Surgery update and Easter...

Late Thursday afternoon I received a phone call from TCC that Fletcher was scheduled for surgery the next morning to remove and replace the port. So, Friday morning as we were loading up Fletcher, much to our surprise, we found out the surgery would be at Baptist Hospital! As you well know that's our hospital of choice and there wouldn't be any residents poking on our boy. We were elated! As far as we can tell the surgery was successful. They put another port in him which was exactly what the Nurse Practitioner DIDN'T want. Tomorrow will be the true test. Fletcher has blood work on Tuesdays so they will use the port to get the blood needed instead of sticking him. If it draws blood then were good. If not, I don't know what we'll do. Anyway, Fletcher was quite a trooper as always! He loved riding in the van and before surgery some of our sweet friends from the PICU came to visit him. He really showed off for those girls. That's one thing about Fletcher, he LOVES pretty girls! He was quite cranky after we got back to TCC but who can blame him? Not me!

On our way to the hospital

Amy and Kristin our friends from upstairs

Tired and cranky

We started our Easter activities on Saturday afternoon by coloring a couple a dozen eggs. The Easter Bunny came and hid the eggs while we slept and Maddie woke up early to find them. We went to church where we had yet another egg hunt. The youth hid the eggs in the sanctuary because it rained all day on Sunday. After church we headed up to TCC to get our boy! He was super excited to see his sisters. It was so cute watching him wave and blow them kisses! Craig and I loaded him up in the van and we went home to get ready for all of our company! Craig's family came over to help us celebrate Easter. I also invited my family and quite a few of them came. We were happy to see my niece Samantha and her son Story and my brother Brett, they came in from Houston. My sister Kim and her kids Kaleb and Kylie. My mom, another niece Chevaun and her four kiddos and husband came too. A lot more people were invited but couldn't make it. Which was bittersweet, since it rained all day Sunday we were stuck inside and my little grey house will only hold so many people. We weren't able to have an egg hunt either. And I missed my other sisters and their families! There's always next year, right?

Craig and the girls coloring eggs

Maddie finding the eggs EB hid while she slept ;)

Here we are at church minus Fletcher

Silly Maddie waiting for the church egg hunt to begin

All three of our children in their Easter duds

One of the many attempts at all five of us

Maddie and her cousin Story they hit it off well

a few of the Milgrim grandkids

Easter Sunday...

Well, we had a great Easter! Thank you so much for praying for our time together. We started our day with a egg hunt in the living room. Maddie found all the eggs that we painted on Friday night. Craig and I went and picked up Fletcher from TCC and Craig's parents took the girls to our church. We met them at the parking lot for yet another egg hunt. This time Fletcher was able to be a part of the festivities. He pretty much hated every minute of it! It was very cold on Easter, but at least it didn't rain!

Egg hunt # 1

Egg hunt #2

See what I mean!

Happy to be inside!

After church we hurried home because Fletcher eats at noon, gets a breathing treatment at noon and he has noon meds! And my family was coming for lunch at one! WOW! We had about 20 over for the afternoon and it went really well. Fletcher loved all the attention from his aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma! Maddie really enjoyed getting to play with her cousin Tanner, she hadn't seen him since Christmas so she was very excited! After we ate lunch we had another egg hunt. My brother and my big boy nephews hid the eggs. This was so special to me, my dad always hid the eggs for us when we were young, then my dad and my brother-in-laws hid them for the grand kids, now the cousins are hiding the eggs for the cousins! It was pretty sweet! We only had three kids hunting eggs which was really different for us because we usually have a ton of kids hunting! My girls took their Easter dresses off the second they got home so after everyone left I made them put them back on so I could get a picture of them together! Don't they look adorable? Kayleigh was really reluctant to wear a dress, so one of her guy friends at church showed up with a dress on over his clothes. I asked her why Preston was wearing a dress and she told me he wore it so no one would tease her, they would tease him instead. I thought that was really sweet...and funny! Everyone left around three and Fletcher took a nice nap and we all relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. We took Fletcher back to TCC around 7:30pm. All in all it was a great day!

The meds!

Happy boy!

My girls!

The egg hiders! (hunt #3)

Tanner on the hunt!

Maddie and Logan

Getting ready for Easter

Today the girls and I went to TCC for an egg hunt with Fletcher. It was fun to get to see all three of my children together! Fletcher wasn't a big fan of the whole get together. The girls and I walked him around the building for at least thirty minutes thinking that would do the trick and put him a good mood for the party. Not so much. He gets really mad when that wheelchair stops moving! And every time I got my camera out he got even madder! That boy can be such a toot sometimes! Fletcher's speech therapist, Heather can always make him smile so I did get a few pictures of him smiling, none with his sisters, though! I don't know if you can tell or not but Heather was blowing bubbles in the second picture and he was cracking up! His eyes are closed because those bubbles were getting pretty close!

Aren't they wonderful?

Bubbles...

So cute!

Tonight we went to church for the Good Friday service. We had the special treat of having communion together. I can't remember the last time I was served communion. After church we came home and colored our Easter eggs. Maddie and Kayleigh did a great job and made them all so cute and colorful. Every year I take a picture of the girls coloring eggs. When I took this picture tonight I couldn't help but feel sad. I do not and probably will not ever have a picture of all three of my kids at that very table coloring eggs together. Emotionally, I have been doing so well lately, but tonight I couldn't quit thinking about our family traditions and the ones that Fletcher doesn't get to take part in. It makes me sad. For some reason this never gets easier. Please keep us in your prayers as we bring Fletcher home Sunday. We'd like a day filled with family, love and uneventfulness!

Coloring the eggs!