Elijah is doing so much better! I took him to school today and told his teacher to call me if he got too tired or grumpy. I got that call about two hours later, lol. However, he only took a couple of doses of Tylenol, and has been pretty happy. Right before bed he started to lose it, but that's not too uncommon for him anyway. He takes his last dose of antibiotic tomorrow, and I'll be glad to be done with that!
Today was much, MUCH better than I expected. Some of that probably has to do with the fact that I left Elijah home with Pete when I took the girls to church. I had an almost 4 hour break from the whining, which was nice :) Pete and Elijah sat on the couch and played the Wii for most of that time... Elijah is taking the Tylenol chewables much better now, and tonight even admitted to liking them. He also doesn't need them quite as often, which is nice. I think tomorrow I'll try to go 6 hours between doses. Oh how I wish he could take ibuprofen! It works so much better and lasts hours longer than Tylenol... but it's not good after surgery (or before) because it can cause bleeding. It's not a blood thinner like aspirin, but I believe it's a vasodilator... it's been a while since I studied all that! Hopefully, he won't wake up at 5am like he did this morning. That was a killer! Leah woke up as well because I wasn't there in bed next to her to keep her warm. Anyway, day 5 was a breeze :) He's not supposed to go back to school until Wednesday, but *maybe* I'll send him tomorrow. Pete thinks he needs a couple more days relaxing, and he's probably right... Mentally, he's ready to get back to school!!!
There WERE good parts of today, but the bad parts were pretty bad. Elijah's screaming refusal to take Tylenol at 6:30 were enough to wake Pete up, and that's really saying something. He no longer likes the Pediasure, and he just wants to eat real food. After the Tylenol kicked in he decided he'd try to eat a piece of cold, cheese pizza. He ate 3/4 of a slice, and I was pretty impressed. Who needs Pediasure if you can eat pizza??? At 10:15 (15 min before he needed to take more Tylenol) I came up with a brilliant plan to go buy some chewable Tylenol. If the kid can eat pizza he can chew a chewable pill!! Trying to get him into the car as his pain reliever was wearing off was not my smartest idea. He didn't want help with his jacket, but he couldn't get it on, so I helped him. SCREAMING. I took his jacket off and told him to do it himself. MORE SCREAMING. Then I start yelling. Hannah tried to help him get his jacket on, but she was having trouble. I end up putting his jacket on him and everyone out to the van and stuffed into their car seats. We drove the 1/2 mile to Walgreens and started the search for children's Tylenol. They have hidden the stuff. It's not in the 'pain relief' section, it's in it's own display right in front of the pharmacy. I was hoping to have some flavor options, but bubble gum was all they had (he hates grape, and apparently hates the 'very strawberry' that the liquid comes in). When I picked up the box, Elijah started panicking... not what I wanted to happen in Walgreens. When we got home, I insisted that he take the chewable Tylenol, and he doesn't like it, but he does take them. At least there wasn't any screaming that time. So, the chewables were a fine idea. Later, when it was time for the next dose, he'd just woken from a nap, but he did okay. At dinner he ate mac & cheese which was pretty exciting for him (poor kid). The pre-bed Tylenol didn't go so well because he was distracted by Pete playing the Wii and he dropped a pill and it rolled under the couch. I yelled, he cried, then he was in pain and couldn't calm down enough to take the darn things. It was a rough day, and I wasn't feeling very good (and certainly had zero patience). He did go to bed without a fuss, though he's in MY bed. Tomorrow is the dreaded day 5. I don't think there is any chance I will be taking him to church, he can just stay home with Pete! Of course, then Hannah says, "I want to stay home too..." She's just afraid they'll play the Wii without her. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Hannah and Daniela build a tower using the blocks from the pink tower and the brown stair.
Hannah and Daniela get some help from Walker's height.
Oops! Down it falls...
Hannah and Daniela pose with another creation.
Hannah works on the map of the US.
Poor Elijah! Each day has been worse than the last. The ENT told me that day 5 after surgery is the worst, so it looks like we have a couple more days of this. Elijah woke up screaming at 3am, and it was not easy getting him to take some Tylenol. I rocked him back to sleep. At 7am, he took his medicine better, but he REALLY doesn't like the Tylenol. It's 'very strawberry' flavored, and it smells really good. I've been mixing it with a little vanilla Pediasure so he will actually drink it. He's even complaining about THAT now. He takes the pink amoxicillin just fine, but the Tylenol is a continual struggle.
Elijah spent much of the morning playing computer games and watching a little TV. He's eating less and less each day. Today he drank 1/2 a Pediasure, 1/2 cup of applesauce, 1/4 cup (maybe) of yogurt, and a couple of scoops of ice cream. Yesterday he managed to eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch!
Pete came home early in the afternoon and played the Wii with Elijah, and they enjoyed that. By evening Elijah was feeling pretty poorly. He had a screaming fit about the Tylenol... which can't feel good. But he went to bed easily. I hope he feels better SOON!
This morning Hannah told me that one of her teeth hurt. Upon inspection, I pronounced it was loose. I don't expect it to come out for a couple of weeks though, she doesn't strike me as a tooth wiggler!
I'm now pretty sure that the reason that Elijah ran around like a crazy man all day yesterday had to do with his pain medication. He was taking Lortab every 4 hours, and it certainly was helping alleviate his pain! Last night when it wore off at 1:30am, he was asleep so I didn't give him anymore. He slept MUCH better after it wore off. He would cry out after a cough, but he did that while medicated. He had a little bleeding last night, and I'm thinking that all the activity probably caused it. We could NOT get him to stop talking or moving in the evening. I sent Pete to Walgreens at 5am for children's Tylenol so we could stop using the Lortab... It all seems to finally be catching up with the little guy. He couldn't eat his yogurt this morning, but he was able to take his medicine and drink some Pediasure. After the Tylenol kicked in he ate a little applesauce as well. He is, however, dancing around the living room right now...
