Crib Jumping

 In the mornings or after naps, if Will wakes up first, he always wants to go get Katie when she wakes up (he often peeks in her room to see if she is awake).  Once we know she is up, he will tell me that he will go get her and jump with her.

He climbs in her crib, throws all her toys out, and they jump!  They both love it - not sure who has more fun - Will, Katie or me.  I just love watching them and hearing their laughs.  You can see from the pictures how much Katie enjoys it!

"ToeToe"

 Katie has started calling Will "ToeToe".  It comes from Willito - but just the last sylable.  He responds to it!  She also has started saying "thank you" when you hand her something.  She has a bunch of words - like dog, ball, bottle, etc., but it is fun to see her have words as a response - like thank you.  They really do grow so quickly!

Snails!

 We had a big rain last week and so the snails were out!  I really don't know that I have seen snails this big before!  We had 3, and you can see how big they are in Will's hands!  Will named them Queber, Queber 2 and Gaga.  The one of the screen was Gaga.  The other two looked similar and are the ones he held.  He loved them!  We went outside to visit them occasionally throughout the day, and once the sun was out they went back into hiding.  My mom is the ultimate, non-discriminatory animal lover and would would have loved seeing these in person!

Helping Jose

 We had a sprinkler pipe repair, so Jose and Will worked together to fix it.  This may have been the highlight of Will's week.  He loves when Jose comes, and Jose always lets him help.  For this task, he even went to his truck to find a small shovel for Will. 

Showing him how to hold it

Will, admiring his work

You can see his eyes were still red here from surgery

Back to Jose's car to tackle the next item

Getting rid of the fire ants!  When Jose poured the white powder on the ant mound, Will asked "Is that snow?"

Siblings

 Will is such a good big brother.  He loves to go get Katie and "hold her hand."  Others might call this "grabbing her wrist," but she doesn't seem to mind.  She is happy to go with him almost anywhere he wants to go!

Father's Day at the Pool

 We went to the pool on Father's Day and I'm not sure Chad could have asked for anything more.  Will couldn't wait to swim with him.  "Daddy, will you be my swim buddy?"  "Daddy, will you go with me to the big pool?"  He just couldn't wait to swim.

I spent most my time with Katie at the splash park.  She went in the baby pool, but she just loves playing with all the water fountains.

drinking from the water fountains

playing peek a boo

with her float

we got a few visits from Will

But then he would be off to the slide!  He goes all by himself!

Dinner of champions!  Corndogs and fries

Little Picassos

 I got Will this little easel for his birthday, but he got so many new things at that time that I just kept this in the closet.  Will found the paintbrushes the other day and asked what they were for, so I got out the easel and paints and it was a HUGE hit!  They painted on the easel, on their feet, on their hands...really on everything.  I think this might be a regular summer pre-bath activity!

There are not many pictures of Will because his eyes were still looking really dark on Saturday when I took these.  Dark eyes with the red where it should be white looks a little different, so I chose not to post those.  His eyes are looking much better today, and tomorrow we go for his post-op visit to see how he is doing. 

Tutu

 Katie loves her tutu.  She will go and get it out of her closet and bring it for me for her to wear.  She loves it.  And I love that she does!

Will's Eye Surgery

 We woke up at 5:15am yesterday to take Will in for his eye surgery.  We told him we were going to take him to get his eye fixed, and he was eager to go. 

Here is Will giving Chad a pre-op high five.

It could not have gone smoother.  The nurses and staff were awesome.  Will seemed to enjoy every aspect of the experience except waking up from the procedure to find and IV in his foot.  That was really the only thing that bothered him.  They gave him all kind of medicine, including something to wipe his memory of the whole thing.  It worked - when we were getting ready to leave he asked when he would see Dr Stager.

Our pre-op nurse Shirely was just awesome.  She really had a great time with Will.  She let him take her vitals and was great at giving us information.  She gave Will the "silly juice" which hit him about 10 minutes later.  He went from being completely himself to having long blinks and being pretty out of it.  At one point, he way lying in bed, he looked at the ceiling and said "are we at home?"  They tell you that it will hit them all of a sudden, but it is really amazing to see it happen.

They wheeled him back in a bed, and he had no issues at all.  We sent him back with one of his blankies, and he was perfectly happy.  45 minutes later, they came to tell me and Chad that everything went well.  He had done great and we would get to see him shortly.  When we did see him, he was upset about the IV in his foot and just a little unhappy coming out of the anesthesia.  He didn't open his eyes at all.  I held him in my arms, and he fell asleep quickly - he even snored.  He woke up once and said "I don't want coffee" and then went back to sleep for a while.  After a while, he woke up, opened his eyes and we took him home to see Ahma and Bapa.  Once home, you really would not know he had surgery aside from seeing the redness of the whites of his eyes, the dilation of his eyes, and seeing his eyes cross for the first time ever.

Today, the day after surgery, his eyes are still red and crossing.  He sees double - I was handing him juice and he said "oh, two juices!" - which can lead to some disappointments!  Per his doctor, they will cross for a little bit while the muscle heals - as it will tighten and pull in the process bringing his eyes back to the center.  For me, this is hard to see - he didn't have a noticeable eye problem before the surgery, so it is hard for me to see him with the crossing now.  I look forward to the healing process and hope this does the trick for him for good!

Fake sleeping in the waiting room at the surgery center

Taking his oxygen level

listening to his heart

Will checked the nurse's vitals as well

his arm band (which Katie likes to wear as a bracelet now)

The Silly Juice starts kicking in...

In my arms in the recovery room