Nomads

The boys and I were nomads this weekend as the tile job that was supposed to take place Friday and Saturday took place Saturday and almost all of Sunday. Between the dust, the screeching noise of the tile cutter and our inability to use the kitchen, I tried to keep them out of the house as much as possible. We spent several hours between the homes of three friends.

Oliver, of course, went with the flow, but Logan was a wreck by Sunday. Seeing the furniture all piled in our living room freaked him out. Then spending half the day in the car took its toll. I'm pretty sure we are not welcome back at the Kolache Factory on Parmer, where he pitched an attention-grabber Sunday morning before announcing his plans to walk home to see Daddy. I'm not entirely sure we're welcome back at the home of our friends R and J, where he threw himself on the floor in the hallway and cried for 30 minutes that he wanted to "go hooooome."

All of that got me thinking a little bit about kids that are displaced from their homes for more serious reasons and longer periods of time. If Logan was an utter wreck because he spent the day visiting friends, what kind of impact does it have on a child who really does lead a nomadic life? Yeah, I know this isn't news. It doesn't take much to upset me on behalf of kids.

There's not really an appropriate transition from that to pictures of our new tile, so I won't try one. The vinyl kitchen floor that has practically sent me into therapy is gone, as is the dated entryway tile (which I kind of liked, in a retro way) and our dining room carpet (which was actually in decent shape, but you can tell the portion of it that was under Logan's high chair when he was learning to eat). We took a minor risk with a color that had some red in it and it paid off, we're really happy with it.

Entryway. The carpet where it meets the tile still needs to be finished and fastened. It's a race between the guys coming back to finish it and Cricket figuring out that it's loose.

View of the kitchen from the dining room.

Happy Coming Home Day, Oliver

A year ago today, we brought Oliver home after nine weeks in the NICU. Here are some things I remember:

• How easy our pre-departure "rooming in" was. Grammy Carol stayed overnight with Logan as Larry and I took off for the hospital at about 8 PM to spend the night in one of the family rooms with Oliver. We were nervous but somehow managed to sleep a few hours each, and Oliver did really well. Truth is, it was way less stressful than the first night with Logan (in a regular hospital room), during which we realized (well, confirmed) we had no idea what we were doing.


• The sad feeling of our rooming in across the hall from the other family room, in which we had spent our last hours in private with Avery. Did they deliberately give us a different room? I don't see how they could have remembered. And yet, as with a lot of things related to Oliver, on that last NICU night it felt to me like Avery was with us. He was definitely with us.


• Our anticlimatic, in a good way, final visit with Dr. D. He was the first neonate we met, on the night we came in with two 28-week-olds trying to kick their way out, and I was really glad he was on duty to check us out. Although Oliver was on oxygen, a huge source of anxiety, our checkout was nondramatic and really fast. He said, "He's good. Treat him like a regular newborn." I privately thought, "Oh, sure, a regular newborn with a giant tank being wheeled behind him and tubing attached to his face." But as with most things, Dr. D turned out to be right.


• Our drive home, in which the oxygen tank toppled over and hit its stand with a "clang!" and almost drove me over the edge.

And of course, this: Logan Alexander meets his baby brother.

Happy coming home day, Oliver. Couldn't love you more.

Countdown

This day a year ago, my CarePage post was titled "No Rest for the Weary." It was the day Oliver's final routine ultrasound came back flagged for a possible brain bleed, and instead of making plans to take him home, we were sweating it out as the radiologists gave it a closer look. We'd crossed that off our long list of things to worry about because brain bleeds almost always occur very early on in a preemie's life. Thus, it was on this day, a year ago, that I determined one must never, ever cross anything off one's list. Turns out, as I've suspected since I was about 10, leaving it on the list vastly reduces the chances it will actually happen.

Anyway, as most of you know, the subsequent read showed there was no issue. And thus I present the last photos of Oliver in the NICU before he came home.

Kung Fu Logan

Watch Kung Fu Panda enough times and you're bound to pick up some tidbits here and there. Just hoping Ollie's first real word isn't "Master Shifu."

On the other hand, it's much, much better than watching Yo Gabba Gabba, so absolutely no complaints here.

September: It's Time to Pay the Piper

To: Parents of September 2009
From: Amy Bills
Re: Behavioral Issues
CC: Austin, Texas

Parents of September,

Please consider this note a formal request for a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss recent behavioral issues with September. Please contact my office this week to set up an appointment.

As you know, we've generally been pleased with September's behavior. Certainly, as with many months, September has exhibited the occasional behavioral aberration, and yes, in some cases they have been quite serious. This is to be expected, as no month is perfect.

However, September 2009 is showing significant warning signs that must be addressed promptly.

• Illness has swept the Bills household, leaving Baby Ollie on antibiotics and Mommy coughing.
• Said illness has infiltrated Mommy's workplace and taken down at least two other co-workers, who are publicly blaming Mommy.
• Our friend MH had a car accident today. That it was minor is not a valid excuse.
• Mommy's co-worker EG hurt his leg and is out for his entire indoor lacrosse season.
• Baby Ike is sick. We've made clear to all of the months that there is zero tolerance for this infraction.
• Baby Julian is also sick. Again: Not acceptable.

Early intervention is critical not only for September's well-being, but to ensure peer months such as October and November are not unduly influenced. We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

Throw In a Chemical Peel for Mommy and You've Got a Deal

We had a good visit this week with the cosmetic surgeon about Oliver's preauricular tags (love it! new medical terms to learn!), known more commonly as "harmless skin tags in front of his ears." There are little lumps right in front of his ears and the tragus on one ear is malformed. It's a preemie thing. Avery didn't have them, though. Will forever be mystified about how identical twins can be so unidentical.

The surgeon was very good with Ollie, who was getting fussy after a long wait. She says she can remove the tags with "hairline" scars. She is not sure about reshaping the tragus and will have to wait until she's "in there" (her words) to determine if she can reshape some cartilage or just remove the malformed part. I have spent a lot of time over the past few days staring at Ollie's ears. Ears in general are really funny looking. Go take a look!

The surgery is about 45 minutes and she can do both sides at once (I was worried we might be in for two procedures) and the recovery with stitches is only about a week. Cartilage takes longer to heal so if there is reshaping I think it's more recovery. I'm not clear how we keep him from pulling on the stitches but I'm sure specifics are forthcoming.

Now we'll try to decide when to do all of this.