Olivia’s Surgery

Thankfully, Olivia’s surgery is over with.  I’ve been dreading its inevitability for 4 years!  Olivia was a little apprehensive about having surgery, but once she discovered the playroom, her fears were calmed somewhat. 

She was thrilled to have her own little bed that she could ride down the hall in!

Plus her own hat, an anesthesia mask that she got to decorate with stickers AND movies on a portable DVD player.  Yes!

So, that’s pretty much where the fun ended.  The surgery itself went fine.  We warned them that she wakes up very combative from anesthesia.  This is very unlike her mama whose been known to wake up singing.  I don’t know why the parents can’t be in there BEFORE she wakes up instead of being called in there after she’s awake and screaming with 5 nurses holding her down.  They kept commenting about how strong she was.  Yep, my girl is a fighter through and through. 

Then, her iv infiltrated and blew out her vein and the fluids were going into her tissue.  This caused a very swollen, very red, very painful hand!  No wonder she was screaming!

Luckily, her vital signs were good and we were able to go home pretty quickly.  Olivia quickly got to work playing “hospital” with all of her animals.  Minnie Mouse even needed a bandage on her neck just like her. 

We even had to put wheels (aka sliders) on her crib so that she could rush her friends to the OR. 

Soon after, however, she threw up and now has to go on a 24 hour clear fluids diet.  I’m assuming it’s from the anesthesia?  Yeah, I haven’t told her yet that she can’t have chocolate milk.  That is like telling a fish that they can’t have water.  She is now taking a much needed nap with daddy and I’m hoping everything is back to normal quickly.

Keloid Cyst Removal

Despite being under the weather, if Olivia doesn’t run a temp or have chest congestion, she is still scheduled for her keloid cyst removal surgery tomorrow.  It is a fairly simple procedure, but they have to put her completely out for it.  Last time she had surgery, she had an allergic reaction to something and they gave me a list of about 8 things it could have been.  Hoping that doesn’t happen again.  She also has a hard time waking up from anesthesia and becomes very distressed.  Please pray that things go smoothly and she is back to herself in no time!  Thank You!

Prayers For Ben

My heart has been very heavy this week.  I want you to meet Ben.  He will be two years old this month and on Monday he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma.  He has a cancerous tumor in his eye.  Let me back up a bit.

Ben’s mom, Amanda, is one of my very dearest friends.  She lives in Ohio and we actually met a few years ago through my blog.  I surprised her last year for her birthday with a trip to Ohio and we “met” for the first time.  Some of you might remember that.  She is such an amazing and caring person and a wonderful mother of three boys (with another sweet boy on the way.)  A few months ago, she noticed that Ben was developing what she thought to be a lazy eye.  She later noticed a flicker of light in his one eye and made an appointment with an ophthalmologist.  That was when she heard the words that no mother should ever have to hear, “Your child has cancer.” 

The tumor actually takes up his entire eye and and on a rating from A-E based on size and severity, his is an E!  He had an MRI yesterday that showed the cancer is contained within the eye and has not spread.  Praise God!  He does, however, have surgery on Saturday to remove the entire eye and it will be replaced with an artificial eye.  He has actually been going blind over the past few months and the vision in his eye cannot be restored.  Many many prayers are needed for Ben and his family.

Throughout this tragedy, glimpses of God’s work can be seen.  The fact that the cancer is contained is a blessing, which hopefully means he will not have to go through chemo.  We still need to pray about that.  The specialist doing the surgery is actually the best in the nation and it is an hour from their house.  Basically, if they lived in California or somewhere, they would send them here! 

Please pray for this wonderful family.  I hope I said everything correctly as I try hard to understand what is going on.  I just want their whole family to feel God’s love and comfort and to know that so many people are praying!!  Let’s surround her and her family with our love and support.  Amanda is the kind of person who would be the first one to help someone in need.  That’s just the kind of person she is!  And it breaks my heart that their family is going through this.  Please pray and keep little Ben and his family close to your heart! 

Happy Halloween

2007

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2010

2011

Potato Soup

I have been trying to find a good soup to fix this fall.  My husband does not particularly like soup, so I’ve debated about whether attempting it at all.  But, I found this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.

EASY CROCKPOT POTATO SOUP

1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns {I used Ore Ida}

3 14oz. cans of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese {don’t use fat free. It WON’T melt!!!}

Here are the “cast of characters.”

In a crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese. Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat. About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted. Serve with cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, green onions, or whatever else you think would be good!!

Yummmmm!!  My husband even gave it two thumbs up and a “very good.”  Wow, that’s when you know you’ve struck gold.  I highly recommend. . .very easy and very tasty!

The Facebook Song

This is Ryan's cousin, a very gifted songwriter/musician.  I just love this song that he wrote about facebook.  I think it needs to go viral. :)  Enjoy!

