My boy is back

That's my Nate...smiling through the 15 minute irrigation process - first one we did on our own tonight!
The biopsy results showed that Nate does have Hirschsprung's disease. We hardly flinched, because his doctor had already pretty much planned on that news. The plan: irrigate him 2x per day ourselves, and if all goes well, Dr. Howell will do the surgery April 28 or 29. The "yikes" part of the day was when the P.A. told us that Nate will need to be in the hospital 2 days before the surgery (to get all cleaned out) and then stay 5-7 days after the surgery. That sounds so long to us! After the surgery we will spend the next month or so dilating Nate so the surgery site won't close up. Hopefully he will be good to go (literally GO, as in fly away to CA) at the end of May. He will need follow up care in St. Louis. The radiologist saw that Nate's hips looked a bit underdeveloped for his age, so next week he needs to see an orthopedic surgeon to get that checked out. If you ask me, he looks like a perfectly healthy baby...not sure what the problem is with these doctors who think he has things to be fixed. :)
At the doctor's office, Dave learned how to irrigate. (Note: the doctor asked which of us wanted to learn...I pointed right to Dave who has the hand skills. I would be way too nervous with the doctor watching my every move. It was not easy stuff.) Nate didn't like it at the doctor's office. I felt terrible thinking about Nate having to have this done two times every day. It looks SO uncomfortable. I spared you the pictures (mostly for you, Dad) but in a nutshell, we have an 18 inch catheter that goes about 12 inches into Nate's colon. We have a monster-size surringe that injects truck-loads of saline solution and then pulls out everything in his colon...EVERYTHING. We repeat this process about 25 times before he is totally cleaned out. The set-up and clean up for this is quite a process as well.

We braced ourselves after dinner for our first try at the at-home-irrigating. We heard one little squawk out of Nate and that was it. It was great having the girls around to distract him. The pictures aren't the greatest - we had some huge smiles, but they showed too much anatomy so I opted for the more modest pix. He was squealing and as happy as could be. I think he loved having Ash, Sade, Mom and Dad all around him cheering him on. I was on cloud 9 seeing how "ok" Nate was with the process. It's amazing what can make a mom happy after a week like we've had. I'm proud of you Nate! This is a 2-man job, so we'll be doing it around 5 a.m. every morning before Dave leaves for school - should be fun! If you're up and in the area, feel free to stop in for some fun.

I had to throw this picture in. Doesn't he look happy and healthy to you?

P.S. We have been told that the 3 pediatric surgeons (who always work as a team in the OR) are the best in the business and have been doing this for 30 years. That was great to hear! We were told by the P.A. who has worked with them for the past 18 years that we couldn't be in better hands.

One of those weeks...

Before I get to our long week, I loved this picture of Sadie and the turtle Dave and Sadie rescued that was about to cross the street. Ash and I were driving off to go to her music festival, and Dave, Sadie and Nate were getting ready to go on a date to the pet store. Who needs to go the pet store? We seem to attract pets! They brought the turtle in the yard but when they got back it had escaped back into the wild. Definitely Daddy's girl...not sure I would hold or look at a turtle like that. On to my poor Nate-baby. I know this isn't a flattering picture of me, but it says a lot of a sad and worried mama. Can you tell that Nate is in pain? He still looks so sweet to me even when he doesn't feel well. The last few days, this is his favorite position...and while he is in this position, he has a sigh/coo sound that melts your heart. He makes the sound over and over, the whole time he is on your shoulder. Many of you have already heard the story...so I'll keep it brief for those of you who haven't. Nate has always had trouble emptying his system...but so did our girls, so we didn't think much of it. One day, (after 12 days of not going and Nate stopped eating) we called the doctor. Within a couple of hours we were at the pediatric surgeon's office doing all sorts of tests. One x-ray showed high suspician of Hirschsprung's disease (no nerves in the rectum area). If this is the case (we should find out tomorrow) he will need a pull-through surgery to correct it. The five of us spent 7 hours in the hospital going from test to test and doctor to doctor. No fun for anyone. The next day Dave and I spent the day with Nate at the hospital while he was in the OR for 2 hours getting cleaned out and a biopsy taken. This picture above is in the morning before we headed out for the OR adventure...not my favorite day AT ALL! Nate was a trooper, but has had a hard time recovering from everything from the biopsy, a recovering colon (I've heard that can be quite painful as a colon shrinks back down to size), disgusting antibiotics 4x a day, etc. On top of it all, he came down with a cold the next day...no fun!!!
Baths are one thing that Nate loves - even when he is hurting. The night before the OR Nate was up much of the night in pain. At 6 a.m. I was taking the Nate-shift and decided to give him his favorite thing...a bath. This picture is of the poor kid who was just feeling so crummy!

