last week

**to get caught up, click here**

last week was (by far) one of the most stressful, emotionally & physically exhausting weeks i've ever had. 

wednesday we had a full day of MRI and CT scans (with sedation..so no food/drink beforehand), and unfortunately, the Ronald McDonald house was full so we had to stay at the Sheraton that night.

thursday we checked out early and headed to the hospital. we were told to get there at 8:30, but were not even called back for general anesthesia until around 1 pm. my mom and carson were able to sneak down to the cafeteria to eat breakfast, but harp and i were unable to (no food/drink on the day of sedation)...so basically we had a hungry, tired 3 year old waiting for 4 hours and a stressed-out, starving 12 week pregnant mama NOT happy about the delay...until i realized it was because the OR we were booked for was being occupied by a little girl whose back surgery was taking longer than expected (8 hours)...yeah, i'm a jerk. 

anyways, as i said before, the "tumor" they were looking before was in fact a cluster of veins! we still have several appointments that we have to go back to (early September), but i'm going to enjoy the fact that we'll have a few weeks of peace before all that begins.

we had to stay thursday night for precautionary reasons (the thigh is not a great place to have surgery on! lots of muscle and veins). fortunately, my mom and carson were able to stay the night at the RM House while i stayed with harp at the hospital. he was pretty drugged up the rest of the day, but believe me, he was back to normal when he woke up friday! he was doing typical harper stuff....like hiding his mouth in the pillow when the nurse tried to give him medicine, and sitting on his hands so that she couldn't remove the IV. you know, normal stuff. 

he still isn't 100% yet, but he has managed to limp his way into trouble. by the time we got home friday afternoon, harp had already drawn on the couch with magic marker and mark ALL over my desk with a sharpie (thank goodness for google and toothpaste!). he has also spent every waking moment since driving his brother crazy. my sweet, hateful little harper. its so good to see you back to "normal".

here are a few pictures from our stay:

harp in recovery after surgery. do you see baby? :) they also gave him "frog" for being such a trooper.

the first time eating all day after surgery (around 5:30 pm). he tore that pb&j sandwich up!

harp's thigh.

just to drive the nurse crazy, he insisted on sitting in this chair instead of the bed. he was also SO upset/embarrassed that he had to wear a diaper while at the hospital. he refused to "go" in it though. stubborn. if you look closely you'll see he is picking at his wires and IV. 

carson deserves a post all to himself. he had an absolute BLAST during our time in chapel hill. he loves to put on a show for people, and quickly learned he could charm his way with all the nurses. so so so rotten. his favorite part was staying at the RM House with grandma on thursday night. i took this when i went to pick them up friday morning.

and my personal favorite...

hope everyone has a great week!