Aunt Katie came to visit!

YAY!!!!! When Ava fell and broke her leg, I felt such a wave of relief when I heard from my sister that she would be flying up the following Friday and staying until Monday. She was so helpful, gave Jeff and I a break (when Jeff would let her - HA!), went shopping with me, played with the girls, hung out with my friends, and helped out with Ava. Words cannot express how grateful and thankful I am that she was able to come and help us. We all miss her a lot. (My Mom also came this weekend and helped a lot too!! And we miss her a lot too!!!! We can't wait until she comes back when Ava gets her cast off!)

Week 3: 52 Weeks of Pictures

1/17/2011
Just before I was going out for neighbor night. Clearly Natalie and Ava were SUPER interested in having their picture taken :)

Week 2 - 52 weeks of pictures

Here's week 2. 1/11/11

It was the first full day at the babysitter for both girls and the first full day of work for me since Ava's injury. Clearly, we were all tired. And not everyone was feeling cooperative.

Week 1 - 52 weeks of Pictures

My friend Staci shared this idea with me. Wouldn't it be cool to take a picture with your kids every single week for a year? And it doesn't have to be a perfect picture - just a picture. With your kids. What a great idea! I love it!

Here is week 1. I think it's a perfect representation of where we were at the first week of 2011. We were adjusting to Ava's injury. I was exhausted and not showered. Natalie was being very goofy. Ava had finally gotten her appetite back and was eating nonstop.

Love her.

3 more weeks.

That is how much longer Ava will have to be in her cast. I'm bummed. But the good news is that her leg is healing well and 3 more weeks in the cast ensures that her leg will be 100% by the time it comes off. We went to the orthopedic clinic today for xrays and her appointment and the doctor was very pleased with how well her leg was healing.

Ava has been doing well this week. She had a great week at the babysitter. She's also learned how to crawl forward!! She's still been having difficulty sleeping at night, but we're working on that.

Aunt Katie comes to visit later this afternoon - yay!! And Nana is coming again tomorrow. Double yay!! I had to share a picture of Ava NOT smiling. Everyone thinks she's smiley all the time. And yes, she does smile a lot. But she has her share of tantrums and cranky periods too!!!

Oh!!! And a little disclaimer...Ava is NOT going to be a big sister. At least, not any time soon. She is just wearing Natalie's Tshirts while she's in the cast. :)

Why won't she just SLEEP?!

These kiddos of ours. They just don't realize how freaking good they have it.  They can take a nap WHENEVER THEY WANT!!!  They can go to bed as early as they want.  They can sleep in as late as they want.  But for some reason, Ava just does not want to sleep.

She has always been a tough sleeper since she was about 8 weeks old.  She didn't sleep through the night until she was about 7 months old.  And even then there were nights with multiple wakings.  And she just fights her naps - or takes just 45 minute naps.  A stark difference from Natalie who took 2 solid naps a day (2 hours!! EACH!) and slept 12 hours straight at night.  And slept through the night by the time she was 12 weeks old.  Even now, at 3 and a half years old she STILL takes up to 3 hour naps! (Although not as frequently as she used to!) 

Since Ava's accident and her stay in the hospital, she has been less than interested in sleeping.  I thought naps were a struggle before...HA!  And that easy baby that always went to bed...right at bedtime?  GONE.  As I type this, Ava is going on 1 1/2 hours of crying/yelling since she went to bed.  But she was TIRED!  Rubbing her eyes and yawning, TIRED!  All I can think of is that she just doesn't expend enough energy with this cast on.  Last night she cried for an hour before going to sleep.  The night before she was up, screaming from midnight-3am.  This kid REALLY doesn't want a younger sibling someday!! 

In good news...she has been great at the babysitter so far!  YAY!

On the bri

Some good news today :)

Not related to Ava, but the Natalie-monster.

We went to visit Dr. John today because just after Christmas, Natalie had to be rechecked for her VUR.  They do that through a renal ultrasound and super fun (**insert sarcasm here**) test called a VCUG. 

The good news is that her VUR has decreased from a Level 2 in both ureters to a Level 1 in only 1 ureter!  YAY!  That means she will most likely outgrow it.  She will have to have another VCUG in 18 months, but we'll deal with that when we get there.

Ava had a good morning!  She also had an appointment with Dr John just so he could take a look at her.  I really appreciate that he wanted to see her and talk to us for himself.  He's so involved in the girls' healthcare and you can tell he cares so much about his patients!  Some doctors just don't care and would just take the report from the hospital and move on. 