We had Easter dinner at The Fillmore's house and this is Nate at the Easter egg hunt after dinner. It's nice to see Nate smile again. He is still having a hard time, but we are seeing a few more smiles come out.

So much for kids having cute, matching Easter outfits. Not this year. Sadie is wearing Ashlyn's spring dress from last year which is WAY too big but when she asked this morning, I didn't have any energy to care (was up most of the night with Nate last night). I whipped their hair together 5 minutes before church and then in the 2 minutes left got myself ready. At church I noticed Sadie wearing Ash's white tights...again, way too big! I looked a little bit recently for a cute Easter outfit for Nate, but never found anything I really liked. Oh well - he sure didn't care what he looked like today. Nate has taken center stage for a few days...and I figure that any baby that has to go to the OR and is having lots of owies gets to be held and snuggled lots more than usual.

Spoiled

Today I had a small mole removed at the dr's. office. I asked Dave if he might be able to watch the kids for me during the appointment a while back- he came back and told me that Col. Bisch gave him the whole day off to help me! Wow! What a fun surprise! Dave was thrilled to get the day off. The procedure took all of 1 minute and I realized that Ashlyn could have easily held Nate in the office - really it was no big deal. But it was such a fun day for us to have Dave home. I called home to let them know I was on my way and this is what I hear...Well, we just finished science and now we are on to physiology. Dave was doing school with the kids and they were all having a blast. They were doing science experiments while learning about acids and bases. They were learning about how ears work, the heart works, why our blood is red, the difference between veins and arteries, etc etc! Can I come to your school Dave? I know I would learn a ton.
I came home to find diagrams Dave drew of hydrogen ions and formulas, and then flashcards of the body (from dental school) out in the family room.

After I got home, Dave took the kids out so I could take a nap. I can't remember the last time I took an afternoon nap. Then later I was out on the couch. Sadie hopped up on the couch with me and asked if it would feel good to have a "backscratch on my bum". Yes, the bum is where my mole was removed. Then the girls wanted to bring me a snack on the couch. I wasn't hungry at all, but couldn't say no. They brought me a tray of cranberries, pretzels and marshmallows. I ate everything because they were being so sweet about it. Sadie asked if I wanted more...I tried to tell her I was full, but she was hoping so badly to serve me more, so I agreed to more. Now it's about dinner time and I'm not hungry at all!

Dave is getting dinner ready while I relax! It is a tiny bit sore, but definitely worth all of the good treatment I got today!

Too busy to blog...

What, you might ask, have we been too busy doing?
Making tissue paper flowers...
Curling hair to look like princesses... (minus Nate)
Making Jamie's veggie soup, making Nate's baby food, marinara sauce, hmmm...what else can I see there on my counter. I had to take this picture so Dave would believe me when I tell him what I did that day. No, I don't eat chocolate all day.
I have wanted to capture this face for a while. Whenever I go in to get Nate after his nap, his little head peeks up over the edge of the crib and he beams the biggest smile at me. He is so happy to see me and I am so happy to see him! I got another shot of just his eyes peeking over the crib...so cute!

Nate's been busy practicing sitting...his favorite position
"Grandpa John told us that if we are thirsty when it's raining, to just open our mouths and get a drink."
Having fun with Daddy...
Kissing Nate...that's my favorite hobby these days (Dave said if I put a picture of him on, I had to put one of me...so here it is.)
Doing school outside because the weather has been in the 70s all week and just perfect to be outside!

Happy Birthday Ash!

Dave and the girls at the crystal mine (see pix below)

Here are Nate's new favorite treats. I handed him a piece of celery because he was dying to get his hands on what we were eating. I figured he wouldn't really be able to get anything off it. He LOVES sucking on it. Then he got into the cucumbers...he has one in each hand and spent a long time sucking away at the insides.

