carlyle loves to look at pictures around our house. he loves to look through this album. he keeps coming back to this one photo of the tomlin fam at the beach. he will talk to it, point to it, laugh at it, and then kiss it.
so
stinking
cute.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
oh happy afternoon
today was simply beautiful. perfect weather. carlyle and luella had a smashing time exploring the backyard. our friends/neighbors gave us an old playset and the kiddos are loving it. miss luella (who is afraid of almost everything) is addicted to sliding. go figure. carlyle enjoys the slide as well, but i think he was more taken with putting his new outdoor treasures (like pinecones and dirt) into his mouth. oh dear. we also watched many a bird hop about and marveled at the occasional gust of wind.
such a nice way to spend an afternoon.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Thursday, April 08, 2010
birdland
some of you may know what a big deal this is for my husband. it has been a big dream of his to have goldfinch regularly dining at our feeders. well, his dream is realized. i must admit that i thoroughly enjoy watching these sunny and stunning birds. now, we just need to get an indigo bunting!
a few more hospital moments
Sunday, April 04, 2010
one week's time
sunday evening: i get back from taking caitlyn to the airport. due to a high fever, carlyle has been sleeping for a large portion of the day. he wakes up long after luella has gone to bed. we let him stay up for awhile, delaying our plans to watch the third season of mad men. as he is playing, i take note of how uneven his ears are. then, i really start to study his ears and realize that his left ear is extremely swollen. as t.j. put it, he looks like sloth from the goonies. so, after a bit of contemplating and consulting with justin, our family practice resident friend, we decide to take him to the emergency room. carlyle gets diagnosed with a double ear infection. he gets ear drops, a double shot of medicine, and we are home way past everyone's bedtime. no mad men tonight.
monday: we go for a followup doctor's visit with our pediatrician. carlyle's ear is still wonky. the doc would like to see him again tomorrow.
tuesday: car's ear is a bit better, but he is still having fevers.
wednesday: carlyle cries to be in his crib. once he is in there, he cries to be held, and then after a minute, he cries to be in his crib again. misery has settled upon our house. luella is doing her best to stay entertained, but a girl can only be self-sufficient for so long. around lunchtime, i am very ready for bedtime to arrive so that we can have a glass of wine and try to watch mad men again. but, the day is not over....oh no, so not over. around five-o-clock, carlyle's fever has spiked to 104 degrees! i quickly call our doctor and she says to head back over to the e.r.
wednesday evening: yes, we return to the emergency room. after a bit of back and forth, carlyle gets a ct scan. he is wrapped up really tight so that he won't move during the procedure. i hold his chin. he does great and even though he cried a bunch, it beat having to sedate him. the scan showed very severe middle ear infections as well as an infection of the area behind the ear (the mastoid area). apparently, that can be a very big deal. so, little lito is admitted to the peds floor at the hospital. maybe the worst part of this whole experience was getting the iv into his vein. they had to try four times in all. poor little burrito. he is exhausted and bit traumatized after that. he does not like his i.v. "club" as we start to call it. we have a hard night of sleep. but, it feels good to know that he is getting the meds and fluids now through the iv drip.
thursday: luella and t.j. come up to the room. luella does an excellent job of charming the nurses and keeps saying "bye bye" to any hospital staff that enter the room...i think she knows that carlyle had already had enough of their poking and prodding. carlyle is by far much happier with the whole family around. carlyle continues to run a high fever as we wait to find out more about his ears. the ear nose and throat doctor decides that the best course of action is to go ahead and put in tubes. this will alleviate the building pressure in his mastoid area and help clear out the infections. obviously, we are a bit nervous to hear that our son will be undergoing surgery (dun, dun, dun), but feel reassured knowing that this is a very very common operation (the most common in the country actually, should you be on jeopardy). carlyle does great. he is quite upset in the recovery room, but a blue raspberry popsicle helps to set him straight. after all of that, carlyle had to have his iv club retaped. this is another low point. poor guy, he is beyond exhausted. immediately upon finishing that task around five in the evening, carlyle goes to sleep. i do not last much longer.
friday: remember how carlyle went to bed around five? well, he wakes up at 7:15 (the next morning) only because the doctor comes in. then, he goes back to sleep until one in the afternoon! that is some serious sleep. he continues to run a fairly high fever. so, it's decided that we would stay a bit longer. our doctor just wants to make absolutely sure that we have this infection beat. that is fine by us. t.j. and luella hang out for a large portion of the day. luella is loving all the toys in the pediatrics wing--magnadoodles, playhouses, this blue car that makes honking sounds. she gets a bit jealous that carlyle is drinking from a bottle (we just use sippy cups at home), so the nurse gets her one as well. they both get popsicles in the afternoon too. whoa.
