Sleeping Angels-a reflection

Thank goodness for sleep time or it would be really hard to feel blessed having kids. (I'm really just being dramatic.) I find that night time is the best time to feel love and awe for my children. After a day of Garrett dumping the entire contents of parmesan cheese out on him and the table, after Natalie trying to open my bad of sunflower seeds by my computer and causing an explosion of seeds and seasoning everywhere, after Emma sitting at the piano and bawling her head off about it being too hard, when she hasn't even tried and plays it almost perfectly when she does, after feeling at the end of my rope almost every night with kids, house, life- I like to go in an watch my kids when they are sleeping. It humbles me, gives me a renewed sense of purpose, and makes me realize how much I truly love and adore my kids. Thank goodness for those quiet times and the small things that make this life and our decisions seem so worth it.

Garrett and his Vesicoureteral Reflux

Giving mom a smile before it is time to go.
Garrett watching cartoons before his procedure.

The end of December, Garrett had a procedure done to help end his vesicoureteral reflux, or reflux of the kidneys. That is when the urine backs up into the kidneys, which it is not supposed to do, and can cause infections, scarring, and kidney failure later on in life. The doctors like to catch and treat it early so there is a lesser chance of damage. Garrett was diagnosed with this en utero and for the first 2 years of his life was on a low dose antibiotic to fight any infections while the doctor monitored to see if it would heal itself, because they tend to do that with age. So every day I had to give him antibiotics which I didn't feel good about. He had to have two VCGU tests where they inject fluid into his bladder through a catheter, while he is strapped down, and move him around to take pictures. It is very unpleasant and it's hard when your baby is crying "mommy" for over half an hour and there is nothing you can do to settle him. So, long story short, one of his kidneys looked good, the other was at a grade 3, with a 5 being the worst. So his urologist recommended having a procedure done where they inject a bit of collegan into his bladder right at the urethral tube to cause a bump, making it hard for the urine to go past that back into the kidneys. So we scheduled that thinking that was a better way to go than actual surgery, and he wasn't as bad as some. We had to be at the hospital at 6am, and didn't go back to a room till probably 6:30 or 6:45. His procedure was supposed to be at 8:30, but they had to move him back because they had to put another pt in front of him, so we were stuck in this room with him till about 10. It was rough. Finally it was time and they gave him a sedative, that took effect pretty quickly. They rolled his bed away with his arms behind his head, just relaxing. I should have gotten a picture. So we waited for about an hour for the procedure to be done. At the new hospital, they have this board that you can see your patients number and keep track of what process they are in. Pretty darn cool. It turned out that I knew the pre-op nurse so that was cool to catch up. It had been years.
The doctor came out to let us know he had found something unexpected, which was probably the root cause of his reflux. He had posterier urethral valves that were supposed to digenerate when Garrett's sex was determined, because they are a female part, but his never did, and when he would urinate, they would poof up like sails, blocking a lot of the urine flow. So he cut those away, and hoped for the best. Garrett coming out of anthesthesia was hard. He is grumpy, in pain, stinking from the tube down his throat (and by the way, this procedure can be done in a clinic on adults but because kids can't stay still, they have to have this whole ordeal.) He was extremely crabby and all we had to do was get him to drink something and we could go. We didn't get out of the hospital till around 2. And since this whole thing, he has had two uti's or bladder infections, and has had to be on two rounds of antibiotics. I need to ask the doctor if that is normal or what is going on. So that was our whole crazy ordeal, and hopefully it will be over soon.

Christmas with the Kranks

Garrett got train tracks to go with his birthday gift, and he loves putting the pieces together till this day. He is always setting it up in these random ways. It is very cute.
Self explanitory.
The girls in their Christmas dresses at Mom's for Christmas Eve dinner and program. We found cute, cheap dresses right before Christmas and I wanted ones they could wear throughout the year that didn't seem too holidayish. These fit the bill.
A cute moment I caught while singing Christmas hymns. It was very sweet.
Brynne made aprons and bought cookie stuff for the girls. So cute! And Aunt Kim made them crayon holders. Very crafty ladies!

I am a little late but hope the holidays found everyone happy and healthy and full of joy. We had a nice, mellow Christmas, mostly due to decreased funds, but it made things seem not so stressful this year. I am all about no stress. So we had Christmas eve with my family, we exchanged gifts and had our Christmas program which always brings a nice spirit. Emma read the scriptures this year which made me tear up. She is getting so big and smart! The next day on Christmas I was supposed to work but I had been getting sick, and was pretty sick that day. I didn't have to go in until noon so I got to wake up and do presents with everyone, but had to start getting ready for work. I called in to see if it was busy and the girls said it was completely slow and not to worry about coming in. I was so thankful. I went to bed until about 5pm. I felt bad missing out on the kids playing with their gifts and making Christmas more special, but I just was not feeling well. So, all in all, a good, laid back holiday.