I think Ava was really excited to get out of the house.  She barely even cried when she was dropped off at the sitter, which is GREAT!  She's been having separation anxiety for the past month or so.  I hope she enjoys being with the other kids.  Natalie had a really tough time at drop off - she didn't want me to go to work AT ALL.  Just breaks my heart into a million and ten pieces!!!  The poor thing has had me home for 3 weeks - what a tease, right?  Maybe I'll be home more, someday.  :)

Here's hoping that the day went well at the sitter and that Ava sleeps better than she did last night!  She decided to scream last night from midnight until 3am.  Maybe longer.  I think 3am is the last time I remember opening my eyes.  Until Natalie came in our room at 4:45am announcing to us that she threw up.  We have yet to detect any signs of throw up in her room, or ours.  She climbed into bed with us and went back to bed.  8pm bedtime for me tonight!

Tomorrow will be 1 week...

Hard to believe that tomorrow will be 1 week since Ava got her cast on. One week ago today is when she fell. Still having a hard time believing that this is really our life right now!! It feels so surreal.

First of all, I need to thank all of the special people in our lives that have helped us. My Mom came on Thursday morning and has been a godsend. I was really getting into a funk and she has helped me come out of it. And she makes it look so easy to take care of all of us!! And I'm so happy she is coming back next weekend, along with my sister. I'm really looking forward to that!

I'd also like to thank Jeff's Mom and Dad, Gary and Sue. They helped take care of Natalie while we were in the hospital and helped us out a ton when we got home from the hospital. Uncle Steve and Aunt Sara sent us a yummy welcome home gift too!!

A big thank you to our wonderful friends and neighbors. Wow, I feel really lucky to have all of them in our lives. Michelle and Enza brought us a super yummy dinner, Jessica made us a fantastic chicken noodle soup, Jen brought us chicken, mashed potatoes, and biscuits, Carolin and Boris sent us an edible arrangement while we were in the hospital, and Maansi hosted a girls night on Thursday to help get my mind off of everything. On top of that, Michelle and Maansi also took care of Natalie for us when we took Ava to the ER - THANK YOU!! Everyone has offered to take Natalie ANYTIME we need it. And another HUGE thank you to Michelle, she has helped us out with getting Natalie to and from preschool, brought us MORE food (chicken pot pie!), has had Natalie over to play, AND came up with the idea to use her backpack to cart Ava around in. THANK YOU!!!!

I'd also like to thank my friends Jenessa, Dana, and Sheila for the care packages they've sent to us - filled with lots of special treats for Ava and Natalie!! And thank you to everyone for all of the kind words, messages, and prayers to get us through this. We are humbled by the kindness, support, and generosity everyone has shown us.

Ava is doing pretty well considering most of her body is in a cast!! We are all finally adjusting to our new "normal." It has been tough...and I think the next few weeks will still continue to be tough. I just hope it goes by FAST! Ava has been in pretty decent spirits, however her fuse is SHORT! She gets frustrated easily - can't blame her! As long as we keep her busy, she's good. Yesterday my Mom and Jeff took her outside in the backpack and went snowshoeing. She LOVED it. We're going to try to get her out for a walk as often as we can. We also bought a bean bag chair (who even knew they still made those?!) for her to sit in and she really seems to like that. She is also starting to get mobile. She's trying to figure out how to crawl, she's getting good at going backwards and sideways and she's great at rolling over.

She is SOOOOO heavy with her cast. Makes it hard for me to carry her around for any length of time. Diaper changes are getting less challenging, but her cast is starting to get a little stinky. :( Oh and her cast is rubbing on her hip really badly and it looks like she's getting some bad chaffing. We go visit our pediatrician tomrorow, so I am hoping he'll have some suggestions for us. If not, we go to see the orthopedic clinic on Friday.

Enjoying her new chair.  Oh and did I mention we bought her a bazillion new toys too?? 

Getting ready for her walk!

More pictures...day 6

Nice hair.

Ugh, Mom, enough with the pictures!!

Daddy has had enough of the pictures too.

Day 5 in a cast.

A new ride.

Watching The Lion King.  Well, Natalie was.

Yet another mode of transportation!!!

Enough pictures!!

Ava, Day 3 with the cast

This is how I roll.

Cheesy smile!  Enjoying fruit from Aunt Sara and Uncle Steve

Big sister trying to entertain Ava!

Cheesy face again - happy for french fries!

Chillin'

Ava is home!

Picture of Ava in the hospital

Ava in the hospital.  Bad picture, taken with camera phone!

Our first hospital admission...

Oh boy.  Ava is going to be the death of me. 

On Sunday 1/2, we were at a birthday party at a kids gym.  Ava was walking on a trampoline and slipped and fell.  The way she fell, it was like she did a split, but sideways.  You know, the way you are NOT supposed to do one.  I knew she was probably hurt, but I was thinking worst case would be a dislocated hip or something.  We headed for the MAC (Mercy Ambulatory Center) Center first because the weather wasn't good and it was close.  Plus, we knew the wait would be minimal, especially since they would probably do xrays.

