Tonsil Recap

A little run-down of our day, this time in pictures:

9:00 a.m., arrive at the surgery center, Thomas and Percy in hand.  Wearing lucky shirt saved for special occassions. 

9:30 a.m.: check in-- receive wristband for Sean, one for Beth and one for Oli.  Beth and Oli were even allowed to go back in the O.R. with Sean, so its a good thing they had wristbands, so the doctors knew which person to operate on.

10:00 a.m., head back to surgery. 

11:00 a.m., wake up--scared, confused, sad. We only stayed in the recovery room for about 15 minutes before they let us go home. Sean then fell asleep on the 4 minute drive home.

And fell asleep again on the couch as soon as we got inside.  I sort of loved it b/c he was so baby-ish again and I just got to hold him for an hour. I may have even taken a little rest myself with him while Cody and Jamesie picked up meds at the drug store.

Meanwhile, Jamesie was extremely curious about what was going on and why Seannie looked so strange.  He kept trying to walk to him, talk to him, poke him, get him to jump on the couch....and Sean slept.

12:30 p.m. wake up, have some apple juice with Dad, then ask to go have a nap at 1:00 p.m.  Before his nap though, Cody gave him a new Berenstain Bears book and a new water-color Thomas book.  Cody said we could read the B.B. today and then maybe if Sean felt better tomorrow or the next day he could do the painting book.  When I put him to bed he said, "Mommy, I'm feeling better now....I think I can do painting after nap."

3:30 p.m., Dad wakes Sean up from nap and the first thing Sean says is, "I'm all better now, Dad.  I can do some painting."  Meanwhile, Jamesie remains curious.

5:00 p.m., discover that the nurse gave Mom a whole sheet of Thomas stickers!  Decorating himself with all but two of them--one for Mom and one for Jamesie.

6:00: Dinner: oatmeal.  We're on a soft-food diet (nothing that has to be chewed) for 2 full weeks!  Any ideas?  We did a smoothie and oatmeal today--but that just about covers all of my ideas...with 13 days to go.

7:00: Bath, apply new Notre Dame tattoo to hand, and bed. 

So far, so good--he even talked to both of his grandmothers on the phone today, and they were both amazed at how good he sounded.  The Doc warned us that some kids seem to do extremely well the first couple of days though and then hit a wall a few days in, so we'll keep you updated how the rest of the recovery goes. Thanks again for all your prayers!

Update on Seannie

Sean made it through the surgery very well and we are already at home!  Sean is in and out of naps on the couch, and currently listening to Cody read Pinnocchio to him.  The nurses all said he was very brave and did extremely well.  He was very confused and sad when he woke up, but seems to be coming around now-- enough to try to some ice cream for lunch at least :).  We'll keep you updated with more later...thank you for all your prayers!

Goodbye (and Good Riddance) Tonsils!

Sean's tonsils have about 12 hours left in their current home, then we say goodbye for good!  If you've been anywhere near Sean while he sleeps you'll know that he snores like an old man.  This summer on vacation Cody had to sleep on the couch because our 3 years old's snoring was keeping him up.  The real problem, however, is that he has been having apnea episodes as he snores, which make for a very bad night sleep and a tired little boy for the rest of the day.  At nearly 3 1/2 he still indulges in a 2-3 hour nap most afternoons. 

The Big Event will happen tomorrow morning at 9:30, and we would all appreciate prayers at that time for a safe and successful operation and recovery!  Thank you in advance!

To get ready for the big day tomorrow Seannie and I made a cake (he requested blue cake with blue writing) this afternoon to wish his tonsils good luck on their new voyage.  Sean got to pick what he had for dinner (he chose a hot dog) and have as much of the cake and ice cream as he wanted as he won't be able to eat in the morning.  Here are some sweet pics of our celebratory dinner:

Showning his tonsils.  If you ask him about his tonsils or say "wow, they look big," he'll correct you and say "oh no, no, no, they're nasty."  He told the ENT they're nasty when the doc first looked at them.

Blue cake, blue writing and a blue candle.  We all sang "goodbye tonsils for you..." to the tune of Happy Birthday--it was pretty silly.

Digging in!  Notice Jamesie's prefered way of getting cake.

Close up.

Mmmm. 

Jamesie with his old-man muffin-top-belly after all that cake!

So, goodbye tonsils!  We hope to never hear from you again!

Nifty Nicknames

So the other day after school Sean said the following to me:

"Mommy, my children (he refers to the children in his class as "my children") don't know how to say "-eee."  Because they can't say my whole name, they just call me 'Sean.'"

That is to say, they don't call him "Seannie" at school, and he was upset by this.  He then asked me to have a talk with his teacher about calling him Seannie instead of Sean (because its his whole name).  I had the requested talk, and he came home and reported that the teacher did just fine, except she forgot one time at lunch and called him "Sean." 

