Ella's mugshots

My baby, a few hours after surgery, you can see the swelling starting to set in.

The day after surgery. I wanted to cry when she woke up that morning.

A good view of her incision, it's at least 8" long.

Two days after surgery. At least she can see out of both eyes!

Three days after surgery, swelling is minimal, but she looks so darn cute!

All kinds of updates!

I hate being so behind in blogging b /c it will take me FOREVER to update! But here goes, first things first....my baby girl's surgery.

So Ella's surgery was scheduled for Monday the 11th at 715a, and we had to be there by 615a to check in and sign paperwork. Shockingly enough the two kids did fantastic having to be woken up at 530a! CJ fell asleep immediately in the waiting room (he is a narcoleptic!!), and Ella just smiled and waved at everyone. My silly girl! They called us back to her little cubicle area while we signed some more papers, talked to her nurse and her plastic surgeon. Ella seemed to do pretty well and really liked jumping up and down on her bed! Randy and I had to take turns sitting with her separately b/c they don't allow other children in the back areas. And obviously we had CJ so someone had to sit with him too. At about 730a the nurse and anestethiologist came to take Ella back for surgery. I was starting to get choked up, and was just waiting for Ella to start screaming b /c I had to hand her over to a strange man to be walked back. Well the little tough girl didn't make a peep and I was left there to wipe tears!! Do ya think I was nervous?? She probably loved all the male attention anyways.

About 45 mins later her surgeon came out to say they had successfully removed the entire cyst with no complications, and they would be sending it out to make sure it isn't cancerous or anything. Normal procedure I guess. Well, I got the biggest shock of my ENTIRE life going back to see Ella when she woke up in the recovery area. I could hear her all the way down the hall screaming bloody murder. A horrible scream, it broke my heart! There were 3 nurses trying to wake her up and calm her down, and they all had to stay even after I took my baby into my arms. Apparently babies do not wake up well from the meds (but who doesn't??) and she was SOOO out of it. She wailed for about 25mins and was thrashing all over the place, kicking, hitting, arching her back and just trying to get away. She had no clue I was holding her either. I almost started crying, it was so hard and even harder to see her big incision.

I finally got her calm enough to realize it was mama, and she cuddled right up to me and wouldn't go. She was really pissed off I had to let go of her and put her into her carseat. She cried almost the whole way home. The only time she was quiet was when CJ would sing to her! It was so cute. She was a bit better when we got home. She was still woozy from the meds and it made walking very hard for her, but nothing was going to stop that girl from eating! She ate for about 2 hours straight!!

Tuesday, Ella's entire left side of her face was very swollen, we called her our little alien! Her right eye was completely swollen shut, but it did not phase her one bit! She was completely back to her old self. She wouldn't take any medicine, and even with one eye was running around like a wild woman! She took real good naps and even went down to bed just fine. She did wake up 2x before 11pm, but then she slept soundly the rest of the night.

Today her eye was open and she could see out of it, but she has a lot more bruising, poor thing. Looks like someone knocked her out in a boxing match! But you would never know the girl had surgery. She hasn't once attempted to touch her stitches or incision, and I even have to lather the cut up a few times a day with Vaseline. She just really could care less, LOL! I did have to venture out in public with her today b/c I had an appt at the hand dr to get my cast off and get more xrays to see if my wrist was healed. Everyone we came in contact with naturally wanted to know what had happened to her.

So, what a bummer my Dr's appt was. I got my cast off and my thumb and wrist actually hurt like hell. Of course it was tender and sore, but ached like heck. I had a bunch of xrays done, and lo and behold it's not healed. The fracture goes almost from one side of the scaphoid to the other. This is not a good thing. My Dr said I have a nonunion waist scaphoid fracture so I got a pretty black cast for FOUR MORE WEEKS!!! Yup, you sure read that right. Four more freaking weeks. And then they will xray my hand again, and if it still doesn't look healed I will have to get a bone scan to get a better look at the fracture and there is a possibility of having a screw put in to help the bones heal together. Pretty freaking dandy if you ask me! And not to mention I've been in pain all day after having my hand jerked around again. UGH! And to think when i fell my hand didn't even hurt.

