Only a week until... only 5 more days... only 4 more days... only two more days until...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1
This is going to be hard. I don't know if Child #3 is ready to see Deathly Hallows. Each of the movies has gotten darker and darker themed as they go, very much like the books. I'm not sure if he's ready to watch it. He is only six. Admittedly he is a strong six who isn't easily frightened or scared. Especially by movies. He is known to tell me "its not real, its just a movie". While I love that about him I also don't want to push it. But he wants to see it soooooo bad. He is sooo excited about it. More that Child #1 and Child #2 combined... and Child #2 wants to see Voldermort (his favorite) really bad.
Maybe I'll take Child #1, who isn't frightened by movies... she LOVED the orcs (eeew they are ucky!!) in Lord of the Rings and the "boneheads" (skeletons) in Pirates of the Caribbean when she was three, to see it first and I'll be able to decide if Child #2 and Child #3 would be able to handle it in the movie theatre or if we should wait until it is released on DVD. Easier to cover eyes when you know whats about to happen ahead of time.
We shall see, we shall see.
Only one more day...
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Its been a week
Its been about a week since Child #3's birthday and he is already 60% completed on Lego Harry Potter. Yeah he's a junkie... and he's quick to pick up stuff. Seriously he's SIX!!
Think we might need to monitor how much time he gets to play... he'll have it completed in no time. LOL!
Think we might need to monitor how much time he gets to play... he'll have it completed in no time. LOL!
Monday, October 4, 2010
They moved C out of the PICU today. He's now up in regular room. They have removed almost all of the tubes & such... he still has the one in his head (because of the TBI and that a piece of his skull is currently "elsewhere") & his IV but everything else is out. WOOHOO!!
Friday night Child#1 when up to the PICU with Hubby. She sat and talked with him. He was happy to see her (and recognized her). I picked up a new book at Half Price Books for them to read together "_The Graveyard Book_" by Neil Gaiman. They both enjoyed it, he wanted her to come back and read some more.
Yesterday he was able to go outside with a walker for a little while. He was in total heaven. He hates being so cooped up inside and was feeling depressed about having to be stuck up in his PICU room and a bed. So having a little fresh air was really good for him.
Anyways, its AMAZING that 11 days after his accident he is already out of the PICU. They were saying at least 3+ week in PICU. Everyone is just so happy that he's progressing so well.
Friday night Child#1 when up to the PICU with Hubby. She sat and talked with him. He was happy to see her (and recognized her). I picked up a new book at Half Price Books for them to read together "_The Graveyard Book_" by Neil Gaiman. They both enjoyed it, he wanted her to come back and read some more.
Yesterday he was able to go outside with a walker for a little while. He was in total heaven. He hates being so cooped up inside and was feeling depressed about having to be stuck up in his PICU room and a bed. So having a little fresh air was really good for him.
Anyways, its AMAZING that 11 days after his accident he is already out of the PICU. They were saying at least 3+ week in PICU. Everyone is just so happy that he's progressing so well.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Its been a hectic and busy past week to say the least. I spent most of Friday & Saturday up at the PICU helping out. Sunday was Aidan's birthday we had his Harry Potter themed party, lots of fun stuff to get ready for that...
Can I just say that Hubby is reminded just how tough my "job" is since he got to spend the ENTIRE day Saturday with all four kids by his lonesome. He needs those little reminds occasionally. ;-)
C is doing really well. His ICP (inter-cranial pressure) has continued to stay down in an excellent range. He started to regain consciousness over the weekend. He was fighting the sedation which is so typical for children... don't they understand when we drug them to sleep we want them to sleep. :-) Mom & Dad were finally able to get some sleep Thursday night and have been able to rest each night which has been wonderful. The Ronald McDonald House is truly a blessing... though whose idea was it to put metal window frames with metal blinds to tap, tap, tap against them all time long!!! Roll of packing tape took care of that Friday morning. LOL!
Friday they hooked him up to an EEG machine. There was lots of lovely wonderful brain wave activity. Not too much but also in lots of different places. Child#1 went up Friday night with Hubby and she sat with C for a while, held his hand and talked to him. His brainwaves responded to her voice, in different areas than he responded to Mommy. Again totally awesome. We talked about it and she's wants to start going up and sitting with him often and reading to him. I explained to her that even once his head injury wasn't as big a concern as before he is still looking at a long recovery just from the fractures. Lots of time immobile so she really wants to read with him and then as time goes on they will be able to talk about the books (future book club!).
He "passed" his first neuro exam Saturday morning with flying colors. Could squeeze the correct hand and twitch the correct toes when asked even while sedated on fentanyl. The doc was very pleased figured at least a 93+% of recovery just from those results. They are trying to slowing wean him off the heavy meds so that they can start to address some of the other injuries. He is responding well.
