Going Under

Sammy survived his tonsillectomy Monday, and I survived the day that followed. I think I said this when Andi had hers out, but it was the longest day ever. We had to wake Sammy up at 5:15 to get to the surgery center, and he was surprisingly cheerful. I carried him out to the car thinking he'd stay asleep on the way over, but the moment we walked outside he was wide awake. "Mom, look at the stars! Lot's of stars!"  He chattered at us all the way there, and we played and read books in the waiting room. I felt like such a jerk because he had no idea what was coming. when we went back to do the vitals he started realizing something was up and got very quiet and pouty and wouldn't even play with Thad, he just sat in my lap holding his blanket. Oh the guilt. In recovery he was upset of course because he was in pain and didn't understand why,  but he was totally ticked about the IV in his hand. It was all I could do to keep him from ripping it out, and finally the nurse said if he would drink his sippy then she wouldn't make him finish the bag of fluids and she would take the IV out. So he downed the sippy and she took it out. There was a bit of a struggle when it came to taking it out and a very small amount of blood. Some of you might not know, but Thad is a needle wuss, and that was all it took for him to get all wobbly. So while I was gathering our things and trying to comfort Sammy, Thad was being taken care of by another nurse and drinking juice and "resting" in a chair till he was more stable. So then we were waiting on Thad to recover so we could leave. I think I'll bring different reinforcements next time I have to go in for something like this with one of the kids.
The whole day was rough. Sammy refuse to swallow anything, including his own spit. I'll be cleaning the couch cushions this weekend when he's back to normal. So I was a little worried because they tell you to make them drink all day to keep the throat moist and keep them hydrated. He wanted nothing to do with that. But he slept all night and drank a whole sippy first thing this morning, so he is much better today. We've still had to pump him full of pain meds, but at least he' drinking and eating pudding.
Andi has been very jealous the last two days and keeps saying she wishes she was Sammy. Sammy gets to eat in the front room and have pudding and milk shakes whenever. I told her she got to do this when she was his age and that pacified her a little.
The best part is Sammy's new little voice. His deep little husky voice is gone and is much higher pitched and almost baby-ish. We'll see where it settles when his throat is healed, but Andi's never went back to her old voice, so we'll see.

Big Day

Today was a big day for both the kids. It was Andi's first day of going to school. For those of you who might be confused as to why our 1st grader is just today going to school, we home school. This year we are going through a charter school and they have enrichment classes for the kids on Wednesday mornings, so we signed her up and today was the first class. She was very excited to pack her backpack and wear her name tag, and go all by herself.. As she headed off with her class though she looked back at me with a definite nervous face. At that point Sammy started crying because Andi was going without him. But when we came to pick her up she was all smiles again, and didn't stop talking all the way home. She made lot's of new friends, none of whose names she could remember. She's terrible at that. But she can't wait to go back next week. Here is the first day of school picture, but for some reason I could not get her to smile normally. We took several, this was as good as it got.

After we dropped Andi off it was time for a milestone for Sammy. His first blood draw. Joy.  The poor kid is getting his tonsils out Monday morning, so we had to get his labs done today. He did much better than Andi does with needles, which is easily done because she becomes a hysterical lunatic when the needles come out. The lady poked him and he cried for a second, but then stopped and looked at what she was doing. It would have been super smooth and easy if she had not knocked the needle out before the vial was full and had to stick him a second time. That time he was just mad, and he let her know. It is amazing the healing powers a chocolate milk shake can have, even at 9:30 in the morning. Yes I'm that mom, the one who makes it all better with chocolate. Then we ran some errands and went to the Kern County Museum to look at the trains. It's right next door to Andi's school and was a great way to entertain Sammy while we waited to pick her up.

It was a big day for us all, and it went better than I expected. Now if only Monday goes this well.

Family Pictures

We've been meaning to get a new family picture up on our wall for a while now. The one that is there is a little old, ya know, back when Sammy was just crawling.

We've tried a couple of times and had nice ones for the Christmas card, but nothing worthy of being blown up on the wall. So last night we went to Thad's parents and had his dad take some for us. I think we got some cute ones.  The kids turned out well, and surprisingly we didn't have to take a million to get a good shot.

 The group shot was good, but Thad and I are both picking ourselves apart. "Why are my eye lids drooping?" 'Why does only my left eye squint?"  There will always be something I'm sure.

