Anatomy of a Tonsillectomy -- Grace Style

Well, the big day has come and gone (one month ago today to be exact!). Seeing as to how the surgery day itself was an all-day affair and I have quite a few other little children to attend to, Scott took the day off of work to be with Grace in her moment of need. At her consult appointment a couple of months ago, the doctor's office sent us home with a packet of information, a DVD outlining what to expect on the big day, and a "Surgery Land" game board for Grace to take along with her and fill out as she went throughout the day. All in all, it served EXTREMELY well in preparing her and if anything getting her really excited to have her tonsils taken out.

Pre-Surgery

Here she is arriving at the hospital. As per the instructions, she brought along a favorite toy, a movie, and her Surgery Land game card.

The Documentarian

According to Scott, Grace was a super champ! All the nurses and other staff thought she was just too sweet and too cute. She didn't seem to be nervous AT ALL, which surprised me quite a bit. I thought for sure that once the big day was here she'd start freaking out and end up not wanting to go through with it! Thankfully, she was excited and ready to take it all on.

Apparently, once she had changed into her regulation hospital jammies and settled in to wait for the surgery itself, she decided to put on a photo shoot with all KINDS of interesting poses.

Check out those "honeys" in her throat. Hahaha. When the doctor initially checked Grace out, his comment upon looking in her mouth and seeing her tonsils was "Oh yeah, those are some honeys." Weirdest comment ever, right? Hahahaha.

Even though the surgery itself lasted less than an hour, Grace had to be there a couple hours beforehand to get all checked in and then stay for a minimum of 4 hours afterwards to make sure everything went okay. (Which it did, thankfully.)



Post-Op

Cute little Grace. All drugged up and recuperating.

And Recovery -- Featuring the best $10 I ever spent at Costco. Her Robe.

(As in this is what she lived in day and night for practically the entire week she spent convalescing at home.)

These pictures were all taken about a couple weeks after the surgery. To be honest, the recovery was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. For some reason I thought she'd bounce right back and be ready to go to school after just a couple of days. When Scott and Grace first came home from the hospital that night and he told me that she was supposed to stay home from school for the first week and no P.E. for 2 weeks, I thought that seemed a bit extreme. In the end, though, the doctors clearly knew what they were talking about a lot more than I did. Hahaha.

The first night home she was still pretty out of it. Between the anasthesia and the painkillers, she didn't have a shot. She spent the majority of the evening zoning out in the rocking chair, gingerly eating mac and cheese while watching iCarly. The next couple days consisted of LOTS of popsicles and ice cream, more mac and cheese, steady doses of hydrocodone, and the cutest (and most pitiful) little high-pitched, half-volume voice you've ever heard. That's probably what I miss the most these days -- that soft little voice not much louder than a whisper. Hahaha. No, seriously. She was so cute and pathetic all at the same time it just about broke my heart. Things got a bit dicey by the end of the week once the scabs started to come off and her throat hurt, and in the end, it definitely took the full week for her to be ready to go back to school. And even then, I would say that the recovery wasn't entirely complete until after Thanksgiving. Time heals all wounds, though, and I'm sure when she looks back on this in years to come the only thing she'll really remember is the ice cream. And popsicles. All in all, Grace handled the whole ordeal a LOT better than I thought she would. And, as a bonus, she has set the stage and served as a role model for Ethan who will need to have a surgery of his own in February.

And that's a wrap.

A Name and a Blessing (and a Birthday)

Wow -- it's been a month since I last posted! The past few weeks have been busy yet manageable all at the same time. Dare I say we're finally hitting our stride?? The highlights of the month were a visit from Grandma and Grandpa, blessing the baby, and celebrating Grace's birthday for almost the entire month. Or at least it felt that way. Hahaha.

Scott's parents flew out at the beginning of the month to be here for Alexander's baby blessing. As it has been well-documented, I'm a bit particular when it comes to names. I have not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 different baby name books in my possession. Each of our kids' names were chosen for their meanings and with the hopes that they would live up to and embody what those meanings are. Alex is no exception. Alexander is a name that we have loved for a long time. Basically we've been waiting for "Baby Alex" to come since I was pregnant with Sophie.

Alexander -- Latinized form of the Greek name Αλεξανδρος (Alexandros), which meant "defending men" from Greek αλεξω (alexo) "to defend, help" and ανηρ (aner) "man."

His middle name is of special importance as well. Not only for the meaning (although "victory of the people" is quite apropos) but because it's the name of one of the best and brightest I've been privileged to know. Captain Nicholas Bourgeois was a marine, a husband, a father, and my favorite cousin. He was killed in a car accident last summer while moving across the country with his wife and two small children. A true hero, he had just returned a few months before from a deployment in Afghanistan. In short, "Nicholas lived according to his priorities: God, family and country. He exemplified Christ in his words and deeds while humbly striving to allow God to mold him into a better servant, husband, and father." Nicholas was a truly remarkable person. And even though my little Alexander Nicholas won't ever meet his namesake in this life, I hope that he will one day be able to follow in his footsteps and live up to the name he's been given.

