Wrapped or unwrapped?

Well I waited as long as possible to put presents under the tree. By the end of the day Kya only unwrapped one. I explained to her that santa only brings presents to good girls. If she is naughty and unwraps another present santa will not bring her any "YIPGOSS" (translation:lipgloss). I think this did the trick. She must be serious about that yipgoss.

We're Home

We are excited to have Isabel home from the hospital. I came home and spent thursday night with Kya and Sophie. It was late and Kya was trying to put her shoes on. I asked her what she was doing and she said "I'm going to find Izzy mom." I think she missed her, ALOT!!! But she didn't waste anytime pestering her when she got home.

I got out the highchair for Sophie and it was so cute, she was kicking her little legs so hard with excitement I thought she would kick herself right out of it. I guess it is time for some cereal now.

Isabel's blog

I created a seperate blog for Isabel. I thought this would be a great tool to keep everyone informed about what is going on with her surgery and such. I created a link on the top right under Isabel's chiari journey.

Does anyone still read my blog????

I suck! I haven't posted in a long time. I have been a bit overwhelmed with life's challenges the last couple of weeks. I do have a lot to blog about, but where to start.........

Maybe I should tell you about the chocolate milk shake Kya poured over her head while sitting in her carseat in the back of the Yukon. Or maybe not. I am still trying to forget about it.

Or maybe the fact that I have an amazing husband. As most of you know Ben has been out of work for the past couple of months. After my maternity leave was up I went back to work and Ben stayed home with the kids. I was very worried about how this would work out. But it has been awesome. He does laundy, dishes, light housework, goes to the grocery store and even has dinner on the table when I come home from work. And I'm not talking about mac and cheese, an actual home cooked meal. I LOVE HIM! But I have to say it makes me wonder what other hidden talents he might have.

The most daunting thing on my mind these days is Isabel's surgery. It is on Monday, only a few days away. She got some new PJ's and a robe, Hannah Montana of course. We still need to pack a bag full of her favorite things. But most importantly I feel mentally prepared. Isabel and I went to a presurgery class at Primary Chilrens's Hospital. It was good for both of us. They will even let Isabel take a comfort item into surgery with her. I think she is going to take her favorite stuffed animal. She knows she is having surgery and she knows the basics, but no real details. If she asks a question I answer her honestly. She knows that a peice of bone from the back of her skull will be removed. The other day she told me she knows they are going to take out her entire brain and she will not be able to think anymore. I am not sure where that came from? I assured her that would not happen and she hasn't mentioned it again.

Isabel loves to do her own hair. Doesn't she look like a little girl from Holland?

And just one more item of concern I have. My little Sophie is so CUTE and is seriously the BEST baby EVER!!!! But what is up with her hair? Do I cut it or just wait for the rest of it to fall out. So far my solution is to draw attention away from it with a cute headband.

Does anyone still read my blog????

ISABEL

We met with the neurosurgeon and Isabel will be having surgery. The surgery is a Chiari Decompression (CLICK ON THE WORD FOR A DESCRIPTION). We will be doing this the 8th of December. Ben and I really liked the neurosurgeon, Dr. Brockmeyer. I have been a wreck after each doctor's appointment, but not this one. I feel very confident with Dr. Brockmeyer's ability to help Isabel. It is still scary, and there may be future surgeries and definitely more MRI's (at 6K a pop, nice huh, thank god for insurance) and x-rays. Isabel seems a little nervous, but I try to help her focus on the fun part of this: new pj's for her and her build-a-bear, and planning a day of fun before her surgery. The doctor told us the first two days following the surgery will be ROUGH. But after that she will get better quickly. The good news is she doesn't have to shave her head. I was worried about that. Another benefit is I now have a very difficult time telling her "NO". She pretty much gets what ever she wants. Last week I let her stay up until 10:30 on a school night watching the disney channel. She loves watching The Suite Life, Hannah Montana, The Wizards of Waverly Place, etc. It is amazing how something like this really changes how you look at your kids. I need to slow down and enjoy them more. Who cares if the floors are vacuumed or if the dishes are done. It is important to enjoy every moment.

What Da.....

