Max’s Surgery

I can’t believe I forgot to post about this?!  I was just looking through my pictures and saw him in his cute little hospital gown, so it reminded me.  My poor little Max had a testicular torsion at the beginning of September.  He woke up with pain (saying his pee-pee hurt) and I figured he had a UTI.  I thought I’d give it some time before we went to the doctor, so we went about our day.  Off and on he’d say it hurt, but it wasn’t a big deal.  Well we went swimming at my sister’s house, and he was having a blast in the water.  But he suddenly came out sobbing saying it was hurting so bad.  So I called  our Pediatrician and headed right in.  The urine test was negative, so after I told the Dr. his symptoms he did an exam and told me we needed to head to Primary’s right away. 

I called Mike and he met us there.  Poor little Max was in a lot of pain.  We had a lot of Dr.’s come in and see us, and he got an ultrasound.  It was determined he had a testicular torsion, but there was some confusion about if it had de-torsed or not.  (Basically it was twisted, which is a medical emergency.  But they were thinking it may have un-twisted). 

After a lot of discussion, and basically planning on emergency surgery that night, it was decided that we could wait.  They set us up with the Urologist for a couple weeks out.  He told us about a surgery that would prevent it from ever happening again, which we quickly agreed to.  We did NOT want him to experience this again!  His surgery went great, and he was such a little trooper.  After we said goodbye to him and he went through the big doors, he just skipped down the hallway with the nurses all smiles.  He thought he was on an adventure :). 

These were in the room getting prepped.  He was pretending to sleep.  It was early in the morning!

After he woke up he was pretty grouchy.  It was hard to see him so disoriented and in pain.  Thankfully they got the pain under control, and then he was happy to have some crackers, a slushy, and a popsicle. 

After we got home he slept for about 3 hours.  After he woke up he was like a new boy!  He was his crazy self and he only complained once about hurting.  It was hard because he was wanting to be rowdy, and I kept telling him he needed to rest!!  Silly boy.  We love him and I’m glad everything went well!!  I’ve decided that having a child have to go under for surgery is awful, no matter how minor it is.  Ugh, sitting in that waiting room is hard.  We’re grateful he’s a healthy little guy :)

Our Sweet Sparky

*FYI: this goes into a lot of detail, but I thought it would help me to write my emotions down.  It’s kind of for journaling purposes…just so ya know :)*

What a rough few days it’s been.   My parents got cute little Sparky when he was just a baby.  He was born on the 4th of July…thus the name Sparky!  I loved it.  It always fit him. I wish we had pictures of him from that time!  He was a little walking fluff ball and his legs were so short his belly almost touched the ground.  He had the softest fur and he was so snuggly.  Growing up, I wouldn’t ever really say that we were “dog people”.  So we were all really surprised when my mom got him (no one more surprised than my dad!)  just because it was kind of random and spur of the moment.  Little did we know how he would change us.  My parents had him for about 4 years and then when they moved to Hong Kong we got him.  It’s been 2 years that we had him and I LOVE THAT DOG!  I didn’t ever realize what you can feel for a pet, until I had him. 

I can’t believe he’s gone.  It’s been heartbreaking.  I always thought it would be hard but it’s been WAY harder than I ever imagined.  He had chronic colitis and it gave him tummy trouble that just kept coming and coming.  I could tell he wasn’t as happy as usual, and he would try to hide his accidents in the house because he was embarrassed.  Anyway, the time came that my parents and Mike and I decided it would be best for him to be put down.  That whole experience was awful!!  I didn’t know it would end so fast and when the doctor said his heart wasn’t beating, I wanted to yell out “Never mind!  I take it back!  What did I do?” 

Mike and I both were crying and just petting him and telling him we love him.  We spent about 15 minutes in the room alone with him.  All I kept saying was “I love you.  I miss you so much.  I hope you can hear me.  I’m so sorry…”.  Ugh.  Mike snuggled him up in a blanket.  It was hard because his eyes wouldn’t close.  So it looked like he was awake laying there.  But his eyes got foggy and he started getting cold, and we knew it was time to leave.  We said our last goodbyes and left to the parking lot where I just broke down. 