Please excuse the fact that this is the worst lighting possible -- outside would have been better, but it was too windy and Jane is a runaway.

A few days earlier in the week Grace turned 7! As has been the case since her very first birthday, she managed to stretch her celebration out for much longer than the actual day. The big day fell on a Tuesday this year and the thing she wanted most of all was to bring a cookie cake (or two) to school. Check.

I ordered a dress for her birthday picture and it actually came that very day! After school I coerced her into dressing up and to sweeten the deal I let her put on the make-up that "Jane" picked out for her present. Thankfully Grace loves to pose, and the photo shoot was not too painful as a result. Here are some of the jewels:

These two are such kindred spirits.

The winner for the mantle!

We postponed the actual cake and ice cream and singing of the birthday song until Saturday when Grandma and Grandpa (and Dad) were there to help celebrate with us. Grace made my life a bit easier this year by choosing a cake from Costco rather than having me make it. And Grandma officially made Grace's day by getting her a pinata when we were at Walmart earlier in the day.

Practicing blowing out the candles.

The real deal.

The pinata was put off until Sunday evening because Ethan wasn't feeling up to it on Saturday. The poor little lamb was up all night the night before throwing up. Unfortunately for just about everyone else he passed that bug on. First to Grace and then to Grandpa and finally to Grandma the night before they were set to fly home. :( Thankfully, it was pretty much a 24 hour thing for everyone and we were still able to enjoy the majority of our time together.






One of the fun things we did in between the bouts of sickness was a mini-Thanksgiving and then an early Christmas. Fun, fun, fun! The kids loved opening presents this early in the season and I loved having someone else cook for me. :)

Jane is so unfortunate looking. She likes to go around in just a diaper these days.

Grace and Ethan singing Christmas songs...

...and then with 2 more members of the whole motley crew.

This little cutie was just a spectator. Sophie kept calling him Harry Potter all night long because of the scratch on his forehead.

We were sad to see Grandma and Grandpa go, but were glad they were able to make the trip out to see us. Once they left, the next big event in our household was Grace's surgery! Which will be documented in a separate blog post. Hahaha. Scott took the day off so he could be there with her and she actually handled it like a champ. It was kind of adorable the first few days after her tonsils were out when she was recovering and couldn't speak in much louder than a whisper decibel voice. I really miss that voice. Hahahahaha.

Last but not least in our month was our first Thanksgiving at home in a LONG time. We made the executive decision this year not to go to Indiana like we usually do to spend it with Scott's sister and her family. We were all quite sad about this, but with a baby not sleeping through the night and knowing how the rest of the kids are (especially at bedtime) when we're at the cousins house, I just realized it would be a bit more stressful and overwhelming than I could handle right now. So what did we do? We invited some friends over from church and I cooked my very first Thanksgiving dinner! Because cooking a turkey for the first time isn't stressful or overwhelming at all. Hahahaha. It actually all turned out well and we had a really fun time with our friends.

Overall, the whole of last week was a really nice and relaxing vacation. Scott took Wednesday off from work and the kids had no school. We managed to do lots of fun stuff -- movie nights, game nights with friends, outings for Christmas lights, and finally picking out our tree (and decorating it, too). It was precisely what we all needed! And with the Christmas season upon us it was the perfect break before all the craziness begins.

We even managed to get the Christmas card picture done! And without the shedding of any tears (or blood). Hahahaha.

And that's about it. I'm getting really excited for Christmas even though we are not going anywhere and I don't think anyone is coming here. I just love this time of year, though, and if our Christmas vacation is anything like our Thanksgiving vacation then it will be practically perfect in every way! Happy holidays! :)

The New Normal

So, I keep waiting for things to get back to normal now that Alex has been around for a couple months here and I think what we've decided is that things will never be the same -- this is the new normal and we're just going to have to adjust accordingly. And I'm not going to lie -- it's been rough! It's like being on a never-ending roller coaster that's not on a monthly or even a weekly route, but sometimes a daily cycling between ups and downs. The ups being those times when I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on things and "I can DO this -- I can do hard things!" And the downs beings when I feel like I'm drowning in the sea of life and there's no possible way I can manage everything that NEEDS to be done much less do the things I WANT to do. For the most part, though, life is still good. It just gets a little bumpy sometimes. So, buckle up for the following recap of the last several weeks of our life...

