Stop Thinking About Me

…it’s time to find the children.

Isobel woke up earlier than usual so she zonked out before her usual nap time. So naturally she found the comfiest spot in the house…. on the arcade control panel.

I took the kids to a city Easter Egg Hunt this year only to be disappointed in the city’s poor planning. By the time that we arrived (on time, you may not believe it, but it’s true) ALL of the eggs were gone. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.  A woman stopped us and forced her son to share some of the loot from his overflowing bucket with my four children.  I wish that I could say that my children were so grateful and shed a tear as they were thanking this giving young man, but the truth is that they were somewhat disappointed that all they got from him were crayons and pencils. What they really wanted was candy.

On our way out we got in line to get our free picture with the Easter Bunny. As the line is getting shorter I can hear Gray-bee, “I don’t want to see the Easter Bunny.” So of course I do what any loving mother would do. I threaten him and tell him that he is getting his picture with the Easter Bunny and he is going to like it! There may have been some kind of wire hanger reference in there, but I can’t be sure.

When it is our turn I shuffle the kids over to the second scariest alien bunny that I have ever seen (the first being when Liv was a newborn). Liv and Holden sit down and smile perfectly. Isobel immediately starts to cry and hates it. And then there is Gray-bee. What is there to say about the look on his face?… (Click on picture to enlarge)

It was so worth it.

I laid everything our the night before Gray-bee’s surgery so that I could let him sleep as long as he needed and we could just wake him up and go. At 9:30 am we woke up Gray-bee, put his slippers on him and snuggled him in his blanket, he is sleepy, but still has a huge smile across his face. We were ready to go, now all I need to do is grab my purse. In the time it takes me to walk to the next room and grab my purse Holden, who is at the table with Gray-bee, is all too eager to tell his little brother that surgery is where they cut you open with a knife and sew you up with a needle. When I return I catch the tail end of what Holden is telling his little brother and I see that Gray-bee is no longer sleepy. He is now wide awake and cowering, telling me, “I don’t want a surgery anymore.” Note to self: Stop telling Holden …ANYTHING.

Gray-bee fusses all the way to the hospital. He forgot he was supposed to be grumpy when he was playing with his Fillmore car in the waiting room. Don’t worry, he remembered again as soon as the nurse called us back.

Gray-bee is not happy. He grumps at the woman at the front desk. He grumps at the nurse taking his pulse and blood pressure. He grumps at the nurse who brings him his hospital gown. He grumps at the nurse who sets him up in his room. He grumps at the attending nurse. He grumps at the Anesthesiologist. He grumps at his surgeon. He grumps at me. Again, thank you Holden.

If there was any kind of hospital staff around, Gray was grumping at them. I got him to cheer up a little while we were waiting for the doctor, but it was gone as soon as the Anesthesiologist returned to take Gray-bee back for his surgery. I was surprised when the nurse asked him if he wanted a yellow balloon and he grabbed her hand immediately for her to lead the way. Stranger Danger does not cover yellow balloons. We’ll have to work on that.

It took exactly one hour and the doctor showed up to let me know that Gray-bee was in recovery and doing great. He was worried that Gray-bee would give him a little trouble once he was away from me, but he cooperated and did great. Note to self: Stock up on yellow balloons.

A male nurse carried him in all snuggled up in a warm blanket and handed me my baby. He started to fuss as soon as he caught sight of me, but calmed down immediately when he was snuggled in my arms. Note to self: stock up on anesthetics.

I noticed that he had a few needle stick marks on his arms and on his unbandaged foot. I know exactly what that means. Gray-bee has been “blessed” with my invisible veins. They tried in both of his arms and both of his ankles before they found a vein in his second foot. At least he was asleep when they started the IV. He hated having the IV in his foot. I asked the nurse when he could have his IV taken out and she told Gray-bee that as soon as he finished his full cup of apple juice then she would come and take it out and then she left. As soon as she was gone Gray-bee told me he was thirsty. I held the cup as he drank from the straw. He never took a breath. He tanked the whole thing. “Mom, now can you take it out of my foot?” Did I mention that he REALLY hated his IV?

The nurse was not prepared when she returned a few minutes later. She had to stall because Gray-bee wasn’t really ready to have his IV out, yet. She waited about ten minutes and then granted his request. She then walked him out to the nurses station to pick out a sticker to make sure he could walk on his own. He was a little unstable, but ready to go home.

Once I got Gray-bee home he was fine. In fact, you would never have known he even had surgery that day if it wasn’t for the small bandage by his eye. He has not had one bit of pain medication since he came home. He hasn’t even complained once about his eye. He loves to show everyone his “purple eye”. His surgery was on a Friday and by Sunday his left eye looked ready for a Vegas show. His entire left eyelid was a beautiful dark eggplant purple.

