Sunday, April 12, 2009

Surgery

We finally got Josh's surgery done!!! I am so happy that it is over with. We were worried because he was really sick on Sunday and had a fever of 102-103. I procrastinated and didn't go to the doctor on Monday because I was praying it would go away on it's own. Tuesday I tried to go to the doctor but he was out of town and I don't like the PA they have. Tuesday afternoon the fever went away!!!!! We were able to go have surgery on Friday. This has been a huge weight hanging over my head ever since we went to the urologist the first week of Josh's life. I can finally relax!

Anyway, we were supposed to check in to the hospital at 8:30 AM (we weren't ever told a time for the surgery). I couldn't nurse Josh after 3:30 AM and he could have water or pedialite until 7:00 AM. Josh was up at 10, 11, and 12 on Thursday night. When he got up at midnight he was wide awake and wanted to play. I stayed with him until 2 AM and then I put him in the crib. He fell asleep sometime before 3 because when I got up at 3 AM to feed him for the last time he was asleep. Josh didn't wake up until 7:15ish so he never got water or pedialite. We didn't think he would take either so we didn't wake him up to give him some. Jeff held Josh all morning because I knew if I held him he would want to eat. The one time I picked him up he was trying to eat!! Josh did try to eat Jeff's shirt once at the hospital but decided it didn't taste good!

My little boy did so good considering he didn't have anything to eat. Around 9:30 or 10:00 he started to get a little harder. We were back in the pre-op area by now so Jeff just walked around with him some to try to keep him happy. The nurse carried him away to surgery at 11:00 AM and Jeff and I had to go back out to wait in the waiting room. It was a little weird to have a nurse take Josh and walk one way while we had to walk the other way. At 12:10 they called me back to the recovery area but wouldn't let Jeff back. I could see the nurse holding Josh in a rocker and he was screaming. He had a breathing tube during surgery so he sounded very hoarse. It was so sad. It broke my heart! I immediately fed him a little and after about 5 minutes he was sound asleep again. He just needed his mommy! The doctor came and talked to me and told me that everything went really well. We can give him a bath tomorrow and the bandage should fall off.

I am actually surprised how well Josh has done. Today he had a rough day and you could tell he was hurting but he has been really good. The hard part is that they don't want him in the Jumperoo or exersaucer for 2 weeks. He LOVES the Jumperoo and jumps for a couple hours a day. It is going to be a long 2 weeks for both of us. He also isn't sleeping well. Last night he was up every hour to hour and a half. Needless to say, I am exhausted and really should be in bed right now because Josh is asleep!

We got lucky with Josh's surgery because it fell during my mom's spring break. I think it was more than luck because I needed her here. It was so nice to have her at my house with my girls while we were at the hospital because I knew that I didn't have to worry about them or rush back to pick them up somewhere. I know that I have lots of friends who would have helped out but it was nice to not worry!! I am very grateful to have such an awesome mom that loves being with her grandkids and is willing to help out whenever possible!!

I think I better go to sleep now and get some rest while my baby rests!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Disneyland Report

I need to hurry and write about our Disneyland trip while I remember everything (or think I remember it all)! To start off, we stayed in a crappy hotel!! We were so excited because we got a really good deal on the Hilton Garden Inn which was supposed to be a Deluxe Hotel. WRONG!! I guess it is considered a Deluxe Hotel because it is a Hilton??? I don't know...I just wouldn't recommend staying there. The beds were VERY firm. The hotel smelled like smoke, even though it is supposedly smoke-free. They didn't have a port-a-crib for us the first night so I didn't sleep well. Half their parking spots are so small our van filled it from white line to white line. I don't know how Jeff got the van in the spot without hitting another car, but he did. I couldn't even open my door to get out!! The housekeeping staff was horrible, I don't think they really ever cleaned our room and they didn't replace the items we used. And, to top it all off it was 1.5 miles from Disneyland and they didn't have a free shuttle which meant we walked (Jeff is too cheap to pay)!! This is definitely being put on our list of never stay there again but we never would have known all of this if we didn't stay there!

Day One---As previously posted, the night staff wouldn't put forth the extra effort to find us a port a crib so Josh didn't sleep well. I didn't sleep much because I was up with Josh plus we got there late so we were all tired on our first day at Disneyland. The girls were very excited and kept saying "Disneyland here we come!" as we were walking to Disneyland. We didn't go on a ton of rides while at Disneyland just because we were doing other things. The kids wanted to do the carousel, Buzz, and the princesses. We didn't do the princesses because the line was really long. We waited in line for Dumbo for about 20-30 minutes. Andrea had a major melt-down because she wanted to ride right then. She started throwing her paper and pen I brought and was screaming at the top of her lungs!! Fun!! We made it through the line and she loved the ride. While Josh and Andrea were napping I took Sammy on Big Thunder Railroad. She didn't like it!! I tried but she kept saying it was too scary. Jeff kept trying to get her to go again so he could go but she wouldn't budge. Jeff scored later that day by getting her to go on Grizzly Rapids with him. She loved it! Andrea had a good day because I bought her a Jessie doll with my Birthday Fun Card. After we bought the doll we ran into Jessie and Woody as they were going in for a break. They gave Andrea lots of attention because she had the doll so she loved it! We were all really tired so we left Disneyland around 6 or 7 to walk back to the hotel. My feet were killing me by then and I was really tired of walking. It didn't matter the beds were hard because I was completely exhausted and slept good. Luckily Josh slept good too!!

