth annual waterpark adventure!

Elijah has had another super week at school! We are so happy about the reports that have been coming home. I have been trying to spend as much time at school as possible and I like to think my hugs help.

Today after school we had Elijah's BFF over for the first time in a few weeks (due to the crazy sickness). She approached me privately and told me that there is another girl in their class who has been getting in the way of Elijah and A's friendship. Today at recess when A was pushing Elijah on the swings (how sweet is that??), this other little girl came up and said, "I'VE got this taken care of....you can leave, A." So after A told me this story I explained that Elijah truly cherishes their friendship and that she just needs to talk to him about this. So A said, "Elijah! I need to talk to you!" E said, "What did I do? Am I in trouble? Are you mad at me?" :) I sat on the sidelines and listened to their chat. A told him her concerns and Elijah replied in the most mature way I ever could have imagined. His response was better than anything I could have come up with! He said, "A....that other girl is my friend. I like her, but I don't like her as much as I like you. You are more important to me. Tomorrow I will talk to her and straighten everything out." She kinda sat speechless (as did I) and I jumped in and expressed how proud I was of both of them for communicating so well and sorting through an issue. It was awesome! I love that E and A are such great buds and that they complement each other so well.

For the past few mornings the boys have been playing "school" before Dan and I get out of bed. They are awake by 6:00 and either play quietly in their room or in the loft until 7:00 when we get breakfast ready. A few mornings ago I walked into a "classroom" where Elijah was teaching a handful of stuffed animals about sea creatures, while Sammy had a few students pulled out for reading. It was seriously the sweetest thing. I couldn't believe the organization involved and the dedication to the project. I took the above video later that afternoon....still dedicated to teaching their students!

If Sammy becomes bored in the morning before 7am, he has been coming to my side of the bed and asking to get into bed with me. This is NOT typical, but I have loved it. A few mornings ago he said, "Special DELIVERY! SAMMY SNUGGLES coming INNNNN!" Once I had my arms wrapped tightly around him in bed, he said, "Mommy? At the end of the day at school when we do circle-up, I'm going to say that my favorite part of the day was THIS. Snuggles with you are the BEST!" He always asks me to squeeze him tighter tighter TIGHTER!!!! This morning as I was squeezing as tightly as possible without suffocating him, I told him that I had to get in the shower. He said, "But you smell so good! PLEASE don't wash that delicious smell off you!" Oh that boy..he melts my mama heart.

Have a great rest of your week! We'll be back early next week!

Slopes and snuggles

One week of 2016 is done! My week started off a bit rocky after catching Sammy's little sickness and also struggling getting back into the swing of things. After two weeks free of a schedule and a totally crazy holiday month, it was almost like I was experiencing Holiday PTSD. The week improved and we are getting back into the groove. By WE I mean ME because everyone else in my family seemed to bounce back without a problem! :)

Elijah is now officially a snowboarder! I signed him up for Courage Kenny's adaptive skiing/snowboarding program and so badly wanted to get him into skiing. I started skiing when I was a kid and I always envisioned my boys skiing young, too. The only openings available were for snowboarding, but I signed him up anyway. Guess what! The location they placed him at is THE SAME ski resort where I learned to ski as a kid. As I stalked Elijah and his instructors today, I discovered that he was learning how to snowboard on the EXACT same hill I learned to ski on. I couldn't help but get nostalgic and a little emotional. It's so crazy how things work out! Who would have ever thought.

I was worried that Elijah would be anxious about snowboarding, even though he seemed pretty excited about it beforehand. He did way better than I ever could have imagined. He liked having a hand helping him most of the time, but toward the end of the lesson (in the FREEZING cold) he went hands-free for a few seconds both on the way down the hill and on the "magic carpet" ride up. He was so genuinely excited about today and the progress he made. Eventually they will get him on a chair lift and possibly use a tether rope to help get him down some bigger hills. I'm so proud of him for being adventurous and willing to try new things!

I've been working on Sammy. Every time I ask him if he would like to ski with me he screams NOOOOOOO! Now that I've got Elijah on the slopes, I may just have to trick him. Sorry, sweetie, but you'll thank me later. He has started saying this week that he wants to learn how to ice skate, so I'm going to leap on that and get that boy in skates!

Dan left town for work today and will be gone through Wednesday, so the boys and I have some quality time on our hands. Today we got home from Afton and Sammy and I both CRASHED. Hard. Shockingly, Elijah (who should have been the most tired of all of us) stayed awake for an entire Curious George special. After that was a very snuggly pizza-movie night where Sammy kept insisting, "SNUGGLE ME HARDER, MOMMY!"

That Sammy. I still call him Sweet and Sassy (like the bbq sauce) because is the SWEETEST boy, but can also be the SASSIEST boy. He pushes his little limits and can get so upset when we stand firm with rules. It's like he can't help getting so worked up and mad about being told what to do and does/says things that go against his sweet nature. After a bit of time, he always feels bad and asks for snuggles. "Mommy, I'm moving to the other side of the planet! Please snuggle me!" :)

Elijah had a GREAT week at school, yay! Our new med dose was a good call and the transition time occurred over break...just in time for school, which was perfect. He got "great" reports every day this week. His teachers said that he was engaged and stayed on task and had a great attitude all week.

That's all for now! Have a great rest of your weekend and thank you for stopping in!

