Last Tuesday

Last Tuesday the boys played together outside all morning. First the tramp, then the slide, then basketball, the slide, the tramp in that order. Then running down the hill and races and tripping on each other, mostly on purpose and lots of giggling. CJ helped me plant the geraniums, Soren ate some dirt. The boys rode bikes and then we went inside for some hot chocolate.

A couple hours later, I took CJ to the doctor's for a consultation to get his tonsils out. Just a short appt, we thought. Two hours later, CJ was getting a CAT scan and in surgery prep to drain an infected lymph node. And what we thought was an overnight surgery quickly (or slowly) turned into a four day hospital stay complete with all the hospital luxuries like those giant mugs with a straw and little pebble ice and....well, those were about the only luxuries, I guess.

But somehow, the week that may have been the hardest in my life, was somehow also one of the best. Some things I never want to forget:

• Visits from family and friends
• Flowers and packages sent
• Phone calls and text messages
• Priesthood blessings
  
• Late night milkshake deliveries
• Reading, reading, reading to CJ in bed
• Watching Thomas the Train over and over and over and over (ok, not really grateful for that one)
• Spending our four year anniversary in the hospital and eating a delicious dinner of salmon, sweet potatoes, fresh green beans, watermelon and cheesecake--all made by my mother in law (yum)
• Having my mom just happen to pop in at every meal time with something delicious
• Watching grandparents squeeze into a tiny hospital bed to read to their grandson...and watching him smile for the first time in days
• Laying in bed and singing lullabies or telling stories
• CJ telling me, "I'm not sick anymore, Mommy. I don't need any more medicine. I'm all better now."
  
• Knowing that Soren was giggling and happy and getting love and attention from family
• Having CJ win over every nurse on every shift
  
• Watching CJ politely scream "NO THANK YOU!!!!" every time he was poked or pricked
• Soren coming to visit and destroying everything in the room while CJ just giggles
  
• Realizing just how important my family is to me
• Having Christian there and his support the entire time
  
• Leaving the hospital with CJ still needing to be carried and cuddled and tightly clutching his blanket to running in the backyard as soon as we got home and insisting on jumping on the tramp and going down the slide
  

We are healthy and happy and back home. And (fingers crossed) hours away from getting CJ's stitches and PICC line out.