He couldn't find his celery. Where did it go?

Ash made, decorated and created the idea for her cake. I helped a little where she needed it. Her plan: home made carrot cake on the bottom, rainbow chip cake for the next layer (she wanted more flavors for each layer, but I drew the line at 2). This was a shape cake. Bottom layer was rectangle, then heart, then circle, then triangle. She dressed up for her party in a Cinderella dress and black cape...don't ask me about the black cape - no idea. She had a fun birthday party with 6 other little girls. Again, Ash planned everything...from "pin the crystal in the mud" (see lower pictures from where that idea came from), we made a pinata that she painted to look like a lion, musical chairs, etc.
This was Ashlyn's big present...to go crystal mining. Months back, Ash and Sadie were digging in our backyard. I asked what they were doing, and Ash said that she really wanted to find a crystal underground. I wondered if that was possible, so we looked into it. Sure enough, there was a crystal mining quarry only an hour and a half away. We had the best day digging and exploring to find the best crystals. We brought our tools and went to work. The girls were in heaven finding crystals every which way they turned. We came home with about 80.
The crystals need lots of scrubbing and soaking in oxalic acid to get clean and beautiful. Ash handed out crystals as party favors at her party.
Soaking the crystals...

Defense is Done!! Hurray!!!!!!

Dave with 3 of the 7 committee members for his thesis. This morning Dave defended his master's thesis and did a fabulous job! I was lucky enough to get to go and watch him (first time I've left Nate with a babysitter that was not Grandma or Daddy...and he did great, by the way!) Dave presented his research for about 25 minutes and then they spent the next 45 minutes asking tricky questions (a.k.a. PhDs competing to ask the hardest question to show off what THEY know). I was amazed with how well Dave fielded the questions that were much more difficult than Dave had anticipated. It sounded like another language to me. One guy asked such difficult questions, and then when his turn came around to ask another set of questions, admit to Dave that he was just trying to "stick him". If I had to be in Dave's place answering those questions, I can think of at least three possible scenarios of how I would respond...1). cry 2). faint from nausea and nervouseness 3). run as fast as I could away from that place.

After the questions were done, they excused the candidate (Dave) and the audience while the committee discussed the verdict. I was so nervous waiting out there with Dave my heart was racing so fast! What relief when the PhDs came out laughing and talking and I went in the room to find Dave with a big smile of relief written across his face.

I am so proud of you Dave! Way to go. We're headed to Bruster's tonight to celebrate!!!!

Yes, we do take pictures that aren't just of baby NATE!

One Saturday I was out for a swim. I came home to this sight. Let me back up and tell you that Dave always teases me when I tell him what I do during the day. He says "Whatever, you just sleep and eat chocolate all day." First of all, it would be Doritos instead of chocolate. So they posed this picture of them pretending to sleep while indulging in the generous boxes of See's from Karla (thanks Karla!). After some tickles, they squealed and started telling me all the work they had really done while I was gone.

If you look really carefully, you can see snow. Yep, it snowed here in Georgia for about 5 minutes. We were so excited! I was backing out of the garage to go to a meeting when I saw something falling on the windshield. It certainly wasn't rain because there was no noise. It looked like crumbled up leaves. Then it hit me that it was snow! I ran in and got the family so we could take pictures and document the only time it snowed in Georgia in the 3 years we've been here.

Poor Nate looked a little worried about his situation. He puts up with a lot with those two girls. He also adores them. Sometimes I'll catch Nate admiring the girls and flashing them big smiles while they have no clue he's even looking at them.

Sadie LOVES to help anyone. Often times, she'll announce that she will make all the meals and do all of my cleaning. This particular day she announced that she would be making lunch. So here she is preparing Ashlyn's lunch fit with several side dishes and a drink. Sweet Sadie!

I love that my girls are so creative in their play...except when we are trying to sell our house. This is a mild example. They were playing with a bunch of seashells, and turned the kitchen into the ocean. They ran and got bathing suits (even though it was 40 degrees outside) and were swimming through the kitchen and checking for pirates. They make so many fun things, but usually they have taken parts from all throughout the house to make their creations. Like I said, usually I like it...just not when I'm trying to keep the house ready at a moment's notice for someone to look at it. Can't they just sit together and play a board game? Or draw with a piece of paper and pencil?