Lack of blogging desire...

I don't know whats up, just that I have nothing to say these days I suppose. We have been busy, I will use that as my excuse : ) I am patiently (NOT) waiting to hear if I got the job at Ella's school, supposed to hear on Tuesday. Apparently we were supposed to find out last Friday, but they were waiting for my doctor to give me a medical release to work, (which was a nightmare to get. The doctor said that he consulted with another orthopedic doctor and they decided because of the type of fracture I have in my tibia that they would not give me a verbal nor written medical release. After freaking out, I asked if he would write that after the 8th of June he would release me, as this is my next x-rays and will be 6 weeks after the initial injury, he said sure and they faxed it over right away. Whatever.) I will be so pissed if, because it says I can be released on the 8th and the job starts on the 1st, I don't get the job because of my stupid leg.

Chris' dad, Papa, is here visiting right now and the kids have really enjoyed having him around, Hunter and Papa are out playing golf right now. Papa bought Hunter his own little golf bag and putter last night to add to two other clubs he got him on a past visit (real stuff not plastic) it's so cute!! I have really enjoyed having Papa around too, he is an excellent cook and has been fixing our meals!

Ella continues to be doing great. She adds daily to her vocabulary, right now my two favorite words of hers are purple and bubble, which she says both PERFECTLY!!! At school the other day she said "Help me please" while outside trying to climb a hill and then her teacher had yelled for a little guy to stop "Isaiah stop," and Ella yelled "ZAYA" very cute. I still get a bit frustrated though, she often pops off with words or phrases clear as a bell and in appropriate context only for them to never be heard again. It boggles my mind. I know she knows what she wants to say, and knows how but she still just babbles away. It's just so confusing. She has been showing her attitude a lot lately (nothing new there : ) she snaps at me when I tell her something, and will point at me with a dirty look on her face, and recently she has taken to shushing me, she puts her tiny little finger to her lips and blows, it is so hard not to laugh!

I went to the dermatologist this past Thursday to have a scalp biopsy done. I have had severely thinning (for me) hair ever since Ella was born. I realize that I do have a lot of hair, but there is half as much as there used to be, I don't mind the amount I have right now it's just that it is thinning mostly in the front. I have been doing this comb over thing, parting way over on one side, so that not so much scalp is showing. I am not particularly vain about my hair, but its all I got, people have commented on my hair my entire life. I had gone to a dermatologist in Texas and he has said that my loss was from extreme stress, it was about 8 months after Ella's birth, and it would come back. Well, Ella is almost 3 now, the stress I have now will probably not get any lower, maybe when the kids move out, if Ella moves out and even then not because then I would worry even more about her : ) This doc said that my pattern of loss is consistent with the typical female hair loss pattern, I asked as in old people? I am 29 for crying out loud!! Anyhow, he took two biopsies of my scalp which may I add HURT so now I have 3 stitches in my head which I am supposed to keep moist with Vaseline so I look all greasy. In addition I had a thing taken off my arm (not really a mole, something weird though and it always hurt) and that took an additional 3 stitches. So here I am stitched together, on a crutch all with greasy hair fun fun fun!!

OK, enough rambling here are a ton of pics taken in the past few weeks....

Ella and Riley

sitting on the

coffee table

watching Elmo

Tickle tickle

Hunter and Ella

laying on the

coffee table

watching

Bob-bob

We really do have furniture to sit on, but the kids prefer the table : )

Hunter's school

had a Mother's

Tea for Mother's

day.

It was so cute, they made little corsages and a little gift for us,

then they performed a few songs.

He sang but would

not do the

movements.

He's just too cool!

Our attempt at a

self picture of

Hunter and

mommy

b-day party at a

paint your pottery

place.

Hunter and Emily
(the b-day girl)
they are both 5


































Ella and Emily














Hunter and Emily's
brother Logan.
CUTE!






We painted Ella's
nails purple. It's
hard to see but she's
showing them off.











Ella dancing on the
table, *sigh*.












Hunter came home
from school and dumped
his hat and lunch box
on the floor.











She kept saying "BYE"
I said are you bubba?
She said "yes."


























What happens when
Ella sits on the new
couch. Still very
full of static







Ella's new hat
from Papa

Chuck E Cheese

Last Tuesday we went to Chuck E Cheese. The owner, Sam, twice a year invites Ella's entire school (Spokane Guilds School) and their families to come eat pizza and play for free. He is such a nice guy and is always there to visit with the families, he is just so sweet!! I can't even tell you how much fun the kids have there, especially Hunter. It's great for him to be included. Pics down below.

