Preschool, Disney on Ice, Devin's Procedure, St. Patty's Day and More!

Okay so going back to March 4th, which is where I left off after Devin birthday weekend post. It was a Tuesday and a typical day, it was also Parent Night at Bravo so we got to see what Devin has been learning in tumbling and Elizabeth in piano, Wednesday Devin started Developmental preschool at Syracuse Elementary School, he was very nervous and hated the change in his routine so that first day was kinda rough, he even had an accident which is very unlike him, but he survived and was happy that they get to go play on the playground a little bit(when the weather permits). That afternoon I took Elizabeth to an appointment with her pediatrician just to check how she's coping after Eric's passing, as they were very close and shared a very special relationship. Dr. Sandvig said she's coping well and gave me some strategies for continuing her healing.  While we were there doing that though she notices that Elizabeth was exhibiting extreme anxiety symptoms that didn't seem connected to the loss of her uncle. She asked me several questions about everyday life with Elizabeth and told me it sounded to her like Elizabeth may have Generalized Anxiety Disorder and to definitely discuss it with her psychologist the next time we meet with him...which reminded me I never scheduled her next appointment so unfortunately we won't see him until next month, but in the meantime I learning all I can about it and how it presents itself in her and what challenges it's causing for her, so I'm better prepared to discuss it with him. It was a very good much needed check-up! Thursday night we got to see what Elizabeth's been learning in her tumbling class and Friday was typical day.  Saturday morning we went to JC Penny and got Devin's birthday pictures done...he was a major stinker! But we still managed to get some good ones.  That evening we Tony and I took Elizabeth to dinner and then to Disney on Ice.  It was such a FUN night with our gorgeous girl! We went to dinner at the Applebees at Gateway mall, and she dressed up in her new Rapunzel dress and looked like a beautiful princess, crown and all!  We told her she could pick one souvenir and she chose a little stuffed Pascal, who is very cute! They went together perfectly! The show was AMAZING!! We had a super great time! That Sunday day light savings time totally screwed up our kiddos...especially Devin.(I think he's still getting used to it!) Monday Devin had preschool which I love having two hours Devin free to do Elizabeth's school during, IT'S SO NICE! And she's doing amazing! She's at a 2nd grade level with pretty much every subject now and doing wonderful. I'm truly in awe of her learning capacities! Devin did better at school this time too. Tuesday was typical, Wednesday morning Devin had to miss preschool to go to his 3 year wellness check, which went very well actually.  Let's see if I can remember his stats, I wanna say he was like 41 inches(I'm gonna have to check that cause I'm not sure if that's right) but I do remember he that he weighed 36 pounds because I was relieved it's still managing to go up! Both his height and weight were in the 80%tile which is great cause usually there is a huge difference in them throwing his BMI off the charts. He is doing great in just about every area and she loves seeing his progress and how far he comes in just 6 months! She did note his speech articulation issues and there are some definite motor delays coming out that we may have to address in some physical therapy at some point but overall she was very impressed with Devin. And he didn't even have to have any shots, what a great visit! Thursday was an extremely hard day for me.  It was the day of Devin's endoscopy and biopsy, Tony took the day off from work...sort of, he still did some stuff over the phone and through email, but he didn't go in. Mary kindly watched Elizabeth for us while we spent most of the day at Primaries. It didn't start off very good as Devin adamantly DID NOT want to wear the hospital gown, and before we were even through pre-surgery stuff he was telling everyone he was all done and ready to go home. He was an obviously nervous wreck, but his therapist insisted that the less he knew the better, so I did my best to comfort him and tell him everything was okay but he wasn't buyin' it. Luckily in the surgery waiting area there was in the back(deserted) corner a tv where he sat and watched the Disney Channel. Oh and a good childhood friend of mine just so happens to volunteer there on Thursdays so we chatted a bit and she gave Devin a stuffed Terri/ Terry from Monsters University which he very much appreciated! She also gave him some bubbles but he wasn't so much into them. After watching tv for a while someone came over and showed him the mask they would use to put him to sleep, and let him pick the scent he wanted...he chose cherry...honestly I don't think he had a clue what was going on and really couldn't have cared less anyway, but it was a nice gesture. She however saved the day by setting up the X-box and putting in an Angry Birds game which Devin got totally sucked into for quite a while. After that he went over to where everyone else was(the like two other kids and their parents) and played with a fun little front loader toy that had a button that played a cool tune that he pushed over and over and over keeping the tune going pretty much constantly. After a while they gave him basically a sedative to he would leave my arms and go into the operating room willingly. That stuff hit him hard! He was like the cutest little drunk ya ever saw! Seriously loopy that boy was! And all too soon they came to take him into the OR.  