Kayin's Surgery

Kayin had explorational ear surgery on July 8th to try to find out why his right ear is deaf. It was a big event but Kayin did absolutely wonderful. Luckily the Strommers in Portland watched Kareli for me the whole time (over 8 hours!), so I was able to focus entirely on him. That helped a lot.

When we first got to Doernbechers Kayin was really excited and looking forward to getting special attention. The doctors were really friendly and helpful and helped him to really relax. He got his own room with a bed and a tv, and they even found cartoons for him. :) He didn't want to take the medicine they had for him, but with a little coaxing (and a cool syring to drink from instead of a cup) he finally took that.

When they brought in his hospital gown he started to get nervous though, and really didn't want to take off his familiar clothes. I persuaded him to at least take his shirt off, but he insisted on leaving his pants on.

Once the pain killer/dopey medicine started kicking in Kayin got pretty funny. :) He relaxed enough to let me change him completely and had the funniest rambling conversations. He tried to ask me how they made cartoons and I (being the horrible mean mom that I am) just laughed and laughed. It consisted of "How do they... how do they.... but... but how do they... but how... how... but how do they.... how... but... but how do they...." and went on for over 5 minutes before I caved in and helped him out. Luckily he was so doped up he had no idea what was going on, so I got to laugh with only a little guilt.

He did snap out of it when the doctors came in to wheel him out and my poor kid got seriously nervous. They let me walk with him down the hallway for awhile, but I had to leave him when he went into the prep doors. I could see him arching his back as far as he could to look back at me while they wheeled him away and he kept reaching for me, but he was brave and didn't cry or yell. I started to tear up though; that's hard to watch.

If I thought that was hard to watch, having them come get me after a few hours wait to tell me that he was done and wouldn't stop crying for me was heartbreaking. They took me back to the recovery room where Kayin was nearly hysterical and completely confused from the drugs. They said it's normal for some kids to wake up like that, but it was SO hard to watch! As soon as I got close to him he put me in a head lock and refused to let go, so terrified that I'd leave him again. I just stayed there and soothed him until he calmed down and fell back to sleep, still holding me in a headlock. The nice ladies there with him brought me a chair so I could sit there while they monitored him.

Kayin stayed asleep for a few hours, then finally started to gradually come out of it. He wasn't feeling very well but was much better once the doctors offered him a popsicle for being so good. It was sad to see him so groggy and dioriented, but luckily he shook it off pretty fast. By the time we left the hospital he was jumping over curbs and making me race him to the parking lot! Man kids bounce back fast!! And luckily, his ear never did bother him after that. He said it didn't hurt at all and he never needed any medicine for it; it was so impressed! Unfortunately they couldn't find anything wrong so he still can't hear from that ear, but we're trying other things now. We're still hoping for some improvement. He has a great time telling everyone about his "silly ear" or telling them "I can't hear you, my ear is broken!" and then launching into the story of falling out of bed and going in for surgery. He sure loves telling his stories. :)

Lots of stuff. :)

Here are just some more fun pictures :)

The kids both got free Daddy Pillows while he's gone. Mickey wrote each one a nice note and that is printed on the back, with their pictures on the front with Daddy.

Daddy dolls and Daddy pillows (and a Daddy bear); Now they can NEVER forget him!

Mamma chicken sure loves snuggling her new chicks

Ahh, lots of lovin'

Missy loves being brushed, but makes it difficult because her tummy is her favorite spot so she keeps rolling over

Any chance for a snuggle :)

Playing doctor: "Shh!! I'm listening to her heart!"

Mmm, spaghetti dogs!

Or wormy dogs, according to Kayin. :) Either way they look gross and taste yummy!

Kayin made an angel out of the mess on my dresser.

I knew some good could come from it

A huge hailstorm destroyed my greenhouse and most of my garden. What kind of summer are we having??

At the community fair; the kids loved the petting zoo

They decided they were lonely so we switched them into one bedroom. They actually do sleep better now! And we finally have an official toy room! I love it :)

Dad's Visit

We had so much fun while Dad was up for a visit!! We did tons of things, Regina and I worked him half to death between our two properties, and we ended up getting a dog. It's all good!

All the pictures are out of order again, because I swear I'll never get the hang up uploading them properly and I'm way too lazy to adjust them once they're in here. :) They cover Dad and Emily coming to our house, all of us going to Regina's, and Kayin, Kareli and I getting home.

This is Missy, our new Golden Retriever. She's just over a year old and is a sweetie. Kareli adores jumping on her and laying on her and generally tormenting her, but Missy is super patient. :)

Poor Kayin got sick at Regina's just a couple days before leaving. He spent the last days either on the couch or in the bathroom poor kid.

Dad and Regina refused to share the sand with anyone else, but it really WAS a cool castle when they let us close enough to look at it! ;-)

Kayin wanted to help gather water, but didn't want to get wet, so he just sat there waiting for the waves to come in. We laughed our heads off watching him.

Missy LOVES to go swimming

This was the cutest park! The kids loved climbing on the whales and blocking the water that shot out of their blow holes. Kayin learned that sitting on it to block it wasn't the best idea.... that was quite the yell!

Yes, Regina worked our butts off! We spent days in forced labor cutting down blackberry bushes against our will. :(

(or.... maybe she kept telling us to knock it off and come relax and we kept sneaking out when she wasn't looking. :) One of the two...)

I thought... "Hey, it's hot out, shorts are a GOOD idea!" Blackberry thorns, whipping branches, and tons of poison oak later, I changed my mind...

This is a SMALL sample of what we cut and piled up

All the bushes used to be even with the ones in the left on the bottom

We didn't even know these trees were there! They could make the coolest treefort!

Such good climbing trees!

Catching tadpoles

Even with as calm as this oppossum was, I wouldn't have been willing to hold it. Dad's braver than I am! OR crazier....

The kids loved watching the little guy

Ahh, this is the way to chill out!

Adam was so nice to go into that freezing water to make the kids happy! Even stranger's kids loved him!

Fishing with Regina's family!

5 People in one motel room = lots of tight packed fun! This was on the way to Regina's, stopping at Portland for Kayin's ear appointment.

Our sweet chicken adopted all our new chicks!! What a good momma! We're so proud of her. :) She leads the all over the yard and snuggles them at night.

Kayin loves the chickens. Notice how he bricked up the exit door so they couldn't escape him. I thought it was a good idea :)

How does Grandpa possibly have so much energy?!?!

Homemade marble shooters; it used up a slow morning. It's just clothing pins glued to scrap wood with rubber washers glued to the end, then you shoot marbles into tin cans.

Grandpa's so much fun!

Check out that adoring look; somebody loves their grandpa!

Ahhh....

Nothing like the classic underdog!

Whee!

Kareli decided that the floor looked more comfy than the bed, so I decided why not let her stay? Silly little girly. :)

Dad helped me build a tire swing horse, which turned out to be way more work than I expected. For future reference, hacksaws work much better than dremels, drills, and bandsaws. :) And, watch out for fingers!
Dad found this out in the back field so he had us all run out there without telling us what he was showing us. How cute is that?? The kids were amazed and desperately wanted to pet it, so we took it home and gave it a bath and fed it candy so it would stay close.

....... or not. :)

We love having dad up!!! It's always so much fun!!