And the pain meds wore off...

At 4 am that morning we were awoke by Ethan screaming bloody murder. I ran in his room and got him. The pain medicine and epidural had obviously worn off and he was not a happy camper. He was on fire which they said he would have a fever. We tried to get him to eat some because we didn't want the medicine to make him sick. We gave him his pain medicine and laid him in bed with us. Before long he started throwing up from the medicine. We spent the rest of the night up trying to make him feel better. The only thing that would make him happy was being held upright and rocking. As soon as the time had passed we gave him some Tylenol for his fever and he went to sleep for about an hour before sister woke us all up.

I ran and took Paige to Melissa's and stopped by to get things we needed from Walgreens. By the time I returned he was miserable. The day after surgery was horrible. He was in so much pain and didn't know why. He would try to walk or bend down and cry. It was so sad. I didn't have to worry about keeping him from moving that day poor little guy didn't want to move.

By later that evening he was feeling a little better but still couldn't move very well so I sat him up on the couch with all the books he could read. He spent forever flipping through each one over and over. He was probably enjoying the uninterrupted book time. Paige was still at Melissa's and he could turn the pages as slow as he wanted without her doing it for him.

It was about 5:30 pm the day after surgery and Ethan still hadn't had a dirty diaper. He was obviously constipated from the codeine in the medicine and I called the doctor. I ran to Walgreens and got the supostiories he told me to and within 5 minutes he was finally able to poo. The poor little boy was so exhausted he passed out right then with no dinner or anything. All in all it was a long day but we made it through it.

The next morning he woke up all smiles! Yeah!!! He was still sore and cranky but on a whole he was a different child. Thank goodness it is over.

Ethan's insistion.
It's shiny because of the glue they used to seal the outside.
He had dis solvable stitches on the inside.

We made it through surgery.

Once he was in the operating room they gave him scented gas to put him to sleep. They did the painful things like iv and the epidural once he was asleep. The surgery didn't even take an hour.

Dallas had ran down stairs to get us something to eat while we waited and I chatted with other waiting parents. They called my name and took me to a consultation room. I started to panic and called Dallas. Most of the doctors had come out into the waiting room and told the parents about the surgery and how their child was doing. Why were we in a consultation room??? Was something wrong with my baby??? Why the hell won't Dallas answer his phone??? I tried to calm down and wait for the doctor. I was starting to pace in the room when I saw Dallas looking in the window over his strategically constructed food and drink tower. I was at once relieved that he was now in the room with me. Whatever they had to tell me I could deal with now.

The doctor came in and told us everything went well. Apparently he always pulls his patients in the room to give them privacy. Oh my goodness what a relief. We went back into the waiting room and waited for them to call us when Ethan started waking up. We ate our breakfast and all I could think was "Okay, just wake up and we are good."

It wasn't too long before they came out and called our name. We both jumped up and ran in the room. Our little man was in the very back of the room and was stretching like he had a great nap. I picked him up and held him. It felt so good to hold him as he held on tight to my neck as I rocked him. It took him a while to wake up and Dallas and I traded turns rocking him until then.

Once he was good and awake we needed to get him to drink something. He was not interested in his sippy cup so the nurse suggested a popsicle. She brought us one of those rainbow popsicles that you had in elementary school. He has never had a popsicle so he had no idea why we were trying to put that big toy looking object in his mouth. He finally decided to trust us and that was all it took. He ate the entire thing in a minute biting off an entire color with each bite. I thought he probably shouldn't eat this entire thing but there was no stopping him.

All we had to do now was wait to be checked out. At this point Ethan wanted to go exploring this new room full of gadgets so we were eager to go. The check out process took a little longer than I would have liked but we were fine. They ask us if Ethan would like a wagon and we said of course. I tried to prop his pillow up in the wagon so he could see but he didn't want it that way. He wanted to lay flat so he scooted down and laid flat on the bottom. I covered him with his blanket, gave him bear, and we were on our way home. He watched so intently while he was escorted out in his wagon. The nurse said he looked like one that would cry when she took the wagon and sure enough he did. We put him in the car and he reached for the wagon crying. He looked so funny laying on the bottom of that thing not moving one muscle.

We had to stop a couple of times on the way home because he kept throwing up different colors of the rainbow popsicle from the anesthesia. Once we arrived home him and I sat in the recliner and he ate crackers and watched tv. He ended up eating half of a package of crackers and two plain pancakes with water. I was sure he would sleep the rest of the day but I was so wrong. We got him to nap for about an hour and half then he got up to eat again. We pretty much laid in our bed and watched tv most of the day. He wanted to get up and run around and we couldn't allow him to. Once Paige got home their was no stopping him he wanted to play with her. I was so shocked! I thought he would be miserable not running around stressing us out about ripping stitches.