(THIS IS HER "CHEEEEEESE")
I love the things that comes out of Kya's mouth. She says and does the funniest things. Her new thing is saying "what da my heck" or "what da oh my gosh". I don't know where she got this, but it makes me laugh. I am just glad it doesn't include any four letter words. She also loves to say "ta da" and twirl (especially if she is wearing a dress). She will does this until she gets so dizzy she falls. We were looking at a christmas catalog and she pointed to all the dress ups things and called them ta da's. It's little things like this that help balance out the terrible two's.



P.S. We see the pediatric neurosurgeon on thursday.

What's going on......

Life has been chaotic at our house.

The hunting season is over and I have a husband again (YEAH!!!) and a freezer full of elk and deer meat. Ben tried making his own jerky. I'll be honest, it was kind of okay. But it was his favorite fall snack as a kid. His parents and grandparents would make it every year after the deer hunt. Isabel helped Ben and his mom, Evelyn, make the jerky. Isabel was in charge of the spices. We think she got carried away with the salt resulting in the not so great taste. Let's face it, it is just easier to blame it on the six year old.

Halloween was a fun distraction from the craziness. Isabel made a perfect Jasmine with her long brown hair. Kya loves horses so of course she was a cowgirl. Sophie was a cute little kitty. We had a lot of halloween fun: riding a haunted train, decorating cookies at Nicky's house,trunck or treating at Kim's house, party at Aunt Stacey's and of course Trick or Treating.

Christy and Sophie

Ben and sleeping Sophie

Look at them pose!

Mr. or should I say Mrs. Potatohead pumpkins

Isabel got her MRI. She was very brave. She had to have her IV put in twice, the first one didn't work. The nurse gave her a very cute beanie baby with red and blue stars on it. That seemed to make the tears go away. She was given sedation because the test took over an hour. I don't know a six year old that could hold still that long. She was out of it for the rest of the day. The sedation made her act pretty silly. Later that day Ben was helping her up the stair and she kept stumbling she asked him "why can't I walk?" The nurse said she would act DRUNK and she did. I got the results back and they were not what we were hoping for. She has a type I Chiari Malformation and a Syrinx (fyi: click on the word for a definition). We will be going to see a Pediatric Nuerosurgeon for an evaluation. Most likely she will need to have some time of surgical procudure to have this fixed.

PLEASE KEEP HER IN YOUR PRAYERS.

Another Sleepful Night

WOOHOO!!!!!

Yes another night of a full 8 hours of sleep. She did it again. She slept for a full 8 hours without waking up. There is a down side to this. It is only because she is sucking her thumb! YIKES!!!

I thought I would include some pictures of her room. I think it has turned out quite cute.

Thumbsucking.....

Do I love it or hate it? When I look at Isabel's overbite I hate thumbsucking. But last night Sophie slept through the night. When I woke up at 7am and she was still sleeping. I peered into her crib and she was sucking her thumb. I was happy and sad all at the same time. I have kept a binki in her mouth since the second she was born hoping that she would take to it instead of her thumb. Maybe it was all in vain. She has been sucking on her hands a lot lately, I guess she has been in search of something better than her binki.

When Isabel was a baby she was very colicy. She would cry all day long. I tried everything, but nothing would calm her. My Aunt Pat told me her best babies were thumbsuckers. So I gave Isabel her thumb. I kept putting her thumb in her mouth until she could do it herself. She slept through the night at 6 weeks. It was the only thing that kept me sane. Well now 6 years later I have a dental nightmare on my hands. On our last trip to the dentist he told me he has only seen one overbite worse that Isabel's caused from thumbsucking. He said on a scale from 1 to 10, her's is a 10. And not a good 10.

If anyone has any good tips on getting someone to stop sucking their thumb I would love to hear about it. I have tried everything. The problem is she only sucks it at night. Not even to get to sleep. Only in the middle of the night when she is asleep. My pediatrician said that peir pressure is the best way to get a child to stop, but I am sure she is not getting much pressure from her pillow or stuffed animals to do any good.

Anyway on a good note I got a full night's sleep. Thank you Sophie! I guess I will just have to keep good dental or should I say orthodontic insurance!!!

What a cutie!!!

She loves bath time.

I love to smile :)

Look at me I'm a big girl!

