Our amazing child!

She continues to amaze me! Man I love this girl!

Kalyssa slept great last night! I was completely surprised because from the time she was put out at around 10 am yesterday until 4 pm she was awake for maybe a compbined total of an hour. Then at 7:45 she asked to go to bed and slept straight through until a little after 6 am. That's her usual time to wake up, much to my chagrin as I am not a morning person by nature. I'm having to learn to be though. Today she's awake, alert, happy but not rambuncious at all. She's having a jammie day and watching movies and playing paper dolls. She great about not rubbing her eyes, even though she really, really wants to. She goes and gets a cold, wet wash cloth all by herself whenever her eyes feel too itchy. I would totally do it for her since I have willingly become her slave for the day but she's being really independant for the most part today. I've offered her Tylenol like the doctor suggested but she insists that she doesn't need it. I'm truly amazed with how grown-up and responsible she's being. Her mood is so good too! Lately we've been having some issues with rudeness and attitude (mainly just with us - she's always polite to others) but today she is pleasant and polite and completely wonderful! Not one moment of trouble from her at all! It's incredible!

It's probably too much to hope that she stay this way for the rest of forever so I'm just going to gobble up every ounce of this perfect child that I can while it lasts!

Excuse me now ... it's time to go back to my role as voluntary slave. The princess must be hungry by now. :o) (At least I hope so ... she hasn't eaten a whole lot yet.) Maybe a mini tea party might be in order.

So proud of our girl!

Well, we're home! (Actually we've been home for a couple of hours ... sorry for the delay, I know some of you who aren't on facebook have been waiting. And why aren't you on facebook? You'd get updates much more frequently/quickly if you were! ;-) )

Kalyssa was AMAZING! She truly was! And it's not just her parents who think so. She had all the staff smiling and saying what a brave and sweet girl she is. We could tell she was a little bit "off" because she was quieter than usual. Normally she's a non-stop talker but today there were a few breaths taken between sentences. Not much different but enough that we could tell she was a little nervous.

While we were in the pre-op room we played a whole bunch of Crazy 8's, Slap Jack and we had started a game of Go Fish. She made sure to tell the surgeon that she didn't get to finish her game so I guess we'll have to do that soon. :-) She was very brave when they took her to the operating room. I cried. But only a little. And she didn't see me do it. That was really hard! She definitely did better than I/we did! We are SO proud of her!

As soon as she woke up in recovery she looked at the nurse and very sweetly said, "Hi." This took the nurse by surprise, I guess. She's used to cranky or scared kids, rightfully so. When we were brought to her she was already awake and cuddling on the nurse's lap. It was a very sweet little sight. I snatched her up pretty quick though. I couldn't bear to have her out of my arms for one more second! She still had the IV in but she was very brave when they took it out. Not even a wince out of her.

They had given her some sort of medicinal cocktail through her IV with pain medicine and something to take away any nausea. It also makes her sleepy. She slept the entire 2 hour drive home (including a stop at Culver's. Have you ever tried them? Sinful!) She woke up long enough to give hugs to Mema and Kaden and eat a piece of toast and then off to La-La Land again ... where she remains. I'm wondering how long this will last actually. She's been asleep most of the day since 10 am. It's nice but is tonight going to be sleepless? I wonder!

As far as the surgery goes ... she remembers quite a bit of her experience while she was awake. They had told us she probably wouldn't remember anything. She remembers the OR and the flavor of the gas they put her out with (bubblegum), everything. No crying though. She didn't feel so great after but a cracker and some apple juice helped that. She's mostly just tired. Her eye's are not nearly as swollen as I expected them to be. Just a tad bit puffy on the lids. The inside corners when her eyes are open are bright red. We expected at least that. Although I thought more of her eyes would be red. We haven't tried putting the ointment in her eyes yet, but only because they've been closed all day. I expect she'll handle that like everything else ... like a champ!

Now we wait and see. We can expect to still see some drifting of her eye/s because her brain doesn't know how to make her eyes work together so it needs to relearn how to do it. She might have to patch again, but maybe not. We'll probably have to get her a different prescription for her glasses. We'll know more after our follow-up appointment. I'll be calling them soon to schedule that for in a week or two.

