Ayden update, and other things

this is, as always, copied straight from facebook. I'm sorry I'm so late with the update, I've been busy:

Just a small update. I was only at the hospital for an hour so I didn't get a chance to talk a ton about what's going on. Things are pretty much the same though, as far as I can tell.

As you may remember, Ayden's pic line was accidentally pulled out by the genetics doc last week. They finally got around to putting a new one in. Well, it's a central line which is practically the same thing but I think it goes in through the chest or something. It serves the same purpose though.

He was on the vent during and a little after his surgery, but they didn't have any trouble getting him off of it. Amanda says he was looking better before his surgery, but regardless, he still looks better than even last week. She says he weighs almost 6 pounds now. Although I think some of it is because they had him on a bunch of fluids.

He slept the entire time I was there, but apparently yesterday he spent all day crying because he's in pain. They don't have him on any pain killers, which is tough because I hate for him to be in pain. But, they were also keeping him from breathing on his own. So I guess they're just doing their best to keep him comfy with out doping him up. Like I said, he slept the whole time I was there, so perhaps he was feeling better.

Right now they're still in the critical care unit, but only for observation. Apparently he had been moved up a floor, and will be moved back as soon as they deem him well enough to move.

I wish I had gotten a chance to talk more about how things are going with his brain, but Alex and Evan (well, mostly Alex) kept me busy running around and what not. I was given the impression things are about the same though. They're obviously not getting worse.

That's about all I have now. More updates come as I get more info, of course.

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As far as moving goes, it actually went pretty decently. It did rain most of the day, but we somehow got moved mostly in a small window when it wasn't pouring. (it sprinkled some, but nothing that was unbearable.) Several of our friends came to help us, and I couldn't be more thankful! We got the whole 17 foot Uhaul unloaded in around an hour. Then it only took another half hour or so to unload the cars. Hauling that crap up a flight of stairs was a pain though! I was sore for several days after.

We've been here a week now and things are going well so far. We have most everything set up at this point, although we've not had a chance to take boxes down to the dumpster (which I'm hoping to do today.) Aaron has a bunch of books in boxes in the living room, but he can't really do anything with them until he gets some shelves. I need to tidy some things in my closet and then put away our dvds. Well, Mike will be handling that task since he organizes them alphabetically. I have no patience for that. If it were me I'd just throw them on the shelf and call it a day.

We've met I think 3 of our neighbors. I'm beginning to think our building isn't completely occupied, either that or our neighbors don't leave the house. Either way, it's not been bad. Our building is set up so that our apartments only back up to each other on non-living spaces (like closets and bathrooms.) When you're in the lobby you can hear people's tvs or what not, but once you're inside I usually don't hear anything. I've been worrying about being too loud but no one has knocked on the door or complained, so I'm glad about that. That's the one thing I hate about living upstairs. Although we're thinking now that no one even lives below us (although if that were true you'd think they'd have given us the bottom apartment.)

Actually the only complaint I have so far is the stupid birds that wake me up in the morning. There are several trees that sit out in front of our buildings (which is nice for shade.) But those damn birds start chirping as soon as the sun comes out. THEN some of them actually latch onto our screen and try to pull it apart. I guess to try to make nests out of the mesh? I don't know. But it's annoying. The maintenance people have already had to come and replace our screen since it had HUGE holes in it when we first moved in. (now I know why) Any tips on deterring birds from annoying the piss out of you at 6:54 in the morning?

I cannot properly put into words how glad I am that we're living back in New Albany now. I don't have to wake up as early, or leave the house as early, and there is essentially no traffic in the mornings. Well, unless there's a wreck or something. Plus I'm already saving a ton on gas. I only used 3/4 of a tank of gas this week instead of a whole tank. I'm actually saving about 14 miles of driving per day, which is a whopping 70 miles per week!! I guess it never dawned on me just how much time I spent driving. My commute is now much shorter. It's only 20 minutes from home to work now. Getting to work from Georgetown was 35 minutes or more with traffic. All in all, I'm quite pleased.

I can tell that Mike's disposition has gotten better since getting everything moved and set up. He's been much more pleasant this week as opposed to last week, with the exception of one night this week when he got upset about something. But we worked it out. :) I feel like he's actually more optimistic for the first time in a long time. We're so much closer to our friends now, so we've had people over almost every night this week. Being closer to friends, having our own space, and not having to drive 900 miles to run a simple errand are definitely things to be happy about.

Anywho, that's about all I have to share at the moment. Gonna go back to listening to Bluegrass music and maybe start cleaning.

oh, and Happy (early) mother's day!