Harvest Party

Wow, so are we almost done with Halloween? LOL.  Just today we went to Trick or Treat Street at the Wichita Children’s Theatre and a Harvest Party at Evangel Assembly of God.  Whew. . .I’m exhausted.  Olivia is loving it all this year, however, so it completely makes it worth it.  Although she has quite enough candy and it isn’t even Halloween yet.  It doesn’t help when I can’t seem to find a cake walk that I don’t win.  Maybe I should stop doing them, but they’re just so much fun!  Ha ha! Or maybe I should buy a lottery ticket instead.  Anyway, before I become completely delirious, here are some pics from tonight.

Wish I would have brushed my hair in this picture because Olivia looks adorable!

Her very first pony ride.

My Little Spot

Bat Girl and Spot

Ten Years

Before we get too caught up in Halloween and candy and costumes. . .I wanted to tell you how special this Halloween night is.  Ten years ago on Halloween, I was to meet Ryan over at his sister’s house.  When I got there, Ryan had not yet arrived.  I was told that he went to get ice which I didn’t think much about.  I remember Alex and Julia were a little over 1 year old.  That alone makes me feel old as they are in 6th grade now!  The doorbell rang and everyone was busy getting food ready and tending to Alex and Julia, so I went to the door.  A trick or treater, dressed all in black, stuck out a little skull bucket and I filled it with candy.  It was really really windy that night and I was ready to shut the door.  But, the trick or treater kept fiddling around with his bucket.  He then pulled out a ring box.  I then realized that Ryan WAS the trick or treater, on his knees like he always said he would be. 

These were the days before digital cameras, so I actually had to scan these.  LOL! 

We had only been dating about 6 months when we got engaged.  However, we had an almost 2 year engagement.  We got engaged 10-31-2001 and married 06-28-2003.  Ryan had three semesters of college to finish up at Kansas State.  After a year and a half of a long distance engagement. . .we were so ready to tie the knot.

         

I can’t believe ten years have passed since that fateful night.  We had no idea what the next ten years would hold.  They haven’t always been easy, but there’s no one else that I’d want to go through life with.   And if he showed up at my door on Halloween night, I’d marry him all over again. 

So good

The letter between the t and u on the laptop is broken, so I have to think of clever words to use instead of ones that contain that letter.  It makes a person think as it is hard to get around that.  Is it possible that Best Bu (dang it) can fix it?  W'e’ll see.

So, now on to what I was writing about.  I made these pretzel bites awhile ago and the pretzels were delicious!!  A must make!! 

http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/?p=932

If you (hey I got my Y to work, sort of) love pretzels like I do, you will love these! 

Now, I’m off to get Olivia ready to go on her first trick or treating of the season. . .at daddy’s work.  She is soooo excited. 

It’s My Potty and I’ll Cry If I Want To

Olivia has a hard time using public restrooms.  If they are the least bit dirty or smelly or noisy, she will scream and cry and refuse to go potty.  She hates toilets flushing and the sound of  hand dryers.  I was anxious last Saturday because we were going to a soccer game followed by the pumpkin patch and I didn’t know where Olivia would go potty.  We stopped at a grocery store on the way to the pumpkin patch to see if she’d go potty, but that bathroom was unacceptable to her.  At this point, I’m stressing because it would be hours before we got home.  And then I learned that porta-potties are completely acceptable to Olivia and she had no problem using them at the pumpkin patch.  I have problems using porta-potties, but they apparently passed Olivia’s test!  She loved the “outdoor potties"!”  I’m pretty sure it’s because they don’t flush.  I don’t know what else she could possibly find appealing about them. 

Sunday, October 23, 2011

So, I thought I’d share my new recipes for the week.  My tilapia was a bust.  Honestly, I took one bite and almost gagged.  My husband ate his and said it wasn’t bad, but I think he was just being nice.  Either that or I just really don’t like fish or paprika.  So, I won’t be sharing that recipe.  But, if anyone has a good recipe for tilapia, please share.  I’m determined to like it.

I also made these new baked potatoes this week.  They looked and sounded awesome to me, but I was a bit disappointed.  They were good, but not quite as good as I expected.  Definitely worth a try if you’re looking for a new spin on potatoes, though.

http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2011/10/scalloped-hasselback-potatoes/

Olivia kept busy while I was cooking dinner tonight.  Hey, at least someone is finding a use for my spices.  Ha!

Not sure what I’m going to make next, but I’m looking forward to some parmesan pretzel bites and also baked french toast.  Hoping I’ll have better luck with those. 

AppleJack Pumpkin Patch

We had a great afternoon at the pumpkin patch.  This is the fourth year that we’ve gone and the first year that Olivia has really truly enjoyed it! 

The first thing she HAD to do was jump on the giant pillow!