We gave him his pain medicine and put them both to bed. I was now very worried about what tomorrow would be like trying to keep him still...

Surgery moved up

Okay let me first let everyone know that these blogs are a week post dated. Ethan had surgery on 9/24 and I was off most of the week to care for him. I blogged when I had a chance but hadn't had a chance to finish them and post them. Sorry for the confusion...

Ethan at the urologist appoint when we first found out he would have to have surgery. He looks so young and it was only a little more than a month ago.

Okay... back to my story...

The weekend before surgery Ethan was in obvious discomfort from his hernia and was lifting his right leg more than he ever had before. He was all of the sudden not putting pressure on his right leg after diaper changes and even after just being picked up and then put back down. I called that Monday as soon as the office opened asking what I could do to make it better for him until surgery. It was very swelled at this point and even had blue tints to the right testicle. The doctor moved us to that Wednesday and Cooks had a cancellation so we were in. Now I only had a day and a half to prepare.

The next day (the day before surgery) we arrived at Melissa's house and Addi her daughter looked horrible. She had had diarrhea all night and was not feeling well. I reluctantly left the kids and headed to work. Less than 5 mins later I decided I was not comfortable with leaving Ethan there because he could NOT get sick before surgery and he needed it done asap. I went back and took them both home for the day. Thank God I have an amazing understanding job that allows me to take care of my children when I need to.

We had to be at the hospital by 7:30 the next morning and his surgery was scheduled for 9 am. My mom spent the night on Tuesday and dropped Paige off at Melissa's for us before she went to work. Thanks again Mom! We would have had to take her at like 6 am to get back and to the hospital in time and that would not have worked well for anyone.

We arrived at 7:31 am and of course Dallas and I were at each others throats because we were both so nervous. We couldn't find the garage so we said forget it and paid $5 for Valet. They moved our car like 5 feet by the way and that is where it sat all day. Registration was a breeze and Ethan was in a wonderful mood. We made our way up to pre op and waited to check in. The hospital was so nice and Ethan loved the middle with the castle of mirrors up top. We weren't kept waiting long and it was back for our consultation with the anasteseologist. We opted for the giggle juice first, gas, and a caudal epidural to control the pain when he woke up. They dressed him in his little gown, socks, and bands around both ankles. We then went to the playroom to wait for our turn.

He was so cute in that gown.

It was purple with koalas riding space ships and it had two ties in the back. His big diaper butt was separating the gown and I just couldn't quit smiling at how cute his little butt was sticking out of that gown. He had a great time playing in the waiting room!

Once they called our name it was time for his giggle juice. They warned us that he would probably scream and thrash around because it is a syringe up the nose of liquid that burns. They compared it to getting chlorine water up your nose when you jump in a pool. I held him tight expecting the worse and he just sat there coughing a little. She said it didn't taste good at all and you could tell on his face it didn't but he didn't move or scream at all. What a big boy!

Within minutes he was drunk with his eyes half shut and the cutest little face I have ever seen. He started clapping slowly and doing his little dance slowly. He was just a 100% sweeter than he is normally which is hard to imagine I know. They came in next to take him away for surgery. We met his two nurses and they put him on a stretcher and took him away. They were playing peekaboo with him all the way around the corner. Cooks Childrens didn't play around that is for sure. Our surgery was at 9 am and by 9:10 he was gone.

Dallas and I walked out to go find the waiting room. I immediately felt panic come over my entire body. I had to go outside for a few minutes. I came back in and just couldn't control the panic attack I was about to have. I knew Ethan would be fine but my body thought otherwise. I was shaking and feeling faint. It didn't help that I hadn't taken my Lexapro for three days because I ran out. I ask Dallas if I should take the half Zanac I brought with me and he said, "What! You haven't already!" "Yes, yes take it now!" Does he know me or what. I took it and within 5 to 10 minutes I was fine now all we had to do was wait...

He has to have surgery... what!

The major news of the past week was Ethan having surgery on Wednesday at Cook's Children's Hospital. Let me start with a little background information. Ever since Ethan was born we have always noticed that his right testicle was bigger than the left. Some times it would swell slightly but could be gone as fast as it came. We had ask the pediatrician a few times over the course of his short little life but she had never seemed concerned about it. She said it was possibly just fluid that was being absorbed back into the body and that was fine. I had even noticed that compared to other little boys around us his were much much larger than any of theirs. Since we had ask the doctor and nothing was wrong we just assumed our son was well endowed! Dallas was of course proud, ha! (He will kill me when he finds out I wrote that in here but I can't resist.)

