April Showers

Happy April!  Lots of exciting things are happening this month.  The flowers are blooming, Daddy's birthday is coming up, and so is Adeline's dance recital.  Fun, fun!  The first week of April started out a little gloomy for us.  Jon had to travel out of town and was gone before 5am last Monday and didn't get home until after 9pm on Friday.  That makes for one tired Mommy!  It was also pretty cool and rainy most of the time.  Here's how we spent our week sans Daddy.

Monday
It was actually a beautiful day.  Annabel and I played outside on the church playground while Adeline was in dance that afternoon.  I was trying to get a picture of her in action, but when she saw the camera she stopped and said, "Cheeeese!"

The evenings are what's hard when Daddy's not around.  We had some alphabet/sticker fun to pass the time.  I was surprised that we had a sticker for almost every letter of the alphabet!

Tuesday
It was a Bible study and hang out at home day.  I also went to bed Monday evening feeling really uneasy about Adeline's toe.  It just wasn't looking better and I didn't feel right about it.  I called a podiatrist right at 8am.  I thought that since he was a specialist it might take a while to get in, but once I told the receptionist what was going on, she said they could squeeze us in that afternoon.  Our sweet neighborhood grandma kept Annabel while Adeline and I made yet another trip to the doctor over that darn toe.

What we found out from the podiatrist was not good news.  He immediately said the nail needed to come off.  He said it was very infected and since the nail was slightly raised, any bacteria from bath-water or anything was just getting trapped under there.  I was thinking, ok, let's get this thing off.  Let's do it!  Then he informed me that he would not do it in his office because she needed to be sedated.  He said the numbing shots were very painful and the whole process would be traumatizing to her.  He said we needed to come to the hospital on Thursday morning before all his other surgeries for her to have it removed.  Wow!  Not what I was expecting!  I did not know how I was going to handle that without Jon by my side.  But God has blessed me with some great friends here!  My dear friend Ashley volunteered to be at my house Thursday morning before 5am to sit with Annabel!  (more on the surgery to come...)

Wednesday
Our friends Heather and Charlie came to play with us to keep our minds off the big surgery the next morning.  Our girls had so much fun together, but I failed to get any pictures.  My mind was in a thousand places that day.

I did, however, snap this picture during nap time.  At least she stays in bed now, even if she wasn't napping!

That night we had Puggles at church and that was such a good thing that I was worn out and didn't spend my evening worrying.

Thursday
I started my day at 4am!  Adeline and I had to be at the hospital by 5:30.

Thankfully, she did not need to have an IV for sedation.  The first thing I asked the anesthesiologist when he came to talk with me beforehand was if he had any experience sedating children.  Hah!  I was relieved when he said he had lots.  It was just the mask like at the dentist, but with a little bit stronger stuff because he had to put her all the way out.  

I only sat in the little surgery consult room waiting for about 20 minutes, but it had to be the LONGEST 20 minutes of my life.  I wasn't worried about the toe procedure.  I was worried about the anesthesia!  I prayed so hard that whole time, but I don't even think I was forming complete sentences.  God knew my heart, though!  The first thing the doctor said when he walked in to see me afterwards was, "She's awake and she did great!"  I'm sure he could see all the blood come back into my face and hear my huge sigh of relief since I'm pretty sure that was the first time I breathed the whole 20 minutes. He also informed me that he'd had to put in three stitches in her nail-bed because of the trauma from the barstool.  He was not happy that the ER doctor hadn't removed the nail from the very beginning or that they hadn't at least told me to follow up with a podiatrist on the Monday after.  He said that since she had the wound there as well, all the infection was just getting down into her toe.  He's seen it as bad as the infection getting all the way to the bone.  Thankfully God led me to him before that happened to Adeline.

I got to go see her right after that.  She was crying hysterically as a reaction to coming out of the anesthesia and she cried all the way home.  When we got home I realized she'd taken off her bandage.  So, we loaded back up with Annabel and Ashley (so Ashley could keep an eye on her) and went back to the hospital to have the bandage re-applied.  But, since all that drama, it's been smooth sailing ever since!

Our sweet friends Heather and Charlie dropped by that morning to bring Adeline the cutest little care package.  She had a lot of fun with this sticker & coloring book.  Ashley took Annabel back home with her to play with her son, Henry until lunch when they all came back over and brought us yummy Chick-Fil-A.  Adeline was so excited.  She said, "I know Ms. Ashley is your friend, Mommy, but she's my friend, too!"  I tell you, CFA is the key to that girl's heart.  :)

I snapped this picture of Annabel that night in the bath.  Look how long her hair is when her curls are wet!

Friday

The sun was out and the temps were high!  Yay for Spring!  Our friends Abby, Ava, & Landon spent the morning with us.  Adeline was still a little whiny and not quite herself, but she perked up a lot after lunch.  We spent the entire rest of the day outside.  I pushed them probably 4 miles in the double stroller that afternoon.  We had to go sign up for swim lessons right at nap time (it's that hard to get a spot), so we decided to meet some of my old co-workers at the park for a walk, then some fro-yo afterwards.  It was so nice!

That evening, Shane, Juliet, and Murry brought us dinner and we ate and played outside all evening.  I was a little worried about Adeline's toe, but I decided that if she felt like playing that hard, I might as well let her.  I had the best time.  These three curly-haired cousins laughed and played together so well.  It's starting to be so fun with them now that they're old enough to interact.  They were all trying to jump on the trampoline, but Adeline kept jumping too high and making them fall.  Adeline said, "These babies can't stand up when I'm jumping!"

Saturday

Jon was finally home, but I had to go to work.  Boo!  He did send me some cute pictures throughout the day, though.

That evening we ate outside again with Uncle Jarrod and Claudia.  I'm loving this weather.

Sunday

Yay for church day!

Annabel would not put this baby down for the pictures.  Then we noticed that their shirts were almost a perfect match.  We tried to get a good shot of them together, but she kept holding her doll by the head.  Haha!

On our way home from church we stopped in someone's yard to take a picture by their tulip tree.  Neither of my children would look at the camera, though.

We spent the rest of the afternoon napping and playing at the park.  I love family days.

Although last week was very difficult in so many ways, I tried extra hard to focus on all the blessings woven throughout the days.  You can always find them, if you just try hard enough.