Teeth time

The little boys had dentist appointments today. This was Park's first time and he did great. He's always had this irrational fear of reclining *like in a stroller or laying down on a changing table in a public restroom (HE SCREAMS EVERY TIME!)* so they couldn't lay him back very far... but other than that he did just fine!

(This is my first post using a blogger app so I apologize if it looks weird!)

Jake & his girlfriends

Jake has a girlfriend at church.

He also has a girlfriend in our neighborhood.

He has another one at his daycare Spark's.

And he has two at preschool.

I finally asked him, "What makes these girls your girlfriends?"

His answer?

..............

"Well, mom, they all have great hair."

Guess he's gonna be a hair man.

Crazy Jake

Have you seen the movie Monsters vs Aliens?

 It's a favorite around our house. Spend a day with us and you might overhear one of the boys saying, "Extract the quantonium with extreme prejudice." It's just one of the many lines that they'll quote over and over.

 Another favorite is from the scene below.

 It's not actually in the 15 second clip but it sets it up so take a look.
 

As Susan begins turning into a monster, the pastor officiating the ceremony leaps out the window while making a cell phone call saying, "Get me the government."

Then tons of government agents in suits show up to restrain Susan.

I'm getting to the point...

So last Sunday I'm in the car with all the boys heading to church.  We pull into the parking lot and start to drive around to the back where we always park.  I had to slow down and let a older gentlemen in a suit cross in front of me.

All of a sudden from in the backseat Jake is pointing (with this middle finger because that's how he rolls) and yelling "Government!  Government!"

I laughed for 5 whole minutes.  At least.

First Day of Kindergarten

I'll let the pictures tell most of the story.  As you'll see Wade was very excited to start school!!

The only problem was his poor little brother Jake was not too excited to see him go.  School started on a Tuesday and on Sunday night I overheard Wade telling Jake, "We've got to play all day tomorrow, okay?  Because after school starts we're not going to be able to play again for 12 years."

Upward Soccer

Every Wednesday night this summer Wade and Jake played Upward Soccer. And they LOVED it! Jake (bless his heart) was the smallest on the team and didn't do lots of scoring but each week he'd run around yelling about how he was going to "smoke up the other team!"

A typical Wednesday looked like this... they started at 6:30 and practiced for 45 minutes. That was followed by snack time and a short lesson with the chance for them to recite the Bible verse that they learned during the week. Then 7:30 - 8:30 was game time. My kids are usually in bed at 7:30 so they loved getting to stay up late!!

If you have an Upward program near you I highly recommend it! You can check them out at www.upward.org.

Enjoy the pics!

Back to normal

If you were to ask Jake how he is feeling, he would tell you, "not better."

However, he simply just wants to keep eating ice cream for every meal.

But it's true, he is finally back to normal! At our 9 day post-op appointment the doctors told us that we could begin to give him Ibuprofen. The back of his throat was still highly swollen due to him yanking out the tube during the surgery. Well the Ibuprofen did wonders! But he was not allowed back to daycare for 10 more days so we packed up everyone and headed to my parents (and their pool!) for the next week. Swim Camp 2011 picture to come in another post.

For those of you who know Jake, you know that he has a pretty unique voice. The surgery seemed to change it - it's been much higher pitched and less hoarse sounding. But finally, just today, he's starting to sound like himself again.

Here he is tonight at his first ever soccer game - he even scored three goals!!

The Recovery Continues

It's been 5 days since Jake's surgery and yesterday was the roughest of them all. Until last night Jake had been doing amazingly well! He sat outside with me for neighborhood garage sale on Saturday and he even made it to church on Sunday. He's taking it slow, talking kinda weird, but overall keeping up pretty well. But last night the poor thing was in so much pain. It was a long night but today he was back to probably 50% of his normal recovering self. I'm praying that his sleep is pain free tonight!

Cell phone pic right before surgery

In the recovery room getting ready to leave. Can you tell what sticker he is picking out? None other than JB.

Opening a package in the mail from friends of ours from church and a DQ gift card from his cousins

Balloons from Swack & Shaina

Ice cream for breakfast? Yes, please.

It's over

What a day.

Here's a quick version of how it went down.

The surgery was supposed to take 30-40 minutes. An hour later I was starting to get nervous. My friend, Shaina, watched Wade & Park for us so it was just me & Colby in Family Waiting Room #1.

Finally the doctor knocked on the door. The surgery was done. But apparently Jake woke up from the anesthesia more quickly than expected and freaked and yanked out the tube that was down his throat. They had to quickly put him under again and recauterize one of his wounds that started bleeding.

When we finally got to see him in the Recovery Room he was still sleeping. The nurses were giving us instructions when he woke up. But there was no gradual waking up... all of a sudden he was awake, screaming, coughing, snotty, with huge terror filled eyes. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Lots of tears.

But by 1 pm we were home. There's been a constant stream of popsicles, slushies, juice and movies. He just lays on the couch and doesn't say much. But every now & then he'll yell at Wade or Park ~ some things never change!!

The recovery room at the hospital? 100x worse than expected.

The recovery so far at home? 100x better than expected.

We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Tomorrow

My sweet Jake.

Tomorrow he is having surgery.

Three years ago he another surgery to insert tubes into his ears. Tubes usually stay in children's ears 8-12 months before they fall out. But one of Jake's tubes never came out and once you hit the 3 year mark it must be surgically removed. The hole will be patched but there is a chance that it won't heal properly leading to other problems. Please pray that it heals!!

While he's under anesthesia we decided to get his tonsils and adenoids removed as well. His tonsils are large but the main reason we're doing it is because the removal of the tonsils has been known to permanently cure the Periodic Fever Syndrome that he suffers from. We've already stopped his twice daily medication and are praying that the episodes don't return after the surgery!!

We've been warned that the recovery from this operation is not fun. Jake knows all about what's going to happen we just didn't tell him what day. This weekend we went to the store and he got to pick out ice cream, popsicles, pudding, juice... he was in heaven :)

Please pray for Jake when you think about him in the days ahead. Thanks friends!!

Pictures from Preschool Mother's Day Tea

Reading a book with Mom

Jake & his buddies

Wade's turn

Wade & Ellah

Warning

A couple weeks ago Wade & Jake sang in the service at First Alliance as well as in Epic with their Sunday School classes. I'm never in the FAC service but that morning I decided to sneak over and watch them sing before they came and sang again for us at Epic.

Boy am I glad that I did!

Some friends of ours shared the video below with us. They were filming their beautiful daughter, Hannah, and happened to catch what happened to our poor Jake. (Thanks Shepards!)

Watch for Jake at the end... first row... guitar shirt...warning, it's so sad!!



Isn't that horrible??

Don't feel bad if you watched him fall more than once. :) We have. Actually Jake loves to watch it over and over.

The man who picked him up actually tried to put him back up on the steps! Thankfully he was rescued by our friend, Shelly, and she brought him to me. His lip was busted wide open and he even bruised/scabed on the outside under his nose.

When I told Colby what happened after he was done speaking that Sunday his first question was, "Did anybody laugh at him?"

Warning #2 - don't mess with Colby's boys!

Branches

Wade & Jake came home from preschool this week with palm branches that they had made complete with the word "Hosanna" glued down the front. They had such fun telling me all about Palm Sunday... Jesus coming to town, the branches, the donkey. Then they promptly grabbed some Easter eggs and used the branches and eggs to play baseball with the until lunch was ready. Hmmmm, probably not what their teachers had in mind.

Jake's emotions

So which is your favorite??

Mine is definitely SAD. How incredibly stinking pitiful does that kid look?!?!

You tell him it's time for bed.... I don't want to.