emsley's surgery

Oh my gosh I am so behind on this blog. Oh well, here is a post long-time-coming.

In August we had an appointment with a pediatric urologist to see how Emsley's kidney reflux was doing. Unfortunately it was still quite severe and the doctor told us that surgery would be needed. We knew this was most likely going to be the outcome ever since my ultrasound during my pregnancy showed Emsley's problems, but we didn't think she would need the surgery until around 3 or 4 years old. The doctor basically told us that doing it at her age now (2 years) was beneficial because there weren't any added risks of the anesthesia at her age now vs. in a few years, and toddlers bounce back quicker than older kids. Not to mention that doing it before potty training would be way easier than having her potty trained and then have to go back to wearing diapers for her recovery--a huge setback.

Pre-op: We were so surprised that Emsley was in such a good mood considering she wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything that morning. She loved playing with all the toys and then they gave her special pajamas and socks to wear. The only thing she didn't like was being scrubbed down by the disinfectant wipes that the nurse had me use.

We waited about 2 hours until they took her back. She had the whole waiting room laughing with all of her excitement over this cow toy--she was screaming "MOO!" over and over. They also gave her a doll to color, but it ended up looking like a super creepy voodoo doll so it might have been tossed in the trash later that day.

15 minutes before she went into surgery they gave her some medicine called "Versed" which makes anxiety go away and causes extreme drowsiness and forgetfulness of the procedure. She went from being a hyper 2 year-old to this:

It was really amazing stuff. (Can I get some for our next road trip to Oregon? Haha!) She didn't even cry when they wheeled her back to the anesthesia room. I'm not even sure she realized that we weren't going with her. Genius!

She was under anesthesia from around 11am to 3pm--a very long 4 hours of waiting. Thankfully the nurse called the waiting room every hour to give us an update. She basically just told us that Emsley was fine, her vitals were good, they had re-implanted the ureters and were moving on to the next step, etc.

They allowed one parent to go back as soon as she was waking up. She was white as a ghost and obviously really confused, but even the nurses kept saying how sweet and calm she was being. Her "caudal block" (aka: epidural) had just been given so she didn't have much feeling in her abdomen or legs for about 8 hours after waking up. She wanted to drink juice right away.

Isn't that doll creepy?  

She got balloons from Nana and Grampa and wanted to hold them very tight, right next to her face.

Settled in the hospital room

Summer came to visit but Emsley wasn't too pleased to see anyone--she just wanted mama.

She pretty much watched TV the entire stay at the hospital. The morning after her surgery she had a little bit of energy and we played at the AMAZING playroom on the 3rd floor of Primary. She loved everything in there! (Forgot to take a picture, sorry)

Not feeling so hot :(

After just one night in the hospital (and two full days) they sent her home! It was very unexpected and such a great blessing for her to be able to be back in her comfortable environment. Unfortunately, things got a lot worse once we got home and the following week of recovery was ROUGH. She was throwing up everything including water, had fevers off and on, was in a lot of pain, etc.
The absolute worst part was that she wouldn't take ANY medicine to help the pain or antibiotics to prevent infection. I tried everything! It is truly a miracle that she didn't end up back in the hospital.

Actually, I take that back. The real worst part was the "stent" that she came home with. It is a small tube that went from inside of her ureter, through the bladder wall, and out of her incision. It drained urine into her diaper to help with the swelling. The stent was stitched in, but the stitch wasn't very tight. Every time the stent even slightly moved when I was changing her diaper, she would go absolutely crazy with pain.
It was supposed to stay in for 7 days but I called on day 6 and told them it was coming out that day and I wasn't taking no for an answer. Thankfully they let us come in that morning. As soon as it was pulled out (which didn't seem to cause her any pain, totally weird) she felt so much better and wasn't in agony every time I needed to change her.

We are SO incredibly glad its over. Grateful that everything went as planned but even more grateful that we don't have to go through that experience hopefully ever again. Waking up to a screaming toddler every hour, every night for almost a week was miserable.

**Update: We went back for her 6 week post-surgery ultrasound and everything looks great. The doctor says her bladder and kidneys are healing nicely and not to worry about anything at this point. Yay!! She has a little scar exactly like my c-section scar--we match :) **

DIY fall acorn wreath

Last year when we were at Joel's aunt's farm I gathered a bunch of acorns that were all over the ground. I knew I wanted to make an acorn wreath, but then I got pregnant and then we moved across the country, so that idea got put on hold. This summer I found them in my basement (yay, they made the move!!) and finally my idea came to life!

Step 1: Wash off the acorns and bake them in the oven for at least a few hours. I think I had my oven at 200* for around 5 hours. You guys, I'm not kidding about this part. I found a WORM that got baked while crawling out of the acorn in the oven. It was disgusting.

Step 2: Spraypaint a white foam wreath with a dark color 

Step 3: Start hot-gluing the acorns on the wreath. I just winged it and started putting them on one at a time and eventually figured out the best way to fit them close together like a puzzle.

