Ellie's 4th Surgery

Ellie had her 4th set of tubes on September 7th. We are crossing our fingers and praying this is the last set! Ugh! She did really well. She couldn't eat anything after midnight the night before. We had to be at the surgery center by 8:10 am. We left the house close to 7 am. She said her tummy hurt on the way there. Once we were there, she didn't talk about being hungry anymore.

She was fine until we had her put on the hospital gown. I don't know if she remembered all of the other surgeries or if she just didn't care to wear it. I had to distract her, a lot, after that. I took her back to the OR. I think it will always be hard for me to take her back...no matter the age. I was holding her. She was fine until we walked into the OR. She saw the equipment and the doctors and nurses standing around....she freaked. She was crying so hard. They put the mask on her face to put her sleep. It was hard seeing her cry get softer and softer. I don't know! Just not something a mother wants to see!!

Her first, second and fourth surgeries were at Meridian Mark CHOA down by Northside Hospital. The third surgery was at the Gwinnett location of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The Gwinnett location is much closer for us, but they didn't have an opening there until the end of October!

I have posted pictures from her first surgery till now. I love seeing how much she has grown and changed!

Surgery 1: Waiting Room

Surgery 2: Waiting Room

No pictures from the waiting room at Surgery 3!

Surgery 4: Waiting Room

Can you tell that she loves the camera?

Surgery 1: Pre-op Room

Surgery 2: Pre-op no picture!

Surgery 3: Pre-op play area

Surgery 4: Pre-op Room

Surgery 1: Post-op Room

Surgery 2: Post-op Room

Surgery 3: Post-op Room

Surgery 4: Post-op Room

Vacation 2010

Back in August, we took a family vacation to PCB, FL. We had a wonderful, relaxing time. We left about 3 am on Saturday morning. Most people thought we were crazy, but Ellie gets very bored on long road trips. She slept all but two hours! It was nice! It was raining when we got into PCB at about 9 am. I was really worried about the weather because there was a tropical storm that was over PCB. It said rain the whole week! It cleared up right about lunch time on Saturday. We were able to spend the rest of the day on the beach. It rained on Sunday all day. Other than that, we had beautiful weather! Much better than last year.

Christian's youngest brother, Grant, and his girlfriend Lauren came down and stayed with us until Wednesday! It was nice having some extras hands to entertain Ellie. Christian's sister, Elisa, and her family came down along with her in-laws and stayed in the same resort. Ellie loved being able to play with Haedyn!

Unfortunately, I uploaded these pictures in reverse order! Sorry!!

One night, we took the girls up to Pier Park. They have a lot more rides and activities for the kids to do now.

Ellie on the train ride!

Ellie getting a little sun!

Haedyn and Ellie had a sleepover!

Ellie's new way to take pictures! So cute!

We stayed at the same resort as last year but a different condo. Last year we were on the 24th floor! This year we were on the 23rd floor. We love being high up, so we can have great views of the beach. We were able to see dolphins jumping out in the water on Sunday! It was so neat! The girls loved it!!




Nap time!!

On Wednesday night, we went to Captain Anderson's for dinner!! Yummy! Such great food!!

Ellie had to have her towel like mommy!

One Sunday night, Aunt Elisa watched Ellie while Christian, Grant, Lauren and I went to dinner! It was very nice....except Grant and Christian acted like kids. They made me feel right at home! Just kidding guys!

After we were all dressed and ready to go we realized......

The girls had on stripes.....


....and the boys had on red shirts! Too funny!!

Ellie's new thing?!?! Cheerleading!!!

She was asking to stunt the entire time we were there. At first, she wouldn't lock her legs. By the end of the week, she was getting better at stunting!! I have a cheerleader on my hands!!


Ellie and Haedyn

Just some cute pics!

We had a wonderful time! I am ready for our next vacation. As always, it went by way too fast!!

Ellie Pics

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We had Ellie's 4 year pictures back in June! I love Maura, our photographer!! She is absolutely wonderful!! If you are in the Atlanta area you have to look her up!

http://www.maurarobertsphotography.com/

It was so hot when we took pictures! By the end of the shoot, the back of my hair was completely soaked with sweat! Gross, I know. I think it was a heat index of like 105! I was a little nervous that we would look hot in the pictures. I was so excited to see that we didn't!!

We have been running non-stop these days. Ellie plays outside till about 8:30 pm every night. It is so hard to get her in! I will hate when winter gets here and she cant play outside!!

