True Grace

We're all pretty tired tonight, but here's the brief rundown for today.  Grace did great, living up to her namesake with total calm all morning, even though she didn't eat at all and had to wait an hour before we even went back for pre-op -- and we had gotten there at our scheduled time of 11:15.  She was pretty hungry.  But once she got going, she never skipped a beat.  She woke up after surgery totally calm.  She was everyone's favorite patient for the day.   The doctor said she had a lot of tonsils and especially a lot of adenoids to come out, so she should do a lot better in the long run.  For the moment, she's been switching between feeling okay most of the time and feeling really run down and nauseated other times.  Still, she's been drinking a lot and she had some strawberry ice cream for dinner.

Here's a brief photo documentary:

Pre-op, ready with hairnet, funny socks (over her hand knit red and pink ones), and Surgical Center zebra that she got to keep.

Consulting with Mommy

In the red wagon (with the zebra, and her bunny, and Lambie of course), pulled by the anesthesiologist. 

A few minutes after she came out of surgery, drinking her water and getting a book read.  The pulse monitor is on her finger, and the I.V. is in her other arm.

The orange popsicle was better than the blue one.

So Mommy got to eat the blue one.

A ride in the wheelchair to the car!

'Twas the Night Before Surgery...

Dude. This just isn't fair at all! I found out this afternoon that we don't take Grace in for her surgery until 11:15 am, which means after at least 45 minutes of pre-op, she won't be in surgery until after noon. Mind you, she can't eat after 11:00 tonight. She can have clear fluids until 7:00am. Tomorrow is going to be one LONG morning... And Grace is a girl who likes her breakfast. I feel so badly for her!! She's rolling with it now, but I think the wait--and the fact that she'll be STARVING will be tough.

Apparently, they schedule surgeries starting with the youngest children first; younger and younger children are going into surgery, so the poor five year old gets pushed back to noon...

She's currently stuffed with her favorite: sweet and sour chicken and shrimp lo mein, and her Aunt Jenn's yummy chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. She said this evening after dinner, "when you hear a big burp tonight, it'll be me," which sent Anna into hysterics, causing her to let a huge fart. Boy, to have a burp joke AND a fart happen that close to one another: funny, funny, good times around here. I never thought I'd enjoy it so much, too.

It's at least something to hang on to as we head into tomorrow...

Genetics

Grace quote: "Mommy, is it really true that if I marry Peter our children will have three eyes?"
(Peter is Grace's cousin)

FYI

I realize I've been MIA for a while here... Sorry! I did realize that I never posted when Grace's surgery is going to be: this Thursday, February 28th. Sometime in the morning (we'll call Wed. night to get the actual time). So, pray for, think of, send positive thoughts her way this Thursday!

Grace is ready. She is literally counting down the days until her surgery (saying, "I wish today were already the zero day!"). We're going to the grocery store today after she's done watching Sesame Street to load up on liquids and soft foods she will want when she's recovering. She got a care package from Oma, one is coming from Gramma, and we went to the bookstore on Saturday to get a few things. So, life seems pretty fun right now. I think the reality might not be so fun. But, Grace has a good attitude and does seem to handle pain pretty well (better than I do anyway!).

Oh, when we asked Anna how she felt about Grace's surgery, she said she was worried that Grace would be crying in the night and wake her up, because she really hates that. That's our thoughtful, selfless one... I do think she's more concerned for Grace than she let on, though. I'm glad she'll be in school with other things to think about all day!

And, Poppy comes for a couple of short visits bookending his conference in Idaho starting tomorrow. We're looking forward to seeing you, Poppy!!

Southern Hospitality

So, I don't know if it's because the poor child shares a birthday with ol' George W, but this is Grace's most recent writing:
While driving one day, Grace announces that she can spell "Texas", and proceeds to spell it perfectly (she had just seen it on a billboard). Then, we get home, she's asks me how to spell "welcome," and a few minutes later tapes this beautiful poster to our wall. This was a few days ago, but I still don't want to take it down. Cracks us up.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentine's Day! I'm in between class parties and thought I'd send hugs out to all you lurkers.

