You should have seen the look on Liza’s face when I showed her Hannah’s old dress-up ball gown that matched Barbie Island Princess! Delight! She even let me do her hair! She danced and watched Island Princess Ball scene over and over so she could imitate the dance moves. Oh Liza!
On Friday, January 24, 2014, Max went in for minor surgery: a Right Hydrocele Repair. If you don’t know what that is, you can google it… just be watchful not to click on images.
Max was really nervous about his surgery. But we talked with him about how he would be asleep the entire time and wouldn’t feel a thing. He was still nervous. The unknown does that to us mortals, doesn’t it. On Thursday night, Jimmy gave Max a blessing to he would feel more comfortable. When it was over Max asked if I thought it would come true. I told him that I thought it would because of his faith. Throughout the evening and next morning he continued to say, “I still have faith!” We also talked about being courageous like Nephi when you’re asked to do hard things. Max did a great job at being like Nephi!
At 9:30 a.m., Friday morning, we were to be at Primary Children’s Riverton Hospital.
Max was really hungry since he couldn’t eat after midnight … or drink anything after 7:30 a.m.
We registered. Took a picture by the Lorax Christmas Tree.
And then headed to the 2nd floor for surgery prep.
We wiped Max down with disinfecting wipes and helped him put on his hospital gown.
Amy Ross, the nurse practitioner, came in and explained a bit about the surgery and helped prepare Max.
He had his blood pressure taken and oxygen monitored. He thought that part was funny.
Next we waited for about an hour while Max played Batman Video Game.
Dr Scaife came to say hi and then Dr. Miller, the Anesthesiologist.
Max went into surgery about 11:15.
He was so brave to leave mom and dad and walk with Dr. Miller.
To fall asleep Max chose to breath Root Beer Air. He loves root beer.
And afterwards his favorite thing was the Root Beer Slushie.
By noon, he was finished and awake.
By one or so, he changed back into his clothes and we went home.
The doc did give him a narcotic/tylenol med which helped in the next few days.
Max laughed and laughed about his skin being so orange from the disinfectant.
As soon as we got home, Max wanted soup.
He ate so very much soup and french bread and more root beer slushie!
Poor hungry 6-year-old.
His recovery has been good. Friday he watched Narnia – Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Hannah made him a special treat: donuts!
He had extra loves from Sully – a gift from Grandma (who watched Tru & Liza so Jimmy and I could both go! THANKS!)
After that he had a hard time resting. I think his meds were working well and he didn’t feel pain.
Later that night he started getting sore.
Same thing on Saturday. Overdid it Saturday morning and then wasn’t up to anything so he rested all afternoon.
Sunday: felt like barfing and was tired. Stayed home from church and rested.
Monday: incision still sore and bruised so he stayed home and did a great job resting all day long.
Monday night: Declared he was doing so much better and was ready for school the next day.
Anyhoo… kindof an adventure! I’m so grateful everything went smoothly. Max is a brave kiddo!
Family Updates on Surgeries…
1. Mom and 5 c-sections
2. Tru and his eye
3. Eliza and the popcorn in the lung incident
4. Max’s surgery.
For my 38th birthday Jimmy bought me a nice camera… like a real camera. Whoo-hoo!
What a generous dream come true! I have oodles to learn to get better photos,
but I notice a difference right away that it actually focuses on the subject and blurs the rest.
Nice! Here’s Liza’s pose. Can you believe those glorious natural waves?!
The boys were causing lots of ruckus on Sunday afternoon so I told them we could make cookies.
My life is cookies and milk and yellow balloons after all, right Steph?!
Birthday cheesecake from my parents. Yummers!
The first photo on the camera. Miss Hannah before washing her face.
And to include all the kids, here’s Abe who was a willing person for the camera.
He likes how fast the camera takes the photo so he doesn’t have to wait around forever.
Now – to figure out shooting out of auto?!
Sunday, I woke in a good mood… ready to get kids going and to church on time (I knew Jimmy would not be home in time from stake meetings to help). It was so amazing how much squabbling the kids managed to squeeze into the short amount of time we had before 9 a.m.
But do you see these two handsome pre-missionaries. They got their hair combed. Max was confident that he looked just like a missionary. Tru loved having his hair tidied and now that it is longer he says it looks like Brandon’s (a boy in his Sunbeams class).
#1. Trying to fold arms and be reverent for a sweet missionary type picture.
#2. Passive Aggressive elbowing going on by Tru.
