The anticipation

Two cousins from Holland, Tim and Fanny, are arriving today. They've been in Houston with Scott's parents for about 3 weeks, and we will have them for the next five days. The kids are very excited. Payton wanted to go with Daddy to the airport to help pick them up. She even packed her little suitcase so that she could take it with her to the airport. (I'm not sure why she needed the suitcase. But, she's four and things like this make sense to four year olds.)

Then, Ian had the hardest time settling down for a nap. We fixed up a bed for him in Payton's room since Tim and Fanny will be staying in his room. He finally fell asleep (in the Payton's doorway) about and hour and fifteen minutes after I laid him down.

The Planters

A couple of weeks ago, the owners' parents of our house came to rebuild the deck. They had some scrap lumber that they were going to have hauled away to the dump. I noticed some new boards that were about 3 ft long and thought that it would be such a waste for those to not be used to make something. So, I asked Scott if he thought he could make me a planter out of the boards. Scott looked at the materials and you could see the little wheels starting to turn in his head. There was a little hemming and hawing, but he finally said that he would attempt to make the planters for me.

Now, as a scientist, I realize the importance of having the right materials and tools to complete a project correctly. And Scott being somewhat partial to the analytical way of thinking decided that he needed a workbench to complete the project properly. Thus, appeared the portable work bench from Lowe's for $29.99. I thought it was pretty snazzy looking and it folded up for neat storage, so it appeared to be a good idea. Scott sawed, glued, and hammered, concealing the work from my eyes, so it could be a surprise. Finally the first planter was done - ta da! I was thoroughly impressed. I like my new planter :) There was even enough wood to make two, maybe three planters.

But, now Scott's has a larger scheme in mind. He wants to make something for the kids. He bought a new circular saw ($49.99) and is building a real workbench now.

I thought I was being economical and resourceful by proposing the building of the planters, but those are some of the most expensive planters I've ever encountered.

OK, OK. I really think it's great that Scott has found this new hobby. He's so excited about building things and working out in the garage. He's really enjoying himself and the kids have been 'helping out' here and there, too. Yesterday, the kids even took some of the cut out pieces and made a little art.

'I think I'm starting to feel better.' Payton said to Daddy and me on two separate occasions. It was good to see her playing and smiling, singing and talking more today. She was so sad when she asked me in the hospital if her tonsils were out. And then she said, I don't want to have surgery again. Payton, you won't have to.

Tonight, when I went to turn off her night lights, she was sleeping so quietly, I had to look for her chest falling up and down. Sigh....    :)

Payton's Surgery

Payton is recovering from her tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy/ear tube placement surgery. She had a lot of work done yesterday. I want to thank all our family and friends for their good wishes and prayers. I especially want to thank our friend here in W-S for all their support. It's not easy being away from family when you have to go through something like this, but it's so wonderful to have friends that are there for you like family :)

So, we had to be at the hospital at 6:15 am. We dropped Ian off at Samuel and Sarah's house at 6 am. I had told Ian that he was having a special breakfast/morning play date all by himself which he thought was very cool and special. The kids weren't awake yet, but Jill had the TV on and had toys out for him to play with. Ian let me go without a fuss, but Jill said he stood in the same spot for half an hour. Jill tried to play with him, but he just stood there looking around. Finally when Samuel woke up at 6:30, Ian ran up to him and said 'hello!' over and over again. Then Ian started playing. Jill said Ian was 'an angel' - thank God :)

Payton didn't go back to surgery till 8 am. She had made friends with one of the nurses and was counting butterflies that were painted on the wall as she was wheeled away. It was hard to see her go.  Scott and I rushed to the cafeteria to get breakfast because the procedure was only suppose to take 30 minutes to an hour. We came back to the waiting room to eat and we ran into our friend Bill. He came to sit and wait with us. He was a great distraction. Finally after about 50 minutes, the ENT surgeon came out. Payton was fine and recovering. Evidently we made the right decision to have the surgery done. The poor girl had mucus and goop all up in her sinuses. The adenoids were 100% closing off any way for her sinuses to drain. Her ears had very gooey fluid behind them. The doctor thought that she probably had at least 40 dB hearing loss (that's mild to moderate hearing loss) because of the fluid. Thus the tubes went in. The hearing loss shouldn't be permanent. In fact, she probably could hear better yesterday after the surgery than before. When we were loading in the car to go home, Scott started the engine, and it scared her. She said that it was loud. Then Ian started yelling like a duck. Payton didn't like it at all. She thought he was really loud, too. She will have some readjusting to do.

