Emory's Uriology Plan

So we finally have a plan after 2 1/2 months of yuck. We learned a lot more information yesterday with our Uriologist. I am thankful. I feel like we are in great hands! I was hoping to go in and hear that her situation was not a big deal, but unfortunatly I heard the opposite. Thankfully I believe things will be okay because we have discovered her issue early and can be watchful.

Emory has grade 3 reflux on her right kidney. This is the reason her right kidney is smaller than her left. Thankfully her left kidney is completely normal and functioning well. The Doctor was very intent on continuing to remind me how serious renal reflux is. He listed a number of bad things that could happen: kidney scarring, renal failure, kidney transplant, etc. and then told me how we could be TRY to prevent these things.

Out of the 3 infections she has had the past 2 months..only one has been a true UTI. The other two that were accompanied by 105 fevers, lots of back pain, and blood and protein in her urine, are un-diagnosable. He believes they are for sure a side effect of this renal reflux and were the beginning of infections...the cultures just never grew. Hopefully the medication she is on will prevent future episodes of this kind.

The plan for now is to continue with our profolific antibiotic for the next 6 months. If, while on this anitbiotic, she continues to get infections, that will tell us that she needs surgery for sure. If she does not have repeat infections then we can continue on the road we are on. In 6 months we will repeat the renal ultrasound to specifically look at her right kidney. If it has not grown since the last ultrasound, we will need the surgery. If it has, we keep going on the same road and repeat the horrible ugly VCUG again next fall.

Interestingly enough to me, this problem is more common in redheaded girls. One percent of children have renal reflux yep 1%. Evidently we have children that fall in the "rare" category. ug. Anyway, Emory's children will most likely have this...there is a 70 to 80% chance of that. And he said any other children we had would have this as well.....but most of you know we are not planning on other children for many reasons...mainly health concerns.

He also said most children have grown out of this by age 3 so he was concerned about Emory. He said if she did not grow out of it by age 5 he would definatly need to do surgery to repair the issue.

So, with all that information, we request your prayers to for our Great Physician to heal Emory of all of this quickly. Thank you !

Emory's suggestion

So we were at a campout with our Church class last weekend when Emory made a suggestion to me. I was wearing a button up the front big jacket that had a drawstring hood (the strings were hanging on either side of my neck). While Em was sitting in my lap she grabbed one of the strings and looked at it a little funny (she turned her head to the side a little...then started to smile) and then said, " Okay Mommie, first we are going to stick this in your privates (holding up the string to me)...." Not sure what she said after that because I grabbed the string and her hand and laughed out loud pretty hard. I guess the VCUG taught us more than we bargained for.

An Emory Update

After 6 phone calls ( I told ya'll I would be persistent!!) over the last few days, we finally have learned that Emory does have reflux. That is all we know right now and all they will tell us. We see her specialist next Wed. where he will let us know what degree she has and the next steps. Please continue to pray for this to be something for her to grow out of without surgery and without being on antibiotics for a year or two.

We will let you know more when we know more. We continue to covet your prayers!

Ephesians 3:20

Look What We Made

We have been having so much fun creating new things around here. I made the outfit above out of things I already had including jeans that were too short. It started out as a Halloween shirt and quickly turned into a year round outfit. Super easy too!

Today Emory and I did a bow making project from EasyMakeBows.com. They send you a bow kit that is so easy to put together Emory did it by herself with little help from me! She is 3 years old! And she is so proud. I think it turned out great, but I couldn't get her to model it for me yet....

And then the picture below is of a skirt I made Emory that is fun for fall. It has layers of tulle all the way around. Super easy and Super cute!

Emory's Unique Kidneys

We don't know too much right now. We are having a series of tests. It all started a month ago when Emory had a bladder infection. After the infection cleared she still had blood and protein in her urine so we were going to see a uriologist...but another infection quickly insued and turned into a UTI and she began hurting in her kidney area. We are getting over that infection and are now working with an kidney doctor at Cooks.
She has had repeat urninalysis' and we had a renal ultrasound that showed Emory's kidneys are different sizes a little more that what normal would be. So with the repeat infections and asymetrical kidneys we now will do another test called a VCUG this Wednesday to do x-rays of her bladder, ureter and kidneys to see if she is having backflow (reflux) and if so where it is happening.
We should know more when we get the result of that test. It will tell us if she needs surgery to fix this or if it is something she may grow out of. So until then, we request your prayers.

