New Orleans and Us.

As we settle back into our routine, this week has been a whirlwind. I have been meaning to update the blog, but it has been one thing after another, making it hard to know where to start.

Sunday our family of four made our way to New Orleans. We went to church early and then took a couple hours to nap before taking our sweet Ellery to experience the aquarium for the first time. 

She called everything a goldfish and wanted to go "schwimmminnn" in every fish tank, so overall, I think she had a blast!

We spent the night at the Mizell's, the same precious place we stayed while we were waiting to bring our special little boy home from the hospital. 

Staying there brought back so many strong memories, as I took a few moments and relived some of the emotions I experienced in the early days. I became even more thankful for the time I have now with our Elam. Time to kiss him, and hold him as long as I like the night before surgery. 

We woke up at 5 AM to get ready to take our sweet boy for his third surgery. We applied lidocaine to his heels and ankles around 5:30 so the area would be numb before his tendon release procedure. 

The nurse came and took him from us right at 7 AM. They gave Ellery a paper castle and some stickers to decorate it with while we waited. Ellery entertained herself while watching Mickey Mouse, while I paced around the waiting area. 

Elam was only given local anesthesia, which was the lidocaine that we applied ourselves, for this I was thankful, but I also worried about him getting hungry, or crying his hysterical cry, the one where he forgets to breathe, on the operating table, and me not being there to comfort him. 

The nurse came out at 8, smiling and telling me he was in recovery and I could now go back to see him. 

His casts were red (to match his hair) and he was asleep. They said he did perfect through the surgery, and I kissed him as in quickly picked him up to hold him. We had to stay 30 minutes in recovery before we were allowed to leave. 

We spent the rest of the morning looking for bikes around New Orleans on Craigslist and taking Ellery to play at City Park. 

We made it home around 3 PM thankful that our next orthopedics appointment was scheduled for three weeks from now. 

Unfortunately, Wednesday morning I noticed Elam's little cast had started to slip already. The doctor had informed us that if it started to slip, even in the smallest amount, he needed to redo them, because the tendon would heal incorrectly.

So off to New Orleans I went for the second time in three days, to see doctors who know us well enough to be able schedule appointments around Elam's feeding schedule, while taking into account our 2 hour drive. This is awesome and unfortunate at the same time. It means we have been to see them far to many times in the past two months. 

Alas, we are back and praying his casts stay on for another 2 and a half weeks!