Mixed Feelings

Overall, Alex seemed very happy today at Shriner's. It was a little shocking at first to get the bandanges removed and he kept asking me where his little finger was- in other words, what did they do with it? Well, I told him they probably threw it in the trash. I'm not sure that was the best answer but he seemed okay with it. Alex may have experienced a little pain when we took the bandanges off. The OT said the blood will kind-of rush to that area and can cause some tenderness or pain.

Once the doctor came in and said Alex can do anything now including swimming lessons, bungee jumping, sky-diving, or whatever his mom will allow him to do, Alex was super excited and happy. Plus, he got another puppy dog from Shriner's and he got to go eat McDonald's with his mommy and play. He downed his cheeseburger in about 3 bites so he must have been super hungry!

More Weekend Photos

I think I'll be six now for ever and ever

When I was One,

I had just begun.

When I was Two,

I was nearly new.

When I was Three

I was hardly me.

When I was Four,

I was not much more.

When I was Five,

I was just alive.

But now I am Six,

I'm as clever as clever,

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

Nick just told me there are now four things he can be when he grows up: a hunter, a captain of a ship, a missionary, and a drummer.

We went to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Bradley after church today. They gave him an electronic drum set. He is enjoying playing with it, and his mommy and daddy are really enjoying it.

I have no idea why he wants to be a hunter. That one is new to me! I do know he is working on his listening skills and he even got a medal in Sunday School class for listening during the Bible story.

Grandma and Grandpa Pruett gave him a new movie last weekend for his birthday. It is called "Pistachio", I think? It is a Veggie Tales movie. The boys said it was a good movie but we haven't watched it yet. I mean, they did watch it at Grandma Pruett's house! And they told me it is all about listening to your parents.

We had a lot of fun going up in the Arch on Saturday. It was a beautiful day! It was a really fun way to celebrate a birthday. We had a view of the Arch from our room and Nick spent a lot of time looking out the window. He also asked us repeatedly what every single building was in downtown St. Louis. He wanted to know exactly what people do in each building. Most of them, we had no idea so Ryan finally told him to call the Mayor's office.

Alex is recovering from surgery and seems to be doing good. The boys played outside for a while after we got home from our weekend trip to St. Louis and I'm not sure Alex kept his bandanges very clean. I forgot to wrap his arm with press and seal. I've been doing that at bath and meal times and it works really well.

Ryan has been downstairs playing a new video game with the boys. For his birthday, Nick got the video game they are trying to figure out, a dragon pirate play set thing, night vision goggles (Alex got a pair too), a dinosaur puzzle, and dinosaur stuff for his room.

I bought fabric to make curtains for Nick's room, and I found a blue bedspread at Wal-mart. I also found some dinosaur decorations at Kohl's that were 50% off! Hopefully in the next few weeks I can get Nick's room transformed from a Jeep room to a dinosaur room.

It is hard to believe Nick is already six! He has had a very exciting year. He lost his first tooth, traveled back to China, climbed the Great Wall, got a new brother, became a Christian, started school, and had a great year being five. I'm sure six will be a great year, too!

Happy Birthday Nicholas

Nick turned six today. It is hard to believe. We celebrated by going downtown to stay in a hotel and swim. He also wanted to go to the arch. It has been a really fun day even though we have to wait until tomorrow to go up in the arch. The tickets were sold out today.
We have two very tired boys and we are watching PBS kids in bed.

Surgery Day for Alex

Yesterday, we practiced being doctors to get ready for surgery today.

We left the house today at 7:15. Alex and I took Nick to Grandma and Grandpa Bradley's house so they could feed him breakfast and take him to school. He was excited to get to bring his birthday treats to school today since we are going to pick him up early tomorrow on his 6th birthday!

Alex and I made it to Shriner's by 8:30 and checked in. We went upstairs to Same Day Surgery where they took his temperture and blood pressure and showed him his bed and pajamas. The nurse had a computer so he was very interested in talking to her and seeing what she was doing.