Re-Mix of Emory's Dress

I love it when I get a fun, smart idea. I have been looking for cute dress patterns and ideas for the last several months to make Emory some fun things. My struggle is I don't tend to like "homey" homemade dresses and such, so I decided to take on the challenge of doing something I thought might be cute. I had seen a post where a really cool Mom took an old dressy tank of hers and turned it into a sweet dress for her daughter.....light bulb went off. I ran into my pile of cute dresses I had gathered to GIVE away to some of my favorite give away recepients (don't worry you two, I will still give you some cute things) and pulled out this dress. This was Emory's easter dress when she was 2. I loved the way she looked in it and was already having a hard time deciding if I wanted to give it away or not.....so I got a brilliant idea to fashion it into the set you see below. Whala......a new outfit she can still wear! Yay! I think it turned out great. The best part...I did not spend ANY money. I already had the t-shirt and the other materials needed for the transformation. The other best part? It took 30 minutes from start to finish! I wanted to share it in case someone else wanted to borrow the idea. Happy sewing!

From this:

To this:

How I Feel....really

So today I am supposed to be walking my sweet, dark haired, dark eyed angel baby into his kindergarten class with all of the other Moms...only that day will never come for me. How do I feel today? I am angry, dissapointed, heart-broken, jealous and did I mention angry? For those that have lost children some of the hardest days are the milestone days. It is absolutely impossible to not think about what we are missing out on. I have put on a happy face and listened and smiled as I have attended numerous women functions the last couple of months where "first day of school" talk has continued to ring in my ear and pierce my heart. It's not that I don't want to be a part of those conversations, its that I WANT to be a part of those conversations. I want to go out and by a new backpack and embroider my son's name, I want to go school shopping for boy clothes, I want my son to stand up at Church when the whole service is on "school starting" and all the children going to school get to stand,I want the first day of school pictures, I want to walk him to his class and shed tears as I realize how the years have past so quickly. But I am a realistic person and I do try to remain in reality most of the time. I know that will not happen for my family, until little Em gets her chance. I don't want to rush her time away either. I want to soak in each moment and each day I get to spend with the third love of my life...Emory. And that is the legacy that Tate left for me. To live in the moment.
So for today, I am going to get over my anger and frustration and turn to my Father that loves me and can give me peace. He knows I am angry and mad, but still loves me....and he knows a thing or two about losing a son.

New Mexico

Out for a night in Santa Fe.

Peak of Mount Baldy....We made it....alive!

On top of Mount Baldy all covered in cheese...I lost my poor meatball.....

the only part of the hike that was easy.....beautiful!

The pecos river the boys fly-fished.

We had the wonderful opportunity to join our sweet friends in exploring the Santa Fe area of New Mexico this past June. They invited us to share in a family cabin and explore the area of Glorietta.

Our adventurous spirit got the best of us when we decided to hike Mount Baldy the first day. We have since learned that Mount Baldy is the second highest peak in New Mexico....seriously. Our 3 hour hike turned into 7 hours of grueling torture....okay, maybe that is a little dramatic, but I will say, hiking that terain and elevation was the hardest physical challenge I have ever accomplished. Sad thing is, I didn't set out to accomplish anything other than enjoying God's creation. My competitive nature got the best of me two hours into the hike and I decided I couldn't stop until I got to the top....oh yes, there were many times my body was yelling at me to quit! At times, there were parts where I could only take 5 steps and then would have to stop to gasp for air. The altitude was a killer. But, with some encouragement and a mean streak, all four of us made it to the top of that beast. (Did I mention we climbed and traveresed two or three mountains to then climb to the top of Baldy...needless to say we didn't know what we were getting into!) I forgot to mention our "little" hike mentality set us up with half a sandwich and two bottles of water....one for me, one for Jody....

So we got to the top, climbed the tower and tried to rest for a few minutes until we saw a storm rolling in.....we looked around and quickly noticed how many trees around us had been struck by lightning. Perfect. No rest for the weary right? We took off down that mountain with mean streaks in our hearts.....all of us were so angry we just wanted to be home....but, we did it...and made it down safely without hardly stopping! At then end of the day we had hiked over 10 miles up steep terain. Our bodies reminded us of it every chance we gave them over the next few days. IT must be what 1/2 marothoners feel like the few days after the race??

The next day we did some white water rafting.....a feat not to impressive compared to our crazy hike. Our guide told us we were crazy for climbing Baldy and said that most people in New Mexico have never even tried that. He also added something in about people training for that.....I can't remember ...smile!

We had a great time rafting in the freezing cold water! Our boys were boys and had to jump in at one poing to proove something?? Not sure what...

Yes you too can look this good if you can rock a wet suit!