I took Ellie to the dentist for the first time yesterday. It was okay.....she was excited at first. I told her that she was going to get sparkles on her teeth. When the hygienist pulled out the instruments, she flipped her cookies!! She was screaming with big crocodile tears! I felt awful. She wouldn't even let me pick her up! We finally got her calmed down. She sat on my lap while they cleaned her teeth. I really think she has been traumatized by all of the ENT visits.

Speaking of ENT visits, she had an ENT follow-up after her dentist appointment, poor kid! This is the 4th visit since May, I think. Every time we go in, she has an infection in her left ear. She has been on two antibiotics and two different types of drops this summer. I feel like this is never going to end! She still had an infection in her left ear. The doctor and I were discussing a few options: take the left tube out completely and see what her ear does.

This could be done one of two ways: in the office with no anesthesia or in the OR with anesthesia! My problem with the first way is that she is already terrified to go to the doctor. She keeps begging me not to take her. They have had to suction her ear out before. Trying to hold your screaming child down, is not fun! I was not a fan of this option. The second option I am more open to, but I still have some hesitation with. She is 4 and has gone under anesthesia 3 times already. If they take it out under anesthesia that is 4 times. If she starts with the infections again, they would have to put her under again to put another tube in. That would be 5 times when she is not even 5. That bothers me!!

The doctor believes the reason she is having all of the infections now is because the left tube could be infected itself. So are final option and choice is to go in and take out both tubes, clean the heck out of her ears, and put new (possibly a different material tube) tubes in! I am still a little worried/concerned. I do think it is the best option. I just hate the she is still having to deal with this. It doesn't seem to bother her. She can tell me when her ear is draining. She never complains of it hurting, so that does make me feel a little better. I am not sure when her surgery will be. We leave for vacation next Saturday. I think it will be in September.

Lake Days

A couple of weekends ago, we took our new neighbors girls to the lake with us, Baylee and Katie. Ellie LOVES them! This was our first time taking Ellie's "friends" with us to the lake. It was a lot of fun. Baylee and Katie are sooo good with her! They have a little sister that is 3, Emily. Ellie loves the older girls! She will play with girls her own age, but as soon as older kids come around she wants to be with them. It is nice for me because they don't argue like the younger ones do.

Baylee and Katie are cheerleaders for a competitive squad. Ellie loved cheering with them. Ellie walks around and counts now when she does some "cheerleading" moves.

It is funny how natural some of this come to Ellie. She just did it when they told her too!

Katie, Ellie and Baylee

I think this is Katie.

Baylee....

Ellie

Baylee was cracking me up at all of her jumps into the water. She definitely gets some height.

Katie, Ellie and Baylee...see what I mean.

Daddy pushing Ellie in the water!

So cute!!

Cute Ellie Stories:

Last Tuesday night, Ellie started complaining that her head was hurting. She was up and down most of the night still complaining of her head hurting. I gave her some Tylenol, but I am not sure it did anything for her. She was running somewhat of a low grade fever. I took her to the doc Wednesday morning. They told me it was probably viral and to watch her. We got home, and she was laying on the couch. All of a sudden she lifted her head up and said, mommy my head doesn't hurt anymore. I told her that was good but unfortunately she was still running a little bit of a fever. Ellie asked what a fever was. I told her it was her body trying to fight something. She looked up at me and said, I'm not trying to fight anyone! How sweet is that?

We have been trying to get Ellie to tell us when she wants more food at dinner. Most of the time she will eat whats on her plate and then says she done. The other night I made a pizza. She ate one piece and then went to get up. I asked if she was hungry still and she said yes. I made her sit down and eat another piece. After the second piece, she said she was done. I asked her again if she was hungry, and she said no. About an hour later, she was getting ready for bed, and she asked for more food! So, I go into the spill that she needs to eat more at dinner. The next morning I was backing out of the garage headed to drop her off at school. I said, ugh! Mommy is hungry! She immediately chimed in, you should have ate more dinner!! At least I know she was listening! :)

In Ellie's class at school, they are learning which president is on each bill. Yesterday when we got to school, Ms. Josette asked Ellie who was on the dollar bill. After a few seconds, she answered George Washington. This morning when we got there Ms. Josette asked Ellie again. Ellie hesitated, and I asked her if it was Bob or Fred. She immediately said no and then said washing machine! Haha! It was so cute!!