We're Home!

Jordan started off slowly in the morning...but finally turned a corner with the nausea. By lunch time he was able to eat some soup and he got better and better from there.

They originally made the decision to keep him overnight because he was still in so much pain by early afternoon. However, once he was able to eat lunch and get his pain under control, he pushed himself to get up and walk around. He really wanted to go home!

Working hard to exercise his lungs

He was sitting up in a chair when I got back from grabbing some lunch and sat up the rest of the day! The 'helmet' is really annoying to him but he's not a complainer and is making the best of it.

By late afternoon, the nurse thought the plastic surgery team should re-evalute him to see if he could go home. Thankfully, they agreed that he had made a dramatic turn-around and said he could go. Woohoo!

Right before we left, he got a surprise from our church! Thank you so much for brightening his day with the balloon, Lego's and stuffed monkey!

Here he is...all tucked into his chariot and heading down to the car.

And here he is this morning with his doting sister who is helping him do Lego's. His siblings are surrounding him and wanting to play and help so he will have no lack of care at home. Right now they are all working hard on sympathy cards for my uncle.

I will be heading to my cousin's funeral Saturday morning. Jeff told me to go and that he could handle things at home for three days. I was so torn about what to do and Jeff made the decision for me--for which I am very grateful.

Jordan update

Poor Jordan had a rough night of vomiting. UGH. Three different anti-nausea meds were tried with very poor results. He seems to have turned the corner this morning though. I think maybe the anesthetic had to work itself out of his body.

He is totally mortified at the 'space-man helmet.' No amount of, "We can pretend we are spacemen,' was comforting. He does NOT want to go to school wearing it. I have emailed the school staff to see what we can work out. The helmet is really bugging him so I hope he can get used to it. I feel so bad for him.

The good news is that the doctor said that if he can eat and drink, he can go home today instead of tomorrow. After a wretched night of our roommate's nurse not using her 'people-are-sleeping-so-perhaps-I-should-speak-quietly,' voice, we are TIRED.

Have I mentioned that I think having two patients per room should be out-lawed? Oh, yes, I think I mentioned that the last time we were here. Urgh.

In the midst of my great annoyance last night, I did come back to reality with the thought that my uncle would give anything to be in my place rather than planning a funeral for his daughter. So I will just be thankful and count my blessings--that my child is alive and well--and this is so very temporary.

J-Man's surgery

Our little man now has two ears! So amazing..

He wasn't a bit nervous when we arrived at the hospital this morning (at an hour that no one should have to be up.)

Shortly afterwards, our pastor and the children's ministry director at our church arrived to pray with him. (The fact that they were also up at an hour no one should be up was very appreciated by us.)

After he got all prepped, they asked what he wanted to play with. He said a DS. I would type out the whole name if I knew what it was.

Sad.

I am such a nerd.

Anyhoo....it's a hand held video game.

Note to self: Do not, under any circumstances, EVER, buy him one.

I would never see his face again.

He was completely glued. He zoned out and heard nothing around him. He took it into the operating room and continued to play after they put the mask over his mouth and nose. Even as his eyes started to droop, he was STILL playing.

Good grief!

He was in surgery all day--about seven hours. The surgeon came out and showed me pictures of the ear before he put it in and then what it looked like after it was in. It looks really good!

We will not actually see it for awhile because he has to wear a pressure dressing over it. I had no idea what a pressure dressing looked like.

When I walked into recovering and saw him lying in the bed with his head all bandaged, it made my heart flip over. He was so pitiful. Poor little guy.

He has been such a great little patient. He is really nauseous and has been vomiting or dry heaving quite often. They just gave him some anti-nausea meds, so I hope that helps. He has an incision in his ribs where they took out the cartilage, so it really hurts when he is vomiting.

The red tubing are drains that are taking the fluid away from the ear so that it can heal better and keep the swelling down. He will have those in until next week.

Hopefully he will be feeling much better tomorrow. The nurses have strict instructions to stay ahead of the pain and I told the night nurse about poor Zoey's dreadful 2 hour pain chase. So I hope Jordan will rest well and pain-free tonight.

Good news and bad news.

Good news is that no one is going to see his bad hair cut for 4 weeks.

Bad news is that he has to wear this pressure bandage for those same 4 weeks.

I had no idea he would have to wear it more than one week. UGH. I'm not sure how he is going to feel about wearing it to school. I decided to post these pictures so that everyone can get used to seeing him wearing it. I don't think he can hide in the house for the next month. The surgeon told me today that his teenage patients refuse to go to school (I can see why!) and get tutored instead. He is hoping Jordan will be willing to go to school.

I don't know... I'll show him tomorrow...and pray that he doesn't get too upset.