Ethan has also had issues with his right leg and foot ever since he was big enough to sit in the high chair. Every once in a while he wouldn't put pressure on his right side when you put him down from the high chair. After a few moments he would regain composure and start standing and walking again. We had ask the pediatrician about this as well but since he would never do it at the office she said she couldn't really tell much. Since he only did it every once in a while we decided it must just be some sort of little cut on his foot or results of him stubbing his toe or something. He never cried when he did it nor did he ever do it except when getting out of the high chair. There was no physical evidence of injury on his body so we were all mystified.

When we went in for our 15 month check up his right testicle was swollen and she said she wanted it checked out by an Urologist. She referred us to Doctor Pinto in downtown Ft. Worth who was a Pediatric Urologist. It took us weeks to get in as you would expect with any specialist especially a pediatric specialist. Our appointment for consultation was on September 9th at 2 pm.

Originally I was going to have Dallas take him because he felt it was his responsibility to deal with the man problems but it was just easier for me to do it. I was highly impressed with the doctor upon leaving the office. We didn't have to wait that long and he seemed very knowledgeable of what he was doing. It didn't take him long to diagnose him and tell me that he was going to have to have surgery. He was diagnosed with a hydrocele with hernia in his right testicle. He was apparently born with an opening at the very top of were the testicle actually starts and if left untreated it can allow bowel in and cause a serious infection. He had an obstruction already through the opening and there was obvious pressure on him so surgery was a must. We scheduled the outpatient surgery for September 30th and he reassured me it was the second most common surgery for little boys right after circumstion.

I kind of put it out of my mind until I had to deal with it. It was necessary and there was nothing I could do about it so I decided to panic when it got closer... good plan, huh!

Baby clothes... baby clothes

Last Sunday evening April came over to go through about 10 tubs and 6 large garbage bags full of baby clothes before our planned garage sale. The garage sale was supposed to be this past Saturday but we postponed it until mid October. She was filtering out what she definitely didn't want and everything that wasn't season appropriate for her new addition due in February 2009.

We started with the largest tub of clothes and decided to try and go through them in the living room so she could sit on the couch. We both figured the kids would be very interested but she said she didn't mind. As soon as they saw the large plastic tub coming their way their little eyes just lit up. What is that and when can we explore it? First they stood around it and tossed clothes as fast as they could over their shoulders. Then they decided they weren't really getting the full effect of the experience so they climbed on top of the pile of clothes. April and I continued to dig out clothes around them and from underneath them laughing the entire time. Paige was trying to wear them all and I love when she tries to dress herself or put lotion on herself. Those little grown up things she does are about as cute as you can get in my opinion.

Once we reached the bottom of the tub we tossed it to the side so the kids could play in it while we finished separating the piles. I was tossing the garage sale clothes into the kids tub and they thought it was great so I covered them with all the garage sale items. They looked so cute with nothing but their top halves sticking out the mountain of clothes.

Safe to say we had to move our operation to the guest room after this tub was finished.

*I lightened the three pictures above, saved them and they look stupid. I don't want to wait to post this until I bring the camera back to work. AKA pardon the horrible color. Oops!

Little Bro Rocking Out

Last Saturday night, 9/20 Dallas, Keith, and I went to watch my little brother Brandon's band play. They had a gig at The Door in Fort Worth and we wanted to take advantage of the close location to finally get to see him play live. Brandon has always been gifted with music especially the drums. Even when he was very young he was always drumming with his fingers on everything. Safe to say it used to drive me up the walls!!! Now it seems that all that annoying tapping may turn out to be a lucrative skill.

Brandon has been in bands ever since he was old enough to join. The band he is in now is called Gun The Villian and is a heavy metal band. I don't particularly enjoy the screaming of the lead singer because I can't understand a word of it. Mom can't understand it either but Dallas and Keith didn't have a problem so maybe we just aren't cool enough to get it! The music itself is really good. All the members of the band are pretty good on their instruments and Brandon can definitely rock the drums! I have never truly supported Brandon's music dreams because I am too much like my Dad and don't really trust that you can count on something so uncertain for your future. But what do I know I don't have a career and I am doing just fine. Dallas wouldn't normally support the 'live your dreams' philosophy either but with Brandon he is torn. He says he is actually talented enough to make it and he thinks his current band is amazing. I guess the big sister in me just wants to protect him from his dreams being crushed but then again if he hits it big he knows we are planning on living off of him! We really enjoyed the night hanging out together and will be doing it again soon. Love you Brandon and good luck!

Pre show backstage picture.


Rocking out!
Pictures didn't turn out that great because of lack of light and I couldn't see Brandon in the back.


Dallas, Brandon, and Keith backstage after the show.


Brandon and I being stupid and Dallas trying to look tough!


