Hey fun friends and family...
...as always, I have a lot to catch up on. I'll try to do this is chronological order. First and foremost, we are expecting baby #2 right after Christmas. Yeah, it's old news by now but some of you might not know. We are pretty excited about this. The first month was a little crazy with a scare or two but now I'm safely half way. 20 weeks to be exact. Despite some infrequent nausea, the only real symptom I had was fatigue. Holy cow, I was tired. All the time. No, seriously, ALL the time. Now, I'm past all the crushing fatigue and just kind of tired. Oh, yeah...we're having a girl, by the way. Very excited about this. I say we're not done yet (keep trying for a boy) but Chris only says, "We'll see."
20 weeks
Ava doesn't really get it yet. We keep telling her she's getting a baby for Christmas. I also point to my belly and tell her there is a baby there. She then points to my belly and says, "baby out! baby out!" I guess she thinks the poor little thing is uncomfortable. :) Very cute.
Next...we went to Boston and NY for a week in May. It was great. The weather was pretty decent and we saw a lot of friends. We stayed with Peter, Sarah and Nora. It was fun to see the girls together playing and tearing up Sarah's house. We spent a day in Boston and then went to church at CTK on Sunday. Ava could not get enough of all the fun kids. It was crazy and of course made me miss our old church more than ever. Probably the highlight of the trip for Ava was to ride a city bus back to Sarah's house. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, "BUS! BUS!" the entire 30 minutes we were on there. Cute...at first...
Ava and Nora playing...probably getting into trouble. Look at those faces!
Sarah, Me and Nicky. Two of my very dearest friends.
Next, we were home for about two weeks or so. We filled every weekend with trips to Powell. We planted an enormous garden at my parents and put a fence around it that resembles Fort Knox. We all had huge hopes...unfortunately, the weather and some errant chemical has dashed our hopes. Long gone are my dreams of a Hidden Valley Ranch garden.
Unfortunately, it's late August and it still looks a lot like this! :(
Next, we had Austin and Maia in for a week. These are Chris' cousins' kids. They are great. Ava loved having non-stop attention. We put about 750 miles on the car with trips to Chico Hot Springs, Yellowstone, East Rosebud Lake and Cody. Lots of fun but too much driving.
At the end of long hike in Yellowstone
As soon as we dropped the kids off at the airport, it was down to Powell - AGAIN - for a family reunion/Grandma's 80th birthday. Lots of fun and even more little crazy cousins running around. After 3 days I was completely worn out and had to escape to Billings to rest.
All but two of my Grandma Rich's great grandkids!
The female Rich cousins.
Finally, in Ava news...the little turkey has learned to escape her crib. I woke up about two months ago to her staring at me an inch away from my face. Needless to say, we bought a twin bed and bedding that morning. She got her birthday present early. She is VERY excited about her bed. She is so proud.
Ava's big girl bed. (Now we have bedding too)
...the same day she started climing out of her bed, I found a huge red angry bump in her groin area. It looked exactly like an inguinal hernia (courtesy of google images). I freaked and called Chris in the ER - ironically, it was his first night of his ER rotation. He talked to the main doc at St. Vincents and they said we should bring her in. Three consults and five hours later, they determined it was not a hernia but extreme cellulitis caused by an infection. Went on some hefty antibiotics and was sent home. I am just so relieved she didn't have to have emergency surgery because that is what it was looking like for a while there. We then followed up with her pediatrician who changed antibiotics and gave us the go-ahead for our annual trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. "It should be almost gone by then." Well, kids, it wasn't. It got bigger, redder and harder. Then it got a little squishy. We freaked, called out pediatrician in MT and he told us to take her to the Children's hospital in Norfolk, VA. We left a day early and took her to the Children's hospital ER and they said it was definitely an abcess, we would have to sedate and drain. Poor little Ava had to get an ultrasound which ultimately showed there wasn't any puss yet. So next day we were off to MT...we waited until Monday to go to the pediatrician and he decided to drain the abcess. Well, we held her down and he sliced her open (you think your child getting shots is bad, hold her down while they slice her with a scalpel!!) Nothing. Just fatty tissue. Next step was a surgery consult because there were too many "structures" underneath her lump: ovary, lymph node and a major artery. So, two days later, we see a surgeon who says that since it has started to go away, we wouldn't need surgery. Thankfully, the 3RD! antibiotic they put her on in Virginia started working. Fast-forward...it's all gone now and she has a small scar. Lots of worry but ultimately it's all good now.
(I'd post a picture of this thing but it was on her groin and I don't need nudie photos of Ava floating around the internet. Trust me, though, it was SCARY. It looked like an avocado was shoved underneath her skin.)
Next...our last vacation for a year. Our 9th year at the Outer Banks. Lots of Cancro craziness. Despite getting no sleep and being stressed out due to her bump, it was fun. We spent lots of good time with the Cancros and Ava received a lot of love from all the cousins.
Ava and Chris at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
I'll post a new blog soon all about Ava's 2nd birthday and lots of pictures. Sorry this one is...oh...4 months late!
XOXO,
Kristy
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