Payton was a little disoriented and agitated in the recovery room. I tried to calm her down, but it wasn't working too well. She was scared and she had the IV in her arm which she didn't remember going in. So they gave her a little morphine and she calmed down. We went up to a 23-hour recovery room. It was private and very nice. We were on the 11th floor and had a great view of Winston-Salem. Payton slept and slowly got better throughout the day. She tried eating ice cream, but her favorite things to eat yesterday were french fries with ketchup and jello. Our friend Robin came buy with a cute stuffed panda bear from her kids, Reese, Evie, and Tucker. Payton loved on it and felt better. She was taking her medicine well enough and drinking enough, so we got to go home last night at about 7 pm.

Payton had a good night last night. She woke up for pain medication, but went right back to sleep. Today she's been playing the computer, coloring, watching The Backyardigans, and even doing her pretend play. 

Payton is talking differently. Right now she's talking a little through her nose and her pronunciation is not as good as it was before the surgery. I'm thinking that it will get better as the inflammation goes down and she heals.

Whew!

Payton's party is over :) It was fun, but I'm glad I won't have to worry about another party til March of next year. Payton had a Wall E birthday party upon her request. So, of course, I had to make her a Wall E cake. I always forget how time consuming making cakes can be. I stood over that thing for four hours yesterday decorating it with homemade icing. My mom did the same for my brother and I, and I will always remember my beautiful birthday cakes. Hopefully, Payton will remember hers and cherish hers the way I do mine.

Anyway, so the Wall E cake turned out well. Our friends, Bill and Robin let us borrow their bounce house for Payton's party. Everyone that Payton invited RSVP-ed to come, so we had 11 children and 8 adults. We were just praying that the rain would hold out, so that the entire crowd wouldn't feel so crowded. Well, we got about 20 minutes outside before the rain became too much. The kids didn't seem to mind. We decorated some foam hats and then the kids went off to play. They seemed to find plenty to do. I don't know who came up with the idea to make Ian's bed a rocket ship, but it seemed to be a huge hit with the 4 and under crowd. We had pizza, veggies, fruit, cake and ice cream. Surprisingly, after the party, the house looked like it does after any other day - rocket ship included.

Payton's 4!

Payton turned 4 years old yesterday! I think she had a fun day. I took some Wall E cupcakes up to her school for snack time.

We opened presents after quiet time and then went to Chuck E Cheese's for supper.

What 4 year old wouldn't love a day like that? 

And, as to Payton's promise of eating vegetable when she's four......yeah, that hasn't happened yet.

Happy Easter!

I don't think Ian understands Easter, but I'm pretty sure he loves the holiday - for the chocolate. Who wouldn't. You get to find plastic eggs with chocolate in them, AND you get to eat a chocolate bunny rabbit! In Ian's case, his bunny even had a basketball which made it even sweeter. Ian has learned how to open the wrappers around the Hersey's chocolate eggs - we found three empty ones on the floor next to his Easter basket before we caught him. Ian wants to rename Easter, Happy Chocolate Day.

We had a nice Easter. Our celebration started a day early with an Easter egg hunt at church. The gardens at the church are so beautiful that it made a very nice backdrop for the hunt.

On Easter morning, the kids woke up to find that the Easter bunny had left them goodies in their Easter nests. 

Then we went to 11 o'clock church. Payton was thrilled to wear her fancy Easter dress with matching pink hat and shoes. She loves to wear dresses. She look really sweet all dressed up. Ian slept through church which made the service very peaceful for Scott and I. We took pictures of the family all dressed up afterwards. Ian wasn't too happy about it, but we got one that didn't turn out too bad if you don't look at the people in the background :)

For supper we went to dinner at Blake and Jill's house. The kids were very excited to share Easter stories and go on yet another Egg hunt.