Anticipation...is keepin' me waitin'

Wes and I have completed our holiday shopping.  Yes, I know, it's November 29.  I only very recently lamented how early the Christmas season had arrived in our local shops, and now I'm already done with Christmas shopping.  There's several reasons for that.  One, it's an outstanding distraction from my final papers.  Googling "cool toys for 3-year-old boys" on Amazon is way more interesting than "teacher education for English as a second language" on Google Scholar.  Second, I usually shop online and wanted to leave plenty of time for shipping.  And third, we do light presents, so there wasn't a lot of shopping to do.  The kids are each getting four items plus new pajamas for Christmas eve.  I have something in mind for Wes and have it in the works, but the plans are done.  Woosh -- holiday shopping done.

But now that the shopping is done and items will be here in the next 7-10 days, I have to decide what to do with the presents.  We aren't going to have a full-size Christmas tree this year because Emme is so mobile and not yet discerning about what to touch and leave alone.  I also don't think Oliver would leave alone wrapped items that sat unattended for weeks at a time.  Wes and I had a conversation last night about whether to put them out, perhaps on our mantel above the Christmas stockings, or leave them put away until Christmas morning.  This might make the most sense in the long run since we don't do Santa in our house and so it might be fun to just have things appear on Christmas morning.  My biggest concern for this year is that having wrapped gifts out for too long would be a huge tease.  But maybe next year.

Just because the kids are too young to really look forward Christmas Day, doesn't mean there's no one waiting in anticipation.  I, for one, can't wait for them to see what Wes and I picked out.

Oasis

Emme, it seems, is a little water bug.  She loves the bath -- and has been missing out on it for the last week because of her cast (the little stinker).  She is instinctively drawn to the dog's water bowl.  Several times in the last few weeks, we have found her splashing happily in it, requiring an outfit change.  If she gets away before she gets changed, she leaves a little wet trail behind her on the kitchen floor.  Last night, after a splash-around in the water bowl and subsequent outfit change, she followed me into the bathroom where, while I was washing my hands, she stood up at the toilet and proceeded to reach into the bowl after the water.  

Maybe she's thirsty?

Look

It's Oliver with himself from two years ago (here and here).

In parts

Today is Emme's second surgery for the large nevus on her right foot and leg.  It's 8:55 AM now, and she's been back in the operating room for almost an hour.  I woke her last night around 2:30 AM to nurse her as late as I could (no breast milk after 3 AM for the anesthesia), then was back up shortly after 5 to pump and get ready.  I woke her around 5:45 -- she was not appreciative but came around when I offered her a pacifier.  She was generally agreeable for most of the morning.  Everyone in the waiting room was watching her crawl around, push the train car I brought for her, cruise along the chairs, and stare at the other kids and their parents.  We did lose a shoes somewhere along the way, but after retracing our steps here at the hospital to no avail, I'm hoping it's somewhere between her room and the garage at home.

We were one of the first ones to go back around 6:45; I think they take the infants first thing.  She climbed all over the crib in the room, played with her duck, and flirted with every male that came by (I swear -- it really is just with the guys!).  She was fairly even tempered until around 7:30 AM, by which time she was clearly getting sleepy and probably wanted to eat.  She rocked with me a little and went happily to the nurse anesthetist (who said he had an 18-month-old girl at home and was enjoying a "little baby" in his arms) around 7:45.  Caroline Chester, our fantastic plastic surgeon, checked her out shortly before that.  She was surprised to see how much Emme had grown since her last appointment in July.  She was also pleased to see how much elasticity she had in her calf and decided, if time permitted, to do another staged excision on the ankle in addition to the graft today.  Emme will end up with donor site on her abdomen, plus the excision and graft on her ankle under a cast -- a lot of healing, but hopefully not too much limitation to her movement.

Note the purple X on her leg to mark
what limb is being worked on.
Dr. Chester said they make her do it,
though we agreed that in this case it
seem unnecessary!

I am in the waiting room for the duration.  Wes, who is on Ollie duty today before and some time in the ER enrolling patients for his studies, will come over once we hear that Caroline in on her way out.  I will update this post when I hear anything, but if last time is any indication, I'll (hopefully) just hear that things are progressing.

10:24 AM: Karen, a nurse from the operating room, called to say that Emme is doing fine.  Dr. Chester is working on getting the graft onto her foot.  She anticipates probably another hour, at least.  Will either be called back or get another update by then.

12:47 PM: And home.  More updates later, but generally all went well.  Right now, I'm going to hold a pretty pathetic baby.

8:58 PM: Emme's been pretty sad this afternoon.  She has a huge incision on her abdomen from hipbone to hipbone, and we don't even know what things look like under her huge cast (on for ten days).  Dr. Chester decided not to do the excision on the top of the nevus because she worried it would be too much at once.  Emme has been very still for the most part this afternoon.  She cries these sad, half-hearted little bleats, then falls asleep for a few minutes if I rock her, then bleats again. I got her to sleep a little in her swing (which we kept out past its regular use for this very reason), and we put her down for the night around 6 PM.  She's cried a little -- always the sad, tired, moaning cry, nothing serious -- but has mostly slept since then.  If she can make it through most of a normal night, I think we can get her back on her schedule tomorrow.  She had very little baby food today, so I think she's going to be really hungry tomorrow.  She also hasn't nursed a whole lot.  I gave her small bottle of water when we had dinner just to see if she was interested, and she did drink an ounce or so.  Wes and I are both worn out from poor nights of sleep last night, a generally irregular schedule for him the last few nights, and a cold and cough for me.  I'm not sure what tonight will bring, but we do have four days off all together.  And Oliver has just been fantastic this afternoon.  He is clearly very concerned about Emme's well-being and wants to know why she's so sad.  He also really wants to see her boo-boo.  He brought her pacifiers and toys throughout the afternoon and looked through a magazine to find "slippers and jammies" for her.  He's definitely been a good big brother.  Wes did manage to get a faint smile out of her at dinner, and Aunt Margaret and Uncle Ben sent flowers (with a teddy and 3 Musketeers bar!), which I'm sure cheered her up.

Baby is crying; here's hoping she has an okay night.

(Last night, with the surgery finally imminent, I spent some time reading about skin grafts and treatment options for congenital nevi.  I sometimes feel like we're going through all this for no reason, but then I remember the high risk these large/giant nevi carry for melanoma, especially before age 3, and I figure the relatively mild inconvenience and discomfort caused by these surgeries is certainly worth it to, hopefully, avoid skin cancer in the future.  For more information on congenital nevi, including the risk factors for large or giant nevi, go here.  Note that Emme's large nevus has a 1:500,000 occurrence in infants.  Add that to the incidence of aplasia cutis congenita, with 500 reported cases since 1767, and maybe she should play the jackpot.)

It's 8:00 AM. Do you know where your children are?

My daughter -- she's asleep.  Not still asleep, mind you.  But down for a nap.  Oliver was up at 5:45 (that's what I get for an early bedtime, I suppose), and Emme woke up or was awoken shortly thereafter.  She got very fussy around 7:45, as she often does just before we're getting ready to go to school (normally around 8:30).  I guessed she was tired and put her in her crib while I took a shower.  And now -- sleeping soundly.

Oliver -- he's everywhere.  

Bed bugs

Ten months old