Esme's room has had the same set-up for a while now. We took some of our Christmas week time to change it up a bit with a new desk. Here is a little view of how it looked before.
We picked up a new art desk at Michael's and she helped me assemble it.
It has a top that can tilt up to be an easel, and storage drawers underneath. We moved in the art cart from the kitchen and now all of her art supplies are confined to her room.
Not a big change, but it's more functional for all of us.
The kids got spoiled with treats this week while staying home with dad.
On Thursday night I got together for dinner with a few of the girls from high school, Brianne, Dani, and Kayla.
The kids got spoiled some more with a trip to the waterpark with Nana.
It's been 5 years since we last followed up with Parker's neurosurgeon and 7.5 years since he last had an MRI. When it was time to follow up we were still in peak Covid season and it fell off my radar. I finally got around to calling this fall and we were able to schedule him for a follow-up the day after Christmas. He was little enough the last two times that we were able to hold him for the IV placement, but he's a lot stronger these days. They were able to give him just enough gas so he wouldn't fight it and a whole group of us helped keep him calm.
They wrapped the IV in a towel so he wouldn't mess with it while we waited. We were able to walk with him in to the MRI room and I helped hold him as they gave him the sedative.
We took a walk around while we waited for them to call us back. He started to stir pretty quickly by the time we arrived. Something in his mouth was bothering him, but otherwise he seemed to do pretty good. The nurse said they had to suction some mucus after he was put out, but that shouldn't have caused an issue.
We grabbed some lunch at the cafeteria while we waited for his appointment with the neurosurgery team.
We took a walk outside to burn some more time and the irritation in his mouth seemed to increase and he actually started to dry heave some. There wasn't a whole lot we could at this point other than try to wait in a place without carpet in case he threw up. We got great news from the appointment that his scans are unchanged from 2016. It turns out his chiari may actually be considered borderline. This may explain how we were originally told about it. This means we don't have to come back again unless something changes.
His throat irritation continued and we noticed some sores on his uvula. They continues to worsen so Jimmy took him to urgent care this morning and they said it's just cold sores. It's possible that it was injured while they were suctioning mucus. It should continue to get better over the new several days.
Esme got to have a fun day with Nana, including another trip to Applebee's. This has quickly become her favorite restaurant thanks to Nana.
We haven't done much for gifts in the past since the kids get so much from others, but there was a larger gift for each of then that we wanted to get them this year. Jimmy got a gift from each of the kids, a new charging brick and Switch controllers.
Esme got a new Bible with "all of the words." She's had a kid's storybook one for a while and it was a good time to transition now that she's reading independently. Parker got his very own scooter, as you and he already knew! I forgot he watches the videos I put on YouTube so he ended up watching the doorbell camera view of his scooter being delivered over and over again. He was so excited to actually have it and you can see him riding in the video at the end of this post.
Esme's big gift was a Barie camper, complete with a 3' waterslide!
Esme was so excited when Jameson and Jaxxon arrived. They played for a bit and she ready them "The Night Before Christmas" before second round of presents.
Jayden was at his mom's side so we opened gift from great-grandma Bette while waiting for him to return. The kids got some new gloves and cash!
Jaxxon and Jameson also got some adorable holiday bears.
The boys were having a great time going up and down the stairs, but Jameson took a little tumble and bumped his head. Parker was so sweet and protective afterwards and making sure they didn't fall again.
Round 3 of presents was our "Santa" bags put together by Nana. These are always a hit!
Next we had lunch together. Parker still isn't a fan of sitting in the dining room, so I sat with him in the kitchen for a whole before joining everyone else.
Then we started our final round of presents. We tried our best to maintain the youngest to oldest order, but having two little guys running around was tricky. We were all spoiled as usual.
I was hoping to find some fun boxers for Jayden, but waited too long and there wasn't much in stores so I ended up making some fake ones from paper that we put some cash in.
We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out. Grandpa really enjoyed playing with Parker's new gravity toy.
Esme has a great time in the hot tub and eating pie! Merry Christmas!