OK, so enough updating for now. Tomorrow I will post pics of my pretty new cast and Ella's "mug shots".

Tomorrow is D-Day

For Miss Ella that is. Tomorrow is her cyst removal surgery and I wasn't at all nervous or worried.

Until now...

I don't know why. It's supposed to be a quick, relatively painless surgery. It should only take an hour, but still. I don't like the idea of her being under general anesthesia (sure that was spelled wrong!) being so young. Plus, I worry about how she does with the dressing on her head where they cut her head open. She has a fit when I put a hat on her, Lord knows she will have a fit with gauze wrapped around her head!! And I know this is totally superficial, but I also wonder if they will have to shave some of her hair off. They have to do a cut from ear to ear right at the top of her forehead where her hairline starts. Although its better than the alternative (making a cut in the middle of her forehead only to leave a nasty scar), I just don't like the idea of it.

I'm worried about how much pain she is in too. Because she's so little, she can only have infant Tylenol or Motrin. I don't even give her that for teething, it never seems to help her.

Ugh, being a parent is so tough.

I will try and post tomorrow after all is said and done.

Oh, and yes Magellan does have to go to New Paltz this week too. Luckily he won't be leaving till Tuesday, but it still could be a long week for Ella and I.

Pray for her!

Houdini strikes again!

Back in the day when Ella was a wee little one, Magellan and I used to call Ella "Houdini". She could some pretty amazing things, and we never did figure out why. She choose to do these random baby things usually when we left the room.

Well, after about a 9 month hiatus, Houdini is back. This morning, on the way to CJ's school, Ella managed to get her diaper off her rump, all the while sitting and buckled into her carseat. I can remember halfway there she was screaming like someone was stabbing her and I was saying to myself, "Why can't you just like the car?!"

I felt this really oddly shaped lump in her jammies on her left leg while carrying her in to drop CJ off at class. For the life of me I had NO CLUE what the "F" was in her jammies. Well, as I was buckling her back into her seat I realized she had no padding around her womanly parts. Low and behold it was her damn diaper hanging down around her knee. And by the time we got home she had absolutely pissed everywhere. Figures the way my luck is these days.....

I don't know how she did it, but lately ripping the diaper off is her new fascination. She will take off every chance she gets before I get her fully dressed and rip the diaper off. I really think she likes airing her girlies out. But who doesn't, right?

So I have a feeling this is the beginning of a long string of magical "mishaps" to come.

Stay tuned!!!

Oh and PS: Note the picture where she is standing behind all the kids waiting to grab someone's leftovers!!

WoW!

I have never been a big believer in teaching an old dog new tricks, but Magellan has proved me wrong. Hopefully this will be the one and only time he does that, cause man I HATE TO BE WRONG! It must be the Hitler side in me coming out.



I can honestly say Magellan has really been helping out, and without much prodding. It's nice to feel like I have some help now when he is home from work. This weekend for instance he even let me sleep in, AND, let me nap! I know, totally shocking. But I think Magellan really does enjoy his Ella time. She's getting to be so much fun now, and is really doing a good job of communicating what she needs/wants. I mean for goodness sake the girl even tells you when she poops her pants! And the times that Magellan let me rest this weekend were a nice surprise too. There was no warning! I'm much happier when I get my sleep too! So if I'm happy then we are all happy.



Oh, and I caught CJ's annoying cold. Just knocked me on my ass out of nowhere too. Last week I not only had a broken wrist, but a cold AND my period AND period induced migraines. Not a good week, which meant no sleep either really. Even with the aid of Tylenol PM and those things nothing was letting me rest.



So thank you, Magellan, for coming to my rescue. I think I really will miss you while you're gone this week.



