All Tubed Up

Well, we survived the surgery this morning. Actually, TORI survived.
Thank you God.
She was a trooper! (As usual)**
We woke up at 4:30am to get ready to head down there.
A bit of the "airport anxiety" earliness applied here, too.
We got to the Outpatient Surgery Center at about 5:45am. Filled out some paperwork. And then waited. And waited. Meanwhile, entertaining a 21-month old girl with everything we could think of.

The hospital gave her a cute little stuffed bear. That was exciting for all of 2 minutes.

Then she moved on to the hospital phone and magazines. That held her attention for about 10 minutes!

Then it was on to Daddy's cell phone.... until she started calling people at the ungodly hour, so we had to take it away.

Really, we were just tired. No one should have to wake up that early. Ever.
(notice my watch says it 6:25am-- it's ten minutes fast, so really it was 6:15am)

Lovin' on my tired girl.

Finally, about 6:40, a nurse came out and ushered us back into the pre-op area. There was some discrepancy with the scheduled start time of the surgery. Our paperwork said 7:30am, but the hospital's paperwork said 7:00am. So we were kind of hurrying up just in case it was 7:00am, but thinking it was more likely 7:30.

We then began the fun game on entertaining a 21-month old in a HOSPITAL BED. We had a sweet nurse name Kai, mother of two little ones herself, who was super flexible in letting us get up and walk around.

It was very apparent that they'd entertained children once or 3 million times before.

They had puzzles. And stickers.

And bless nurse Kai, she let Tori's baby doll get her bold pressure taken too. So cute.

And the oxygen mask was a big hit. Baby doll got in on that action, too, although we didn't get a shot of it.

All of the staff was SO KIND to us. And everyone enjoyed Tori's joyful spirit. She definitely provided some much needed smiles to all of the other anxious patients waiting for their surgeries.

And then FINALLY, at 7:29 and 47 seconds, the doctor performing the surgery casually saunters in, as if it's no big thing. It probably was God's way of answering prayers, because by that point, I was more annoyed and frustrated than I was anxious. We had been there for almost 2 hours, and I was ready to get this thing over with already.

So we handed her off, which didn't seem to bother her at all. And about 25 minutes later, the doctor came to get Bill and I from the waiting room. Everything went smoothly, and the tubes were in. He mentioned that she had a lot of "thick fluid" behind her eardrums, which is just further confirmation that we made the right choice to proceed with the surgery.

She was really upset when we got to her-- lots of crying, and her body was sort of weak and limp-- but it only took about 25 minutes for her to come out of it. And I think the apple juice with a straw that the nurse brought was what helped her turn the corner. :) (Poor thing had not eaten or had anything to drink since 6:00pm the previous night. And this is my voracious eater!)

We got home at around 9am. She napped from then until 11. By noon, she was back to her feisty little self.

Thank you, Lord, for protecting my sweet Tori.

*Thanks to Grandma for letting us borrow her camera. Ours is in a permanent state of disrepair. :)

**I failed to mention that last week during her pre-op appointment, she had to have blood drawn at the lab. We had just come from the pediatrician's office, where she had a shot and didn't so much as blink. In fact, she smiled. The nurse couldn't believe it. So, we're in the lab and the lab tech's are all planning their strategy of how best to draw blood from her little arm. One tech said to the other "I'll hold her here, you hold this arm, and Mom, hold her body and her head really tight and don't let her move." I replied, "I'm not sure that is necessary... she's pretty tough..." But I followed their instructions anyway. And true to form, Tori didn't even flinch one bit. She watched the needle go in, she watched when they switched out the viles, and when they were all done, SHE LAUGHED. One tech looked at the other and said, "Did she just laugh?!? I think she just laughed!!!" That's my tough cookie. :)

Lexyisms and other notes

I feel like I am doing a terrible job recording the adorable (and not-so-adorable) things that Lexy has said over the last couple of weeks...

Purely for posterity's sake, here's a list of the ones I can remember:

During afternoon quiet time (and we use the word "quiet" very loosely), Lexy was sitting at her table playing play dough. Daddy unexpectedly popped in before he headed to the golf course for practice. As he was getting ready to head back out, he looked in the room to say goodbye to Lexy really quick, and in the most deadpan voice you'd ever hear, she says, "I didn't get my hug yet." Bill and I both starting cracking up. It probably was a "you had to be there" moment, but it was funny. ;)

Yesterday at school, the circle time question was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The mom helper came up to me after school to tell me that Lexy said "I want to be a Mommy when I grow up." Apparently the other answers ranged from "Princess" to "Spiderman", so Lexy's answer melted that mom's heart. And mine when she told me. :)

