Month: May 2014

It’s definitely short weather and time for skinned knees on little boys.

I kind of love the view from my front porch.

I have never been a big fan of vaulted ceilings. I love high ceilings, but not the two story high. Here is a perfect reason why:

This boy loves cars. He talks about cars nonstop. He plays with them constantly. When someone is leaving our house he wants to watch “car back up.” Yesterday I was trying to convince him to go swimming with Alex and Daddy in our neighbor’s pool. Our conversation went a little like this:
Me: Teague you love to swim. You are a good swimmer.
Teague: No. I good car driver.

Alex has been mailing letters since last fall. He would bring home a sealed envelope from school and tell me who he wanted to send it to – usually grandparents. For his birthday, Granny made him a box of supplies – paper, stickers, envelopes, and even stamps. Today Alex showed up with a completely colored coloring book and wanted me to write words on each page. Then he prepared a package for Abram and wanted to mail it.

Alex loves experiments and today he wanted to create dandelion soup. I’m not sure of all the ingredients but I did see Worcestershire Sauce and Hershey’s Syrup being added.

Teague was scheduled for surgery today at noon. My mom drove over yesterday so she could stay home with Alex. Teague was a champ about his breakfast of apple juice and jello – only clear substances till 10 and then no food. Then the highlight of his day was parking in a parking deck (he’s so easy to please) before walking into the hospital. We were only in the waiting room a few minutes, but I was extremely impressed that they had little tykes cozy coupes and trucks for the kids. Teague loved driving around.

The surgery was very quick and uncomplicated. In my consult with the doctor post-op, he mentioned the procedure could probably have been done in his clinic without anesthesia. Then I was a little annoyed. This doctor had no idea what I was about to go through with Teague and the rage he embraces as he wakes up.
I had tried to warn the nurses and anesthesiologist about Teague and his reaction to anesthesia, but I knew no one was taking me seriously. They came to get me very quickly upon his waking. Then the nurses were great about asking what I needed and leaving us alone. Teague raged for quite a while and we had a random anesthesiologist (not ours) come by and try to convince me Teague needed morphine. I told him this was normal for Teague and would pass. Teague finally calmed down and we got dressed to leave for home. The nurses were quite concerned about his reaction and wanted to know why I hadn’t mentioned it. When I told them that I had they then rolled their eyes about the doctor not even noting it in the file. They did suggest we transfer hospital records next time in addition to medical records. (I hadn’t even realized this was necessary or possible.)
We got home and I couldn’t even convince Teague to take a nap. He was good to go the rest of the day and quite happy to play with his brother.

One of the perks of a moving company is they will come back to your house (whenever you choose) to pick up boxes and packing paper. We had pretty much filled one garage bay so we scheduled a pickup. Alex was extremely unhappy with this decision.

While getting Teague dressed this morning he said his “stitches” hurt when we put on his shirt. I took a closer look and realized his silicon implant was actually protruding from the surgery site. I had a strong suspicion this meant it definitely had to be removed, regardless of the noticeable decrease in swelling and redness. We already had an appointment with the doctor within a few hours so we just left it alone. (For those curious what the implant looks like, see below)

The doctor took one look and added us to his surgery schedule on Thursday. He did comment that this made removal extremely simple. The bad news is this means Teague will need an additional surgery in the future.

I’m not really sure we will have a new “normal” for a long time, but today came close. We said good-bye to Granny and Pop this afternoon. Wade went to work for normal hours. We even ate dinner together at the table – just the four of us! Then of course the boys wanted Daddy to read them some books.

We’ve started piling empty boxes in the garage. Alex thinks they make an awesome play area.

Alex is actually wearing Teague’s shirt (as in two sizes too small). The boys haven’t quite figured out where to go for clothes now that they share a closet.

Aunt Emmie gave the boys a trampoline for Christmas with the understanding that the snow had to melt before it was assembled. Then we found out we were moving so we used it as a big selling point for Kansas City. The boys have been anxiously awaiting today – finally the trampoline is going up!

We heard from Granny and Pop on Wednesday that Teague’s surgical site over one eye was inflamed. By the next day his eye was swollen shut, the site was draining, and we were talking to the surgeon in Boston. She quickly prescribed an antibiotic. About seven hours after taking the antibiotic, Pop realized Teague was having an allergic reaction to the medicine. We contacted the doctor and she prescribed another antibiotic and scheduled us with a local ophthalmologist for this afternoon.
This morning I met Granny and Pop in downtown Kansas City, transferred Teague to my car, and headed to meet a new doctor. The staff was fantastic and the doctor even consulted with the Boston surgeon while we were waiting. The decision was made to continue the antibiotics till Tuesday. The local Doctor gave us his cell phone and told us he would check with us daily over the weekend. If the swelling got worse then we would do an emergency implant removal. Otherwise we would re-evaluate on Tuesday with the hope that the implant could be saved. (Our surgeon had told us this was very unlikely, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.)

The doctor “drew” Teague’s favorite animal (a monkey) on his face to help us evaluate the swelling/redness and whether it was improving or getting worse.

It appears the boys are having a lot of fun in Fayetteville. Of course they have three adults to entertain them so they should be in heaven! (I was most impressed with the obstacle course created in the church gym during a rainy day.)

Wade and I have not encountered very many odd, negative, or ignorant adoption comments. Most of the comments are very positive or interested. Wade told me about this exchange he had with a lady in an elevator on the Boston trip and I am still laughing about it.
Teague: (Random muttering and comments – most likely about a blue car.)
Lady: What language is he speaking?
Wade: It’s English, but he’s three. I don’t understand him either.

It only took us a day to realize Madison is still her typical self when it comes to country life. She has spent most of the last two days either in the creek behind our house or across the street in the field of horses. Surprisingly I actually prefer the rolling in horse poop to the creek. The creek is down in a wooded ravine and that means ticks. After removing over 30 ticks last night I decided a haircut was definitely in order.