Day one – Surgery

Day two – Saturday

Day three – Sunday

Day four – Monday

After the surgery I asked the doctor if there was any way that Gray-bee could see his cyst. He closed his eyes and shook his head in a disappointed father sort of way and informed me that he already sent it to Pathology. Gee, I guess I don’t get my allowance this week.

Pathology results came back and everything was fine. Then they told me that his cyst had hair follicles on it. Hey Pathology, thanks for rubbing it in that I didn’t Gray-bee didn’t get to see his crazy awesome cyst with hair follicles. He’s a boy, he would probably want to see something gross. I have no excuse.

Gray-bee goes in for surgery today. He will have his “pancake” removed around 10:00AM. The hospital schedules the youngest patients first so they would not give us a firm surgery time until 3:00PM the day before his scheduled surgery. Since we didn’t know what time to plan for, Gary just took the whole day off from work so that I can go with Gray-bee to the hospital and Gary will stay with the other three kids.

The surgery staff suggested that we keep Gray-bee up late so he will wake up later. This is suggested because he is not allowed to eat from midnight until after his surgery. The later he wakes up the less time he will be awake and hungry. Gary and I put the other three kids to bed and I took Gray-bee grocery shopping with me. He thought it was fun because it was just the two of us. Plus I bought him an ice cream cone (before midnight, of course).

I have his “slippy” blanket, a Hot Wheels car, and Darth Vader slippers ready for him to take to the hospital. When I bring him home he will have a tough guy eyebrow scar to go with his tough guy Kirk Douglas chin.

I do not love Holden’s medicine. I am very pleased that it stopped his seizures, but I could do without the side effects. More specifically, the aggresive behavior. I needed something that would get Holden moving (tire him out) and somthing that he would love. Easy, sign that kid up for soccer.

Holden has always loved sports. He wants to be a part of any kind of sport-ish game that he sees kids playing. The notice for soccer sign ups came home in Liv’s back pack and I immediately went to the local Rec Center and signed him up. Holden was so excited when we bought his uniform (he wants to wear it ALL the time). His favorite part about his uniform are his shin guards. I’m sure he loves them because he thinks it allows him to kick kids in the shins.

Holden loved kicking the ball.

Do you remember how I was telling you how Holden loved his shin guards? I love how in this video that one of the kids gets kicked in the shins (black shorts, light blue shirt, white socks kid) and you can see Holden (blue uniform, orange sleeves) trying to show this kid that he needed shin guards. Pay attention aroung 1:37. (I just re-read that and it sounds like I said, “I love kids getting kicked in the shins!” what I meant was that I love how Holden ran over to “help”)

My heart melted as I watched Holden run over to his team mate on the side lines recovering from getting kicked in the shin. He knelt down to talk to him and I was so proud of my little boy. I asked him later what he was saying and he told me that he was telling his team mate that he needed to get shin guards. So much for melting my heart, now I’m laughing. He really does love his shin guards.

The weather is warming up, but still cold so I made Holden some hot chocolate in his blue Thermos. He thought it was so special to have hot chocolate in his Thermos and he loved that Liv couldn’t have any. Well, Liv didn’t like this at all. She is a sneaky little punk and even though I have it on video I didn’t notice Liv in the background with Holden’s Thermos. I was so focused on Holden and I was wondering why Holden was paying more attention to Liv than his soccer game. She was so distracting during Holden’s practice, she will not be coming to the next practice if I can help it.

That poor kid got kicked in the shins for a second time and you can see his mom (the coach) carrying him across the field as he is wailing about how everyone else has shin guards and he doesn’t. I think his mother hates me.

Holden has his first game on Tuesday and he is so excited to go play soccer again.

Holden was King Goalie!

It didn’t take long for these two to figure out that they were friends. (You know he’s a keeper if he shares his ice cream with you.)

Who would have thought that these two would get along with each other so well?

Who better to help calm the first day jitters than your BCF? (Best Cousin Forever… I just made that up)

“Mom, I mostly play with Taft at school because I like him the best.”

The Princess Tomboy and the Little Charmer are the best of friends.

And to think, I was hoping Korby would have a girl six weeks after I had mine.

BFF’s

Now if someone could please explain to Gray-bee and Welly that it’s okay to be friends with your cousin…

Holden cut his hair… AGAIN!!! This makes self haircut number four. Shaving his head completely bald obviously did nothing (although it was fun to run your hand over his head). He is driving me crazy with the crazy haircuts he keeps giving himself!

