Happy Thanksgiving I

Griffith pulling Allan by his bib and Allan whinging about it.

Dad and the boys

Griffith. Looking not at all grateful. Fair resemblance to his mother, however.

Thanksgiving 2006

Allan looking not at all grateful. For anything. Fair resemblance to his father, however.

Good night.

Our little family is settled in on the eve of Thanksgiving. We can't really say that it is our first Thanksgiving together as it was the Tuesday before last year when we found out that we were expecting twins. We can honestly say that none of us knew what we were in for. That's probably a good thing.
We are really excited at the prospect of our first holiday on our own. With Jay's family across the pond and mine ruled out for reasons of distance and quarantine (no large crowds, no sick people, no kids under 15), we are soloing. Allan and I are already ensconced in the master suite. He is sleeping, peaceful as a little lamb. Jay and Griffith are downstairs roasting a turkey breast and making some sort of British "side dish" that seems to be link sausages wrapped in bacon and cooked in the oven. I think he called it some sort of Napoleon something or other and I can only assume that it is meant to be derogatory to the French. Still, I am somewhat baffled by the thought of this as a side dish. Generally speaking side dishes here consist of vegetables or starchs of some sort. Don't get me wrong -- as a Southerner and a country girl, I have a great appreciation for the wonder of pork, but this is taking it to a whole other level. The yeast dough is made for the rolls and I will be mashing potatoes and fixing green beans tomorrow. I think we will be all right. Allan's sweetheart, Jennifer, dropped off a chocolate pie tonight so I may postpone making that pumpkin roll for another day.
The weather held for another day so the boys and I went off on another long walk this afternoon (Flora still disapproving, but resigned). Markus accompanied us for part of the way. We walked for well over an hour and there wasn't a peep from either boy. They both dozed for part of the trip, but spent the majority of the time taking it all in very peacefully.
Allan went to the ophthamologist this morning and she is pleased with how his eye looks. He still isn't tracking well with it, but things are probably still pretty hazy to him out of that eye. We go next week to have him fitted for a contact. He has become an expert at slamming his eye shut and wriggling away when you try to put drops in so I can only imagine that wrestling him to put a teeny, tiny contact in will be at least a two person operation.
Allan's opthalmologist had her five month old daughter at the office and we think she was trying to set the two of them up. Little hussy.
They took the stitches out today and his belly looks good. He still owns the World's Most Perfect Belly Button. The peg doesn't seem to be bothering him at all and it is fairly easy to use (it is kind of like the stopper that goes in one of those plastic beach balls). He seems much happier without the NG tube in his nose and throat. His saturation levels have been excellent since we got home and he has not been retching or spitting up. So far the peg seems like a good idea.
Griffith is just a ball of fun all the time. He cracks himself up. Flora swears that he said "hi" today and I may take that as his first word. Unless he says Mama. We just can't have Dada be the first word. I just won't be able to stand that.
Time for lights out up here. Here's hoping that we have a nice, peaceful start to the long holiday weekend.

As you can see from the pictures posted last night, the boys are doing well and getting along most of the time.
Despite Flora's disapproval, we all took a big walk yesterday afternoon (she thought it was too cold) since it was bright and sunny. You would have thought we were going on an Artic expedition with all the fleece, hats, and blankets. Still, they both seemed to enjoy the great outdoors. Or what they could see of it through the small slit that Flora allowed for their eyes. It is another pretty day so we will probably take another stroll this afternoon if Flora hasn't let the air out of the stroller tires. If she had her way, we would all be indoors from now until May.

Home again, home again -- part 3

We have had a very busy weekend. Allan made it home (again) Saturday morning and he has done very well. He hasn't really tried to mess with his eye too much at all. The lids are a little red and a little swollen, but not anything too bad. (Easy for me to say -- it isn't my eye.) The eye drops we are putting in are pretty much the same as before. The only difference is that we put a patch over his eye when we put him to bed at night. His belly is a little tender but Tylenol seems to help that and we hope that clears up soon. He's actually been a little fussy which is a real change of pace for him. His lungs must be much improved because he can really get some decent volume when crossed. He's getting to be pretty demanding, too. A lot like his brother Griffith. In fact, they seem to have developed the uncanny ability to sense when the other is getting ready to have a meltdown which enables them to get tuned up simultaneously. (It sounds a lot cuter than it is.)
The apple juice never did work for Griffith. On Saturday afternoon, I made good my threat to use a glycerin suppository. I dosed him up and headed out to do some shopping and, about 45 minutes later, got a call from Dad letting me know "it worked. Well." Who knew that the response would be so prompt?

