Play Group, Piano, and Surgery! Oh My!

For this post, the title may be a little deceiving.  I didn't attend a playgroup that involved a piano hurting someone to the point that they needed surgery.  I just have some random pics to share.

I attend an awesome playgroup with about 7 awesome women.  We get to pick up tricks of the trade from one another which has been extremely helpful to me since being a mom is relatively new. This past Friday we had playgroup at my house and we had a small showing due to changing nap schedules and sick babies.  But we had a good time and I got a pic of the two little girls and Nathan (and me in the background still in my pajamas- not my proudest moment).
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The one little girl right next to Nathan (Lisa-Jean) I think will be turning 2 in May.  The one to the far left (Jude) is about 17 months.  I took this picture to show how big Nathan is in comparison.  He's almost as big as Jude!  He's only 10 1/2 months!  They're such a cute group of kids.  Before playgroup was over, Lisa wanted a close-up.

 That's Lisa's mom (Autumn) in the background- she's due with her second baby (a boy) any day now. I've made it a point that every time I see her I ask, "Still pregnant, huh?"

So we now have Terry and Arthur's piano at our house.  Terry's happy to have more space in their house and we're happy to have joyful noise-making.  I love a noisy house, especially when it's the good kind.  Andrew  now gets to develop his talent and I'm happy to benefit from his development.  Nathan isn't particularly fond of loud noises so I was a little nervous to see how he'd react to the piano, but he loves it!  Andrew plays and Nathan will sit at his feet and wiggle around trying to dance.  Nathan also likes to sit in Daddy's lap and play a little himself.  I think we have a little Mozart on our hands.

Nathan even enjoys playing duets with his friend Aiden.

Yesterday, February 15th, was a little nuts.  Andrew went in for surgery on his knee.  He partially tore his ACL his freshman year at BYU while attempting to jump over one of his friends.  His friend, like any good friend would, ducked out of the way at the last second and sent Andrew flying over him for a unexpected hard landing.  Andrew then just a couple years ago decided to play racquetball on his bad knee, like any sane man would, and he tore the rest of his ligament.  After he tore the rest of his ligament, he of course still had to finish the game.  He then walked around for two years with no ACL.  The most disgusting thing was that when Andrew was sitting, you could pull his femur forward.  I can't even explain it right, but trust me, it was gross. 

Before his surgery, Andrew had a nerve block done which is when the doctor sticks a needle close to your groin (yikes!) to numb the femoral nerve.  This is a pic right after the nerve block but right before the surgery.  He was already a little out of it.

When Andrew was out of surgery, he was waaaaay out of it.  It's mean, but I giggled a little at him.  He was shaking pretty bad after the surgery so he was in recovery for about an hour and half before I could see him.  The nurse and I managed to get Andrew in the car and I got him home to rest.  Nathan was so excited to see his Daddy when we got home even though Dad now looks like bionic man with his brace. Andrew will be walking with crutches for a week or two and then will hobble for a little while.  He'll  be fully recovered hopefully in time for the family reunion.  Andrew is such a trooper.  Since he's had a kidney stone, this knee surgery isn't as painful.

We were taking a lot of pictures and saying "cheese!" to get Nathan to smile, and he actually responded with a smile!  He's growing up so fast!

The Complicated Mind of Nathan Moore

He's 10 and 1/2 months old and I already don't understand this kid.  His likes and dislikes baffle me.  His strong will and determination shock me.  This little guy has a mind of his own.  He certainly did not learn this stuff from me.  So, we went to a rugby game on Saturday to support one of our friends and Nathan was playing on a blanket with a rugby ball.  The ball unfortunately rolled off the blanket and onto the grass.  Nathan just stared at it for a little bit, wondering if the ball was worth making contact with grass.  He then noticed Daddy was standing out on the grass.  Is he worth it?

 Though the video doesn't show Nathan venturing out onto the great unknown that grass is, he does eventually crawl off the blanket to get the ball.  Words cannot express how proud I am of this brave little boy for facing one of his greatest fears: grass.