This got me thinking about how fun nicknames are-- they give you a special connection with your child/spouse/friend that makes that person feel special and worthy of your creative thoughts.  My dad calls my sister's husband (Michael Crews) M.C. Hammer.  My uncles regularly call Cody "Code Red" or "Zippy" (short for Zip Code) or "Agent Cody Banks."  Our Cousin Brendan has gone by "Soup" for years, which is short for Super Man, just because his parents think he's super. 

While Seannie usually just goes by Seannie (or, when he was talking in 3rd person, he would go by "SeannieSeannie" which we still like to use), Jamesie's names around this house have gotten pretty creative. For posterity sake, here's a list of all the names you are likely to hear him called on any given day around our house:

Jamesie (duh)
Mames (this is how Sean pronounced his name when he was a baby)
Mamesie (see above)
Mimzy
Mimzer
Jimmer (developed during last year's March Madness tournament)

We love our little Seannie and Mimzy!

Mames, Coburg and Seannie Seannie.

De-Caffing My Life: Week 1 Update

Thank you to everyone who left comments, emailed, facebooked, etc to help me start the process of getting of the caffeinated wagon.  A week into it and I am proudly (albeit groggily) making progress.  I haven't had an afternoon pick-me-up in about 10 days now (record), and the morning juice is cut down to about 1/2-1 small cup of coffee.  This weekend I even went de-caf on the morning cup (and took 2 naps that day). 

I'm feeling really ambitious, but I think I might finish out this week with my regular small cup, and then try to step down even further next week. I don't want to do anything foolish.  I can't say I feel "good" and full of "natual energy" yet, but I'm hoping it will come...right? 

Tiffany's Table Manners for Three-Year-Olds...

In the car today...

Sean: "Another kick....Another kick...Another kick...Mommy, what's that thing again...Another kick? 
Erin: I'm not sure what you're talking about.  You want to do another kick? 
Sean: No no no.  Like what Mama Peggy said about when you toot at the dinner table or when you don't walk across another person's tennis court.  What's that thing called? 
Erin: Etiquette!
Sean: Yeah yeah yeah... Mama Peggy says its good to say "I tooted!" when you're at the table.
Erin: I think she said its good etiquette not to tell everyone you tooted when you're at the table.
Sean:  No, its good to tell. 

Not our particular conversation today, but here we are in the middle of another deep conversation last weekend, likely dominated by the word WHY?

Yes, sean is wearing a US flag-type patch on his ND jersey...because he wanted to.  3 year olds are fun and funny and whimsical and just neat to be around.  We really like our's.

I Need Help

I somehow got through college without caffeine.  Of course I'd have the occassional Mountain Dew (Code Red) here and there during finals or before a big night out, but as for the daily cup of joe-- I totally did without.  HOWEVER, for about the last 7 years, I have been in a major battle with caffeine.  I started drinking coffee when I started dating Cody (to be honest, I usually enjoyed a cup a day when I worked at Wachovia before law school) because he did, and it smelled really good, and we walked by Starbucks every day on the way to school.  Then it was fun having a warm cup of coffee with him in the cold, snowy South Bend afternoons when you had nothing but pages of reading to look forward to for the rest of the day.

Coffee (and caffeine in other forms) became like a drug to me.  Oh wait, it is a drug.  And I am addicted.  Cody always tells me to just accept it, yet I've never been comfortable with such a needy dependance on it (or anything for that matter).  So, for the last 7 years or so, I have been an addict, but an uncomfortable one.  Every few months I vow I'm going to kick the habit, but then I get a headache and Cody rolls his eyes and brews me another cup or hands me a Diet Coke.  I'm serious now though, I'm going to do it.  I'm healthy, I don't have to be at work early in the morning, and have the afternoon to take a power nap if needed.  Now is my time...I know it. I don't have to be a slave to this drug for the rest of my life--now is my chance to get out!

But, HOW?  HOW DO YOU GET OFF OF CAFFEINE?!!!  PLEASE---If you have done this---please give me some advice.  Leave a comment, email, call, whatever... what can I do?   Right now I'm on about 1-2 cups in the morning plus a caffeinated soda (or tea) in the afternoon.  More if I have a headache. How do I stop? 

Montessori Education at Work

The other day Sean asked to help me vacuum.  I discovered that is not a chore that lends itself to helping hands.  Either you do it or you don't---its really hard to "help" vacuuming.  So, a few days later when he asked to help again, I found this smaller sized vacuum in the garage and let him have a go at it himself.  He loved it.  Practical "work" learning.  I love it.

In underpants...even better.

After the carpet was clean he asked how the vacuum worked....

And spent a good 10-15 minutes like this.