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.