Next, his strong will and shear determination. So, Nathan is a little obsessed with our DVD player.  I've recently tried blocking the DVD player from him by placing pillows and his walker in front of it.  Does his stop him? 

Nothing can stop this boy.  He's like the stone cut out of the mountain without hands.  Except this guy has hands and he does whatever he can to get those hands on things he shouldn't be handling.

Another thing Nathan likes to get his hands on whenever he can is toilet paper.  As you saw in my previous post, he enjoys unrolling it, eating it, and carrying it around on his foot.  Nathan's favorite room in the house is our bathroom.  Any time the door to our bedroom is open, Nathan makes a crawl for it.  I decided to film him for one of his attempts to make it to our bathroom to get the toilet paper.  He's so predictable.  Predictable, not explicable.

Excuse Me, You Have Toilet Paper Stuck to Your Foot

So, this was kind of, well, very gross.  Also, I'm sure this will not be the only time this happens.  A couple days ago I was in our office getting some items together for a lesson for my Sunbeam class.  Nathan was playing quietly in our family room.  After a few minutes, I decided he was being a bit too quiet.  I went looking for him and I came upon him coming out of our half bath.  I peaked in the bathroom.  The toilet paper was all unrolled and on the ground.  The toilet seat was up and there was water all over the ground.  I looked at Nathan.  He had a piece of toilet paper stuck to his chin and his foot.  I picked him up and found that his sleeves were all wet.  I gagged a little bit.  My son played with toilet water!  My son ate toilet paper which very likely had toilet water on it! I quickly undressed him and scrubbed him all over.

If that's not a guilty face, I don't know what is

 

Hopefully I can get over the fact that Nathan's hands were in toilet.  Right now I can't think of anything worse, but I'm sure in Nathan's mind he's saying, "Challenge accepted."

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Once again, the day Dad and I left Ohio, we woke up to more snow.  I'm really beginning to think I'm cursed.  We wanted to get on the road at a decent time so I could get home in time to run to the church to see Andrew before Nathan's bedtime.  Andrew is the Cub Master and was putting on the pinewood derby.

Since we wanted to get on the road early, of course Kaili and Nathan decided to sleep in.  Nathan didn't get up till after 8am and I had to bribe Kaili to get out of bed after 8am also.  She's usually bounding down the stairs by that time.

Once we got to the highway, it was smooth sailing and we got home quickly and safely. Thank you Dad for going with me!  Thank you Nathan for being so good in the car! Thank you Dan and Tiff for being such great hosts! We had a great time!

I've included some pics and videos from the rest of our trip.  I'm going to miss Kaili- the pirate, the princess, the little mom.  I'm going to miss Averi- even though she's getting chemo, she's a ray of sunshine.  I'm going to miss Tiff- even though she has "double lives", I learned how to be a better mom just by observing her.  I'm going to miss Dan- even though I cannot beat the guy in Carcasone.  I want a rematch at the reunion!

Kaili twirling for Nathan

 Kaili modeling her Bell dress

 Ok, the story with this pic... I am a horrible mom.  I didn't buckle Nathan into his highchair and he fell forward out of his chair.  When I came to rescue him from his fall, blood was running out of his nose and he must have bit his lip because there was blood in his mouth and his lip was swollen.  After about 20 minutes of crying, I finally got him to smile.  Poor kid.  It will be a miracle if he makes it to his first birthday.

 Kail was wearing this dress which made her look like a mermaid and she wouldn't let me take a picture.  This is the best I could get. She was giggling as she ran away.

Before we left Ohio, Dad and I took Kaili an Nathan to Chuck E. Cheese.  Sooooo much fun.  Nathan was very afraid of Chuck E.  Can you blame him?

 One of our last wagon rides to Averi's room in the hospital

 While the girls made jewelery, Grandpa took Nathan for a ride around the hospital.  Since Nathan can't crawl around the hospital floors, we had to do what we could to keep him entertained.

Tiffany and Kaili making jewelry at the hospital

Kaili gets her craftiness from her mom.  Tiffany makes such pretty things for her girls.