The Pledge by an almost 3 year old...

It is so important to Chris and I that we teach our children the word of the Lord and the importance of our freedom. It is often not easy for a child to understand just how important a job of a soldier is especially because we don't live near a military base so our kids are not exposed to military. My father served in the Navy for over 20 years so we always remind our kids that our liberty is not to be taken for granted. Anna Claire has learned the pledge and it's just so cute that I had to share....

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Urologist Appointment

Today was Ethan's checkup with Dr. E, the Urologist who did Ethan's surgery. He was happy that Ethan has not had a UTI since the surgery.  They did a little ultrasound and boy was that fun, trying to hold him still!  It showed that he still has hydro on one side of the kidney which he probably always will it's just a matter of how much reflux he has.  We go into the hospital on Dec 10th for an outpatient procedure called a VCUG to see what stage his reflux is at now.  Before the surgery it was a Stage 5 on one side and 4 on the other. 

The last time I was in Dr. E's office, Ethan was 3 weeks post operative, had 2 bags attached to his body that collected his urine and a heart/apnea monitor attached to him.  Today all he had attached to him was a binky...isn't life great!  Praise be to God!

Ethan's Story - Hospitializations and Surgeries during his first year

The first year of Ethan's life has been evenful and full of stress and multiple blessings!  After he came home from the NICU he had weekly blood draws to check his metabolic readings and a couple of close calls with his potassium that brought us into the ER.  The ER doctors and nurses knew me by name during those first couple of months!  It became a regular part of our life and sadly the other kids adjusted very quickly.  We would have a blood test done on a Friday and be on our way to a basketball game to watch Jake play or Gracie cheer and would get a call from a frantic nurse who got the results from Friday and were instructing us to immediately go to the ER.

His first overnight stay at the hospital was in February just two months after he was sent home from the NICU/PCN.  In the middle of the night he started running a fever, grunting in pain and stopped eating.  I knew instantly that he had a UTI.  We went to the ER where they drew his urine and it was so cloudy, dark and filled with blood that I began to weep and knew that my poor guy was in a world of pain.  We knew that at 6 months the doctors wanted to perform surgery to repair the obstruction and re-construct his urters but they quickly decided it would happen a whole lot sooner.  He stayed in the hospital for 3 days and was sent home on a new prophalactic antibiotic and orders to visit the cardiologist so that they could approve his surgery early.

The next visit was the BIG SURGERY.  The formal term is pyeloplasty.  They also reconstructed both ureteras, repaired his hernia and did a circumcision. The surgery was supposed to last 4 hours but ended up taking 7 hours.  They gave us a pager and called us every hour to update us but it was the longest 7 hours of our lives.  We were so scared.  Putting him under anestesia so young was very scary but we had faith in our doctors and Our God and knew it was not in our hands.  He spent 13 days in the PICU (pediatric ICU).

This picture was taken during the middle of the night after his surgery right after the nurses had to call for a doctor to come to the floor because his stats were dropping quickly and his heart rate was in the 30s. They had to bag him and paddle him and all I could do was stand back and watch.  That was a hard night...The next day he received two blood transfussions.

They made the incision from one side of his abdomen to the other side.  He had stents inserted in his kidneys and bags coming out of both sides for urine flow.

Ethan stayed on the vent for 4 days.  We were asked to leave the room when they took the vent out.  He flat lined during the procedure but the wondeful doctor and nurses were able to save our sweet boy!

After 13 days in the hospital Ethan came home only to return to the hospital two weeks later.  He tested positive for RSV.  While he was still struggling to recover from major surgery he had to fight off RSV.  He was very week and almost ended up on a vent again.  We were lucky to avoid it.  He stayed in the hospital in the PICU for another 10 days.

A couple of weeks later he was back in to have his kidney stents removed and that was an easy procedure and we actually got to leave the same day!!

THE CHOSEN ONES

A friend sent this to me and it just warms my heart....

THE CHOSEN ONES

I had a dream the other night. It came to me so clear. I stood before the throne of God, afraid to come too near. God said to me, "I hear your prayers. There are answers you can't find. I brought you here to talk to me and help to ease your mind. "I said,"Well, yes, God, I am upset...About my special one. This punishment is awfully harsh...Whatever have I done?" God looked at me and shook his head, He said, "My Dear, you've got it wrong. I sent this special child to you because you are so strong. I searched and searched to try and find someone with a love so rare. Parents so unselfish they could give him that special care. I try to save my special gifts,like those you're speaking of,for a special kind of parents I call the 'Chosen Ones. 'Of all the ones to choose from,I know I've got it done...Parents who deserve my best,an honor you have won." -Unknown

FIVE QUESTION FRIDAY!

It's Friday! I've got a semi laid back weekend planned. Jake's football team has a bye week before the first big playoff game next weekend so we get a Saturday all to ourselves. Whatever will we do? Oh, I know exactly what I'm gonna do....work on cleaning out the 3rd floor/attic. Ugh, it's a nightmare. Maybe I'll take pictures and blog about it. Ha! That will be a sight! I have a Tastefully Simple Party tonight at one of my friends houses and that is always a ton of fun! Sunday will be a church day and I'm sure some football game will be on that the boys will have to watch. Oh and I did get a 25% off of YOUR ENTIRE purchase at Gap so maybe I'll hit up the mall while they are watching football. Hmmm, the possibilities are endless...

So since it's Friday it's time for Mama M's 5 Question Friday.... here are the questions and MY answers. Link up and tell me what yours are!


1. What is your dream job?
I would love to own a coffee shop/book store. Wouldn't that be so great to just hang out all day and read and make coffee? OR a scrapbooking store, that would be fun also!

2. What song could you play over and over?
Right now I'm kinda diggin Gracie's Taylor Swift CD - that girl is just the cutest and I think the song that is getting played over and over in the van is "You belong to me" I also LOVE "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that is a song that we play a lot for Ethan when he is napping and I just love IT!

3. Do you prefer to talk on the phone or text (or email)? Depends on who I'm talking to. I LOVE talking on the phone to my BBFF - we talk at least twice every day. I do like to email/text 'cause it's quick and I just don't have time to be talkin on the phone all day.

4. What is your must have beauty product? Burt's Bees chapstick - need I say more?

5. What is your favorite Michael Jackson song? Billie Jean - takes me back to my childhood. I rocked out the MJ purse and the pleather pants...can't you just picture it? Stop laughing....you had 'em to!

Have a great weekend!

Hot and Healthy!

My fellow Mama over at My Little Life is hosting an awesome "gig" called Hot and Healthy through the Holidays and I am so In!!! After having four babies I am yes, yes, here it goes....50 lbs over weight. OH MY GOSH! I keep saying I'll start tomorrow and than tomorow comes and I have a stressful day and reach for a piece of candy and since I had one piece I might as well have two and you can guess what happens next....

So here goes friends...I'm IN.....

Go on over to My Little Life and check it out.

Here is the first goal:

The first week's goal (starting today...) is: at least a half hour of cardio 5 days out of the week. If you do more..even better! You can walk, run, jump rope, exercise video's, gym, ride a bike etc...running after the kiddos, however, does not count.

I'll let you all know next Tuesday how I did!