Sledding

Well we bundled Nik up like the little brother on "The Christmas Story" and just like that kid he didn't like it to much. But here we are sledding down a side street.

First Christmas

On Christmas Eve we opened the box from the Bridgman Clan in Washington and Nik was very excited. Lots and Lots of Books, Arthur was pulling them out and I was showing Nik each book and they just kept on coming it was great, I think we have enough books until he has to start school. He loves to play school too (mom taught me this) I will sit him down and he will look at the pictures and point at things he is familiar with. Great-Grandparents B sent a book with cars and trucks and when we got to the picture of an ambulance and a doctor he pointed to the doctor, what a super smart kid.

He likes this little mouse.

On Christmas day he opened a few more packages, Great-Grandparents Nelson in Colorado sent some outfits and a cute little tux, I can't wait to get him into it. I also wrapped a few of the books that he had received earlier in the last weeks.

First Snow

Baby Nik's first snow started on Dec. 26th and it hasn't stopped snowing, these pictures were taken on the first day.

He enjoys seeing the white stuff, the kids are sledding on the streets so perhaps today we will take him out and do a little sledding ourselves.

Book Lover

Nik loves his books, I have put them in a box for him and he will get them out himself and look through them. He even has the ability to lift the flaps in the flap books, but I have to really watch him because he will try to pick the book up by the flap and he has already partially torn one. Tim and Rhonda sent the book above about kisses and Jeanie sent a book that counts ladybugs and he likes anything he can feel or touch. Although yesterday I caught him trying to eat one of his smaller books, so perhaps they should create children books that have eatable paper that taste like chocolate or berries, YUM. He follows me in his love of books, I love this kid and everyone is right the surgery didn't slow him down one bit. In fact he came out of it talking more and more, I guess being around other children got him interested in speaking more.

Caleb's Dance Partner

If Caleb needs someone else to dance with, Nik will be more than happy to join in. You can tell if he doesn't like a song because he won't dance to it or wave his arms around.

Xronia Polla

MANY YEARS

Today is St. Nikolaos day, perhaps Eric and Jon will remember when we lived in Germany and Mom used to fill our shoes with sweets or switches depending on whether we were good or not, well today is the day. In Greece they celebrate their "name days" more than their "birth days", which makes it easier on wishing people Xronia Polla, or basically many years, because hey you just have to remember your friends name, pretty easy.
So Nik will get a few presents today a book from G-Pa and Ge-Ge and a wooden toy from me. Pictures to follow.

Happy Boy, Happy Meal

HELLO!

Here we are at McDonald's, for babies first try at a high chair and a happy meal. His favorite thing is to point at everything from people to things that he sees, including mom and dad.

Mmmmmm.... what should I order, well he had the chicken nugget meal and did a real good job at eating the chicken he also enjoyed some fries and some of dad's cheeseburger and mom's strawberry milkshake.
His appetite has only improved since the operation, he likes to eat just like his mom and dad.
Did I tell you how sunny it was, we didn't see the sun the whole entire time we were up there and on the day that we left it shone so brightly that we were all blinded by it. I guess the Greek Gods were also excited to see Nik leave the hospital and go home.

Hospital Photos

We have just arrived and already both inside elbows have been prodded looking for blood, but as long as he gets to listen to Guns and Roses he is okay.

Hey Mom, I can push my own drip system.

He pulled out both needles placed in both of his hands so next they will put one in his foot, but this doesn't slow him down.

No room for mom in the crib.

After surgery and already trying to figure out how to get these darn tubes out of his hands.

I'm exhausted, but he's just fine.

Happy boy, all tubing has now exited his body.

Either he is happy chewing on my chap stick or he is still drugged.

Happy Boy

We have a very strong and happy boy on our hands, he's giggling and waving at everyone, he loves all of the action and attention. He is now free of all tubing and eating solids. He is already up and walking even with 12 stitches in his belly, I remember when I had my cesarean I didn't want to move and this kid was kicking at the heels to get up and get going. In fact this is why he is drip free he started walking around and Arthur couldn't stop him and the needle was on his foot and it kind of dislodged and made things a little bloody, so it came out. The nurses were going to put another one on but I spoke to a doctor and they decided not to and instead gave us some kid medicine in case he gets any pains since they can't administer it via the drip fluid.
We may be going home this Friday or Saturday, so we are checking out of the hotel tomorrow in hopes of it being Friday. All they have to do is remove the staples and we are off.

Greek Hospitals

Everything is going well, thank you for your prayers. Today baby got to finally drink some milk and this has made him less cranky but I think anyone would understand if they went on a five day fast. He is also sleeping better now with a little milk in his belly, I just left Arthur at the hospital while I sleep from 1am to 8am. Arthur and I are now splitting hospital duty and spending time at a hotel. We had a hospital room with an extra bed to ourselves for a few days and that was nice but yesterday they put another family in there and now you have to sleep in the chair making it very uncomfortable so we are staying at a nearby hotel and they made a good price for us. I don't know what American hospitals are like but Greek ones are crowded especially at the first of the month, the children's ward has more than tripled in residence size since Monday. Last week there were only about a dozen kids up there and for some reason they squeezed us all into 3 rooms. This isn't very fun especially with small children who wake up at different times of the night because if one kid wakes up then they all wake up and then your kid wakes up and wakes up all of the others.
One night there was one little boy that wouldn't stop crying and he woke up 2 times so on the third time I didn't even open my eyes and I could hear his mother shushing him and finally I open my eyes to find that the crying was Nik and he was standing up in his crib (prior to operation) looking at me like "why aren't you coming" I felt so bad but I seriously had thought it was the other kid. So we are lacking some serious sleep so I will write more later I'm off to see if I can fall asleep.