Recovery.

Carter playing with his cars in the waiting room before being admitted to the hospital on Wed.

Today is day 4 in Carters recovery from having his tonsils and adenoids removed. He has his good moments and his bad. Most of his days have been filled with bad moments with a cycle of feeling better for a few hours every six, based on pain meds. He has a permanent spot on our coach complete with several blankets, a few pillows, sippy cup, tigger, movies and usually either Mike or I to "snuggle" with. We've also set up camp for him in our bedroom because the nights have been long here as well. I'm hoping things will continue to get better and so will he. Tonsils are whole different ballgame compared to tubes and I don't think we knew what to expect at all.

Mike holding Carter after surgery. The nicest part of the room was the little personal tv.
The hardest part of all of this is seeing him in pain and having him look at you ask you to make him feel better. That hurts, as a mom, all I want to do is make it better and this is just something we have to wait out and all we can do is try to make him more comfortable. The biggest battle has been getting him to take his pain meds. Mike is much better at pinning him down and forcing him to swallow than I am, making me that much more grateful that he's been home all weekend. Last night as Mike grabbed the medicine and headed over to us on the couch, Carter began to shake his head and say "No, that's Owen's medicine." Can't blame him for trying, but sorry little man we can't share this.

Carter sleeping on the couch day 2.
He wants to be snuggled anytime he lays down, so we've been taking shifts with him. I walked downstairs yesterday to see Mike out cold and Carter watching his show. Melted my heart. Through all of this it's been nice that Carter talks more and can communicate with us about what hurts and what he needs. As we were getting settled and ready for surgery in hospital room he would tell every nurse and doctor that came in, "don't hurt me." Making me think he remembers the last two times. Yesterday he told Mike and I that the "doctor hurt me," which we then followed with a conversation telling him the doctor fixed him and he would feel better soon. Today he picked up his play phone and told me he was going to call his friend. I then heard him say, "Hi Tayson, I'm sick, I don't feel well. Doctor fix me. Bye." Mike bought some vanilla muscle milk/protein drinks and Carter actually drank one today, big progress, Carter refers to them as "candy milk." He's still not eating or drinking much, but we are trying valiantly to get him too. Hoping tomorrow he'll have more of an appetite.

In the mean time we've spent most of our time at the house. That's not normal for us and we're all going a little stir crazy. Owen is hanging in there and being mischievous at every chance he gets. But mostly he's just too stinking cute even when he is causing trouble. I do think he's enjoying playing with whatever toy he wants and not having Carter take things from him. But he really enjoys the moments when Carter is feeling well and will play and loved this morning when Mike took some time out to spend with just him wrestling in the living room. Owen is a tank and has been eating non stop. We are convinced once this whole "recovery" thing is over for Carter that Owen will weigh more than him.

Owen this morning in the car. He was one happy boy with some great bedhead in the back.