"Way too much" kisses

We are alive! (I think.) Dan and the boys had a relaxing couple of days at home during MEA break last week. Elijah has been slooooowly returning to baseline, although, it seems impossible, but....he still isn't there. It takes him so long to recalibrate. We still do not have clearance for partial days, so we'll continue to do our best to help him feel as good as possible. He has doctor's appointments tomorrow and Thursday, so he'll need to leave school early those days. A random medical issue came up last week with E. It's minor, but he'll need to have a procedure in November to help his body work a little bit better. 

Dan worked all weekend, so the boys and I had a few days together. It was nice. Lots of quality time, snuggles, playing, smooching, hugging. Times a thousand. Yesterday Sammy put a kissing ban on me because I was kissing him "way too much." He told me, "You can only have one more kiss today and maybe two tomorrow." I sneaked in WAY more than that.

During the week for the past few weeks I've only gotten to see the boys for maybe an hour/day, so I REFUSE to let them out of my sight on the weekends. I brought them with me on an adventurous photo shoot today. We ended up hiking through the hills of Red Wing to get to our couple. They immediately began harnessing me up to go rock climbing....with my camera. As I was scaling the rock wall (barely), Elijah and Sammy were cheering me on from the ground. "Be careful, Mom!" "You can go higher!" "Don't fall!" Ok, so I didn't actually go very high, but it was quite an adventure taking pictures of a rock-climbing couple while suspended by a rope.

I still owe fun pics and funnies. Soon! Bear with me!

Snuggleday

Elijah had another awesome day! His gauze fell off during the night last night (we were instructed to let it happen on its own) and his incision looks great. He experienced minimal pain today and was in great spirits. He looks better and way less tired to me than he has in months. I'm so happy the "sleep" meds are out of his body.

Dan is in full-on skydiving mode, which means the boys and I are spending a lot of time together and will continue to do so for the next 6 to 8 weeks. The past two days have been strange. I didn't feel like today was Friday...or Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, for that matter. I literally did not leave the boys' sides even for a second today. We did HOURS of snuggling and even more hours of playing. I refuse to forget about the blessings! I'm feeling super grateful and overwhelmed and I am doing the usual post-surgery sorting-through of feelings, events and answered prayers.

If all continues to go well, the boys and I will head to the dropzone tomorrow. We are all looking forward to it. Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

Wots of snuggles

Elijah's post-surgery check-up went great today. Dr. G thought he looked amazing! I mentioned the blood pressure concerns and he took me seriously (LOVE him). Even after the nurse had checked his BP in both his arm and his leg (by my request), Dr. G checked it again himself. There was still a discrepancy, but he felt ok with it. He confirmed that the pressures in his arm are the most important, and Dan and I both felt good hearing that from him. We talked about this on the way home...there is just something about hearing comforting words from Elijah's very own doctor. It means so much more than hearing it from anyone else. We adore Dr. G.



An aside: Elijah has been asking more than usual lately for snuggles. "MOM! Pweeeeease come snuggle wif me! Please wub mine hair!" I NEVER NEVER EVER turn down this request.



Elijah's xray looked great today. His new valve function looks great and he has no fluid retention, which is all awesome news. His incision also looks perfect. We are cutting his Lasix dose in half and continuing with the Enalapril until we see Dr. G again, which will be in four weeks. I asked about sending Elijah to daycare and he said it is ideal to hold off for one month from the date of surgery. We will do our best to make sure this happens.

I haven't mentioned since surgery how grateful we are for Dr. K, Elijah's pulmonologist. His PLAN, the one that kept E from getting post-extubation croup, was a total success. I will never forget walking into Elijah's room after extubation and seeing a completely croup-free boy and being totally blown away. I looked back and forth between the nurse and the respiratory therapist like, REALLY?!?!!? A huge blessing is knowing one of Dr. K's awesome nurses, so I asked her what the best way to thank him would be. She suggested leaving a nice voicemail on his pager, so I plan to do that this week. Hopefully I can hold the tears back. He is one of the most amazing doctors we have ever met. His dedication and love for his job is inspiring. There are not many people like him!

And we still have to think of ways to thank our beloved Dr. G and Dr. M.

Despite the good appointment today, Dan and I are feeling a bit more down than usual. This has been such a life-changing experience and we aren't quite sure how to handle it all yet. We continue to pray for peace and normalcy. Thanks for all of your good thoughts and prayers. We appreciate you all so much.

Cough cough....gasp..cough.....cough..

Every day I think that this just has to be the turn-around day. But the Cough Monster coughs on.. Last week the doctor said it was just a viral thing and it needed to run its course, so we continue to wait it out.

Aside from the coughing, Elijah seems to be feeling just fine. He is crawling all over the place, making messes at each stop. He appears to be attempting to master the art of The Tantrum lately, too. He has gotten really good at throwing enormous fits for no apparent reason at all. He is one feisty, stubborn, strong-willed little boy. I keep reminding myself that these are good traits to have while lying in a hospital bed after surgery.

I have been trying to take more video of him lately because I want to remember everything. I wish I could bottle up his smells and sounds and always remember them as clearly as I do now (maybe minus the tantrums). I feel so lucky that he is such a cuddly boy. He likes to crawl over to me and reach for me. When I pick him up, he puts his arms around me and rests his head on my shoulder. He's my little snuggle man, and I'm so thankful that he enjoys the hugs and closeness as much as I do.

I have a busy first part of my week, so pics and video will have to wait for the last part of the week. And a question for fellow bloggers.. Have any of you ever looked into turning your blog into a printed album or book? I really want to do this for archiving purposes. Someday, I want Elijah to be able to read through all of the entries we have written, and also to see the comments people have left for him. I found one place that is compatible with Blogger, but their site isn't very user-friendly. I'm wondering if there are better sites out there dedicated to this sort of thing?