Headed to St Louis. Tummy X Ray showed a possible bowel blockage. Pray this is minor!

Yet another hospital stay...

I wish I updated my blog more often. Our internet at home is so slow and it takes forever to get enough time to get on and write.

Since my last update, I got in a car accident (no injuries, thank the Lord) and I turned 25! That feels old! Josh and I went out to a nice dinner and movie, alone with no kids (Thanks Nana and Papa). We really should do that more often. It was nice to have adult conversation and not having to feed someone else before I ate! With the accident, I was hit from behind which pushed me into the truck in front of me. My truck is in the process of trying to figure out if we want to have it fixed or just to get a different one.

More importantly, Malakai's belly started increasing in size and his bloodwork showed he was anemic and his albumin levels were low. His transplant team requested we come to St Louis one week earlier for clinic, as we were supposed to go out there the last week of January. We were told to expect to stay a few days and that's exactly what we did. He had a narrowing in his hepatic vein which restricted the bloodflow. He developed ascites because of this. We were admited on Wednesday. Two more nights in the hospital to add to our list of admissions. He had a procedure on Friday where they went in through his jugular vein and basically ballooned out his vein. I feared he would be a mess if I had to hand him off to a nurse so I asked if they could give him something to relax him. It helped alot, but then they let me take him straight to the OR table. I was able to stroke his hair and hold his little hand until he was completely out. He cried a little bit because it made him feel so funny, but only about 5 seconds of crying and he was out. It was definatly scary watching him just leave the room, in a sense. I was glad I was able to be there with him, he wasn't scared because I was there. It took him a little while to wake up but once he was awake, he wanted to nurse right away. He took a pretty good nap and we were able to go home that night. I'm hoping this is our last hospital stay on 2010! I know it's only January, but I have to be positive, right?!?!

Malakai is doing amazingly well! He's crawling all over the place and starting to walk with our help. He climbed the stairs at our house all by himself (with daddy close behind) which was quite the task. We have alot of stairs! He loves bubbles and still LOVES to play with any kind of ball. He calls them "ball-ball" trying to say basketball. He is also a little love-bug. He wants to give kisses to anyone wanting one :) He'll pucker out his little lips and expect you to walk across the room to give him a kiss. Then he'll keep kissing you until he's tired :) It's absolutely heartwarming. His favorite 4 words, which he uses correctly, are Ball, DaDa, PaPa and Momma (newly using it as of yesterday....before he would only say Momma when he was crying in his crib) He can use the sign language signs for Nurse (milk), Please, more and recently all done. It's so sweet to see him expressing himself.

Malakai has a new liver buddy, London. She recieved her "Gift of Life" just a few weeks ago and is doing amazing! Check out her blog www.LiverforLuLu.blogspot.com Her momma does an awesome job on updating her site :)

Busy month, lots to update

The last four weeks have flown by! So much has happened since my last post. I'm sure I won't remember everything, but here I go...

We had Makena's third birthday party at the house. I stayed up late the night before putting up decorations so when she woke up in the morning the house looked ready for a party! She was so excited. She said "Mommy, this is the best birthday EVER!" No cake or presents needed, just a few balloons and streamers and I had already made her day. She got lots of cool presents and had a great day! She was dressed in her princess dress, complete with matching tiara. Her cake was a big castle and before she blew out her candles she closed her eyes really tight and said "I wish for a castle" then blew out the candle. All in all it was a great day and we were surronded by wonderful family and friends!

Then Christmas was right around the corner. We were so busy the few days before. Makena had her Christmas program at preschool. She was the kid running infront of the line, yelling to us in the audience, twirling and dancing when she wasnt supposed to. But it made us all very proud! It was so cute!! Rita, Sarah and the kids came over to make cookies. They had a blast and it's a tradition I really hope we keep. Christmas Eve we went to my aunts house and then to Josh's parents house. Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents. Makena got her Loving Family dollhouse. We waited until the last present to give it to her. She was waiting so patiently (which is very hard for her) and then she tore it open and the expression on her face was priceless!

