Alex's first Thanksgiving and her sister Alley!!!

Well, Alex finally got to meet her older sister Alley.

They are like two peas in a pod.....

And Alex got to experience her first Thanksgiving. We kinda related it to the story of Pocahontas so she'd understand it a little bit.....

We're Home!!!!!!!

We finally left the hospital at 2pm today, after being told we were being discharged at 8:30 am. Alex is doing great. At this point I haven't decided which is harder:

Being in China with a 3 year old that doesn't speak English, eating unfamiliar food and sleeping on those rock hard beds

OR

Being confined to a hospital room with a 3 year old who DOES speak English and can't get up to play, eating horrible cafeteria food, and sleeping on a chair/sofa with nurses coming in every 4 hours to check on your child

OR

Returning home with said 3 year old who now thinks that life should be a 24 hour chocolate milk, Popsicle buffet, with Mom toting her everywhere even though she is suppose to be walking now.

I'll let you know when I decide.

sleeping thru

Alex has finally started sleeping all the way thru the night after her surgery. Assuming Baba can catch the nurses before they come in and wake her.....

Guess who else got to sleep thru the night???

Here ia our little angel post op in her room.
The surgery went fine and she is now resting and we will see about keeping her prone face down on her tummy for 3 to 4 days now.......

Update

No pictures in this post, just a quick surgery update. On Friday, the hospital called and wanted us to come in at 11am on Tuesday for pre-op blood work. Unfortunately, Tuesday was the only day this week I was scheduled to work, so we "thought" the appointment was rescheduled for today. When we got there, no one seemed to know we were coming. After waiting about 40 minutes in the waiting room, we were told it was "going to be a while" and we were sent upstairs to meet with anesthesia. The pre-op physical and history went quickly, and we were told to go back downstairs for blood work. Alex did great for the blood draw and only cried a little. At this point it was 1 pm. For those of you keeping count, that is 2 hours so far with a 3 year old in the hospital. So back to the waiting room we go. Around 2 pm (3 hours now) I go up to the front desk and ask how much longer will it be, I'm told we are next. Woo Hoo! At 2:40 pm we finally get called back only to find out that....ha ha the jokes on us, we were done at 1 pm after the blood draw. We waited for almost 2 more hours with a hungry, tired 3 year old for nothing. When we finally got home and got some food in us, things were starting to look up, until the phone rang. It was the hospital. At first, there were apologies for the misunderstandings, then the bomb dropped. The doctor who is scheduled to do the surgery forgot he had academic duties on Wednesday and wants to do the surgery on Friday instead. So to review, I picked this week for the surgery because I wanted Alex well by Thanksgiving. Alley is coming for a visit next week and I wanted Alex up and around by then as well. Also, I took most of the week off work for recovery time. Needless to say this has been a rough day.

Oak Mountain

This weekend was cool and beautiful. My sister Kirsten came up for a visit so I decided we should go to Oak Mountain State Park.
Our first stop was the petting farm. For the first time ever, Alex touch an animal other than a cat or dog. This is the third time we have gone to a petting zoo and she always refused to touch any of the animals.

After the farm, we went to the wildlife center. Alex was excited to see the squirrels and birds. She was relieved to know she didn't have to touch anything. As a special treat, one of the volunteers brought out an educational bird for us to meet.
He was a gorgeous young red tailed hawk.

October Updates

Well, the month of October ended the same way it began, with a major doctor appointment for Alex. This time it was an MRI under sedation. Alex was a trooper even though she had to wake up at 4 am in order to eat before the 5 am cut off time. We really only had 1 major break down around 9 am when she realized she could not have anything to eat or drink. She handled the sedation well, and contrary to what the doctor said, she was not sleepy for 4-6 hours following the sedation. In fact, she was wired, begging for food and talking a mile a minute. Right before bed time that night, when I was so exhausted I could barely stand, Alex was laughing hysterically at nothing. I guess drugs are good :)

As for the MRI, it showed us exactly what we thought, that she is completely normal with the exception of her spinal lipoma. The doctors are confident it can be removed without making her symptoms worse, but they aren't sure if any of her problems will improve with the surgery. Since we have no idea how her symptoms have progressed, we can't be sure if removing the lump will reverse anything or not. Her surgery is scheduled for Nov 19th at Children's Hospital. They expect her to be in the hospital for 3-4 days. The funniest part was that for the first few days after surgery they want Alex to lay still on her side. This kid doesn't lay still, not even when she is sleeping, so this should be an adventure.
Alex did have some fun this past week. To start with, my mom and sister, Rhonda, came up for a visit. Alex loves her Aunt Rhonda, so they had a ball and I got some much needed rest. We rented Cinderella and Alex watched it for the first time that Friday night. Over the next few days, we watched it 845 time...give or take. On Wednesday, Alex got to go trick or treating at the city hall. This was her first time and she loved it. Afterwards, Alex came by my clinic to trick or treat so everyone could see her in her costume. Alex also went trick or treating on Halloween.

First, we drove to her friend Cameron's house and went around his neighborhood. Alex loved it but decided after the first couple of house that walking was for the birds, so I had to carry her, which meant I only got a few pictures. After we stopped at all the houses in the neighborhood, we drove home to trick or treat here. Since it was cold and I was tired, I put Alex in her stroller and wrapped her up in a blanket, which is were she stayed. She refused to get out and so I ended up ringing the door bell and holding up her Elmo bucket while she sat in the stroller and yell "Trick or Treat". Halloween was also a big day for Alex because she got her first manicure. My mom took her to a nail salon and Alex picked out a bright pink polish for her nails. Apparently she sat still while the polish was put on and while she was under the dryer. By the way, I was at work the whole time and knew nothing about it. Now Alex is begging me to paint her toe nails...

Anyway, that is all for the month. November looks to be even busier for us. Dan comes home the second week of the month. Alex surgery will be the third week and Alley is coming home for Thanksgiving week. I'll try to do better with the updates.

Now for the pictures, which is the only reason you come here anyway, right.

Alex at 7am when I am trying to wake her up. She is NOT a morning person.

Tinkerbell and Scarecrow

Goodbye October