Look Auntie Mandy

I Love a bean and cheeser pleaser too!!!!!

(And he said "cheese" for the first time)

Ode to Pancakes from a Can

Now while some scientists are whiling away in laboratories trying to come up with some brilliant cure for the virulent diseases of the world I must tip my hat to those focused on the important aspects in life - i.e. Pancakes in a can. Does that can say "organic" you ask - indeed. I ONLY eat organic pancakes from a can because the regular pancakes in a can just don't taste right - call me fussy if you must - I have standards.

I don't know about you, but as I'm trolling through the aisles of Costco when I spy a 3 pack of spray pancakes for the bargain price of $7.99 the first thought that enters my mind is......SOLD! A suckers bet? Could have been - but not today. These pancakes are FANTASTIC! I'm not kidding - they are a delight for the senses. They are so easy to make and you always have the amount you need and they come out like a perfect restaurant pancake each and every time. I'm never making batter again.

Screw cancer .....these guys are genius. Genius.

You look like sleeping beauty to me, mom

So Jackson does this super sweet (and yes a little, shall we say ...sassy?) thing where he fluffs my hair up all over the place and tells me that I'm a princess - namely Sleeping Beauty. Jackson, of course, is my prince (Valiant - not Charming). I have to pretend to be asleep so that Jackson can kiss me and say "wake up Sleeping Beauty" and when I awake from my blissful slumber he asks me to dance. Then we waltz around the house, with far more grace than any of the "stars". Today,as he was arranging my already insane bedhead into a not untumbleweed-like buffont, he looked at me and said "you look like Sleeping Beauty to me, Mom."
I love you Jackson.

15 minutes later he comes into the kitchen and shows me a broken piece of hanger.....
"I broke your hanger mama"
"Jackson, don't break our stuff!"
"I broke a lot of hangers, mom"
"Why Jackson?!!!! Why?!!"
"I broke one hanger and I decided to break the rest of them."
"JACKSON!"
"Just the ones without clothes on them, mom"

I go in my room to find at least 25 broken hangers pulled from my closet all with pieces snapped off and laying in a kuffuffle on my floor.

Boy is he lucky he said I was a princess this morning. (sigh)

wow! dream big!

Juno

I had been desperate to see Juno in the theaters but 2 kids later seeing the movies I want to see has become rather a challenge. Luckily, we got Juno at work. Enter 30 % off and Juno is mine. I had to watch it two days in a row I was laughing so hard. I really love this movie.

We just got the latest news on Finn and it's not good. After finally getting the "Avian TB" diagnosis we have our options:

Option 1: several months of heavy duty antibiotics that will probably not work and will definitely compromise his immune system. Least likely to succeed.

Option 2: Risky microsurgery to remove the remaining tissue (too risky for the ENT to perform because of the proximity to facial controlling muscles). Most likely to succeed.

Option 3: Return to the ENT's office for the next 8 months to 1 year so that his neck can be reopened and drained. May succeed - but will mean an open wound on his neck for the next year of his life.

After I cry I'm going to begin researching the necessary steps to acquire a second opinion from an infectious disease clinic.

A Wiggley Party!

Our family had a big night out on Saturday - to the Wiggles concert- oh yeah. Upon learning of the concert Michael responded by asking if my mom or my sister would like to go with me in his stead. My super mean sister rejected our Wigglicious night, but my mom loves us enough to watch 4 grown men in turtle necks sing "beep beep chugga chugga big red car".

The boys had such an amazing time! Jackson was insistent on having his own seat and got to have popcorn and a cookie the size of his head (thanks grandma). Finn was so excited to stand up and bebop that little botto up and down and up and down and up and down. I even found myself a little star struck when they first hit the stage, I was like "wow, it's really them!" then I remebered it was the Wiggles and tried to relax about it. Jackson who previously considered himself far beyond the wiggles, was mesmerized. Now every day he pulls out his program / sticker book and we have to name all of the wiggles (he likes Murray because he can "play the guitar with Murray") and we have to rehash our favorite parts. I told him my favorite part was twinkle twinkle little star and he told me, "no mom. say you like the ballerinas." "Okay Jackson, I like the ballerinas." "I like twinkle twinkle star mom." Finn got to run all over the hallways and spin and dance and he too was amazed by the twinkle star disco lights.

What a difference a week makes, Wednesday we're in the hospital - Saturday we're singing along to Fruit Salad, yummy, yummy. A HUGE HUGE thank you to Mandy and her always sweet Mama for sending the tickets our way - it was such a better and brighter way to end our week. We thank you, deeply, for the pick me up.

We're home!

We are home from the hospital - hooray! It has been a long couple days. Monday Finn was admitted into the hospital and placed on IV antibiotics. The IV was rough and he kept staring at Mike and I with these accusatory little pain-filled eyes, Why are you letting them hurt me mommy? It was pitiful and sad. He was completely pinned down and in pain and this nurse keeps shoving this singing Elmo doll in his face, it sings to the tune of the YMCA song only it's E -L-M-O ELMO oooh. Talk about making a rough moment worse. Oh gee, miss nursey pants he'll never feel the needle your shoving up his arm now that you put some weird red furry thing 2 inches in front of his nose. How soothing. Florence Nightingale is it? He doesn't even know who the **** Elmo is - but he sure won't like him now. I wanted to take Elmo and beat her over the head.

Our accommodations were a tiny room with a prison crib for Finn, complete with floor to ceiling metal bars, and the worlds most uncomfortable reclining chair for me to spend two nights in. I suspect this chair is a remnant from some Chinese torture lair that was dismantled after the Geneva Conference. I'm not sure which one of us was more miserable, honestly. Poor Finn is just not used to being cooped up, and then yesterday they wouldn't let him eat, so he was tied to wires, in jail, and starving.

His surgery took place at 1pm yesterday. We went down to pre-op and met with the doctor and anesthesiologist. We were surprised to find out that he would be under full anesthesia. I react poorly to general anesthesia and was extremely nervous that this was the case. He was in a little hospital gown with his IV arm and we had to carry him to the OR hallway where we had to hand him to one of the doctors and off they went. He started crying and reaching for us as they whisked him away through the double doors. I was crying immediately. It was so hard. We had to wait in a surgical waiting room where I cried for 34 of the 35 minutes. The doctor finally came out and told us that there had been a lot of drainage and that she removed a lot of dead tissue. The tissue would be sent to pathology in order to determine what has caused this whole thing. We were able to see Finn in recovery about 15 minutes later. He was sore and tired, but drank some pedialite and was able to return upstairs. They gave him some Demerol and some Tylenol and we had some wonderfully peaceful cuddle time (I guess because he was stoned). He perked up quickly and was able to eat some dinner. (Fish stars that were far more star than fish and green beans - yay hospital food). This morning they brought him 2 bowls of jello, a can of soda, grape juice, a popsicle and TWO packets of sugar. I wondered exactly which one of those items necessitated more sugar.

The remainder of yesterday and today was mostly about being cooped up in the room and wanting to get rid of the cords. His neck is much less swollen - although it currently contains a vile looking drain. They asked if we wanted to stay another day or go home and I told them our bags were packed and the car was running! The pathology results have not showed anything significant.

We have an 8 am appointment with the ENT, and are soooooo grateful to be home. Finn is doing well, and loving being able to run around. He's been amazingly good about not messing with his neck.

Thank you so much for every one's support through this difficult few days. This has reminded me how blessed we are to have such wonderful and healthy boys. So many families struggle through so much worse and I am truly grateful for my wonderful children and for our great family and friends.

Now we just have to make sure we don't go back...... :)