Then, she slid down the big slide. . .all by herself!

Next up was the train.  This was the first year that she rode it!

Choo Choo!

We had a lot of fun in the corn maze.

And had to stop for pictures!

She loved the teeter totters.

More slides!

This is how Olivia rides tricycles.  LOL!  We can’t get her to use the pedals.  She is almost, however, a little too short to reach.

But, is growing taller every year!  What a great afternoon we had as a family! 

To see our adventures from previous years, go to:

http://oliviaandlogan.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-10-17T20%3A37%3A00-05%3A00

http://oliviaandlogan.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-10-21T17%3A23%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=20&reverse-paginate=true

Halloween Preview

My Daughter, The Helper

Olivia is at the stage right now that she wants to help with everything and she actually can!  Yesterday, she helped me clean all the bathrooms and then begged to clean the bathrooms again today.  While I was putting the laundry away, she wanted to help so I told her to put daddy’s socks in his sock drawer, mommy’s socks in her sock drawer, etc.  I went into the bedroom expecting to see everything in the wrong place, but it was all exactly where it should be.  Then, she wanted to help some more, but all I had left were clothes to hang up.  So, I told her to go into mom and dad’s closet and put all the jeans in the laundry basket.  Then, I got busy finishing up the laundry and wasn’t really paying attention to what she was doing.  She walked up to me and said, “The jeans are washing!”  Olivia had not only put all the jeans into the laundry basket, but she pushed it all the way to the laundry room, put the jeans in the washer and started it.  The only thing she didn’t do was put in the soap because she couldn’t reach it in the cabinet.  I was in awe.  I think this girl is going to start earning an allowance!

She also sat through her very first full length movie at home.  A movie rarely keeps her interest past 15-30 minutes, but she LOVED Charlotte’s Web.  We watched it again today and she fell asleep during the last 10 minutes.  This hardly ever happens either because she doesn’t sit down long enough to fall asleep.  She is even snuggling up with me to watch it, which I am thoroughly enjoying!!  I’m loving this stage.

Tuesday, November 18, 2011

This afternoon after I cleaned up lunch, the house got mysteriously quiet.  I peeked into Olivia’s room and this is what I found.  Can you even find Olivia in there?  It took me by surprise because 1) Olivia doesn’t normally go in and take a nap and 2) she doesn’t let the cats sleep with her (although they always want to.) 

Then, I had to wake her up because we had an appt with a surgeon today.  Olivia is having a keloid cyst removed on November 3rd.  I’m soooo not looking forward to it, but it needs to be done.  It is a result of her 105 days in the NICU.  Keloids are formations of scar tissue that grow because the body over-defends itself as a result of trauma or surgical incisions.  The problem is that with surgery, you are creating more skin trauma and another surgical incision so the chances that it can grow back are great.  However, when caught in early stages, steroids can sometimes be used to get rid of them.  It is a fairly simple procedure, but because of her age, it will have to be done under anesthesia at a hospital which makes it a bigger deal.  And I just hate that she has to undergo any more surgeries as she has another eye surgery in the future as well.  So, please say a prayer for her and her doctor and nurses (and parents.) Pray that her surgery will go well, her healing will be swift and that it will not grow back.

End of An Era

It was a couple of months ago when I noticed that Gogum no longer slept in Olivia’s bed.  After two years of being her constant companion, he became just another one of her toys.  Even more surprising was when Lily no longer went everywhere with her.  Now, she no longer sleeps with her either.  It’s kinda sad actually because they were her very first favorites. 

These are now her inseperables: Little Lily, Newt and Little Sister.  They go everywhere with her! 

You’d think green was her favorite color, but she’ll be the first to tell you that it’s not.  Red and pink are her favorite colors.  I don’t know how many times a day I hear, “But, blue (or yellow or green) is NOT my favorite color.”  Somedays she won’t even wear jeans because they are not her favorite color.  Haha!  I love discovering her interests, likes and dislikes.

Recipe of the week

So, tonight I tried my new recipe(s) of the week: Meatloaf muffins and cauliflower mashed potatoes.  I have two meatloaf recipes that I alternate between and this new meatloaf recipe became Ryan’s new favorite.  Olivia only took one bite of it, but that is nothing new.  The cauliflower mashed potatoes received mixed reviews.  They looked like mashed potatoes, smelled like mashed potatoes, but still had a cauliflower taste.  I really dislike cauliflower, however, I did not think they were all that bad.  Super healthy and way more diabetic friendly than mashed potatoes.  So, I’ll probably make them again. 

Here are the links to the recipes:

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/09/meatloaf-muffins/

http://www.bubblecrumb.com/2011/07/25/cauliflower-mashed-potatoes/

Next week?  A new tilapia recipe.  With only 2.6 g of carbs and 23 g of protein, it’s a diabetic’s perfect food.