I may have to write two posts today to cover everything we've missed over the past two weeks. You would have thought that, since Jack was supposed to be "recovering from surgery," I would have had a lot of down time. Turns out that wasn't the case. I could only bring the computer out when he went down for his nap and then I was completely consumed with taking care of things at the office. If I forgot to put the computer away after Jack woke up, he would scream, "Me! Me! Me!" and try and climb up on the chair to pound on the keyboard.
So, let's see...I left off a few days before Jack got his cast off. This was a joyous day. The saw they used to take the cast off really scared Jack at first, but once he figured out that the horrible thing encasing his leg would come off, he seemed to calm down a bit. The leg was also completely gross. I spent a fair amount of time trying to clean things up and slough off the dead skin. Still, he "walked" out of the orthopedist's office a much happier camper.
After his appointment with the orthopedist, he actually had an audition for a Huggies commercial. A few months ago, I submitted his picture for a Target casting call and never heard anything, so I kind of forgot about it. A Huggies representative called me a few weeks ago to set up an audition. I figured it was probably just wasted time, but hey - you never know! So, we went over and it was basically a cattle call. But, Jack was having so much fun with the other kids, running around and falling on the ground now that his cast was off that I suppose it was worth the trip...
He didn't get the gig, if you can believe it. How could anyone not want to buy diapers with his face plastered all over the box? That night, he got to stay home with a babysitter so Jeff and I could attend yet another work function. I was a bit nervous, since he had a pretty significant limp after the cast came off. Seriously, he walked around like he had the cast on for about a week. The limp became more pronounced when he'd get out of his crib in the morning or if he'd been sitting down for a while. Still, I'm pleased to report that this issue has resolved itself and now he's running around like a maniac. He really scared his daddy for a while - Jeff thought he'd never get any better.
So, the weekend before his surgery, we spent some time getting things organized and ready for the upcoming week. I also took Jack to get his hair cut since he was growing wings again. Predictably, he hated it. I don't know why this is - but I can guess. The poor kid has been poked and prodded in and around his face pretty much his entire life. Doctors (and Mommy) always want to look in his ears, stick things up his nose and down his throat. So, I suppose it's safe to say that he associates a haircut with the same type of poking and prodding he gets at the doctor's office...
We wanted to take him out to the zoo later that day, but the weather was so crummy we headed to the Mall of America. I wanted to do some shopping and get Jack some "comfy" clothes for the upcoming week. We also stopped by the rehab facility where my grandpa is staying for a quick visit. Afterwards, Nana and Papa met us for dinner.
On Sunday, my sister and I took my mom out for lunch to celebrate her birthday. We had to scoot home quickly so Jack could get a nap in. To be honest, I can't even remember if we did anything after he got up from his nap. Even though the temperature has improved, it's still been hit or miss with the weather, so I imagine that we probably spent some time outside. Jack has been OBSESSED with bubbles and wants to play with them all the time. He'll be running around inside the house and stop mid-track, look up at me and ask, "boo-boo? boo-boo?" This means, of course, that he wants to go outside and play with bubbles. I also stuck some chalk in his Easter basket, so I figured we'd give that a try as well...
I will say that, no matter what toys you ply him with, he still loves his Blue most of all. He loves to help take care of Blue and loves to pet, wrestle, and play with him.
Truthfully, we could not have gotten a better dog. He is so sweet, loving, patient and tolerant. I just can't get over what a good boy he is. During the past week, I taught Jack how to "feed" Blue. Mostly, I put the dog food in Blue's dish and Jack will carry the dish over to Blue's feeding spot and put the dish down. He's only spilled it once, so I consider this to be a good thing...
Anyways, on Monday, we went over to a friend's house for a Memorial Day "cook-out" but it was so rainy and cold that we had to eat lunch inside. Afterwards, we came home and I got to take a nap. I never nap. Ever. I usually find that I can't get to sleep because I'm always thinking about the things that I should be doing. Still, as I was running over the list of things I needed to get done, I passed out. HARD. When I woke up, I discovered that Jack and Jeff had gone off to the mall to buy some more "boo-boos" so I enjoyed a little bit more downtime.
Of course, Tuesday was the big day. We had to be at the hospital in St. Paul at 6:00 in the morning, which meant we had to leave our house at 5:15...it was an early morning for everyone. Still, Jack seemed relatively unaffected. As we were waiting to get called back, he made use of his time by exploring all the toys in the waiting area.