friday evening: t.j.'s colleague offers to sit at the house while lulu sleeps so that t.j. could come up and spend some more time with me. we have some nice one on one time with little lito, but he is still super tired. so, he goes to bed and we finally get to watch mad men. so good. nothing like date night in a hospital room. the nurse even brought us chocolate ice cream cups.
saturday: car is still running a fever, but it is lower...the doc tells us one more night. carlyle is coming back, thank goodness. he is smiling and has spurts where he wants to get down on the floor and play. he has also discovered the amazing blue car with honking noises. he still tires out easily though. he is so sweet and so tough. luella is a trooper too...while carlyle is sleeping, we go play at various waiting areas. the hospital is very family friendly and there are some fun playing areas. there are also lots of aquariums and a skywalk. good times.
sunday: yayayayay! carlyle gets to go home. we leave as quickly as we can. carlyle is sooo excited to have his club removed...no more iv's. he kept bending and waving his fingers every which way. his face is so cute when we drive into the garage and then head toward his room. maybe he thought he would never see this place again. it doesn't take long for car to fade again though and i decide to nap too. he is still a bit clingy, so we both nap in bed together. we sleep for four hours. yes. four. it felt amazing. after we wake up, the whole fam goes to the backyard and we have a small easter celebration. the kiddos dig through their easter baskets and we read the resurrection story out of their children's bible. so thankful on this day.
the thing that has really struck me this week is how well loved we are. obviously, we have amazing family and friends around the country (if you are reading this blog, you are most likely one of those people). your calls, texts, emails, and facebook posts have made us feel cared for even if you are faraway. most importantly, your thoughts and prayers...
God has really graciously given us community here quite quickly. amazing.
i don't know what we would have done without justin and his wife sarah. justin was on call for most of our hospital stay. he would translate things the doctors were saying and he just was such an encouragement. he also kept getting us special snacks and drinks from the doctors' lounge. so awesome! sarah stayed at our house a couple of times in the evening so that t.j. could swing up to the hospital.
t.j.'s colleague robbie gave up his friday night to hang out at our house while lu slept. he's solid.
hilary and michael mathews (who live, conveniently enough, two blocks from the hospital) came to see us. in addition, hilary watched luella on thursday. this is quite a feat indeed considering she has four children of her own! that was a huge help. they are so great and so cool!
natalie mash, another friend of ours (who is in our small group), is a nurse at the hospital and she came to check in on us during her very short lunch break. her husband also stopped by, but we were in the surgical waiting area.
some other friends, glenn and jenny, brought by some food today. i mean, really.
i am overwhelmed by people's generosity and love. thank you thank you and thank you.
monday: we go for a followup doctor's visit with our pediatrician. carlyle's ear is still wonky. the doc would like to see him again tomorrow.
tuesday: car's ear is a bit better, but he is still having fevers.
wednesday: carlyle cries to be in his crib. once he is in there, he cries to be held, and then after a minute, he cries to be in his crib again. misery has settled upon our house. luella is doing her best to stay entertained, but a girl can only be self-sufficient for so long. around lunchtime, i am very ready for bedtime to arrive so that we can have a glass of wine and try to watch mad men again. but, the day is not over....oh no, so not over. around five-o-clock, carlyle's fever has spiked to 104 degrees! i quickly call our doctor and she says to head back over to the e.r.
wednesday evening: yes, we return to the emergency room. after a bit of back and forth, carlyle gets a ct scan. he is wrapped up really tight so that he won't move during the procedure. i hold his chin. he does great and even though he cried a bunch, it beat having to sedate him. the scan showed very severe middle ear infections as well as an infection of the area behind the ear (the mastoid area). apparently, that can be a very big deal. so, little lito is admitted to the peds floor at the hospital. maybe the worst part of this whole experience was getting the iv into his vein. they had to try four times in all. poor little burrito. he is exhausted and bit traumatized after that. he does not like his i.v. "club" as we start to call it. we have a hard night of sleep. but, it feels good to know that he is getting the meds and fluids now through the iv drip.
thursday: luella and t.j. come up to the room. luella does an excellent job of charming the nurses and keeps saying "bye bye" to any hospital staff that enter the room...i think she knows that carlyle had already had enough of their poking and prodding. carlyle is by far much happier with the whole family around. carlyle continues to run a high fever as we wait to find out more about his ears. the ear nose and throat doctor decides that the best course of action is to go ahead and put in tubes. this will alleviate the building pressure in his mastoid area and help clear out the infections. obviously, we are a bit nervous to hear that our son will be undergoing surgery (dun, dun, dun), but feel reassured knowing that this is a very very common operation (the most common in the country actually, should you be on jeopardy). carlyle does great. he is quite upset in the recovery room, but a blue raspberry popsicle helps to set him straight. after all of that, carlyle had to have his iv club retaped. this is another low point. poor guy, he is beyond exhausted. immediately upon finishing that task around five in the evening, carlyle goes to sleep. i do not last much longer.