This whole project took me about a week because my attention span only lasted about 30 minutes at a time. That, and my fingers needed a break from the third degree hot glue burns. You need a LOT of acorns. I probably used 2 full gallon-sized ziplock bags. Do a little bit at a time and its super easy and (dare I say?) fun!

The finished product:

Happy fall! Too bad its already feeling like winter around here (wahhh wahhh)

the perfect day + stickers

Joel is in L.A. this week which means I have nothing to do at night except clean and blog. I have a lot of catching up to do!

This was the most perfect day in the park a few weeks ago. The weather was one of those rare times when you aren't hot and you aren't cold, it isn't too windy but there is a breeze, the sun is out but not shining on you...anyways, it was perfection. Unfortunately those days were very limited before it started getting a little chilly here. Not fair. I am already dreading winter.

Too cool to sit by mommy.

The girls have discovered stickers. This is cute and horrible at the same time. Cute for them. Horrible for my house and everything they stick them on. So many stickers. Everywhere.

Summer is wondering where all the stickers went.

Oh there they are. The whole page. 

Nice work.

JJ's tongue & lip tie

When JJ was in the NICU, I noticed right away that he made a loud clicking noise when he nursed. The lactation consultant (LC) there told me it was because I had an overactive letdown and that it would go away. I didn't think much of it.
At two months, it was really getting annoying. It wasn't so much a painful latch as it was just a very loud sound that was really not normal-sounding. I asked JJ's pediatrician if he thought it was tongue-tie (which Dr. Google told me it was) and his pedi took a quick look under his tongue with a popsicle stick and told me it looked fine. So then I was really baffled.
Nursing was getting worse at 3 months, not better. I finally caved one night and gave the poor guy a bottle instead of trying to get him to nurse. So glad I did that! I noticed immediately that he was still clicking while drinking the bottle. A lightbulb went off in my head and I just knew that this wasn't a letdown problem. Neither of my girls ever clicked when drinking their bottles, and this was the exact same bottle that they used.

Long story short(er), I ended up stumbling upon a "tongue-tie support group" where people posted pictures of their babies and the symptoms and real-life ENT specialists confirmed what they thought was wrong. I took one look under JJ's lip and knew 100% that he had a lip-tie. His tongue was harder to see under. After seeing another LC who actually knew what she was talking about, we were told he had a type 4 tongue and lip tie (type 5 is the worst). His tongue tie was a "posterior tongue tie" which means it is farther back in the mouth and thats why his pediatrician missed it at first.

The LC said he had the classic tongue-tie blister

We were incredibly blessed to find out that the only pediatric dentist in Utah who uses laser to fix tongue and lip ties on infants was only 10 minutes from our house! He was awesome and definitely knew what he was doing. The nurse said they do these "frenectomies" multiple times a day because tongue and lip ties are so common. Laser is way better than using scissors to cut it loose because it is less painful, heals quicker, and doesn't re-attach as often. Also, less blood = great.

Dr. Richter doing the laser revision:

No numbing cream, just sugar water. Thankfully it only took a few minutes to laser!

Before:

This is how far his tongue could go

After:

After! He loves sticking out his tongue now

Before:

Lip tie before

Before

After:

3 weeks after revision (LOL at his face--he is so sick of the post-laser stretches)

I am so happy that this problem is behind us now! The improvement has been like night and day! One thing I didn't expect to happen was the immediate sounds that he started making. I didn't realize it before, but JJ never babbled. The day after his revision I started noticing him "talking" and now (almost a month later) he is so vocal! It must feel nice to be able to move your tongue after having it tied down for so long! :)

Happy baby! We adore him.

easy spice rack + frame re-do

If you are on Pinterest you've probably seen the "spice rack turned book shelf" rage. I wish I could take credit for being the smarty who thought to do this with a spice rack! Seriously the greatest thing ever to happen to a $3.99 purchase at IKEA!

 Before:

After:

I spray painted it yellow. Done and done.

Here in Utah there is no Goodwill store, instead its called Deseret Industries or ("DI" if you are super cool). We love going to DI and browsing. It is quite the experience.
There are some hardcore DI'ers that I've seen waiting in the store for the "new" (donated) stuff to come out on the carts. They literally run to the carts and immediately start grabbing stuff that looks good. One couple snagged a cool dumptruck that I wanted for JJ because it was "worth something"--then proceeded to grab everything that was metal and/or wood. They obviously did this for a living, buying and then reselling for higher. Whatever, that dump truck wasn't cool anyways.

Anyways. Here is my $1 frame that I found with a very unique "homemade pulpy paper molded into the SLC temple and topped with glitter" thing (seriously, not even sure what to call it). The moment I saw it I knew it would be perfect in the girls' room above their dresser.

Before:

After:

Gray spraypaint on the frame and then scrapbook paper on the mats. Easy.

be kind.

So it was 6:00 in the evening and we were at Smith's grocery store. I had JJ in the cart and both girls were running wild behind me. They were good for the first few minutes because they got a cookie from the deli, but as soon as the cookie ended so did their calmness.

We were in the produce section and Emsley must have slipped because I turned around to see her flat on her back and an older lady with outstretched arms helping her up and asking if she was okay. It wasn't a bad fall or anything, but it was a brief moment of kindness that I appreciated.

