Day 2

We had tried to get Logan to drink a little overnight, but he wanted nothing to do with that.....

So happy when he finally decided to have some juice.

He was a little playful and took a couple bites of a cracker.....

You can see the bulb of his drain sticking out from the top of his diaper.....all secure with tape and stitched in. His catheter was securely taped to his leg......his urine was really bloody and pink but started to clear by day 2. He could have pink/bloody urine for a week or two.

Preferred to play with the cracker and crush it.......lots of crumbs in the bed

He was a little puffball from all his IV fluid......

By the afternoon, he was playing with a cup, smiling, and enjoying his new toys.

Starting to act more like our Logan.....

My sweet boy!

Thanks to Jen for our visit and yummy chocolate chip cookes. Thanks to Chris for our visit and yummy Oregano's lunch. Paul headed home late afternoon the spend some time with Ella. I was a little nervous about being on my own, but thank goodness Uncle Pat came for a visit and then Megan brought me dinner. I was a prisoner in the room unless someone came to visit. I had to make sure my teeth were brushed and I had visited the bathroom before Megan left for the night. The bathroom I could use was down the hall and I couldn't leave Logan.

Logan and I were both exhausted.......I watched part of "The Biggest Loser" and we were both asleep before 9pm......even with the loud visitors of our roommate :0) It is not easy to share a cramped little hospital room!

The Day of Surgery :0(

The day had arrived. The alarm went off at 3:30am......bzzzzz!

Logan wasn't allowed to have anything to eat after 4am and since the little guy LOVES his food we decided the best decision was to wake him and see if he would eat something. Luckily, he didn't take an afternoon nap the day before so he had gone to sleep for the night at 7pm.

We gave him a bottle of milk and tried to give him all his favorite breakfast foods....... pear, a breakfast bar, and toast.

He did eat a little, but as you can tell by the photo below, he wasn't quite sure why he was up soooooo early.

We all went back to sleep for a brief time but were back up at 6am. After dropping Ella off with Grammie and Papa, we headed to PCH. We had to be there at 10am. My stomach was in knots. I really wanted to run away and hide........no turning back.

Everyone loved our Logan and couldn't stop telling us how cute he was. They gave him a little koala bear to distract him while trying to weigh him and he was petrified of it......he shook and threw it, but then wanted to see it again.

After some vitals were taken and he was changed into a gown, we still had over an hour until surgery.......

Playing with a blood pressure cuff........

Thank goodness for the paci.....it kept him happy since he couldn't eat or drink.

At least one of us was still managing to smile :0)

Luckily, the pre-op area had a little playroom that kept Logan quite happy while we waited.

My favorite pic of that day.....so cute. Peek-a-boo

The time slowly ticked away, but soon it was close. The anesthesiologist had called me the night before and was aware that I wanted Logan to be 'happy' until he was asleep for surgery. Logan was given a big dose of Versed about 20 minutes prior to surgery. He should have been quite groggy, but was still pretty awake at surgery time. I was able to put on a 'bunny suit' and carry Logan to his OR. The anesthesiologist who was referred to us (Thanks Connie) was AMAZING! I handed Logan to him, which by this time he was quite sleepy, and he allowed me to hold Logan's hand while he rocked him and sang to him giving him the 'mask' to put him to sleep. Once Logan was asleep, I gave him a kiss on his head and told him how much I loved him. That was the moment I had been dreading more than any.......the 'leaving'. His surgeon was outside the room and gave me a big hug and walked me to the waiting room were Paul was. There was no doubt in my mind, Logan was in the best hands possible for his procedure.

Then came the waiting......

About an hour into the surgery, the nurse came out to let us know that everything was going well. It was about another hour and twenty minutes until the anesthesiologist came out to let us know that the operation was over and Logan was heading to recovery. He said he had done great. About 15 minutes after that, Logan's surgeon came out to tell us about the procedure and what he had done........ And then a few minutes later, we were back in recovery and my sweet boy was back in my arms.