Josh and I left for a Caribbean cruise on the 28th and were gone 6 days. It was so nice to get out of the Indiana cold and into very warm weather. We basically soaked in the sun during the day, and at night we went to the nice dinners and shows they had. Josh was a frequent in the casino :) He would've lived there if I would've let him! It was nice to have some adult time and it was wonderful to have some alone time with Josh. The kids stayed with Perry and Cindy (Josh's parents) and Makena spent one night with each of my sisters. They were both thrilled to see us. Malakai wouldn't let me out of his sight for the first two days were home. It was hard leaving right after Christmas because I came home and had alot of work to do (still have alot to do) like take down the tree...

Malakai is doing well. We're looking into starting physical therapy with him. First Steps is a service he's currently working with, but they only have an occupational therapist available. I might be contacting Riley to see if they can get him in. I'm not super concerned with him, but I know he should be doing more than he is. He's 15 months old and I feel like he's no where near walking. He's pulling up on things, but not moving at all once he's up. Other than that, he's thriving and growing everyday. He's getting to be a little stinker, just like his sister :)

I wrote a letter to his donors family last night. I haven't printed it yet, and I need to get some pictures printed of him to send with it. I feel like I need to let the letter sit for a few days and then make some changes if necessary. I hope they know how much I love them and appriciate their decision to donate their childs liver to Malakai. I hope they write back, but understand if they don't. We shall see...

Well, hopefully the next time I write it won't be a month in between...I have a little boy who is begging me to lay him down for a nap :)

Christmas is coming...

I took Malakai and Makena to get their pictures taken with their cousins. Six kids 3 years old and under, I think we got a pretty good picture. I didn't order any of my kids because I had a photographer come out and take their pictures. I don't have them back yet. Mandy (Josh's sister) took some as well so I didn't need to buy any. But here they are...

It seems like you prepare for Christmas, and BAM it comes and goes! I can't believe it's already December the 9th! We had our first snow a few days ago and Makena was so excited! I told her in June at Emma's birthday that when it snowed it would be her birthday. Nothing more was said and when she woke up she looked outside and said "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" I couldn't believe she remembered! I told her it wasn't today, but soon. She's getting really excited.

She's started preschool and so far, so good. She calls her teacher, Ms. Brittany, Ms. Murry. No clue where she got Ms. Murry from. Brittany said she's corrected her, but she continues to call her Ms. Murry so she just quit correcting her. She loves carrying her lunchbox in and I think she's well liked by her peers and teachers. She's a pretty outgoing kid, I can't imagine why she wouldn't be likeable.

Malakai had his first appointment with First Steps yesterday and he started crawling. Right then, on the spot. The therapist came in, and he started crawling on his hands and knees. Up until then, he was still army crawling. His favorite word and toy right now is "ball" He says it all the time. It's like he has a one track mind. He's constantly thinking about where his ball is. He's also started to "make a basket" with a small basketball and a plastic tub. He's getting pretty good at it. The basket is small and I'm surprised he's even able to do it. He's saying "MMMM" when you ask what a cow says. He's able to point to a few objects in a book. Sarah showed him a picture of him with his cousins and said "Where's Kena?" and he pointed right to her. He's just grown up so much in the last few weeks, it's incredible.

I just booked a cruise for Josh and I. It's a Caribbean cruise going to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau. We will be leaving the kids with family and will be gone 6 days. I am very excited, but at the same time hestitant to leave him. I'm not really worried about Makena, she's been away from us enough that I feel like she'll be perfectly fine. Malakai has never been away from me more than about 8 hours. So I am going to be nervous, but I also know he'll be fine :)

So much to be thankful for...

Im a little late for Thanksgiving, but I thought I'd say how much I am thankful for this year. It's incredible how much has happened in 2009, but I am so glad that everything worked out the way that it has. I think I have become a better mother than I ever would have dreamed. I am so thankful for my husband and kids. I feel so blessed. I'm thankful to our donor family. I think about them just about daily and the gift they gave my family. I'm thankful to have the family and friends that I do.

Malakai is just growing up before my eyes. It's amazing to watch his mind grow. He's starting to say words. He started saying "baby" then "Papa" now he's saying "ball" I was looking at a book with Makena and Malakai last night and there was a picture of kids playing basketball. I asked him "Malakai, where is the ball??" And he pointed to it with his pointer finger. He just seems like he shouldn't be able to do this yet! I know he is 14 months old, but I just feel like he's so much younger! I couldn't be any more proud of him. With all that he's been through, you'd never know it. People are amazed at how sweet his personality is. People who don't even know him can tell that he's a very laid back, sweet kid. I just love him!

