Christmastime Q&A !!!
Section 1 - Richard
Q - Did Richard get home for Christmas?
A - No. Richard was in a pretty bad state. Even if they would've let him out, he wouldn't have wanted to come home.
Q - Is Richard home right now?
A - Yes. I picked him up today (Tuesday Dec. 28th). However, the only reason he's at home is because the lodge does not open until tomorrow.
Q - How is Richard?
A - Horrible. The burned out lining of his bladder is driving him nuts. He's going to the bathroom about every 15-30 minutes (meaning about 5 stops on the way home from the hospital). He's on about 6 different drugs. He's weak. He can barely get around.
Q - Is Norma (his mom) coming back over here?
A - Probably on Friday so that she can hopefully stay with him at the lodge. He will definitely need help existing at the lodge.
Q - Did you record the boys opening their Santa gifts so that Richard could watch?
A - Yes, but only on the camera, not on the video camera. If you'd like to view the video, it's on Facebook. Send me a message on there and I'll direct you to it! I couldn't upload it onto Blogger, unfortunately.
Q - Did the boys have a great Christmas?
A - Yes!
Section 2 - The Boys' Christmas
Q - What are they wearing?
A - It's our little tradition to open up one gift on Christmas Eve. It's their new jammies!
Q - What are they doing?
A - Shooting and Karate chopping, of course because I have two boys.
The jammies say "Cool Like Daddy". Last year's were "Handsome Like Daddy".
Q - What's going on here?
A - The boys are seeing their gift from Santa for the very first time. Dexter is peeking through the wrapping paper to notice that it's "noo tooz". (new tools)
Q - What's going on here?
A - While I'm making coffee for the morning, the boys are opening their many little stocking stuffers: Notepads, markers, pens, candy, Bakugan, Ben 10 watches, etc.
Q - Sonja, you didn't buy Dexter a gun, did you?
A - ARG. Yes. I caved. He wanted these laser guns more than anything in the whole world. They are his gift from Mommy and Daddy.
Q - Why does Grand-Dan look so perplexed?
A - He is trying to help AJ transform his new Transformers.
Q - What is that in the background? Is that a guitar?
A - Yes. Dexter is always taking AJ's guitar. He wanted one so badly. AJ wanted that to be his gift to Dexter.
Q - Where is this taken?
A - After finishing up Christmas morning at my very own house for the first time EVER (with my dad too), I packed up the boys and headed to my mom's to finish off Christmas morning. My dad headed over to the Island to his sister's place.
Q - Who is that?
A - My brother, Paul, watching the boys open their gifts.
Q - The boys are still in their jammies?
A - That's right. I may have done my hair and make-up, but we went to mom's to finish off Christmas morning which means still in our jammies!
Q - Sonja, will you ever buy them non-matching jammies?
A - Maybe next year. Maybe next year.
Q - Wow, did Dexter get his own Leapster, just like his brother's?
A - Yes he did, from Gram and Papa. AJ's just coaching him here. (Thanks, Jared for helping me get this set up on the computer!)
Q - Wow, Sonja, they look like absolute angels here. Your house must be so peaceful all the time! How relaxing for you!
A - Okay, that's not a question... and.... no comment.
Q - Where is everyone?
A - I know, right? I think there were a few too many family members worried about giving Richard their horrible coughs and colds in case Richard came. So, they didn't come!
(We missed you Mike and Erin, Shauna and Mike, and Michelle! Thanks for coming by to see us, Uncle Len!)
Clockwise from the left
Dexter, Kim (my sister), me (if I were sitting down), Mom (who I got to sit beside for the first time ever, I think), Ken ( my step-dad), Uncle Al (who you can't actually see because he's up getting his dinner on your far right), Auntie Brenda (you can only see her hair), Jared (Kim's boyfriend), Paul (my brother), and AJ.
Q - Did Kim purposely wear a plaid shirt just to match with your kids?
A - Hee hee. No. I told her to wear it.
Q - Did Jared wear a plaid shirt just to match with Kim?
