Bella's Surgery

We finally got to meet with Bella's surgeon last week after months of tests. At her last VCUG (http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=voidcysto) They found that her kidneys were both severely backed up and that the left kidney was worse than last time. She still has a cyst on the right kidney. 


(http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/378075-overview) 
(http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec11/ch148/ch148b.html)
These talk a little about Bella's Condition


Her surgery date is Monday Sep. 13th. What they're going to do is reconnect the extra ureter tubes to the bladder (possibly make one long ureter) and completely remove the cyst. It's a pretty complex surgery because she's so tiny. They will have to make a cesarean type incision, which is good because they won't be cutting through any muscle. This will allow her to heal more quickly. We'll have to spend about a week in the hospital.


The good news is that they don't need to remove the top half of her left kidney, drastically reducing our hospital stay! Phew!


The bad news...she will most likely have to come home with external drains in place. They will have to go back and remove them after 2 weeks or so....this freaks me out! How in the world do you stop a 22 month old from pulling it out!


I'm nervous because Joe can't take any time off and his mom will be back in school. I will be flying completely solo at the hospital! 


The best news is this will be the LAST surgery ever!!! She'll need about 6 months of intense follow-up and then 1/year. I'm so excited! 

Notice anything different?

If you look to the right of this page you will see a new addition to my blog!

It's New Moon Time!

It's that time of year!!! New Moon will be released this Saturday!!! I will be having a release party at my house at 8pm! I'm even going to make werewolf and vampire cupcakes! Feel free to bring a friend and some grub and release your inner thirteen year old girl! Leave me a comment if you need my address and/or directions!

This whole trying to get pregnant thing is exhausting! No you sickos not in that way!  This is probably one of the most mentally taxing things I have ever done! Standing and giving my dissertation on "Underlying themes of Russian Literature" is cake compared to this. I don't know how couples do this for extended periods of time! It's seriously all I think about! Not to mention EXPENSIVE! Seriously, a pack of ovulation pee strips is anywhere from $20-$40!!! Luckily I found an online website and I can get them for .50 each! Anywho, I just needed to vent! I feel better now. On a lighter note we'll be on the sunny beaches of southern France in 2 1/2 months! I'm soooo excited! I bought this cute little apricot colored jacket at Nordstrom yesterday, so I could stroll down the streets of Paris in style!!!

Ah, this is where I get to lounge for 7 days!!!!

                            And here:

              and much more!

A week in the Life....

We had a pretty good week last week. I did lots of yardwork. Please take notice that I didn't say "we" but "I" I spent 4 hours hashing it out with blackberry brambles. I thought of just dousing them with kerosene and being done with it. My neighbors probably wouldn't like us very much if I burnt their house down. We also finished installing the flooring in our family room. I forgot to take a picture. Next time. 

My dad came by and spent the day with us. Of course Bella was thrilled to spend the day with her Papa!

Of course she had to make sure he had a belly-button too! This is her latest obsession. She has to make sure everyone has one!

She loves to help sweep!  I have to watch her though, the Swiffer can easily become a battering ram to chase the cats!

I discovered that it's probably a really good idea to clean your bottom cupboard out at least once every 6 months. We named him "Wilson"

Bella learned how to pray! Sometimes she'll stop what she's doing, fold her arms and start "praying".  It more or less sounds like she's talking in tongues. When she's done she says"men" and claps her hands!

If you look very closely you will see a tiny hand donning purple stripes sneaking pieces of cake.  Joe's parents and David came over Sunday. We had a really good time eating and playing games. Bella got very smart and helped herself to my disaster of a bundt cake while she thought we weren't looking! 

Bella loves jewelery! She got these after her MRI yesterday. She's such a tough cookie. The IV start only took 20 min. this time. I'll take that over 2 hrs anyday! Everything went great. She has another scan (VCUG) on the 18th and then on the 30th we meet with the surgeon to set a date!

Well this is just to show off my beautiful Bella. I can't believe how big she's gotten! She's definitely not my little baby anymore! 

Lazy, Sick Sunday

I have been super nauseous the last three days so I stayed home from church today. It has been a very long three days. Bella is getting two top teeth and has not been the happiest camper! It was pretty nice. Joe took Bella to church with him. 

This has been how most of our weekend has gone!

Bella attempting to be independent; dumped the yogurt smoothie all over her head!

 And then we have precious moments like this one. My dad stopped in to smoke out some moles with road flares. Bella is crazy about him. They went on a walk. She looked so cute in her new dress. It was a steal at Fred Meyer! Sunday dresses make me want to have all girls!

I started feeling a little less queasy this afternoon after a warm bath and a nap. It was so nice outside so we ventured to the park down the road. This is Bella's first time in a swing. Not so much!

She did however like going down the slide.

Not so sure about the bridge though!

We thought we'd give the swing one last try. Nope.

Well time to get bambina to bed. We've started having singing time (primary songs) and prayer before we out Bella to bed. She's so cute. She knows to fold her arms when you say "Let's pray" and claps when you say "Amen". Aww I just love her!

Afternoon Strolls

Bella is officially a "toddler". By that I mean a walking, toddling, falling down down toddler. She is so funny, she never does anything unless it's on her own time. We'd been stressing about her not walking and being almost 16mos. old. Everytime we'd try and "practice" she would cry. On Valentine's day we went to my sister's for pizza and low and behold she just got up and started walking. She hasn't stopped since!

She loves going on walks now! She's cracks us up because she will only go ONE way. As soon as we get to the end of the driveway she turns right. No matter how hard you try to get her to walk the other way she will pull your hand until you go RIGHT!

Best buds in the matching pj's

She's getting so big!!!

Papa's girls!