Walter's 4th Birthday

It's hard to believe that Mr. W turned 4 years old in May.  He has filled our home with lots of joy and activity.  His hugs, sweet smile, and contagious laugh warm our hearts and we are so thankful the Lord brought him to our family.

 

Walter had his first "friends birthday party" this year.  We went to an indoor park and had a ton of fun.  Gramps and Mimi Megan made an amazing C3-PO cake that miraculously made the journey across town and arrived in one piece!  If only I could manage to get a few pictures that aren't blurry! 

 

With the cake, before the party...

Back of C3-PO

One of our tables - we had lots of help from the Mimis and Gramps and Grandma.

Walter cruising in the gym.

Shooting hoops

A little friendly competition with Mimi Erin

Noah

Parker

 

Getting a few minutes to talk in the midst of flying basketballs and zooming scooters.

Nate and Ryan



 

Dinner:  Pizza, chips, and Han Solo "frozen" at the bottom of carbonite Jell-O.

 Singing "Happy Birthday" (apparently we were loud).

Walter and Henry have been practicing their dribbling skills lately.

 

Brooke and Melanie

 

These guys were wild - no fears!

The 'rents - a rare picture together

On their way to the top of the climbing stuff.

Opening presents...

Sienna and Mary

Our kids would have stayed to play all night!  It's fun to see their friendships growing - especially when we enjoy being with the same people.  :)   We are grateful for our family and friends who pray for our kids, laugh with them, and love them! 

Paper Airplanes

 

 

The boys have made tons of paper airplanes over the last few weeks.  They were given a book on making paper airplanes, complete with cool paper and stickers.  It arrived just in time for all the rainy days that followed - "Thank you" to our thoughtful friends!   

Spring Fling 2013

We were relieved to make it home from the hospital on Wednesday evening (and have a hot meal waiting for us at Nate's parents' house) so we could be at Henry's Spring Fling Program on May 2nd.  It was hard to believe the end of the school year was just a few weeks away.  Once again, it was a fun and thoughtful program.  The grandparents have much better pictures - I'll have to ask for those and post them later.  Just for the record:  I did send Henry in clean clothes but they had chocolate (birthday) cupcakes before the program!  

 

Singing - Henry loves to sing... sometimes he did the actions for the songs,

sometimes he skipped them.

 

This was Henry's favorite part of the program - his teacher read a description of items used in their classroom and related them to spiritual truths they learned this year.  As Mrs. V.O. read each description, a student would hold that item up for the audience to see.  Henry was happy that he was assigned the pencil.  



 

I think this is when I finally cleaned my camera lens! 

Singing a counting song about fish that had some pretty flashy actions.



At this point I decided that if I got the chocolate stain out of this shirt, I should move it to Walter's side of the closet. 

The "I" in the Alphabet Poem...

...and an exclamation point!

With some of the friends he really enjoys playing with at school (J and C).

Mrs. V.O. is the best.  Isn't it great that she has a spot for the kids to put their special Lego creations?  Henry showing off some of his items - we better start saving for some sort of engineering program.

At his "spot."

 

After the program, the grandparents, Mimi Megan, and our party of three were invited to have lunch at "Grandma and Grandpa Close's house." 

Walter and Mimi Megan checking out a special book.

 

Next year we'll have a preschooler and a kindergartner!  Yikes!

 

 

Wednesday

On Wednesday morning, the Infectious Disease doctor told us that we could go home in the afternoon - yeah!  We were very grateful that the Lord brought us to Children's St. Paul because Walter received excellent care...and thankful he was ready to go home.  We were really missing Henry and anxious to see him.  During one phone conversation with Henry he said, "Boy, Walter must be having the time of his life there."  I think he pictured us on a big vacation without him!  At any rate, we were so relieved that Walter had improved and we would make it home in time for Henry's "Spring Fling" program at school on Thursday. 

The view from our hospital room.  It was beautiful weather each day we were there - until the day we left.  Jackets would have been great - but that was one thing I hadn't packed!

 Our sweet friends, sent some special gifts for Henry and Walter.  They have spent hours and hours looking through and reading these books (and making lots of paper airplanes). 