I needed something to keep Holden from doing this again.

Something de-motivating.

Something… embarrassing.

That’s when I decided to “fix” Holden’s haircut.

My goal was to give him a goofy haircut that would embarrass him into never cutting his hair again. Guess what? He loves it. He thinks it’s cool that his haircut makes people laugh. He wasn’t sure at first, but after his uncles reactions he decided that he loved the attention. I sure taught him myself a lesson.

Maybe he just wants to be like his daddy.

This little girl is lucky that she is so cute when she is upset.

This little girl is lucky that she is so cute even when she is angry with crazy hair.

This little girl is lucky that her cute little handprint didn’t stain my couch.

I think I’m feeling more frustrated than lucky right now.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I know that Holden’s medicine can make him hyper, but sometimes I want to know if it is Holden or the medicine.

Holden threw a Play-Dough toy in the play room and broke a window. He looks quite proud of himself in the picture.

When Holden helps mommy, he does it in his own way.

Holden broke the TV. That deserves a post all its own.

Holden stabbed a case of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies poking holes into three of the boxes inside. I had to buy the three boxes (and now I have to eat them And as punishment I won’t share with him… or anyone else)

Holden packed up his back pack with clothes and his blanket. He quietly walked out the front door while no one was looking and patiently waited in Mammy and Pappy’s van ready for his sleepover. Holden was not happy when I made him come back in the house. I had to physially drag him out of the van.

Holden loves to sneek out of bed and sleep on the couch. The family rule “You can only sleep in your own bed” was created because of Holden.

Holden cut his hair. …AGAIN! And he did it the day before he had his Kindergarten Registration. I haven’t done anything about it yet, but I am considering shaving just the top and leaving the sides and back long.

And I would like to point out that even though I was taking video of Holden, I was so focused on talking to him that I didn’t notice he was making a mess with the ketchup bottle…RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME… ON CAMERA!!! I’m such an observant mother.

I love this boy. He is so sweet and he gives the best cuddles…. with or without medicine.

Sometime last spring I noticed a small bump near the end of  Gray-bee’s left eyebrow. I made an appointment with his pediatrician. We were insrtucted to measure the bump and then measure again about six months later. If the bump was smaller after six months then it would probably continue to shrink until it was gone, but if it was larger then we would need to return to see what was the next step.

The next step was to see an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor.

This bump that was by Gray-bee’s eye was about the size of a pea and although it stayed in place it also moved under his skin. Gray-bee was so proud of his bump. He loved the attention he would get from people inspecting his bump and usually held still. Sometime between the appointment with the pediatrician and his appointment with the ENT, Graybee and Holden got into a fight and Holden ended up hitting Gray-bee with a Whack-A-Mole hammer right on his bump. You read that right. A Whack-A-Mole hammer. The screaming was 90% about pain and 10% about making sure Holden got in trouble.

Good news, Gray-bee no longer has a bump by his eye. 

Now it’s a pancake.

The doctor felt Gray-bee’s bump pancake and delivered the good news that Gray-bee’s bump was in the best spot because when he grows up he will get big bushy eyebrows that will cover any scar he may end up with from removing it. Gary wasn’t there so I just want to know how the doctor knows that Gray-bee will have big bushy eyebrows when he grows up. (Note to self: Schedule eyebrow waxing first thing tomorrow.)

The doctor ordered up a facial CT scan to get a better look at the bump before surgery so there would be no surprises. I made the arrangements with the hospital for a 5:30am appointment. Gary immediately volunteered to be the one to take Gray-bee to the hospital. I wanted to protest, but let’s face it, Gary the early bird is better suited for this job than Heidi the night owl. Plus this gives him more opportunity to show off his Super-Dad skills. (Hey Gary, nobody likes a show-off.)

Gray-bee was in a good mood before he left for his appointment, but that probably has a lot to do with the fact that he had no idea that he would be getting an IV in his arm. And even better than that, it seems that Gray-bee is blessed with my veins and it took three tries sticking him with a needle in his arm before they found a vein. Sorry Gray-bee.

They knocked Gray-bee out for the procedure so that he would hold still for his CT scan. It only took a few minutes and Gray-bee was done.

He was very groggy when he first woke up and Gary said he had a hard time getting the popsicle in his mouth. I wish there was some video.

The hospital called a few days later. Gray-bee will be going in for minor surgery next month to have his “pancake” removed.

It won’t be easy getting him to return to the hospital quietly. Maybe I should tell him we are going out for a popsicle. (Sucker!)