After the Labor Day ER trip with Jane I was hoping things had settled down on the medical front. Alas, that was not to be the case. A few weeks later in a truly epic night Jane was once again having an asthma attack, Scott was slated to leave EARLY the next morning for a business trip (we're talking getting up at 4 in the morning), the kids were melting down all night long, and to top it off Sophie decided to stick a coin in her mouth at bedtime and ended up swallowing what she thought was a quarter. Oh, and just in case anyone has forgotten we also have a newborn. Hahaha. We were on the phone with the after hours nurse pretty much all night long, Scott ended up taking Sophie to the ER around 10 because she said the "quarter" felt like it was stuck in her throat (it wasn't -- nor was it a quarter [which we discovered in the morning when Ethan said it was really a penny; I'm just not quite sure why this was not mentioned the night before. Hahaha]). To be honest, it probably should have been Jane going to the ER not Sophie, but we managed to keep her breathing okay through the night with breathing treatments every 2 hours. In the end, the silver lining to this cloud was that Scott ended up canceling his trip and staying up with Jane that night so I could take care of the baby. I was awoken in the morning by Sophie who came to me wheezing and begging for a breathing treatment of her own. I ended up taking both little girls in to the doctor that day and they were both put on some oral steroids and given additional breathing treatments. Fun times!

All these medical issues reminded me of a project that I had been wanting to do with the kids since the beginning of the year. After listening to President Eyring's talk in April's conference this year, I felt really strongly that if I want the kids to love and serve one another, we need to join hands in serving others as well. We decided at Family Home Evening that each month we'll let the kids come up with a family "service project" that we can work on together and hopefully create a little more love at home in the process. After a few suggestions from me, the kids decided they wanted to make some things to donate to the Children's Hospital here. Sophie really wanted to tie some fleece blankets and Ethan and Grace REALLY wanted to make some "comfort pillows." After a long and frustrating (for me) trip to Joann's, fabric was chosen and for the next Family Home Evening we got to work! For the record, I will NEVER make those fleece blankets again -- they were beyond aggravating to work with. Especially since they seemed like they should be so easy. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. Mostly, because Sophie couldn't really do it on her own, and I had to finish them for her later and by the time I was done I didn't want to have anything else to do with them. The pillows, on the other hand, were easy, peasy, lemon sneezy! And Ethan and Grace had SO much fun picking out Halloween fabrics and stuffing them with fluff. I'd do these again in a heart beat!







While they were working Grace instructed me to be sure and take pictures to show Emily. Hahahaha. Here you go Auntie Em! The finished product:



In an ironic twist of fate, Jane ended up being checked into a different Children's Hospital just a week or so after these were done. Scott had a recruiting trip planned for BYU and left on a Wednesday. My mom was going to fly out to visit on the Thursday to help me while Scott was gone and to see the baby for the first time. Luckily for me, Jane's breathing didn't start to get bad until after my mom was already here! I have no idea what I would have done if she would have needed to go to the hospital while I was all by myself with all 5 kids! We started out at the doctor's office where I thought she'd just get another breathing treatment (even though we'd been giving them to her regularly at home) and maybe another prescription for the oral steroids. However, her oxygen levels were low enough that the doctor told us to get her over to the ER at the Children's Hospital and that they'd let them know we were on our way. Yikes. We darted over to check the other kids out of school, and then my mom dropped me and Jane off at the hospital while she took the rest of the kids off my hands to go and get pizza and play at the park. Let me just state for the record that Jane is, as a rule of thumb, nuts. When she is in a sleep deprived, oxygen deprived state, she is even more out of control. Trying to hold her down and keep her from ripping off the nebulizer mask for the hour long treatment in the ER was next to impossible and it didn't help that I was exhausted from being up with both her and Alex all night long the night before!

In the end she needed to be checked in over night. My mom came to the rescue by staying with her so I could go home with the others and in a truly tender act of mercy the baby slept almost all night long. After getting the kids off to school the next day I went over to the hospital with Sophie and Alex and traded out with my mom. Thankfully, Jane was able to come home late that Friday night and Scott got back from his trip on Saturday afternoon. It was a bummer that we weren't able to do anything fun with my mom while she was in town, but it sure was a blessing that she was here! And I'm pretty sure the other kids still had a blast with her.

Here she is finally collapsed in exhaustion after I pulled her around and around the pediatric ward in that wagon for over an hour.

A successful session with the nebulizer.

And then there's Sophie powdering her nose (for like 15 minutes straight) and then my nose with my mom's make-up while Jane was taking a nap. Hahahaha.

When Ethan and Grace arrived after school they kept calling this "the greatest adventure ever," and were quite upset when Jane got to come home that night. They really wanted to come back the next day so they could play in the awesome Child Life room that was filled with every toy and art project imaginable for the kids to come and use. Jane on the other hand couldn't wait to get out of there and was quite upset when I left before her with the other kids while my mom waited with her to be discharged.



