After two weeks of tonsil recovery, Scout is finally feeling better. And just in time for his 9th birthday! We were trying to do something low-key, but something he loved. And I came up with the perfect plan. If there is one thing I know that Scout loves, I know he loves to find quarters, and ultimately collect them. So I told him that we were going to drive to every single vending machine, candy machine, phone booth, arcade game, and soda machine we could think of. And he could search to his little hearts desire. He was also going to be the lucky recipient of three helpers, and their loot.
In true Scout fashion, he was all over this amazing birthday activity.
His biggest score was at the mall of course. The ride-on toys there are always a lucky spot for him. I think he scored 6 quarters from there alone!
In the end, he found almost $6!
Not bad.
Then we went home for some presents.
And just in time for a huge neighborhood Nerf war, Scout got his very own gun.
Happy Birthday my sweet boy who endured two weeks of horror to finally get to his birthday!
After WAY TOO LONG of being in our house with three sickos, I finally packed us up for a few hours of Vitamin D. To be honest, Navy and Dash are pretty good during the day. It is the nights that they struggle. But poor Scout struggles all day long. His recovery has been the worst, by far. And as for me, I am up at least four times in the night. Which is way down from the 11 times I was up during night 2 and 3.
Clearly, we could all use a little fun in the sun.
Poor Scout was freezing, but a good sport to try and enjoy his time.
Pippi was stoked to see her buddy up and running.
Navy found a rad piece of seaweed that she used for a limbo rope.
And not surprisingly at all — Navy dominated at Limbo.
And poor Scout, who finally got up to participate just a bit, took that limbo rope right in the tonsils.
Poor guy.
But all in all, it was a very successful outing that was much needed.
My poor kids are going stir crazy, ,so Angi invited them up for a calm hour away from home. I took her up on her offer so quickly, it was crazy. I guess I was going a little stir crazy too.
Navy was so happy to go back to her collecting mode. Angi’s house has the best plant that has tons of caterpillars this time of year. Dash — although not pictured, wasat her side the whole time.
Pippi got the mic, and sang her famous nursery rhymes for everyone.
And Scout….poor scout.
He got an allergic reaction to their dog — just to add a little salt on the recovering wounds!
When I saw Pippi’s bare bum running around, I told her to go and get her diaper back on. (She likes to take it off lately.) When she came back, she was so proud of herself because she “put it all back on”!
One minor detail was the that it was flipped inside out — and unfortunately, this wasn’t a dry diaper.
This recovery has been tough.
We have done everything an ailing child can do that requires no effort or energy.
Beyond the countless hours of cuddling…
…and the mindless hours of television…
…Dash has realized that he doesn’t get in major trouble for creating garbage words out of tiles.
And poor Pips, who comes into their bed every hour with a new idea. This time, she was excited to go swimming! Too bad they have been forbidden from the pool for 2 weeks.
It is amazing how slowly the clock ticks when you want it to fly by!
When I was little, I LOVED taking my parents to back-to-school night and showing off all of my work and projects. So four days after they went under the knife, I was sure that Navy and Scout wanted to go show me all of their work and projects. I think at first they thought it was a good idea, but about five minutes into the night, they were dragging! They literally looked like zombies walking around their school. I guess that could have been anticipated, since they hadn’t been out of bed for four straight days — and were eating about 200 calories a day!
It was a short night — about 5 minutes in each classroom.
They saw a few friends, and even tried to play for a split second.
But when they both looked at me with the saddest and most exhausted eyes, I packed them up, and drove them back to their family bed.
Poor kids who are little troopers.
It is very rare that my kids are ever apart. So when my kids were recovering from their tonsil surgeries, and feeling crappy, they were still asking where Pippi was — and when she would finally get home. The day finally came that Pippi returned, and four children who felt incomplete — finally rested easy because they were all together again.
Pippi even pulled her tent out to the Family Night Room, so she could go to bed near all of her best friends!
Megan, being the genius that she is, insisted on taking Pippi while my kids got their tonsils out. I hate not having my kids every waking moment, but I thought she might be on to something, so I relented for one day! When the tonsil craziness hit, that one day turned into four days. I hated having her gone, but when I was waking up eight times in a night to crying kids, I was glad that she wasn’t adding to the work load.
Every once in a while, I missed her and FaceTimed her. Her response? If….IF she would even come to the phone, she would say, “I not go home. I stay at Auggie’s house.”
I geared up all of my kids in their matching PJ’s to go and get their tonsils out this morning. On the way there, we were joking and laughing. It even carried into the waiting room.
But it is all fun and games until you go under the knife.
All three got geared up, and were all in rooms next to each other. I went from bed to bed taking pictures and video of the pre-tonsilectomies. They were each given a syringe full of medicine that made them loopy, and they were all hilarious. Especially Dash and Navy! Somehow, Scout kept his cool pretty well.
Even I got all geared up!
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I thought I had it all handled….until I was in the waiting area with Scout, and they called me in to go and comfort Dash who had just gotten out of surgery — and was HYSTERICAL!
I rushed in, and the nurse asked where my husband was. I told her I sent him back to work, but she replied with, “You better call him….cause you’re gonna need him!” I also called the world’s greatest nurse….B!
So one by one, each kid came out.
I held Dash, and finally calmed him after about 10 minutes. Then B came and took charge with ice chips and popsicles and cartoons. Dash was in his happy place with her.
Navy came out next, and was sound asleep, but waking up every other recovering patient, with her snoring! It was the loudest snoring I have ever heard from anyone! We videotaped it, and sent it to everyone because it was comical. When she finally woke up for real, she was a little out of it. She loved the Popsicles, but there were a few silent tears that ran down her cheeks that about killed me.
Scout slept the longest when he came out. Maybe because he took Elephante as his “comfort item”. When he came to, he was a trooper. He just watched cartoons quietly until it was time to go.
When we finally got home, I put them in a family bed. This was an especially awesome family bed because Micah took Scout’s mattress out of his room, and made it a permanent fixture (during recovery) in the Family Night Room.
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I very rarely feel like I am in over my head. But I will admit that the first 30 minutes of recovery with Dash and Navy struggling were pretty intense. Thank goodness that Trilby was close by to come to our rescue. And that Micah’s work was also close by the surgery center. When they say it takes a village to raise a child….I would like to change it up a bit and say….it takes a village to get three kids through tonsillectomies!
When she came home from China, Nonnie brought home a real Chinese calligraphy set for Navy.
I’m not sure Nonnie could have come up with a better gift.
She was loving it, and I was loving watching her practice some real Chinese characters she has learned at school.
And I think her Dad loved the finished product.
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