Making Memories. Choosing Joy.

Tomorrow

Everything is set for stage 2. We saw Dr. Jones today and everything looks well. Tomorrow he will move his earlobe into place, and remove a little piece that won't be needed. Here is his ear at 8 weeks:

Notice anything different about that picture? Remember in my last post when I wrote about choosing your battles?

I decided to wait for battle if piercings or tattoos ever come into play!

We arrived in Atlanta around 2:15 for our 3 p.m. appointment. Thankfully, it was an uneventful trip. We had to go over to the hospital for registration, so it was around 5:00 before we got to the hotel. We had dinner, and then Nicholas had a last hurrah for a couple of weeks.

Our day will start at 4 a.m. tomorrow. Check-in at the hospital is 5:30. Surgery is at 7:30 and they supposedly have wi-fi there. I will try to post an update.

Thank you for your prayers!

Christie

Really?

Has it been 4 weeks already since Nicholas' surgery? That means in another 4 weeks we'll be going back again! And the next 4 weeks will be busier than ever! Ball games start Saturday, and Nicholas can start practicing next week. So he'll practice Tuesdays/Thursdays and Zachary has games Wednesdays/Saturdays. Yikes!

So Nicholas is pretty excited that he's almost done being careful. Although he's certainly used it to his advantage..."Mom, Zach's chasing me....Zach, no rough-housing!" It certainly has gone fast.

Nicholas was pretty disappointed that James left the game last week on Survivor. In fact, he was crying. But after he learned that there was still a boy to cheer for, he was better. I'm still going with the same..."Girls rule, Boys drool!"

Not much else to share. We moved into a nice new building at work last weekend and it went surprisingly smooth. And at the end of the month I get to move again to our corporate building that is being renovated in a different town. My boss asked me awhile ago if I would be interested in going with him, and I gladly accepted. I haven't worked in a truly corporate atmosphere in...oh....ever, so it will definitely be a change for me!

I haven't touched anything scrapbook-related since January. Next weekend I'm going with girlfriends to a log cabin to get something done and have a few laughs. I love this group of girls. We laugh until our stomachs hurt, and then some more. Good times for sure. I guess I need to get my stock dusted off and pictures printed!

And here's Nicholas, 4-weeks post-op:

Karaoke with Chuck

...and Robin. Last night we went out with friends Matt and Robin and it felt good. It's been too long, since New Year's Eve. We were celebrating many things...exciting news for Robin, Valentine's Day (that's how long we've been trying to do this!), Scott's Birthday, Nicholas' surgery, Matt's good news...so many things, we are all so blessed, and so blessed to have such sweet friends. So dinner was wonderful...surf and turf for me, and we decided to go from one extreme (a very nice dinner) to the other...Karaoke with Chuck at the local bar. And when I say local, I mean a little tiny bar in the village that has no stop lights. And the good time that Robin is, she did a duet with a nice older gentleman, while "husband" (as the nice older gentleman repeatedly referred to Matt) sat on the sidelines. It was great to just be able to sit back and relax and laugh with friends.

Today is a relaxing and productive day. Laundry is going. Boys are playing Wii. Nicholas has a Wii bowling tournament and the library this afternoon that he is pretty excited about.

Speaking of Nicholas, he is doing amazing. He is feeling great and his ear looks better and better. He still isn't thrilled with it, he just wants it to be done now. It will be a good lesson in patience for all of us. His week of school went well and his conference went well. We are all happy with his progress! Here is a photo of his ear 2 weeks post-op (has it really only been 2 weeks???):

Zach is reading more and more, without being asked to. I caught him this morning doing this, and then excitedly telling me about what just happened in the book. I love it!

I'm starting to feel like my normal self again with the stress gone. I still look at Nicholas' ear and am constantly amazed. One more blessing to be thankful for in my life. Today I started back into the "Cool Running" program (Couch Potato to 5k). I did it last year and never felt better. And then we went on vacation the day after the 5k, and I completely stopped. So I'm going to try it again. It's either that, or buy new clothes that fit!

Have a great weekend, make it count!

Sweetness.