This surgery was harder for me than the last two (!) have been. I was able to go back with Jack and hold him while he was put under anesthesia, and that was a surreal experience. I can't really describe it. I'd been well prepared by all my girlfriends about what I should expect, but still...when he was finally under, it completely unnerved me and I started sobbing. He was crying while they put the mask over his face and I was singing him his lullaby and then all of a sudden, he went totally limp and his eyes were still half-open. I kind of panicked and kept asking the nurse if he was really unconscious, and she assured me he was, but that still didn't stop the tears from flowing. So, we went out to wait. About forty-five minutes later, the doctor came out to tell us that everything was fine. We got to go back and see him a short time later and the poor little man was totally out of it. Which, considering, is understandable. He had an IV in his arm so they could keep giving him fluids and that was really upsetting to Jack. So, they moved us down to our room and we tried to get Jack to relax as much as we could.
My poor, stoned baby. He seemed to bounce back pretty quickly though. He had a huge breakfast and then, the nurses told us that we could go home if he was able to take a nap without any fluctuation in his vitals. That was quite the chore. He was in an unfamiliar environment and scared. At one point, I sat outside the hospital room so he wouldn't cry for me and I was just hoping he'd pass out. Eventually, Daddy went into his room and sang him to sleep. So, after he work up, Nana had come down to pay him a visit. And was he ready to get out of there, let me tell you! So, we were able to leave the hospital and go home, which I think was a real blessing. We were able to sleep in our own beds and I think we were all better for it.
He woke up on Wednesday morning a little on the cranky side, however. And, lest we forget - he also turned eighteen months old.
Uncle Alec came over on Tuesday night to help out with the yard work and was staying for a few nights, so Jack and I popped out to Target on Wednesday morning to pick up some extra food. See the bubble in his eighteen month picture? Uncle Al had to stand behind me and distract Jack so I could get a picture because he was entirely too crabby for the process. After the store, Jack was just a tiny terror - he had entirely too much energy, so I took him to the park to do some swinging. That seemed to burn him out a bit and we went home to put the groceries away and make lunch.
And the rest of the week was pretty routine. Nothing too exciting happened. Jack took some extremely long naps which allowed me to get some stuff done. It was also nice to have Uncle Alec staying with us - there was someone to talk to that could respond in the understandable English language, and there was another mouth to feed and I always love cooking. He also helped out quite a bit with Jack, who was fascinated by Alec's phone, which is, apparently, better than Mommy's...
Jack's recovery went fairly smoothly - save for one factor. The doctor told me to expect this as part of the healing process - but Jack's breath smells like poop. It'll go away eventually, but for now, I keep checking his pants to see if there's a load in there.
On Friday morning, we had my girlfriends over for a play date. There were ten kids under the age of five, so the house was completely insane. I don't know how Jack's teachers get through every day. By the end of three hours, I was exhausted. But, Jack had fun and he learned how to share some of his toys, which was kind of a big deal.
On Saturday night, we went over for a cook out to see my family, who were in town from Illinois. My cousin had a baby girl about six or seven months ago, and she is just a peanut. Of course, I had to get a picture of them together. Although, neither one was really happy about it.
On Sunday, we went to church and then out again to see my grandpa. After Jack's nap, we took him to the zoo. He was kind of ambivalent about most of the animals. He did learn how to growl like a bear, however. The best part of the trip was feeding the goats. At first, Jack was pretty unsure of himself, but after a few minutes, he really warmed to the process. My favorite part about the whole experience was that Jack made sure to feed the baby goats that were getting pushed out of the way by the bigger ones. Seriously, how cute is that?
And that, I think, concludes our re-cap of the past two weeks. Jack went back to Grammy Camp yesterday and things were just fine. He went back to school today, and all his classmates were very excited to see him and he was pretty pumped to be back in his classroom, or at least I think he was. There weren't any tears when I dropped him off, at least. We've got his eighteen month physical tomorrow and I'm always anxious to see how much he's grown and changed.
Spending a week with him really opened my eyes to a lot of things. It's not an easy gig to be a stay-at-home parent, I will say that outright. If I think I'm lacking in downtime now, it's only worse when you're at home with the kids. There literally isn't a free moment that you're not supervising, cleaning, cooking, or disciplining. I may also go insane if I watch one more episode of "Mickey Mouse Club House." But, I also got to see a lot of changes in Jack and I taught him a few things too. For example, I showed him how to "fist bump" and he thinks this is a lot of fun. I also taught him what a bear says and what Blue says as well. I showed him how to play with whirligigs and how to blow bubbles. There were some precious, unforgettable moments in this past week that I will cherish forever. And if you feel like you didn't get enough of Jack in this post, I've included two more of my favorite pictures that I took over the week...
Can YOU guess what's on the television? I'd give you a hint, but that would give it away...Oh Toodles!
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