The first couple of days were really hard because of the medication he was on causes a kind of amnesia. So every time he started to wake up he had no idea where he was and what was wrong... why are there tubes all over and one down his throat. Strong boy kept wanting to get out of bed and yank out the vent tube.
They have been able to reduce his respiration dependancy on the ventilator significantly over the weekend. We are hoping they will be able to remove it tomorrow.
He finally had his big MRI Tuesday night. Turns out their next door neighbors are friends with a woman who's parent donated the "Simmons" MRI machine that sits in the OR to help entice Dr. George (one of the best in his field) to Dell from Duke. That is the same machine (and Dr) that is putting C back together. The results of the MRI were super positive. There is some bruising on the frontal lobe from the impact of the brain moving inside the skull and some of the back where the basel skull fracture is which "might" cause some minor "personality" changes but he should return to himself over the next year. Meaning no signs of permanent brain damage!! Still some internal bruising on the lungs but that seems to be healing well. The pelvis/hip is gonna be the main concern and the neck. Once they can take the breathing tube out and he can tell us exactly where and how it hurts they will be able to do a lot more to correct it.
Wednesday morning at about 5am the Dad was woken up to a ton of alarms going off. He looked over that the bed and C had disconnected the breathing tube, pulled out a bunch of his IVs and was half way rolling out of the bed trying to make a break for it. He was ready to go. :-) Talk about total scare the bejeezus out of everyone. I was sitting with him later that afternoon and got a total full eye contact recognition from him which was awesome. He suddenly tried to sit up again (like usual, he wants out of the bed so badly) I was quick to his side to get him to lay down. I said "hey you" he looked up right at me and his eyes locked with mine (I saw the recognition) and I said "hey I know you and you know me too huh?" I got a HUGE grin. So he is definitely in there.
He has been improving in huge leaps and bounds. When he was first brought into Dell, they told us to not expect to really talk to him for several weeks. He is communicating with blinks, nods, shakes and shrugs since Sunday! He shrugged today!! His mom was holding his hand and he kept pulling it away. She asked if he wanted her to hold his hand. He shook his head no. She asked if she could put her hand on his shoulder. He shrugged. She told him since he didn't care she was gonna put her hand on his shoulder. He just shrugged again. CLASSIC 9 year old.
Yesterday was a good and rough day. They took his breathing tube out early that morning. He kept trying to get out of bed to hide in the bathroom to get away from "the man in the truck that was coming"... totally heartbreaking. He also had trouble recognizing his Dad who finally had to leave the C's room for a while so they could calm him down. Within a few minutes he was able tell them Dad's cell number and wanted them to call him now! It is totally common for recognition issues to happen with a TBI but it is still hard. It will continue to happen and then improve over time. He also ate some pudding which was great, no issues with his swallow reflex. He remembers that football is his favorite sport and knows who his coach is.
Today his Dad said he's back to the old C we all know and love. They also believe that the hip that was damaged is still weight bearing so that is a very positive thing. Small steps, small steps.
So he is doing awesome but still has a looooong road ahead.
Can I just say that Hubby is reminded just how tough my "job" is since he got to spend the ENTIRE day Saturday with all four kids by his lonesome. He needs those little reminds occasionally. ;-)
C is doing really well. His ICP (inter-cranial pressure) has continued to stay down in an excellent range. He started to regain consciousness over the weekend. He was fighting the sedation which is so typical for children... don't they understand when we drug them to sleep we want them to sleep. :-) Mom & Dad were finally able to get some sleep Thursday night and have been able to rest each night which has been wonderful. The Ronald McDonald House is truly a blessing... though whose idea was it to put metal window frames with metal blinds to tap, tap, tap against them all time long!!! Roll of packing tape took care of that Friday morning. LOL!
Friday they hooked him up to an EEG machine. There was lots of lovely wonderful brain wave activity. Not too much but also in lots of different places. Child#1 went up Friday night with Hubby and she sat with C for a while, held his hand and talked to him. His brainwaves responded to her voice, in different areas than he responded to Mommy. Again totally awesome. We talked about it and she's wants to start going up and sitting with him often and reading to him. I explained to her that even once his head injury wasn't as big a concern as before he is still looking at a long recovery just from the fractures. Lots of time immobile so she really wants to read with him and then as time goes on they will be able to talk about the books (future book club!).
He "passed" his first neuro exam Saturday morning with flying colors. Could squeeze the correct hand and twitch the correct toes when asked even while sedated on fentanyl. The doc was very pleased figured at least a 93+% of recovery just from those results. They are trying to slowing wean him off the heavy meds so that they can start to address some of the other injuries. He is responding well.
