I'm not sure the last time I failed to post for an entire calendar month. Sorry, February 2011.
The last week of February was especially action packed. Dan & I headed down to SC to be with family and celebrate the life of UJ at an amazing, music-filled memorial service. James was a champ and had lots of fun on a four-night sleep-over at Grandma & Grandpa's.
We were so happy to be back home together on Tuesday night, and spent a quiet day together on Wednesday. James opened a gift from Nana & Pops: a doctor kit! He loved it, and gave each of us an exam. Then that evening we headed over to the hospital for a tour because James was scheduled for same day surgery first thing Thursday morning.
He was super excited on his tour of the hospital. He took along his brand new Fisher Price doctor kit, and wooed all the nurses and staff (and greeted all the patients and visitors he passed along the way as well). He especially liked the little teddy bear dressed in scrubs that was relaxing on the bed in the pediatric area. James did not want to leave to come home, and was looking forward to returning to the hospital the next morning.
Of course, he had a hard time falling asleep, and ultimately ended up falling asleep in our bed with Dan around 10 (I tried to watch Top Chef, but fell asleep on the couch instead, and joined them in the bed after 11).
James was none to happy about waking up at 6 Thursday morning and said he did not want to go to the hospital, but once we got there he was chipper again. He did get upset that I hadn't brought along his doctor kit--oops! He remembered right where to go, and marched himself to the elevators and to Same Day Surgery. So cute. Again, he was quite cooperative, and everyone was quite enamored and complementary. He LOVED the plush puppy they gave him (and he also received a nice little quilt from the Linus project that actually coordinates nicely with his beautiful quilt from Neida).
When it was time for surgery, they gave him a medicine that is supposed to help with any anxiety-- James got loopy and was throwing his stuffed animals around. I was fine until they wheeled him away (with a goofy grin on his face). Then I cried a bit.
Dan and I got some breakfast at Kurth Cottage (the hospital restaurant) then hung out in the waiting area reading the paper. We got a call from the recovery room, and I could hear James crying in the background. Luckily, the nurse had warned us that a lot of kids wake up from the anesthesia very upset, so at least we weren't surprised. He was pretty much inconsolable for a little while. He was drifting in and out of sleep, but complaining about the pain ("My scrotum hurts"). Once he got some ibuprofen, he pretty much passed out.
We weren't sure how long he'd sleep given his late bedtime the night before, early wake-up, and anesthesia. At 12:30 we decided to at least change him from the hospital gown into his own jammies again. He woke up and got upset about that, so they ended up sending the hospital gown home with us! Ha!
Within five minutes of our getting home, a bouquet of balloons held by a cute teddy bear arrived for James from some of his friends! So sweet! He spent most of that afternoon vegging out in front of the tv, cuddling with his puppy.
As if that wasn't enough excitement for one week, on Friday afternoon we closed on a house! It is still pretty surreal since we've been seriously house-hunting for a year and a half (and casually for many years). James was again a trooper, and spent the day relaxing with Grandpa. That evening we all headed over to "our new, big house" (as James calls it), where James excitedly ran all over the place. He brought along some toys to move in to the house, and let me tell you that their noise really carries in an empty house!