Paul took this photo of his red glowing toe.....he was quite impressed with it.

It took a while for us to get our room........Logan was placed on the oncology floor because it is a 'clean' area where kids aren't infectious. I felt horrible because his roommate was a teenage boy with cancer.......I am sure not wanting a 'baby' to share his room. Luckily, they got us a bed which allowed me to lie next to Logan. He finally relaxed once we got him settled in his bed. He was puffy from all the IV fluids, but rested comfortably with a little help from the Morphine. He had his IV in his right foot, a drain stitched near his incision and taped to his tummy, and his catheter which was taped to his right thigh. Amazingly, he left these alone......

We were able to get a little sleep.....

Glad the day was over and praying that the next would be a little better.......

Tomorrow.......

......is the day. Logan's surgery at noon.

Although I really want to take him and run away and hide, I know he will do great, recover quickly, and have a happier kidney to show for it!

Today was about feeding him his favorites since most of tomorrow he won't be able to eat......

His favorite meal, by far, is lasagna and he devoured it as always at dinner.

Nothing shows a love for food like double fisting in and cramming it in your mouth :0)

Please say a prayer for us that surgery is successful and Logan does great!

It will be a long wait, as the surgery is expected to take close to 3 hours.

I can't wait for the surgery to be done, recovery to be over, and we are all back at home!

4yr old check-up!!!!

This past Wednesday was Ella's check-up. She was cute as could be, although anxious regarding the possibility of 'shots'!!! She has to receive 4 shots before Kindergarten, so we decided to split them up.....2 this year and 2 next year. Ella was really not happy about this but did accept it....yell for a minute.....and then smiile at her cute bandaids while she ate some skittles. She weighed 34 pounds and was 39.5 inches tall. I think she had a little help from her boots :0)

Waiting.....homemade card in hand for her doctor

Post-shots....still managing a smile. That's my girl!

And I just had to throw this pic in this post because it's so cute!
This was her outfit she wore to school on Thursday, complete with knee socks!
She loved it!

Officially 1st School Picture

And it's SO stinkin' cute!!!

On the Way......

.......to soccer last night, as we were driving in the car.

Ella says, "Jesus made me and my socks, right?!? And when Jesus was making me, he used lots and lots of glue when he put my head on so that it would never fall off!"

"My Real Birthday???????"

It was the day we had all been waiting for......Ella especially.

It was her REAL birthday, the day of her party.

It was time to get her 'fancy'........

......curlers in her hair, nailpolish on 10 cute fingers, and some lipgloss......

Her are the hair close-ups after the curlers came out.....it was just perfect.

And then on went the birthday outfit and then came the 'poses'!!!

She was full of smiles and SO ready to go!

It wasn't long until her friends arrived. She was ecstatic (fancy word for excited) to have ALL her friends there (well almost all). Friends from school, soccer, and everywhere all there to celebrate our special girl!

She was off and running and NOT scared one bit this time to go on every slide, etc....

She was even a little daredevil as you can tell and came down the slide on her tummy, as you can tell by the big puff of tutu!

So fun!

Logan couldn't be left out....he LOVED to bounce!

A group photo, just a few kiddos were missing.

The cute and yummy cake!

She could hardly wait to sit in the special birthday chair!!! She ran right to it, hopped in, and didn't move from it until the party was over!

Logan loved the chair too and Ella couldn't wait to give her brother a cuddle!

Ella was so cute when everyone sang to her, she got a little shy....."singing for me, mommy?"

(Notice her sweaty hair, she was non-stop running and playing for 1.5 hours)

Enjoying some of her yummy cake, her choice......white cake with strawberry filling

Daddy had to have a turn with his little girl

And then she opened her gifts........lots of them! She was so excited with each one and yelled out to whoever it was from "I LOVE IT!"......so cute! She got so many cute toys and she didn't get anything that she already had!

What a great day it was!

Ella has got the sweetest, most adorable friends ever!

It was a sea of pink and bows!

It was all she could have asked for and more!

"It was the bestest day EVER!" she said!