The Tube is Gone

The dialysis tube is gone! 

In two weeks he can go swimming and take baths again!

Monday we spent most of the day at the hospital... including of course monkey.

Miriam went to get lunch with Daddy and returned sound asleep!  I wolfed half my lunch in the hall and then ate the rest later.  We couldn't eat around Nathan as he was beginning to get quite hungry but couldn't have anything of course before surgery at 1pm.

He had a lot of fun playing with this VERY noisy truck.  The surgeon observed that he would not want to have that toy at his house, and I totally agreed.  It had buttons for hammers, jack hammers, and other noisy tools, and was loud.  

Surgery went smoothly, we were able to come home Monday night, and he has been recovering great.  The biggest challenge has been keeping him quiet.  I have no idea how they expect a healthy, energetic two year old to take it easy for a few days.  If they really wanted him to stop climbing things and running around and all that they should have sent me home with a sedative for him!

Today we met with his wonderful kidney specialist... who said that he is doing great and that we don't need to see him again for six months.  I was surprised since we'd been on monthly meetings.  That's a big jump!  But obviously it shows how well he is doing! :)

paint it turquoise! paint it turquoise!

It wouldn't be fair to Martha to blame her for my recent spray painting spree, but I do just love this cover and since it has turquoise in it it seemed a fitting photo to kick off this post!

My husband recently bought me two cans of turquoise spray paint.  So far I have painted two lamps, two dinner plates, a glass bottle and lid, a few clothespins, a disposable diaper box with the flaps cut out (they make great storage bins, they even have handles!) and the lid to a kitchen canister.  :)

I had forgotten how relaxing it is to watch something transform with paint.

How refreshing it is to create something that will stay that way... unlike the good dinner or carefully made bed or folded laundry or clean dishes, all stacked in place.

Those things all have their own unique sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, but there is an added satisfaction, for me, in knowing that unlike many of my tasks which are done over and over and over, this will stay and look good (hopefully) and not revert to it's previous state.

 Although sometimes an undo button might not be such a bad thing, like when I accidentally did not cover quite enough of the sidewalk while painting the second lamp.  A friend suggested I spray paint it grey over the turquoise, but my husband objected that it might look as if I had covered up graffiti on our sidewalk.  I refrained from saying that technically he would be within reason to consider my spraying the sidewalk turquoise as graffiti, but I think he has enough reason to roll his eyes at my liberal use of spray paint without that, thankyouverymuch.

Anyway. Without further ado, here is one of my projects that I'm particularly pleased with.  I purchased a set of two of these lamps at a garage sale for $3 quite a while ago, and we've been using one as our office lamp.  I didn't like it, though, and I had originally planned on spray painting it all white... but then I had the turquoise... and I thought it would be really cheery and fun with it.

I have a quick tip for you if you're spray painting a lamp... if you have a dead light bulb (the one in our office lamp was dead - thank you procrastination!), then put it in/leave it in before painting.  It will save you the trouble of masking the round hole there to keep from gunking up the light bulb socket! I saved the turquoise bulb from the first lamp and used it on the second.

I love it.  :)  It makes me smile to see it, especially since I switched out the (rather staid) shade that had been on it with this funky one.  It seems to fit with the turquoise better.

Have you revamped anything lately?  :)  Do you think one can ever have too much turquoise?  And do you know of anything that needs sprayed turquoise?

'Cause I'm looking around my house persuading myself that everything I see does not need to be turquoise... or does it...

Also, if you haven't seen House of Turquoise... :)

Driving Already?

Everyone tells you that your babies will be grown up in no time flat, but I did not expect Nathan and Miriam to start driving this summer, just the same.  Call it new mama naivety.  Be that as it may, though, so far they're doing very well.

Miriam- "I'm driving!"

Except for the whole rollover incident, where Miriam was unbuckled (duh, there aren't any) and miraculously survived a rollover where she went through the windshield (well, where the windshield would be, anyway) with only a little dirt on her face.  She was unfazed.  I guess that she just expected something to happen when Nathan started pushing her around the yard.  I was surprised, though, as our yard, while not exactly a putting green, isn't hilly enough that I would have expected him to hit a bump and cause the car to roll.  Oops.  Apparently the Cozy Coupe has a very high center of gravity.

Nathan- "Smile at the camera, Miriam!"

"Bye!"

They have been having an absolute blast playing with this, and I love it.  I'm not usually into plastic toys,  but isn't this practically a classic anyway?  It was on my garage sale watch list last year, with no success, and this year I haven't made it to hardly any, but a sweet, sweet friend heard I was on the hunt for one... and dropped this one off in my yard since her kids are mostly too old for it anymore.  :)

Miriam - "uhmm, Nathan, the door is over here...?"

She also dropped off a slide and a little picnic table, so our newly picket fenced yard looks just as kid friendly and fun as it is!  Now I'm daydreaming about a kiddie pool, since I know that both my kidlets would just love one, and as hot as it is, so would I.  Plus, it would give Nathan a chance to wear his new life jacket correctly for once.  (Thank you, Stearns Flotation and MOM Magazine! Cannot wait to try it!)

this is NOT how it's designed to be worn!

Of course,we have to wait for surgery to remove his tube first... but after that?  Squirt guns and sprinklers and hitting the pool! :)  I can't wait...

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 I received the Stearns Personal Flotation Device at no charge from them and from MOM magazine through my relationship with BSM Media/MomSelect.  I was not obligated to write about it and any opinions I express are solely my own.  Also, links are affiliate links.  Also, don't let your child put a life jacket strap around their necks... in the immortal words, don't try this at home, kids.  Am I done with the small print yet?  I think so...

Enjoying Summer

Kicking off the flip flops...

Enjoying the crisp snip-snip-snip of the mower.

and soaking up the summer... that's what we've been up to lately. :)

Nathan is doing wonderfully, and we have his surgery to remove his peritoneal dialysis catheter scheduled about three weeks from now.  Then I think I'll feel more like we're back to normal!  Especially since we'll probably be able to start working him off his blood pressure medications at about the same time.  We don't have any doctor appointments for this week or next week, though, so at least we're getting back to normal. :)