Ila's room: Before and After

Ila's room was the long-neglected room in our house. For a very long time it contained everything you see below. Sometime my nieces would stay with us and that mattress on the floor is where they would sleep. It just wasn't a priority. We stored things there and kept the door shut. It was a very awful color of blue and it was obvious the trim had all been painted the same green as the light switch.

There was a curtain rod, but no shades. We had a fitted sheet that we would use to cover the window. It held itself up on the curtain rod.

Ugly light switch and awful BRIGHT blue closet doors. It took a good three coats of primer to cover the blue.

And here's the after.

Originally, I wanted to paint the walls a pink color, but we just couldn't find one that wasn't awful. So we went with gray. I made the curtain panels and lined them, in hopes of keeping some light out. I'm not great with a sewing machine, but I gave it my best go. I would love to learn someday, but that's for another post.

I started making a quilt for Ila when I was pregnant. I loved all of these fabrics and the colors, but only just recently finished it. The back is the grey and white polka dot fabric that is also used for the binding. I couldn't decide for the longest time what to bind it with and then I just couldn't get the motivation to finish it. Deciding to list our house was the motivation I needed. Sadly, this is crib sized and we'll probably be moving her to a big girl bed before long. Maybe she'll use this as a blanket to cuddle up with. 

The pink chair in the corner belonged to my Grandma Mills, the one Ila is named after. It's old and slightly worn, but I cannot bring myself to get rid of it and I think it fits nicely.

Surgery - 10 weeks later

Thursday marked 10 weeks since my surgery. Back at the end of June, I had eight inches of my small intestines removed. Specifically, my terminal ileum has been the area where my Crohn's Disease has lived for the past several years. It came to the point where the best way for relief was to get rid of the infected portion. (if you want more about how I am now scroll to the bottom)

Just before surgery. 

After surgery, in my hospital room. I don't know why I took this photo, but I also sent my Qgroup a strange video that I have very little memory of making. Pain killers and anesthesia... crazy mix. So, I said they took our eight inches. Did you know most people have about 25-feet of small intestines and that you really only need about 3-feet for it to effectively do it's job (absorbing nutrients). We weren't sure going in how much they would have to remove, but the doctor told us they would be able to tell by looking at the exterior of my intestines which areas were infected and needed to be removed and reconnected.

I wore these leg massager things to make sure the blood kept flowing on my legs and to reduce the blood clot risk. I was in the hospital Thursday through Sunday. The picture on the right was at the foot of my bed. One day I saw that fish move. I know that's crazy, I even told Nate that I knew it was crazy, but I still saw it happen (pain killers).

Nate took good care of me. He only left once, while my mom stayed, so he could check on our kids and get a shower. 

We thought I would go home Saturday, but things in my body weren't quite working by the time the doctor came by Saturday morning so I had to stay one more night.

I sure was glad to get home to see these two. The hardest part since has probably been that I've had a 10 week lifting restriction on anything over 20 pounds. Ila weighs about 30 pounds. She learned to climb on my lap and Brixton learned how to carry her and help get her into her carseat.

Nate's family has a big 4th of July celebration every year so I made myself go. It was the most activity I had had and was less than a week after surgery. I survived, but learned that night that I was allergic to my pain killers. I had a strange rash that had worsened since leaving the hospital. I called the on call doctor and they determined that had to be the cause of it.

Another adjustment has been the extra scars on my belly. My belly button has always been different. I had a hernia surgery when I was a toddler so it was scarred from that. Then, I had my gallbladder out about 11 years ago and that increased the scar and this time they cut straight through my belly button. At first I thought I just wasn't going to have one any more (how weird is that?) but as the healing has progressed it's not as awful as I thought. The picture on the right is of what it looks like now. My mom said, "Well, at least you don't wear bikinis."

I've chosen to drastically change my diet for now, which has been tough and is hard for some of our family to understand. Technically I do not have Crohn's right now. They removed all of it. I go back in 6 months to see if it's returned. While they were able to remove it there's about a 90-percent chance or recurrence in people who have it in the same place as I have. Because of that, I'm trying to avoid foods and ingredients that I know have been triggers for pain in the past. I'm basically on a paleo diet - no dairy, gluten, grains and processed sugars.

It's been an experience learning how to make some things I enjoy in a new way. I've found some good snacks and some not so good, but I've slowly adjusted and have managed to have more self-control than I have in the past. Sometimes I just want to eat what's easy, but I know that taking care of myself is important right now.

I've also started a new medication. No more Remicade infusions. I'm now getting Stelara injections every 8 week. The goal of this is to keep my intestine from quickly getting reinfected. Studies show being on a medication like this for at least a year after can help patients achieve longer remission. I'm hoping that happens but I am prepared that it could come back at any time. Maybe, if it does come back, I can make it another 10 years before surgery. I say that because 10 years ago is when I was diagnosed.

Big brothers and little sisters

Awwwww. I just found this never published post I started a few months ago.

These two are so sweet together.  They just adore each other. I hope that lasts.

Ila is very sweet. If someone cries she will go and hug them (even if it's a fake cry). Such a sweet little heart she has. 

She really wants to play with him, but his Legos are off-limits. 

Since I uploaded these so long ago I really don't know what all I was going to say with them. So, I'll just leave it as mostly a picture post. 

