Saturday, June 23, 2012

June in Pictures

Here is a very brief synopsis of our June .... bunches and bunches of school parties, and picnics, and field days, and gifts, and more parties:), a quick trip to Virginia for my sister's wedding, Alle's gotcha day, and school ends!!!!
the pics below are from:
Alle's first anniversary of her Gotcha day -   Wednesday June 13th.
Cassia's (my little sis) rehearsal dinner in Richmond, VA - Friday June 15th
Cassia and Reggie's wedding - Saturday June 16th
Jadon's second grade picnic - Monday June 18th
Cherry picking with the family - Saturday June 23rd
Enjoy!!!!






















                                     HAPPY SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Gotcha Day 2012

Happy Gotcha Day, Alemnesh!!!
  I cannot believe that it has been a year already, it seems like just yesterday we were flying home from Ethiopia with a scared, quiet little baby.    I am so thankful for all the other families that traveled with us - they made coming home bearable:)
A year later she is loud, full of spunk, and still the cuddliest, funniest little one year old ever! It has been a year full of laughing, crying, and many new discoveries about our precious daughter and ourselves.  I would not change it for the world.
Alle, momma loves you to the moon and back.  I am so blessed that God gave you to me - you bring spunk and laughter to everything we do!
We love you Alle!
                                     This was the first picture that we saw of Alle
                                                     February 2011


                                      This was the original Gotcha day
                                                    June 13, 2011

                                            Today - one year home!!!
                                                     June 13, 2012
                                          What a difference a year makes!


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mother's Day 2012


Today we drove to Kent, CT.  What a beautiful drive in the New England countryside, with blue skies, green trees and grass, and 4 kiddos all quietly watching chip and dale rescue rangers in the back of the van:)!
The falls were beautiful, and the boys loved getting to play in the river at the top.  Hannah was a little tired, and not too sure of the rushing water and slippery rocks, and Alle just hung out in the backpack!
We ended a perfect Mother's Day with fried mushroom, jalapeno poppers, and pizza (my hubby knows me too well)!
Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers in my life - I am blessed to be on this journey with you!!!!

PS - I was playing around with Alle and the camera the other day, and took these shots of our cutie - she is growing like a weed and is so entirely rotten!!!  Love that girl!












Monday, April 9, 2012

Happy Belated Easter!  As usual, it has been too long since I have updated our blog.  We spent spring break in Virginia and North Carolina, getting loved on by family and riding roller coasters!  I forgot the camera (typical), so the only pics that we took were on Sunday when Eric flew in with the camera!  Enjoy!

                                        Alle loves wearing daddy's hat
                                       coloring Easter eggs


                                     Alle's first peep - love the expression!
                                   Hannah really gets into her peeps:)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

wow- it has been awhile!






so sorry that it has taken me so long to post - time just flies by here!  Let's see - where to begin.  Thank you all for all your prayers, encouragement and support during the past two months.  (did I just type that?  It seems surreal that it was two months ago yesterday that Hannah was in the emergency room getting diagnosed).  We are halfway done at this point - she has had two surgeries (one minor, one major) and has two more to go (one minor, one major).  I'll try to explain what she has and what they are doing to fix it, so if you are interested, read on, otherwise - skip to the bottom because there are some incredibly cute pictures down there!
Hannah has congenital bilateral hydronephrosis with grade 5 vesicoureteral reflux and a left-sided obstruction at the ureteropelvic junction.  Basic anatomy lesson - two kidneys, one on each side, ureters connects to the kidneys (at the bottom) at the upj (ureteropelvic junction) and the bladder (at the top).  Hannah had a congenital disorder causing an obstruction at the upj on the left sided, making it difficult for urine to pass from the kidney to the bladder, causing intense pain from the swelling/pressure, and the pain caused her to vomit.  In addition to the obstruction she has reflux from her bladder up to her kidneys, causing even more pressure and swelling.  Her first surgery in january was to place a stent to bypass the obstruction, allowing the kidney to drain and the pain/vomiting to go away.  Unfortunately - a very common side effect of a stent is the cramping/bladder spasms that mimic a uti.  Fun times here, fun times.  The vomiting went away, but getting her to pee was horrific.  Her surgery in february was a robot-assisted pyleoplasty - five incisions on her stomach, allowing the robot to go in and remove the obstruction and reattach the ureter to the kidney.  The pain in her side and the vomiting associated with it was removed completely with this surgery, although the stent stayed in to ensure that a build up of pressure did not return to the kidney before it was healed.  Her third surgery (sometime in march) will be to remove the stent (before it migrates and causes vomiting and pain).  They usually leave the stents in for 3-4 weeks after the pyleoplasty - her will have been in for 7 weeks.  Her fourth, and hopefully final, surgery will be in april,  where her surgeons will fix the reflux by changing the way the ureter connects to the bladder by creating a new tunnel into the bladder. The doctor “reimplants” the ureter to fix its connection to the bladder. Instead of 5 one-inch incisions on her abdomen, she will have a 6 inch incision below her bikini line.  Fun times I tell you, fun times.




Right now, Hannah is doing incredible!!!  She has had no pain since her second surgery, is eating again (yeah!) and being crazy with her brothers and sister.  We are simply praying that the next two surgeries will go as smoothly as the first two did, and that she will have little to no permanent kidney damage.
Okay - on to the rest of our crazy life.  The boys are doing so well - school is great, and they are ready for soccer to start in just a few weeks!  Noah prays for snow every night - we have had only a few inches since the 16 inches in October:).  Alle is getting so big!  She is over 16 months now, and as rotten as ever!  She is still slow with her talking, but can sign everything that she needs to communicate.  I have been experimenting with her hair, and did finger twists for the first time yesterday.  She is so stinking cute!!!   Life with 4 kiddos is never dull!!!!