unicorn party

While we were home helping Gwyneth recover my studios were hoppin’ with Unicorn Parties. B made a bunch of unicorn cookies and the studios were looking magical. I planned this event especially for Gwyneth. I knew her and her friends would love painting those unicorns and the events did indeed sell out. Sadly, I planned too close to the surgery (the events were planned before the surgery) and Gwyneth couldn’t attend. They were such a hit that I would love to do it all over again for her.

I painted this little plaque for my mom and luckily it made it out of the kiln before she had to head home.

weekend friend visits

Kids are so resilient.

Gwyneth took it easy for a day or two but was ready to conquer the world. She was getting a bit stir crazy so we organized a few visits for her.

I didn’t get pictures of all very visitors but we had a steady stream of friends coming over to wish her well. Her friend, Ruby brought pizza. B’s sister Jen brought ice cream sundaes.

Her friend, Charity brought coloring books and played games with her all afternoon.

Ella and Kierra brought stuffed animals, flowers, candy and chocolate cake.

The Tendlers had pizza with us Sunday night and Sarah kept Gwyneth company while they watched the Academy Awards. We have such great friends who take such good care of us.

Gwyneth begged to go back to school on Monday and I cleared it with her teacher. She grabbed those crutches (while her sister carried everything else for her! Annabelle’s a rock star!) and off she went Monday morning. She loved being back to school and seeing all her friends.

FAVA surgery

This surgery has been a long time coming. Gwyneth has been suffering from what was determined to be a FAVA (Fibro-Adipose Vascular Anomaly). It’s rare and painful; read more about it here.

After more than a year of appointments, testing, MRIs, etc, etc etc. we finally had a course of action. Rather than surgically removing the mass (which would have been more invasive, taken a large portion of her muscle, caused intense physical therapy afterwards, produced a large scar on her leg, and may have even left her with a limp) the doctors opted to operate using cryoablation. 4 tiny little probes were inserted directly into the tumor and extreme cold was used to destroy the cells. Modern medicine is truly remarkable!

We arrived at 5:45 am to check in at Children’s Hospital with a tired, anxious and hungry girl. We were then transported by ambulance to University Hospital for the procedure. It’s about a 30 second drive but University has the cryo machine and Children’s doesn’t.

Of course, there’s always some waiting around time and that’s when our girls started to really get anxious and a bit hangry.

The surgery lasted approximately 3 hours which is absolute torture for the parents. We couldn’t wait to hug our girl after this was all over. We walked back to recovery to find a very upset little lady. Her little body was so, so cold from the procedure and they were doing their best to raise her body temperature. She was shivering and in a lot of pain. Her entire body was trembling from her tears. It’s so difficult to see your child suffering like that. I wanted to just snatch her up and hug her close. It makes you feel so powerless and helpless.

She was transported via ambulance back to Children’s and into her own recovery room. We were meant to stay one night at the hospital but this girl was in a lot of pain. The doctors were having a difficult time managing it. She slept most of the day. Around 4 pm the intense pain set in and she was nearly inconsolable. She was thrashing around, couldn’t get comfortable, and couldn’t sleep because the pain was so intense. They tried all different medications. The pain was excruciating until about 11 pm. The night was restless and we had doctors in and out every 4 hours. We had to get an ok from the physical therapist for our release. Gwyneth couldn’t/wouldn’t take a single step. We were asked/told to stay another night.

Around 4 pm she started to feeling better, the pain was less intense and that smile we all know and love made it’s appearance. She scarfed down lunch and was ready to give those crutches a try.

She would stay awake about 15 minutes at a time. Enough to eat and take a few steps with her crutches.

Her amazing girl scout troop leader, Kristin, stopped by with a giant cards and gifts from her friends. It was so, so kind of them to think of her.

Kids under the age of 13 couldn’t go to the rooms because of a flu outbreak. Her friend Ruby really wanted to visit and Gwyneth’s doctor gave her special permission to meet in the lobby. The visit only last 10 minutes, Gwyneth didn’t have the strength for more, but she was grateful to see her friend.

She had a few more visitors and worked her way around the room on her crutches.

The absolute highlight of her day was the visit from her sister. Oh man, these two are thick as thieves. B, Yaya, and Annabelle came down for a visit after Annabelle’s dance class. Gwyneth could hardly contain herself.

