They are out!!!!!

The stitches are out!!!! And I am quite certain that everybody across this country heard those screams around 10:15am this morning. Phew! At least it is over now. Poor girl! I know it was very traumatic for her. On the car ride over there she was quietly sitting in the back seat playing her Nintendo DS. Every once in a while, she would say something like, "Mommy, I'm a little bit scared, but also a little bit ready to get them out." She was just so sweet. I could tell how nervous she was, and she had every right to be nervous after the horrible experience she had last year with it, but she did very well until they called her name to go back. That was when she started crying. And there was a waiting room filled with people, too. Rob stayed in the waiting room with Ethan and just me and Emily went back. Dr. Canady came in first to examine her and she was very pleased with how she is doing and then she left so the nurse could do the dirty work. Emily sat on my lap facing me and I helped hold her steady while the nurse pulled and clipped the stitches. Emily screamed in my ear the entire time. The knots on the ends were a little embedded and the nurse had to get the doctor to come help pull them out to clip them. In all, it actually went pretty well (again, compared to last year) and then we were on our way.

We headed downstairs and the kids wanted to throw some coins in the fountain and make a few wishes. Then we ate lunch in the cafeteria using our meal tickets that we had. The kids were cracking us up because they were saying it was the best food they had ever eaten. Wow, their standards aren't high, are they?

Starting tomorrow, Emily will get to WASH HER HAIR!!!!!!! This is huge! We also got to take her hair down out of the ponytail for the first time tonight since her surgery. Other than the few times we have improvised when we cleaned the blood from surgery out of her ponytail by dipping it a bowl of water, and when we used a ton of detangle spray to get the knots out of her hair when it was matted up, her hair hasn't been truly clean since the night before she had the first surgery. When she went to bed tonight, we were able to keep her hair down since she doesn't have stitches in anymore. I was rubbing her head and I told her that it felt so good to be able to rub her head. I asked her if it felt good to have her hair down. She said, "I feel totally normal...like I didn't even have brain surgery at all." I thought that was just so sweet and so cute. She grabbed my arm and pulled me down to give her a great big bear hug goodnight and then told me that she loved me.

And I have a funny story to share. Emily often wants something to drink at night. And because she doesn't want to spill her drink, she has always used a sippy cup at night because those are the only totally spill proof cups we have. Well, tonight when she asked me if I would bring her some water, I suggested that she just go get a drink and get back in bed. She then told me to just bring her a sippy. I said, "You know, Emily. I wonder when you are going to outgrow those toddler sippy cups?" Her reply to me was, "I wonder why they don't make Hannah Montana sippy cups!" I laughed then and told her that it was because 2 year olds don't watch Hannah Montana and that sippy cups were really meant for 2 year olds. She told me that she didn't care because it wasn't like she was using it out places. She was only using it at night so her water didn't spill AND the cups keep her water cold. The girl does have some logic. How can I argue with her on those points. And let's face it. Sippy cups are way cheaper than those insulated spill proof cups they make for adults. So here is the even funnier part to the story. Immediately when I left her room after I dropped off her SIPPY CUP of ice water, I went to kiss Ethan goodnight. I told him the story about the sippy cup fiasco. In true Ethan nature to take up and care for his sister, he decided that she COULD have a Hannah Montana sippy cup. Tomorrow he is going to get her some stickers and help her put HM stickers on her sippy so she can have it like she wants it. I didn't have the heart to tell him that as soon as I put it in the dishwasher, those stickers will start to peel right off.