Our Baby Got De-ported!

Today is the day we celebrate Elijah officially being a normal, healthy boy, finally free of all physical “ties” to modern medicine. He had his surgery this morning to have his mediport removed, and he did great!  We weren’t thrilled that he had to wait two hours past his scheduled time, but were forgiving because…

Fly Free

Ahhhh. Here I sit with a glorious double pane of glass between the brouhaha and me. Our new glass storm door with roll-away screen was installed Monday, and I’m LOVING it. I see every swat of a twig, every snatch of a toy – even the swirling cloud of chalk, but I remain unscathed. Not even a fly buzzing ridicule in my ear.

Too Many Doostractions

To add to my “if I turn scientist” list of studies: Effect of offspring leg length on maternal response. I just randomly noticed that there is a particular age or size of child that completely changes my reaction to having toes in my face. Babies start off so small and squishy and I want to roll them into a little ball in my arms and chew on them. Their little legs are so stubby and their feet, so chubby, and so nibble-y and kissable. Then one day, somewhere between Elijah-size and Isaac-size, I get a foot in my face, and my gut reaction glowers get that clunky hoof off of me! They haven’t yet stopped being precious, but suddenly they’re more adorable from a distance.

Art Attack

It’s another gorgeous day, perfect for muddying up the boys. After breakfast, I took them outside with a cup of water and some paint brushes, for some patio painting. I was drinking from a sport bottle of water, ever so briefly, before Isaac “needed” it to Jackson Pollock the concrete. Then Ian sploshed his water on the ground. After he took half a dozen trips to the sink, I filled up a big bucket from the spigot on the side of the house to save him time (read: save my carpet). They scooped that bucket dry, and Ian refilled it. I had asked Ian if he wanted me to roll up his jean legs, but he declined, saying it was okay if they got wet.

Teeth Thing

I think my Motherbear persistence is finally steering us toward some results for Elijah’s teeth. As I’ve said before, his bottom two front “teeth” have been a mystery. He lost them in the NICU, but there has been something protruding from his gums. When his first top tooth was coming in, it looked damaged from the start. We saw the dentist, but were informed that we had to wait until the tooth had fully come in to fix it.

Laundremote

Lesson learned. If I’d do a little laundry sometimes, I wouldn’t go without my TV remote for so long. It’s amazing what I find in that basket.

Local Time

One beautiful weekend, we hopped on our bikes for the first time since last fall. I put Elijah in my handlebar carrier and Brian pulled the bigger boys in the trailer. I made sure to bring the diaper bag, because it seems we always go farther than intended. We half joked to each other that, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we ended up in downtown Newnan?” I knew right then that we had both taken that as a challenge and our certain destination.

Noodle battle

My brain cells have largely reclassified themselves as dandruff. I had grabbed a pair of socks and went hunting for my fuzzy Crocs. I found one Croc shoe, so I slipped on a sock and stepped into my shoe. While wandering with my remaining sock in hand, I entered our large master bathroom and found a pile of the boys’ clothes that forgot to find the laundry basket. I scooped up the laundry and sorted it into the laundry basket. Pausing to remember my original mission, I realized I was empty-handed.

Words to Remember Vol. 1

This is a running list in admiration of my boys’ language development and expressions. Ian Repetend: pretend Hopticopter: helicopter Igick: Isaac To in front of me and beyond: Buzz Lightyear’s “To infinity and beyond” Degio: Diego (the show) Piwow: pillow New Van: Our ’09 Ford Flex Na na: toddler version of nurse, eat Vegtibital: vegetable…

Three, Two, One, Vinblastine

Yesterday (Friday), Elijah *finally* had his last planned dose of chemo. In three weeks, he will have a full-body PET scan, and if it is at least as good-looking as his previous scan, then he will go to an observation schedule of check-ups every month, then every three months, then 6 months, then annually. He…