This Week

It seems like I have not blogged in a while, so I thought I would let you know what we have been up to.

We joined the YMCA last week and so the "safari" and I have been enjoying that experience. The triplets and Hannah get to play together with other children and then Elijah gets to play on this 2-3 story indoor playscape. Mommy has enjoyed the STEP classes that are offered, but have not enjoyed the pain the next morning. Also I am in a Bible study at Grace and the "safari" gets to play with more children.

Hannah got sick this week. So we went to see our favorite pediatrician, DR. Rane Nishi. Hannah has strep throat and another UTI. I am telling you we cannot get to February 15th fast enough. They had to put a catheter in her and she fought hard for that not to happen. Then they had to swab her mouth so she was not a happy camper at all.

Noel again traveled this week. I say that like it was just a once in a while thing, but it is not. He travels a lot more in the next couple of months. It is nice to see him and the "safari" have really missed him this year more than last year. Jacob is having the hardest time. The other night he woke up screaming for daddy. I tried to comfort him but he did not want anything to do with me; he wanted daddy. So daddy is on call when he travels for a phone call in the middle of the night to talk to Jacob. Please pray that Jacob can process travel season better.

Well I think that is all that happened this week. I will try to blog more, but of course who knows what next week will bring. I am also going to try to get the "safari" to sing their ABC's on the video camera. It is too cute.

Poor Hannah

I took Hannah to the doctor's a couple months ago because she had a fever and was not feeling well. Our pediatrician told us that she had a UTI (urinary tract infection). Well if a small child gets a UTI they usually want to get them checked out to make sure that the urine is moving in the right direction and not refluxing.

Yesterday Noel and I took Hannah to Dell's Children Hospital to see the Children Imaging center for the ARA (Austin Radiological Association). Hannah had an ultrasound of her kidneys. The people at the imagine center were fantastic. They had fish circling the room. Hannah just laid there and let them do their thing. Well that was the easy test of the day. After that she had to get a VCUG. That is where they put a catheter in and shut dye into her bladder, take pictures and then get her to release that dye. They strapped her to a table, rotated her and took some pictures with a massive machine. Hannah was not thrilled to be restrained. Then they wanted her to pee, well being my daughter, she decided that she was not going to pee for them. They poured about 4-5 cups of warm water on her before she could not resist anymore.

We got the test results back and Hannah has stage III Vesicoureteral reflux. Let me explain: After your kidneys process your fluids they go down into your bladder, well that fluid is sterile when it goes down. When your bladder is full then you pee, while your body waits to pee that sterile fluid becomes contaminated. When you pee you are suppose to release that pee in one direction. Well with Vesicoureteral reflux some of that contaminated pee goes the wrong direction, back to the kidneys. The stage that you are given is determinant on how far the fluid goes up to the kidneys. Hannah has a stage III which means that the fluid goes all the way to the kidneys. This is not good.

We are seeing a pediatric urologist on the 15th of February to talk about our options. Now there is a chance that with medication that Hannah will grow out of this but there is also a chance that she will have to have surgery to fix the problem. For right now Hannah is on a low-dose antibiotic and will be on it until we see the urologist.

Please pray that Hannah will stay healthy and not have anymore UTI's and that she will be healed by either time or a skilled surgeon. The ultrasound showed that there has not been any significant damage to the kidneys. I will provide you some information through links so that you can learn more. Please keep her in your prayers.

Here is a great webpage that explains Hannah's condition.

Video Material:

Mother's and Daughter's

Over the last several months my mother has been on my mind and in my prayers more frequently. The other day I was thinking about all the things that I do with my "safari" that my mother did with us when we were kids.

**Being a stay at home mother
**Cooking and baking with the "safari"
**Teaching them to be polite and compassionate
**Teaching them that we are a family and everyone needs to help
**Discipline

Well the list could go on forever. One of the traits that I have taken from my mother is the need for my surroundings to be clean and orderly. I personally cannot live in an environment for too long that is in disarray. My mind starts to tell me that I need to clean and where to start and I can tell about how much time it will take me to do so. Now I have a cleaning schedule and for the most part that schedule is followed, but there are times when I cannot clean because I need a day of me time when the "safari" is sleeping and when Noel is out of town for several days in a row.

On Saturday I went to my mother's house to do a daughter thing. My mother has been sick for the last several weeks. She started out having bronchitis and then moved to phenomena and then something else. Well all this to let you know that my mother should not be doing anything but sitting and making sure that her oxygen level is good. So I went to clean my mother's house; I did not call ahead of time I just showed up because if I had called she would have stated "no, my house is clean." You see my mother and I have the same thing in common we do not ask for help easily. The entire time that I was there my mother was trying to help me clean her house.

I have thought about that the last couple of days and realize that I would do the same thing. I want to be the Proverbs 31 women and do not want anyone to help me, but sometimes you do need help and you should let people help you if they offer or show up at your door step.

Thank you mother for teaching me to be that Proverbs 31 women and hopefully we can learn together that it is okay to ask for help when we are in need of it. I hope that you are feeling better we love you and cannot thank you enough for all the help that you have given us. You are a lifesaver when Noel is out of town. We love you and the "safari" cannot get enough of you.