Thanksgiving 2009

I have been pretty bad at updating my blog on time. With facebook I don't feel the need to update as often.

This year for Thanksgiving we traveled to Norway, Maine as I have done since I was 9 years old. We haven't been since 2006 so it was nice to see everyone. We had a very early flight schedule heading up. Our plane left at 6am and we had one connection. Kayla did quite well with everything. When we landed we met Parnie and Mom at the airport and went to do a little shopping in Freeport. We decided to poke around the giant L.L. Bean store and we saw lots of goodies in there. Kayla had fun in the kids area and went inside the camping tents they had set up. Mimi bought her a new pair of shoes as well. After eating lunch we headed up to the farm where Kayla met Mary, Parnie's Mom. Kayla did lots of stickers to pass the time and also helped Mary decorate her Christmas tree.

On Thanksgiving day we spent the morning preparing for our big feast. We went for a little walk on the dirt road all decked out in orange so the hunters would not mistake us for an animal. For our meal we had turkey, pork, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, turnips, cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, corn pudding, and four different kinds of berry pie for dessert. All very good! We also celebrated Christmas that night and Kayla had fun opening her gifts. We all got lovely things.

Friday we took a trip into town to shop around a little bit and then got ready to head home for out late flight. Again, Kayla did great traveling and we were all very happy to be back home after a long day. I turned the heat off while we were away so we came home to a chilly 49 degrees in the house!

Kayla has been waking up every night since that trip and sleeping in our bed. Not sure how long this phase will last. I don't mind her sleeping with me, but Cary does, so we need to figure something out.

Kayla's 2nd Birthday Party

We had a great party for Kayla on 10/31. We celebrated at my Dad's house with Dad, Donna, Cary and his parents, Aunt Carmen, Uncle Todd, Abigail, Haley, Kayla's cousin Luke, Ryan, Amy and her two kids Francie and Charlie, Elias and his two kids Eva and Nathaniel, Katie and Aaron Ashlock, Kayla's babysitter Ashley and her daughter Gracie, Jake, Tiffany, and their daughter Addison, and Tiffany.

We had a Dora fiesta so for lunch we had chili, hot dogs, and chips and dip. We had a cookie cake for Kayla's cake and she really enjoyed us singing to her. We let her open presents and she loved each and every one. Finally we did a pinata and the kids loved that too.

Kayla's all ready for her Dora party!




Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Kayla - so sweet!


Because Kayla's birthday is on Halloween, she had a really busy day! Kayla is sitting in her new reading chair and reading her new Dora book (both birthday presents) and dressed up in her Halloween costume. She made a beautiful Minnie Mouse and had a blast trick or treating. She tried to go inside people's houses when they opened the door.


We had a 2 year check up for Kayla on 11/3. She is 36 inches tall and 30 pounds. The Dr. gave a mostly good report, but has referred us to a cardiologist to have a heart murmur that he heard investigated. Many people that I have spoken with say it is probably innocent. This appointment is 12/2.

Some of Kayla's funny sayings:

She says "I need want some....water, milk, etc." She says need and want.
If she doesn't want to eat something she says "No please" instead of No thank you.

Pumpkin Patch

Our family recently drove to the Blue Ridge Mountains and stayed the night with friends. We went to a huge pumpkin patch, Burt's Pumpkin Farm. I've never seen so many pumpkins at once! We also did a hayride and Kayla had a great time. Here are a few photos:

Kayla's all healed up!

After 3 1/2 weeks Kayla seems to be 100% with her arm and shoulder now! I'm so happy and amazed she healed so quickly - praise God!

The second week of her injury she got a nasty bruise and has a small lump over the place where the bone was broken. Now there is no bruise and the lump is smaller.

I'm now getting her birthday plans together for her party on 10/31 which will be a Dora the Explorer fiesta! Can't believe she's almost 2!

