Early Christmas Presents

Yes, Virginia I Do Believe...

Early Christmas presents rock! I wanted to share with you a few early presents we have received this year.

Madison is loving first grade. She has learned how to read and has developed a love for it that I can only hope she keeps. She has also started word problems in math that have been a pretty regular homework assignment for her. Out of all the spelling tests she has finished this year she has only missed one word - period. I think that deserves a big high five. She has lost not one, but two teeth. Both bottom middle teeth are missing in action although her "grown-up" teeth are growing quickly, her Papaw still kids that she shouldn't eat spaghetti because it will just slide back out.

Noah has fully healed from his hand surgery last November. Although the hope was to get more mobility out of the pinky finger by loosening up the tendon from the bone the pinky remains straight with no function to him at all. Noah will head for a check up in January and the possibility of more surgery is just around the corner. Noah started Pre-school and that has given him a serious jump start to his vocabulary. We had Noah tested earlier because he simply wasn't talking understandably and we thought something might be wrong. Turns out he just needed to be around kids his own age for awhile and now the conversations never end. And that's a good thing. Recently we took Noah to the doctor to have, in his words, "his spots" checked out. Turns out he has eczema and now gets rubbed down in vasoline a couple times a day. He says, "spots all gone".

One Day at a Time

Noah's 2nd Day

I (Kristi) went to bed last night prepared to get little sleep. I assumed that as soon as Noah's pain meds had a chance to wear off he would be waking us up. I was pleasantly surprised to hear him stirring about 8 this morning. That's sleeping in for Noah and I was greeted with a smile.

After a pancake, he started his first round of meds for the day. He played normally and even did some coloring with his left hand and since he normally does this with his right I was surprised. He did not ask me to take off his bandages today - again surprised.

He took a longer nap than normal but after his long day yesterday I am not too surprised. His worst episode came tonight. We were instructed to keep his bandages out of the water so this means no bath time. I let him put his feet in the sink while I washed him down. After he realized that was all the water time he was getting he argued and argued that he should be able to get in the tub. Now, if you know my Noah you can't understand most of what he says but the crying, pointing, and yelling was all the interpretation I needed. He did not think it was fair that Madison got a shower and all he got was feet in the sink. I suppose he will come to accept this too.

He has done great taking his medicine. I am so blessed to have kids who don't fight taking meds. He opens his mouth as wide as he can and points to his mouth for so I know were to put them in. : ) It's pretty funny. I hope to have a picture of this for you later.

Thanks for praying as you can see they are working. He's doing great and we know that it is because so many of you care and pray for him. I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.

Our Riley Trip

Noah's Surgery Day

Our day began at 4 a.m. this morning. We had put Noah in his clothes to sleep in so we didn't have to fully wake him to get him snuggled in the car for the long ride to Indy. We picked up my (Kristi's) parents at about 4:45 and then we were officially Indy bound.


We arrived in the Riley parking garage around 6:15 a.m. or so and then it was off to the outpatient entrance. We did not wait there long until they took us back to Room 2 that would be our "home" for the next few hours. Noah received a dog from my parents that saved the day. He carried, loved, and pretend fed the doggy which kept him busy for spells.

Soon it was time to get to change into our fancy hospital pajamas. The doctor came in and marked his hand and hip (in case of skin graphs) to confirm the areas of treatment.

This is what his hand looked like before surgery and we have yet to see what it looks like now. Doesn't he look like a sweet little man in his scrubs?

The surgery was scheduled for 1 hour and 45 minutes. After 45 minutes Dr. Mih came back with a positive report. Initially they were going to remove extra skin between his two digits and then do exploratory surgery on his wrist to see about bringing a tendon down to the pinkie. Once inside they found that pinkie had a tendon it was just "stuck" to the bone so he removed it and thinks this will give Noah the mobility we had hoped for.

Still loopy from his meds, he returned to us all bandaged up. He is to remain with these bandages for 2-3 weeks. This has proven challenging for our 2 yr old thumb sucker, as he can't get to his thumb.

We let him sleep for awhile but they told us he could not go home until he got down some liquids. Once we woke enough to drink - drink he did! Three sippy cups of apple juice later we were packing up our belongings and heading out. Riley had a pharmacy on its first floor so we were able to fill his pain meds before we left. He had not eaten anything since 6 p.m. the night before so we stopped to get some lunch on the way home and he did a great job at eating. He finally napped some on the way home and awhile once we returned. He seems to be able to play for an hour or so and then he has to rest to regain his energy.

We'll be heading back for a check up and removal of the bandages in a couple of weeks. Until then I would ask that you pray for our little man as he adjusts to this bandage on his arm and that he would have patience with his mobility.

It was a long day, but a blessed one. We are thankful to be returning home with our little guy, calls of concern, and best wishes from many. Keep checking the blog and we will tell you how the journey goes from here.

Thank you for praying!