Waiting Stitches

Today was nothing new for Tope, but definetly new for us. We woke the boys up bright and early so we could take Tope for a small surgery today. He needed a few teeth removed, but due to his palate, they put him under complete anesthesia. Tope seemed fine with the nurses and doctors and looked like a veteran, obviously having done this before - just not with us. This is our first surgery with Tope, even though he has had two before this. Admittedly, although this was a small procedure, my stomach was in knots all last night. Tope wasn't excited to learn he was going to the doctors but said nothing of it after, so he was handling it better than me I think. He of course did great and we will take today to relax and recover and all should be good by the end of the day.  We had our "practice test" today. Tope will have more surgery in the future, so hopefully today set the tone for how our family will handle his future, more complicated, surgeries. I can say I'm sure...

Maternity leave is officially over. Today I returned to my job as an Elementary music teacher. I did it. Finished the day. Felt a little foggy around the edges, not as on top of my game as I would like, but I finished the day without tears or vodka.  ;) I felt even more blessed to have this time with Tope on maternity leave after a very short maternity leave with Caleb, over six years ago. Following a C-section, I somehow managed to not break down when going back to work after only three weeks home. His birth followed a job lay-off , a second house mortgage from a house we thought would be sold but we somehow still had in posession, and only a handful of sick days due to mono the year before. The circumstances stunk, but my saving grace was the knowledge Jon would get to stay home with Caleb instead of taking him to daycare. Looking back, I really wish I had borrowed some money, or eaten less for a few weeks ( it would have been something!), and stayed home longer. I missed out ...

Doctors, clinic bills, referrals, insurance, nurses, surgeons, and long medical words are a little overwhelming for us right now. We have been very blessed to have very little medical history in our family. Caleb, knock on wood, has been very healthy and has only needed his regular yearly appointments. Jon and I have had our small things here and there, and of course there was a birth that ended in a c-section to deal with, but otherwise we have been able to understand medical jargon up until this point and have had very little frustration to deal with. So now we are entering a new world... When we adopted Christopher we were very understanding that we would now be spending a little more time with doctors than we have in the past. Due to his cleft palate that still needs repairs, we will be busy with appointments and surgeries for a while to come. But I don't think I knew how complicated this world really is. In just two months we have now dealt with an adoption clinic, blo...

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!!! We had so much to be thankful for in this Easter season. We were all healthy (minus allergies!), we had a warm house over our heads, we had lots of food to eat and to spare, we got to spend time as a family of four, and we got to spend time with Uncle Ethan. But most of all, we are most thankful for this life that we are able to live and share because of Christ's sacrifice, and after all the things that didn't go perfect over the Easter season, I am so very humbled that He gave His life for us so that I could be forgiven in all my faults and missteps as a Mother & Wife. The actual Easter weekend was relaxing. Typically, we would drive either a 6 or 8 hour drive to visit relatives, but this year we decided to hang back and just BE as a family. It was nice to not have to worry about a dog sitter, packing clothes, keeping the boys busy for hours in the car, and eating our own food vs. restarant food for four days. Instead we ate really good ...