First Broken Bone

I suppose it is a rite of passage but it was still hard nonetheless. Kayla fell down the stairs while we were in MD this week and broke her collarbone. She should heal up in four weeks and there is really nothing we can do other than try to keep her from putting weight on her arm. I'm so thankful she didn't have further injuries! She continues to amaze me...she is learning quickly not to use her arm and is really quite a trooper despite the pain I'm sure she has.

Two's: Terrible, Terrific, Traumatic???

Kayla is 2 months away from being 2! I'm excited for her and slightly worried about me and my sanity.

Everyday we have at least 5 (on a good day) to 10 (on a bad day) tantrums when Kayla realizes that the world doesn't completely revolve around her! She has the most trouble when I'm trying to get out of the house for something (it's Murphy's law that the faster I want to go the slower she will be). She has to feed herself, walk down the stairs herself, climb in her seat herself, and she of course decides which pace she is going to do all of this in. So when Mommy comes to speed things along - WAAAAHHHH! We have a tantrum!

The really mind boggling thing is she can be screaming, crying, stomping, hitting and causing me to wonder if I should be concerned when all of a sudden she can completely turn off the tantrum and be sweet Kayla again. Manipulation. We were born sinners and Kayla is proof. I love her dearly and I will love her through all of this. God feels the same way when he watches his children fight him for something that is actually for our good.

Kayla's two's will probably be terrible, terrific, and traumatic but what part of life isn't?

Zoo

I recently joined the Atlanta Zoo so now Kayla and I have access to the zoo for a whole year. We took our first trip last week and had a great time. We spent about four hours checking out the animals, riding the train, carousel, and letting Kayla play on the playground. I think her favorite animals were the elephants and the gorillas. She remembers going too because she will talk about it at home. Here are some pictures from our day:

Daddy's birthday

Greetings. We've been doing well. Got back from our vacation to Cancun and had a great time. Kayla did fine while we were away but I sure missed her!

This weekend we celebrated Daddy's 26th birthday. Kayla knows that birthday = cake!!!

We made homemade pizza and she got to help.

Singing the Happy Birthday song. The little piece of cake with the candle is for Kayla.

Kayla's Big Girl Bed

Well the moment that I knew was inevitable has happened. Kayla began to climb out of her playpen so I figured she might decide to climb out of her crib soon. We went ahead and moved a twin mattress up to her room and placed it where the crib used to be. I was very anxious as to how she would adjust and the first night I didn't think she would ever lay down on the bed. But she eventually got tired and went to sleep on her new bed! At 3:30am she woke up crying because she had rolled off. Night # 2 a similar thing happened. From then on she has mostly stayed in the bed. I'm so proud of her!


Here she is in her bed:

We will be traveling to Cancun next week and leaving Kayla for three nights. She will be staying with Nana and Grandpa Shu for two nights and Nana and Poppy Darden for the other night. I will miss her but I am very much looking forward to a vacation!!!

Independence Day Celebration

We're having a nice summer so far!

Friday July 3rd we went boating and let Kayla splash around in the lake a little bit. She was more interested in eating and playing with her stickers but still had a good time. Later that evening we went to the free fireworks show in Villa Rica. Kayla seemed to enjoy that as well but was out way past her usual bedtime.

On the 4th we marched in our neighborhood's pet parade but Kayla didn't enjoy that very much I think because she was so tired from being up late the night before. It was quite a sight though to see all kinds of dogs getting along pretty well. We then went to Cary's sister's pool for a little bit and then just took it easy that night.

Kayla is catching on to everything very quickly. She knows her colors, can count to 10, loves to draw and color, and of course thinks she can do everything herself. Yesterday she was in our bedroom and when I walked in she was in her playpen. I didn't put her in there so I asked her to show me how she got in. She climbed on the bed and then went from there to the playpen. Pretty smart!

With her own Declaration of Independence comes challenges of trying to keep her still and quiet in church. It's basically impossible. She is also starting to have some separation anxiety in certain situations but for the most part still adapts pretty well.