And then Thad decided he wanted one of the two of us for his office, which for some reason I felt weird about.  Especially when he got all creeper in this one.

This one is better, but we'll see which ones make the frames at our house.

Emotional Day

If you've ever been a teenage girl you've learned the art of writing notes. It was pretty much the main form of communication in jr. high and even into high school. That was way before texting and cell phones at school. Do kids even write/pass notes anymore, or is it all digital? At any rate, Andi seems to be jumping in to teenage girl world a little early. I got my first note from her today. She is constantly coloring pictures, or making cards and things, but this was the first legit- no pictures- note.  Written of course to inform me of her feelings. "Mom, I am going to stay in my room for ever."  As you can guess, I unknowingly offended her spirit and she wanted to make sure I knew. When I ignored the note and didn't come back to her room to ask about it, she came out to make sure I had seen it. I said I had, and asked why she was going to stay there forever. Instead of answering the question like a sane person, she ran back to her room and wrote me another note to explain. "You know why. You didn't let me help with the groceries."  Since she had already run back to her room and shut the door again, I had to call her back out to the kitchen to remind her that I said she could help, but she needed to wait till I finished wiping down the shelves of the fridge first. At which point I told her that if she wanted to stay in her room she could, but that she could come out and eat lunch if she wanted. Que water works and running down the hall to slam the door. WHAT?! So this time I followed her and asked what she was crying about. "You said you don't care if I stay here all day!" To which I could only respond, "You're right, I don't care if you stay here all day because you are acting crazy!  If you would like to stop crying you come out any time you want."  I get the whole willfully misinterpreting someone's words bit, if you are doing it to be funny. But she was not being funny. Let's take a second to remember that Andi is only 5. I'm not looking forward to teenage years with her.

Reception #2

Remember how I said family weddings are a lot of fun, well they are also a lot of work! Everything came together nicely after a day and a half at the church setting up and I think our "vision" was accomplished. I will say though, I don't want to see tulle again for a long time.  Originally we tossed around the idea of having an outdoor reception here, but Bakersfield in September is still in the 90's-100's and we thought indoor with AC a better option. Indoor was the right choice, but mostly because of the crazy thunder/lighting storms we had Friday and Saturday. It was so weird, and yucky, because it was raining but still in the 90's.
We were a little busier with this reception and didn't take nearly as many pictures, but here are a few I stole from Kelsies blog.  The whole Family, minus Cameron who is in Kuwait.

With the nieces and nephews, who are all miraculously looking at the camera.

I'm not sure if this was supposed to be their prom picture, or some sort of male modeling attempt. . . whatever it was ended up a little creepy.

I was mocked  for bringing my basketball shorts, but after trying to clean up in skirts and heels I think the mockers realized my wisdom.

 It was a little sad that what took us so long to put together was torn down and boxed up in a hour flat, but nice too that we weren't there all night cleaning.
Now that weddingpalooza is over we are back to normal life. Andi started her piano lessons today and her only comment was how hard it was. We meet with her teacher today to turn in our first round of school work and make sure I'm doing this right. Tomorrow we take Sammy and his huge tonsil to the ENT for a consult. I'm no Dr. but I'm predicting those bad boys have to be taken out. but hey, he's kept his a year longer than Andi did.

Bobby's Wedding part 1

Family weddings are really fun. I think when it's your own you are all stressed about everything going just so that you hardly enjoy the festivities. But I had a great time last weekend at my little brothers wedding in Seattle and Lacey Washington. And this weekend is the party in Bakersfield. Yes, I said party, not reception. Technically it is a reception, but we will make it a party.  We always do, as you will see from the pictures below. Walter and I flew in together Friday evening for the wedding and reception on Saturday, and then flew back home Sunday morning. It was a quick trip, but was very nice to be in the temple with all of my siblings(minus little Brado).

Here is the Happy couple coming out of the temple.

Kelsie and all the boys.

With my parents

So when there is a camera around we think we are really funny and entertain ourselves.

Don't worry, we bahaved nicely for the real photographer.These were at the reception.

Congratulations to Bobby and Kelsie! and in case you are wondering we will be differentiating between the two Kelsies with tittles. Neither of them wanted to be special K, so we are going with big and little ;)