Second First Halloween

I'm stealing P's post title because I like it!

We are starting a season of second "first" holidays.  Dylan was only 3 weeks old at this date last year.  He was still right around two pounds, or about 900 grams.  I had a little Halloween preemie onesie that I laid on top of him at one point.  It would have been huge.  Halloween wasn't tough in the "holiday" sense since Dylan was in very serious condition at this point.  He needed to be in the hospital and it barely registered that it was in fact Halloween.  I don't remember being jealous of baby or pumpking patch pictures.  I was too busy.

But as I was reading P's post, I realized what was actually happening on Halloween last year.  Dylan had his PDA Ligation.  That's the surgery where they close put a clamp on the PDA valve between the heart and lungs.  It's supposed to close at birth, but does not in the case of many preemies.  He wasn't eligible for the medicine to close it because he was also have bowel issues.

I remember sitting next to his isolette in the brand new private room in the new NICU that had opened the day earlier.  I remember telling him to be brave and that I loved him.  And it seriously chokes me up to think back on it.

During his surgery I sat outside by a fountain and cried.  I'm not sure exactly why I was by myself, but I was and it was probably easier that way.  I never thought anything bad would happen, I really didn't.  I was just so sad for him and for us.  This wasn't something any of us should be having to go through.

The surgery went very well although it took longer than we expected to recover.  Today was the beginning of a turning point last year.  About 8 days later, Dylan finally got off the ventilator which was when we first got to start imagining bringing him home.  At this early stage, I didn't even plan a shower or finish the nursery.  We weren't sure if he would make it and wanted to protect ourselves and not jinx anything.

I'm glad that I forgot about what today marks.  I was too busy preparing my Katniss costume and texting the nanny for pictures of Dylan in his second costume.  The one I saw at Target last night and just had to have.

And now for the pictures of my 14 pound larger, breathing on his own, fully mobile Cowboy Monster!

7 Minute Blogging

Otherwise titled "Why I don't have time to blog."

And it's not because I have a pre-toddler almost toddling around.

This is how my day looked.

6:45 - Leave for work. Almost late, but not quite.

7:30-2:30 - Teach kids.

2:30-3:30- Grade kids' writing while other kids help grade vocab notebooks. (it never ends...never...never...)

4:00 - Pick Dylan up from nice grandmotherly lady who is watching him until Nanny #2 starts late next week.  Yep.  Nanny #1 bit the dust.  That's a story for another blog entry.

4:30 - Thankfully take the wrong way home and pass Rubio's.  (If you're not from a state that has Rubio's, definitely get a fish taco when you're in the West!)  Get a very early fish taco since I'm hungry. So fortunate since I would not have another chance to eat for 3 hours and it probably would have been a frozen burrito.  Or cereal.

4:45-7:20 - Eat. Play. Try to get Dylan to eat. Try to keep Stella from hurting Dylan (also a story for later). Try to get Dylan to sleep without lots of crying.

7:20 - SUCCESS!  Dylan literally cried for one minute.

7:22 - Shower so as to look presentable for kids tomorrow.  Been relying on dry shampoo far too often as of late.

8:00 - Eat ice cream and drink wine and watch Revenge. (This was the original blogging slot, but wine and ice cream won out.) Trying to make sure I keep energy enough to pack Dylan for his "nanny" tomorrow since I'm single-parenting tonight.

9:00 - Wash bottles and pack Dylan's food and milk for tomorrow.

9:53 - Decide that you really do actually want to write that blog entry...before feeding Dylan again at 10.

It's 10:04 now, so I'm a little late, but this is my life (at least when I'm single-parenting).  By the way, single-parenting is no joke.  Thankfully, I usually only have 1 or 2 days at a time.  I know many moms who have weeks at a time and a few that are always single parents.  I cannot imagine how hard it is, but RESPECT ladies!

Ok 10:05.  I really do plan to blog much more.  It's just that I keep assigning these damn writing assignments so that my kiddos learn to write before they leave high school and then I have to grade all of the damn assignments and then I have no time beyond reading them and raising my son to write this blog!  Maybe I should spend less time at my other two jobs.  Just kidding.

To be continued...

And pictures of my cruising pre-toddler:

(Ack!  I edited a bit and now it's 10:16...ok, 23 minute blogging.)  

Pumpkin Patch!

I want to blog SO BAD! I write posts constantly in my head.  But I just don't have enough free computer time at the moment...

So I will just post some pictures.  Enjoy : )