Enjoy the pics!

Family shot on July 4th

Ready for the parade.

Swimming with her Daddy

Cash is ready to walk

Lake Tara Beach

Our lovely neighborhood sits near a lake with a beach so Kayla, Donna, and I went yesterday. Kayla had a great time splashing, playing in the sand, and trying to touch everyone's floats. It was better than taking her to the pool because she has the tendency to just want to walk right in to the deep water. At the lake she has to at least start shallow.

Eating sand against my instructions of not to eat sand.

Haha - now she knows why it's no good.

Location, location, location

Kayla's new interest is moving ALL of her toys to one location. The most popular spot is the couch. If you are sitting on the couch during this process, you will be buried. She piles everything up just so and then when she's finished she starts moving everything back to the floor.

Kayla LOVES her Daddy. I hope they always have a special relationship.

She is healthy and happy!

18 months

I took Kayla for her 18 month check up on May 1st. She is in the 97th percentile for her height and the 50th for her weight. She is developmentally at or above where she should be and the Dr. has no concerns.

Great!

Kayla is at a very fun age for me. I love to play with her and watch her discover how to use things and figure out the world. She catches on quick!

Here is Kayla with her favorite blanket she calls "Nemo". She doesn't like to be too far away from it!

Great news!

We took Kayla to her follow-up appt. from her surgery and we got some great news! Her reflux has been cured and she is no longer on antibiotics! The Dr. wants to see her back in one year for an ultrasound, assuming she has no recurring infections. She has been off of her meds for one week now and is doing great!

We were thrilled!

We had a nice Easter celebration. Kayla hunted for eggs and had a great time putting them in her little basket.

She is almost 18 months and really starting to talk a lot, and "read" books to herself. It's funny!

Here is Kayla hunting for eggs.

Boo for Colds

Poor Kayla spiked a fever last Tuesday and had another febrile seizure. It had been almost 9 months since her last one. I'd forgotten how scary they are!

She seemed a little tired and grumpy that day but not enough to make me think she was sick. Regardless after her seizure she felt very warm and I gave her some Tylenol to start bringing her fever down. Cary's Mom was able to come help me get her to the hospital to make sure she didn't have a UTI. Thankfully she didn't! Just a cold virus, but I'm still so surprised that made her have such a high fever. She still has a little cough this week and I'm pretty sure I've caught it but we're surviving.

I feel so much better when she is healthy!!!

We go 4/14 for her surgery follow up visit - hope it worked!

Kayla's Surgery Update

Wow! The surgery went better than I expected. Here's what happened:

We woke up early Wednesday morning and arrived at Egleston around 6am. Kayla was not able to eat or drink anything but she managed pretty well. We sat in the waiting room until about 7am when they called us back. We met with someone from anesthesia, Kayla got a quick check up and I was told she had an innocent heart murmer...that was kind of weird to hear but apparently no big deal. They gave her a sedative and within minutes she was getting very sleepy.

They took her to the OR and we didn't see her for about 3 hours after that. The surgeon came out and told us it went perfect so you can't get a better outcome than that! When we finally got to see Kayla I could tell she had been crying hard but she was able to drink some juice. She took a short nap and the rest of the day was spent entertaining her, letting her drink some, and trying to keep her happy and comfortable. She did not like trying to sit up and preferred to lay down. She was hooked up to an IV and a foley (catheter). Every 4 hours a tech came to check her vitals and all of our nurses were pretty good. Around 6pm they cleared Kayla to eat solid food so she had a grilled cheese and some peas. She liked that. She seemed a little uncomfortable so they gave her some Tylenol and a medication to treat bladder spasms (if she happened to be having any). The night was rough. She didn't sleep longer than a 3 hour stretch (like having a newborn again)! Morning was better and they told us we would go home around lunchtime.

