The Puddles

It is snowing. Not much. But it is there!  The kids and I miss snow so much. It makes winter seem real.  Not this fake suedo-winter that this part of Texas has.  Madie wanted me to meet her at the school with the sled.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough snow for that adventure.  When I picked up Madie from school, there was a teacher taking pictures.  It truly was picture worthy.  For those Nebraskans out there, it was snowing pretty heavy with big flakes but was melting as soon as it landed.  Not much by Nebraskan standards, but truly amazing by Texan standards.

We pulled the snow pants, snow boots, snow gloves (there is a difference between snow gloves and wear to school gloves), hats, and scarves out ready to experience some snow.  But nothing so far except flakes in the air.  My family has all called and taunted me with tales of snow farther south but so far we only have flakes in the sky.   We still have hope.

My own adventure is about to begin because I need milk.  Chris is going out of town for a couple of days and I can’t take Ben to the store so . . . I am off to the grocery store.  I love driving in the snow and cold, but only if every person who is actually born beneath the Mason-Dixon line is OFF the roads.  They are crazy down here in the snow and ice.  But milk is a substance that we can’t live without so I am off!

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Not sure which one is leading but Ben is on a walk with Lonnie.  Ben has been going on two walks a day.  So Lonnie took Ben on his walk today.  They are heading to Ms. Shirley’s house.

Lonnie doesn’t know the way, so he is counting on Ben to show him.  Hopefully they will get there.  After an hour I’ll get in the car and look for them!

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Ben can’t go to school for a while. So Ms. G. the homebound teacher came today.  Ben was dressed and ready to go 30 minutes before she was due to arrive.  Daddy gave Ben the book, “All is Quiet on the Western Front” to pretend to read while he waited.  Daddy thought it would impress the teacher. Funny, Daddy.

Ben spent two hours with Ms. G.  and loved it.  He talked about it forever after she left.  He looked like he was doing a stellar job.  Hard to tell.  I was keeping my distance.  He says that he can’t wait for Ms. G. to come again.  He needed this brain stimulation.

Of course, he told the teacher that his kindergarten class drove him nuts and that is probably why he had to have heart surgery.  Funny guy!!!  I think he gets it from his daddy.

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Marsha has been working her magic on the walls of our house.  The bathroom upstairs is painted.  The downstairs bathroom is getting near to being painted. And the odd wall in Ben’s room is being painted (the paint fell off like wallpaper a couple of month ago for no reason. weird.) When Madie comes home from school she changes her clothes and gets right to work.  Of course, Madie still has paint in her hair.

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Ben received this balloons and teddy bear gift from Geneva Rescue yesterday.  It was very sweet.  He received another fire truck/balloon basket from Tree of Life yesterday too.  He loves it all!  It is sometimes lonely here at the casa without others.

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is trying our patience.  Don’t get me wrong.  He looks great. Fabulous.  A true miracle. But . . . if that boy lives to see his next birthday I’ll be shocked.

Reasons . . .

1.  My neighbor stopped by yesterday to find Ben in the backyard barefoot and without a jacket and it was only 50 degrees and he just had open heart surgery less than a week ago.  What kind of a mother does she think that I am?  Of course, I was upstairs and didn’t know that he was outside.

2.  Ben and Ainsley were taking turns jumping off the stairs to the ground.  And I am not talking about the first step.

3.  Ben was walking around carrying a 10 lb dumbbell that he dug out of the under the stairs closet. (He is not suppose to carry anything at all.)

4.  Ben pulled the dinner room chair over to the kitchen cabinet in order to climb up to get something out.

5.  Ben was running and then sliding on his knees.

See what I mean. I just got the boy fixed.  He is desperately trying to get himself sent back to the hospital.  I swear that I am this close to tying him down to a chair.  What am I going to do with that boy?

Pray. Smile. Pray some more. Scold him. Pray. And then try not to let him see me laugh.

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I know that we have not been posting much lately.  I didn’t even call my mom to say that we had made it home (Bad daughter!).  We got home, ate dinner, loved on everyone, told stories, told more stories, told even more stories, finally went to bed exhausted.

I was tired.  But that good kind of tired.  Tired of all of the drama both in and out of the hospital, but glad to get home and resume our peaceful life. (or at least as peaceful as you can be with three kids).

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Ben is examining the ding in the side of Dad’s truck.  Almost everything we are taking home on this day as a new scar!  Both Ben and the truck!  But at least they both still work beautifully!

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Erika was our nurse while Ben was in the 15th cardio floor at TCH.  For three days, she helped us out with BenBen.  She was patient and kind with Ben.  And always with a gentle voice.  Thank you, Erika.

We are ready to walk out the doors and say goodbye for this time.

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Here is a picture of Ben pulling out his own i.v. Pulling out your iv means you are officially going home.  He was so excited he didn’t mind pulling out the “straw.”

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