A - Hmmmm. Maybe.
Q - Do those five Transformers attach together to make one giant Transformer?
A - Youbetcha! That was AJ's gift from Mommy and Daddy.
Q - You let your son play crazy video games?
A - Ummm, yah.... no. I come downstairs to find him thinking that he's playing Call of Duty B.O. with Uncle Paul. Uncle Paul turned out okay. He's a pretty great kid. Hopefully Dexy will too.
Q - Is it just me or do they look a lot alike?
A - It's not just you. And... they don't just look alike. They act alike. Dexter IS Paul at age 3.
Section 3 - The Breakdown of Christmas
Christmas Eve
My dad comes over to spend the night and Christmas morning with us. I make those leave em' out all night cinnamon buns and some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
When putting out the carrot for Rudolph, AJ says, "Who's that for?" I say, "For Rudolph." He says, "What?! You mean Rudolph's real, like in real-life?" I say, "That's who I'm putting the carrot out for."
The boys and I had a hard time getting to sleep. So much so, that in an effort to be able to get out of his room, my late-bloomer-potty-trainer Dexter decided he would come out to alert me that he needed to do his first real poop on the potty. Sneaky bugger.
Christmas Morning
I thought the boys would wake early at 6:30am, but at 7:15am, I couldn't wait any longer and went and woke them both. Dexter had technically woken already, but not AJ.
It was great! It took the boys way longer than I anticipated to open their gifts. They just wanted to play with each thing that they opened!
I had planned on leaving the house at 10am to head to Mom's, but ended up leaving the house more like 12pm. No one seemed to mind. I told them to do as much Christmas-Morning as they wanted before I arrived.
It was really nice spending my first Christmas morning with my dad since I was about 9 years old! Thanks for coming out, Dad!
We finished gift opening at Mom's, the boys had their lunch, we put Dexter down for his nap, and lazed around a bit before getting ready for Christmas dinner. Uncle Len came out to visit before heading back to his Christmas dinner.
Christmas dinner was delicious and fun as always. Thanks everyone!
I called Richard during the day so I could ask him to open his Christmas gift from me while we were on the phone together. I had a t-shirt made for him that said "Stem Cell Transplant Survivor Since 2010" much like one I had seen on a website.
The boys and I stayed overnight until Boxing Day.
Boxing Day
It was a nice, relaxing Christmas morning at my mom's, as usual. The boys played with their toys while I puttered around getting packed up. We said our good-byes around 11:30am or so.
I still wasn't totally sure whether or not I'd be picking up Richard from the hospital this day at this point.
I ran in the door, threw all the gifts and bags into the house, packed a quick on-the-go lunch for the boys, and drove to the mall.
I always go to the mall on Boxing Day to get my More Time Moms calendar at 40% off and usually to pick up the boys' yearly ornaments that they choose themselves (but we bought ours last week instead).
I remembered the stroller, thank goodness! I had hoped Dexter would sleep at the mall since I would be running into his nap. He did not. However, BOTH boys were awesome at the mall. They really seemed happy to be out and about. It's been a lot of dreary, rainy days, so outside is outside, I guess!
I got my calendar! YAY! Last year they were out. It just about did me in! I was lost without my calendar for a whole week or so!
Usually, on Boxing Day, we go to The Joniec's house at some point (that's Richard's friend Tarrie and his wife and kids). This year it was a Christmas dinner over there. Thanks you guys! We had fun! The boys had a blast playing with all the big kids!
The 27th
Finally! A day to just relax in our own house so the boys could finally play with the rest of their new toys!
But wait! It looked like I'd need to drive out to Vancouver with the boys to pick up Richard. I had Erica, come drop off Jack for a play-date. I spent the morning cleaning up a bit, getting ready, and packing for the day to go to Vancouver to go get Richard.
Then, he said he wasn't coming home after all, but there was no sense going for a visit and bringing out all his stuff since he was probably coming home the next day. If not, I would go visit him the next day.
Erica came to pick up Jack, and she took AJ with her so the boys could go play with Jack's Christmas toys! Thanks, Erica!
