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Well Dustin & I toasted right at the stroke of midnight of the New Year "Here's to a surgery-free 2012!"...but unfortunately that won't be the case.

A few days ago I sent Dr. Bauer updated pictures of Brooklyn & he wrote back Wed night saying that she does, in fact, need that last touch up surgery. I thought that would be the case & we have been planning on 5 surgeries since day one. It's unfortunate, but I have to be honest here.....

It's not that I WANT my child to have another surgery. I DID want 2011 to be the only year for surgeries & that's it! I didn't want a surgery in 2012, or any other year for that matter. I don't want to have to spend SO much money on another surgery, deductibles, insurance payments, hospital/doctor/anesthesiologist bills, travel, hotels, food, gas, wear & tear on our car (or a rental car), lost time off work with no pay, difficulty paying bills because of being out of work, time away from home, time away from Cali, and of course the dreaded illness that I ALWAYS get a week before we leave for surgery.

However....

Why NOT have the surgery? If we can make her face even slightly more perfect than it already is, I'm gonna do it. If I can lessen the chance that she'll get teased when she's in school, I'm gonna do it. If we can fix her forehead/eyebrows/scalp up even just a little more, I'm gonna do it. Our thought is this: we've come THIS far with 4 surgeries, 3 expanders, TONS of injections, 4 trips to Chicago, 4 stays in a hotel, etc, etc.....WHY STOP SHORT??? If our miracle-worker, Dr. Bauer, thinks she needs another surgery, he is who we will listen to. He is the expert. He is the one who has been doing this for years. He is the one I trust. So we do the surgery. Simple as that.

He did say that we'll still have our consult in July at the Nevus Outreach conference & then we'll do surgery in the Fall. Our only problem with that is that our schedule is so booked this summer/fall. If we do the surgery in September then I'll be gone every month from July through October & Dustin will be gone July through September. The beginning of October is fine but that will put me gone the entire month of October, with my trip in the middle/end of the month for my best friend's wedding. November is our first choice, right before Thanksgiving cause we'd both miss less work. But the Moller's (awesome AZ friends) will be there the first part of December & I've always wanted to see Chicago at Christmastime. So as of now, November 16 or December 6 are our choices. December is nearly impossible for Dustin to get off work with all the Christmas mail, so we'll have to talk it over & see. Not like we need to decide right now...this IS 11 months away!

So with that said...5 surgeries is it. If you haven't gotten your Volume 2 of Brooklyn's Best yet, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO IT! :o)  Please keep us &, of course, Dr. Bauer in your prayers this year.

A Year Ago Today...

A Year Ago Today...

...our nevus journey began. One year ago today Brooklyn had her very first surgery. WOW! To think back on this past year is just crazy. Travel to/from Chicago by car 3 times, travel to/from Chicago by plane once, FOUR surgeries, countless recovery days, a miracle-worker surgeon, sightseeing, dressing changes, meeting new people, pain medication, antibiotics, wonderful staff at the StayBridge in Lincolnshire, feeling like home in the hotel even though we were thousands of miles away, four bouts of the cold/flu for me (one for each trip, of course), a two (turned three) year old who didn't like what was going on, a dramatic time with major attitude adjustments for both girls -- but mainly Cali, a fantastic staff at NorthShore University Health Systems -- including both the hospital AND Dr. Bauer's staff, countless movie-watching both in the hotel & in the hospital waiting for Brooklyn to wake up so we could take her "home", swimming with Cali at the hotel, awesome Chicago pizza, amazing nevus families, pizza parties, get-togethers, family bonding, picture-taking, blogging....

but most importantly......  A 1-year-old who consistently amazes us at how wonderful, tough, strong, resilient, & amazing she is at all she's been thorough this past year.





Before:

During:

After (taken today):

This girl is truely our hero.

A Grand Way to Ring in the New Year

Well what a great way to ring in the New Year...

Dustin & I were in the living room watching football while the girls were playing on the stairs. Playing on the stairs is not an unusual thing for them. They just like being there. They both have been walking up & down the stairs on their own since they could walk so I don't have to be worried about them falling or anything. When the girls are on the stairs we can see them from the living room, so it wasn't like we couldn't see them or anything!

So this particular day we were watching TV & the girls were playing on the stairs. All of a sudden they got quiet. I waited about a minute & then asked Dustin what he thought they were doing. He didn't know so he got up & walked over to the top of the stairs. He immediately got a straight face & said "get over here now" to me. I was thinking "ok do I need to run...are they in immediate danger, or can I slowly walk over there". So I asked Dustin if they'd eaten anything, as I was getting out of the chair. He again said to me "get over here now" with a sense of urgency in his voice. Uh-oh...that's not a good sign. So I ran over to the top of the stairs & looked down.

