Inspiring Me Today

This is a video of such an inspiring, young woman who is studying ASL with fervor. It is such a cool thing. To think, with LJ's modified sign language we will one day have him signing/singing songs such as this one...if not verbally. It would be nice to diversify his repertoire of songs;)    LJ is recovering well from his surgery. The first few days were rough as far as pain management was concerned. Once you tried to move him, he winced in pain. At points he would lay in bed and just wimper. Hardest thing on Earth for a parent to witness! But today he is feeling better! After all, he got to have his first bath last night;) Nate asked me if LJ was gonna have anymore surgeries coming up. He's been very sweet and attentive to LJ. And he is even advocating for LJ (as much as himself. lol) a trip to the toy store so HE and LJ can get a BIG toy on the next, potential surgery date. I assured him that this go-round on the surgery front seems to have been "Operation Success" so I wasn't anticipating any more on the horizon. End of story.

Hospital Hopping!

Last week, Noodles had oral surgery at Children's Hospital.  This week we stayed on our side of the Potomac River - which did at least allow for a more pleasant wake up time.  It was also much easier to get him home smoothly without any snafus.  LJ had successful stomach surgery this morning at Fairfax INOVA Hospital to surgically close up his stoma on his belly.  I think its fair to say no one in our family likes hospitals very much.  One can tire of trips to the hospital- for us they seem like flies on vinegar, and recently have been occurring far too regularly.  Although these places are filled with smart, caring, helpful doctors and nurses, the nervousness and germs surrounding hospital stays are never enjoyable.

Surgeon A had to detach LJ's stomach from the abdominal wall. In medical terms this was what is known as a gastric fistula.  Its also pretty common in people who've had gtubes for extended periods of time.  So there are some stitches that will dissolve on his stomach and abdomen.  There are steri strips on the prior incision which the doc was able to reuse and then they had to use actual stitches on the stoma from the gtube on the exterior of his tummy.  Those exterior stitches will need to be removed at the doc's office in two weeks.  He got a dose of morphine at the hospital before we were discharged and we are filling a prescription for Tylenol with Codeine as I type this.

No baths for three days- which is NOT gonna go over so well with LJ. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Funny thing from the whole experience today, we learned that Lewis is a stern task master when it comes to his song selection in the recovery room.  His playlist did not deviate from Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Litter Star and Happy Birthday.  Adult music was utterly unacceptable.  With all due haste, we are ready for life to turn back to normal and a speedy recovery.

Suffice it to say, when LJ is feeling up to it, it's All-You-Can-Eat-Sauce Day!  Applesauce for breakfast.  Applesauce for lunch, snack and dinner.  Whatever my little man wants.

Happy Anniversary, Josh!

us on the big day

It's hard to believe that 10 years ago today, we got hitched.  Yikes.  We've actually been together 17 years.  It's been an adventurous journey to say the least.  For our anniversary, we opted for a staycation until we could plan something more appropriate for the milestone.  We lounged around at the W Hotel in downtown DC before getting a massage at Bliss Spa (me...not Josh;), then capped off a perfect day dining on yummy food at minibar.  Despite both kids' scheming and coming down with fevers and flus we managed to get there, and this six seat restaurant did not disappoint.  An Oaxacan snowball for an appetizer?  Sea bean tempura anyone?  My most favorite of the 29 courses??? was perhaps the Charcoal Grilled Salmon Toro with Black Garlic but really how can anyone choose.  They were all out of this world!

The night by far exceeded both our expectations. Didi and Bop, thank you so much for hanging with the kids and having a sleep over at our house.  The peace and quiet in the hotel was the perfect dose of calm!  We are so lucky.  Josh, I love you to the moon and back.  It's been incredible and I know that our adventures are exactly where we're meant to be.  The love of it all will in the end be the thing that sets us forth.

We Survived the Dental Work

Earlier today, we arrived at Children's Hospital in DC for LJ's dental work.  Dental, of the teeth variety...not trim.  General anesthesia worked like a charm:  X-rays, 7 cavities and 1 sealant (all the other back teeth weren't healthy enough for sealants) later, we are all home and recuperating.  Luckily, the dentist didn't have to extract his eye tooth or even do a root canal to it.  They did use a white filling, however, so it won't show. That's not so say he's in the clear...in the future he may need the root canal before his adult teeth come in.  They also warned us that now that LJ is eating we have to watch out for cavities in between his teeth now that his teeth are all touching.  But hurray no more teeth pain! Lewis has even flashed me his toothy little grin a few times today so I can vouch for him!  Next up, surgery this coming Tuesday to close his stomach properly since it's leaking still.  And in case you are wondering, no the surgeons couldn't operate at the same time....different hospitals, surgeon's privileges, cross contamination or some such!  Oh, the fun never stops ;-)

Look What I Can Do

Babu took this sweet video at the playground this past weekend.  Lewis is now able to rock himself, and independently go down the slide.  His laugh and signing for "more" at the end just melts my heart!

Behold the Power of a Motorized Chair

Hi all.  LJ's dental surgery is now on April 18th.  He has to see the GI surgeon this Wednesday because his tummy looks a little angry at us, and because it's still leaking.  In the midst of all the family visits and surgery scheduling, we also finally got LJ's Power Chair yesterday!!! While its a long time before LJ will be cruising in it on his own, he is one proud 3-year-old dude.

He will get the hang of the joystick in no time- a 2 1/2 year has mastered the art of driving one of these bad boys so LJ will definitely be able to within time.  He gets a little bit of an evil Knievel streak in him - one of the first times he was in the power chair he was pushing the joy stick backwards and it kept going backward and sort of jossled LJ around in it once backed up to the wall as far as he could go.  LJ giggled, seemingly enjoying his joy ride, and continued enthusiastically pushing the joy stick backward ignoring our encouragement to press it forward.  We're supposed to be getting a remote control "kill switch" which will undoubtedly come in handy. Oh that, and also having the power set on the lowest possible setting (it can go pretty fast!).

But for now, our walls are serving as bumpers:) I cannot wait to see him be able to drive himself up to the front doors at school one day in the near future.