go phillies!

Tubes - ears, that is...

Anna successfully and gracefully rode the roller-coaster of surgical procedures today. She was gently awakened at 6:10 am (about 2 hours before her normal wake-up time) and gingerly carried to the warm car to be transported to the surgical location. Upon arrival, Mommy and Anna played in the "child's play" room while Daddy took care of the details (read: forking over the money and signing papers). She was the first surgery of the morning and we were warned by the anesthesiologist that she may be stolen by adoring nurses if we didn't watch out.

Our friendly jellybean went to the nurse very easily and she was carried back to the OR, with teddy in hand. (Teddy is her bff. Don't mess with Teddy. In other news, I am ISO of another Teddy and have been disappointed that I can't find one - we need a back-up Teddy, like Hudson's "double doggy", as he calls it.) We read magazines and ate a few snacks in the waiting room (we didn't want to eat in front of Anna, b/c she wasn't allowed to partake). The ENT came out following her procedure and told us what he did (he did drain a good amount from her ears - but not infected - PTL - and put the tubes in). After only 20-25 minutes total, they called, "Anna Smith's parents?" Funny, I've thought of that a lot recently; I am no longer Beth, Dale Engle's daughter (for all you BICers out there that are reading this), Bryan's sister, Chris' wife, the worship pastor's wife...but I also am Hudson's Mommy (learned this from preschool this week) and Anna's parent (learned that today). Big change in roles. But I digress. Continuing on....

On our journey back the hall, the nurse was telling us what a great job she was doing in recovery - that she was a wonderful baby girl...not crying and screaming as a lot of infants do when waking out of anesthesia. And lo and behold, she was right. Banana was lying peacefully, albeit disoriented, in the recovery room nurse's arms, waiting for us. Safely in our arms, Daddy helped her drink a bit of apple juice, got some post-op instructions, and we were on our way! She did fuss a little bit - when she'd burp to get air out of her tummy from the anesthesia she would cry - presumably the pain in her ears, but she did wonderfully. Many thanks to you for praying for her and praises to God for keeping her safe - she was in the arms of our Great Physician the whole time. :)

Hudson and Mama's Field Trip

Hudson and Mama (as he calls me often), headed out on yet another adventure today - this time, back to the apple picking farm with Hudson's preschool class. Just Mama and Hudson got to go on this foray into fall, so it was a special time for us to ride the hayride and pick apples, pumpkins and gourds (yes, we picked gourds too!). Then at the end of the hayride we were treated to fresh apple cider and applesauce - yum! My little clown had also devoured two, yes, TWO of the apples he picked from the tree - he loves apples. Although, are your kids like this - he will eat them whole with the skin, but if they are sliced, he will not eat the skin - they must be peel-free. I find this little factoid way weird...

Harvest Happenings

So pretty much this post will be pictures and more pictures, because we had a blast this weekend doing "fall-y" type stuff. We started off the weekend (ours starts Friday b/c Chris has off Fridays since he works Sunday :) with a fun family trip to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out the perfect orange orbs for our two little pum-kins themselves. On Saturday, we ventured out again (it was cold and windy this day!) to pick apples and climb trees - although, I don't know if we were supposed to climb the trees to pick, but we did!

OH, and I am way famous! I made the Flamingo Mama's blog - click here to see our adventure! She gave me a new nickname....see what you think!

Preschool!

Today was our baby boy's first day of school - well, preschool that is. He is so excited. He will be attending a local church preschool for two days a week, with some friends from church. It is a great place and when we visited last week to check it out, he came home and told us he wanted to go back "the next day". Well, the first day of preschool arrived, and he could hardly contain himself. That included being too excited to stand still and smile for a picture ;) As we entered, I assumed that just like Sunday School, he would enter, ask for "one more hug and kiss" (thirteen times) and wave goodbye. Oh, was I wrong. We walked in, Hudson said a shy "Good morning" to his teacher while he stood behind my legs, and then saw the farm with the animals out on the play rug. He was off - with a mere "see ya later mommy", he waved as I walked out the door - no hugs, no kisses. What a big boy! When Anna and I picked him back up, he was so excited, he wouldn't stop talking. He told us about the farm, the dishwasher to play with, the coloring time, story time, snack time, his field trip coming up soon, his teacher and the art project where he got to paint (oh, this went over really well - you know how he loves to paint!).

In other news, it was Anna's 13th month birthday on Wednesday - and we found out she is having surgery next Wednesday. She'll have tubes put in her ears to help with the massive amount of ear infections she has gotten (she's got another double ear infection right now) . This will also help her hearing - the Doc said to her it sounds like she is listening to us as if she was underwater. He said she'll talk even more within a few days of the procedure. They told us that she'll only be out for a few minutes, and will only be in recovery about a half-hour. It's definitely more traumatic for us as Daddy and Mommy, I am sure.

And, this is us, loving fall! :)

Follow Us

Hey, so if you are a regular of our blog, or you just like to occasionally pop in, we'd love to know who you are. On our map, we can make an educated guess (considering we are fairly well educated - or at least we think we are!) of who you are. But, to be sure, we'd love to know who you are and all you have to do is click on the link on the sidebar that features our followers....yes, I know it sounds a bit biblical - but you don't have to abide by our rules and we won't make you wear sandals, your hair long and a dress. Hugs pushing Banana in his "sailboat"

Other than that, it's been a while since I posted, and life has gone on as normal. Like fall has arrived, for real. Anna is getting another tooth (I hope, because she's miserable!). Hudson starts preschool next week and he caught a nasty cold. I got my haircut short again. Oh, with bangs. I thought I liked them, I think I look ok with them, but now when I go to run, or cook, they get really annoying and I am a total ear-tucker. In other words, I think I am in the growing out phase again. Which is good because the wonderful lady that cut my hair, in all her wisdom, left them kinda as a sweep, so it shouldn't take too long. Anna is starting to walk more - not by herself, but she loves her new scooter and pushing things to walk. She's still a naughty Soothie lover. Man, don't try to take the girl's Soothie. She may bop you.