The scope and biopsy only took about a half hour then Dr. Jensen came out and showed us pictures of his insides and said that everything looked normal and fine. Which is what was suspected. He then like his mother and sister took FOREVER to come out of the anesthesia, at one point they called back to the surgery waiting room and told the receptionist there to let us know he was fine just being a big sleepy head. Finally after waiting like another 45 minutes they let me back to be with him, he was chugging apple juice like it was his last meal when I got back to him and still a little drowsy, and had oxygen. The first 4 or 5 attempts to take the oxygen off failed(his oxygen level would drop too low) but eventually he woke up enough to be mad at her taking his blessed apple juice away that he held his own without the oxygen, then we were off to post op, where he wanted me to hold him while he watched his favorite show, Little Einsteins! Tony joined us there, Devin got a popsicle and kept everything down so by about 3 they released him, he rode in a police car cozy coup out to the valet. Tony and I picked up some lunch before picking up Elizabeth then we came home and called it a day! Friday was a typical laid back day. Saturday morning we got up and Mary came to watch our kids while we went to the Bountiful Temple with my parents and Jen. I did better than I thought I would and felt a lot of comfort there, it's a wonderful gift we've been given in this day and time.  After we met most of my family at Corbin's for lunch to celebrate my mom's belated birthday(since we were burying my brother on her actual birthday) it was wonderful and just what she wanted. I'm so grateful that so many were able to make it out I think it helped remind us that though Eric's absence has left a huge hole in our hearts and lives we still have so many there for us, to love and support us...we have never been a big family, but we're a close family, and we're here for each other. That evening we went to Tony's parent's house for the annual corned beef and cabbage St. Patty's dinner, which was nice. Sunday Tony put up our outside trampoline and stored away the little indoor one and we have so much more space in our living room, even with the train table we got from my cousin Sarah in there now. Monday was St. Patty's Day and thanks to my mom's fancy silhouette machine a sneaky leprechaun came and hid his pot of gold leaving clues on shamrocks to find it(this is where the silhouette came in handy). Elizabeth read all the clues without any help or trouble, in fact I had to keep telling her to wait for her little brother! They of course found his yummy chocolate gold and even got to eat one with breakfast, then it was off to preschool for Devin and fun St. Patty's Day school for Elizabeth. My mom gave them each a green themed gift which they loved and they even had a green(ish) lunch! That afternoon Devin had OT which went pretty good. Tuesday we went up to the Moran to get Elizabeth's glasses adjusted, when Ellen noticed that her glasses have gotten too small for her...of course they have! We were looking at new frames when I remembered the purple princess ones she had to have from the Riverton location when she was three, that were too big at the time, so Ellen told me what to look for on them to see if they were the right size.(which they are!!! YAY!!!!!) It took longer than expected though and so Devin was sooo beyond done and melted down in the car until finally falling asleep from screaming so hard. Wednesday evening we met Tony at a Trax station they went to the Disney Store at City Creek to pick up our copy of Frozen(which Elizabeth could NOT have been anymore excited about!) and awesome coupon that came with it...which we used to get Devin two Planes' Planes(that seems weird to write...it's like Cars' cars ;) ) and a couple place mats, and Elizabeth got Sofia the First and Minnie Mouse play sets. Then we went to dinner at Johnny Rockets, let the kids check out the "creek" that runs through the mall and went home. Thursday and Friday I got us packed up for our first weekend in the motorhome of the year...but that's for another post!

Devin showing off his tumbling skills!

Devin actually doing some of the actions to the Itsy Bitsy Spider!


A picture of Elizabeth in her piano class, she was being super silly so neither of the two videos we took are worth sharing, just know she's loving it and doing well!

Devin after his first day of preschool, I have a couple super cute pics on my phone I'll have to see if I can get them off and post them too.

Elizabeth showing off her tumbling skills!


One Friday the kids were going totally stir crazy so I took them over to the Syracuse Family Fun Center to run themselves ragged, and after 4 hours they sure did!

Disney on Ice, with our beautiful princess!

 

St. Patty's day fun!