Darr Family Blog

Paul’s surgery was quite the experience. We dropped Joseph off at a friend’s house and went to the hospital. They got him checked in and then we waited for almost two hours before they called him back. I hung out in the family waiting room until the surgeon came to tell me that the procedure went well. They fixed the hernia and everything was okay. After Paul had a chance to wake up a bit more, we got his pain meds and headed home. I got him settled in before going to get Joseph. Now the real adventuresome part. About 7:30 that night, Paul noticed that there was quite a bit of blood under his dressing (in fact, blood started dripping down his leg). It was then we realized that they didn’t give us any replacement dressings (since I didn’t know to ask and Paul was understandably too out of it to ask). We called the after-hours nurse line and they said that we should go to the ER just to make sure that there wasn’t too much bleeding going on. We loaded Joseph up (including jammies, his blanket, and his two favorite stuffed animals) and dropped him off at another friend’s house (after calling ahead to explain the situation). She said he was welcome to stay all night since they had a pack n’ play that he could sleep in. It was good that she said that, because we were at the ER for seven hours. We got checked in, waited several hours, got into a room, waited several more hours, and then the ER doctor came in, looked at it, and said that it was okay, we just needed a fresh dressing. The nurse then came in, changed the dressing, showed me how to do it in case I needed to at home, and sent us on our way with plenty of supplies. I don’t know why they neglected to do that after the surgery (even though they said they did. huh). We got home around 4:00 A.M. and I sent my friend a text message to see how Joseph was (she’s got a nursing baby, so she is up feeding him during the night sometimes). She said he was doing great, so I went to bed for a couple of hours before going to get him. After I picked him up we went grocery shopping because I knew the next few days would need to be spent taking care of my boys. Joseph was so exhausted from his first sleepover (haha) that he fell asleep on the way home from the store and did NOT want to wake up. The rest of the week has been filled with piano lessons, taking care of the patient, and caring for the rug-runner. The other adventuresome part of Paul’s surgery happened when we got the surgery report back. I remember vaguely the surgeon telling me that they removed something, but his accent was so thick and he was using such technical jargon that I didn’t catch it. Reading the surgery report, we found out that they removed a lipoma. To us, that sounded like cancer! We’re starting to freak out (especially since they hadn’t told us in detail about this), but then noticed a hand-written note that defined it as a benign, fatty tumor. So no cancer. Whew! We’re both a little ticked that they didn’t mention this in more detail, but since everything is okay, we’re moving on! Paul is up and about (though still moving a bit slower than he’d like…we think that the trip to the ER probably did nothing good for his recovery). He’s going to take at least one more day off to recover.

The Weekly Weather: This week we’ve had some rainy days (at the beginning of the week) and then it wrapped up nice and mild. I think spring’s on its way!

Funny/Cute Stories: Joseph is very interested in Paul’s “owie” and asks to see it often, so Paul will show him the bandage. He seems very concerned, but since Daddy looks okay, he;s not too worried. We have to constantly remind him that he needs to be soft with Daddy until he gets better.

Joseph is getting much better at counting. Just this morning, I noticed that he can pronounce “seven” and “eleven” properly. 🙂

Joseph had a blast playing with friends during the times that I had to drop him off at friends’ houses. The other day, I made cookies to take to both of them as a thank you and he was very disappointed that we weren’t going to stay. Methinks I need to plan more play dates!

There are a couple of shows/movies that we’ve seen enough times that Joseph can repeat words right along with it (including sound effects). It makes it less monotonous if I watch how into it he is.

Today at church, Joseph decided he wanted to sing along as the hymns were being sung. He started singing along, using whatever words he saw fit (like backwards, cars, etc.) or just saying “ahhhhhh” along with the music. Pretty cute!

This Week in Pictures:

This past week contained some fun new firsts. A big one was that I started teaching piano. Right now I have four students, with two more due to start next month. I’ll probably have one more once tennis season is over, since his tennis practice currently interferes with lesson times. I was nervous at first, but the more I do it, the more I’m seeing that I remember a lot from watching my mom teach, as well as being taught by her. Another first is that I’ve been called to be the new visiting teaching coordinator for my ward. That means that I help the Relief Society president make sure that each woman in our ward has someone to visit (and check on to make sure that all is well with them) and has someone to visit them. I’m a little nervous about the amount of work and responsibility that comes with this calling, but I know that if I put my trust in the Lord, He will help me get through it all. The kind of funny story about the whole thing was when the call was first issued, the member of the bishopric asked if I would be a supervisor (where I would just check with a certain group of women to see if they were able to get their visiting teaching done), which I agreed to. A few days later, I got an email from the Relief Society president, thanking me for agreeing to be the coordinator. Ummm, what?! Hahahaha. After a reply email and phone call, we got it all sorted out. 🙂 The last first (if that makes sense, hahaha) is getting ready for Paul’s hernia surgery which will take place tomorrow morning. While he was still deployed, he injured himself trying to help a fellow soldier lift a trunk that ended up being way heavier than it looked. It took a while for him to be able to get the Army to get him in to see a doctor, and then it took a while before he was able to get a doctor that really took the time to see what was wrong. So tomorrow we’re going to drop Joseph off at one of my friend’s house and then go to the hospital from there. Paul luckily has enough sick-time built up that he can take an entire week off of work in order to recover. Hopefully it will all go well!

