{quick news update}

Just a quick update.... Gerard had his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy yesterday and he did great! It only took 30 minutes and he was in recovery for about an hour. The doctor said his tonsils were enormous and his right tonsil in particular was 3 times the size of a normal tonsil. She said the nurses gasped when she took such a large tonsil out of such a small boy. They had to suction "snot" out of his nose -- his tonsils were so big they were blocking anything from draining, so he was living with a perpetually stuffed up nose. Poor baby!!! She told us to expect drastic changes -- better sleep, much better breathing, better attitude, and expect him to grow 3-4 inches by next school year. Crazy stuff!!!!

He was a bit confused and disoriented when he woke up and was in a little bit of pain, so that was hard to watch, but once we got home he was pretty good. They told us to give him the hydrocodone every 4 hours for the pain the first few days (even wake him at night) but I don't think he'll need it that often now. He ate and drank like a champ yesterday and slept through the night (except when we had to wake him). The hardest part of all this may well be keeping him home for 10 days! I think he'll be climbing the walls by day 4. Big Gerard is probably going to take him to see a movie on Monday, so at least he'll get out of the house.

We're very proud of him!

We're also very proud of Morgan.... she FINALLY pooped in the potty!! Hallelujah!!!!!

{omg}

***SQUEAL***

{the latest}

I hope you like the new blog banner and colors. I took a few pictures this morning before school and wanted to include them in the new banner. What do you think of Gerard's long hair? In theory he likes it (he calls it his "hockey hair") but in reality he HATES when I have to brush it. We'll see how long it lasts. Big Gerard and I think he's headed in the direction of Tim Urban from American Idol:

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It's official... Little Gerard has sleep apnea. We went back to the ENT and she scheduled his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy for March 26. He is actually pretty excited about all the positive effects of having his tonsils and adenoids out: better, more restful sleep; the ability to breathe through his nose; most likely a growth spurt (you secrete growth hormone while you sleep); more stamina for sports (since he'll be able to breathe better); etc, etc, etc. He was, however, nervous about a few things. First, he was upset at the prospect of missing school during the 10-day recovery. We took care of that by scheduling his surgery on the first day of spring break so he won't have to miss any school. (Plus Grandma and Grandpa will be here.) He is excited about the ice cream and milk shakes that he'll be drinking, but was upset when the doctor told him he had to eat lots of salty junk food like potato chips and french fries. With a sad look on his face he turned to me and said, "Do I have to eat french fries?" I don't know where he came from......

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Last week for my birthday Gerard brought home a chocolate cake. The kids hated it, as you can see here:

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I almost hate to say it out loud, but I believe winter is over!!!! Last week we were playing outside in the snow and this week it has been 50 degrees and the snow is gone! Good news for me, bad news for our backyard ice rink.

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Last weekend was the start of the US National Curling tournament. Gerard was so enthralled with curling during the Olympics that we thought we'd take him to see it in person. He seemed to enjoy it, but Morgan was more interested in running up and down the stands.

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Last but not least, Gerard had to "Tell about a time when you lost a tooth" in school. He hasn't lost any teeth yet, so this is what he wrote. (He spelled everything on his own!)

{happy birthday, dr. seuss}

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday today, the kids at school could dress up as a character from one of his books. Last year Gerard and Ashley went as Thing 1 and Thing 2. This year, Gerard was a character from Ten Apples Up On Top.

{american idol}

Since the American Idol link on an earlier post no longer works, I thought I'd share new videos of some of my favorites this season.
Crystal Bowersox: Hand In My Pocket - Performances
Didi Benami: The Way I Am - Performances
Casey James: Heaven - Performances
Andrew Garcia: Sugar, We're Going Down - Performances
Lee Dewyze: Chasing Cars - Performances

{go USA!}

Well, it turns out we could not watch the hockey game last night because we do not get MSNBC. NBC and CNBC were showing curling and ice dancing in HD, but you had to have MSNBC to watch a great hockey game? What's that about?!?!

From the highlights, it looked like the US had a pretty good game and our Ryan Miller had a great game. USA! USA! USA! USA!

{gold!}

We're all enjoying the Olympics this year. Little Gerard was hooked from the opening ceremonies and loves to watch speed skating and ski jumping. We haven't watched any hockey yet but the US plays Canada tomorrow and I'm sure he'll be very excited about that. Morgan has enjoyed watching figure skating. We were hoping she'd develop a greater interest in skating herself, but she seems content to sit on the couch and watch.

We've been keeping track of the medal count and Gerard updates our chart each night.

In honor of the Olympics and Gerard's hockey "playoffs" this weekend and next, I made gold medal cookies for the boys on his team. I am not much of a baker, so I thank Darci for putting up with all my calls and e-mails and ridiculous questions about cookies. I finally made them using THIS RECIPE for the cookies, THIS RECIPE for the icing, and pearlized gold crystals on top. I think they turned out really cute.

Go USA!