The next day we boycotted (sp?) adventure and settled for some shopping at Ross in Santa Fe. Hey, what can I say...it was all we could find that we could afford there. (We dropped the boys off to fly fish the whole day at this river). It was a wonderful day!

Lunch in Santa Fe.
Sorry ladies, this one is taken.
Dinner at yummy Marias!

We had such a great time and really enjoyed our break from reality!

New Do

Jody and I at the Fossil Rim benefit. I've never been a VIP before. Thanks Mike for the tickets and the fun.

If I come to any of you again and think it's a good idea to cut 7 inches off my hair....be sweet and tell me to "put down the scissors and walk away". I had no idea my self esteem was tied into long hair....oh well, it's just hair...it will grow back!

Random Fun Pics 2

Children's Museum in Austin

Walking in Daddy's shoes...man that starts early!

Random Fun Pictures

My two favorite people.

Reed and Em's swim day.

Making cookies with Mom.

Em loves to wear her rain boots everywhere.....even to Church.

Birthday shopping for flowers for the party...

I had the wonderful opportunity to help out my friend Natalie and love on my "niece" Maddox for a couple of days. I left Emory in good hands and headed down to Austin to love on this new family for a few days. Isn't she gorgeous?

Trip for 2

The private beach at the State Park.

The beach at our Resort.

A night out.....Cantina Laredo

State Park hiking.

My sweet parents gave us their timeshare week this past April so we sprinted off before anyone could notice to West Palm Beach, Florida....by ourselves!!!! We had a wonderful time relaxing and enjoying each other. I am a big believer in vacations alone....they are an investment in our marriage. We stayed at a lovely resort and really spent most of the time on the beach.

When we were in the airport eating lunch, our waitress came up and said "awwww, you must be neweleyweds" (we were holding each others hands across the table). Nope, but we were celebrating 9 years of marriage. I love that we can still get the newleywed label after all that time.

Jody surprised me with something super romantic one day. We were sitting at our lunch table (for a super long time after lunch) listening to a guitarist/soloist who was really great. Jody got up to give him a request and came back to the table. A few minutes later the song "Can't help Falling in Love" by Elvis began to play. Jody and I used to dance to the song all the time while dating...so of course, he asked me to dance. Now, we were poolside with people swimming, etc....so no, noone else was dancing...but did that matter? Nope, we danced the way we used too all the time and enjoyed every minute of it.

We did leave the resort one day to go to the National Park that was 3 miles down the road. It had a long pier we walked across and then hiked around several trails. About the time we got to the private beach, a storm rolled in....

Other than beach going, movie watching and sleeping, we didn't do much. Just how I like it!

Emory is 3

Tristin and the bowling for weeds station!

Most of these are cousins......one or two are friends!

The planting station....it was a big hit!

Emory and I went shopping at the market so she could pick out the flowers she wanted to plant with her friends. Her little shirt says"birthday princess"

May was such a fun month filled with birthday parties and many other great things. We celebrated Em's 3rd birthday at her Granma and Peepaw's house with family and a few close friends. Emory had a garden theme party this year complete with a butterfly cake, planting station, bowling for weeds station, and mud dirt dessert for the kiddos. We had such a great time! I can hardly believe she is 3...it's going fast.

Where did March and April go?

I have been slacking on my blogging lately and wanted to get up to date on a few things. So here goes:

My brother got married in Vegas on Valentines day so we wanted to do something special for him. My Mom and several of her friends and I threw a Cookout celebrationg for Chad and Holly in March. Here are a few pictures from that special day:

The Money tree and Brides Table.

We had cheeseburgers with all the "fixins", chips and dips and homemade pies for dessert. It was a small family affair but was very lovely to have time with everyone.

Picnic on the Boat:

We spent an evening on Jody's fishing boat with Emory in March. We took a picnic to enjoy while floating on the water. Emory loved every minute of it. She wanted Daddy to go "faster" and screamed with delight when he did. It was so wonderful to sit on the lake (one of my favorite places) with the people I love the most and enjoy God's creation together. This was by far one of my most favorite dates with my family.

Strawberry Patch:

One of my sweet friends arranged for us to have a Private picking at the strawberry farm here. We were so excited because we have been trying to make it for the last two years and they are always all picked over....so we jumped at the chance. I need to mention the day we had scheduled was one of the most windy days ever....so windy it actually knocked me over at one point. So the kiddos picked for about 2 minutes and then played inside the office while the Moms finished picking !

Growing Like a Weed:

I just want to put this in here so I will remember this: We measured Emory on her growth chart in March and discovered she had grown 3 1/2 inches in 6 months.....no wonder her pants are all too short! Here she is in a cute outfit her Granma bought for her where she looks so tall!