A little renovation

Our house was built in 1963. We bought it in 2011. The siding that you see here, we believe, was original to the home. It was old. It was chipping. It was rotted in some places. It was in horrible shape. We don't plan to stay in this house forever, which means the exterior needed a good facelift. 

These pictures were taken before we moved in but after we had already made an offer on the house. You can see into the living room, which we have also refreshed. 

The garage door pictured here was replaced not long after we moved in. This one was solid wood and so so heavy! We had to lift it a couple of times to leave when the power went out and boy was it tough. Solid wood. Possibly also from 1963. They built things tough!

We hired a company to do the work, because it was such a big job and we don't do things fast. Also, we didn't want vinyl siding but something that would last a long time. We used something called HardiePlank.

In progress...

This part was so exciting to me. See that fresh wood? There was no soffit on that part of the house and so we would have a family of birds move in each Spring and their sweet little babies would hang out there and we could watch them from Brixton's bedroom window. It was cute the first year, but eventually we had to block the hole they were living in. I blogged about that years ago when I blogged about the bees in the front wall. So many adventures here. 

This was also exciting. This giant beam was pretty rotted on the edge. Our roof is octagon shaped and so there's no good way for gutters, which led to rot on this beam. Problem fixed.

Making progress. See that wood beam over the garage. That's Nate's beautiful design. He's good at that.

And now some before and after shots.

New front entry

Before and after

So much better! It really is so great. I feel like it looks like a new house. This is just the back. The front of the house is stone. They just had to paint trim on that part so it's not as exciting. 

Bullies

I haven't posted in a while, but a friend's post on Facebook today reminded me of this "event" in our life. I feel like I just want it out there because it makes my heart hurt.

A few weeks ago we were home and I was making dinner. I asked Brixton some question about his day. He started telling us about some second-graders (he's a first-grader) who came up and started PUNCHING and KICKING him on the playground.

I'm a full believer that there are always two sides to every story. And, while I think he's an amazing, kind kid, I know that all kids make poor choices at times.

So, we asked him questions to clarify what happened, thinking maybe he said or did something that made these boys want to hit him. His answer was consistently that he didn't know why they hit him. He had been "doing my exercises" on some playground equipment when the boys came up and starting hitting him and put him in a headlock (he didn't know what this was but demonstrated it on me when we asked him to show us what they did). He got away and did some sort of made up karate move to tell them to go away (never hitting them). Instead of going away they had a third kid come and hold him down. After a few punches and kicks, he got away and told the recess teacher who then made the boys sit out the rest of recess (she didn't see what happened).

I decided to send a note to his teacher to see if she knew if there was more to the story, something we weren't hearing. His story never changed, but I really wanted to believe that no one would just come up and try to beat him up.

His teacher called me the next day and thanked me for sending the note. She said she had no idea this had happened. Turns out the recess duty teacher was a student teacher. Let me say this, I know a lot of crazy silly stuff happens on recess and not all of it needs to be reported to the principal. I'm not upset with that teacher. She didn't see what happened so who was she supposed to believe?  Anyway, his teacher said they investigated and met with all the boys. Turns out the boys who jumped B ADMITTED that they were just looking for someone to pick on and he was by himself playing so they picked him. THAT breaks my heart.

I never really imagined B would have this happen. He's a super confident kid and has a ton of friends. I always thought bullies picked on kids that weren't like that. Boy, was I wrong. To be completely honest, he doesn't talk about it now and really doesn't seem bothered. For that I am grateful.

The principal handled the situation. His teacher told me what she could about that and I feel like they handled it as best they could. She also said she was really glad I sent a note. She said had I not done that they never would have known.

We talked to B about it and decided that the best thing to do was to pray for those boys, so we did.

I really feel like we did the right thing. I think some people would say it's just kids being kids, but I disagree. B said after he got away the boys tried to grab another kid and start hitting that kid.

I do have to say there's one part of this that makes me chuckle. He kept talking about "just doing my exercises." That's the part I love. I can just see him out there "working out" on the playground equipment and then doing some made up karate type move. He does that stuff at home and it's pretty adorable. 

Ila turned ONE

We made it through the first year! This gal is such a blessing to our family. She has brought us a lot of joy over the last year and a lot of sleepless nights. Half of her grandparents were out of town on her actual birthday so we waited a week to celebrate.

These pictures were taken on her actual birthday, August 28th, just before church. 

We went to lunch with my parents and since it was her birthday she got dessert. 

She wasn't quite sure what to think. 

But Brixton was more than happy to help her figure this ice cream and brownie out. 

With grandma and papa. Funny, we took 6 or 7 pictures and this was the only one where my dad was looking... and people think kids are the silly ones. 

Fast forward a week - party morning getting last minute supplies at the grocery store.

The setup. Yes, I made that cake. I really love how it turned out. I saw a video on Facebook a few weeks ago of how to make this type of "watercolor" cake and I just had to do it for Ila.

A few cupcakes with the same icing. I really like how the icing turned out. 

Here she goes. 

She seemed to enjoy her cupcake and was really interested in the cake pop. This was the only "1" that looked good so of course she got it. 

And then the next step for this gal. She's been taking three or four steps at a time for a few days but last week she really took off. That's a princess crown in her hand. She got that at the doctor's office and she always finds it. She seems to really like it. 

At Brixton's soccer practice. She was pretty proud of herself and her new trick.

This was Monday morning. I took her in with me to wake Brixton up. I put her next to him and just couldn't resist snapping these sweet moments. They seem to adore each other.