Happy Sesame Birthday

We had a great time this year at Elizabeth's 4th Birthday party! We were so delighted to have Grandma, Nana, Papi, Rikki, Doug, and the Koeglers - Jason, Sarah, Campbell, & Will celebrate with us. Especially Rikki & Doug (guilt does work!) for braving the weather to get here...which is what kept Papi at home.

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful to/for/about:

• Dr. Christopher Tiu! Yesterday her performed Elizabeth's surgery of removing her tonsils, adenoids (about 90% of them at least), and put tubes in her ears. He said she was "perfect" after the surgery. Her ears were really infected - much more so than what he initially thought. In our last consultation with him, he thought that she wouldn't need drops in her ears or an antibiotic after the surgery, but that wasn't the case. He was quite surprised that she never complained about her ears hurting her. Her tonsils were about the equivalent of an adult having two golf balls in the back of their throat. Her adenoids were completely blocking her airway, so she was never able to breathe from her nose...until yesterday! She barely snored last night (and Dr. Chris said that post-op she would likely have swelling and would snore for a few more weeks.) The nurses at the hospital were so good to Elizabeth, too. We are so thankful to everyone at Wheeling Hospital!!! Her surgery was delayed for nearly two hours as the hospital was dealing with harvesting organs in the OR in which Elizabeth's surgery was scheduled. I'm thankful, too, for the generous soul that offered his/her organs which are saving and greatly enhancing lives
  
• Elizabeth - she is an amazing 4-year-old little girl! She never complained with all of her discomfort prior to surgery. She's been so fabulous post-surgery - only four times saying that her throat hurts. She says her ears don't have bubbles in them any more (that is all the more complaining she ever did when she would have an ear ache). The majority of her complaints that she has lodged thus far after the surgery is that we are making her rest on the couch or not run from the living room and her play room.
  
• Reid - for being the strong one when the nurses and anesthesiologist wheeled her off on her bed yesterday while she was still awake. (She wasn't crying, she was definitely "loopy" thanks to the drugs, but I wasn't the rock in that situation.) He's such a good Daddy!
• Grandma (& Papi) - for coming up to stay with us and to help care for Elizabeth (her love of cleaning products is just a bonus!) She got her last Wednesday, just in time to help out with Elizabeth while I was in "God Bless Texas" for work. Plus, she has been such a good nurse to me during my various surgeries, it's just an added comfort to me! Papi, too, for being so good about lending us Grandma (not that I think he had much to say in the matter!)
  
• Nana & Papa - for their loving support of us, and most especially Elizabeth. E was allowed to take her precious Lambie and her Christmas quilt that Nana made her back into the surgery with her...so wonderful that she had her comfort items with her!
• Aunts, Uncles, & her cousin Alex...who when he saw a picture of her in her hospital gown he said, "Go see EP. Make her happy." What a sweet boy he is!

I'll be curious as to what Elizabeth remembers from her surgery. I was 8 when I had my T&A. I have very random memories, none of them were too scarring (unless you count waking up and your Mom not being in the room, but your Grandma was there boozing it up with something from her thermos.)

Seeing her in the recovery room was tough. She didn't know what was going on, or to some extent who we were. She cried so hard and couldn't really be comforted. When she saw the heart-rate monitor on her finger, she tried to rip it off. Then when she saw the IV in her left hand (when they had been prepping her right hand) and tried to rip it out. A nurse, Franny, quickly came over to remove those items before Elizabeth took matters completely into her own confused little hands. Then Elizabeth, still crying and confused, tried to stand up in the bed. Her legs were weak and she quickly fell back down. I scooped her up and held her. With me holding her close to me and Reid able to wipe away her tears and stroke her hair, she finally calmed down to where she stopped crying and quickly fell asleep.

We stayed in the recovery room with me holding her for about an hour. Thankfully another nurse, Jo Ann, was able to track down Dr. Chris before he went in for his third procedure of the day (Elizabeth was his first) so that we could get discharged.

Her voice is markedly higher at the moment. Dr. Chris said it would most likely change following the surgery. I'm curious at this point, though, if it will stay as high as it is right now...as I am guessing that it is partially this high as a result of the stress on the back of her throat.

Elizabeth truly is a remarkable little girl. I'm not just saying this because she is mine...she is one amazing kid.

Elizabeth Rings in the New Year

Happy 2010 to All!

Elizabeth stayed awake on NYE to ring in 2010 with us. She had been in her playroom quietly hanging out watching Season 1 of the Brady Bunch...without sleeping. So, about 10 minutes until midnight, Reid had her come into the living room to watch the ball drop with us. We're concerned that her counting skills have been severely hurt with watching Dick Clark do the countdown. How sad that has become, "Firteen, tehve, ten, leben, nie..." Most kids these days will have no clue how important Dick Clark was to music or folks like my mom (or even me to a lesser extent) in their teen years. They will just have this image of the guy rising up from his coffin every New Year's Eve to botch the countdown...truly, truly sad!

Today, while cleaning up in my scrapbook room, I found $40! Score!!!

Elizabeth is thrilled with her easel and art stuff, which I have set up in the scrapbook space. She wrote her own name on the wipe board today - check it out!!! She may have been set back in the counting department thanks to Mr. Clark, but she wrote her name today, which is HUGE! She was so proud of herself, and rightfully so! I took pictures of the writing (especially since it was done with a dry-erase marker!), and she wanted her picture taken with it, as well as her picture with her Daddy and the writing. She's growing up so quickly!

She's been quite active...downloading the Chipettes (from Alivin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel) singing "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" on Reid's iPhone...and has been walking around singing, "All the single ladies...put a ring on it...uh oh oh, uh oh oh..." for the last two days. So, with the found money, we went to see the movie this evening. It's really cute!

Then for the ride home, despite it being only 12 degrees outside, Elizabeth insisted (and we indulged) in a trip to Cold Stone Creamery for some lemon ice cream (sorbet, but I'm not going there to correct her...I'll just be happy when she masters the "lie down" thing)...then off to see the lights at Oglebay for the last time this season. She blew kisses to Willard (the Snowman) and Frosty the Snowman, his wife, & kid. Goodbye lights, we'll see you next year!