I WAS playing softball this summer, for the first time in 14ish years, and was having a blast. At the second practice I was running, my leg was fully extended and my heel stepped into a hole and POP. I walked around a bit and it was feeling fine so I continued to play. And then I attended another practice, and then two games. Well after the games my knee was a bit achy so I decided I had better get it checked out just in case. (When I was a teenager I hurt my other knee skiing. It took 5 surgeries and 3 years to repair it, so I was pretty freaked out when it first popped but it felt alright so...) I went into an Urgent Care last Friday, the 8th and they thought I had perhaps damaged a ligament so they scheduled me for a MRI that same night and scheduled a follow up with an Orthopedic doc for the next monday. Over the weekend my knee felt just fine so I was really hopeful that it was nothing. I go to the doc and find out that I broke my leg. Well, I fractured my tibia plateau, basically the top of the bone, right where it all connects to the femur. I most of asked the doc about a thousand times if he was sure, I mean seriously if your leg is broken should you be able to still play ball??? So, now I am supposed to be completely non weight bearing for 6 weeks, going in every Monday for X-rays. If the fracture grows at all the doctor told me I would have to go in for surgery and have a plate and pins put in. Great. But here is the thing, my leg does NOT hurt. Crutches are the most annoying thing ever, and let me tell you my ARMS hurt. So, the doc and I are going to go rounds this Monday at my weekly visit : )

I am currently in the process of interviewing for a job at Ella's school. This is my dream job. I would be basically a teacher's aide in one of the classes. This school only serves kids 0-3 with developmental and physical disabilities. I would work Mon, Wed, and Fri from 7:30 - 2:15. This school is SO amazing and inspiring, I can see myself working there for a really long time, if I am lucky enough to get the job. I already had one interview, which they picked the top 4 and invited us back for a class observation and to see how well you get along with the team, so that for me is on this coming Wednesday. I am so excited. EXCEPT for the fact that I am on stupid crutches. Again, the doc and I are going to have a little talk.

Poor Ella has a bit of a cold. We got this sinus rinse thing that my friend Mary's doctor recommended for her little guy Riley. Wow, that thing is way cool!! I have never seen such huge amounts of snot fly so far!!!

That's it for tonight......stay tuned for an important message!!!

Ella and Josie

Hunter and Josie

Playing B-ball

Ella, Leah and Piper

These 3 are all about

2 weeks apart in

age.

Ha ha, no one

can sit still for

long

Ella was so pooped

she had to rest

on Daddy's head!

So sleepy!

Hunter being goofy

Hunter with his

prize from his

tickets

American Idol???

Here is Ella today,

kind of sickly

But still so sweet : )

I had to be creative

with her hair so it

would stay out of

her boogers

Just a few pics...

The kiddos had a birthday party to go to this morning so I took a few pics of them before we headed out the door. I really didn't try to make them match, didn't realize it until they were sitting together. Anyhow, have a Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!!

I know, I'm a slacker.....

Obviously it's been awhile sense I've posted, I have no excuse. Last time I posted was April 25th so I'll start the update from there. April 26th was my 29th birthday, (YIKES!!!) and my 2nd softball practice. I haven't really played in about 13 years, softball was my life when I was a kid, LOVED it, then I had a little skiing incident and had 5 knee surgeries. So, I figure it's about time to start playing again : ) My body, however did not agree so much after the first practice, but I'm recovered and am looking forward to our first double-header tomorrow night!!

My grandmom has been here visiting from Georgia for almost 2 weeks. I have found that the ONLY disadvantage to my mom living in the same town as me is that family on our side stays at her house when visiting. I don't know why? I guess because she has guest beds and a huge house to share : ) Seriously, wouldn't you rather sleep on an air matress in the middle of the living room at my house??? Ha ha. Anyhow, my grandmom got me this really cool old window to hang up in my house. I realize that this is way too hard for anyone to picture, I promise to take real pictures soon. As a house warming present she got us 2 ceiling fans for our family room, which brings me to share the excitement of last Friday night.... Chris, my dear handy husband, was trying to install the brackets to better secure the fans into the ceiling but first had to remove the fixtures for the light that was nailed in. So, ever the thinking man that he is, he started drilling it out and then all of a sudden water starts shooting out of the ceiling. (Let me quickly remind you that we have lived in our BRAND NEW home for 2 months...) Yep, Chris drilled a perfect hole in the Pex tubing. I was supposed to be going out on a girls night with my "special mom" friends (a joke we share with each other, hi girls!) but instead I got to stay home to watch the kids while we waited for the plumer to show up at 9pm. Fun fun fun.