Can't tell we are related, huh!

Yes, I am wearing a black headband with pink skulls on it. I had to pull out the appropriate clothing to fit in. Couldn't embarrass my brother by showing up looking like an old out of touch fart. By the way we were so old and out of place. The kids were even doing a dance in the mosh pit that none of us three had ever seen! Its official, we don't have a clue anymore! Dallas and I had accepted this fact a long time ago but this was a first for Keith. He is 25 and he was visually dumbfounded by the new dance and the realization of how out of touch he really is now. Welcome to the "not cool" side Keith don't worry you will get used to it!

Too funny

While cleaning out the garage last weekend I found a small bucket and brought it in the house for the kids to play with. (They don't have enough to play with already, right! HA) Both of the kids love to wear the big buckets on their heads as you have seen in past blogs. Well I thought it was just the cutest thing ever when they proceeded to put the small bucket on their heads as well.

Only thing better than a laundry basket..

The only thing better than a laundry basket is a laundry basket with a ducky in it! I just thought I would share how cute the kids where when they got into the laundry room and decided to pull out the empty laundry basket. Of course laundry baskets are hours of fun for any child. Before I knew it they were all trying to get in the basket with the big ducky but there wasn't enough room so eventually ducky was thrown out. Oh to be young and so easily entertained!

Battle Scars

Yesterday I got a message from Melissa while I was at work that Ethan had hurt his lip. My first question was how bad and what did he try to climb this time! Boys are just little accidents waiting to happen well toddlers in general. She said he and Landon were playing with one of their anywhere chairs and it was flipped over. Landon was sitting on one side and Ethan decided he wanted to flip it back over and climb on the other side. Ethan proceeded to flip it over Landon and all! He threw Landon's head straight into his face. Bam, two baby boys screaming! One with a fat lip and one with a knot on his head. Guess this is just one of the many many times ahead that the boys will get hurt being boys!

You should have seen the other guy!
Just kidding but little Landon did get a big lump on his head too, poor babies!

Happy Birthday Melissa

Last Sunday was Melissa's Birthday, the kids babysitter. Dallas and I went out with her and friends and family of hers. We started the night at Uncle Julio's in Grapevine which was fun because we had never been there before. It was a little pricey but it was a great atmosphere and good food. We went to a little bar in Arlington after we left the restaurant and hung out there for the rest of the night. We had a great time out together! It was nice to spend time with Melissa besides here's the kids they haven't pooped yet and see you later...

Happy Birthday Melissa!


Didn't we look cute!


After all these years we still like each other... most of the time! Just Kidding, I love him!

Ketchup anyone...

They finally ate ketchup! For some reason neither one of my kids will eat condiments or sauces of any kind. We have tried pastas with different kinds of sauce and they won't eat any of them. They are so used to eating meat, vegetable, and fruit that it is what they expect. Throwing a sauce and noodle in the mix is just too much.

Last week I decided to put a little ketchup on their trays with some chicken nuggets and see if they would at least try it this time. I dipped a couple pieces into the ketchup and left the rest up to them. At first they were very wary but within a few minutes they both were gobbling up their bites. They would stick a finger in the ketchup then pick up a bite of chicken and eat it. It's not really the right way but it works just the same. Paige ate more dinner that night than she ever does. Woo Hoo! Mommy was ecstatic! There is hope we may not be in a boring meat, veg, fruit pattern for the rest of our lives. Ha Ha

Oops! I didn't realize that the only pictures I took Ethan was drinking and not enjoying his ketchup. Oh well you get the point :)

They have been doing well with their forks and spoons too. I have discovered that Paige will eat her dinner better if you give her a utensil. She uses one hand to stab at the food with the fork and eats with the other hand. As long as she is in charge and feels like a big girl then she is happy. Ethan usually just holds the fork and eats with the other hand. The only thing they can actually get on the utensil and into their mouths alone is potatoes and man do they love mashed potatoes! I love children even food is fun time!!!

Sit Down

Ethan has finally conquered the recliner as of this past weekend. I don't have a problem with him being in the chair except that he stands up and pushes on the back. I am afraid he is going to tip it over and really hurt himself. I already learned with the couch that there is nothing you can do aside from taking the couch out of the room to keep the kids off of it. The same applies with the recliner, kitchen chairs, fireplace, and the list goes on. I was trying my best to get Ethan to sit down when he was in the chair but this attempt failed miserably just as it did with the couch months ago. He of course thought it was a game. He would stand up and I would tell him to sit down. He would say, "sit down" and plop down. Not 2 seconds later up he would go again. He did this so long that I had plenty of time to get the camera. I know I don't sound firm in the video but at this point it was just funny! Enjoy!