That early evening, Dexter and I went over to Erica and Kevin's for a night of yummy burgers, the best coffee I've ever had in my whole life, some dancing on the Kinect, and of course, Rockband. It was a nice early dinner which meant I could get the boys home just shortly after bedtime instead of having to put them to bed over there.
I spent the rest of the night trying to clean up the Christmas-Tornado and lounging.
The 28th
Time to pick up Richard from the hospital! Mom and Ken came out to watch the boys, so I could drive to VGH to go get Richard.
As I said, he's horrible. He can barely get around. I would've driven him straight to the Cancer Lodge if it was open. Still, it was great to see him and bring him home, even just for the one day.
It was a long ride home with all the pee-stops we needed to make and prescription runs at two pharmacies to get his Morphine and 4 other drugs for stomach issues, blood pressure, and easing spasms that he's having due to the bladder issues.
Once home, Mom and Ken got a small chance to visit with Richard, but he just needed to vegetate.
Thanks Mom for bathing the boys and sticking around during dinner, it made the day a lot easier! Thanks too, for taking them for a walk in the mud. That made AJ's day and Dexter's too!
The boys got to give Richard his Christmas gifts tonight and give him some much needed hugs, but they had to be pretty gentle with him.
I'm just catching up on his laundry and then I'm about to go gather up the things he needs to add to his bags for tomorrow.
Merry Christmas everyone and thank you for all your cards and gifts. We are happy to have Richard home, even if it's only for one day.
He's in rough shape. Send him all the positive vibes you have! Or, if you like to pray, we'll take that too! Thank you, everyone!
Thanks Richard, for holding up okay by yourself at the hospital for Christmas. Sorry you were so sick. Sorry you couldn't be here.
Section 1 - Richard
Q - Did Richard get home for Christmas?
A - No. Richard was in a pretty bad state. Even if they would've let him out, he wouldn't have wanted to come home.
Q - Is Richard home right now?
A - Yes. I picked him up today (Tuesday Dec. 28th). However, the only reason he's at home is because the lodge does not open until tomorrow.
Q - How is Richard?
A - Horrible. The burned out lining of his bladder is driving him nuts. He's going to the bathroom about every 15-30 minutes (meaning about 5 stops on the way home from the hospital). He's on about 6 different drugs. He's weak. He can barely get around.
Q - Is Norma (his mom) coming back over here?
A - Probably on Friday so that she can hopefully stay with him at the lodge. He will definitely need help existing at the lodge.
Q - Did you record the boys opening their Santa gifts so that Richard could watch?
A - Yes, but only on the camera, not on the video camera. If you'd like to view the video, it's on Facebook. Send me a message on there and I'll direct you to it! I couldn't upload it onto Blogger, unfortunately.
Q - Did the boys have a great Christmas?
A - Yes!
Section 2 - The Boys' Christmas
Q - What are they wearing?
A - It's our little tradition to open up one gift on Christmas Eve. It's their new jammies!
Q - What are they doing?
A - Shooting and Karate chopping, of course because I have two boys.
The jammies say "Cool Like Daddy". Last year's were "Handsome Like Daddy".Q - What's going on here?
A - The boys are seeing their gift from Santa for the very first time. Dexter is peeking through the wrapping paper to notice that it's "noo tooz". (new tools)
Q - What's going on here?
A - While I'm making coffee for the morning, the boys are opening their many little stocking stuffers: Notepads, markers, pens, candy, Bakugan, Ben 10 watches, etc.
Q - Sonja, you didn't buy Dexter a gun, did you?
A - ARG. Yes. I caved. He wanted these laser guns more than anything in the whole world. They are his gift from Mommy and Daddy.
Q - Why does Grand-Dan look so perplexed?
A - He is trying to help AJ transform his new Transformers.
Q - What is that in the background? Is that a guitar?
A - Yes. Dexter is always taking AJ's guitar. He wanted one so badly. AJ wanted that to be his gift to Dexter.
