At the hospital...

As I sat at the hospital watching my poor Dad suffer I quickly realized there's really never an exciting reason to be in the hospital unless you are giving birth. Of course, both times I have been in the hospital it was for a joyous reason.. I am thankful that my children and husband (Mike has had surgery, but it was before my time) are healthy and that none of us have really "suffered" the way that my Dad has been today. It's so hard to sit by and watch someone you love be so miserable. His surgery yesterday went well and he was in pretty good spirits when we finally got to see him at 3:15. The night brought on new issues and those good spirits turned into grumpy, frustrated feelings. He is extremely nauseated from the pain medicine and he cannot eat anything. The sight of food is enough to make him gag. They have also given him medicine to help his bladder start working properly again. My prayers are that the nurses will not have to cath him again because I know it is painful. I am thankful that he has another night in the hospital.. I am not sure how we would have gotten him in the car and into the house with the pain level as high as it is. I pray that he will become more comfortable during the night and that he will feel better in the morning. Please let this surgery not be in vain..

As for the girls... Santa brought Maggie's tooth a little late. We took some pictures of her on Monday and it was a good thing I didn't wait a day longer because the skin finally broke around her new tooth on Tuesday while she was at school. It's amazing how fast they grow once they get past the skin.. You can tell a difference today.. Maggie is very excited to have her new tooth.

Molly...well she's her typical self. Constantly starting arguments with her sister and you can always find her with one hand on the gumball machine. I cannot tell you how many pieces she swallows in a days time. Why can't I convince her that she cannot swallow it?? She taught Mike a valuable lesson last night. She had been rotten all afternoon and while she was in the tub, he fussed at her and told her he wasn't proud of her actions. Maggie of course asked if he was proud of her and he instantly started bragging on her behavior. Molly stood up and let Mike begin to wash her and she said "Daddy, are you proud of me now"? For Molly it is so important to be praised. It really crushes her spirits when she thinks you are upset with her. She is very defiant, but deep down she really only wants to do things her way in hopes that in the end you will be pleased with her. Words can be so damaging to their sweet little egos and so often it's little things that fly out of our mouths that we didn't give a second thought to that stabs them the deepest. If I could change one thing about myself, I would learn to be better at positive reinforcement. It is so easy for me to point out all of the negatives, but that's not what they need to hear from me. Deep down they already know the bad things.