friday: remember how carlyle went to bed around five? well, he wakes up at 7:15 (the next morning) only because the doctor comes in. then, he goes back to sleep until one in the afternoon! that is some serious sleep. he continues to run a fairly high fever. so, it's decided that we would stay a bit longer. our doctor just wants to make absolutely sure that we have this infection beat. that is fine by us. t.j. and luella hang out for a large portion of the day. luella is loving all the toys in the pediatrics wing--magnadoodles, playhouses, this blue car that makes honking sounds. she gets a bit jealous that carlyle is drinking from a bottle (we just use sippy cups at home), so the nurse gets her one as well. they both get popsicles in the afternoon too. whoa.
friday evening: t.j.'s colleague offers to sit at the house while lulu sleeps so that t.j. could come up and spend some more time with me. we have some nice one on one time with little lito, but he is still super tired. so, he goes to bed and we finally get to watch mad men. so good. nothing like date night in a hospital room. the nurse even brought us chocolate ice cream cups.
saturday: car is still running a fever, but it is lower...the doc tells us one more night. carlyle is coming back, thank goodness. he is smiling and has spurts where he wants to get down on the floor and play. he has also discovered the amazing blue car with honking noises. he still tires out easily though. he is so sweet and so tough. luella is a trooper too...while carlyle is sleeping, we go play at various waiting areas. the hospital is very family friendly and there are some fun playing areas. there are also lots of aquariums and a skywalk. good times.
sunday: yayayayay! carlyle gets to go home. we leave as quickly as we can. carlyle is sooo excited to have his club removed...no more iv's. he kept bending and waving his fingers every which way. his face is so cute when we drive into the garage and then head toward his room. maybe he thought he would never see this place again. it doesn't take long for car to fade again though and i decide to nap too. he is still a bit clingy, so we both nap in bed together. we sleep for four hours. yes. four. it felt amazing. after we wake up, the whole fam goes to the backyard and we have a small easter celebration. the kiddos dig through their easter baskets and we read the resurrection story out of their children's bible. so thankful on this day.
the thing that has really struck me this week is how well loved we are. obviously, we have amazing family and friends around the country (if you are reading this blog, you are most likely one of those people). your calls, texts, emails, and facebook posts have made us feel cared for even if you are faraway. most importantly, your thoughts and prayers...
God has really graciously given us community here quite quickly. amazing.
i don't know what we would have done without justin and his wife sarah. justin was on call for most of our hospital stay. he would translate things the doctors were saying and he just was such an encouragement. he also kept getting us special snacks and drinks from the doctors' lounge. so awesome! sarah stayed at our house a couple of times in the evening so that t.j. could swing up to the hospital.
t.j.'s colleague robbie gave up his friday night to hang out at our house while lu slept. he's solid.
hilary and michael mathews (who live, conveniently enough, two blocks from the hospital) came to see us. in addition, hilary watched luella on thursday. this is quite a feat indeed considering she has four children of her own! that was a huge help. they are so great and so cool!
natalie mash, another friend of ours (who is in our small group), is a nurse at the hospital and she came to check in on us during her very short lunch break. her husband also stopped by, but we were in the surgical waiting area.
some other friends, glenn and jenny, brought by some food today. i mean, really.
i am overwhelmed by people's generosity and love. thank you thank you and thank you.
Friday, April 02, 2010
a gr8 visit
my dear dear best friend (also known as my 8) came to visit. she is the most incredible person for so many reasons...funny, smart, patient, strong, generous, caring just to name a few. this visit was especially fun since caitlyn is a true colorado girl. she loves this state (she used to live here). we had great fun goofing around in denver...another close friend of ours, rachel (you may remember her as the caroler from a december post) met us at the denver art museum. we ate great yummy thai food and even visited caitlyn's old place of employment (an inner city health clinic...like i said, generous and caring). other fun activities included snowshoeing, going to boulder, a rachel and francis visit to greeley, getting hooked on a gymnastics tv show (thank you rachel), and lively conversation...well, maybe not lively, but meaningful and good.
i have always loved how caitlyn and t.j. get along so well. t.j. really appreciates cait's role in my life. as you can tell from the picture above, he has no problem being his true self around her.
cait is a natural with the babes. they have loved their aunt eight right from the start. about halfway through her visit, they both got pretty sick. and of course, caitlyn was a huge help. luella even fell asleep on her lap!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)