The Weekly Weather: It’s been up and down again this week. I seem to have forgotten that this is what the end of last winter/beginning of last spring was like. We had a few warmer days interspersed with cold and rainy days. Next week is supposed to be the same. I’m grateful for the rain that we are getting, though. The aquifer needs it!

Cute/Funny Stories For the Week: Joseph saw some sheet music that I had (some extra scale sheets that I decided to let him have) and wanted to hold them. As soon as I gave them to him, he held them in front of himself and started to sing (la la la la). 🙂

On one of the chillier days this past week, Joseph came up to me, dragging behind him one of the blankets that we keep on our couch. He then said to me, “Wrap in blanket? I OH so cold! Brrrr!” Once wrapped in the blanket, he then started to run around the house saying that he was Batman. 🙂

One evening, Paul asked him if he needed more milk in his cup. He said, “Yes, please!” After given the refilled cup, he told Paul, “Thank you very much!” It’s good to know that the manners are starting to come through, though sometimes we jokingly call him “Commando Demando” because he’ll occasionally just demand something. Tonight, for instance. He demanded, “Salt!” and then “Pepper!” for his food. So, yeah…we’re still working on “please” and “thank you”. At least he gets it most of the time.

There was one instance this week where I was a bit clumsy and ended up inadvertently hurting myself (I think I smashed a finger in a drawer). As I was expressing my pain (“Ow, ow, ow, OW”), Joseph came running up very concerned and asked if I was okay. I was grateful for the sympathy and love. 🙂

One night, Joseph walked up to Paul and asked to be cuddled. He then put Paul’s hand on his stomach and kind of moved it around a bit. Paul took from this that Joseph wanted to be tickled, so he very willingly obliged.

Joseph has shown some excellent problem solving skills, as well. He was watching a cartoon (not Mickey Mouse Clubhouse…I think it was The Backyardigans) and one of the characters was facing a minor problem. Joseph said, “Call Toodles for help! Oh, Toodles, oh Toodles!” (Toodles helps Mickey and his friends on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). It’s funny how he can relate one thing from one show to a completely different show.

This Week in Pictures:

This past week was a recovery week. Joseph had a bit of an icky stomach, which didn’t manifest itself in more throwing up, but more in the icky diaper area. After 3 days of no change, I took him into the doctor (especially since he had some painful gas bubbles the night before which made his stomach rock-hard). They tested for strep (in case that was what was causing the unpleasant diapers) which came back negative. His ears also looked fine, but his throat was a bit red. When I told the doctor he had pretty bad allergies, she said that there was some children’s allergy medicine that I could give him. Yay! She also said to continue to give him some probiotics to fight off the stomach bug (Paul and I had already started the night before with those along with cutting out all dairy except yogurt, which has probiotics in it). The next day, he was completely back to normal, which was good, because then I got it. Luckily, mine only lasted for a day. Also during this week, we got crafty and painted Joseph’s name on his wall using fun colors and letter stencils. He knows what each of the letters are (well, he knows all his letters, but he knows those best of all since we repeat them the most).

The Weekly Weather: I’ve decided to add a bit about the weather, since I find it interesting how quickly it changes and how varied it is out here. The week started off nice, in the upper-60s to low-70s. Then we had one cold day where it dropped down into the 40s-50s. After that, the rest of the week was warmer, sometimes reaching into the 80s. Then there was today. Mild, warmish morning and early afternoon. When we walked into church, it was in the mid-70s. When we walked out, 3 hours later, the temperature had plummeted over 30 degrees and a freezing wind was blowing. Needless to say, we pretty much sprinted to the car. The next couple of days are supposed to be cold and then it’ll warm up again. No wonder our allergies are going crazy!

Funny/Cute Story for the Week: Joseph did tons of funny and cute things this week. The only one that really sticks out though, is the yogurt episode. Let me preface the story by informing you that Joseph LOVES yogurt. It is probably his favorite of his newly-acquired dairy snacks (along with goldfish crackers). Okay, so I had let him have some yogurt as a bedtime snack a couple of nights ago, and when it was gone, he was kind of sad. Paul came downstairs and Joseph (very hopefully and maybe even a little on the innocent side) asked Paul for yogurt. I had to jump in and say that he had already had his yogurt so that Paul would know that Joseph was seemingly attempting to pull a fast one on him. Sneaky kid!

Oh, I almost forgot. Paul was able to get a copy of the “Cars” movie, which Joseph immediately fell in love with (he was already familiar with the characters because of some things that he’s seen on the Disney channel). He now goes around the house saying, “Ka-chow!” (something that the race car, Lightning McQueen says a lot) and he gets excited when he sees either Lightning McQueen or Mayter (the tow truck). One of Paul’s co-workers gave him a “Cars” book that belonged to her daughter when she was younger (she’s now a teenager) to give to Joseph. It is his current favorite book. 🙂

This Week in Pictures:

Bonus Video/Audio: This needs a little explanation. Paul and I were recently talking about how we need to get it on video when Joseph sings along to songs (usually this happens in the car). Tonight, when I was singing to Joseph before he went to bed, he started singing along, so I told Paul I thought it might be fun to record it. Hence why it is dark through the whole thing. There isn’t anything wrong with the picture, it’s just dark because we had the lights off. We recorded it mainly for the audio. 🙂 Plus, Paul had to kind of hide the video camera because if Joseph saw it, he’d probably stop singing. At the very end, he noticed what Paul was doing and did exactly what I thought he might do… 🙂