We're still alive

I've been a horrible blogger lately. 

We had an extremely busy summer which started with surgery and ended with daddy moving to Florida to go to school for a year. But I miss blogging about my princess so let's get caught up!

May 29th Carly had her tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes placed in her ears.

She had moderate hearing loss due to fluid build up with was mostly likely made worse by her adenoids that nearly obstructed her nasal passage completely. She had kissing tonsils which means her tonsils were so large they were touching leaving her with about the size of a pinky as her airway. Her doctor was amazed that she did not suffer from severe sleep apnea due to her airway being so small and not being able to breathe through her nose. All of these things likely played a part in her poor eating habits and low weight. 

Carly went into surgery weighing 30 lbs. and in 3 months she has gained 3 lbs. 

Coincidence? I think not.

The volume no longer has to be turned up loud on everything and I don't have to yell for her to hear me. She isn't snoring at night and breathes through her nose.

Recovery was miserable but was very worth it!

June 2nd Carly had her dance recital. Yes, 4 days after surgery this little trooper danced in her recital and did AWESOME!!! She was so cute and made her Mommy and Daddy so proud!

We spent 6 weeks in Idaho this summer. Here is 12 of Carly's cousins which is about 1/4 of them.

 (who are my great nieces and nephews) -my three are on the right, except for the one on the end-

Carly loves riding quads!

Playing dress up with more cousins.

Yes that mouse is real. 

It's also dead.

Gross!

We scrubbed hands and arms very well after this.

I snapped this picture literally 15 seconds after she fell in the river up to her ears and that water was so cold! She just got up and kept on going!

My aspiring model after she dried off.

 Carly started preschool August 7th and really likes her teacher. She was very disappointed to find out her teacher from last year would not be her teacher this year so I am glad she likes her new teacher.

I can't believe this is her last year in preschool and that next year she will be in kindergarten. 

But let's not think about that right now. 

Sniff, sniff.

Water day

It's that time again, water day, which signals the end of the school year.

I can't believe Carly has finished her first full year of pre-school

 and her second end of year celebration at the pre-school. 

She has one year left at the Dysart Early Childhood Education Center before

dun, dun, dun...KINDERGARTEN!! (insert freakout here)

We are so pleased with her development and the education she has received.

On the outside she looks like the typical kid but deeper evaluations show she is pretty delayed with her coordination. She still can't run normally, her legs turn in and she struggles with her mid-line. 

We have goals for the next year and hope to meet them all.

Happy summer!

Daddy Daughter dance

Carly went to her first daddy/daughter dance at church and had a blast!

Daddy did her nails.

They hula hooped.

They danced.

They ate goodies.

Carly played with friends.

Carly painted a water color picture.

They had so much fun!

Princess Party

Carly's birthday party was on Saturday, March 24th and it was so much fun!

Cinderella surprised Carly at the door and the girls (and Burke!) all loved having her around.

The girls all made crowns and ate some lunch then Cinderella rang the door bell.

She read books, sang a song, put on glitter makeup on the girls, played "Princess" Says, Danced and took pictures with the girls.

She stayed to sing "Happy Birthday" then snuck out.

After cake the girls all assisted Carly in opening her presents. 

It was such a fun party and was perfect!

Mystery package

Today I checked the mail and there was a package for Carly.

I didn't recognize the names on the return label and there was no last name.

The package was only addressed the "The Birthday Girl!" and to our address.

Inside the package was a box decorated in princess stickers with a princess puzzle, glitter crown, bracelets, a necklace, princess hair accessories, sunglasses and an activity book.

I don't think it was a coincidence that a package mistakenly showed up to "The Birthday Girl" 2 days before her birthday.

Carly loves her package and gifts!

I just wish I knew who it was from!!

If whomever sent the package is reading this, we appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness in sending this package. It really put a smile on Carly's face to see something for her! 

So happy

In Carly's room I have this picture framed and it sits on her dresser.

She likes to look at it and hold it. She says, "It's me at the doctor when I was a baby." 

Yesterday we were in her room getting ready for school and Carly was talking about the picture.

She said, "I'm holding your finger, Mommy. Mom, you were happy. You were so happy."

Yes, Carly.

I was SO, SO, SO happy!

Vesicoureteral re-implantation surgery

I figured it's probably time to post about Carly's surgery, 1 month after it was done. Surgery was Wednesday, December 7th and it definitely wasn't the in and out in 2 days that we had planned on it being. We had hoped for the laproscopic approach but because of scar tissue from her shunt surgeries in her belly and the distal end of the shunt tubing being in the area the surgeon would be he did not want to risk manipulating her shunt causing malfunction so he chose the standard bikini line incision. 

She was taken to the O.R. around 1:30 and surgery began at 2:04. We thought it would be a 2 hour surgery but it took 3 1/2 hours!!! I started pacing the floors around the 2 hour mark and the following 1 1/2 hours was LONG!!! I finally saw her and we were finally taken to our room. She had a really hard time waking up because of being sedated for such a long time and pretty much slept the first 2 days in the hospital with short spurts of being alert. She started vomiting like crazy the second day which lasted for 2 days. She wouldn't eat which started causing major concerns and was very confused at times. Our best guess is that because of being under for such a long time it kind of put her bowels to sleep. She finally started eating on Monday, December 12th and we were able to go home that evening. So glad that is over and so far things seem to have worked great!!

 Carly's scrub nurse has hydrocephalus too and let Carly touch his shunt. So cool!!

 Being wheeled back to the O.R. I hate saying goodbye to my baby.

 How many nurses does it take to move a 29 lb little girl with a 5 inch incision on her belly?

 Sleeping soundly in her padded bed.

 Yep, had to post it. 

 Brothers finally got to come see her. I look terrible!!

 She woke up enough to color a bit....

then when I went to the bathroom she fell asleep. :)

I have one tough little girl. Every time I think something is too hard and that I can't do it I remember that this little girl has gone through 2 brain surgeries and now bladder surgery. She did not complain about pain and has the same incision I had for my c-section and I complained a TON!! She is my miracle!

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Vesicoureteral re-implantation is the surgical fix for kidney reflux. Carly's Dr cut her bladder in half, tunneled out the ureters, crossed them and then cut and re-implanted them on the opposite side to lengthen the ureters. He sewed her bladder back up then placed steri-strips to close her belly. After surgery a caudal block was placed (basically a child's epidural) to help with pain after her surgery.