Thank you so much for your prayers! They were felt! And they are definitely appreciated! We're still praying that it worked perfectly but I'm afraid to get my hopes up. I'm sure this road to recovery has some more bends in it. Hopefully not too many more though. :o)

Hugs to all!

Eye Surgery for my little girl ...

I was reminded today how rude I was to not tell everyone (well, at least my sister) that our sweet little girl is going in for eye muscle surgery tomorrow morning. I'm not sure how it escaped my mind to blog about it because we can certainly use the prayers. It's a completely routine surgery and it'll be done quickly ... that's not what we're worried about. Kalyssa is being extremely brave as well so we're not worried about that either. (Actually she's excited about it because it means she won't need to wear a patch anymore.) Basically, KC and I are a little bit on the over-protective side. I know! That doesn't sound like us at all! LOL! We've left our kids with a very select few people (mostly family) and nobody other than the two of us have ever driven them anywhere. (Well, my mom and sister did once but I was in the car - half blind and sick as a dog but I was still there.) So the hardest part of this whole ordeal is handing over our baby, whom we waited so long for to begin with, to complete strangers with drugs and very sharp instruments. Don't get me wrong ... we are a very faithful, God loving family and we KNOW He's got this. That brings us a lot of comfort but it's still hard, ya know.

On another level, there is no guarantee that she won't need another surgery. This one has to work absolutely, completely perfectly in order to avoid another one. Who wants to hand over their child once, much less two or three times? I don't know anyone who would raise their hands to that. I certainly don't! And this one surgery is going to cost us more than $3,000. The likelihood of a second surgery taking place prior to our deductible resetting to zero would be a miracle. In this troubled economy, well, you get the picture I'm sure. So I'm going to beg you for prayers that this surgery will be the 100%, absolutely, completely perfect surgery we need it to be. And while you're praying could you please add that Kalyssa not catch this nasty cold that KC and I both have? We sure would appreciate it!

So this is how this whole thing is going down ...

• KC, Kalyssa and I will be leaving this evening after dinner to head to the big city and stay with family. Kaden is being lovingly watched after by Mema (KC's mom - thank you so much Susan!) and I expect they will have a fantastic time together, just the two of them!
• We need to check Kalyssa in to the pediatric out-patient surgery center (we've heard great things about this facility and their staff/anesthesiologists) by 7:45 in the morning. She can't eat or drink anything after midnight tonight.
• There will be lots of sitting around, snuggling, comforting, card games, etc. for approximately 2 hours.
• At 9:45(ish) she'll be taken from us to the OR. They will put her out with gas. They may or may not need to give her an IV. If they do they will take it out before she wakes up. Surgery will be performed on both of her eyes and it's expected to take 15-20 minutes. (Just in case you're wondering, because we did, they will work from the front of her eyes, pulling back her eyelids. It's not nearly as scary as my preinformed brain was making it out to be.) Her surgeon has performed over 6000 of these surgeries and we're very comfortable with him.
• After her surgery she will be taken to recovery where we will be waiting for her. She will not have patches on her eyes (our doctor doesn't do that because it's very scary for the children.) We will be there for about 30 minutes or so while she recovers. (Longer if necessary.) Then we will make the 1 1/2 hour drive home with me sitting in the back holding a barf bucket and Kalyssa's hand and feeding her apple juice and crackers to her little hearts content.
• We expect her to have very red eyes for 2-3 weeks. Her eyelids will be pretty swollen for a couple of days and we'll have to put an ointment in her eyes 3 times a day for a little while. We'll have a follow-up appointment with her doctor in about a week, I think.

So there you go. That's the story and you have all been update. Better late than never, right?

Thanks for the prayers! They are felt and greatly appreciated!!

Givaway

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I DID IT!!!

If you actually read my last post (instead of scanning photos ... it's perfectly okay if you do, btw) then you already know that I made myself a goal of running in a 5k race before I turn 40. Well, here's the proof ... I DID IT!!! I wasn't fast by any stretch of the imagination but I ran the whole way! And it felt amazing! Just the sense of accomplishment alone was pretty cool but to have such wonderful friends running with me really made it fun and special! Thanks girls for running with me! I think I am now addicted. I really must have gone bonkers because not only am I planning on running in 2 more 5k races (before I'm 40) but now I'm training for a 10k in January! Yup ... totally nuts! And the big Pat Tillman run (4.2 miles starting & finishing on the 42 yard line of Sun Devil Stadium) is also on the agenda in April! See ... told ya ... crazy, bonkers, nuts ... you pick the adjective!)

