day 5, with a little 6

Ish woke up TALKING!  He made a decent attempt at breakfast and even made eye contact with the morning nurse. (Prior to that, he would realize someone was coming in the room and would quickly pretend to sleep, "waking up" as soon as they walked out of the room...)

So, with more energy, we decided to take the wagon into the playroom.

Ish making his Kobe Bryant face in preparation for basketball.

After his basketball fun, he realized that there aren't many ways to play while slumped in a wagon, and we were able to see the frustration that we had been anticipating.  Which was actually a good sign - the feistiness is coming back!

The feistiness helped mean the removal of the epidural and catheter.  He had a reaction to the first oral meds but succeeded with the second, and then, like his biggest brother did once in the hospital, he drank water like crazy to prove that he didn't need IVs.  Which meant that at 5:30pm, we were discharged!

Sleeping in a real bed, with his own pillow and street clothes.

There wasn't a LOT of sleeping last night - the neighbors here in this house probably wish it had been a bit quieter between the crying and the sounds of trying-to-distract-from-pain basketball on tv - but we made it through our first night without medical professionals.  So that is something.  Now, Daddy is trying to get some sleep since he'll be the primary driver HOME today, and Ish is eating granola while watching Handy Manny.  (Did we mention that Daddy is still here?  Since the dr. didn't have to do some of the steps he had thought he might have to, we don't have to stay for a Monday appointment.  Just have to come back in  6 weeks.  So Daddy would leave the hospital to come back to this house to work, and that way he was then able to stay the whole time.  Which was a big blessing.)

Best memory so far: Last night, we were eating dinner here at the house and some kids (all between 10-12 years old) who are staying here for months came over and introduced themselves to Ish and invited him to play with them upstairs.  Because they are all in fixators, it was a seated game of hot potato!  They were so sweet to Ish, and he instantly sat up straighter in his wheel chair and enjoyed himself.  He even gave a half smile - we are so close to a smile! 

Now that we are not working in conjunction with nurses, we are getting busier - and once we get home with all the other responsibilities of life, we'll be even busier - so regular posting is not going to occur like it has this week.  So we wanted to make sure that we said thank you - thank you for praying, for caring, for emailing, for sending cards, for being part of this story.  It will be good to be home.