To the hospital we go...

To back up a little... a couple weeks ago we went to Vallejo and when she got out of the car she was limping on her right leg. I thought her hip might of gotten stiff on the long drive. Last Tuesday (April 28th) we took Taylor to the pediatrician in the morning because her right knee was very swollen and she could barely walk on it. The doctor examined her and then decided to admit her to the hospital. We were so worried. So many thoughts were rushing through our minds. After we got admitted on Tuesday morning they did an ultrasound and x rays on her. The x ray showed a little fluid around the knee but not much.
They had to put an I.V in her arm and she didn't even cry !! I cried because I was happy it didn't hurt her very much. I stayed Tuesday night with Taylor while Dan took Emilie home. She was pretty tired of the hospital. Emilie was so sweet she drew a picture for Taylor and couldn't wait to show her. On Wednesday morning they did a bone scan on her. It was done in 2 parts. The first part was to inject the radiolucent fluid through her I.V. and then she had to lay still for a few minutes while they took pictures of that. She did awesome. Later that afternoon she had to go back down and lay still for about 30 minutes. She fell asleep in my arms while down there and then slept through the whole thing. Again, awesome ! We stayed again Wednesday night. On Thursday she had an MRI. She had to go to sleep for this so while she was under anesthesia the Dr. aspirated some fluid from her knee joint. It was bloody and not normal. The MRI also showed alot of swelling in her tissue around her knee. At this point both our Dr.'s are kind of baffled. It didn't seem like there was any kind of infection so they didn't know quite what they were dealing with. The Dr. then decided to take her to surgery Friday morning. He opened her knee about 1 1/2 inches and irrigated it and took a synovial biopsy. It took only about 45 minutes. It's nice working in the O.R. at the same hospital. I was able to take her back to the O.R. and hold her while she went off to sleep. It's a good feeling knowing she wasn't scared and with strangers and I could be there. After surgery the Dr. came out to talk to us. He told us there was no puss and it didn't look like an infection. He mentioned to us that he thought she could have juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. After so many days of not knowing what it was it was a little assuring to know that it is something that is treatable and usually goes away before they are teenagers if not sooner. So many thoughts went through our heads on what it could be including cancer and leukemia. Thank God it's not ! So after surgery on Friday we went back up to her room and just hung out. She was pretty tired but not in too much pain. She decided that afternoon that she didn't want her I.V and pulled it out. Luckily they didn't really need it anymore and left it out. The pediatrician came in that afternoon and said what the orthopedic doctor said. She said if the swelling and limping doesn't get better in a couple weeks we will need to go to a pediatric rheumatologist. We don't have any here in Reno so we'll drive to California for that. Anything to get our little girl better. So Saturday morning we were finally discharged and got to go home. She's still sore from the surgery but she is such a trooper. We love our little Taylor and can't wait for her to get better !!!

Our Bay Area Mini Vacation

So we decided to take a trip to the Bay area before going to my niece's 2nd Birthday in Sacramento on Saturday. It's been about 1 1/2 years since we had been there. We knew the girls would have lots of fun. We drove to Vallejo and took the ferry to Pier 41 in San Francisco.
We had so much fun. The girls loved being on the boat. We walked over to the famous Pier 39 where we went to The Aquarium of the Bay.
Inside they had fish, hundreds of starfish, jellyfish, sharks and a hands on area where the kids could touch the bat rays and starfish.

We enjoyed some lunch
and ice cream and then did a little shopping and finally
the carousel ride. The Pier has an awesome 2 story carousel. Taylor was so sad we only rode the ride once.Oh I can't forget the dozens of seal we watched playing and fighting on the pier.
We ended up taking the ferry back to Vallejo where we spent the night at then went to Discovery Kingdom on Friday.
We bought season passes this year and couldn't wait to go. They have awesome rides for the kids(and adults)
along with a killer whale, dolphin and seal show. They also have all sorts of animal exhibits. It is an amazing park !!! Unfortunately, my camera battery died after seeing only some animals and the girls going on a few rides. Luckily we have the season passes or I would of been so sad. We left there that evening and headed over to Sacramento to my sisters house and stayed the night there. On Saturday Loie had her 2nd Birthday Party !! We had so much fun !! All the cousins were there and had so much fun playing with each other (and 50 other people). We can't wait to make another trip over the hill to them when we go to Discovery Kingdom !!!

A Week of Easter Fun !!!!

So this last week we had alot of fun activities planned for the girls. I am an assistant organizer of a playgroup and we had our 3rd annual Easter party on Monday. We had som much fun. We had great food and the girls had a blast hunting for eggs(that were thrown out onto a field).
Then on Wednesday a local library had an Easter party. They read Easter stories, had easter egg pictures for the kids to put glitter on, a bunny and baby chicks and the Easter bunny. They even had an egg hunt. It was lots of fun. Taylor couldn't wait to see the Easter Bunny. But as soon as it was our turn to sit on his lap she wouldn't go. So, i got to sit next to the bunny with her on my lap.

Then on Saturday we went spent the day at my parent's house celebrating Easter a day early. Both my mom and I had to work on Sunday. My parents surprised the kids with a bounce house. They had so much fun and couldn't believe it was there for them. It was so cute. We had a great lunch and then the kids got to hunt for Easter eggs. Emilie has become a pro at this and runs from egg to egg. She ended up with 24 , Taylor had 10 and Joshua had 10. It was lots of fun watching them. They are growing up so fast !They both Love there Grandma and Papa so much !!! Once all the eggs were found we went inside and they got to see what was inside. It ended up being LOTS and LOTS of candy and a bracelet for each of them. Grandma and Papa got them gifs. They each got a bath towel and Barbie movie.



Finally, Easter morning they woke up to see that the Easter Bunny left them each of candy, a movie, a puzzle and an outfit. Emilie wanted to show hers off.

We had lots of fun this last week and will enjoy the many many memories it gave us.

Water Water Everywhere !!!

So this past week has been very busy. Last Sunday I woke up to Dan yelling "CALL WATER DISASTER" as he runs out the back door. I ran into the kitchen where I saw the BIG problem. The water heater valve broke and was spraying water everywhere. Dan had to crawl under the house to turn off the valve. Thank God he was home. I wouldn't of had a clue. In the meantime I called a 24 hour emergency service and the guy was on his way. We got the water soaked up but alot got under the house. So when the service guy got here they pulled out all the wet installation under the house and put in about 6 fans to help dry it. After we heard all the noise from the fans and realized we had NO running water we decided to stay at a hotel. So off for a mini vacation !!!!! We went to The Nugget since the pool is awesome. The girls had lots of fun. And they enjoyed room service. We stayed there another night and then decided a hotel was nice but we needed a kitchen to cook decent food for the girls. So we ended up staying at The Marriott. Our insurance company booked and payed for it along with reimbursing us from The Nugget. We also got money to make all the repairs. So finally the following Sunday we were able to move back in. Thanks Goodness ! Home Sweet Home. As far as the water heater we ended up getting a tankless one. I guess it only heats when you need it but can run 2 showers or appliances without getting cold...EVER !!! Pretty cool.

Snow Day March 9, 2009

So we woke up this morning to a thick layer of unexpected snow. There was no prediction of this happening but very nice. We could use all these snow we can get. So we got ready to take the girls outside to play. They had so much fun.
They made SNOW ANGELS.
,ate the snow and helped sweep the patio. After about 45 minutes they were ready to come inside for some hot apple cider.