Playing Catch-Up

Life's been busy. What can I say?

Let me attempt to catch you up.

Every single weekend in October we were out of town. The first weekend I was at a church retreat & Jake had guard duty. Asher was well taken care of by his beloved Grandmas, Grandpas, & Aunt Ash & Uncle D. Here is some proof that he was happy as a clam to be without his Mommy & Daddy for a weekend. We OBVIOUSLY missed him though...who wouldn't?!

The next weekend we were in Wilmette for Jake's grandparents' 60th anniversary. It was of course a splendid party, complete with delicious food, lots of games and laughs, and another rendition of the family having a dance off to "Soulja Boy." It's always worth it to see that. Someone even video taped it, but I will not share it to save the dignity of the innocent & guilty!

The following weekend Jake's brother got married in Dyersville & we reception'ed it up in Dubuque. Cindy made a beautiful bride, and Jeff was quite dashing as well. The basilica was absolutely gorgeous and it turned out to be a fabulous autumn day. Sadly, I missed the "party" part of the reception, but alas, Asher popped his first tooth that day! It was understandable that he was not feeling real happy, and so I was in bed & asleep by 9:30 PM. WEEEE! Here is a picture of Daddy (the Best Man) & Baby Bear (after he had puked on his dress-up outfit).

The Thursday prior to the wedding I began having pain in my kidney. For those who don't know, I have one big bad kidney that occasionally gives me flack. He has been affectionately named Billy the Kid(ney) by a dear college friend, Matt. 4 years ago I had surgery 3 days post-graduation, so it really concerned me that I was having pain again. I went in to see my urologist and they gave me a shot of Toridol (in my bum! nonetheless) and sent me away with pain meds, which I'm not too fond of. The Toridol worked wonders, which I was glad for. They scheduled a renal scan the following Monday. This scan consists of laying there for 45 minutes. They start an IV in your arm & inject you with radioactive material so they can watch the function & flow of your kidneys. It was during this very test a few years ago when I first "saw" that Billy was MUCH larger than the other kidney. Of course, the radiologists cannot tell you what they see as you are going through the test, but I could tell that one kidney was much larger. Like ridiculously larger.

This is a relatively good diagram of what my issue was 4 years ago. There was some sort of "kink" in the tube that drains...and so like a clogged toilet has nowhere to go but up, the body does the same. Because of this "blockage," the kidney takes on the additional urine & just grows & grows & grows...resulting in a problem called hydronephrosis. I think it's much more fun, though, to say that Billy the Kid(ney) is massive.
The day of the renal scan, it was decided that on Wednesday they were going to do a cystoscopy (where they stick a camera up into (& have a look at) my bladder, ureter, & kidney. At that time, they found 2 "blockages" and so put a stent in so that I will not have as much pain. Additionally, there is a "massive" stone in Billy the Kid(ney) that is just chillen like a villian. I hate the stent. The stent makes me feel like I have to PEE.ALL.THE.TIME.

The day AFTER I got the stent put in, we were up & at 'em to catch a flight to Denver at 6 AM. Oh yes. I woke up at like 3:30 to get us outta there. I felt like poo much of the trip & the weather was gorgeous so I missed out on enjoying that too much but I went to my cousin's wedding & Asher got to meet his great great grandma & I got to try out some press on nails from CVS. All in all, a pretty good trip. You may enjoy these highlights:

This is our 5 generation picture. Isn't it an amazing, wondrous site!?

Does it get any better than this?!

Oh, and somehow between Jake and I, we lost my mom's camera for a bit one afternoon and we ended up knocking on people's doors until these poor fools let me in & I bawled my head off all over their carpet (because I was on pain drugs!) & said all manor of ridiculous things to them offering my gratitude for finding the "lost" camera. Without those 2 folks (whom I wrote a thank you note to after we got home), these great pictures would have not been possible!

Here is Asher "flying high" on the swings!

We returned home, and while it's slowed down some, I'll tell you it's not enough! I met with the surgeon at the University hospital on Thursday (same one that did my surgery 4 years ago) and am waiting to hear the results of two scans that were done the day I met with him. That made for a long, long day...getting there around 8:45 AM & not leaving until 4 PM.

Asher is still not too interested in crawling. He will get up on his hands & knees & rock, but if he really wants to get to something he will roll over & over until he gets to it. He pulls himself up on things, so perhaps he'll decide to walk before crawling, but we hope he'll crawl first...we're not ready for him to be super mobile! He still loves to "read" books, still loves to watch trees (although most of the leaves are gone from the ones around our house!), and really enjoys dogs. While he's only got one tooth still, he is happily learning to munch on "puffs" & we like to watch him practice "self-feeding." He even tried his first whole wheat biter biscuit the other night...what a mess! He is also no longer a vegetarian, and had his first taste of "chicken" the other night. Like everything else he's tried (including GUAVA at Grandma Bonnie's house!) he likes it! Our latest doctor appointment revealed his weight at 22.1 pounds. He's a BIG boy!

There's more, but there's always more. I will save a few stories for later. In the meantime, hope you've enjoyed getting "caught up" with us!