Just because

It's been a while since I posted anything so I thought I would just because. Life has been pretty mellow. Which for the moment is a very good thing! Bella is doing great. She's smiling and laughing and cooing. She's just the greatest thing since sliced bread. I love going into her room when she wakes up because she gives me the biggest grin. It reassures me that "yes!" she does love me. This is the third day in a row that she has napped during the day. it's absolutely wonderful!

Yesterday we went to Portland and ate at Boulangerie Saint Honoree. It was delicious. It's a little french bakery off of 23rd and Thurman. It's definitely a must. We had a good time. We just strolled along 23rd and looked at the different shops. It was a nice day.

Joe is getting ready for this year of school to be over. He graduates in Dec. I just found out about 30 mins. ago that we're moving to San Francisco in June 2010. Pretty crazy eh? It's a one year internship with technology program at Wells Fargo in the financial district downtown. I have never had the desire to live in CA, especially not San Fran but, I figure it's only a year and who knows maybe the San Francisco opera needs a soprano. Plus, Joe promised me that we would go to France that summer. How could I pass that up!

Well this is then next day that I'm finishing this post...just when I thought Bella had finally slipped into a sleeping pattern today happened...

I tried giving her her meds this morning and she threw up all over her room. I meant shot voit across the span of her bedroom. Ever since then she has been crying. I took her to the doctor and she's fine (thankfully) but leaves me with no reason as too why she cried from 3pm to 10pm today. To top it all off, Joe came home saw how tired and completely frustrated I was, decided to go play PS2 with his brother. Beautiful! I just wish Bella would sleep! I don't know what to do!!! Any pointers????

Okay venting accomplished...on a side note I snagged a really cute pair of flats. They're a rosy metallic color. Very swanky. It's amazing what a pair of shoes can do for your morale

I go back to work the first week of Feb. and am so not ready. The thought actually makes me nauseaous. I love teaching but, I'm just not ready to try and be two people. It's exhausting enough trying to be a good mom. Now I have to worry about being a good teacher. Sometimes I wish simplifying life were as easy as snapping your fingers. In a perfect world neither of us would have to work and we'd have all the time in the world to spend as a family traveling the world and eating really good food. I'm itching to get out of Vancouver for a while. Hawaii isn't coming soon enough. Well now that I sound like an ungrateful shrew, I should try and get some sleep. Here's a few pictures of Bella. I got this whole outfit for 1o bucks at Spanky's. Her jeans say:Je t'aime (I love you in french) but you can't see it.

She's getting so big. She can already hold her head up

Her smile is my absolute favorite

She's laughing in this one

She's saying "ah-goo"

Bella's Surgery

Bella has been out of surgery for two hours now. Dr. Skoog said everything went beautifully. They were able to drain the cyst and she has a catheter in for now to keep draining it. We get to go home tomorrow. I was so surprised when we went in to the recovery room. I expected her to be all groggy and drowsy...not my bambina...she was wide awake and MAD!!! She was so hungry. Everytime they gave her a binkie she would spit it out and scream. When she saw me she stopped crying and started cooing. I almost started crying. I held it together because I am so tired of crying! She's doing great! She ate and is now sound asleep.

The next plan of action is to keep her on meds (oral not IV) and come back in a month for an ultrasound to see if her kidneys are still draining properly and that the left one has improved. As long as she is fever and infection free we can hold off on the next surgery until she's 12-18 mos. we're hoping and praying that will be the case. Thanks for all your prayers and positive encouragement it really means a lot!

Bella's Surgery

Bella has been out of surgery for two hours now. Dr. Skoog said everything went beautifully. They were able to drain the cyst and she has a catheter in for now to keep draining it. We get to go home tomorrow. I was so surprised when we went in to the recovery room. I expected her to be all groggy and drowsy...not my bambina...she was wide awake and MAD!!! She was so hungry. Everytime they gave her a binkie she would spit it out and scream. When she saw me she stopped crying and started cooing. I almost started crying. I held it together because I am so tired of crying! She's doing great! She ate and is now sound asleep.

The next plan of action is to keep her on meds (oral not IV) and come back in a month for an ultrasound to see if her kidneys are still draining properly and that the left one has improved. As long as she is fever and infection free we can hold off on the next surgery until she's 12-18 mos. we're hoping and praying that will be the case. Thanks for all your prayers and positive encouragement it really means a lot!

the latest

So, Bella is doing really well. Her body seems to be responding to this antibiotic pretty well.
She's scheduled to have surgery on Monday and if all goes well we get to come home Tuesday. She's growing so fast! She's been smiling a ton and "talking" meaning cooing and aahing and every once and a while she'll let out a squeal! It's so cute. This morning at around 3am she woke up! I begrudgingly pulled myself off the sofa and went to her crib hoping to get her back to sleep...when I peeked over her she met me with the biggest smile and a squeal it was so cute. My bad mood instantly vanished. A good reminder that she's the most precious thing in the whole wide world!

We're back...

So, being at home didn't last long. As soon as Bella took the new antibitoic she started violently vomiting all over. I've never seen anyone vomit across the room like she did. It scared me to . I freaked out and called theh hospital they rushed us back to Doernbecher's. It's looking like we're going to be here for a while this time. We'll know more in the morning. I absolutely this. It took so long to get an IV started in her. They had to call in 3 different teams of doctors. Bella was screaming so loud and crying so hard that she was purple and no sound was coming out. I just held her little fingers and bawled with her. Even the nurse was having a hard time standing there. I wish I had the power to fix everything. I wish I could assure her that there won't be anymore painful things. It's pretty rotten. She was given a blessing by her uncle and in it she was told that it would be rough for a little bit but that she was strong and her spirit was strong and that soon enough she would be healed. It was a pretty strong blessing. Almost identical to the one Joe gave her when we were here the last time. I know she's being watched over, I just need to keep reminding myself of that fact.

Happy New Year...in the ER

Well, our new year sure started off with a bang! It started out pretty good. Our friends Bryan and Sarah invited us over to their place and we played Settlers (Bryan killed us all) and then watched "The Interpreter" (very intense movie) Right before midnight we noticed Bella was feeling pretty warm. We took her temp...sure enough she had a fever. So off to OHSU ER we went. Bryan and Sarah sent us off with a bottle of sparkling cider so we could at least celebrate.
It wasn't as bad as the last time. These nurses and Dr.s at least seemed to know what they were doing. She has another really bad kidney infection. Fortunately they let us go home because she seemed to being okay otherwise. She has to go back fri. anyway for an appt. I was so glad not to have to be admitted to the hospital. As far as we know she's still having surgery this monday.

Man, I never want to be in the ER on New Year's eve ever again! It was awful around 2:30-3 all the drunk driving accidents started pouring in. We were in a room right in front of the ambulatory entrance and the triage. So, we saw everything! One girl had overdosed on drugs, another guy got in a fight and you couldn't even recognize his facial features it was so bad, one guy was drunk and got in an accident and bit his tongue off. Then we saw someone die on the stretcher. It was pretty sad. One minute they were wheeling him on the next he was being covered with a sheet and wheeled to the morgue. We felt a little shell shocked and were so glad that Bella had no idea of what was going on. It made us grateful for the standards we keep and that we won't ever have to be any of those people.

I hope everyone had a great night and here's to a better year!