Here's me and my girlfriends before the race. It was the first race ever for us girls in white. We felt a little bit like we were going to the first day of school. Nervous and excited all at the same time. Lauren, the one in pink, is totally awesome! This isn't her first race. She came in 2nd in her age class and 13th overall. You ROCK Lauren! Beckie & Jessica both came in 4th in their age classes. So proud of you girls!


Here we are at the start. Lauren is already way ahead! LOL!
And here I am coming in at the finish line. I was 10th in my age group (but to my defense, it was the largest group. If I had already turned 40 I would have been first by 20 minutes!) At least I wasn't last.
I probably shouldn't mention that a 70 year old speed walker came in ahead of me by a full second. Now I can shoot for leaving him in the dust next time! LOL!

P.S. ...

As you can see ... I used up some of that non-existent free time to update the look of the blog. Hope you like it!

The pictures in the header were taken earlier this month when I took the kids to a park to play. Aren't they just so stinkin' cute???? (You know you have to say yes ... right?) ;-)

Kalyssa's First Day of School Photos! ... Finally!

I know! I know! I'm falling down on the blogging job! It's been months of practically nothing! So sorry! And yes, I am aware that my blog header is terribly outdated! I think that picture was taken almost 2 years ago! How sad is that? It's on my list of things to do ... in all my spare time! :o)

Speaking of spare time ... you'd think I'd have some now that Kalyssa is in school, wouldn't you? But alas ... I actually feel like I have less. You see, she's not home to entertain the little boy so that means I need to do it. And she's only in school half day so I feel like I drop her off and then I have to turn right around and pick her up again. Next year I should have more free time since Kaden will be in preschool 3 mornings a week. For now it's just the two of us in the mornings.

I have been trying to fill my mornings up training for a 5k though! About 2 years ago a doctor told me I'd never run again. Well, I was never a runner in the first place but that kind of irked me a little bit. So last year I had my back surgery (and wrist surgery earlier this year) and I've been feeling more capable of doing things again. I'm not pain free by any stretch of the imagination but at least vacuuming the house doesn't end up with 3 days in bed afterward anymore. So I got the crazy idea that I would try to run a 5k by the time I turn 40. I will tell you that it is not coming easy to me at all. And the heat and I do not get along either. So progress has been very slow but there is progress. I'm slow but I can now run 2.4 of the 3.1 miles in a single stretch! As hard as it is I've been really committed to it and getting a run in 3-5 days a week since mid-June. I've lost between 8-10 pounds and a full pant size so that is definitely helping to keep me motivated! I turn 40 in December and there are two races in the area before then. If the heat keeps up I might have a hard time making the one in September but I shouldn't have any trouble being ready for the race on December 4th! I will reach my goal! And hopefully by then I will actually learn to like this running thing. Right now we're more aquaintances then friends. :o) But I'm getting there and I feel great!

Now, on to the info you actually came here to see/read! Kalyssa absolutely LOVES Kindergarten! She came home from the school open house (the Friday before school started on the 9th) saying, "I am so excited to learn!" Not excited to meet new friends or have fun, but excited to learn! That was seriously a proud Mommy (and Daddy) moment! We really hope and pray that excitement lives on in her for many many years to come! Everyday she comes home ready to do her homework and frequently I catch her being the teacher to her classroom (that consists of only her brother as the student.) I love getting a glimpse into her school day while she plays. So far we are very happy with her and her teachers and from what I've heard they love her too!

Without further ado ... here is a little parade of photos from her first day!

And I'd like to give serious props to my awesome husband! He is an amazing Dad! He came to the Open House with us and he went in to work late this first day so he could be there to watch this big moment in her life! He's a very loving, fun & involved Dad with his kids! (He even makes them breakfast most every morning!) And he gives me a bunch of nights every month to get out with my girlfriends too! And (get this ... you won't believe it!) he volunteers in our church classrooms (usually the 3 year old rooms but last week it was holding babies) on Sundays and he comes to watch kids for my Mom's group twice a month! Seriously! The man is amazing! And I want him to know that I notice it all and appreciate every bit of it! Love you Honey!!!

Blessings!

KC, Shari, Kalyssa & Kaden