A while back, we were getting ready to go run some errands-- can't even remember what specifically we were going to do, but Lexy was excited to go. I had both girls dressed and ready, and, as usual, was still getting ready myself. I had changed out of my pajamas into yoga pants and a t-shirt-- which on any other day could have been my pajamas, since that is a typical "pajama" outfit for me. But on this particular day, I just felt like being comfortable, so I was going to wear my "comfies". As we were tending to the last minute details before we walked out the door, I remember seeing out of the corner of my eye that Lexy had opened up my closet and was looking from left to right through my wardrobe. I think she had a little commentary going, much the same as I do for her when we are choosing what she'll wear for the day, but I wasn't really paying attention. So, I finished gathering all the essentials and announced "Let's go!" As I start walking towards the door, she gives me the funniest sideways look, sweeping her pointer finger up and down at my outfit, saying out of the side of her mouth, "Are those your pajamas??" As in... "Um, Mom? Hate to be the one to bring this to your attention, but do you realize you're about to walk out in public in your pajamas? Don't you think you'd like to change first?" Hilarious. I still crack up thinking back to her face as she said it.

We're in the stage of life that everyone we know is having babies... A detail that is not lost on Lexy, who announces almost daily that she's going to have a baby. The other day, the baby was going to come "in the fall." The due date varies. :) But she is very concerned about being prepared for the baby's arrival and is constantly plotting and planning. Specifically, she keeps telling me that she's going to have to sit in the middle seat (without a car seat) so that her baby can have room for his/her car seat in her old spot. Last week, she announced that she was going to have THREE babies, and she was planning to name them Sarah, Josh, and Billy -- a la The Cannons. (Only Billy is the DAD in that family. Not quite sure about that.) And you can tell that math runs in her blood because she pointed out that her three babies are NOT going to fit in our car, so we'll have to get a bigger one. Roger that. We'll get right on it.


In other un-Lexy related news, Tori is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday morning. She is finally getting tubes in her ears! Although I was super resistant to the idea of surgery early on, I have had a year to think about it, and all signs are pointing towards HAVE THE SURGERY, so that's what we're going to do. We have to be AT the hospital by 6am (should be a fun morning!). I've been told that the whole procedure will take less than 12 minutes, but I can already assure you that they'll be the longest 12 minutes of my life. If you think about it, please pray for all involved on Tuesday. I'm not worried, but there is definitely an element of risk whenever anesthesia is involved, so I'm trying not to be too cavalier about it either. It's a fine line to walk....between not freaking out, yet not being too unaffected. I choose to commit it to the Lord.

That's all for now. We're headed to the farm this morning. It's a cloudy day-- much relief from the hundred-degree days we had early in the week. Looking forward to the cooler temps as we pick strawberries! I'd love to say I'll post pictures later, but the camera is still broken. We're trying to decide whether to fix it or just get a new one. Stay tunned.

Twitter

I've known about Twitter for a while now... never really understood the fascination, and frankly wondered why anyone would want to get CONSTANT updates about the comings and goings of anyone.

(Same goes for the "status" updates on Facebook.)

And yet, I found myself signing up for my own account this morning.

I really think it's a case of laziness, actually.
You see, at any given time, I have about 10 blog post topics floating around in my head. Mostly commentary about how things are going in the Hughes Zoo.
However, most of them are about one line long in length.
And let's be honest, I just don't have time to sit down and create a post that's only one sentence long. Or the brainpower to make them into full-fledged posts.
So they just remain in my head.... "The Blog Posts That Never Were."

Enter Twitter.

It occurred to me this morning that I could just use Twitter to post my one-liners!
(It only took me like 8 months to figure that out. Call me a technology genius!)

So, as of today, I will now have an outlet for the one-line thoughts that pile up in my head.
They'll be at the top right part of the page under the heading:
"LIFE THROUGH ONE-LINE BLOG POSTS".

Enjoy!

I'm debating between "I want a Re-do" or just straight and to the point wth "Lipstick"

It's been a day. And it's only 1:15pm.
Oh, there are MANY hours of parenting left today. Pray for me.

Whilst outside cleaning up DOG POOP that mysteriously ended up all over the patio instead of the grass, where it can usually be found, I realized that Tori was being strangely quiet, which is NEVER good thing with her.

I had already de-robed her outside since she has the uncanny INability to avoid dog mess if it's within 200 feet of her. I sent her inside while I tended to the 8 dog paws that needed to be cleaned off in addition to the patio itself, which could still use a good scrub down, but that will have to wait.

So I peak inside and find her sitting at the toy box holding a little tote of cosmetics (lotion, lipstick, chapstick, hand sanitizer, etc.) that I keep in my purse. This particular tote is a favorite of hers, and I've had to rip it from her clutches once or A HUNDRED times before. And just for the record, my purse, from which the tote came, was sitting on top of the kitchen table, in the very middle of the table, unreachable unless a certain little one climbed up ONTO the table.

