Goings On

It has been some mighty stressful weeks in the Green home, but we have made it and Carter is doing the best he has done since surgery 3 weeks ago. For a few days there we thought he would never eat again, but with some prayer, fasting, faith, and diligence he is almost back to eating just like he was before surgery. He is his normal, playful, curious self again and I love it.

Landen has been keeping us on our toes through the process. I found this in his room and a pretty decent mess in the living room after getting ready a few days ago. I knew he was making a mess, I just didn't imagine the size. He was pretty proud of the santa hat he found as you can see.

I was so blessed to have Landen as my first child. He has gotten me through some of the tougher times in the last year. He is a pain in the butt like most 2 year olds, but he makes me laugh, gives me hugs when he knows I need them, and loves to snuggle at night before bed. I love him so much and I am glad that he is part of our family!

A Week Later

This is my happy baby today. It has been a long week and I am excited to see him smiling again. He is doing much better today and is eating more and more. He still has a hard time eating baby food because it still gets in his nose and he doesn't know how to get it out. But he is hydrated. At this point that is all I care about. We saw the surgeon yesterday and he said that everything inside his mouth looked good and was healing nicely. So that is another relief. Don't mind all the slober on his chin and chest. He is trying to learn how to swallow again.

This is us with the surgeon (Dr. Kjar) right before we took the long walk with Dr. Bateman (the anesthesiologist). He is a really great doctor and we are lucky that we found him.

This is in Pre-Op getting in his "PJ's".

Not too thrilled.

This is after surgery. It is heartbreaking seeing him lay like that. He was so out it is so not like him.

We sat just like this for most of the day last week. That string on his face was his tongue stitch. It held down his tongue just in case he started bleeding and they need to stick a tube down his throat. Luckily we didn't need anything even close to that. The recovery has been long and we aren't done yet, but each day gets a little better. We have been really blessed to have great family and friends.

A Little Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that the surgery went very well. The hospital stay was kind of rough. Appearently the anesthesia and narcotics they use during and right after surgery make "breath holders" worse. There was one pretty scary incident that left me shaken for a good while after. But he did better with the breath holding as the day went on. He did pretty good eating through the night and didn't need to much morphine. He was discharged at 7:00am on Friday morning and we left around 9:00am. Friday was a really long day for Carter. He didn't eat hardly anything, spiked a fever, and didn't want me to put him down for anything. Luckily daddy was an okay snuggling partner too. He ate very little on Saturday and by Sunday he was dehydrated enough that we had to go back to the hospital for fluids. But he perked right up after getting the fluids, ate some slushy, and even drank some formula. It was great! He has been doing much better since yesterday and has been eating pretty well. Landen has really been a trouper through it all. He is such a great kid. He unfortunately got sick himself yesterday and has had a fever since. But a little Motrin is the cure and he is his normal, busy, sweet, and happy self.

Thank you so much for your prayers, thoughts, love, and support. It certainly has been a challenge, but we know we are not alone. We have been so blessed and we are grateful for the comfort of the gospel in our lives. The Savior is a powerful and loving companion to have during difficult times. I will never forget some of the blessings we have been given in the last year. Thanks again for everything you all have done. I promise to post some pictures soon.