First Visit With Santa!!

After looking back through pictures of the week, seems we were pretty busy!

Monday after the kids got up from their naps we decorated their little Christmas trees that go in their rooms.  I give them complete free range on their trees.  Will did a decent job actually.  Lindy had trouble getting them on the tree so I ended up having to do it.  She pointed and told me where to put them.  Her ornaments ended up a lot more bunched together. 

That evening we headed out to Tanglewood to the Festival of Lights.  It’s a big park that does a huge light display.  We met up with the church bus which was filled with kids from our church.  We jumped in the bus with them and the kids all got Happy Meals.  After they were done we drove through the park.  Will really enjoyed the light show and liked the ones with words best.  Lindy saw a ton more lights than I ever imagined.  There were plenty right on the side of the road that she could see.  It was a fun evening to really kick off the Christmas season!

Tuesday we had our regular gymnastics.  I forgot Lindy’s FM system, which helps her hear in noisy situations.  Lindy didn’t listen great, but that isn’t anything new.  Wednesday the kids had music class and Drew picked them up for me while I went to a lunch meeting. 

Thursday was Lindy’s annual kidney testing.  It’s the worst thing she goes through every year.  With her recent string of throwing up, I made Drew come with me as a throw up catcher.  Will went to my friend Katie’s house to play with Claire.  Lindy’s first  appointment was a nuclear medicine cystogram.  Her appointment was supposed to be at 9am and they didn’t call her until 9:45am.  She also had 10am and 11am appointments so everything got completely thrown off schedule.  Lindy has never had a nuclear medicine cystogram so this was new for us.  The past few years she has had a VCUG.  I thought this one was a little bit better.   She still had to get a catheter but they used a radioactive substance instead of x-rays to check for kidney reflux.  They tried to fill her bladder up with 180ml of fluid (which is based on her age).  They got 150ml in her the first time before she started to pee.  The second time they only got 85ml in her and the third time they got 170ml.  She still had to lay down but she wasn’t strapped into the horrible, awful baby board and turned in all kinds of crazy directions.  She just got to lay still with just one ‘seatbelt’ on her to hold her in.  We held the iPad directly over her and let her watch her favorite shows.  It was definitely no piece of cake because she got very uncomfortable each time they filled her bladder up.  She dry heaved and gagged but thankfully she never threw up.  (We limited her to a very boring dry cheerio and water breakfast just in case she did get sick).  We definitely got the worst test over with first.  We headed up to radiology for a renal ultrasound of her kidneys.  The ultrasound tech has been doing ultrasounds on Lindy she was in the NICU so we always enjoy seeing her.  Lindy was slightly freaked out at first but once we got her on the table she was fine.  Klista let Lindy 'help’ with the ultrasound. She got to help hold the wand and she thought she was hot stuff.  She got to play the iPad again while she was on her belly.  After the ultrasound we headed to the actual appointment with the nephrologist.  We ended up being very late and had to wait awhile.  We saw Dr. Lin, who we hadn’t seen in a couple years.  We’d seen a different doctor the past two years. 

The official report for the cystogram had obviously not been written, but Dr. Lin was able to see all the pictures they took during the test.  Last year Lindy had Grade 2 kidney reflux on the left side (Kidney reflux is when the urine goes back up towards the kidneys.  It’s on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the worst and requiring surgery).  When Dr. Lin looked at the pictures, he saw NO kidney reflux!!!  It’s possible she finally outgrew it!  He wouldn’t say it was definite until he read the radiologist’s report but from what he saw he didn’t see anything.  This would be great news!  She has been on an antibiotic every day of her life to prevent any UTI’s from damaging her kidneys.  She might get to stop her antibiotic!!  Although this is great news, there was a little bad news.  Her kidneys did not grow at all last year.  They are the exact same size as last year.  He was not happy to see they had not grown.  Because they had not grown, he ordered blood work for her.  He said the blood work will tell us whether or not her kidneys are working correctly.  We are still waiting to hear how the blood work turned out.  Keep your fingers crossed or say a little prayer that her kidneys are functioning correctly.  I have NO clue what happens if they are not functioning right.  Not thinking about it unless I have to.  We’re anxiously awaiting a call from Dr. Lin; we really hope we hear tomorrow.

The afternoon/evening after Lindy’s kidneys tests are always quite  painful for her because of the catheter.  She needed to go pee but it must have hurt pretty bad.  She held off as long as she could.  I ended up putting their little potty right in front of the tv and parking her on it while she watched tv and she finally went.  The more she went the better it got.  She got treated to a Kripsy Kreme snowman donut after dinner because she had been such a brave girl all day.  I tell you, that girl is a trooper!

Friday evening a few people from our church met at Target to do some shopping for an upcoming Christmas party we are having.  The kids were not into shopping at Target on a Friday night and let us know it. 

Saturday morning our church had a Happy Birthday Jesus party.  The kids had breakfast, heard a couple stories, made toiletry boxes and Christmas cards for the above mentioned Christmas party, and then got to see Santa!  Both kids were completely fine with him.  Will kept trying to tell Santa he wanted more Legos for Christmas but Santa thought he said Rattles.  There was some disconnect going on there!  To remedy this situation we are going to write letters to Santa tomorrow to make sure he knows that he wants Legos, not rattles!

The fun week ended today with a birthday party for a boy named Jared.  Jared and Will were in the same class last year, but are in different classes this year.  Jared did come to the kids’ party this summer though.  It was super sweet of them to invite Lindy to his party as well.  The party was at Bounce U, the same place they had it last year.  Will was definitely able to do more stuff this year since he had grown.  Lindy struggles with bounce houses and such.  She can’t climb up things like everyone else and actually has trouble just walking in them.  Which just meant that I basically had to do everything with her.  The big slides and obstacle courses.  I was exhausted by the end of the hour! 

Now let’s see if I can get this down to a manageable number of pictures.  Probably not!

The kids have been obsessed with making beds in the chairs with a pillow and a Christmas blanket.Decorating their own trees!Just because I think Will’s face is hysterical!Going to see the lights!We hopped on the bus and rode through the lights.   They rode like big kids for the first time ever.  Thankfully we went no more than about 15mph throughout the lights!Before Lindy’s big appointments we played doctor.  She HATES the doctors’ bed and the paper they use so I created my own doctors’ bed on the couch with tissue bed.  We practiced getting an ultrasound.  I even squirted her belly with lotion and I used her tag reader to pretend I was looking at her kidneys.  We all took turns being the doctor and looking at each others’ kidneys!I’ve been trying to teach Will to smile without saying ‘cheese’  He thinks he needs to use his fingers to make a smile now.  Waiting for her first appointment Thursday.  She was having a great time in the waiting room but it ended once she finally got called back.Her special treat!Okay, he got one too!About as matchy-matchy as it gets these days.At the Happy Birthday Jesus party Saturday morning.Will’s first glimpse of Santa!Lindy saw him when he got closer to her.Lindy and her buddy, Hailie.  Lindy loves her!One excited boy! 
Santa!After their nap Saturday Lindy wanted to ‘hold Will.’  At Bounce U today.Lindy loved this hat.  I wouldn’t mind her wearing one every day of her life to protect herself!Silly Girl!