So far, so good....

Allan had a good day today. He got to have pedialyte this afternoon and tonight they have started him back on formula. If he tolerates that well, then we hope to get him home tomorrow. He was a little fussy this afternoon, but, all things considered, he really hasn't complained much. The patch came off this afternoon and his eye looks great -- it is a little bloodshot, but no worse than you might have after a long Saturday night out. And it looks so much better without that darned white cataract in the pupil. The lump seems to be much less, too. We have to keep putting drops in it around the clock and, for the next week, unless we are right on top of him, he has to have a guard on it to make sure that he doesn't whack it. The ophthamologist was pleased that he had a good 'red reflex' (the flash back you get when you take a picture) which means that his retina is good and getting light to it. He may have lost some vision in that eye because the cataract cut the light off for a while, but we are pretty sure he has some in it at least because he has gotten really good at blinking at the precise moment when you are trying to put the drops in.
So, while Dad and Allan hang out at the hospital, Griffith and I are hanging out watching Rachel Ray. It looks to me like she is frying stale bread in olive oil. Not really sure why. Maybe Grif has been paying better attention. Flora's attempt to encourage a movement has been for naught so it may be another long night over here.

Allan was extubated this afternoon and has done very well. He looks good and is all wiggly and sassy. I spent the afternoon and Dad is spending the night with him. No word on when he can come home, but he has to be NPO (without food) until tomorrow to give his gut a chance to recover. We imagine that he'll have to stay for a day or so until every one is satisfied that the peg is in place and that he is going to be able to feed. When last I talked to Jay he was watching The History Channel and holding Allan because every time he put Allan down there was a meltdown. It seems to be going around amongst the Richardson boys. I've had a similar night with Ol Griff. We are now working on Hour 18 since I got up. All I wanted was for Griff to take a little nap, let me have a bath and a little dinner and then we would all go to bed. No such luck.
Flora played a nasty trick on me. She is dedicated to regular bowel movements for the boys and decided that Griff had not pooped recently enough. So she tanked him up on apple juice while we were at the hospital today. Then, once I got home, she hit the road. He hasn't had a movement yet, but the poor little guy has worked on it all night long --- wriggling and crying. Every time I put him down, he shouts down the walls. I figure we are due for some epic event some time about 2 a.m. Would one more day have been terrible?

Allan is out of surgery and in recovery. We got to see him for a few minutes. They are going to move him to the PICU as soon as they get a bed ready. We are not exactly holding our collective breath.
The eye surgery went as well as could have been hoped. The cataract came out and the retina and optic nerve look good and undamaged. The lump had gotten smaller and may just be an inflammatory mass. They were able to do a fine needle biopsy and get some cells from it and they hope that they will be able to tell for certain what it is or was. After the eye was finished, they put in a "peg" and that went smoothly, too.
Right now he is still on the ventilator. No word on whether they are going to try to extubate him today or just let him recover a little and give it a try tomorrow.
He will have to wear a little patch over his eye for a week to protect it and then, in two weeks, he'll be fitted for a contact lens. The doctor said it is much easier to put it in and out than you think it is going to be. It would almost have to be easier because I think it is going to be darned near impossible to wrestle Allan twice a day to put it in and take it out.

Still having computer woes. Have to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. First surgery is at 7:30. Scheduled for at least 3 hours. Will try to blog from there, but no promises. Say a little prayer for Big Al.

Allan in his new toboggan

Allan remains skeptical.

griffith's new hat

Griffith in his toboggan that Aunt Kathy made for him.

Griffith and his chain

Griffith loves to sit in his swing and chew on his chain.

The boys holding hands

The boys in their jogging suits holding hands.

Computer woes

Sorry, folks. Been having problems with the computer at home.
At work now, but trying to earn a living.
The boys are fine. We go to see a couple of Allan's doctors tomorros in preparation for his surgery on Thursday. Still no word on what time his procedure will be. They'll call us tomorrow.
I will try to blog some tonight and post new pictures -- if the wi fi is cooperating.