Painful Week

I am heading to bed soon so we can get up at 4:45 AM to get Jordan to the hospital for surgery, but just wanted to post a memorial to my cousin, Catlin, who we lost on Monday. Our family is in total shock. We would so value your prayers for her parents and brother.

Catlin

1987 - 2012

Hold her tight for us, Jesus.

"HELD" by Natalie Grant

Two months is too little
They let him go
They had no sudden healing
To think that providence
Would take a child from his mother
While she prays, is appalling
Who told us we'd be rescued
What has changed and
Why should we be saved from nightmares
Were asking why this happens to us
Who have died to live, it's unfair

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it and
Let the hatred numb our sorrows
The wise hand opens slowly
To lilies of the valley and tomorrow

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

If hope if born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait, for one hour
Watching for our Savior?

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

Jordan's Big Month

J-Man had a birthday this week. He was pretty excited about turning 7. Woohoo! He is really into Legos this year and that was all he asked for. He choose his favorite for birthday dinner--spaghetti and meatballs, and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for dessert.

Obviously the victim of yet another bad haircut from Mom. Sigh...

But his truly big news is that he is going to begin the process of ear reconstruction. He will be having three surgeries over the next 18 months. The first one is next Wednesday and it will be a 7 hour surgery! UGH. He will be in the hospital for two days. The surgeon will take cartilage from his ribs and make an ear out of it! It will be placed under the skin where his ear should be and stay there for the next 18 months. The final surgery will release the ear from it's "protective pocket' and Ta-Da! he will have an ear!

We would love your prayers for the surgeon and for Jordan. This isn't an easy surgery. I found this description online for what the surgeon is up against.

9. Why is the repair of microtia with living tissues so technically challenging?

For long-term success in microtia repair, one must create a 3-dimensional ear sculpture from living cartilage in an acceptable time under operating room conditions, then develop a “pocket” under snug 2-dimensional skin to house that framework— without cutting off the circulation to that skin. It is like trying to place 5 lbs. of plaster into a 2 lb. bag, but doing it with living tissue! Furthermore, since cartilage can’t be visualized by X-ray as bone can, one never knows what the rib cartilage configuration will be like before surgery. Therefore, the surgeon must “make do” and sculpt a realistic ear framework with the cartilage encountered at surgery, no matter how difficult that may be.

I will of course be taking my laptop to the hospital and will be updating everyone on Jordan's condition. I asked him yesterday after his post-op testing, "Jordan, do you feel scared, excited or neither?"

Typical for a male, he said, 'Neither," and continued eating his chocolate cupcake.

So there you go! Just another day for him.

Birthday...Valentine...two-fer

I am so behind in blogging. Argh.

I thought this would be a slow time of year for photography but it hasn't turned out that way thanks to some sweet babies I had the privilege of capturing on film. And because of that, I am putting totally unedited pictures up in today's post. Sorry for the lack of eye-candy.

It was my birthday last week. The kids were SO excited. It makes a mother's heart go pitter-patter when her kids remember her day.

Jeff went above and beyond with a little surprise dinner out with friends. Awww....it was so nice! He had picked up pizza for the kids and I was about to help myself to a slice when he informed me that we were going out to dinner. So fun! What a wonderful man I am married to!

He also made cherry cheese pie--which is my ultimate favorite--and its tradition to have it for my birthday instead of cake.

One of the kids decorated it. haha

Jillian wanted to make me a cake so she made it for Valentine's Day--although never got around to eating it until this morning.

Yes, you read that right.

"Dad is great! He gives us chocolate cake!"

Hopefully none of their teachers are reading this.....

{Just the big kids got cake for breakfast--not the little ones.}

On Valentine's day, we have a tradition to eat in the dining room.

There is no deviating from this no matter how hard I try.

They.Love.This.

And the treat bags afterwards don't hurt either.

SaraGrace asked if she could dress up for the big occasion. I said yes, and a bit later she came downstairs like this:

And then she danced with her daddy...

Jillian's creation...

I am one blessed woman.

2-4-6-8! Who do we ap-pre-ciate?

Our kids' school is doing a fundraiser today to help kids with cancer. If they pay $2, they can wear pajamas to school for the day.

So of course...all of our kids wanted to 'help' with this noble endeavor.

As they were putting on their coats to leave for school, Katie came up to me and said,

"Thanks for getting me these pajamas for Christmas. I really love them!"

As I was about to say, "You're welcome," she continued....

"I really appreciate dat."

Jeff and I got a big ol' warm feeling and smiled at each other...thinking we had the most amazing child on the planet.

A few seconds later she looked up at me and said,

"What does appreciate mean?"

Can Mom do Math?

If you have read this blog for long, you will know the answer to that question.

A big fat, NO.

Math is definitely not a strength that I possess.

SaraGrace apparently thinks I need some practice because she has been making me worksheets. AUUGGGHHHHH......

