Tomorrow is October. Wow! That was a fast month!
I've had a halfway written post about Josh's surgery written for weeks now, and it's just not going to get finished. Instead I've decided to a quick overview of what possibly has been one of the busiest and toughest months of our lives.
I can't believe it's been almost a month since Josh's cleft palate surgery. It's crazy to have something that you've anticipated/dreaded for a whole year finally completed. (And we just had his check-up appointment yesterday and everything has healed wonderfully, praise the Lord!) His surgery was at OHSU and it took almost 3 hours. The hours immediately following his surgery were pretty awful. He didn't wake up from anesthesia well, had horrible swollen lips and face from his mouth being clamped open, and was screaming/crying the most painful sound--and every time he cried, it just about broke your heart, because you knew it had to hurt his poor mouth! One of our fond memories from the surgery was Josh's attachment to a soccer ball that was given to him to play with while waiting to be wheeled back for the surgery. Apparently, he held it all the way until he was out in the operating room. And when he finally started feeling better, he continued to only want to hold the soccer ball. Least to say the hospital let us take it home! We only had to stay one night at OHSU, and in order to get him to come home he had to take liquids, which he refused. So, Ben had the brilliant idea of feeding him ice cream. Thankfully, it worked! So we basically fed him ice cream for 3-4 days until he was willing to try other things. While the time at the hospital was harder than I anticipated, the recovery at home was easier (thank goodness!) He perked right up and was so happy to be in his own crib and around his brothers again. Overall, we're just so grateful to have it over with!
Ben was such a rock during the whole thing, while I was an emotional wreck. I'm so thankful for my husband. The picture on the bottom right is Josh post-surgery with his special soccer ball. The weird, closed way Josh is holding his mouth is the way he held his mouth for about 5 days. He really didn't open his mouth--it was so sad!
Next in our September news: I gave Joshy his first haircut!
He wasn't a big fan of me cutting his hair, but he sure looked handsome afterwards!
Josh and I dressed up for church the day after the haircut.
So if Josh's surgery and the big boys starting school and soccer wasn't enough for our month of September, Ben was also gone for an 11 night business trip to Germany. It was brutal! On our first day of being "dadless", the big boys and I tackled the apples we could reach on our packed-full tree. Seth and Sam had been bugging me to pick apples for months! It was very fun for them and we're enjoying A LOT of applesauce now.
(Seth, Sam)
Not wanting to be home alone the entire time, I braved the seven hour car ride down to Lakeview to spend time with my parents for three nights. The kids did amazing in the car, and my parents were gracious enough to meet me in Bend (halfway) each time so that Seth and Sam could talk their ear off for some of the car ride. We had a great time and even canned more applesauce :)
Seth and Sam LOVE my sister and I's old toys...but that means they are playing with little girl toys: My Little Ponies, Country Critters and Baby Dolls. Hilarious! By the end of the visit, all the ponies had been named, decorated with beads, and had packed a trailer to go on a camping trip. They also had played a volleyball game on Easter (not sure where Easter came in?) That is what is pictured below. It was the Beavers against Stanford.
(Sam, Seth)
Josh also loved the toys, especially the beads:
The boys LOVE their papa and practically stalk him while we are there. "Where's Papa?" we frequently heard. Here Sam is watching volleyball with his Papa.
Josh enjoyed taste testing the applesauce:
I was so excited to take pictures of the kids in front of the beautiful flowers in my dad's garden. They turned out so good!
Seth (finally a good picture!)
Sam
The brothers
Love this candid picture of my parents with the boys. A framer for sure!
Josh was VERY fussy the entire trip (which we discovered on the final day was from Roseola, because the rash finally showed up to match the fever that he got the day after Ben left).
We finally got him to think about smiling:
And the best for last
No comments:
Post a Comment