I took a before picture so we would not forget what his hand looked like. They cut the little extra finger off today. It was non-functional.

We headed to Recreational Therapy to wait to be called for surgery. Alex loved it and never thought about the fact he wasn't getting to eat or drink. I got to take a break while the RT watched him and go eat some yogurt and make phone calls.

The RT made me a little nervous when she told me we probably wouldn't get called until 12:30. I got my computer out and was about to get on facebook to post an update when they called and said they were ready for us! It was right at 10:30. We went back to his room and got into his jammies. They went ahead and gave him some "happy juice".

Alex was pretty out of it once we got to surgery.

The nurses took him back after I kissed him good-bye. I went out into the hall to call my family and just as I was headed back to the waiting room, John and Pam Weaver came in with baby Noah. They stayed with me the whole time I waited which helped the time to go very fast. John went back with me to see Alex in the recovery room.

It didn't take long for them to get him ready to go and we wheeled him out to the car in a wagon. He loved that. Alex was also very excited by all his presents. He got a cool dinosaur 3D book with glasses, a stuffed Moose, and hotwheels.

We left the hospital at 1:30 and headed to Grandma and Grandpa Bradley's house. Jackie was there with Tyson and Logan. I had to get a picture of Tyson in his cute outfit.



Grandma had dinner for us and we decided to drive down to Ryan's store to get Alex's prescription filled. Ryan couldn't get off work at such late notice so he had to miss out on today with Alex. He was glad to see that Alex was doing so great!

We go back in two weeks for a follow up and they will remove the bandanges then and probably rewrap it. Alex is pretty crabby and tired tonight. I don't know if his arm is hurting or if he is just exhausted. But he really did great today. Nick told me he was very worried about Alex all day at school.

A Big Day Tomorrow

Alex is having surgery! He will have his extra digit on his right arm cut off tomorrow. Of course, he is a little scared but he is also excited. Two reasons...

1. He doesn't 'get' to brush his teeth in the morning. He still hates to brush his teeth.

2. He gets a really cool surprise present after surgery.

We are going to Shriner's Hospital for Children where Nick had his amazing surgery two years ago. It is such a wonderful place- as far as what they do. It is not wonderful what so many kids have to deal with but they are very resilient.

And I missed blogging about another monumental event in Alex's life. He registered for Kindergarten a few weeks ago. He did really great and got to do his screening with Mrs. Brown. She is Nick's teacher this year. I think I could write a whole blog on how wonderful she is and maybe I will. But not tonight. I need my pre-surgery sleep!

Here is a picture of Alex outside the school on the day of Kindergarten registration.

Wait there's more... Easter

The rest of Easter

We had three wonderful Easter services. Grandpa Bradley took the boys to McDonald's when we got to church at 7:30 since it would be such a long morning. I asked him what they ate and he said a breakfast burrito and a sausage patty. He said that Alex asked Nick if there was syrup on the sausage and Nick said, no, it is a stain. If it gets on you, it will stain. (It was grease :)Grandpa brought them back in time for the second service and they went to Sunday School. Then Nick came in to hear the music during the third service. It was so amazing watching Nick sing and praise Jesus on Easter morning. He really wanted to hear his daddy sing his favorite song: Something's Happening. Nick has every word of the song memorized and it has a lot of words.

It was a very windy Easter but beautiful. We took this picture of the boys with Grandma and Grandpa Bradley after church.

Ryan wore the same tie as Michael- our music minister :) Do you see the dirty look he giving me when for taking the picture? Michael was too busy discussing something musical with my mom to notice.

I had two pictures of the boys with Ryan and couldn't decide which one was the best, so I posted both of them.

After church, we headed down to Farmington to see Grandma and Grandpa Pruett and Uncle Nathan and Aunt Charlene.


We had a fun afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Pruett's. I'll post pictures on one more Easter blog. Whew!!!