We all started getting a little restless by then but once Kayla was unhooked from all of her tubes she was ready to run and play! She recovered so well. She has an incision on her lower abdomen about 2.5 inches long - bigger than I thought but they closed it with something called Dermabond so no stitches! Once we were in the car she took a nap and when we got home she acted like herself. I was a little worried about how she would sleep but we gave her a dose of Tylenol right at bedtime and she slept without a sound for abou 12 hours.

It's Day 5 today since the surgery and she is still doing great!

Our church and other friends were praying and we really appreciated it.

We'll have a follow up in a month to verify that it was successful.

Kayla right after the surgery and then standing up for the first time:



Coming back to life!

March Visit with Mimi

Had a nice few days with Kayla's Mimi.

Kayla enjoyed rifling through Mimi's suitcase and helping her cook and wash dishes with her Waffle House hat on.

Mimi is surprised that Kayla likes to talk so much!

We visited the Gold Museum in Villa Rica and Kayla loved the water wheel and all the stones she could get her hands on. We also took her to Lazy Donkey - she loved the chips!

Anxiously waiting for Wednesday - Kayla's surgery. Have to be at Egleston BY 6am - early!

Upcoming Surgery

After meeting with Dr. Kirsch and doing the VCUG test, we found out Kayla's treatment did work again. We weren't shocked or even that disappointed, maybe we just weren't getting our hopes up about it. Regardless, she is scheduled for surgery on 3/18/09 at Egleston in Atlanta.

Most children go home the next day and we will have a few days of recovery at home. From what I've read the surgery takes 2-3 hours and Kayla should wake up without pain (although I'm sure very upset and confused like she was after her other treatment). She will have an epidural block at first and a catheter. Once those are removed we should be able to treat any pain with Tylenol and her stitches in the incision on her belly should dissolve in a few days. Then 6 weeks later another VCUG to see if the surgery was successful. This particular surgery will try to reimplant her ureters but it is done without having to cut into the bladder. If it doesn't work this time they can try it again by cutting into the bladder. So this may not be the end of the road for us as far as surgeries go.

I just hope Kayla can be somewhat comfortable at the hospital and that she heals quickly.

Obviously we hope the surgery will be successful! We are confident that God will do what is best.

We love our little girl!

Results

We will find whether or not Kayla's second treatment worked on either 2/16 or 2/17. I say either because the VCUG test is on the 16th but the Dr. visit follow up is not until the following day. We'll have a good idea on the 16th. If we see the backflow of urine on the screen then we'll know it is not fixed.

We're prepared for the outcome either way - God is in control of our precious baby and He loves her more than we do.

We'll keep you posted!

Almost 15 months

Kayla is growing and growing - not so much physically right now but developmentally.

She has little habits and quirks and things she likes to do around the house.

She loves to bring things from one place to another and open any and all doors and cabinets. Thanks to the geniuses who made child safety locks! She can also be a little daredevil, standing on things and trying to pick up very heavy items.

She has been healthy the past few weeks and I'm thankful for that. Seems like many are sick with colds!

We will be taking her for a dental "Happy Visit" in the next few weeks to have her teeth looked at and make sure they are healthy.

Kayla's Mimi will be coming down for a visit next week and we are excited to show her all of Kayla's new tricks!

This is Kayla playing with the bubble machine.

And this is Kayla trying an orange juice "popsicle".

Surgery # 2

We had the second endoscopic treatment for Kayla on 1/5. It went well and we were much better prepared for her reaction after the anesthesia. This time Cary walked her back to be put to sleep and after about 15 minutes the surgeon came and told us that everything looked good. We won't know for a couple of weeks whether or not it worked but we are hoping and praying! This is Daddy and Kayla ready to go back!


Kayla returned to her normal, sweet self a few hours after we got home. She slept most of the morning.

Kayla will point to her nose, mouth, ear, teeth, hair, finger, toes, foot, and belly - she is so smart!

Kayla loved this basketball hoop at the surgery center waiting area!