After school was out I received an email from Nicholas' teacher telling me that he had a great day today. We are so blessed to have such kind and compassionate teachers for the boys. And while I was thrilled to know that Nicholas had such a good day, here's the part of the email that melted my heart:

"Zach brought him down this morning and told me everything that we had talked about already - no recess or gym...and he checked with me at lunch to see how he was doing. What a nice big brother!"

That just totally made my day...quite possibly my week! I guess it's good to know that he watches out for him, I just wish he could be a little kinder at home, but why should I have it any better than any other parent? ;o)

Thank you, Zachary, for being kind. For being protective. For being a great big brother. For being you. I love you!

Looking (and smelling!) Good!

Nicholas asked this morning right away to get his bandages off! He was ready! There was some hair stuck to some of the tape, but other than that it was quite painless. This afternoon I gave him a good scrub and told him he smelled so good I may not be able to stop kissing him...of course, he rolled his eyes at that! I think the swelling has gone down some since Thursday, as I've noticed more definition. Or maybe I just get to keep looking at it more now, instead of taking a quick peek at the doctor's office. Nicholas was pretty disappointed when he saw, and told me it looked gross. He was more concerned that there was some dried blood where the stitches were and that is what bothered him. I explained that would go away, and reminded him that he still needed 3 more surgeries, and it would keep looking better and better. He seems to be okay with it now, and I hope he has a good school day tomorrow. It does look strange, because his ear lobe is obviously not where it needs to be, but if you just look at the shape and definition, I think it looks pretty amazing!

Home again.

We got home around 6:30...thankfully the traveling was uneventful, with only some slow going in Cincinnati and Dayton.

Nicholas had his checkup with Dr. Jones this morning and all looks well. They removed a few tiny stitches from his ear and he never flinched. The stitches in his chest are dissolvable. His ear looked good, although as the swelling goes down we'll see more definition. It looked big...but I think that is because we aren't used to seeing anything there! It will look quite strange until his next surgery (June 13) because all he did was slide the framework under the skin. During the next surgery, he will remove all of the extra that won't be needed, and put his earlobe into place. From what I've read, at that point it will look more like an ear, just not projected from his head (that is Stage 3).

We are all tired, and ready to have some cuddle time while watching Survivor. As always, thanks for checking in on us. Words cannot express how much it means to all of us.

Christie

P.S. His head was rebandaged until Sunday...then I can get him scrubbed...I can't wait to wash his hair!!!

Another good day today.

Nicholas had another good day today. He spent a lot of time working on a 500-piece puzzle and doing homework. The biggest challenge now is keeping the bandage on his head. It's not easy keeping gauze wrapped around a bowling ball! ;o) The dressing around his head slides up, and the dressing over his ear is starting to slide down. Argh! He really wanted to go outside tonight, but I managed to talk him into other things.

Last night he moved more in his sleep, which didn't help the bandages. Before last night, he hardly moved at all, which made me believe he still hurt enough that even in his sleep he was being careful. Last night was a lot of moving (and yelling out at Zach to "stop it!"...poor Zach, getting into trouble even while he's sleeping!) so I'm sure tonight will be even more. Pray that his bandages stay in place!

Hard to keep a good man down...

We got home last night around 6 p.m. and it was nice to pull into the driveway! Nick and I had a pretty good sleep last night and today we've just been relaxing around the house and slowly putting things away. Nick didn't need any pain medication yesterday or today! Today he is not walking quite so carefully and when he gets into and out of bed it is a much easier process.

Wednesday we drive back to Atlanta for an 8 a.m. checkup Thursday morning. Dr. Jones will remove stitches and then re-bandage his head for a few more days. We are hoping to drive back home on Thursday. We will be able to remove the dressings ourselves next Sunday.

Today he realized that he won't be able to participate in gym or recess for a couple of weeks after he gets back to school and he got pretty upset...it's not fair! And he's upset because he'll be missing a few weeks of baseball practice too.

Thank you everyone that kept us in your thoughts and prayers. It was nice to know so many people were thinking of us and praying for us, especially being so far away from home. It was quite a comfort.

On our way home. No pain meds so far! Looking forward to hugging Zach!

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Amazing.

It's amazing what a day can make. Nicholas was down in the play room 
for at least an hour, and when we convinced him to come lay back down 
he got into bed and said "now what?"

Hopefully we can get him to eat a decent lunch!