Trevor's Surgery

Last Wednesday Trevor had sinus surgery and an adenoidectomy. He was pretty brave, I have to say. I played the "Brave Mom" until they actually asked me to leave after they had put him to sleep. It was like every mothering bone in my body was screaming not to leave him! In my head, though, I knew he would be OK. Thank goodness Trevor was asleep by the time I started to tear up. In the picture above, he's making a face because he didn't want me to take his picture. (I think he was a little embarrassed about wearing tiger pajamas that said, "Good night, little tiger." I thought they were kind of cute.)
They marked his cheek so they knew which side they were working on. 
Trevor sort of flinched when they came at him with a marker. He thought it was funny afterwards. "Doesn't the doctor know which side to work on?" he asked.
I got to get all geared up, too, right before we went in. Isn't it a lovely ensemble? As we walked into the operating room, I started getting flash backs to my bladder surgery that I had when I was 5. I had told Trevor all about it before his surgery. Trevor laid down on the table and the anesthesiologist asked him what flavor of "gas" he wanted...he chose bubble gum. Then they asked him to count. One of the nurses told him to count down from a million, which he thought was funny. He started counting and you could tell he was really fighting going to sleep (which I remember doing when I was 5!). At about 20 his hands started twitching and his eyes kind of rolled around. The doctor said she thought he was probably mostly asleep, but just a little bit confused. Finally, he closed his eyes and I left, fighting back tears all the way to the waiting room! 

The surgery only lasted about 25 minutes, then the doctor came to get us and told us how everything went, as well as what to expect with his recovery. It took him a while to wake up...it was almost another hour before they let us see him. He didn't look that great, so I started to tear up again. They had me sit in a big recliner on wheels, and then they put him on my lap. It's been a while since I've had that kid on my lap! He's huge! What happened?! He started to perk up after a while, ate some ice chips and popsicle, then he fell asleep. They had given him some tylenol with codeine and that seemed to do the trick for him. After a while, we decided he would be more comfortable (and me, too...he was heavy) if we just headed home. He was sort of comatose the whole way home, but perked up when we got there. We watched like 3 movies in a row until he finally passed out around 8 p.m. 

Sandi was in town, which was great help. She kept Ethan and Kevin busy so we could all rest. She was a life-saver!

So, this is what he has looked like the passed week or so, just lying on the couch and watching all kinds of TV and movies. He perked up around last Friday, but then bombed out again Saturday. He went to school on Tuesday, but that didn't go so well. He was really worn out when he got home. So, he's been home the rest of this week, just lying around and moaning from time to time. The adenoidectomy really took it out of him, the doctor said at his post-op check-up on Wednesday. It has also given him astonishingly bad breath, which he uses as a weapon on his brothers. His appetite is slowly coming back...he's been living on breakfast shakes, scrambled eggs, chicken noodle soup, and smoothies. I'll be grateful when I have my old Trevor back. And it will be great not to fight those chronic sinus infections anymore. No more, "Trevor, blow your nose" every hour! Hooray!

Ah...Minnesota "Spring"

It happens every year...the stores start clearing out the winter gear and replacing it with spring and summer clothing. Easter is around the corner, so all of those cute "springy" decorations come out...but in Minnesota, it looks nothing like spring. Oh, it will tease you...start to warm up into the 40s, with the snow melting and birds chirping. But DON'T BE FOOLED! Winter is definitely not over! In fact, you have to be well into May before you can even start calling it "spring." We've had about 8 inches of snow over the past few days and lucky Grandma Sandi (visiting from California) got to help shovel the driveway...
Kevin had to help, of course...

Ethan was an excellent sled-puller...

And you've just got to love those pink cheeks! (minus the perpetually runny nose.)

One of the good things about Minnesota spring snow is that it is nice, wet, and sticky, perfect for snowmen and snowball fights. Robert and the boys came up with these creative snowmen...

Can you name those Star Wars characters? (Hint: you need to know your light saber colors.)

That's right...the epic light saber duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. (Luke could really use a nice, shaggy blond wig, don't you think? We have a purple light saber, so the lack of hair would have suited a snow Mace Windu, but Ethan was determined to make it a Luke Skywalker.)

Happy Birthday, Trevor!

Today my little boy turned 9! I can't believe it! He is such a great guy. He has the greatest sense of humor and he scares me a little with how quickly he catches on to things. He's also kind and loving. He so curious about the world...I find myself explaining things like insurance and investing to him. Last night, before he went to bed, I told him I would never see 8-year old Trevor again. He thought that was funny, but then got a little sad about it. He said, "It was fun being 8." How awesome that he knows it's great to be a kid! I assured him that 9 will be a great year, too. Here's a picture when he was about 6 months old:What a face! Look at those cheeks and those little ears that stick out! Where did the past 9 years go?!