And to top it off, it seems to be some type of geometry.

Should I tell her that geometry was a subject that I failed in high school?

It was the teacher's fault.

He laughed at anyone who asked a question.

Needless to say, I didn't ask any and quietly dropped out of the class.

So maybe a better teacher would have been able to explain to me why two triangles plus a circle could equal a square or something. Or is that only algebra?

Whatever...

I seemed to have survived in life without knowing anything about that.

Until now.

If SaraGrace has anything to say about it, I WILL be learning something about math related shapes. She seems to make up her own version of 'math' as she goes along though.

And she happily informed me that I only got a 99% on my paper while Daddy got a 100%.

That's why he is responsible for all the math at our house.

Jake's World

Jake and Zoey are on a new kick...earning money.

I'm not sure what started it but they are willing to work for pennies.

Literally.

"Mom, can we fold clothes for a penny?"

"Um...sure! I might even give you two pennies if you do a good job."

It's probably bad of me to take advantage of their lack of knowledge regarding the actual value of coins. It's just hard not to smile and offer two pennies instead of one quarter, you know?

Trust me when I say that they just lose whatever I give them anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

The other day, Jake asked if he and Zoey could clean the bathroom for a penny. The main bathroom is dubbed, 'the kids' bathroom' because no one else wants to use it. It's gross. No matter how often it gets cleaned, it's trashed within an hour.

I do not fully understand how that is possible, but it happens. It's still a mystery how toothpaste gobs can get e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e., toilet paper on the floor, etc. GROSS.

Happily, I agreed to 'let' them clean it. I figured anything is better than nothing.

Surprisingly, they did a really nice job. They even cleaned the toothpaste gobs out of the sink. Who knew that 5 year old were capable of this?

The next morning, Jake walked into the bathroom after the teenager had used it. With a dramatic sigh, and hands outstretched, he exclaimed, "NOT AGAIN! I jus cleaned dis! Who made dis mess in here? I bet Taydor did dis!"

I totally cracked up. And I might have even muttered under my breath, "Welcome to my world, Jake, welcome to my world.

Katie-Bug has a birthday

The Bug had a birthday this week...how can she be SIX already?! Ack! She was beside herself with excitement for D.A.Y.S.

Sunday at church, every time someone said hi to her, she said, "Tomorrow is my birthday!" And look pleased as punch when they said, "Oh! Happy Birthday, Kate!"

She's subtle, that one.

This year....SCORE...her birthday landed on Martin Luther King day, so she had the day off from school. Although...when you're a kid and you don't get to take your birthday treats to school on the DAY of your actual birthday, it can be cause for consternation.

She chose Red Robin for our usual lunch-out-after-church restaurant and happily slurped and smacked her free sundae after being sung to by half the establishment.

SaraGrace was hounding me to do a photoshoot with her new headband, so Kate jumped in for a few shots. It WAS her birthday, after all.

{In case you forgot, she would remind you. Every. Hour.}

Awwww....my two heart babies, and Hope Healing Home alumni.

Let's open presents! Jake wanted a picture with the birthday girl. That's cool because it's not every day that a girl gets to pose with a bona fide super hero.

I wrapped these myself.

Be impressed.

"Yay! I'm so excited!!!!"

"Wheeee! A dollhouse!"

"Yay! Matchbox cars!"

Stop judging. She ASKED for them! :)

And you can tell that she is super excited about them, too.

Jillian made the cake and did another fabulous job.

I love that big smile on her face!

Three tries and they were out.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Jake...the Super Hero

Jake came downstairs this morning dressed like this:

"I'm da Batman tiger guy."

"Check out my sweet cape."

Side view

"Wanna see me jump so my cape flies out?"

"See my ninja flying skills!"

{And please stop noticing that I have nothing hanging on the wall behind the tv, despite the fact that we have lived here for a year and a half. It's a huge wall and I can't decide what to put up there. Argh!}

And again...

"Jake! You got like three feet of air that time!"

Jake's New Do

Me: Noticing a notch out of Jake's hair... "Did you cut your hair?"

Jake: NO!

Me: Really? Because it looks like you did.

Jake: Nooooo (insert slight whiney tone)

Other kids notice which brings a chorus of: "Jake, yes you did!"

Jake takes umbrage: "NOOOO!"

Another chorus of: "Yes, you did!"

Jake: starts crying

Me: Jake! You're not in trouble. Just tell the truth. Did you cut your hair?
Jake: (Wails) Yessssssss.

Me: (relieved to know that it wasn't from the haircut I gave him) Where were you when you cut it?
Jake: Blank stare

Me: Were you in the bathroom? The kitchen?

Jake: Noooo.

Me: Where?

Jake: (softly) At school.

Me: You cut your hair at school?!