#3. Tru was whopped on the noggin’ by Max.
Sigh… They may have the look of a missionary down, but We’ll keep working on behavior.
We’ve had flurries of snow that have melted after a few hours. But today was the first big snowfall of the season. Tru was overjoyed. We got out the new boots, layers of jackets, mittens, hats. Tru, Max, & Eliza played outside for 5 minutes (you know the routine… get ready for 15 minutes… play for 5… too cold … clean up for 15 minutes).
Liza wasn’t sure about this freezing weather and inches of snow. She may be my inside buddy this winter … or perhaps Hannah can teach her to have fun in the cold. Brrrrr….
And it came to pass that Truman, son of James, had an exceedingly hard time saying please. Behold, it was a battle of wills. And Truman, son of James, had a very . strong . will . Though his parents taught him in all the ways of politeness, it took many moons for Truman to come around and finally spit out the dreaded word. More than once a day was almost beyond what he could handle. After 4 reigns of the judges, Truman, son of James, decided to create his own language so that he had somewhat of a say in this manners thing. The language of Oops-a-gobwah was created on the family journey out of the wilderness of Zion National Park. Instead of feeling forced to abide and say Please… Tru could now say, “Oops-a-gobwah” and manage to be polite without tantrums beyond measure. And Heather, mother of Truman, was okay with this compromise. And thenceforth, when needing to be polite, Truman sings “oops-a-gobwah” with no hesitation.
Tru was being so quiet in this video… but I love how he sings the word.
Eliza loves to dance. She gets such a smile on her face when twirling. She especially loves Giselle’s singing on Enchanted Movie. This past week we’ve been dancing and twirling with her. DELIGHT! Max and Truman have been willing dance partners for Liza. In this photo Max and Liza were dancing to “So Close” the song from the Ball in Enchanted. Liza sings along and tries to dance the same as on the movie. Oh Liza!… You’re quite the cute girlie.
In his prayer yesterday at lunch:
The other day Jimmy asked Max to empty the dishwasher. He came down a few minutes later and Max hadn’t done anything yet. Max told Jimmy that he was thinking about disobeying, but that he decided it would be better to choose the right… and went to work. I can see this in Max so much lately. There are things he wants to do that aren’t the best, but deep down he wants to do what is right so he feels conflicted. I’m actually grateful he can put into words his thought-process because I know this will help him think more clearly when a choice needs to be made. Max is full of faith. I know that for sure. Every good choice he makes will strengthen him for the next choice he needs to make (please remember this Max!!!)
A while ago Max said in his evening prayer, “Grateful for the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and his life. Grateful that the prophet’s wife can be in the Spirit World.” Having these two separated for this time seems sad to me, but I know Max saw it as a special thing for Sister Monson to get to be with Jesus.
Miss Hannah turned 11. Wahoo! We didn’t get many photos of the day, but hopefully she enjoyed a nice birthday. A few days before her birthday, we enjoyed Apple Dumplings for Sunday Brunch, a favorite of hers. For lunch, I picked her up at school and we ran to Target and Cafe Rio for some tasty food! It was fun to be with Hannah. After school = homework, of course. The boys (dad & Abe) had a Scout Broadcast to attend so we quickly ate supper (2nd choice of Hamburger Macaroni Casserole), unwrapped presents, and blew out candles on Brownies! She loved the baking kit from Grandma & Grandpa Price. She got a few long-hoped-for books (Land of Stories part 2), a hairbrush, Original Gold Fish (she loves!), fingernail polish kit with cute chevron box, etc.
Hannah and I snuck in part of ‘Oz, the Great & Powerful’ while trying to finish up a book report skeleton. Abe came home and we partied on doing homework until 10 (that is late for all of us!) Abe painted Jabba the Puppet Gord/Pumpkin. He did a great job with the eyes & mouth painting! Hannah’s book was 13 Treasures about a girl and fairies. Wasn’t her favorite to read that mystery, but didn’t her “skeleton” turn out darling!
Anyhoo… we are so grateful to have Miss Hannah in our family. She is a joy to all! Truman even prays, “Grateful I can have a special day with my buddy.” Hannah is his buddy (meaning she is in charge of holding his hand when we are out). Cute. Hannah helps… and encourages… and cheers us on… and is funny. We love her so very much!
I love our fridge art this month. Hannah brought this home from art class. I need to ask Abe to share his with us! I love that they still have art at the school! Never let it go people! Same with p.e.