Day Two--We tried to do the princesses today. We stood in line for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and ended up with Jasmine, Mulan, and Belle. This was not good! Andrea is a HUGE Snow White fan and was very upset she didn't get to see Snow White. We told her that Snow White was taking a nap and she bought it! We rode a few more rides today. We went and saw Playhouse Disney Live which the girls loved. Josh was entertained too because there was a lot to watch. We also went to a Bug's Land in California Adventure which has a few kids rides. Andrea really liked the flying ride! The lines over there weren't as long as Fantasyland at Disneyland so it was better.

Day Three--We woke up early so we could be at the park when it opened to get in line for the princesses. We scored. We only waited 20 minutes and saw Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White. All morning Andrea kept saying that Snow White wasn't tired any more so she would be there. We got lucky!! If you haven't been to the princess fantasy faire, you get three random princesses that change every 15-45 minutes so we got pretty lucky. We also saw Mickey and Minnie in Toon Town. We took the girls one at a time on Gadgets Go Coaster. Sammy hated it and Andrea loved it. I think Andrea went 3 times in a row. Sammy loved this ride when she was 3 but she thinks it is too scary now. We also hit all the Pooh characters in Critter Country and scored there with three characters. When we got in line Tigger was the only one there but Pooh and Eeyore joined him right after we got in line. Josh liked the Pooh ride because there was lots to look at. We did Buzz a million times (Josh liked that too) and drove the Autopia Cars a few times. Thank goodness for fast passes so we didn't' always have to wait in the lines!! Sammy did the Grizzly River ride a few more times which made Andrea mad because she wanted her turn. We ended up staying and watching part of the fireworks so we were at the park for 12 hours our last day. I didn't think I was going to be able to make the walk back to our hotel but my feet somehow made it! We did walk lots slower back to the hotel our last night.

I think that sums up our trip pretty well. We loved it and we would go again in a heart beat. Hopefully we will be able to go again in about a year! Andrea woke up today and kept saying that it was time to go to Disneyland. But, when we were at Disneyland they kept wanting to go back to the hotel (they saw the hotel pool and wanted to swim)!! The biggest let down of the trip was that they didn't have the Christmas ornaments we wanted to buy. Oh, well!!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Disneyland Pictures

Here are our pictures from Disneyland! I will write more about our trip later, it just took too long to upload the pictures tonight so I am going to bed!




Waiting to see the princesses

Andrea with Woody

Andrea giving Jessie a hug! She loves Jessie!!








I would like you to notice that nobody is crying in this picture with Mickey Mouse! Totally different from last time.

Rides at Disneyland


Josh liked the Buzz Lightyear ride because there was lots to look at.








Andrea had a major meltdown waiting for Dumbo. She wanted to ride right then and did not want to wait our turn! It finally came and we survived that tamtrum.



Outside the Monsters Inc ride. Sammy and Andrea are carrying around their newly purchased toys. They carried them around the whole day!


Andrea and Jessie riding Bullseye!

Sammy's new favorite ride is the "river ride" she went on it many times!! Andrea had a hard time because she wanted to go on it to. She has a long wait until she can ride it because she has to grow 7 more inches!! At the rate she grows, she might be able to ride it by the time she turns six!!!!









Pooh and Friends




Josh does not like the sun in his eyes.


Josh LOVED playing with Eeyore's fur!! He did not want to let go!


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Loving the Weather

This is the time of year that we LOVE Las Vegas!! It was in the low 80s today and has been really nice all week. We would be able to enjoy the outdoors and fresh air a little more if our neighbors would stop smoking in the backyard and would quite BBQ with charcoal twice a day (all the smoke pours into our backyard and open windows). I guess that is what happens when you live so close together!

My kids love to be outside and are always asking to go out. Samantha made a new friend yesterday while we were out doing sidewalk chalk. She played with her for 2 1/2 hours. She is almost nine-years-old and lives down the street. Samantha had a lot of fun and has been asking all day to go play with her. When we went out in the front yard she was so excited because her friend was out riding bikes with another girl. It made Sammy so sad that her new friend wouldn't come over and play with her. I was really proud of Samantha for talking to and playing with our neighbor. Usually when one of the neighbor girls tries to say hi Sammy runs and hides...maybe there is hope for her after all!!

Josh has starting having better balance. I think it helps that he has a big middle section but he has started sitting for a few minutes at a time. If I put the Boppy pillow around him he can sit there forever. We take him in for his 4-month well check tomorrow so we will find out just how big he really is. He loves it when I use him as a weight and pretend to bench press him! It is also a really good workout for my arms...they even get a little sore if I do it too much!
Josh in the backyard showing off his new trick...sitting up!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

More Bows

I experimented tonight and tried making a few more bows. I was able to make a castle, Minnie, and a simple clip. Sammy was excited!! They were a little more difficult to make but I think they turned out okay for my first time.

In case you can't tell this is supposed to be Minnie's head!