The bummer of today is that Grace had to miss her Valentine's Day party (I still had to go, though....), because her throat infection is back. Yep. Not even a week after finishing her antibiotics, the fever, nagging cough, and swollen tonsils are back. So, we're currently waiting to hear back from the ENT, who is doing surgeries all day, but I'm expecting we're back on for the tonsillectomy. At least, I'm definitely ready for it now. I was a little worried before if it was justified or not, but seeing the infection come back this quickly AGAIN, I just feel for Miss Grace and want her to feel better. Fortunately, since I am the Room Parent and was in charge of her party, I got to bring lots of loot back for her to enjoy, so she's pretty excited about the table-full of candy, cookies, and crafts.

Now I go to Anna's party in an hour and do it all over again (but I'm at least not in charge of this one).

This has been one of those crazy busy weeks where I wonder how other parents do it all. I am certainly not saying I'm busier than anyone else out there; it's just doing me in this week. I'm tired, I feel stretched too thin, I haven't had time to exercise or even knit, and I just to take a nap. And I'm not a napper.

Next week will be better.

Yet Another Update

Okay, so now we're waiting another few weeks before moving ahead with Grace's surgery (if at all). The most recent antibiotic worked so well that Grace's throat looks better than it has in months. The hope is that now that we've cleared this infection, we're in the clear. Of course, it's entirely likely she'll get another one, and in that case, we'll definitely get her tonsils out. But, the doctor (and I) felt good about seeing how this goes and not rushing into anything. We need to see him again in three weeks anyway to see if her hearing is better in her right ear. She's had an infection, which we think caused her to fail her Kindergarten hearing test, but she still failed it today after seven days of antibiotics, so we'll see if the fluid is gone when we go back, and if her hearing improves. If not, perhaps she'll be getting tubes, too... So, I'll surely let you know when we know more.

I think Grace is actually a little disappointed. There's already been so much build up, and she's been preparing for it a lot by talking about it, having dreams about it, and--as you know--drawing pictures. But, that is no reason to go ahead and put her under and have surgery, so we'll see on February 26th.

Cross your fingers that the infection stays away!

Oops...

Sorry for the confusion: Grace's surgery is MONDAY, Feb. 11th. I corrected it below, but thought I should let you know here. Sorry!

Two Words

MORE SNOW!!!

Yep, we're getting even more today. It's hysterical and a bit frightening how much we have (and they're predicting another storm on Wednesday). We had a good foot more by 11:00 this morning--and it's supposed to snow through tonight. So far, we keep getting even more than they say. We've been here now thirteen winters (isn't that crazy?!) and NEVER have we seen snow like this!



Oh, Adam PROMISED his rib felt okay shoveling like this (I think he's getting a little stir crazy). I offered...
p.s. Sunday night update: we ended up getting about 18 inches today. It's supposed to continue snowing until tomorrow. Here's crossing our fingers that school will be cancelled tomorrow! Oh, I ended up shoveling the driveway later. I did my fair share. And, we're officially out of room. No more room for anymore snow. It can stop now. :-)

Little Monkeys

Pictures of the girls rock climbing on Thursday afternoon:

Anna really liked it right away. She got to the top of this rather large boulder, and then wasn't sure how to get down. Fortunately, she kept her cool, figured it out, and got down safely and shakily. She then went up and down it at least ten more times.


Climbing up even higher:


Grace took a little more coaxing (and a big ol' push from her great friend, Mikah):


She did start climbing independently after a little while. Never went very high, but had a great time:

out they come

Grace has to get her tonsils out. Monday, Feb. 11th. I'm scared silly; she's giddy about getting to eat popsicles, watch movies, and miss school. I also think she's excited to not have her throat hurt. She's had pretty much a constant throat infection for months now, and even when she doesn't, her tonsils are super enlarged and swollen.

This is a picture Grace drew of her surgery. That's the doctor standing with rather gigantic tonsils in each hand, and her in bed with her mouth open.

Again, I'm scared sick.

Also of note, we just got our second snow storm of the week--each bringing in at least ten more inches of snow. We've got crazy tons of snow. Like feet and feet. It's gorgeous. Also, I took the girls rock climbing at a rock climbing gym downtown yesterday afternoon with some friends from school. Both girls did really, really well--and were still my cautious girls, but impressed me with their bravery. Pictures of both the snow and the rock climbing coming soon.