Happy Halloween!

Of course I have a billion pics, I won't post them all but I have lots : ) BUT, first I want to tell you all that Chris, Ella and I were just sitting on the couch, yes I realize it was 11:30pm, trying to get Ella to sleep. Ella, mind you she is 2 years and 2 months and has oh about 3 words that she actually says, pats her diaper and says "poop," Chris and I kind of give eachother a shocked look and I ask "Ella, do you have to go potty?" she shakes her head yes, slides off the couch and walks to the bathroom. I take off her jammies and her diaper and sit her on the toliet. She pushes really hard, nothing happens and she laughs. I think okay well I guess she is just stalling going to bed. Then she pushes again and poops. I CANNOT believe it!! How smart is that??? I am so proud of her!!! She is leaps and bounds ahead of her brother at this age, which is just so funny for so many different reasons!!

Anyhow, Ella dressed up in her costume, an ANGEL, for school and they took them around to all the other classrooms and offices to trick-or-treat, it was so cute. Of course Ella was in her element, everyone that saw her said how cute/pretty/beautiful she is and she LOVES that!!!

Circle time at

school.

Riley the duck.

Trick-or-treating

Look what I

got!!!

Smooch break

Then we picked Hunter up from school, came home and got him ready for trick-or-treating. He decided he wanted to be a police officer again, big surprise, and wanted to wear his same costume from last year, score for mom!!! We met Mary and family at the mall and trick-or-treated there, have to say doing that at the mall turned out to be pretty cool!!!

Tough guys

don't smile.

Muscle man

smooch for

daddy

The gang.

Buddies!!

Hunter and

Rex

Fall pics round 2

I'm excited for Halloween tomorrow! Ella's school is having the kids wear their costumes to class and they get to trick or treat at school, should be really cute, I will definetly have my camera with me!!! So I will post pics of that tomorrow night. For now here are the rest of the pics I took last week...

I am not above

bribery, Smarties

work great!

Woo-hoo

My computer is back up and running!!! We have been really busy the past couple of days trying to get moved to my mom's house, all of our furniture is in storage, thanks to Justin and Mary for your help! We will be all moved in by Saturday.

I hauled Ella back into the pediatricians today, her reflux has kind of kicked itself into high gear. This morning she spit up but it was thick and she started gasping for air and I had to suction it out of her nose. Ugh. Her constipation is back after a brief time of being able to poop everyday, her little bum bleeds when she poops (more than you wanted to know I'm sure.) So, the official report from her Echo cardiogram came in and all was well except for the PDA, which looks small. Now her peds are wanting us to see a GI doctor, have a small bowel study and of course see a cardiologist. They are thinking she may have Hirshprungs disease, which of course has me worried. The doctor said if that is the case that it may be contributing to her reflux, as her stool backs up she is not able to digest her food quickly and combined with her low muscle tone it comes back up. So now I get to wait around for those tests.

I wanted to clarify something from my last post, I said that I hate Texas, which is true, but it's just the place I hate. While we lived in Texas we met some very wonderful people (Mrs Deena) that of course never would have been in our lives if we didn't live there!!!

Last week I took the kids out to take some pictures. I have been reminded living here how much I love fall. We went up by a park, the houses around there are older and beautiful with all of these great trees! I'll split the pictures up into two posts, so here is the first round....

Heart Results

My computer has crapped out on me, we are in the process of moving and we unplugged it to get it off of the stand, plugged it back in and it's not working. A friend of ours is looking at it for us so hopefully I will be back online tomorrow, for now I am updating from my moms house.

SO, we had Ella's echo cardiogram today. The tech asked me about Ella's heart history and I told her that Ella had a PDA (Patent ductus arteriosus) at birth, we went to the cardiologist in Dallas, Texas at 3 months old and Ella was completely cleared, PDA closed no problems, no follow-ups. So, the tech today starts looking at Ella's heart, about 2 minutes into it she says, "yeah, she has a PDA still." WHAT????? Anyhow she finished up the echo, said that Ella's aorta is "generous" meaning a little bigger but still within normal ranges. She didn't know what they saw on the Upper GI Study. Now we just wait for the Echo to be looked at by a doc, the results to be sent to Ella's pediatrician and then we will get a referral to a cardiologist. I'm not too terribly worried, after all there isn't anything wrong with her aorta (which scared the crap out of me.) A PDA is the "good kind" of hole in the heart (that's what the docs told me when Ella was born,) I'm pretty sure that if she does have to have it closed it's an out-patient thing and not too terrible frightening.

So, there you have it, overall a much better outcome than I was fearing! It's funny how much your perspective can change. Had I learned this last week before her GI study I would be totally freaking out right now, but having been told that her Aorta was bulging in her esophagus the PDA is a piece of cake! I will say however, that I am PISSED that she still has the PDA and yet was given a clean bill of health for her heart. I mean what if she had had problems?? Ugh, one more reason to hate Texas : )

Using Utensils and the Heart

First off I want to say that Ella's doctor called this morning, she received the report from the Upper GI study Ella had on Tuesday. Her intestines looked good, she did reflux while on the table (duh) and they saw something of concern. So, I take a deep breath and she tells me that Ella's aorta is bulging in her esophagus. I say "what does that mean???" Dr says that means that her aorta is making her esophagus narrow because it is pushing in the wall. Um, okay. She tells me that her nurses will get Ella scheduled for an echocardiogram and that it will probably be a week or two. Ten minutes later the nurse calls back and says the heart institute wants to see her Monday morning. I am trying REALLY hard not to freak out about this. Ella had a PDA when she was born but at 3 months she had a repeat echo in Dallas, TX and was completly cleared of any heart issues, no follow ups nothing, done. I am going to be SO pissed if something was missed. I am comforted by the fact that Ella has no signs at all that anything is wrong, obviously well nourshed and has enough energy for 10 people. So that was how my day started off, fun. Anyhow....

Ella has been doing SO good using her spoon and fork to eat. She was having a really hard time poking food with her fork due to her shoulder weakness, but ever persistant she has mastered it!!! Ella is just getting so big, I'm so proud of her!!
These pictures are from last night after dinner, apparently I was not paying enough attention because when she was done with her Boca "Chicken" she decided to try to use her fork to eat just ketchup, here is the results.....

Special Hat!

Ella received a new hat in the mail today, a very special hat, made with love by a friend! Thank you SO MUCH Kristen for the beautiful hat you made Ella, I LOVE IT!!!

Please keep Kristen's daughter Cayman in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow as she is having surgery on her heart.

I tried to get some pics of Ella in her new hat, but she was busy, so here is the best I could get.....


Looking pretty.





















Didn't get her
way.












Uh-oh, here
comes the
lip.



























She has a bit of
a flare for the
dramatic.










I asked "what's
a matter?" and
this is the face I
get.










What could cause this sadness????



Hunter did not want
her to climb on
the bench with
him and was
blocking her.






It's rough to be Ella.
In all fairness, she
does pester him!!







"You are an unrepeatable miracle." - Diane Roger