Onto Ella updates....we have had a recent flurry of medical appts, ugh. At the follow up from Ellas tonsil and adenoid removal the ENT doctor referred us to a respiratory specialist because Ella was still having issues with her oxygen level going down while she sleeps. So, off to that doc we went. We discussed everything that has been going on, basically since birth anytime Ella has been in the hospital (not often) whenever she sleeps her O2 has gone down into the low 80's and high 70's. Since her tonsil surgery the snoring has stopped, which they had thought that obstructive sleep apnea was the issue. So, this doc recommended a sleep study, which was supposed to be done this coming Wednesday night, but they had a cancellation and requested that we do it 2 weeks early. Ella did fabulous and was quite cooperative, for her or really for any 2 year old! I however did not sleep so well. Long story short, the outcome of the sleep study was that Ella is no longer having any episodes of apnea (YAY) but her O2 still goes down to the same numbers. So, the respiratory doctor says he thinks there is some shunting in her heart and that not all of the blood between her lungs and heart is being properly oxygenated. Um, okay. Ella just had her PDA closed in December 2008, so this news did not thrill me. So, off to the cardiac doctor we went, in fact earlier today. They redid her echo and EKG, which they were going to do next month anyway as her 6 month follow up, and I am so very happy to say that her PDA is in fact closed and there are no heart issues. We have been dismissed from the cardiac doc, never to see him again. YAY again, though he really is a great and nice doc! His theory is that Ds kids in general have smaller lung volume, smaller respiratory structure and of course the decreased muscle tone and that all of these together is creating the lower stats when she is sleeping. I will say that Ella is SOOOOO floppy when she is asleep, so I'm guessing he is right, and obviously it hasn't hurt her in the past 2 years 8 months so I'm going to cross that off of my things to worry about list. Plus the sleep study showed that Ella's brain goes into all of the appropriate levels of sleep, theres like 5, so she is getting good sleep.

We also had our long awaited appt with the gastroentanologist, it took us 7 months to get in. Here we are trying to address Ella's reflux and constipation issues. I again really liked this doctor, he spent a lot of time with me and discussed every imaginable cause of these issues. He wants to sedate Ella and put a scope down her throat, take some biopsies to test for Celiac's, allergies and other things (can't remember) because he said that this may not be a true reflux issue. As far as her constipation issues I am supposed to do this horrific sounding cleansing with Ella until she poops water, disgusting I know. Then they are going to do some kind of emptying test???? Then I have to have her on a diet that involves miralax, 5 servings a day of certain fruits (pears, plumbs, prunes, peaches, cherries, nectarines, and grapes) and 9 grams of fiber a day. Which really won't be hard once we get the hang of it, the kid will eat ANYthing!!! The only foods we have to avoid are apples and bananas.

In the midst of all of this we have been having meetings with the school district that Ella will be attending when she turns 3. Because she turns 3 on August 30th, she will start the first day of school in the fall, meaning we have to have all the evals etc done before this school year is over. I was having some serious reservations about this transition but so far everything is going well, the therapists and child psychologist for the school district have really listened to me and are even going to give Ella occupational therapy despite the fact that she does not qualify for it, they realized that her "classroom skills" are certainly not up to par. So, I'm glad for that! Over all Ella is doing great. She has some behavior issues every now and then, she is definitely 2!!!! Man that kid has an attitude and she absolutely knows what she wants when she wants it, and you can't tell her no.

Hunter is doing great as well. He is still loving school. His preschool, Montessori school, has been having Spanish class once a week all this school year. Hunter often slips into speaking Spanish, like to tell me, no me gusta frescas (I don't like strawberries) I have to say I am quite impressed!!! I did take 4 years of Spanish in high school so, so far I am able to keep up with him, not for long I'm sure! He has also been playing soccer. It is quite hilarious to watch. I swear that kid does not have an aggressive/competitive bone in his body when it comes to sports. He just truly enjoys running with the pack of boys and socializing with his teammates. He cracks me up. We have been working on "attacking that ball" so in a game if he actually kicks the ball he stops and looks at me with a giant grin on his face, and either gives me a thumbs up, says "YEAH", or "I got it mom!!!" Too funny.

I think that's about it. We were able to go to a classmate of Hunter's house this past Saturday so that the kiddos could play outside together. Hunter's friend is Emily and one of Emily's big brothers, Logan age 6, has Down syndrome. Cool huh? It was SOOO cute to watch Ella and Logan play together, not just by each other but actually interacting with each other. Logan was so sweet to Ella, he would stop and give her hugs, at one point Hunter came up to give Ella a hug and she grunted/yelled at him and pushed him away and then ran after Logan. Hmmm, better watch out Riley, I think Ella has a crush on an older man : ) Here are some pics from that play visit....

Ella and Logan

Logan was cheering

Ella on, so sweet!

Logan was burying

Ella feet.

Hunter and Emily

(they are the same

age, isn't she so cute!)

I'm pretty sure

Ella outweighs her : )

Emily's other older

brother, Ryan, also

VERY sweet!!

Hunter and Logan

digging in the sand!