Annabelle pushed her around in her wheelchair, caught her up on the all the happenings at school, and was an absolute amazing big sister. I could see the love, support and care in their eyes, smiles, and laughter. It makes a momma’s heart proud. I hope they never lose this connection.

Gwyneth lasted longer than any other visit that day. After 30 minutes she was wiped out and it was time for everyone to call it a night.

The next morning was pancakes, physical therapy and a very eager girl for a hospital discharge. She mastered the stairs on her crutches and we were given the ok to head home.

We are so thankful to everyone who took such good care of us, for all the phone calls and texts, and for the pain relief for our little lady. Recovery here we come!

butterfly pavilion

There was definitely a lot of anxiety at our house with Gwyneth’s upcoming surgery. Everyone was a little bit on edge. B had to work on President’s Day so I tried to take as much of the day off as possible to spend with our girls.

The girls requested a trip to the butterfly pavilion. I love that Miss Annabelle doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty….

They are doing major reconstruction and setting up for some cool new exhibits. Unfortunately that meant that only the butterfly exhibit was still open. That’s the great thing about memberships though – we just hope in and out.

I really do love the butterfly pavilions though. I think I’m more excited than the kids.

just being silly

We finished off the evening with the Melting Pot. The service was way off tonight and we waited around a long time between courses. We typically don’t mind that type of thing because we just have some drinks and chat it up, but tonight there was a lot of anxiety about Gwyneth’s surgery. I think everyone was just a little on edge.

cook on your table

Gwyneth has a pretty big day on Tuesday (surgery!!) so we’ve been basically giving in her to every whim. Annabelle could have easily become annoyed by this, but she’s an amazing big sister and has been extremely compassionate. They both make my heart very, very happy.

Gwyneth’s request for dinner this evening was “cook on your table”. She loves this place.

Afterwards she requested just a little bit of yogurt from Menchies.

It’s really more about the toppings than the yogurt as you can see.

avalanche vs blues

Gwyneth went for a sleepover to celebrate her friend, Ella’s birthday and B had to work so Yaya, Annabelle and I headed downtown for the Avalanche game.

We grabbed a quick lunch at Brooklyn’s before the game.

And then off to the game. We had great seats and had a blast! The Avs ended up losing to the Blues but we had fun anyway.

We had a wonderful time rooting for our Avalanche and walked out to beautiful flutters of snow. Such a fun day!

yaya is here

Yaya arrived this afternoon and the girls were quite excited to scoop her up from the hospital. We had a few errands to run so we hit the mall. They are at that age where they just love it. We stocked up on a few needed things and then stopped by Build A Bear for something fun.

Annabelle found herself a silly little sloth.

Gwynth got a Beary Bear.

Yaya had a coupon for a free dessert so off we went for dinner at Olive Garden. It may have been the longest meal ever….and we like long meals. It was a bit crazy as they messed up most of our meals and entrees were coming out before salads. It was nutty, but we didn’t really care all that much. We were just happy to hang out together.

my valentines

We’re pretty romantic around here…you know, burgers and beers for us for special occasions. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

B and I grabbed lunch while the girls were at school and enjoyed a few tall boys and shared a veggie burger. We haven’t been to the new Waterloo location so we decided to check out. It’s just as great as ever. We had a lovely time.

After school and math club and all the many kiddo activities we made it home for a few gifts.

I’ve got kind of a dinosaur obsession and the girls think its pretty funny.

We all have quite a Harry Potter obsession and these alarm clocks are a hit.

We also love our games around here. We spent the night playing Wheel of Fortune!

girl scouts at color me mine

After a busy mountain weekend, we were right back at it with Girl Scouts on Monday night. Our painting meeting was rescheduled a few weeks ago due to weather and the girls were pretty excited to be in the studio.

They are a very sweet group of girls and were eager to paint. They did a great job and I was so impressed that they cleaned up their entire space before leaving. Looking forward to seeing these gems come out of the kiln.

bastiens with tendlers

We scurried down the mountain to meet up with our friends, the Tendlers. Connie’s birthday is this week and they are super busy folks. We were glad they could squeeze us in for a celebration.

They introduced us a new restaurant, Bastiens. Mitch is a researcher extraordinaire. We know if he’s taking us somewhere that it’s going to be good. Bastiens feels old school and cool, but honestly we would passed it right up driving by on Colfax. I loved my steak, but the biggest hit was the grilled caesar salad. It was such an interesting flavor – something I’ve never had before and it was delicious.

We had a great time, as usual, catching up with these fabulous friends. Love that family!