Q - Where is this taken?
A - After finishing up Christmas morning at my very own house for the first time EVER (with my dad too), I packed up the boys and headed to my mom's to finish off Christmas morning. My dad headed over to the Island to his sister's place.
Q - Who is that?
A - My brother, Paul, watching the boys open their gifts.
Q - The boys are still in their jammies?
A - That's right. I may have done my hair and make-up, but we went to mom's to finish off Christmas morning which means still in our jammies!
Q - Sonja, will you ever buy them non-matching jammies?
A - Maybe next year. Maybe next year.
Q - Wow, did Dexter get his own Leapster, just like his brother's?
A - Yes he did, from Gram and Papa. AJ's just coaching him here. (Thanks, Jared for helping me get this set up on the computer!)
Q - Wow, Sonja, they look like absolute angels here. Your house must be so peaceful all the time! How relaxing for you!
A - Okay, that's not a question... and.... no comment.
Q - Where is everyone?
A - I know, right? I think there were a few too many family members worried about giving Richard their horrible coughs and colds in case Richard came. So, they didn't come!
(We missed you Mike and Erin, Shauna and Mike, and Michelle! Thanks for coming by to see us, Uncle Len!)
Clockwise from the left
Dexter, Kim (my sister), me (if I were sitting down), Mom (who I got to sit beside for the first time ever, I think), Ken ( my step-dad), Uncle Al (who you can't actually see because he's up getting his dinner on your far right), Auntie Brenda (you can only see her hair), Jared (Kim's boyfriend), Paul (my brother), and AJ.
Q - Did Kim purposely wear a plaid shirt just to match with your kids?
A - Hee hee. No. I told her to wear it.
Q - Did Jared wear a plaid shirt just to match with Kim?
A - Hmmmm. Maybe.
Q - Do those five Transformers attach together to make one giant Transformer?
A - Youbetcha! That was AJ's gift from Mommy and Daddy.
Q - You let your son play crazy video games?
A - Ummm, yah.... no. I come downstairs to find him thinking that he's playing Call of Duty B.O. with Uncle Paul. Uncle Paul turned out okay. He's a pretty great kid. Hopefully Dexy will too.
Q - Is it just me or do they look a lot alike?
A - It's not just you. And... they don't just look alike. They act alike. Dexter IS Paul at age 3.
Section 3 - The Breakdown of Christmas
Christmas Eve
My dad comes over to spend the night and Christmas morning with us. I make those leave em' out all night cinnamon buns and some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
When putting out the carrot for Rudolph, AJ says, "Who's that for?" I say, "For Rudolph." He says, "What?! You mean Rudolph's real, like in real-life?" I say, "That's who I'm putting the carrot out for."
The boys and I had a hard time getting to sleep. So much so, that in an effort to be able to get out of his room, my late-bloomer-potty-trainer Dexter decided he would come out to alert me that he needed to do his first real poop on the potty. Sneaky bugger.
Christmas Morning
I thought the boys would wake early at 6:30am, but at 7:15am, I couldn't wait any longer and went and woke them both. Dexter had technically woken already, but not AJ.
It was great! It took the boys way longer than I anticipated to open their gifts. They just wanted to play with each thing that they opened!
I had planned on leaving the house at 10am to head to Mom's, but ended up leaving the house more like 12pm. No one seemed to mind. I told them to do as much Christmas-Morning as they wanted before I arrived.
It was really nice spending my first Christmas morning with my dad since I was about 9 years old! Thanks for coming out, Dad!
We finished gift opening at Mom's, the boys had their lunch, we put Dexter down for his nap, and lazed around a bit before getting ready for Christmas dinner. Uncle Len came out to visit before heading back to his Christmas dinner.
Christmas dinner was delicious and fun as always. Thanks everyone!
I called Richard during the day so I could ask him to open his Christmas gift from me while we were on the phone together. I had a t-shirt made for him that said "Stem Cell Transplant Survivor Since 2010" much like one I had seen on a website.
The boys and I stayed overnight until Boxing Day.