I immiediately stopped in my tracks & my eyes got wider & wider. "IS THAT BLOOD?!" I said, as I was staring at Brooklyn, her hands, her legs, & the stairs. At the top of the stairs were drops of red on the floor & red smeared all around; the first 4 stairs were literally almost covered in red; Brooklyn didn't have a twinge of white on her hands...they were COVERED with red; and her legs were equally as covered from the tips of her toes to her mid-thighs. I started shaking & literally having an inward panic attack; but I looked at Brooklyn's face & noticed that she was smiling. Then I looked in Dustin's hands.....

He had a jumbo bottle of red food coloring that was completely empty.

WHEW!!! Ok so I could breathe again, but my adrenaline had already kicked into high gear so it took me literally several minutes before I quit shaking again.

Long story short (which includes Dustin being extremely upset, mommy taking the girls to the bath, & Dustin trying his hardest for an hour and a half to clean the stairs)...we ended up putting them down for a nap & now have perma-pink stairs & a perma-pink daughter. See for yourself:

Our perma-pink stairs

And our perma-pink (for now) little Brooklyn. This is after scrubbing & scrubbing in the bath.

So do yourself a favor RIGHT NOW....and go put your food coloring up on the very top shelf of your cabinets with your alcohol. :o)

YouTube

I love technology. Especially when I can share things with family & friends. :o)

A while back I created a YouTube "channel" so that I can upload videos & share them with whoever wants to see. I've been uploading quite a few recently so I thought I'd share how to find them on YouTube!

You can CLICK HERE to take you directly to my channel. If you want to subscribe to it, just click on the Subscribe link next to my name. (I think that when you subscribe it lets you know by email whenever I post a new video.)

I mainly have short videos of Cali dancing, but I've recently posted her first dance recital & her day care Christmas Program. Oh and I also have our very last fill that we did on Brooklyn back in October right before her 4th surgery...for those of you that wonder what a fill is like. :o)

Happy watching!!!

Dancing Queen

There are a few things I'm passionate about. Dancing is one of them. No, I don't dance anymore, but I did. And when I did, I loved it. Now I'd never compare myself to my twin cousins, who are professional ballerinas....& something I only dreamed of doing when I was a kid, but I sure loved it! I was in dance from the age of 4 until I got quit around the age of 14. But I blame 99% of that on where we live.

I grew up, & danced, in CA. I was in 3 classes a week & we were in competitions (& won) & everything. I even tried out for, & made it in, the Nutcracker in the Long Beach Ballet. I was one of Mother Ginger's children & it was literally months of practice for like a 3 minute long dance. My twin cousins were Clara for several years in a row in the same ballet before they moved to San Francisco to join their ballet.

Then we moved to MT. Nothing against this place but there's no good dancers here! There was 1 dance teacher here &, sadly enough, I was teaching HER stuff. So needless to say, my dance career pretty much stopped at that point. I wasn't learning anything because there was nothing to learn. Shortly after we moved here a new dance teacher came to town. She was quite good! So I immediately switched to her & she told my mom all the time that she was so glad to have me in her classes. Unfortunately though, not many people take dance here in our town so there weren't many classes. I was in classes with adults (& I was like 14 at the time). Long story...& a few crappy situations later...I got fed up with it all & I quit. Seeing professional ballerinas dance really makes me regret that decision. But it was done & life has moved on.

So...after that decision I knew I always wanted to have something to do with dance & I really hoped I'd have a daughter who would like to dance. Thankfully enough, Cali has a tiny dancing bone in her little body so I signed her up as soon as I could...right after she turned 3. I actually signed her up with the teacher that I quit, so she would get the best lessons in town. And let me tell you what...she loves it!! Now I'm not going to go & be a Toddler's and Tiara's mom (like the insanely ridiculous TLC show) but I will have to restrain myself!!!

Their first recital was called The Nutcracker: All Jazzed Up...& boy was it ever!! Janet (the teacher) has 4 kids, all of whom dance. One of her sons was going to be in it but he's in the Cincinnati Ballet & they have all their performances right before Christmas time. So the only time he could come & be in it was after Christmas. So the recital was the 29th.

Cali had to be there Monday the 26th for pictures & a run-through, Wednesday the 28th for the dress rehearsal, & Thursday the 29th for the performance. So it was a busy week.

Here's Cali the night that we got her costume...she pretty much fell in love with it! :o)

Here she is the night of the recital. First time she's ever worn make-up!

Posing with the aloe vera plant... Hey...she wanted to!

