Tonsils

Our kids have big tonsils.  I mean, really big.  The kind of big that causes breathing problems, which then causes sleeping problems, and snoring problems, and jaw problems.  Josh and Sara both had their tonsils out when they were 3.  It was pretty miserable.  Three year olds don't make great patients.  Nate needed his tonsils out, but we waited till he was a bit older so it would be easier on everyone.  He is proving to be a much better patient than his older brother and sister were.

We picked the Friday before Thanksgiving to have his surgery, so he would miss as little school as possible (he has the whole week of Thanksgiving off school).  Sadly, he had to miss his big Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast on Friday, but he got to bring home his fancy pilgrim and Indian costumes the day before and modeled them for us.

Friday morning Scott's Mom came to stay with the kids and get them all off to school, while we took Nate in for his surgery.  We had to leave the house at 6:30, so it was still dark.  We got checked in, and Nate got to spend a little time decorating his breathing mask with fun stickers.

Then they wheeled him off, and Scott and I spent the next hour in the waiting room.  Next time we saw him, he wasn't looking quite as happy.  He was extremely sleepy and had a hard time waking up.  I snuggled him in the big chair for a bit, till he was more awake.  The first words out of his mouth were, "My throat hurts" and then "WHAT HAPPENED?!"  Poor kid.  He was hurting a lot and was really restless.  Finally, he told me he wanted me to get out of the chair, and he made himself comfy on a bed of pillows.  We were able to get him to drink a little bit, and got some pain medication in him.  He was very nauseous and threw up while we were in recovery.

He had an awesome nurse, Erin, who turned out to have a 5 year old Kindergartner at Nate's school (just in the other kindergarten class).  She told him that when she's at her son's school next time, she'll look for Nate and say hi to him. 

When it was time to leave, Erin gave Nate the option of having Scott carry him out to the truck, or riding in a wheelchair.  It was the first smile we saw out of Nate.  He was really excited about getting to ride in the wheelchair.

Nate threw up again when we got out to the truck.  Poor kid.  When we got home, we made him a bed for him on the couch and kept a bowl close, because he continued to throw up all day long till bedtime.

I was starting to get really worried about him, because he hadn't kept anything in all day.  But, then right before bedtime, he asked for some macaroni and kept it down.

Since that first day, he has done pretty well.  He has spent most of his time on the couch watching movies. 

We've all tried to be extra nice to Nate this week.  Sara made a giant get well card for him.  I've given him all the Danimals, otter pops, and milkshakes he wants.  And yesterday Savannah pulled him in our little red wagon on a walk to feed the horses.  I think he's really feeling the love from all of us. Sara even made an extra comfy bed on the floor for him one evening to watch a movie with her.

We are hoping recovery continues to go smoothly, and that in the end Nate's quality of life will have been improved.  We love this little boy and hate to see him feeling crummy. 

El Mustachio

When Scott goes to Alaska, he doesn't shave.  It's kind of a fun thing for him to try and grow a beard.  When he comes back from Alaska, he is kind enough to shave it into a goatee for me, because I really hate him in a full beard.  He sports the goatee for a bit, before he decides to go back to clean shaven.  But, he loves to shave it off in stages.  He usually does it some late night, when we are a feeling a bit silly, and spends an hour laughing as he shaves it into all sorts of varieties of facial hair. 

Saturday night it was extra late, and we were feeling extra silly, so as he got it to the mustache stage, I dared him to leave it for church the next day.  I really didn't think he'd go through with it.  I laughed so hard, it took me ten minutes to hold the camera steady enough to take a picture.

But it gets better.  The next day came and he actually kept it!  He went to church looking like this!  I can't tell you how many people commented on his mustache.  And then Monday came, and he wore it to work too!  Thankfully, Monday night came and he decided to shave it all off.  I'm happy to have my clean shaven husband back again. 

Standing

I came around the corner yesterday, and saw this....

And I totally freaked out.  I'm not ready for her to stand or walk or climb stairs.  I'm not ready for her to grow up! 

Date With my Boys

We do a thing called treasure box here at our house.  The kids can earn little rocks for doing good things around the house.  When they have earned 10, they can redeem them for a pick out of treasure box.  There are treats and little toys in there, and I recently added some gift certificates into it.  Aaron earned treasure box, and picked the certificate that was for "ice cream with mom".  He decided he needed to bring his best friend Nate along with him.  So on Saturday I took my two handsome middle boys to McDonalds for dollar cones and to play on the playplace.  It was a really fun date.  I love that these two are such good friends.  I hope they always stay that way.

Snow!

We had our first snow of the year.  It was pretty wet and just barely covered the ground, but the kids couldn't wait to get out and play in it. 

Of course they all came in covered in mud, because our backyard is a big mudpit now, but they still had fun.  Josh and Sara made snowmen (and practically used every inch of snow to make it).  Josh's fell over, so he turned it into a seat.  And Sara, the artist, made sure hers was complete with eyes and a mouth.  (This was later in the day, after they had changed out of their snow clothes.  They didn't make the snowman in sandals and bare feet.)

Nate's Third Tooth

Nate lost another tooth!  A side bottom one.  He is pretty darn proud of himself.

Foundation

With the excavating done, and the patio out, it was time for foundation.  Again, a day of tractors.  Little boy heaven.

And the whole area of where we pulled the patio out, looked like this.  So, while they were doing foundation work, another guy was doing repair on this part of our house.

With our patio gone, I needed some sort of makeshift deck/walk way to get the kids past the road mix (the sand sticks to shoes and then gets tracked all through my house).  So I used scrap wood from the wall we pulled out between the living room and kitchen, and built a sidewalk - for free.  Scott was on another business trip (2 days), so I was on my own for the construction of the sidewalk.

And then with the massive pile of left over scrap wood, the kids and I had a nonstop firepit for three days.

Reading with Aaron by firelight.

Today they are back to backfill the foundation and haul away the pile of dirt.  It is so exciting to see so much getting done, and scary too.  I'm really nervous for how it will all come together, and how we will survive living through it.

And it turns out little girls love tractors too.  Maggie was here with Owen, and they both were glued to the window.  Cutest little things!

Goodbye Patio

This is the point when remodeling stopped being fun for me.  The extra cost of ripping out the back patio has me extremely stressed.  Owen, on the other hand, loves it.  It meant another day of tractors right out the living room window to watch.