Boxing Day
It was a nice, relaxing Christmas morning at my mom's, as usual. The boys played with their toys while I puttered around getting packed up. We said our good-byes around 11:30am or so.
I still wasn't totally sure whether or not I'd be picking up Richard from the hospital this day at this point.
I ran in the door, threw all the gifts and bags into the house, packed a quick on-the-go lunch for the boys, and drove to the mall.
I always go to the mall on Boxing Day to get my More Time Moms calendar at 40% off and usually to pick up the boys' yearly ornaments that they choose themselves (but we bought ours last week instead).
I remembered the stroller, thank goodness! I had hoped Dexter would sleep at the mall since I would be running into his nap. He did not. However, BOTH boys were awesome at the mall. They really seemed happy to be out and about. It's been a lot of dreary, rainy days, so outside is outside, I guess!
I got my calendar! YAY! Last year they were out. It just about did me in! I was lost without my calendar for a whole week or so!
Usually, on Boxing Day, we go to The Joniec's house at some point (that's Richard's friend Tarrie and his wife and kids). This year it was a Christmas dinner over there. Thanks you guys! We had fun! The boys had a blast playing with all the big kids!
The 27th
Finally! A day to just relax in our own house so the boys could finally play with the rest of their new toys!
But wait! It looked like I'd need to drive out to Vancouver with the boys to pick up Richard. I had Erica, come drop off Jack for a play-date. I spent the morning cleaning up a bit, getting ready, and packing for the day to go to Vancouver to go get Richard.
Then, he said he wasn't coming home after all, but there was no sense going for a visit and bringing out all his stuff since he was probably coming home the next day. If not, I would go visit him the next day.
Erica came to pick up Jack, and she took AJ with her so the boys could go play with Jack's Christmas toys! Thanks, Erica!
That early evening, Dexter and I went over to Erica and Kevin's for a night of yummy burgers, the best coffee I've ever had in my whole life, some dancing on the Kinect, and of course, Rockband. It was a nice early dinner which meant I could get the boys home just shortly after bedtime instead of having to put them to bed over there.
I spent the rest of the night trying to clean up the Christmas-Tornado and lounging.
The 28th
Time to pick up Richard from the hospital! Mom and Ken came out to watch the boys, so I could drive to VGH to go get Richard.
As I said, he's horrible. He can barely get around. I would've driven him straight to the Cancer Lodge if it was open. Still, it was great to see him and bring him home, even just for the one day.
It was a long ride home with all the pee-stops we needed to make and prescription runs at two pharmacies to get his Morphine and 4 other drugs for stomach issues, blood pressure, and easing spasms that he's having due to the bladder issues.
Once home, Mom and Ken got a small chance to visit with Richard, but he just needed to vegetate.
Thanks Mom for bathing the boys and sticking around during dinner, it made the day a lot easier! Thanks too, for taking them for a walk in the mud. That made AJ's day and Dexter's too!
The boys got to give Richard his Christmas gifts tonight and give him some much needed hugs, but they had to be pretty gentle with him.
I'm just catching up on his laundry and then I'm about to go gather up the things he needs to add to his bags for tomorrow.
Merry Christmas everyone and thank you for all your cards and gifts. We are happy to have Richard home, even if it's only for one day.
He's in rough shape. Send him all the positive vibes you have! Or, if you like to pray, we'll take that too! Thank you, everyone!
Thanks Richard, for holding up okay by yourself at the hospital for Christmas. Sorry you were so sick. Sorry you couldn't be here.
4 comments:
Sonja - have you heard it recently that you really are a Super Mom / Wife / Person? I am sure you hear it daily so let me join in the cheer.
Your commitment to keep everything normal for the boys must be exhausting. - but I imagine when Richard is better they will all be the better for it.
If you ever need a pit stop on the way home after the port mann bridge our bathroom is clean!
Thanks, Tassi!
Loved the Q and A but you missed a crucial query: Paul? Wife beater? Christmas dinner? mmmkay
E.
I was so going to write about that!
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