Once home we had to continue with the breathing treatments for a few days and I have to say that "Ramona and Beezus" became a life-saver for us! It was pretty much the only thing we could use to get her to sit still and keep the mask on for the whole treatment. Although, there were plenty of instances where I looked over to see her like this -- pushing her mask to the side to get to that precious bottle. Hahaha.


My mom won the title of funnest and coolest grown-up in the house when she took it upon herself to help the kids carve a pumpkin on Saturday afternoon. Thank goodness she had the patience for it, because I probably wouldn't have done it when she left.

Yay, daddy's home! And so is Jane!

I just love this picture.

Granny Nanny with all 5 of my kids!

Sadly, my mom had to leave the next day and life got back to "normal" all too quickly. Aside from the normal chaos and clutter reigning in our lives, we had the added bonus of listening to the kids (okay, it was mostly Ethan) practicing day and night for their upcoming Primary program in church. The three big kids were asked to sing by themselves for the second verse of the song "If I Listen With My Heart." Here they are practicing during Family Home Evening last week, and for the record, each of their personalities are perfectly encapsulated in the following clip, and NO Grace did not put on this kind of show for the actual performance! (Thank goodness):






On the day of the program, the girls actually let me brush and groom their hair and they all made efforts to dress their best for the day. Unfortunately, Ethan refused to pose for me, but rest assured that he looked dapper as well.

Posing in her new dress I made for her.

Alright, we're winding up here! The last thing on our docket is Halloween. In my extremist insanity I decided to make Jane's costume. I thought she would look adorable as Little Red Riding Hood, so I made a dress for her -- completely from scratch might I add (I felt so Project Runway...hahaha) and found a pattern for a hood. THIS is what my dining room "studio" has looked like for over a month now:


A complete and total disaster area. Don't let the "artististic-ness" of the shot fool you. It is a complete metaphor for my life these days! I finished up Jane's hood the night before (which she wouldn't even try on, by the way) and threw Ethan's together right after school on Tuesday just in time for the Ward Trunk-or-Treat. Thankfully, Grace and Sophie wanted to wear the same costumes I made for them TWO years ago --- Dorothy and a princess -- and even more thankfully, they still fit! Alex rounded out the group as a cute little pumpkin. Ethan and Sophie have both worn this one as well. There's nothing cuter than a baby pumpkin! Except for maybe a little toddler with pigtails. :) Here are the results:

Trying to keep that hood on...

Finally rid of her costume...


And doing what she does best -- running away.



Cutest pumpkin in the patch.

And then there's Ethan. Can you guess what he is?? Hahaha. Most people could not. But once explained, I think everyone thought it was pretty clever. We were just lacking a bit in our execution.

Still don't know? He's a s'more, of course! Hahahaha.



Well folks, that's about that. I'm TRYING to get on top of things this week and I've succeeded in finally cleaning up all my junk in the dining room and cleaning off the front porch. Oh and I even got around to digging out last year's acorn wreath I made and spray painting it a fresh new color of "pumpkin orange." Quite apropos, no?

Home Sweet Home, in deed.

I'm tired. And I guess that about sums it up! Coming up on the docket in the near future? More doctor's appointments. In the past month I've had to schedule appointments with various specialists for ALL five children. There has to be some kind of award for that, right? I feel like we're single-handedly keeping the medical profession alive right now! Hahaha. Last week I took Grace and Alex to an ENT -- Alex had his tied tongue clipped (and he now will take a pacifier! Yay! and he's easier to nurse! Yay!); and Grace has been scheduled for a tonsillectomy on November 11th. That will be a blog post on it's own, I'm sure. Next week I have to take Jane for a follow-up with the pulmonologist for her recent hospitalization and Grace has a birthday and her yearly check-up scheduled as well. Later on in November I get to take Ethan to a urologist, and in December I get to take Sophie and Jane to an allergist. I probably should have studied medicine rather than elementary education. Hahaha.

Alright, that's enough of that. As hard as everything is at times, I was really struck by something during the Primary Program on Sunday. As I was trying to keep Jane under control on the pew while the kids were on the stand performing, I felt the Spirit whisper that everything is going to be okay. The kids are going to to be okay. In spite of my imperfections as a person in general and a mother in particular, they are going to be fine. Better than fine, even. Watching Ethan, Grace, and Sophie sing was really sweet. Even sweeter was seeing Sophie -- who didn't really know all the words -- looking to Ethan for help for the parts she didn't know. I was touched by the symbolism there. I'm grateful that my kids will always have someone to look to when they need help. Not just from Ethan (who really is a good big brother to them) but from their Father in Heaven as well. I am grateful for the help that I've felt over the last couple of months -- from sources both seen and unseen I have felt strengthened to bear the burdens that have been thrown upon me. Because that's the thing with doing hard things -- it will always make you stronger. And at this rate, I'm on track to becoming Hercules. Hahaha.