This Little Fishy is Turning One!

What a year.

As February drew closer and closer I increasingly became a big ball of squish. Getting pretty sentimental about how fast time has flown and how I can't remember life before our little love, but also a bit bittersweet as her entrance into this world was not the easiest, and how just making it here has been a triumph for all of us. If I had to say there was a silver lining of all of this, it would have to be that we were given the gift of perspective even before she was born and just knowing what a wonderful, precious being she was before we even met. I have logged more hours in our comfy nursery chair than anywhere else while her tummy troubles keep her up most of the night but I will never regret holding her as much as I could during her brief babyhood. While I may not be as smart, well dressed (this is a joke) or lively, some of my most precious memories will always be holding my sweet goose in the quiet house just to make sure she is comfortable. I can honestly say I have been able to enjoy the most of her baby days and continue to be thankful for every second with her - even the ones that come throughout the night. We could not be any more proud of her for her wonderful personality, silliness and constant reminder of how precious life is. 

We also have an even greater appreciation for our wonderful friends and family who have gone above and beyond to show love to our little girl.   Our 801 friends/family Tara, Allie and Katie drove down from LA and Becky (San Francisco), Stacy (San Jose), Ali (Idaho) and Lish with daughter Kaitlyn (Montana) and Lynsey (Seatlle) earlier that week, all flew south for winter and took time out of their busy lives and away from their families just to be here for our little celebration in the park. The Dads get a shout out here too for Daddy duty while the Momma's came to join us - thank you all! The Goose must have known it was a big weekend because she took her first three solo steps the day before the party in front of these loving aunties.

We had a very special, sunny day in the park just loving on this little Goose. And of course, my Mom and I indulged in some seriously neurotic fish crafting.

This little fishy is one!!



Wasn't so much as a 'smash' but a 'slam'

Would you like some?

The Family

Ali, Stacy, Becko, Me/Goose, Allie P., Katie, Tara/Gio and Lish/Kaitlyn in the front

Mark hanging the flying fish

'Go Fish' favors

 While we'd like to say our hardest days were behind us, we were smacked back to reality the Monday following the party. At another post-op appointment we got the official ruling that her three laser treatments have been deemed relatively 'unsuccessful.' They typically see a 50-75% improvement which means we were obviously expecting 80-100, but were left with somewhere closer to 20%, making it not worth continuing with the series. For obvious reasons, this news was incredibly hard to swallow and while we'd like to leave things as they are, the health risks with leaving them untreated are scary enough to make us continue to look for answers. The Doctor did say that 'we aren't done' and that he'd like to resume the treatments with a new, higher powered laser in 9 months to a year. The increased risk and her increased awareness are things I can't even begin to comprehend at this point so, as always, we will do our research, say our prayers and hope technology improves to alleviate some of these fears. 

What an adventure we have been on but it is more worth it than anything I can imagine. We love her so much and can't wait to see what amazing things she continues to do in her life. Happy first birthday Makenna Rose!

 



 



The Littlest Valentine

So I've got a soft spot in my heart for Valentine's Day, its a good excuse to wear pink, eat sweets and love people. We had a great day enjoying some ridiculously nice February weather and just hanging out blowing bubbles in the yard. Couldn't love this little love more.

 

And to top it off, her buddy Jackson dropped by with her very first Valentine. While Mark had heart palpitations I thought it was pretty cute. Here's how it went down:

 

Don't worry Goose, they eventually come around.



The Goose stands alone.



Holidays

Since we're already here in March you may be asking yourself, 'What holidays?' And the answer would be, well, all of them.  I realize no one has been sitting around holding their breath to see if we put raisins in the stuffing this year (we did, of course) but I'd still like to look back on this blog and see some pics of the little things, like her first Christmas and all. Since my memory is chaulk full of more important things, like where my keys are and the last time she pood, this seems like the safest place to keep those memories. Or post pictures of them at least.

Turkey Day!

As I mentioned earlier our road trip up to Santa Maria started with a bang by shaving off a solid 4.5 years of my life with the worst accident any of us had ever been in, putting the poor Subie out of commission for over a month.   But once we made it up there we had a great time with both sets of Gparents and cousin Dom and the Salcidos. While back on the CC we decided to take Dubbie to check out all of the sights in the motherland with a first stop at Avila Valley Barn.  Where else can you pick up a pumpkin, pet a goat AND have your bridesmaids luncheon? She bonded quickly with the goats and had a staring contest with the llamas so all in all it was a successful first visit.



Mark got ice cream - surprise.

 

 

Next stop was the scene of the crime (aka wedding reception). She was a little less sentimental to be visit 'ole Seacrest than Mark and I but she loved watching the waves down at the beach.


She looks like Mark did on our wedding day.



Happy as a Pismo clam.

As a bonus to the weekend we got a drive by visit from the Greenwood family that was on their way back north after a weekend in SoCal.

 

In the British sense, I guess you could call our little mid December stay at the beach cottage 'a holiday' while our house was being remodeled, but it felt more like an exodus while we bounced from place to palce. But since the British don't see weather like this (ever) I think it qualifies.

