Mitch's Birthday card

I forgot to mention the birthday card that Will made for Mitch. He made it with his Speech Pathologist, Suzanne, on Wednesday as their activity during his therapy session. Suzanne wrote "Happy Birthday Daddy - Love, Will" in the middle of a piece of construction paper and then let Will draw on it. Then she dictated what Will had to say about his drawings and about Mitch's birthday in general. They included: "These are Daddy's balloons" (black scribbling), "Daddy wants to be a football player", "Daddy needs a cake. This is his cake. It's a green cake", and "This is his present. It's toys. Will wants Daddy to have a green boat and a baby dog". Ha! What an imagination! That kid cracks us up; he really is funny!

What we've been up to

January started with a laid back New Year's Day - watching football, eating some "good luck" dishes and relaxing after a busy month. On January 6th, Will had surgery at ACH. His ENT recommended doing another set of tubes due to several ear infections and chronic middle ear fluid that just would not clear up on it's own, despite giving it several months time. We also decided to have him circumcised since he would be under anesthesia anyway. That was never done when he was born, due to the circumstances surrounding his birth, and we had never been given the green light from Cardiology until recently. So Mitch, Will and myself drove to Little Rock late Tuesday night since we had to be at the hospital at 7:30 am. Ainsley spent the night at the Colvin's. He did really during the 2 hour wait until the procedure started. He was really funny after the nurse gave him the "goofy juicy" - versed - to relax him. He was swaying around from side to side, slurring his words, giggling uncontrollably! Both surgeries went well. The ENT was able to put T-tubes in his ears, which are larger and more permanent, so hopefully these will last us awhile! The recovery from the tubes was pretty easy. He fussed some when we had to put drops in his ears, but it was not too bad. The circumcision, on the other hand, was a totally different story. He had a difficult recovery from it that lasted a long time. He didn't want anyone touching him the first night. He became terrified to use the bathroom or take a shower. It took both of us holding him down to put the antibiotic ointment on him. The doctors acted like it would not be a difficult recovery or set him back with pottying, but it did. It took several weeks until he was confident enough to use the the bathroom by himself or pull his pants up and down. Poor little guy. It was rough for all of us! I'm glad it's behind us now!

The rest of January we were all pretty much sick off and on. Ainsley had a really high fever for days and we finally took her to the on-call pediatrician, which was a mistake, as it resulted in a 3 hour wait. We left the doctor's office at 8:15 pm! Never again! She got better only to get sick a few days later. Will had a sinus infection and missed another day of school. Knock on wood, we have been well since.

In February, I participated in the Service League's Dental Health Play that we perform each year for kindergartners in the county. I played one of the "bad snacks" - Carly Cookie. Mitch told Will that I was going to be a cookie in a play and Will laughed so hard at that! I tried on my costume for him and he really got a kick out that!



We also celebrated Mitch's birthday on the 10th. We had my mom's chicken spaghetti, salad, bread, orange "fluff" and his mom's yellow cake with chocolate icing (which he requests every year). She even brought 36 candles. Will was very talkative and he and Ainsley both enjoyed the attention of all their grandparents.


On the 11th and 12th, El Dorado actually got some snow. It started snowing Thursday afternoon and continued lightly until Friday morning. Mitch and I went to the MercyMe concert which was held at the Auditorium Thursday night. The snow was really pretty. El Dorado schools were open Friday, so Will got to have his Valentine party. He took "Toy Story" valentines and pencils. He helped me make sandwiches and then use a cookie cutter to cut them into hearts. He was proud of them.



By the time he was out of school at 11:30, all the snow on the ground and trees had melted. There was only a little on the bushes and patio furniture in the back yard. Ainsley was a little scared of the snow at first. We went outside mid-morning when there was still a little on the ground. (she insisted on taking her book!) They did scoop up snow and throw a few snowballs.