The first couple of days were really hard because of the medication he was on causes a kind of amnesia. So every time he started to wake up he had no idea where he was and what was wrong... why are there tubes all over and one down his throat. Strong boy kept wanting to get out of bed and yank out the vent tube.
They have been able to reduce his respiration dependancy on the ventilator significantly over the weekend. We are hoping they will be able to remove it tomorrow.
He finally had his big MRI Tuesday night. Turns out their next door neighbors are friends with a woman who's parent donated the "Simmons" MRI machine that sits in the OR to help entice Dr. George (one of the best in his field) to Dell from Duke. That is the same machine (and Dr) that is putting C back together. The results of the MRI were super positive. There is some bruising on the frontal lobe from the impact of the brain moving inside the skull and some of the back where the basel skull fracture is which "might" cause some minor "personality" changes but he should return to himself over the next year. Meaning no signs of permanent brain damage!! Still some internal bruising on the lungs but that seems to be healing well. The pelvis/hip is gonna be the main concern and the neck. Once they can take the breathing tube out and he can tell us exactly where and how it hurts they will be able to do a lot more to correct it.
Wednesday morning at about 5am the Dad was woken up to a ton of alarms going off. He looked over that the bed and C had disconnected the breathing tube, pulled out a bunch of his IVs and was half way rolling out of the bed trying to make a break for it. He was ready to go. :-) Talk about total scare the bejeezus out of everyone. I was sitting with him later that afternoon and got a total full eye contact recognition from him which was awesome. He suddenly tried to sit up again (like usual, he wants out of the bed so badly) I was quick to his side to get him to lay down. I said "hey you" he looked up right at me and his eyes locked with mine (I saw the recognition) and I said "hey I know you and you know me too huh?" I got a HUGE grin. So he is definitely in there.
He has been improving in huge leaps and bounds. When he was first brought into Dell, they told us to not expect to really talk to him for several weeks. He is communicating with blinks, nods, shakes and shrugs since Sunday! He shrugged today!! His mom was holding his hand and he kept pulling it away. She asked if he wanted her to hold his hand. He shook his head no. She asked if she could put her hand on his shoulder. He shrugged. She told him since he didn't care she was gonna put her hand on his shoulder. He just shrugged again. CLASSIC 9 year old.
Yesterday was a good and rough day. They took his breathing tube out early that morning. He kept trying to get out of bed to hide in the bathroom to get away from "the man in the truck that was coming"... totally heartbreaking. He also had trouble recognizing his Dad who finally had to leave the C's room for a while so they could calm him down. Within a few minutes he was able tell them Dad's cell number and wanted them to call him now! It is totally common for recognition issues to happen with a TBI but it is still hard. It will continue to happen and then improve over time. He also ate some pudding which was great, no issues with his swallow reflex. He remembers that football is his favorite sport and knows who his coach is.
Today his Dad said he's back to the old C we all know and love. They also believe that the hip that was damaged is still weight bearing so that is a very positive thing. Small steps, small steps.
So he is doing awesome but still has a looooong road ahead.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Hogwarts Success
Well, I think the Hogwarts Celebration Feast was a success. At least by all the happy kids after wards. We had a really big turn out. Somewhere around 16+ kids. Wow talk about a lot of kids.
Child #3 was beside himself. He had a lot of fun and had a great time. He made sure every child got to choose a wand of their very own.
I think he was quite pleased by his presents too. Lots of Legos and of course the Lego Harry Potter game for the Wii. One of my mama friends came with her sweet daughter and rocked the "bestest" present... a small electro-static plasma globe thingie and a wand with a light-up tip and makes a whooshing sound. Child #3 was practically giddy. He loves sciency kind of stuff like that and of course a wand... that makes sound!! Lots of "Stupdify" was being yelled upstairs.
Yeah for another birthday party success.
Child #3 was beside himself. He had a lot of fun and had a great time. He made sure every child got to choose a wand of their very own.
I think he was quite pleased by his presents too. Lots of Legos and of course the Lego Harry Potter game for the Wii. One of my mama friends came with her sweet daughter and rocked the "bestest" present... a small electro-static plasma globe thingie and a wand with a light-up tip and makes a whooshing sound. Child #3 was practically giddy. He loves sciency kind of stuff like that and of course a wand... that makes sound!! Lots of "Stupdify" was being yelled upstairs.
Yeah for another birthday party success.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Hogwarts Celebration Feast
Hogwarts-mania has officially hit our household. For years I've had different friends tell me I just had to read the Harry Potter books. I never did, they just didn't sound appealing to me. Maybe it was because I didn't have as much reading free time. I don't know I just never thought I would read the books.
