5 & 6 weeks!!

Ok, I fail at being a blogger. Remember when I used to be really, really good at it? Not so much anymore. I thought I was doing better and here's why - I added an app so that I could update my blog from my phone, so I have been sending pictures and the stories that go with them to the blog thinking nothing about it. Until I got on tonight and realized not.one.of.them.has.gone.through. Sad. :(

So here it is, an update!!

This has quite easily and honestly been the worst 2 weeks of my life. (I really don't think that's an exaggeration...) Poor Paiton. There is no way to describe what has been going on in our house. Only Matt and I really know the level to which this child is suffering. (And Cameron - she got a glimpse of what my sweet child has turned into during a trip to Target I'd like to forget in which Paiton's head spun around in circles and vomit flew out of her face. Or something like that.)

She did really good after the surgery. She was way more active than we would have liked, she ate chips and pretzels and everything in sight. The only major problems we had were getting her to take her medicine, she didn't like it. She was kind of grumpy but was sleeping ok and doing overall ok so we thought the recovery wasn't as bad as we had been warned about.

And then Monday hit. A week after her surgery. Sweet, sweet Paiton left us and MISERABLE Paiton joined us. All she would do was scream and cry. She screamed and cried so long and so hard she made herself choke and throw up. She screamed and cried so hard that I screamed and cried. NOTHING made her happy. She wouldn't drink or eat. She just screamed and pointed to her throat. I called the on call doctor because I thought for sure something was drastically wrong. He told me (actually he yelled to me over the phone from across an operating room while his nurse held out the phone - true story) that at this point in time Paiton's scabs would be falling off which is the most painful part of it all. He said right now her throat probably feels like a raw wound and unless she has a fever there isn't much we can do. He also warned me she might start coughing up scabs. Great.

So we waited. I continued to religiously give her her pain medicine every 3 hours even though I was convinced it wasn't helping but was turning her into even more of a crazy person. We gave her everything we could think of - pudding, jello, ice cream, yogurt, frozen yogurt, cottage cheese, juice, milk, ice water, ice cubes, anything and everything she demanded. She would take a bite and then scream bloody murder. I am not lying when I say that happened with every single bite. Every one. To say tension has been high in this house is an understatement.

She had been sleeping well but now was waking up screaming in pain throughout the night. It is heartbreaking!! Today (Thursday) I went to work and left Paiton with Matt. He texted me a picture of her sleeping on the floor of the living room. Apparently she had a fit and fell asleep there, which is VERY unlike her to just fall asleep somewhere. After she woke up from that she fell asleep on the couch! Poor girl just is NOT feeling good! I called the doctor's office and asked for a prescription for lollipops with lidocaine in them. I picked those expensive little confections up on my way home from work today and excitedly we presented them to her, sure that she would gobble those up and peace would return to our house. Not so much. It just isn't our style. Paiton complained of them being "spicy". They are bubblegum flavored and delicious if I do say so myself, but I think that she didn't like the fact that as soon as you start sucking on it, it makes your tongue tingle and go numb. They are obviously very effective, but she WON'T USE THEM. *Sigh* So close. So now we have numbing lollipops that Matt and I WILL be consuming in the near future because they cost $8.50 a piece.

Which brings us to tonight! Matt went to hang out with Brandon and I had a movie I had rented to watch while I hung out with my babies. Paiton was really, really hurting tonight and just could not get a handle on it. She was so upset she was hitting me, screaming, crying, drooling everywhere, etc. It was awful. I finally gave up and called the on call doctor again. (Please don't fire me from your practice...) I told him what was going on and asked if he thought there could possibly be something else going on because this just doesn't seem right to me. He told me that 10 days after surgery it really isn't normal for her to be in so much pain still. But since she is on an antibiotic he isn't too worried that something is wrong. He told me I should stop giving her the Tylenol with Codeine because it can make some kids worse and crazy (I'm pretty sure I called that one like a week ago...) and that I should switch to just Motrin and Tylenol. He said that for a few kids this is just pure Hell and nothing makes it better until it finally heals. So I am tossing out the codeine and sticking with the basics. I am super crossing my fingers that in the morning after getting a couple doses throughout the night she will be feeling better.

And if you want another mom's perspective on it (or even just to see that I'm not exaggerating even just a little, I found this blog post another mom did about the procedure and the recovery. It's funny because it talks about work from home mom's not being able to work after this surgery for awhile. SO true! Go here: http://typeamama.blogspot.com/2008/05/recovery-for-toddler-tonsillectomy.html )

Ok, now to back up and share pictures! :)

Here she is being such a good helper and entertaining Quinn during tummy time:

Oh Quinn. This little face stole my heart.

He doesn't mind tummy time, but he kind of refuses to participate. Sometimes he'll roll over, but usually he just relaxes and falls asleep!

I should also mention that Paiton's Croup is finally gone - hooray! So we don't have to do this anymore:

But she sure was a big girl doing it!

Quinn has grown up so much. He wears shoes now.

Ok, maybe he hasn't grown up thaaaat much. ;)

A typical morning in my bed:

Sidenote: Quinn is SUCH a good sleeper!! He sleeps in his pack n play next to me and usually only wakes up to eat or if his tummy is bothering him and he needs to be burped. When he wakes up to eat in the morning around 6-7 I usually let him snuggle with me in bed afterward because I am usually awake for good then. Looove those baby snuggles.

This is what he looks like at 6 weeks old:

Isn't he cute!? And resembling Paiton here:

I cannot explain how much these two love each other. Quinn will always smile at her and she just can't get enough. She is constantly kissing him, holding him, tickling him, etc. She is OBSESSED with his feet. She loves her some baby feet!

These pictures are more just for my memory and documentation than anything. Quinn has this tuft of hair at the back of his head that is longer than all the rest and I LOVE it. It's so soft and furry and sticks up and for some reason I just think it's the cutest thing.

Caught the 2 snuggle bunnies again tonight!

And a week late, here is Quinn on his 5 week birthday! (He was very tired!)

Last weekend we took the kids to the Farmer's Market and Paiton got her face painted.

Oh my gosh, more snuggling!

And this is how I get work done - prop one kid up in the Boppy and the other in front of a movie!

I THINK I am all caught up, whew!