Midway through our exodus Aunt Seal made an appearance on the mainland and to no one's surprise she and Makenna became fast friends (she has always been fond of sea life). She stayed with my parents at their own beach rental until we could get back into the house before Operation Christmas 2013 could commence.

Goose and Seal

The festivities kicked off with the neighborhood Christmas parade right in front of our house. Mark didn't bust out his old Santa suit and rollerblades this year (oh yeah, that happened) but maybe he'll make an appearance in the coming years.

 

A motley Christmas crew

While abbreviated, we packed enough Christmas cheer into our 4 day season to last us another year. One of the perks of getting a late start was we got a killer deal on a 9ft tree and we made the most of our time around it. Mark was quite proud to show his little girl his train (he received one car every year until he was 18) and to his delight Makenna was a HUGE fan and only derailed it half a dozen times.

Annisette plus festive attire = happy uncles.

 

 

 

Mr. Snowman reincarnated

 

 

 

The favorite gift was the second edition of Mr. Snowman, a litght up bobbly guy we picked up at Avila Valley but lost his glow (and head) in a baby induced accident. Luckily his cousin showed up in her stocking and saved the day.

Very thankful for a happy Christmas in our new home!

The Big Pink Bear

So here we are in 2014 and I am only slightly disappointed we're not all shuffling around on hoverboards by now, but its exciting to begin a new year just the same.  It takes me awhile to recover (regardless of the fact that I was not the patient that day) from the days she has treatment so I'm a little slow to post, but thought I should update on the latest.

Though we're closing in on the one year mark our little Goose is a more than frequent night waker (you could tell time by her 30 minute intervals) due to some tummy troubles so its a team effort to keep her comfortable these mornings. Once at the hospital, Makenna kept us all entertained by pleading with the nurses by raising her hospital bracelet on her wrist to them saying 'Uh!' as if 'Will you help me get this off?' When the doctor told us that results weren't what he expected and we may have to simply wait for new technology to come out (hopefully not as long as the hoverboard lead time) she looked straight at him, down at her leg as she lifted it and back to him, as if to say 'WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY LEG?!?'  But then the time came for the dreaded hand off and it was the hardest yet. The second the doctor left and the nurses came in again she wrapped herself tightly around my neck before Mark had to take her from me and out in the hallway where she went to the nurses reaching for us to take her back. My mom distracted her with some toys just long enough for all of us to keep our tears back before she went through the double doors. But on the other side she made a new friend: a big pink bear that sat by her side during the treatment and snuggled her in recovery. The two napped (NAPPED! Well, for an hour) together in her car seat on the drive home and has been a favorite ever since. We are grateful this still unnamed bear was there by her side when we could not be.

Nearly four weeks out and while improved, results are still a bit less than stellar which means she may just fall into the 'resistant' category (Mark would probably blame this on her Italian side) as we're seeing a slight improvement but still not what we expected since the "bruising" (I don't know quite how else to describe it) was so intense this time. So the future for us now is unknown, but as usual we're doing our research, making contacts and trying our best to do whatever we can for her.

I don't think I spend enough time here, because I'm usually busy living it, talking about how rad this kid is - mostly because I know I just can't do it justice with words. Medical mysteries aside this kid is just amazing. You'd never know she's been through so much or sleeps so little because she is the happiest, nosiest,  most fearless, wonderful little nut you will ever meet. Despite her petite size (8th percentile - what! what!) she is up, down, here, there, swings the highest at the park, wants to play with the big kids, can scale the stairs and scoot down backwards but will barrel over Niagra falls style if Mama is nearby just to test my reflexes. She is a master at peek-a-boo and sorting socks, can often be found with her nose in a book only to lift her head and laugh at the funny parts. Her comedic timing is impeccable, and she speaks at least three languages. She snuggles with Mama and wrestles with Daddy. She is our little love and continues to teach us daily about what life is all about. And while sometimes I feel like we're living from treatment to treatment, those days in between are just so good. Sleepless and a little less intelligent than they may have once been, but wonderful just the same, and we wouldn't trade them for anything.

The Busiest Time of the Year

So why not end out a crazy ridiculous year with an even crazier month instead of just sitting around the Christmas tree enjoying our baby's first Christmas? Well, because its insane, that's why, but we decided to do it anyways. Let's reminisce, shall we?

