Dad's Surgery

Looking out the window with Xander before surgery.

Trying to see the cars before surgery.

Everything went well with dad's surgery.  He did have a triple by-pass, his artery was 90% blocked and it was right before the artery branches off (refered to as the 'widow maker' since it effects your entire heart instead of just part of it, and pretty much no one lives after having a heart-attack from that spot).  He had an extra branch off which is why it ended up as a triple by-pass instead of a double.  Of course that's not where the oddities end with dad; his artery played hide and seek with the doctor, which is part of why the surgery took longer than normal.  Most of the time you find it laying on top of the heart, but dad's was actually embeded in his heart muscle.

But everything went successfully, and he is doing well.  He is currently in the ICU, but should be moved out some time today or tomorrow.  He works on flexing his legs and sometimes sitting forward in his chair to switch things up.  He still has plenty of tubes coming out of him, though some tubes were taken out before the pictures I took; and he is hooked up to sci-fi looking/sounding machine (helps take out extra fluid and possibly maintain the right pressure for his lungs).  He wanted me to thank everyone for their concern and prayers, and also to say "I shouldn't have joined this gym!"  Funny as always.

Blows into this to help prevent pneumonia.



His boiling Sci-fi machine, you can't see the bubbles very well.



30-4

So this is a crazy month of birthdays since we have 2 about a week apart.  But we made it through successfully!  Japheth had a "How to Train Your Dragon" party and loved it.  We didn't have a pinata this year, but we played Dragon Trainer Says, Musical Dragons and Pin the Head on the Dragon.  It was a lot of fun.  Japheth is now 4 years old, and I can't believe how big he's getting.  He is 35 lbs 12 ounces and 39 1/2 inches.  He continues to get smarter every day.  He reads probably at a first grade level and is now learning a little math and money (pennies and nickles, etc).  He writes pretty well, and loves to write and receive notes.  He is also becoming a pro at riding his trike.

For Douglas' birthday he had a Halo party.  11 of his friends over for a 3 TV/3 Xbox extravaganza.  We didn't get to bed until about 2:30am and had a 6 am wake-up call from Japheth, but it was a blast!  I think we had a Halo hangover for 2 days.  He is now the big 3-0! He's doing well with all of his schoolwork and learning a lot for the M-CAT. He juggles everything pretty well and we're always so proud of all his hard work.

Play-time

So far today the boys have done almost nothing but fight.  But yesterday afternoon the boys played miraculously well together for like 30-45 mins.  No crying, fussing, screaming, yelling or hitting!  Just happy giggling and fun.  And now you're asking yourself, 'Is that even possible!? What could they have possibly been doing?'  Well they were doing this. . .

Is is wierd that I was basically doing the same thing at the same time?  Their pile is higher, but mine's yummier!  Mmmm french toast!



Happy New Year

A late Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!  This year we were able to go out to Colorado and visit my brother and his family, and see Douglas' sister and husband for Christmas.  It was so relaxing and nice to get away from everything!  No driving from place to place on Christmas day; the whole trip was great.  We didn't get to actually see anything until we'd been there for more than a day though.  We arrived after dark and the whole next day there was a ton of fog.  But after that we were able to get oriented and see how beautiful it all is.  Plus the fog left a ton of frost that was great for pictures.
Then after arriving home safe, we got to see my other brother before he went back home to Alabama.  It was really nice to see both brothers since they've lived out of town for years.  And of course we had our annual sledding day with my family, accompanied with the usual awesome crashes!

Douglas finished his fall semester before all the Christmas fun, and got 2 A's and a B+.  He has now started spring semester and is taking 2 classes and a  lab.  Plus he's taking an M-CAT prep through a private company.  He'll take the M-CAT at the end of his prep course in June or July and apply to a bunch of med-schools.  He has also started doing his 'research volunteer' work, plus still works a few days a week.  So we all miss him very much already, even though it all just started.  So with scheduling I'm basically a single mom for 4 days of the week.  But at least it's only one semester, and I know that as soon as I finally get used to the schedule we get to change it all again!  And assuming the boys don't get sick of me, we'll all make it through and presumably be sane.
The boys are still doing great!  Xander is such a shy little guy, even towards Japheth sometimes.  But he's cuter than ever, and has been learning to recognize some of the letters.  Of course it's still hit and miss as to whether he'll say the right name to the right letter, but he really loves doing it and always gets 'O' right.  Japheth loves going to pre-school more every day.  He has been able to learn and understand about different days of the week.  He learns about weather, animals, healthy food and exercise and everything else.  It's been so great for him to go and have a place to exercise his mind, make friends, and practice social skills.