We got there, signed in, got xrays and found out that my darling little baby BROKE HER FREAKING FEMUR!!  You know, the thigh bone.  The one that is REALLY hard to break.  Yup, she broke it.  So, we were transferred to Children's Hospital.  I rode in the ambulance with Ava.  That was weird.  Because she was a baby, I sat on the gurney and she sat in my lap. We get to Children's and talk to the ER doctor.  Yup, leg is broken and it isn't a good break.  It isn't a BAD break, but it isn't good either.  It is a spiral fracture and it was displaced.  It could have been worse though (and I keep reminding myself of that!).  I didn't care for the orthopedic resident that came to look at her - he was very "eh, you'll deal with it" and that's not really what I needed!  I needed a HUG dammit!  Not, "you'll figure it out."  He told us that she needed a full body cast that would go from her chest, all the way down her broken leg and then halfway down her other leg.  Um, what?  And that she'd need said cast for 6-8 weeks.  Not cool.   They loaded Ava up with some morphine and vercet and set her leg and put it in traction.  She did really awesome - not even a peep!  Oh and most people who got that much medicine would fall asleep, right?  Not my kid!  She was WIDE awake until 1am! 

Anyways, after her leg was put in traction, we were sent up to her room.  She settled down and started to sleep and Jeff ran home to get stuff for us since we were going to be there for awhile.  I hadn't laid down (on the super awesome - insert sarcasm here - pull out couch!) for more than 5 minutes when Ava started crying.  She had started having muscle spasms which is very common with a break like this.  They give Valium to stop them - only the Valium didn't touch it.  And neither did the morphine.  Oh my poor baby!  Needless to say, it was a ROUGH night.  She was having spasms every few minutes and would cry, then fall asleep, have a spasm again.  They had her maxed out on each type of medication and it was barely working.  They slowed down around 6am and we were able to sleep for an hour or so.  Then all the hustle and bustle of the hospital begins, so we didn't sleep much after that. 

We had an INCREDIBLE daytime nurse.  I just LOVED her.  Upbeat, full of personality, wonderful with Ava, and so empathetic toward us.  We had no idea what time they would get us into surgery to put Ava's cast on.  Oh yea, forgot to mention that.  She had to be put under anesthesia to get her cast on.  We were so thankful when around 10am we got the call that there was an opening in the OR and it was time to get her cast on.  I seriously cried and hugged our nurse.  I was so relieved.  Once she got her cast on, the spasms would be so much better.  Surgery went great, she did great with the anesthesia.  Oh and awesome news - she only needs the cast for 4-5 weeks.  And they only had to put the cast on the 1 leg.  WHEW!  She then slept for a LOOOONG time after.  Jeff and I took the opportunity to snooze on and off during that time as well.  Once she woke up, she was crabby but mostly because she was HUNGRY.  And so done with the hospital.  BUT she had to stay another night.  It was for the best, I know that.  It was just sad.  Jeff and I decided that I would go home to spend the night with Natalie - she needed one of us to be home with her.  And honestly, I was just NOT strong enough to be with Ava by myself.  I was having such a hard time holding it together (still am!).  My father-in-law came and picked me up at the hospital and took me home.  It was GOOD to be home.  REALLY good.  I didn't realize how done I was with the hospital too!  It felt good to shower and spend some time with Natalie.

In the morning I woke up with a migraine.  Of course.  Because you know when it rains, it pours.  I was trying to fight through it (and wouldn't you know I left my imitrex at the hospital!!) but Jeff told me I needed to get better for when he came home with Ava and to take care of myself.  And he was right.  So I got Natalie to the neighbors (thanks Michelle!!!) to go to school and play and then I laid down.  Jeff and Ava were home by noon and everyone at the hospital was very helpful.  Luckily Ava fit in her carseat!  They got home around lunchtime.  Oh boy, Ava is SO happy to be home.  She's a little crabby (I can't blame her!) but overall she is doing well.  We lay her on the floor or in her wagon.  Eating is interesting...and messy.  But that's ok!  She has slept well so far and is taking Tylenol with Codeine for pain.  It seems to work nicely and hopefully she'll only need it a few days. 

Natalie is very concerned about Ava, but is handling it well.  My Mom is coming to help us out soon, as is my sister and I'm thankful for that.  We have had lots of help from Jeff's parents and our neighbors and I can't even begin to express my gratitude.  We've made some really wonderful friends in our new neighborhood.  Jeff is incredible.  He has been my rock throughout all of this.  I'm having a hard time - typical Momma!  I'm just scared of the cast, worried about hurting her, moving her, keeping her happy.  I just need a few days and some practice and I'm sure I'll be doing better then.  I'll be off of work for at least a week and after that I'll evaluate day by day.  Any friends and family in the area that are reading this, feel free to visit!  Ava is bored, so new faces make her happy!  And it's nice to have an extra set of hands and some company. 

Ava will go to the Ortho Clinic next Friday for new xrays to see how things are healing.  We'll have a better idea then of how she's healing and when the cast will be off.  Thanks for reading and I will be sure to keep everyone posted.