• We got in a car accident. Was it bad? Yes. Are we ok? Thank God. Let's just say we had yet another 'scariest moment of my life' happen this year but so thankful we all walked/crawled away ok, although the Sub didn't quite drive away and has been out of commission for over a month.
• We made it to Thanksgiving on the Central Coast. After the accident, a sleepless night watching Goose sleep on my tummy and one collapse later we finally made our way up to be with both families. 
• We bought a house. Yup, after getting our licenses, house hunting and much deliberation we decided to sign our lives away and purchase the house we've been renting for the past few years. The influx of new babies in the neighborhood and proximity to both freeways (our only commute saving grace if we wanted to stay in north county) were the deciding factors so we got busy on making it our own. Which leads me to. . .
• We remodeled the house. For escrow we had to get the house tented, and since I'm neurotic about chemicals we practically moved everything out anyways that we decided we might as well remodel once the tent came off. Sounds logical, right? Hmm. . .
• We were nomads. Down a house and a car we had to revise our plans of the Goose and I heading up to the central coast so we stayed with Mark's parents a few days, rented a place on the beach for a few days, back to the in-laws and a impromptu night at my parent's beach rental before we could get back and 'move in' our home. Throw in three colds but some killer weather and we made December one for the books!
• We hosted our first Christmas. With escrow closing and the house being finished just two days before Christmas, we had a tight timeline to move what was left back in and prepare for Christmas. I am so thankful my parents and sister (the Seal, from Hawaii!) were here to help us. The plus side of doing it all last minute is we got a killer deal on a 9 foot tree and were happy her soon to be cousin decided to keep on cooking so we could celebrate with the whole family at our 'new' house.

The past 4 weeks have been such a whirlwind I still don't think I've fully grasped what just went down, but I wanted to get something up since most people have felt 'out of the loop' based on our cryptic texts and have tried to track us down Carmen San Diego style to no avail.  While I can tell you I'm supposedly in said loop I still have no idea what just happened, so when I do I'll make this pretty with pictures and stuff. Until then, I wanted to post and to ask for prayers and love for our little Goose who goes in for yet another surgery on Thursday, January 2 at 9am. What a way to start the year but we've got to get them in soon and they had an opening, so we're getting ready to go again. The treatment is going to be even more aggressive this time (a whole new laser) since they aren't getting the results that they expect from these treatments.

We hope everyone had a wonderful (and slightly less 'eventful') Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Big Week

Last week was a big one for us as the oldest and youngest members of our tribe both had surgery - Makenna kicked off her first Halloween with an early morning in the OR and my dad had one of his batteries replaced (yes, he really is Frankenstein) the Friday before.

So this being our second of this kind and third overall you'd think it would get a bit easier every time but that wasn't quite the case for me, although it was more familiar now that we know how this goes,I'm not quite sure handing my baby over will ever get easier. Luckily our little peanut handles it all with such grace an patience. Despite getting up at 4 and spending 2+ hours in the waiting room with ZERO food, she didn't shed a tear and walked happily down the hall when the nurse took her away.

Light reading in the waiting room with Duck & Goose

THIS KID DOESN'T SLEEP. No seriously, people usually give me the 'yeah, all parents go through that' look when I say that, but I think we're bordering on the extreme here with surgery day being a prime example. Not only did she wake up from anesthesia BEFORE the doctor finished briefing us, she was also discharged within a fraction of the time they estimated. The doctor was SHOCKED to see her in the hallway being so alert (despite the demeral) and said 'Wow! Now this is what the face of recovery should look like!' They also tell you that the baby will sleep off the anesthesia most of the day-not so! She took almost a 2 hour nap (1.5 hours longer than she EVER naps) and that was it for the day, then it was on to the Halloween festivities. This kid doesn't want to miss a beat!

No idea why we were smiling - this was not fun

The littlest patient of the day

Nonna entertaining a hungry goose

About this surgery: They usually start patients at an intensity level of 8, but Makenna started out at 11 and they bumped it all the way up to a 13 this time because results weren't what they expected last time. She had more bruising and a harder time recovering from anesthesia but not too much discomfort, or at least she didn't show it. We're in the process of scheduling the next one while trying to coordinate it with getting an MRI on the other side of the hospital of her spinal cord while she is under to prevent having GA yet another time. So please get the prayers started early on this one -we are praying her spinal cord is ok!

Luckily she was feeling well enough to carve her first pumpkin, or at least play with the guts, and hop into her strawberry costume for a couple minutes that afternoon to at least get to celebrate a little bit of her first Halloween. My hometown is know world-wide for their strawberries so we thought this would be a great fit for her.

The sweetest strawberry

Pilates for strawberries

In other goose news, she's still a peanut hanging steadily around the 25th percentile in both height and weight. But don't let her petite size fool  you, this kid is tough, and by the bumps, bruises and scrapes on me, you can see she is pretty strong too. Just after she turned 7 months, with absolutely no interest in crawling, she decided it was about time she started standing and pulling herself up on everything and more recently cruising. She has also mastered the wave but the only person she finds worthy of it on a regular basis is that cute baby in the mirror. She's also very verbal, talking, singing, rambling on an on throughout the day, and I am almost positive she speaks Italian based on some of the inflections in her voice and the authority she commands when she decides she needs something.

We've also been lucky to get some amazing Fall weather here, and that means beach time! We've been spending early mornings before work and late afternoons after just enjoying the beach.

Thanks for all of the love and support you have shown us the past couple of weeks. These surgery days, and the days following are so unbearably hard on us sometimes, but made much better by your love. THANK YOU.