 And here's the performance!!!

During the bow. She's in the red dress in the middle-right of the picture (kind of between the 2 girls in the red & white stripes).

One of the things I remember the most about being in dance was that my mom ALWAYS brought me flowers! So here's Cali with her flowers. :o)

And Cali with mommy (daddy & Brooke were getting a diaper change).

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas morning had to be my biggest anticipation this year. I was informed by Santa that Cali & Brooke would be getting the Disney Princesses Castle & also a Princesses tunnel thing so I just couldn't wait to see their faces when they saw their stuff. I wanted to see their faces so bad, in fact, that we made the girls sleep in our room Christmas Eve night just so I was assured that Cali wouldn't get to the living room before us! :o)

This is posted to YouTube, but here's the video I took of their first peek at what Santa brought them:

And here's the day in pictures:

Here's THE Disney Princesses Castle. Notice all the hundreds of tiny pieces that Santa had to put together. I have a feeling it took him a solid hour, with a helper, & that it was a huge pain in the you-know-where. I also have a feeling that he would never put another one together & that he took all the super tiny miniature small pieces & put them in a plastic baggie so the girls can't find it. Just sayin'.

But with all that work....Cali LOVES it!

After we got up & opened the stockings, we got ready & went to church. After church we ran home, changed our clothes, & went to Dustin's parents' house. Without a genuine miracle this will be Dustin's dad's last Christmas so we wanted to spend as much time over there with them that we could. We opened presents, ate, & visited until about 7pm. It was a good day at their house!

Here's Cali at Dustin's parents' house dressed up as Belle in her new Princesses dress up clothes.

After Dustin's parents' house, we came back to our house, where my parents & brothers were waiting for us, & opened ALL our presents! So yes, it was a VERY long day...but super fun!!

Cali, opening up a present as big as her!

Brooke even loved the castle too!

Cali & Brooke's grandpa Gary got them matching Scooby Doo costumes...so they just HAD to try them on! They were soooo cute.

Here's the girls Monday morning trying on their costumes again!

...and playing in their tunnel again. This picture (& the static) just cracked me up!

And here's Cali, the bride, who put on her own dress-up clothes & came in to surprise me. She was so darn cute!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve holds it's own traditions for our family now that we're in MT. Every year we go to the Christmas Eve service at church, then go to a party at the home of some church friends, then come home & open 1 present (usually pajamas).

This year was no different. It was a great Christmas Eve!! Here are some pictures:

Family picture

Since Cali wouldn't sit in front of the tree when we put it up, she got her chance on Christmas Eve in her pretty Christmas dress. :o)

Sitting with Daddy drinking hot cocoa before they put some out for Santa!

Excited she got to stay up so late; excited she got to drink hot cocoa with daddy; excited that Santa is coming in just a few short hours; & just excited with the day!!

Getting ready for Christmas

We've been in full Christmas-preparation mode in our house recently!! From getting the tree up & decorating windows & banisters to sending out Christmas cards & going to Christmas programs & recitals...there's a lot to do in this busy time of year. Here are a few pictures to explain what we've been up to this busy time of year:

Cali wouldn't take her picture with the tree...so here's Brooklyn after we decorated it.

The finished product...with the stockings.

First time I've ever done window decals. Brooke had a ball "pushing" them on. She STILL says "push momma push"!!

Pre-wrapping!

Christmas cards ready to be mailed!

And the dessert I took to our Christmas Eve party... Otter Pop Freeze!

Cali's first Christmas program

Cali (& now Brooklyn) goes to Small Wonder, a fabulous day care, 2 days a week. They recently did a little Christmas Program for us parents to watch & let me tell you...it was fun! It was short, but it was so cute & I'm super glad that Cali did such a good job. Here's the video that I posted to my YouTube channel. (Cali is in the pretty Christmas dress... black long-sleeve top with red belt tie & white with black polka-dots skirt, white tights, silver glittery shoes.)

And here are some pictures when it was over:

Hairstylist-to-be

Well my child decided to do her own hair...again. She had cut her hair a few months ago & I thought that I made such a big deal about it (in a bad way) that she'd never do it again. Hahahahahaha!

She must have thought it was time for a haircut or something cause she did it again. But this time it's VERY noticeable. It's bad. Really. It is. I thought about taking her in to get her hair chopped but I always make such a big deal about going to get our hair cut; & it's a fun thing to do with mommy...so I couldn't do that. So we've just left it. What I don't like though is that she has her day care Christmas program, Christmas, & her dance recital all coming up in the next 1-2 weeks. So we're gonna have to figure out how we can "style" her hair so it's not as noticeable.

Here's her masterpiece: