Tyler's Last Spinal Tap and a New Stroller

We dropped Dawson off at my parent's house the day before, so Tyler and I left at 5:30am and got to Children's around 7:15am. It was 9am before he was put under. Before that he cried and screamed because I wasn't allowed to feed him and he just didn't understand. Those procedure days are always so tough. He does have some happy playful moments though.

Here's a close-up of his port accessed

He was pulling at his lines a bit, maybe trying to figure out how they got back on him! I often wonder if he remembers having his central line. It seems like so long ago now, but really it's only been about 4 months!

Because of all his crying after that 10 minutes of happy playtime, he started wheezing during the procedure and his vitals dropped while we were waiting for him to wake up, so he was on close blow-by oxygen and it took a bit longer for him to wake up. He did finally give a few coughs and cleared that out of his throat. After he was awake they said he looked great and could go. I was worried that they'd want to observe him a while.

Nobody should get used to seeing their child hooked up like this! This "small" amount of wires and things doesn't even phase me now! It's pretty standard to have on until he wakes up, except the oxygen. He had heart monitors, blood pressure cuff, blood oxygen sensor, and oxygen.

After he woke up I fed him and we headed up to 8th floor to get some paperwork done with the social worker. Then we visited Abby. Tyler threw up a lot in both places. He was really affected by this spinal chemo more than last time. It took him 6 days before he stopped throwing up at least once a day.

Once we left I went and picked up my new stroller, which I found on Craigslist. It was in New Market, MN, in a southern suburb of the cities. A friend in Chicago recommended it. I've been casually looking to see what I want for a while now. So far I'm really liking it! My side by side had almost no storage and it wasn't turning well at all. This one has a ton of storage, Tyler's carseat snaps into it and Dawson isn't able to shove Tyler all the time this way. It turns well and has bigger wheels, so I'm not killing my back trying to push it across grass.

My view of baby :)

Here's how the boys roll at the grocery store

Here's what I bring into the store! Diaper bag, snack container, 2nd diaper bag with towels and outfits for if/when Tyler pukes, shopping cart cover for when Tyler panics and wants to sit up my me.

Dawson with his 3 sippies. He couldn't decide what he wanted, he wanted them all! Milk, juice and water.

Chicago Trip Day 4, Museum of Science and Industry and Going Home

Since we weren't able to make it to the museum the day before, we decided to get up super early to be there right when they opened at 9:30. I set my alarm for 7:30, but I woke up at 7, so I got up anyway and started packing. I had packed almost everything the night before and Dan loaded it into the car. All those hospital stays have fine tuned my moving and packing skills! All we had to do was grab some remaining bags that we needed for the morning, leave the playpen with the front desk for Jennie and leave. We hit some construction traffic on the way there, but still got there within 15 minutes of the museum opening. It was very interesting, I'm glad we took the extra day to see it.

Zephyr Passenger Train

Awesome ball maze thing. It did a lot, they had a boat, train and all sorts of neat things for the ball to do

Horse drawn fire truck

Kid's area, Dawson loved running around and looking at everything

Buggy

U-505 Submarine

Sub living quarters. Dawson thought the little beds were neat

Port hole

Ship Engine Piston

Real space capsule that has been to space and back. The bottom was burnt from re-entry

Tyler in the spacesuit. You might have to click the pic to see it better.

Dawson in the spacesuit

Solar powered racecar

Dawson in a train

They had a room full of a model scale sized town with mountains and everything. It was very neat to see all the detail they'd put into it. Dawson liked watching the trains.

In a trolley

We got to see the inside of an airplane and see the cockpit. So many controls and things!

After the museum we headed for home. The traffic on the way out was slow because of road construction. It took us quite a while just to get out of the Chicago area. Dan drove once we were out of Chicago and he got us all the way to Monticello! I was so relieved because I was so tired I don't know if I could've stayed awake! We stopped at Walmart for a couple things on the way back and to get something to eat, but thankfully since it was 4:30pm by the time we left Chicago, the boys were tired from playing and slept a lot. Dan was very tired by the time we got to Monticello and I somehow got my 2nd wind at the time so I finished the drive. It took us 12 hours to get back home, it was 4:30am when we got home! We unpacked only the essentials and expensive stuff and went right to bed!

Chicago Trip Day 3, Sears Tower, Playground and Pizza

We got a later start this day, we were so tired from the day before! We went to the Sears Tower, getting there was the hardest part. There was road construction and we finally found parking underground a couple blocks away, so we had to walk. Only to find out later that they had their own parking garage across the street from the tower! Figures. I was nervous going in there, I heard the elevator ride was scary but it really wasn't bad at all.

The view driving down the street. So many huge buildings!

The underground driving and parking was a bit scary, since a lot of places had crumbling sections. Many of the bridges were pretty bad too.

Sears Tower looking up at it

The view from the top

Dawson just wanted closer to the edge

Dan looking at the view

Dawson

They had a glass balcony called "the ledge" where you could walk out on and be standing over the city. It was quite a scary place, I couldn't step even a toe out there! I gave Tyler the option and he quickly crawled away. I have Dawson the option and he looked down and ran right out there!

Then he looked down, I was waiting for him to freak out, realizing he was standing on what looked like nothing!

Nope, he was loving it! He went back to looking out the sides and looking all around him.

The view looking down. I just held the camera over him!

He was getting quite comfy out there, walking around, then he was saying hi to people

 This guy sat down for a pic, so Dawson decided to join him. Thankfully the guy thought it was very funny and couldn't believe that such a little boy was out there and not afraid!

After that we had some ice cream at Baskin Robins, that was good! We don't have one here. Then we decided to find a playground to wear off some toddler energy.

Didn't take Tyler long to be tired, he's worn out pretty good for a few days after the MTX chemo.

The boys both love swinging!

Got a good view during the day too while driving. Dan was taking the pics as I drove. I did all the driving in Chicago, the drivers were horrible and Dan was more than happy to let me drive the entire time!

After the park we got some pizza across the road from the hotel. Then we went to the hotel and went swimming. Dan didn't go in, but the boys and I did. Then Dan watched the boys while I went in the hot tub. Felt so good on my sore, achy muscles from doing so much walking! They fell asleep quickly that night also.