I tried to take a picture of Elijah's tonsils last night before they were no more, and it was a lot trickier than I expected. This is the best shot I got. If you know what tonsils look like, you'll be able to spot them easily. Otherwise, they are the pink, fleshy things at the back of his mouth.
We were scheduled to arrive at the surgery center at 6am, so I woke Elijah up about 20 minutes before that time. I just put on his shoes and coat on with his pajamas and went. Lo and behold it had SNOWED! The temp must have been above freezing because the streets were wet, but there was snow on the grass. We live about a mile from the surgery center, so we got there quite quickly. I got him checked in and we waited in the pre-op area for a while. He had to change into a hospital gown that had tigers on it. It was so big on him it practically dragged on the ground. We had to wait a bit for all the doctors to arrive since Elijah was one of the first surgeries of the day. He charmed all the nurses with his good behavior and obvious smarts. He was given a coloring book and we worked on a word search together (he loves those!). Once again the nurses were impressed :) Around 7:10 the ENT arrived and Elijah was taken back to the O.R. After about 10 minutes of waiting, a nurse came out and told me how well he had done with the anesthesia. They had him put the mask on his stuffed puppy first, then he held it on his own face and went to sleep. The surgery only lasted about 20 minutes, and then I met with the doctor. He said the surgery went really well and that Elijah's tonsils were only attached with a very narrow band of tissue. Because of that, he'll have an easier recovery, smaller scabs, and less scar tissue. His adenoids were of moderate size (unlike his LARGE tonsils), and they came out easily too. After Elijah was in recovery for about 5 minutes, he woke up just enough to say "I want my Mommy!", so they came and got me even though he was still pretty out of it. I held him, he drank a little apple juice, and he fell asleep. After 90 minutes of sleeping, the nurse came in and said he needed to eat something and take some pain medicine before he could leave. I whispered, "Elijah, do you want some pudding?" His eyes opened and he was suddenly AWAKE. He ate 1/2 a cup of pudding, drank a lot more juice, and eventually gagged down the yucky, liquid medicine. When it became apparent that he was going to tolerate the medicine (15 min or so), the nurse took out his IV and he got dressed. At that point, he said, "that was really fun!" He walked to the car, and all the nurses said, "Bye Elijah!!" When we got outside I had to tell him NOT to run or jump... He's supposed to stay sedintary for a WEEK and no running, jumping, etc for TWO WEEKS. Right.
I was going to take a picture to show how chipper he looks, but he wanted to look pitiful for the camera :) 
Everyone seems to be doing these, so I'll add mine to the mix.
January 2008
December 2008
In 2008 Hannah did the following: had her first stomach virus (really!), started reading, had allergy testing (twice!), slept through a 5.4 earthquake, danced and sang in the school play "Baby Want Out!", grew hair long enough to braid and style, had her first not-so-glowing progress report from preschool, went to summer school and took swim lessons, met her great-grandparents, grew to be 44 inches tall and 44 lbs, started kindergarten, started enjoying the "harder" academic works at school, lived without electricity for 40 hours after Hurricane Ike blew through, learned to knit on a loom, learned to do needlepoint, grew her own pumpkins for Halloween, turned SIX years old and had a birthday bash at Chuck E Cheese, had TWO allergic reactions to beeswax lip balm and two bouts of impetigo, got a fantastic, glowing, AMAZING progress report from her kindergarten teacher, started writing stories, quit taking gymnastics, started art lessons, and was generally the world's best big sister (to Leah anyway!).
January 2008
December 2008
In 2008 Elijah did the following: earned the name Mr. Grumpy Pants, was sick too many times to count, had a non-family member babysitter for the first time, slept through an earthquake, said many funny "Elijah-isms", learned to use the potty!, had a "no-hair cut", entertained us with his silliness, amazed us with his intelligence, turned THREE years old and had a John Deere party, learned to drive his own little John Deere tractor, met his great-grandparents for the first time, got to ride on some REAL, antique John Deere tractors at the fair, started Montessori preschool, grew to be 36 inches tall and 30 lbs, started taking gymnastics, quit taking gymnastics (for now), learned to cut with scissors, went on his first field trip and bus ride, learned to dress himself, sat on Santa's lap for the first time, and was as amazingly sweet big brother (not nearly as sweet little brother!)
January 2008
December 2008
In 2008 Leah did the following: Learned to sit, started eating solid food (kind of), grew 12 teeth, learned to crawl, learned to talk (at least 100 words and even putting words together), grew a LOT of hair, became just as silly as her brother, earned the name "Destructo-baby", learned to stand, turned ONE year old, went swimming for the first time, learned to climb and descend the stairs, learned to walk, was sick more times than I can count including stomach viruses, an ear infection, and roseola, grew to be 30 inches tall and 20 lbs, and was the best little sister EVER!
I wanted to put up a bunch of pictures while we were gone, but the internet connection was painfully slow most of the time, so I didn't. Hopefully, I will get caught up soon, but it won't be tonight!
We made it home in record time, only 11 1/2 hours!! The kids were amazingly well behaved and that allowed us to drive more and stop less. Leah wasn't exactly happy about being in her carseat, but she managed to survive without an all out meltdown.
Tomorrow should be an interesting day since I will be taking Elijah to get his blood drawn for the lab work that needs to be done before his tonsilectomy on Wednesday... Poor guy, he doesn't know what he's in for. He's very excited about the special chocolate milk (Pediasure) we'll be buying for him to drink after the surgery. I suppose I better stock up on ice cream too :)