Awhile later at the other end of the store, the girls' patience (and mine) were pretty much gone. We passed the book aisle and I saw all the awesome kids books and coloring books. So we went to that aisle and the girls started pulling books out and getting extremely excited over all their favorite characters. I attempted to put a few books away before grabbing both girls and walking away.

I was about 2-3 aisles away when this lady from the book aisle TRACKS ME DOWN and points to the books saying, "You are not going to buy those books? Those books your kids left all over the floor? You need to pick those up!"
She said a few other things that I don't quite remember because I was so caught off guard. I looked at her and motioned to my cart and toddlers (who were screaming at this point) and yelled "SERIOUSLY?!?" DO YOU SEE THEM??" (meaning my kids). I was already in a terrible mood at this point so I was in the mood for a good fight. She said something mean about how I needed to pick them up and I yelled at her that someone who works there would do it. She kept glaring and shaking her head at me and walked off as I yelled "YOU SHOULD DO IT THEN!"

So:
To the lady who helped Emsley off the floor and wiped her off:

Thank you for your kindness. You saw my baby slip and land on her back and you were genuinely concerned. You watched out for her when my hands were obviously too full. You didn't judge me for not keeping a better eye on her. You are one of the good ones.

To the hispanic lady in her 40-50's who had the audacity to come after me:

Who do you think you are?
Did you not see me trying to pick up books and get my kids out of that area, realizing quickly that it was literally impossible to get them all cleaned up? The moment I put 2 books back on the shelf, they had already gotten 5 more down. I only have two hands. They have four. You do the math.

Did you know that I didn't want my toddlers running wild, but that ridiculous store only ever has 2-3 racecar double shopping carts (when almost every person who walks through those doors has at least 2 kids)?
Did you know that with twin toddlers and a baby, not to mention a snoring husband with an early work schedule, I am lucky to get a 4 hour stretch of sleep at night? I am so tired, lady. I couldn't care less about books on the floor.
How about the fact that the only reason I was in that aisle was so that I could get a stolen minute of peace to figure out where to find a special lotion for my baby who has eczema getting worse by the day? (Which I never did find, thanks to you).
You saw my burden, I clearly pointed them all out to you in my anger, and yet your only mission was to embarrass and harass me.

It would have been so easy for you to pick up those books for me and move on. So kind, even. You were with a daughter my age, who had a baby around the same age as mine, and yet you followed me through the store just to call me out.
Shame on you. Not me. YOU. You made me cry, as much as I hate to admit it.

And while we're on the topic of manners, you and your daughter both saw me in that book aisle and wouldn't move your cart over no matter how many times I tried politely to get around you. You were speaking spanish then, so maybe I should assume that in your country that is how they do things. But here at the Lehi, Utah Smith's, I really doubt anyone cares about a bunch of books left on the floor.
Unbelievable.

This experience is a reminder to me of how important it is to be kind to complete strangers because you never know what they are going through :)
{and perhaps also a reminder never to shop at stores without double carts...}

Little things

Here are a few little things that I never want to forget.

The rolls on these chunky legs:

Thighs in the mirror are larger than they appear 

Calm down, ladies. 

The hair on these ear lobes:

It was much thicker as a newborn...*tear*

Squishing ants and chalk scribbles everywhere:

Can someone teach them that chalk is not allowed inside?

Looking at the clouds for the first time:

Not sure why they chose to lay on the hard concrete instead of the grass...

Emsley's "cheesy face":

Naked with popcorn, water, and a soft blanket...living the dream.

This sleeping face:

Waiting for "trash man" every Thursday and the excitement when he finally gets to our street:

They are obsessed. "TRASSSHHH MANNN WHERE AWWW YOU?!"

Joel's baby blessing

We did Joel Jr's baby blessing at the Smyrna Ward on our last Sunday in Tennessee. It went great and we managed to get a picture of all 11 cousins together at once. Getting them all to look at the camera...not so much. Out of the 11 kids, 8 of them are 3 and under. It is so much fun (and so CRAZY!) when they are all together!

From left to right:
Henry, Brandon, Sam, Joel Jr, Allison, Chloe, Summer, Emsley, Sophia, Emma, Lily

And a few of our first pictures together as a family of 5 :)

kids table re-do

Last year I got this kid's table and stools from my sister-in-law Emily. I had big plans of repainting it, but being pregnant and moving across the country put those plans on hold...until now!

Here is the before:

Sorry this pic is blurry--it used to be a cute brown and white but had lots of chipping and coloring on it

And here is the after:

I used Behr "Intense Teal" for the table and stools, and then I had that same shade lightened about 75% at Home Depot with white paint (AKA: "Not-So-Intense Teal"). Thats what I used for the center piece and the numbers. I used stencils for the numbers and then put Polycrylic (my favorite topcoat EVER) on top of everything to prepare for the massive amount of destruction that is soon to come from the girls. I hope this table still looks cute after all the crayons, food, sticky stuff, etc!

 

They approve :)