Saturday, May 9, 2009

First, an update on Kris and Noah.

The nerve block that was keeping Kris relatively comfortable wore off today. He is in pretty bad pain but managing. He is looking forward to being able to finally remove the bandages tomorrow and get a good look at his battle scars (and take a shower).

I sat with Noah for most of the night making sure that he didn't have any symptoms of his head injury getting worse. It wasn't enough that I could hear him breathing on the monitor, I really needed to sit next to his crib and watch his chest go up and down. He seems to be just fine and the bump and mark on his head are already fading. In fact, he was doing so well, I felt comfortable taking him out to our new favorite place for the first time.

OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Innovation) is such a cool place. I'd wanted to take Noah for a long time, but it just never seemed to happen. Wow, if I had known what we were missing and how much fun Noah would have, I would have gone long, long ago. So this museum is full of hundreds of hands-on exhibits and learning areas. There is a dedicated section for kids 0-6 years old. This section is huge and full of things like a water table to splash in, a huge sand box, things to climb on, caves to crawl through, a ball pit, an air table, and tons of other things. And the area is HUGE! It totally didn't feel crowded even though there were lots of kids running around. I wouldn't be surprised if we started going once a week. Knowing this, I splurged and got the family a year-long membership. I'm sure we'll put it to good use! I took a ton of pictures and several videos, here are a few of my favorites:




Finally for tonight - a major milestone in my vegetable/herb growing endeavour. I was able to plant the pole beans, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, and melons outside. I'm so excited! Now we'll see if they keep growing!

Friday, May 8, 2009

It's been a very busy last few days. Here is a quick recap:

Wednesday May 6 - Most of the day was spent trying to prepare for Kris's shoulder surgery. I just never know what I'll need to have on hand, or how to make spaces more comfortable, so I pretty much stressed all day and bought way to many ice bags and bandages. Kris spent the evening rough-housing with Noah since he wouldn't be able to for awhile after his surgery.

Thursday May 7 - Surgery Day. Of course everyone was a bit on edge and nervous. We got to the surgery place on time at 8:15, but they were running late and Kris didn't get in until about 10. The actual surgery only took about 70 minutes and the surgeon came out to talk to me. He said he was really pleased with the results and thought that after recovery, Kris should have 100% mobility and less pain. He did scrap out lots of scar tissue that had accumulated over the years. He also noticed quite a bit of inflammation which could have resulted in some nerve damage. He packed the space with cortisone, and hopes this will solve the problem. He said that this would make recovery much less painful and shorter than the previous surgery. Kris recovered from the anesthesia really well and we were back at home by about 1:30. For pain management, the surgeon gave Kris a nerve block which completely numbed the entire arm. It is supposed to last 24 hours. Right now he isn't in much pain and hopefully when the nerve block wears off it isn't too bad.

Friday May 8 - Kris is doing amazingly well. He got up, shaved and dressed himself, which he wasn't able to do for about 2 weeks after the last surgery. He said the pain still wasn't that bad, but he was still pretty numb.

The major drama of the day was having to rush Noah to the emergency room. Noah was running through the kitchen (now I TOTALLY understand the 'no running in the house rule'!) and caught his foot on a chair leg. He fell forward and at full speed crashed into the corner of our kitchen island with his forehead. He started screaming like we've never heard him before and we could see a huge indent in his forehead. We thought he broke his skull. I've never seen anything swell and turn black and blue so fast. I mean within 5 minutes he had a huge bump. Both Kris and I knew immediately that we HAD to get him to the ER as fast a possible. We didn't even stop to get the diaper bag. We were seen immediately by a doctor. Noah had calmed down quite a bit and was acting pretty much like himself for the exam. The doctor thought these were all good signs and said that he didn't break his skull. He said the front of the forehead is the hardest and if you have to hit your head, that is the best place to do it. He told us we needed to watch him carefully for the next 24 hours and check on him often while he is sleeping. I can't begin to tell you how scared I was, there aren't words for it. Noah has been doing just fine this whole afternoon and evening. I just finished his bath and he is sleeping now. I'll be sitting in the rocking chair next to his bed for most of the night I'm sure. It is so amazing how fast things can happen.

I'll post tomorrow and let you all know how Kris and Noah are doing. Happy Friday.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Noah and Sam had a conversation today about rain. Noah was explaining that we couldn't play outside today because it was rainy and cold. Sam wasn't happy about being stuck inside so he went and pouted in Noah's tent.

Noah's eyes continue to improve. Having pink eye in both eyes is no fun. He's not contagious since he is on antibiotics, so we are hoping that this will be over in a few more days.

I'm sure you all know that Kris injured his left shoulder earlier in the year. After doing physical therapy with no improvement, it was decided today that he needed pretty major surgery and he needed it soon. So this Thursday Kris will have shoulder surgery. He had surgery on his right arm in late 2007 so we kind of know what to expect, but we are both still nervous. I'll keep you all posted as we get more details.

Finally for tonight, a really cute picture of Noah. My Mom sent me some really nice and soft rugs and after I took them out of the box Noah had a blast climbing up to the top of the pile and sliding down. Of course it was more fun since we was running around diaper free. Have a good night.