Simon's eye surgery

Simon had eye surgery in August. He had to have strabismus surgery on both eyes.  Rick was traveling for work to Vegas. It was an outpatient procedure and it ended up only taking about an hour. They had told me that it could take up to an hour and forty-five minutes. He had had a cough and cold a few weeks prior but his pediatrician said last week that he should be fine. They had to put him under general anesthetic and he was intubated. Before the surgery they gave some medicine to make him more mellow so he wouldn't freak out when they had to take him to the OR and so that he would submit to the general anesthetic. He was acting like he was drunk after he took it. We had a prayer with the operating staff beforehand.

Simon had some bronchial spasms when they extubated him. They gave him an albutirol breathing therapy in the OR and afterwards with me.  Simon was upset, obviously, when he was coming out of the anesthetic. They came to get me and I held him. They were getting his IV tangled because he needed to be moved to get his breathing treatment.  He was getting upset so the anesthesiologist gave him something else to calm him down. He slept for a good hour and a half after that. He came to eventually and I took him home. My mom had come the night before so that she could watch Piper while I was with Simon. When I came home my mom was gone, which she had told me. The only thing was that I had given her my house keys (which she didn't take with her because I would be home when she came back) but I had to call our landlord upstairs to unlock the door for me.

Simon was definitely dizzy for most of the morning so we didn't really let him walk on his own; we kinda guided him around. He was very hungry when we got home since he couldn't eat anything before the surgery.  Simon's eyes were and are still so red.  The inside whites of his eyes are bloody, bloody red.  After his nap he seemed to be doing better.  My mom went home in the afternoon and Simon was even playing around in the backyard by the time Rick got home. We had to give him an antibiotic ointment on his lower eyelid before bed for a week but that's all and it didn't bother him too much. We hope that he won't need another surgery in the future – that this one did the trick.  

This month (December) we did have to get him a stronger prescription to avoid possibly having to have another surgery.

Lemonade stand

Piper wanted to do a lemonade stand all summer so we made some and sold it one afternoon.  We made raspberry lemonade and regular lemonade, from scratch.  We added fresh raspberries too when we poured the cups.  Piper ended up making about $4.50 total.  She was excited about making the signs, making change, and pouring out.  We made fun memories that day.

July

This is what July looked like for us.

Enjoying some Dairy Queen

Simon showing me who Jimmer is.

Pioneer Day party.  I made Piper's outfit and bonnet.  It was my first foray into sewing in over fifteen years.  I was mighty pleased with the bonnet, though the dress and shirt leave something to be desired.

Independence Day AKA Rick's birthday

For Rick's birthday this year we went to the St. Regis down in Dana Point.  They had the release of some monarch butterflies as well as face painting, s'mores, and storytime for the kids.  They topped off the weekend with fireworks.

Then on the actual day of the 4th of July, we had a BBQ with coconut cake at my parent's house.

Haircut

At our family reunion in June we were at my parent's house when Piper got upset about something and stomped off to sequester herself in my parent's bathroom. 

I found her and told her that she can stay in there until she cools down but not to make any messes. Later on my mom found a whole lot of hair in the bathroom trash. SHE CUT OFF HER HAIR!  She'd found scissors in the drawer and cut off most of one of her pigtails. I hadn't noticed because it blended in with her pigtail. Needless to say, I was furious. Just the other day my friend commented on Facebook that her kids had cut their hair. I was thinking to myself that that would never happen at our house because I keep the scissors very far out of reach. Well, she CAN reach the scissors in my parent's bathroom.  

Did I mention that this happened right before we took family pictures?!

Here's the before and after.  It suits her, don't you think?

Cars 2

When my brother and his family were in town this summer, we went to see Cars 2 at the old El Capitan theater.  The ticket prices were steep so just Piper and I went and we had a great time.  We got 3D glasses, a big box of popcorn and a drink included in the price.  After the movie we got to go behind the theater where they had this big setup for Cars 2.  They had midway games, photo ops with the characters, bike races, and Lego building, among other things.  

Happy Thanksgiving

1. Great food. I'm craving some of it again already.
2. My sister and her husband were such gracious hosts. They had 48 people over of which 24 were kids. Because of all the little ones it was less overwhelming but they pulled it off on tremendous fashion, with centerpieces, cloth napkins, and real plates to boot.
3. My kids got to spend some fun time with their cousins.
4. We're all healthy.
5. Rick put Simon down for a nap and fell asleep himself too. Post-turkey naps will do that to you every time.