Wesley's 3rd birthday party, first basketball game and my knee surgery

As you can tell by the title, we've had a busy week. Last Saturday was Wesley's third birthday party. Later that evening, Damon and I took Wes to the Wright State University basketball game. Sometime during all that, Wes got a cold, which is actually the first time he has ever gotten sick (other than the surgery for his esophagus). I don't know how people handle it when their children get sick often because I was worn out getting up every two hours to settle Wes back down from his coughing. Thankfully he doesn't get sick!! We like our sleep around this house :)

 

Wesley opening his DVD "Up"

still opening it the gift several minutes later...

a firetruck bank

an airport play set from Grandma (Pawpaw spent at least 20 minutes getting the whole thing apart)

giving Doda a hug

playing with his elephant with Grandma

Pawpaw finally got part of the airplane and airport apart

Mom and Dad finally got Wes a firetruck that makes noise (like Santa didn't get for Christmas)

blowing out the birthday candles and spitting on the cake I'm sure

having just a bit of cake (Wes preferred the chocolate cupcake the night before to the white cake at the party)

Who doesn't play baseball in the living room? We do at our house! At least until Wes can actually hit the ball and break things.

Wesley and Daddy at the game

Wes enjoyed cheering for both Wright State and their opponent (I already forgot who WSU played. I love sports, but basketball isn't my thing)

Damon tried to explain the game to Wes

hanging out with Mommy becauses it's not like Mom was watching the game (This is where I'd like to note that I am sure Wesley watched more of the game than I did)

here is where the game turned "scary"...Wesley saw the Raider (mascot) and was terrified that the Raider was coming to get him.

Wesley couldn't keep his eyes off the Raider as he walked through the stands.  

Damon doing a little snow-blowin' trying to dig us out of the house

Wesley wasn't feeling well, but he didn't want to go to bed. So instead he decided to take a little rest on the stairs. And why not? I'm sure the stairs are much more comfortable than his bed.

here's a photo of my right knee pre-surgery (my meniscus was torn on the lower inside part - lower right side of picture). The swelling was getting worse, but it's hard to see in this picture.

here's a photo post-surgery Wednesday (the gauze and wrap makes my knee look a lot more swollen than it actually is)

and the bandages come off...the two bandages are from the incisions, while I think the redness is from where cartilage was cut out that was scraping bone - and that's why I was in so much pain!!

I haven't been out of the house since Wednesday afternoon, so I plan on going somewhere tomorrow. I am not sure where we'll go, but I to bed.

Wesley's 3rd birthday!

Today is Wesley's third birthday!! I have always made fun of people who talked about how time flies, but IT REALLY DOES!! I realized that in two months, Wesley will have been with us longer than he was in the orphanage in Ukraine. I think we might have a party for that day too!

Here the fun cake from The Cakery. Several of our friends suggested it (in particular - thanks, Lisa), and man, it is delicious!! Let me explain the blue fire truck...Wesley LOVES anything related to the rescue services (police, fire, ambulance), and a township near us has blue fire trucks, which Wes never fails to notice. When I talked with him before ordering his cake, he asked for a blue fire truck. Then he added that he also wanted a barn, a tractor, an ambulance, and a cat, but I pretended like I didn't hear the rest of his list.

We got Wes a birthday cupcake to eat on his birthday since the cake is for the party tomorrow (see pictures below)

Wes acted at first like he had no idea what to do with the cupcake.

Why get your hands messy when you don't have to? I mean - the dogs eat like this.

He figured out how to eat it!! (What excited me even more though is that HE ACTUALLY ENJOYED IT!!!)

How sweet is that smile?

and another picture of the enjoyment

And just a little more...until he told me right after this picture that he was tired of eating and needed to go to bed. (How can I blame him? Who doesn't want to go to bed after a wonderful dessert?) 

Happy Birthday, Wesley!!!!

Mommy and Daddy love you so much and we love sharing our lives with you!!

first time playing in the snow

So it has been snowing like crazy here in Ohio. I've enjoyed being inside in comfortable clothes (except when I'm at work), but I think I'm getting ready for spring. There is only so much that will entertain an almost three year-old in the house. If Wes had his way though, he would watch Elmo, Sesame Street and Charlotte's Web all day long. Last week I took him to Bounce U, so he was worn out for the day. Bounce U is a place with a bunch of inflatable jumpy things (that is the technical term), slides, obstacle courses, etc. Just the two of us went, and Wes didn't want to jump around by himself, so I jumped too. WOW - I thought I was in shape, but I was worn out after two hours! 

We finally got Wesley a pair of snow pants (at Gap for only $7.00!), but a I was going to let him out in the snow last week, I realized we forgot to get snow boots. Try and find those in February. Instead we got him a pair of rain boots and put on two pairs of Damon's wool socks, which worked well. All three of us went out to shovel the driveway after work yesterday, but Wes and I only spent about 15 minutes outside. He got some snow between the top of his gloves and his coat sleeves, and it was all over. Cannot say I blame him because it's not like I enjoyed the snow myself.

Here is where things started to go awry...(and yes, I was trying to get him to sled in the trash can lid)

and continued to go downhill

here is where we had enough and went inside

I think it is going to snow more toward the weekend, so maybe he can go out again and just shovel. Wes enjoyed shoveling, but he didn't get snow all over him like he did playing in the yard.

My knee surgery is finally going to happen next week. I am glad that I scheduled it because my knee is locking up more and the swelling is getting out of control. Hopefully it's just an easy repair and the doctor doesn't find more wrong than my meniscus tear...we'll know soon enough.

Wesley's third birthday is Friday! We're having a little party on Saturday with the Grandparents. I'm not sure if Wes is going to eat cake or not, but we're going to try. I gave him a taste of brownie the other day and he said "yum," so maybe he's learning to like sweets.

Speaking of eating, we're still working on the chewing, but definitely seeing improvement. I don't think that Wes enjoys eating yet, but he doesn't hate it like he previously did. I still struggle with how anyone could dislike eating because I LOVE to eat!!!

Wesley had a swallow study done two weeks ago, and there was no narrowing or constriction in his esophagus. This is great news because so many children with this same repair have to have many dilations to open up the esophagus in the first year after surgery. We will go and have an appointment with the surgeon later this month. Then we get to talk about taking out the g-tube!!

Work for me has been going okay. I am so thankful for the great people I work with who help me see the humor in the situations and make me laugh. I am lucky to work with some wonderful people!!

I'll leave you with a picture of a little boy and his dog watching a favorite movie. The tow of them sit like this all the time!