Jake: Yeah.

Me: What? You just sat in your seat and took a hunk out of your hair?

Jake: Yeah.

And I thought they went to school to learn. ha.

Taylor took fiendish delight in telling Jake I was going to have to give him a buzz cut to fix it.

I didn't.

He's just going to have to go around with a notch out of his hair for awhile. Ryan gave himself an identical cut at about the same age.

It's a fad for 5 year olds.

Just so you know.

You're welcome. {I wouldn't want you to miss out on the cutting edge of hair fashion.}

First Trip of the Year to ER

Well, the year is new but we have made our first trip to ER.

Little Miss Katie-bug forgot my warning not to touch the stockings hung on the mantle, due to the possibility of a large, heavy holder falling on their heads.

Hehhhhhhhhhh....

I was out with the bigger girls and Taylor was babysitting when I got a call. Katie had pulled a stocking holder down on her face, near her eye and it was bleeding. He wasn't sure if she needed a stitch.

When I got home, I ascertained that she did need one because it was an impact split of her skin near her eye. It was nice and clean, but it would not stay together. I tried a steri-strip because it was a pretty small cut, but alas...it wouldn't stay closed. Taylor had done a great job of getting her wound cleaned, bandaged, and a dose of Tylen*l for the pain.

Off we went to ER because the doctor's office was closed today.

I knew we would have a long wait when I saw three ambulances outside the loading area, and the parking lot packed with cars.

Thankfully, I think kids get triaged to the front of the line. We still waited several hours, but it could have been much worse. When they took us back, there were gurney's end to end lining both sides of the hallway--all occupied with people! Apparently everyone decided to get injured or sick today since the doctor's offices were closed. It was a zoo in ER!

Kate was brave and only needed one stitch. She was happy to get a milk shake on the way home. Jeff told me that the kids were going to start getting hurt on purpose so they could score some individual Mommy time and a milk shake. ha!

Modeling the bandage that Taylor put on her cheek while she waits to be seen.

Please excuse the dreadful cellphone photos.

Christmas Wrap-up

I really need to try to get back to blogging...

We just returned from a trip to Ohio and Iowa to see both sides of the family for Christmas!

We even survived it.

We had 2 vans, 9 kids, 1 dog, good attitudes and a renegade stomach virus.

The kids were actually great in the cars and I do not have one complaint about their behavior. The weather was great--no snowy roads. There weren't even any traffic jams!

We were at my parents' for the first leg of the trip since they are on the way to Jeff's parents. We spent two days with them, including Christmas eve, and then got up on Christmas day to drive to Iowa.

Grandma passes out the presents! All of my siblings and their kids were there most of the day and then we went to Christmas eve service at my parents' church.

Skype allowed Ryan and Dani to see some of the festivities.

We can't WAIT to open our presents!!

We spent two days there and were able to see all of Jeff's siblings--some of whom I hadn't seen in several years. It was so fun to see everyone! One of my friends who has a daughter the same age as Ryan, also paid a visit which was such a treat!

Cousins are fun!

I'm pretty sure this photo doesn't need an explanation. Aren't they cute?!

Playing "Memory." You do not want to challenge Chloe to a game of this. She is amazing at it.

We did have two kids come down with the stomach flu but thankfully the rest of us did not succumb.

I had the brilliant idea to leave most of our luggage at my parents and only take a portion of our stuff to Jeff's parents. It would decrease the amount of schlepping that needed to be done.

Right?

Well....theoretically.

It did decrease the amount but it caused a great deal of confusion later on.

When we got back to my parents' we had a barfing child in the car (thankfully, into a bowl).

This caused our parental brains to misfire.

We rested there a day and then Jeff began loading up all our junk...suitcases, backpacks, presents, and all manner of paraphernalia. (Remember, some of our stuff was still packed in the car, since we didn't have to bring it in from our Iowa leg of the trip. This is important to the story because it caused us not to remember what we had started out with.) Still...the amount of stuff clogged up a large area in my parents house.

So much so that we didn't notice that something was missing.

At all.

A rather large something.

(Yes, I did do a walk-thru to check for missing items but this particular something was tucked out of sight)

We had an uneventful drive home and unpacked the cars.

Still didn't notice anything missing.

(Oh...except for my computer cord which my mom had already taken to UPS.)

Time to get ready for bed and I wanted something out of my suitcase.

Except it didn't seem to be upstairs.

Or downstairs.

Or in the car.

But it was in Ohio.

ACK!

My entire suitcase is in Ohio and I am not. Most of my winter clothes were in it so I have very little to wear until my poor mother packs it up and makes the trek back to UPS with the large box.

The good news is that we did not leave any of our children in Ohio.

Despite our latest mishap, we had a wonderful trip and loved being able to see our families. What a blessing!!