So over the summer Hubby makes an unusual comment. Maybe he'll read the Harry Potter books. What?? This is the man that doesn't read fiction. Like ever anymore. I think I've seen him read 2 or 3 fiction books in the 17 years I've known him. It isn't like he doesn't read, he does. Lots and lots of history, military history, political and such. Just not a big fan of fiction. He read lots of SciFi when he was young but had pretty much given it up by the time we met.
So for him to suddenly without any prompting from me decide to read fiction? Mind blowing. Anyways, right around that time ABC Family channel was showing the Harry Potter movies over the weekend. We ended up watching most of them. The kids watched them with us. They really enjoyed them. So gradually I was sucked in and I bought the books for the kids. We recently started reading the books out loud before bedtime.
While Lego Star Wars is very popular on the Wii around here... Child #3 is seriously obsessed with wanting the Lego Harry Potter game for the Wii. Its almost all he has talked about for months. Needless to say I suggested that his birthday was coming up.
In light of the recently Harry Potter obsession, Child #3 decided he wanted to do Harry Potter as the theme for his birthday this year. You would think since the newest movie in the series is coming out in Nov there would be lots of Harry Potter stuff in preparation. Hell no!! Nada! Zip! Zilch! Everywhere online was sold out (was from the previous movies) and nobody local had any party supply items for Harry Potter. Seriously! It is insane. Thankfully a friends who's son used Harry Potter for his theme over the summer still had a few things leftover that she let me have. Good thing I'm kind of "crafty" too.
Since I couldn't find invitations, I made some up and printed them on card stock. They came out pretty good... considering I had to replace the ink cartridges in the printer after trying to refill them and it still not working. Seriously. Those ink cartridges are a total pain in the ass. I sent the cards to school for Child #3 to pass out to all his classmates. I couldn't find any rubber bands so I improvised with some brown satin ribbon. Really came out awesome with the cream card stock and brown ink. Very dramatic.
For the party favors I made:
Wands out of thin wooden dowels found at the craft store. Some painted white, some tan, some grey, some black, some brown. Then decorated with some sharpie marker to create some different designs.
A Snitch made from a Styrofoam ball and felt wings for decoration.
I came up with a "Honeydukes Candy" store theme. Typically I don't do candy for birthday parties (just cupcakes) but this time... lot and lots of sugar!
Candied Pineapple pieces
Lemon Drops
Sour Gummy Worms
Gummy Bugs, Caterpillars & Slugs (from Willie Wonka)
Chocolate covered Spiders (actually pretzel pieces)
Molded Chocolate Frogs
Licorice Floss
JellyBelly Jellybeans
Needless to say, lots and lots of sugar. Sorry other parents.
Cupcakes will be Chocolate with Chocolate Icing topped with Chocolate dipped ice cream cones to look like wizard hats. Also a batch of Yellow cake cupcakes with Chocolate Icing. "Since not everyone likes chocolate cake".
Drinks will be Fruit Juice punch, Ice water and Butterbeer. I found a recipe for Butterbeer online. It is basically Root Beer, Cream Soda with caramel syrup and whipped cream. Very very sweet.
Other decorations ideas I came up with:
Hedwig (Child #3's owl from Build A Bear)
The Sorting Hat (from Elope)
Box set of the Harry Potter books in hardcover in a very cool spiffy cardboard box "trunk"
Sadly, I have run out of time to create "brick castle walls" out of large rolls of newsprint paper and paint. Creating bricks using sponges. Or make the felt peak style hats the students wore in the first two movies. Maybe next time. Somehow I don't see Harry Potter losing any interest around here any time soon. Especially from the boy who wanted a Mickey Mouse birthday two years in a row.
We are having it at one of the neighborhood shady parks with has a nice sized gazebo with a large picnic table under it. Lots of shading trees surrounding the fun playscapes. A very nice park to have a party at when the heat gets up there like it is known to do here in Austin.
Here's to hoping its a success...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Why do these things happen?
Hubby's best friend's son C (age 9) was hit by a truck in front of their house this evening. He was life flighted to Dell Children's Hospital. He is "stable" in ICU where they have him in a sedated coma.
His skull is cracked, several vertebrae and his pelvis are broken. They have no idea what his prognosis is going to be.
He is the sweetest boy. We've always joked that he and Child#1 are going to be married. They are the best-est of friends when they get to be together.
Since hearing about it I've felt like I'm gonna throw up. Hubby just left to go the hospital.
His skull is cracked, several vertebrae and his pelvis are broken. They have no idea what his prognosis is going to be.
He is the sweetest boy. We've always joked that he and Child#1 are going to be married. They are the best-est of friends when they get to be together.
Since hearing about it I've felt like I'm gonna throw up. Hubby just left to go the hospital.
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