When Hell Freezes Over!!

That is a comment that my dad would use to describe his feelings about moving to Las Vegas. On December 19, his version of Hell did freeze! I awoke at 4:30 a.m. to prepare Noah for his surgery. I had everything planned out so that we would be at the hospital and ready at 6:00 a.m. However, the laughter of teenage girls caught me by surprise, especially since it was 5 a.m. I opened the front door to the laughter of girls, in the middle of a snowball fight. Did I mention I live in Las Vegas? I hadn't planned on extra time to clean the inches of snow off of my van! Wait, I don't even own a snow brush. Inside I ran, grabbed a towel, and began cleaning off the van. All I could think about is Leigha and how she has been begging for snow. She was going to miss it! The only other time it snowed, since we have lived here, was 2 weeks before my wedding. The snow melted that day!

Once we got to the hospital, Noah felt right at home. Off to the TV and the channel/off/on buttons. Just as if we had never left home! His surgery time was 7:30 a.m. but they still made us be there by 6 a.m. I am finding that Noah is getting a bit more fiesty every time we go back to the hospital. Do I blame him? Heck no! He is starting to put it all together. He was not as calm as he normally was, but we did get to play more.

This little car kept him busy for awhile. I had been blocking the exit door, as he wanted to escape and walk around the hospital. Within a few minutes, I realized that if I pull the car back first, it would fly across the room. That was enough to keep his attention for awhile!

It's amazing how much better these animal PJs fit him than the first time he was here last March. They are still too big, but unfortunately they will probably fit the next time he has to have this procedure done AGAIN!

As cute as he is, he was a stinker about keeping still this time! I guess I just expect him to be the angel that he was the last few times. I had the hardest time making sure he stayed ON the bed.

I finally decided we would go play until they were ready for him. He played with the legos the most. All I could think about was how many sick children have had these toys in their hands. It's my germaphobic friends rubbing off on me!

How sad was this face, as they took him away to surgery? I think he knew what was going to happen by now. He should, this is his 5th time having this done!

During his procedure, they found two cysts. In addition to using a lazer to remove the cysts, the doctor also lazered his scar tissue to make a larger opening. As sad as I was to hear the next statement, I was happy at the same time. The doctor told me that I should expect to have this happen one or two more times. Sigh, the poor kid. I was happy though, when I tell him I think that he has another cyst, I won't be ignored! This new doctor is great about relying on me to let him know when it's back and causing problems. He said I probably know more than the ER doctors (I wouldn't doubt that from our experiences there!)

Due to this news, I decided that Matthew would NOT be having his cyst removed! These cysts are caused from blocked pores, from being intubated for an extended time at birth. Since it hasn't been bothering Matthew, there is no point putting him to sleep to remove it. Noah, on the other hand, sounds HORRIBLE when he has cysts. When ever he gets sick, they get inflamed, and you can hear him breathing across the house!!

When I called Noe, to give him an update, I found out that it was still snowing where we live. Leigha was already outside, playing around in the snow! I was extremely happy to hear that. The closer we got to the hospital, I realized that there was NO snow at all. People gave me funny looks when they saw all the snow on my van.

When I had my surgery, I didn't come out of my anesthesia very well. Does this look like the face of a 1 year old, one hour after waking up? He just watched Signing Times the whole way home.

I, on the other hand, decided to take pictures on my way home. It is not a sight you see often in Las Vegas!

It's a good thing that the kids are on Winter Break! Look at all of the families who went to a small park to sled down the mini hill. I just wish I had the time to take Leigha over there.

When we got home, I jumped right in and helped Leigha make a snowman. We used the snow from Noe's car, as it was already starting to melt everywhere else. She told me that Santa made her wish come true! How cute is that?!