Singing in the rain =)

A+

I definately give us a big A+ for this project!  We worked hard on building an outdoor bar for our patio and we are so proud of what we came up with.......

We picked out a beautiful slate tile to cover the back, it is so beautiful when the water hits it all the natural colors come out- green, red, gold, grey- looks amazing.

By accident, I discovered we could cut 2" strips of the slate and stagger it to look like brick work.  We had planned on buying a stone tile for the front and was able to save a bundle by cutting the slate and making our own pattern for the front (0.75 per sq ft instead of 3.98!!)  Here's the result of lots and lots of cuts with a wet saw (I made the cuts while Tim laid the tile)

Oh,  we also built another pergola to extend our patio space!  We started out with a small pergola covering 1/2 the patio and we made it twice the size.  Never have built anything like this before and Tim and I did it all on our own (with help from his nephew lifting the heavy boards!)

The part over the bar is the original pergola, we added to the existing structure and now our entire patio is covered 
Next project......?  We'll come up with something :))

Graduation

Reed is a preschool graduate!  So proud of him!!

Doing well =)

After 6 nights in the hospital, we were so glad to get home.  Reed has done well this week.  Sleeping is improving, he wakes up less often but the snoring is just something he will probably always do.
Wednesday was our follow-up appointment and Dr K told us to come back in 6 months. 
We are going to start back with speech therapy soon and can't wait to see the results!

Day 4-5 post op

I'm not sharing all of this because I just love sharing every little detail of our lives.....I'm sharing because 1) I hope it can help another parent with a similar situation and 2) because I will never remember all of this if I don't record it somewhere.
Reed has thrush from the antibiotics.  No wonder these last 2 days have been a painful teary struggle for him. Finally this afternoon he broke down and ate an entire bowl of chicken noodle soup. He kept saying something was in his throat and when he would describe it I knew something was going on. I looked at his tongue and immediately knew what it was. The nurse confirmed and started him on Nystatin.
Nights are tough right now and I'm praying it's just because things are still swollen.  During the night he has been waking up coughing and crying every 45-60 minutes and last night he had a horrible sweat drenched night terror.  He clenched on to me and let out the most frantic cry for about half an hour.
When he finally came out of it, he did not want me to put him down.
Dr K came by today and did not like what he heard so we're staying another night or two to see if his breathing improves.

Important things for us to remember:
Always discuss and give as much detail as we can with Reed days ahead of any procedure and allow him plenty of time to ask questions and get as comfortable as he can with it and know what to expect.  Reed is very detailed oriented and I've found that it has helped in some situations to explain in detail what is going on.  This exact thing happened with the blood pressure cuff, he was terrified. Screaming fit, hiding behind me and pulling away terrified.  I took the time to explain to him exactly what the cuff is doing when it squeezes his arm, showed him what blood veins look like, explained that the heart is pumping the blood through the body....the whole bit worked. He is no longer terrified when he sees a BP cuff!!
Insist that he is with us as soon as he is brought out of anesthesia.  I explained to everyone that Reed is very anxious and is terrified when he wakes from being put under.  Just knowing that they put him back under TWICE to try and get him to calm down breaks my heart.  If I had just been close maybe I could have helped calm him and prevent that from happening.  Another thing that helped contribute to his delirium was the arm restraints (no-nos).  We don't know if he was restrained in the orphanage, but he can not stand to be held down so those things definately added to his anger and fear.

Day 2

We are still in the unit waiting for a room to open up and today was a little better than yesterday. 
With the help of one very creative nurse, Reed had about 4 or 5 spoonfuls of a chocolate milkshake  (we were able to sneak them in after she brought a Wii to our room and let him race dad for a bit)
We've seen lots of sick little ones here and it really makes you wish you could do something to make them all better :(
It's a little after midnight now and I'm in my monitor obsessing watching mode. Every other second I have to look up to see what his numbers are.  We've been moved to another unit today and the nurse hasn't figured out yet that I let every beep and every drop in his oxygen level drive me crazy. It's staying around 96 but it does dip down to 90, 91 when he gets deep in sleep.
Tim and I have been a pretty good team, we take turns sleeping for 2 hours at a time so each of us gets about 4 hrs a night. 
Oh! I just realized it's Mother's Day!!! Happy Mother's Day to my mom, who is an amazing lady with a heart of gold......and Happy Mother's Day to ME, a mom who has been blessed with the most perfect, loving, tender hearted and brave little soul.  I love you Reed Hammond, you are my sunshine!

Day 1

Reed slept most of the day and night thanks to pain meds every 2-3 hrs. Mom and dad slept in shifts 4 hr each :). Doc checked in and said we need to stay in the unit another night since he's still on oxygen. Praying he can tolerate some liquids by mouth today but he has been a trooper. Can't wait for my little man to feel like himself again!

Update:

Today turned out to be a pretty good day.  He's still not drinking anything, but he gave us a big smile when we were able to unhook all the monitors and go downstairs long enough to visit with Elmo.  He even had his picture made with Elmo, what a nice suprise that was!! 

Still taking pain meds but not as often.  Praying tomorrow he can start drinking liquids and work our way into some soft foods in the next couple of days.  48 hours with nothing to eat or drink is making Mama nervous!!!

Surgery day

Surgery went well, waking up not so much.  They had to put him under twice in the recovery room as an attempt level out his vitals and help his delirium.  "Emergence delirium" = restless or irritable wake up,   Reed always has a horrible time coming out of anesthesia.  Today was the worst yet.  He spent 2.5 hrs in recovery before calming enough to go to the unit.  Around 5 pm he finally woke up enough to empty his bladder.  He is resting well on pain meds now and his oxygen levels are holding steady so the nurse is hoping tomorrow we can move to the floor.

4 AM

We made a last minute decision to drive to Nashville and spend the night since we have to be at the hospital at 6.  Our first choice for hotel was booked, so we stayed at one of those older name hotels that are known for cheap rates.  I discovered last night that I'm borderline germaphobe.  The room had that smell of deodorizer and the carpet had visible vaccum marks.....but I could just feel the germs crawling around.  I kept shoes on my feet anytime they touched the floor and slept (for 2 whole hours) on top of the covers in my clothes to avoid the bed bugs.  Don't say it, I know!
Thanks so much for all the prayers for Reed.  Please pray this morning that surgery goes well, he wakes with fear and anxiety removed and that there are no complications. The next few months are going to be a challenge but we're backed by the most wonderful God, family and friends.  We love you!!

Here we go again

Reed is scheduled for p-flap surgery (pharyngeal) on Thursday of this week.  I have been a basket case all week and saw this picture today that put put a smile on my face..........  nothing we will ever endure will be too much for Him, God's got this!  Have a blessed week everyone