 

 Passing the time playing games and listening to music with Dad.

 

 Walter was pretty worn out and tired (Nate looks a little tired, too) and feel asleep while we waited for the doctor to visit.  He also missed a few MN Gophers athletes who stopped by to say hello. 

 The view from Walter's bed.  It's funny how you settle into a place and it starts to feel homey - it doesn't even feel strange when you wake up multiple times during the night and there are people hoovering over the bed.

We liked to walk across the hall to look out this window.  The James J. Hill house is in the upper right side of the picture. 

After lunch he was back in his street clothes.  It felt a little sad saying goodbye to Nurse Linda and room 4116...but also wonderful.  We couldn't get over the fact that the grass was green - how long were we gone?  God gave us incredible peace during this week.  We can both remember a few moments when we felt fearful/uncertain about the situation we were in but each of those moments were almost immediately replaced by His comfort and peace, trusting that God knew all of Walter's needs and had a plan for him.  We have quite a Provider!



Tuesday

On Tuesday Walter continued to improve, but all the activity from Monday seemed to have worn him out.  He got a chance to sleep in and was a little annoyed to be woken up by the doctors doing rounds.

 

 Nate and Walter sleeping in.  I really wanted to sleep late, but I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and finally gave in and started my day...At least I didn't have to wait in line for the shower. 

 

Waiting for Dad (he was getting some coffee)

 The nurses tried to get Walter out and walking - he preferred to be carried.

We finally convinced him to visit the playroom.  He loved painting and using glitter on three wooden cutouts, which he plans on making into Christmas ornaments.

Mixing colors with Dad.

 

 One of the playroom coordinators brought out a little bag of things used at the hospital.  She helped Walter tape an IV onto Dad's hand...

 

...give Dad some medicine through the IV and then wrap his arm up.  He played this for a long time and Nate was a great patient.

 

Then it was back to our room for a little snack and rest.

We had Nurse Linda for 3 days and she was wonderful.  Walter hardly said, "Boo" to her, but he thought she was great.  Each day she had a new Knock, Knock Joke for him.

 

Walter showing Nurse Linda a few games on Dad's phone. 

 

 Steamed white rice and chicken for lunch - he literally ate one grain of rice at a time.

After lunch, Mimi Megan and Grandma came to visit.  They brought a delicious meal from Cathay's (yum!!) and Mimi played a few rounds of Spot It! with Walter.  We gave Grandma and Mimi a quick tour of our hall and stopped in the playroom for the afternoon art activity...but it became obvious that Walter wasn't in the mood for art, so back to the room for a needed nap.



 

Walter ordered rice and chicken again for dinner.  We sat together and listened to the BSF lecture from the week before while he ate.

A view of the nurses station from our doorway.

 

Playing games with Dad.  Walter was so excited to be free from his IV for a few hours.

One of the goals for the day was taking the oral antibiotic instead of using the IV.  Unfortunately, this antibiotic has a terrible taste.  Nurse Linda told us that most older patients describe it's taste as "dirty socks."  In order to leave the hospital, Walter had to be able to take and keep down his medication so he was definitely motivated (he asked many times, "When can I leave here?"). 

 

Our first attempt involved mixing a pill with ice cream and chocolate syrup.  He swallowed it and then seconds later threw it up, along with dinner and everything else.  The scene was slightly comical and one Nurse Linda says she will remember for a long time.  When we asked Walter what it tasted like, he responded, "Garbage!" 

 

We took a little break before trying the liquid, grape-flavored version.  While we waited, he took his aspirin and decided he was hungry for some soup - never mind that it was 9 p.m. and the kitchen was closed.  Nurse Kristin was so king and went searching for a can of chicken noodle soup to heat up for him. 

Mimi Erin came to say, "Hello" for a little while.  She brought some Caribou Coffee treats for Nate and myself and played Spot It! with Walter while he sipped on his medicine mixed with apple juice.  Thankfully, he kept the antibiotic down!  After saying goodnight to Mimi Erin, he took a late night bath - his first bath in five days (yikes!)  - and then off to bed.