MRI

We saw Dr. Smith (a very nice doctor) at Primary Children's Hospital. He wants Isabel to have an MRI of her entire spine. He thinks she may have a Chiari malformation. It is as scary as it sounds. If she does in deed have this Chiari malformation. She will have to see a neurosurgeon and the likelyhood of her having surgery is high. If she does not have the malformation we will be looking at a brace (that will be worn 16-17 hours a day). She still has a lot of growing to do since she is only 6 and that means the curve in her spine can get worse as she grows. This doctor told us the curve is actually 37%. It was a good thing Ben and Isabel were in the doctor's office when we got this news. Because I was holding back the tears. I didn't wasnt Isabel to see me cry. The thought of my daughter having to have brain surgery is a little overwhelming. Ben told me not to get worried until after we get the MRI results and know exactly what we are dealing with. And this is what I am TRYING to do. I am hoping to get the MRI and the results within the next week.

Isabel

What a cutie! She loves to pose and have her picture taken. I bet you couldn't tell from this picture, HUH? I have been busy on my maternity leave. I am now caught up on having the girls pictures taken. What a relief. Another item to cross off of my never ending list. I keep a dry erase board on my fridge. I write all my to do's on this board. For every item I cross off I add five more. It can be overwhelming, but it keeps me busy and productive. Anyway back to Isabel. She is learning to read and getting better everyday. She loves to read and especially write. Every scrap of paper is filled with her writings. Sometimes she will ask me how to spell words, but mostly she likes to sound spell. It is fun to try and read something she has written. It is kind of a puzzle. She is very SASSY!!! I don't know how I am going to manage with the hormones of three girls. Hopefully I will keep my sanity. When I took Isabel in for her 6 year old check up she was diagnosed with scoliosis. CRAZY!!!!! She has a 26% curvature of her t-spine. I am taking her to Primary Children's Hospital this week. I am hoping for the best. I don't really know what this means except what I have read online and let's face it when you read about a medical condition online you get a lot of the extremes: surgery, body braces, etc. Both the radiologist and the pediatrician didn't seen too worried so I haven't been either. Just anxious to see what this really means for her.

UGH!!!!!!

I just wrote a very long post and it vanished! What the @#%&! I guess I will try again later. I can hear Kya upstairs bothering a sleeping Sophie.

Sophie

Wow, how time flies. Has it really been a month? Sophie is starting to smile a lot these days. It makes Isabel very happy when she can get her to smile. Sophie is sleeping better, but there is definitely room for improvement. Her umbilical cord finally fell off after 4 long weeks. The girls love to help bath her but make a big wet mess in the process. It is amazing to me how much the girls love their little sister.

Kya

Kya turned 2 in July and what a handful she is. She is a lot of fun but is definitely into the terrible twos. She loves to copy cat everything Isabel does. She acts like a little mother to Sophie. Everytime Sophie even fusses a little Kya is on a dead run for the binki and will try to shove it down poor Sophie's throat. She is constantly wanting to kiss Sophie and then the next moment she will be pulling her hair. Needless to say I cannot take my eyes off of her.

Hobble Creek 1/2 Marathon

Well I think most of you know about Ben's new addiction. Running. He ran the Hobble Creek Half Marathon today. His goal was to finish in the top 100. He ran the same race last year and came in 143rd. Today he finished in 1 hour 26 minutes and was the 34th person to cross the finish line.

Isabel's first day of school

Isabel was excited to start school. I think she was most excited about her Hannah Montana backpack Grandma Glenda bought her. Kya was very sad Isabel was gone all day. She kept asking "Where's Izzy?". She probably asked me where she was at least 100 times.

INTRODUCING.....

AnnaSophia Corrales. After a whole 4 hours of labor our family has grown by 19 inches and 6lbs 5oz. It was a full delivery room of anxious family members waiting to welcome our new little bundle of joy. Big sister Isabel was there to be one of the first to welcome AnnaSophia into our family. If you ask Isabel what she thought of seeing her little sister born she will tell you it was "NAAAASTY". Kya loves to kiss Sophie on the head and will say "love baby soapie". So far the adjustment to three has been pretty easy. But I am sure there will be challenges to come.


Like the other two, she has lots of dark hair!

Where's the hand sanitizer???

Proud big sisters!!!