Downey Park

On Saturday morning we attended a birthday party at Downey Park. We were told to bring bathing suits because the boys might get wet. Well, I didn't know that they had a super cute little water park. Since Kaden loves the water, I figured I would give it a go. It was a hit! He just crawled around and would stop and look up at the big kids running circles around him. They too keep stopping and would yell to their other friends, "Hey, look at this baby!" After a short while, Kaden began to whine and I figured that meant he had enough. And, since it was only $1.00 to get in, I think we will try to go again someday. I took this picture with my cell phone. Sorry for the index finger in the way :) But it still shows my little man having a good time.

Eli's Wound

Eli is doing soo well. I really think he is a happier kid after his surgeries. I think it was the tubes in his ears. Since he constantly had fluid on his ears, I am sure the pressure relief is wonderful for him. I don't think the VNS has anything to do with it yet, since it won't be set at a therapeutic level for about three months. But his wound is healing very well and one of the terry strips has already fallen off. Well, really when we went to the Gastro-Doctor, he said "Oh, let me look at his incision", proceeded to yank off a strip, and said "yup, looks good".

Cable Outage

Not that it's real important to the world but our cable went out last night. Now normally this wouldn't be a big deal. But, since we are trying to save money we bundled our Cable, Internet and Phone all together. Therefore we lost it ALL.


And to boot it was the Big Brother 10 Season Finale!!!! What is a girl to do......watch it on a 2 inch T.V.!! Fadi is soo smart. I was feeding Eli and complaining that I wasn't going to get to watch it and I guess I would just have to resort to reading about on the Internet in the morning. When smarty pants came walking it with a little T.V. for me to watch. I was very happy :) Good job Fadi.

VNS and Tubes Surgery

Today started very early. So early, that Kaden's babysitter thought it better to stay the night than wake up that early. :) We woke Eli up to have a pre-surgery scrub down bath at 4:30 to which he was wide eyed and happy. He remained wide eyed and happy right up until the time they came and took him to surgery. We got to the hospital at about 6:00am. Two friends met us at the hospital to pray with us and Eli before his surgery. Then we got checked into our room and all ready for surgery.

Here is Eli's before picture from this morning.

We discussed Eli's procedure with the nurse, at which time they seemed surprised he was getting tubes in his ears. They said that was not on the schedule and they would need to consult with the ENT doctor who was supposed to do the procedure. Well, he finally showed up around 7:50 and was all ready to go. Fadi said to him that we are glad to see him and we were not sure if he was going to make it. He responded with a disgruntled tone, and said don't even get me started. Oops. Apparently, there was a bit of miscommunication with the hospital and he was not very happy with them.

The told us to say our goodbyes (more like our see you later) to Eli and off they went to get started. As they took him off to go under anesthesia, the neurosurgeon came in to discuss his phase of the surgery. We discussed his procedure and he answered all our questions. He would make an incision just below Eli's collar bone and insert the VNS, then connect is to his Vagus nerve. He said he would need about 30 minutes of prep time after the ENT doctor was done with the tubes, then he would get started with the VNS surgery.

We went down to get some breakfast while they did their things (and making a whole lot of money in the process). As we were eating in the cafeteria, the ENT doctor walked up to us and said he was done with the tubes and everything went perfectly. So we finished up eating, and made our way back to the waiting room. By 9:00, the neurosurgeon was done and everything went perfectly as well.

The next step was to wait for Eli to come out from the anesthesia. He did a good job with that and showed no ill effects. By 12:30, we were on the way back home with Eli and everything had gone perfectly. We stopped by Target to get some medical supplies to care for his incision, and got home safely.

We want to thank everyone for their concerns, prayers, phone calls, dinner, and love. It is truly a blessing to know how much support we have for ourselves and Eli. Thank you all so much.

Here is Eli in recovery as we try to get some fluids into his body.

Here is Eli's after picture, recovering at home. You can see the iodine soultion we have to apply to keep the incision clean (it is not blood).

Getting ready

We seem to be so busy lately, or at least I feel tired and the reason must be busyness!! I feel like I have been getting ready for so much lately.

I have been getting my bedroom ready for like two months now and it's almost done.

I have been trying to get my house ready for a toddler. Kaden is standing up on everything and pulling over, ripping out, or standing on just about anything his little hands can reach. I love to watch him stand at the sliding glass door and look out, which is only for a few seconds, because he soon realizes that is it much more fun to lick the glass! I guess Windex tastes good?

I have been getting ready for Eli's VNS surgery. I go in for pre-opt tomorrow and then Eli has to be at Arnold Palmer on Tuesday, Sept. 9th, at 6am. He is scheduled for the VNS surgery and to get tubes in his ears. The doctor makes it sound like a piece of cake, but I am worried. I guess the only major surgery experience I have to compare to with is his shunt surgeries, which were when he was 3weeks to 5months old. He was such a different kid then though. LOTS of crying and lots of wound healing issues, and refusing to eat. My prayer is that Eli will come out with flying colors, and his wound will heal quickly and on the first time. Even though he is very heavy, I hate for him to lose weight from refusing to eat.

I have been getting ready for my best friend to leave to a new state. I feel like crying even as I write this. I think I choose not talk about it because it makes me too emotional. Her husband has been given the opportunity to train for a State Farm in Tennessee. So, she will be leaving Sept. 22nd. We were both pregnant with both of our kids at the same time, and it was great. She is someone who I can talk with about God, life, kids and much more. When we lived in the same neighborhood she was my walking partner. We work together and she has been my friend though everything with Eli and it means a lot to me. When Fadi and I first moved here, we did not know anyone and quickly became very close friends 4 different couples. We went camping together, shopping, all bought houses and started to plan for kids together. Then the Sauls moved to Kentucky for seminary, then Michael Callin passed away, then the Greens moved to Texas for flight school, and now the Ellis are moving to Tennessee for a State Farm. I just wish it was the "good old days" again. We had sooo much fun together.

I have also been trying to get my body ready to see it's old self again. It seems like with every monumental event in my life I go up one pant size. One when I got married, one after Eli and yet another one after Kaden. Fadi and I have been cutting back on the quanity we eat each night for dinner and have been trying to take walks. I feel like I am slowly acomplishing something, but I still have like 10 lbs before I can say I am finished. Fadi however, is enjoying a bowl of ice cream as he proofreads my post. (well, not even a bowl---the whole container is in hand)

I have been getting ready and it seems to be all coming to a close. Maybe after it is all said and done, I can get some sleep at night instead of thinking about it all over and over. So much going on and no control. It's all in God's hands and I just have to wait it out. I pray that he will give me a sense of accomplishment in the design of my bedroom, energy for Kaden, peace with Eli, understanding with losing another friend, and victory in my weight loss. That's not too much to ask for right?

Philippians 4:7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And, just for fun....What do you get when you put a cat in a pack N play with Kaden? The cat gets eaten!