So.... There she is sitting at the toy box absolutely COVERED in lipstick. It's everywhere. Hands, Face, Shirt, Hair. And remarkably, no where else. I may or may not have screamed at her as she walked toward the bathroom and started to try and touch things with her lipstick-caked hands. She may or may not have burst into tears. I feel/felt horrible, but my walls are still white. My sweatshirt, on the other hand, is now sort of mauvey-rose all over the sleeve.


This child. (shaking my head)
She certainly has a fondness for cosmetics.

And the funniest part about all of this (if you can even find humor in it) is that my FIRST thought was, "Oh my gosh, this is so blog worthy, and darn it, OUR CAMERA IS BROKEN!!"
So you'll have to forgive the grainy quality of the pictures-- they're from my cell phone. And they really don't do all the lipstick justice. Just trust me that is was ALL OVER her. In chunks, really.

But at least the moment was captured for your entertainment.

Tune in next week for 'Fun with Eye Shadow.' (Please God, no.)

Mascara, part Deux

I got quite a lot of in-person response to the original Mascara post, so I thought I'd keep my audience happy and let you know it happened AGAIN.

(I know, I know, I should have learned my lesson and put the make-up bag out of her reach. And I am hear to tell you: IMPOSSIBLE. She will find a way to get to it.)

This time she seems to have figured out that mascara goes on eyes.

And apparently she's taking make-up lessons from Ozzy Osbourne.


Babydoll also got in on the action. As did her cute little NON-REMOVABLE WHITE outfit.

Also lucky enough to be included in this make-up session (although not pictured): Doggie.

She had this big, black smudges up by her eyes, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what she must have gotten in to. And then I realized what it was.
That poor dog puts up with a lot.

Spring! Glorious Spring!

It's that wonderful time of year again. Birds are chirping, bees are buzzing, and.... Strawberries are ready to be picked at Underwood Family Farms!

We celebrated the first day of Bill's Spring Break today by heading to one of our favorite family activities, and it did not disappoint!






Believe it or not, that is more than 6 pounds of strawberries. And we'll enjoy every last one. :)

D-land times TWO

My mom has long had the dream of going to Disneyland for the day, and then spending the night in a local hotel so that she can go AGAIN the next morning.

So, we did. (We're a regular make-a-wish foundation around here)

Grandma, the girls and I all headed down to the Happiest Place On Earth last week and spent the afternoon, evening and night at Disneyland. We had a great time, and it was so fun to see Tori actually "getting it" now. She was down-right CACKLING on the teacups. So cute. (I forgot to bring my camera in the first night, so you'll just have to take my word for it.)

The girls were troopers and stayed awake until 10:30pm as we checked into our hotel. Poor Tori conked out about then, and I swear... this has never happened ever before, but she actually SLEPT THROUGH me changing her diaper and putting on her pajamas. I was astounded.

I should mention-- the girls BOTH had ear infections. Tori was diagnosed the previous day with DOUBLE ear infections and Lexy was given the all clear. However, Lexy spent the better part of that night in my lap crying that her ear hurt, so we headed to Urgent Care on Tuesday morning immediately before going down to Disneyland. (Because we like to pack it all in like that.) And surprise! surprise!, she had an ear infection as well.

Despite their ear ailments, they were in great spirits and seemed to really enjoy the afternoon.

We all had a great nights sleep and were up with the sun to head back to Disneyland for round 2.

Since this was a special Disneyland trip-- the fulfillment of Grandma's dream-- we decided to throw caution to the wind and allow Lexy to get her face painted in the Princess Beauty Parlor. It only cost about half our mortgage, but WELL worth it. :)





We also spent more time than we had previously in California Adventure, and the girls really enjoyed the Bug's Land area. Who knew there were so many kid-friendly rides in there?

Tori and I waited patiently while Lexy and Grandma rode the bumper... bugs?

A big hit of the afternoon was playground area in California Adventure. Again, a new experience for us. Both girls went down the slides, oh, like... 700 times? Grandma and I were thrilled for the chance to sit down and rest a bit. :)



We all had a great time and came home thoroughly exhausted. And we felt so good about our part in making all of Grandma's dreams come true. :)

And they call it Puppy love....

Fast Friends, or Cuddle Buddies

One afternoon, I was taking care of the girls and realized I hadn't seen Barkley in a while... That panicked, "Oh no, what is he in to" feeling washed over me as I went tearing through the house to find him. But no. Much to my relief, he had casually walked into his crate and fallen asleep. So sweet.

I've been trying not to be political, but....

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost.

She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below.

She shouted to him, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised
a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know
where I am.'

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, 'You're in a
hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation
of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97
minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west
longitude.'

She rolled her eyes and said, 'You must be a Republican..'

'I am,' replied the man. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' answered the balloonist, 'everything you told me is
technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your
information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much
help to me.'

The man smiled and responded, 'You must be a Democrat.'

'I am,' replied the balloonist.. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' said the man, 'you don't know where you are or where
you're going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large
quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea
how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're
in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but,
somehow, now it's my fault.'