On Friday night we had a Wii Sports party with 8 boys at our house. It was a lot of fun. I borrowed a Wii from a friend, so we had two Wiis going, so all 8 boys could play at once. I got them headbands and wristbands to wipe off all their "sweat" while they played Wii bowling and tennis. At the end, they all received trophies with their names and "Wii Sports Champ" on them. Sandi (Robert's mom) flew in to help with the party. I think we were both exhausted after a couple of hours with those boys! I think I'm done with big at home parties for a while.


Today Trevor took St. Patrick's Day pencils to school, along with some fun worksheets for his "birthday treat." (Our school has asked that we cut back on all of the sweets for birthdays.) We opened presents after he got home for school, went out to eat at Trevor's favorite restaurant (Chili's), then checked out the new Nickelodeon Universe at the mall. It was fun! Afterwards, we had a giant cookie cake that Sandi picked up for his birthday cake. All in all, a fun day!

Kevin's First Haircut

Yes, yes...I'm a lazy blogger. It's been 2 months since my last post...and I'm sorry! You've all probably given up on me by now. I'll try to catch all of you up on the daily doings of our family. Here are a few pictures (before and after) of Kevin's first haircut, which I reluctantly agreed to. The male contingent of our family were very pro-first-haircut. I just knew he wouldn't have that little baby look anymore! Ethan told me one day that he looked like a girl, so I sadly agreed. (I just had to memorialize those little curls with a few pictures.)
Kevin was very into the suckers at the hair place. He had the first one unwrapped and in his mouth, with the wrapper thrown away before I could even blink. We did have a few tears when she put the cape on, but he endured as best as he could, as long as no one touched his sucker. I love the last picture because you can see the bits of hair stuck to his chin with sucker drool.

Christmas in DC (Air & Space Museum)

We spent a lot of time in the Air & Space Museum...it was amazing! We even got to see a bit of the American History museum within the Air & Space Museum (the actual American History museum is closed for renovation). Trevor LOVED seeing all of these great objects from history, like Abraham Lincoln's hat and the desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. We turned the corner and we saw Dorothy's ruby slippers, Mr. Roger's sweater, and the original Kermit the Frog puppet. We also spent an afternoon at a satellite of the Air & Space Museum near Dulles airport. We saw an actual Space Shuttle, the Enola Gay, a Concorde jet, and lots of other great airplanes. The boys were troopers...we were all getting over various stages of colds.

Christmas Eve in DC

We spent a wonderful week in Virginia with Robert's dad and his wife Nancy. We got to see lots of extended family that we don't get to see often...and we even met some family members that's we've never met before! Besides seeing family, we also got to spend a wonderful couple of days in our nation's capitol. On Christmas Eve we took in the sights of Washington DC. The weather was beautiful, until the sun started going down. (You can see our noses getting redder as the pictures progress.) It was great to visit all of these historic sights together, even if it was quite a walk for the boys after spending the day in the museum. Our one disappointment was not getting to go up the Washington Monument. We got there too late to get tickets. Oh well...we'll have to go back to do that, but maybe when it's a bit warmer. Anyway, it was a great way to spend Christmas Eve!

Ethan's Birthday

Can't believe it, but my little guy is 6 years old now! He has been such a trooper and is doing so well in school. We had a little birthday party for him Friday afternoon with a few friends friends from church and a few friends from school. It was a pirate party (my favorite at-home party theme), complete with pirate hats, a treasure hunt, and "treasure" at the end. It went really well. Trevor was sad to miss it (he was still at school), but he helped me figure out the treasure hunt clues and even hid the treasure for me (in the shed in the backyard...yes, I made them tromp through the snow to get it!) Kevin took his nap through the whole thing, which helped a lot. I told the kids that there was a dragon sleeping upstairs and that they should be careful not to wake it, although Kevin is fairly used to sleeping through all kinds of noise around here. We celebrated as a family on Saturday, and Ethan got his favorite present: a camera! Yes, after pestering me all the time to use my camera (and dropping my brand new one a few months ago), he now has one of his own! I will post more about this later. Happy Birthday to my Ethan...what a sweet boy! (P.S. That's a Cold Stone cake...with all the party preparations, I totally forgot about a cake! I think this one was yummier than anything I would have made, anyway!)