Our first breakfast as a family in our new house. Hallie's life was at risk at mealtimes for a few days since the only seat we had for her was that saucer, which she was able to scoot by kicking her legs. We alternated taking a bite of food and saving her from plummeting off the table.
Then Dan's sister, Robin, and her family came to help us unpack and settle in.
And they brought an awesome, real high chair for Hallie! Much safer!
Emma and her cousin, Naomi, tested out Emma's new bed.
The girls enjoyed the playground that we added to the dirt spot in our back yard where the giant oak tree used to be.
And played on the toddler roller coaster in a grassy area of our yard.
My dad and Dan on the day they finished laying the kitchen floor!
And Dan and his dad finishing the dining room floor. Our dads are the best!
This is how the kitchen looks now. We have some finishing touches to add, but the sink and appliances are in place and working, and we absolutely love all the space we have!
The island with a view of our den behind it. Dan and our dads tore down the wall between the kitchen and den, added the island, and reconfigured the plumbing and electricity. These two rooms are the best part of the house now!
The view from the den into the kitchen. We've dreamed of having an open concept in our house, and now it's a reality.
Another view from the kitchen into the den. Emma loves to run circles around the island, and we love watching the girls play while we're fixing meals in the kitchen.
The girls loved their new beds and rooms and have slept through the night since day one. We gave Emma a giant teddy bear as a "welcome home" gift, and she was happy to sleep on 1/3 of her mattress so he could join her.
Hallie and Emma are both having a blast rediscovering toys that have been packed away for 10 months!
In other news, we have a brand-new nephew, Micah! He was born on May 19th and is the sweetest thing!
He's the fifth boy for Dan's brother, Tim, and his family!
Emma graduated from the 3-year-old preschool class at StoneBridge School.
Their end of year performance was adorable, and Emma sang, did all the hand motions, and didn't cry. It was a complete success! She is front and center, standing to the left of the boy in suspenders.
Each child in her class was given a character award, and Emma received the "kindness" award. We are thrilled that she is so kind to her classmates in school. We will remind her of this every day at home. Heh!
After the last day of school, we joined Emma's best friend, Elisha, and his mom at the beach. Hallie refused to look at the camera during the group shot.
There she is!
I've gotten back into running and ran a couple of races in May. A group from my company ran the Corporate 5K in Norfolk.
My coworker, Lori, and I also ran the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD) Run/Walk for the Kids 8K together. We have been running during our lunch break 3 days a week and have each lost about 20 pounds since January. We signed up for this race because both of us have daughters who have had major surgery and treatments at CHKD, so it's a cause that's near and dear to our hearts. CHKD is the biggest children's medical center in this area, and I've met more than one family who drive hundreds of miles to bring their kids to CHKD. It was a cold, rainy day for a race, but we had fun and did even better than we expected to!
The day after the race, we celebrated Mother's Day. We had a wonderful day worshipping at church, going to lunch with my parents, and spending the evening with Dan's parents.
In not-so-fun news, Emma had a routine, follow-up ultrasound in late April, which revealed that her left kidney and ureter are significantly swollen. That's her "good kidney" and more normal side, so it was discouraging to find a problem there. Her urologist recommended an outpatient surgical procedure with the intent of pinpointing any obstruction that was causing the swelling, and to place a stent in the left ureter. We agreed to the procedure in early May, and although her doctor scoped Emma and was able to see some of the issues, she tried for a half hour to insert a tube or stent into Emma's ureter where it meets the bladder, and couldn't get anything in because of a "kink" that's developed at that section of Emma's ureter. So the procedure accomplished nothing and Emma suffered terribly for 5 days afterwards. It was just awful and we weren't at all forewarned about the amount of pain and bleeding she was going experience. We assumed that an outpatient procedure meant that she would be back to normal quickly, but this felt more like recovery from a major surgery! I'm sure that unsuccessful surgeries happen every day, but this was the first time we'd experienced it. We are definitely more skittish about signing up for any more procedures unless it's a life or death situation.
The (very) good news is that Emma has been infection-free since early February and her surgeon is confident that the last surgery Emma had (ureter re-implantation) is still preventing any reflux to her kidneys. We are so thankful for that and are asking God to clear up the swelling in Emma's left kidney without another surgical procedure. She has an upcoming kidney function test (done under general anesthesia) in a couple of weeks that will show if the swelling is causing kidney damage. If her kidney function is still fine and they don't find a severe obstruction, we will wait this out and see if the swelling decreases on its own over time. So please pray for good results from her test when you think of her.
This was our poor girl after her procedure, getting some rest on the couch in between the pain.
Now she is back to being a saucy little diva! We are always thankful for healthy and pain-free days!
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