Only 9 more days of this damn cast being on. I can't wait to resume a normal life again. I'm actually used to it now and have made no attemps to cut this one off. Wait a minute, did I even get a chance to telll you all that I cut my other cast off? NO?! Well stupid me sure did. I was so in denial about the whole fracture thing and pissed off that the swelling had gone done in my arm that the cast no longer fit. I could basically almost pull it off and it was rather obnoxious. So Xmas Eve while everyone was askeep, I cut a nice long slit in my cast and pulled it off...



Relief, right??????



Oh so wrong.



I woke up the next morning to get a huge tongue lashing from Magellan and my mother. But really, I already knew the stupidity in my mistake. My wrist hurt like hell. I had to start taking Vicodin again and I was absolutely miserable. I made Magellan shove it back on, and yes that was painful too. But after an hour in the cast, my wrist was feeling back to home. Yes, I'm a stubborn blonde, what can I say?



So Monday the 28th, I went in for a new cast, and this one fits a lot better. Really its not that bad. We have an understanding now......I won't deface the cast as long as it makes the bone heal by the 3 week mark so I don't have to wear another cast for even longer.



I think it might have worked....here's hoping right

Potty Training

First off, I should totally be sleeping and trying to get rid of this cold, but instead I thought I'd attempt to do a quick post.

Secondly, let's just say the New Year is NOT off to a good start. Did I tell you all I'm sick? AGAIN?? I just had the stomach bug the weekend before Xmas, and now this wretched cold that I just know CJ gave to me on Xmas Eve. Ick, go away!

Yes, the title says it all. I am attempting to start potty training Ella. She's almost 15 months and I've been told girls are way easier than boys. Plus, believe it or not, she has a serious fascination with the toilet. So why not, right? She's very bright and picks up on things rather quickly. So, I've started putting her on the potty right before I put her in the bathtub, and lately, that's every day! She is now in the habit of sitting on the toilet, she knows enough when I am done undressing her to try and sit. Of course at the moment, she thinks its funny, but she has gone pee once on the potty. My mom says its a good habit to start, so why not? I mean she was peeing on the floor the second the diaper came off while she would stand in front of the bath tub.

Oh, and I almost forgot that she lets me know when she poops in her diaper. She will walk up to you, and touch her butt and say "OOOhhh!", then walk to the stairs. Smart girl she is!

CJ is doing great. He's had 2 weeks off from school and actually it's been nice to not have to play chauffeur for awhile. But back to the grind next week! He's been really good while Magellan's been in New Paltz; listening real well and helping me out when he can.

Ella is really starting to show how much she understands lately. And she listens very well. I give her a snack and tell her to go sit down and eat it and most times she does. You ask her where her milk is and she goes and gets her cup. You ask her where he blankie or Elmo are and she will go look for them too. She is now doing 3 signs, one for drink, one for more, and one for all done. It's completely useless to show her the sign for eat since she literally eats nonstop! She goes down for naps and bedtimes with zero fuss! I am super excited about this now, not even a whine. She still loves her sleep, making sure she gets her full 12 hours and then some sometimes. Her naps are really hit or miss still, and she has 2 molars in. Still waiting on the bottoms to come in. She will eat anything and everything, she doesn't care what it is,but def has a sweet tooth!! She'd live on brownies and cookies if she could. She's a real sweetheart, she knows just how to make you laugh, and is really becoming quite the snugglebug. Though, still not with me! She gives kisses on command, can tell you what a cat and dog say, knows where the nose and mouth are and when you tell her she's pretty, she runs her fingers thru her hair!! Ella is totally into shoes (thank GOD, cause so am I) and she loves to dig thru her shoe bin and pick out what shoes to wear. I help of course to make sure they match. Her recent fave are the fake Ugg booties her Grammy bought her. They are sooo cute, and she wears them EVERY DAY!

Magellan and I are doing well. Things are still on the up and up so here's hoping they stay that way!

Be back soon~

Happy New Year!

I'm trying to get better about posting even with my bum arm. Sometimes I can do it, and others I can't.

So Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2010. WoW!

Hope you all had a safe but fun New Year's Eve!!! I have some funny things to share with you all, but it will have to wait till I have more time for the 'puter.

Take care!