Muddling through...what can you expect?

Today it's raining and I am very thankful for my garage and handy dandy garage-door opener...and for a happy Isaac! I'm hoping yesterday was a turning point for us. Last night was also the first night in a week that he hasn't screamed for over an hour. He woke up every hour, but I'll take that over screaming any day!


Written Friday of last week...

This was a long week. It was one of those weeks where five days felt like two hundred and each evening felt like it was never going to end. It was also one of those weeks where I called Sarah and just cried and asked why I couldn't fast forward several years, or at least six months. But we're muddling through and both of my kids are still alive, oh, and my husband and dog are still alive too so I guess that's an added bonus! Thankfully Stella knows to just eat a breast pad or diaper if I forget to feed her. And if I don't re-fill her water bowl she manages to finish off Isabella's cereal or yogurt. And there's always the bird bath to drink from outside. Has anyone read or seen the movie Marley & Me? Stella is basically a smaller, mutt version of Marley.

I am so glad to have Stella back. Walter picked her from the kennel on Monday and Stella and I have had lots of snuggle time since then. Let's face it, she's the only one who wants to see me no matter what, is always happy, doesn't complain, eats anything, and if I get tired of her I can just put her in her room--ha ha! Really her only downside is that she sheds like dog hair is going out of style and gets way too excited to see people.

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Despite all of the stress during out week in the hospital, I haven't shared some of the laughs we had. Thanks to family and friends, we were able to maintain some humor. We spent much of the time in the PICU talking about Ed, Isaac's really cute PICU nurse who I wanted to set Jesse up with. Unfortunately, in between me being a crying mess, almost passing out on the bed, and in general looking like a train wreck, the opportunity to discuss his relationship status never really came up. We did manage to ask Antoinette, Isaac's other really great PICU nurse, about Ed and she just confirmed some more information about what a good guy he is...we should have probed more. She did warn against dating a surgeon. Apparently they are mean and are workaholics...no surprise there (about the workaholic part). We also spent a lot of the time discussing the girl who manages the Ronald McDonald Family Room and how she was very protective of the couches and chairs and stomped around in her high heeled boots like she owned the place--okay, maybe she did, but still. And how when they served us a free dinner it felt like the ten of us who were there were in line at a homeless shelter as she doled out the food instead of having us serve ourselves; and how one of the volunteers hoarded forty bags of candy in a locked cupboard and we discussed how Jesse could go in and say, "stick 'em up lady, I know you have more candy in here than what's in that little basket. We've got desperate parents here who are in great need of candy so hand it over!" And then there was the night Sarah and Michael, and Jesse came to visit, Michael showed us a video on You Tube of this guy who sees a double rainbow...oh. my. goodness. we were laughing like crazy.

During our hospital stay we heard so many other sad stories and knew that what we and Isaac were going through was small in comparison to what some other families have been through. I think on day four, as I was walking down to the cafeteria, I began to realize that it's easy to pick out the parents. They're the ones with the haggard faces, circles around their eyes and most noticeable to me, blank stares on their faces.

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Here are some pictures from Saturday. It was a beautiful day and we spent much of it lounging in the back yard...

Of course we let him play with plastic, what's wrong with that!?

He's starting to look like himself isn't he?