Makena starts "school" tomorrow. Josh and I have made the decision to enroll her into part-time daycare. We think she needs the social aspect of being with other kids. I am going to start working for the company some, and so we decided to enroll her into a preschool/daycare. We'll have the option of taking her everyday, but probably will only take her 3-4 days, part time. Malakai will be going to the office with me, so we'll see how that goes. The first few days have been ok, hopefully they continue that way.

I am going to attempt to get my Christmas tree up tonight. We'll see how that goes, it's already almost 7 and I still have to get both kids put to bed. So hopefully, hopefully I can get that done! I got almost all of my shopping done on Black Friday. Rita and I met at 4:45 am and shopped until about 3:30. We had a blast and I was so thankful to get alot of it done! Now to get the tree up, wrap presents and plan Makena's birthday :) I can't believe my baby girl is almost 3!

Few Trick or Treat pictures

Here are a few pictures from Halloween. Kena was a "kitty princess" and Kai-Kai was a cowboy. She looooved going trick-or-treating. She'd walk right up to the door, knock, step back and wait. She wasn't shy about digging into the bowl to get some candy and skip back to us. Daddy kept Malakai nice and warm in a blanket and then we had a great meal at Nana & Papa's house, complete with more candy!

My two cuties all dressed up

She could hardly wait to go!!

Up fresh from a nap and looking handsome as usual

We decided to take the kids to the zoo the day before Halloween and were surprised to arrive and see they were doing trick-or-treating. She no longer cared about seeing any animals, it was all about the candy! HAHA...Here's a cute picture I got of the two of them together

A beautiful tree at Sarah's house that I wanted to get our picture taken in front of but by the time I made it there, the rain had taken most of the leaves....so I had to kneel for the picture, but turned out OK, I guess :0

Gonna try this one more time...

I have literally tried to update my blog at least 4 times and for whatever reason (not sure if it's Blogger or my computer) they never seem to post! I don't even realize it until I go to make another blog and see that my older post never showed up. Very frustrating...

Anyways, I haven't updated in what seems like forever. Malakai is growing and changing every day. He's cutting jaw teeth right now, bless his little heart. We didn't even see them until tonight and he was brushing his teeth and started to cry. I looked in his mouth while he was screaming and see THREE new teeth. Poor baby :( Two jaw teeth and one next to the teeth that are already there.

Let's see, what else is new. First Steps came out yesterday and he has qualified for both developmental and physical therapy. I really don't think they'll have to come out much at all. He just needs some muscle stregthening and he'll be good to go :) He's learned how to get onto his hands and knees and push himself from that position to sitting. Next will be learning how to pull himself up and then start coasting along furniture. I'm not at all worried about him. He's had alot of hospital time and I know he will catch up! He loves to throw a ball and lately he's been "cleaning up" It cracks me up! I'll give him a basket and about 6 balls and he will proceed to pick each one up and put it in the basket. He's also been saying "Don't" and "Stop" As well as throwing up his arms when you say "Touchdown" and he can "show you his muscles" It's so cute to watch him grow into a little guy and away from his baby tendencies. I think we're going to be getting a hair cut soon. His length is getting a little out of control, but I really don't want to see his soft baby hair go yet. So we'll wait a little longer :)

Makena, Malakai and I all got our H1N1 shots today. It gives me a little peace knowing we have the vaccine, but also I worry about the lack of time in studying it all. It's so hard, but I'm at peace with the decision! Both of the kiddos were troopers. She got real nervous when we went into the room, but as soon as it was over the lady gave her a sucker and she was fine. Malakai was the same. He cried, saw the sucker and was happy again :) I have such brave kids!

Malakai had a few liver friends, Eden and Eli, recieve their "Gift of Life" on November 10. They're both doing well and I am so glad to see they no long have Biliary atresia and are on the road to being normal, healthy kiddos :) Keep it up, little ones! I can't wait to see pictures of chunky, healthy babies!!