Coming home without him here has been hard.  I keep thinking I’ll see him run around the corner when he hears the string cheese wrappers open!  Thankfully today has been better than yesterday, and I know it’ll all be ok.  Also, the kids have been dealing with it great and it hasn’t affected them very much which I’m grateful for.  When I first told Madi that Sparky had to go live in Heaven, she said sadly “Then I’ll be the oldest kid in the family.  We had 5 people in our family and now we’ll only have 4..”.  They really saw him as their brother :). 

Anyway, all I can say is I’m SO thankful for that little guy.  As difficult as it’s been to say goodbye, I have so many good memories of him!  He taught me a lot about animals and reminded me that they’re Heavenly Father’s creations too.  He had such a sweet spirit and just wanted to make everyone happy.  You know that song from Wicked?  Well, I have been changed for good.  I love you forever, Sparky!!  Miss you. 

Newport Beach 2011

I’m so sad this trip is over!!  It was seriously SO fun.  We had a great time at the beach, Disneyland, and Medieval times.  Along with Max’s 4th birthday and dinner with Goofy.  So many great memories.  And TONS of pictures!! 

We started off on Saturday and stayed the night in Las Vegas.  Then on Sunday we were able to check into our condo at Newport.  After getting stocked up with groceries, the kids of course wanted to hit the pool. 

They had fun swimming with Mike while I had fun watching the pretty sunset :)

The first day we got to Disneyland, Mickey and his band ended up being right there at the entrance.  The kids loved that!!  It was Columbus day and SUPER busy.  So we didn’t get to ride that many rides.  Our first ride was Star Tours and we waited close to an hour in line.  Yuck.  BUT, the ride was AWESOME!!  The kids seriously loved it.  And Max is majorly into Star Wars right now, so he was in heaven. 

By the end of the day, Max was pooped.  We started our walk through downtown Disney for our dinner with Goofy, and he konked out.  I haven’t ever really been through downtown Disney so that was kinda fun to walk through. 

They loved the Lego store!  Gotta admit, it’s kinda cool to see all those things they make out of legos. 

With Goofy!!  Max wasn’t quite sure what to make of the characters.  He was more nervous than I thought he’d be. 

This is the only time Max greeted a character.  But what a cute, big hug :)

The kids got a kick out of Pluto because he kept sniffing their food like he wanted some.

Max really didn’t want a picture with any of the characters, but it was really funny…he wanted to take a picture OF them.  So here’s Max’s picture of Cinderella :)

Seriously, is Minnie Mouse not the cutest thing ever?!  I love her. 

 

One of the days it was super hot (like 100 degrees!) so we hit the beach.  It was perfect!  And it was the kids first time in the ocean.  They had so much fun playing in the waves.  While I kept having a nervous breakdown about one of them being swept away in the waves.  I was convinced a rip current would get them.  I’m so intimidated by the ocean!!  But it was fun once I calmed down :).  Haha

And, yep, if you’re wondering…that is a leotard Madi has on.  Her swimsuit got ruined and I could not find a new swimsuit anywhere (all stores had was winter stuff).  So I had the bright idea of going to Target and getting a leotard.  Worked like a charm!

Here’s my little Jedi!  The next day we for sure wanted to go to the Jedi training academy.  Max was HOPING so much that he’d get called up.  He raised his hand as high as he could…but they called up Madi.  Which he was excited for.  But it was kinda sad to see him getting left behind.  It was cute, when the guy called up Madi, he said “The little girl with the warrior face paint..”.  Because Madi had just gotten her face painted. 

Taking down Darth Vader!!

Max’s face is so funny here…haha.  I promise he had a good time!

The next day we spent at CA Adventure.  The kids LOVED Soarin’, and Mike and I each took turns doing Tower or Terror.  So fun!

Funny enough, Madi loves the Monter’s Inc ride, although she’s terrified of the movie.  Speaking of terrified…we didn’t know that they make Space Mountain haunted during Halloween.  Last time we came Madi loved that ride, and this year they both could ride it.  Perfect, right?!  We got our fast passes and hopped right on.  Oh my word, it was SO scary.  It had the freakiest ghost, that would scream and follow you around, along with scary music.  Yikes.  The kids were NOT fans!!  They did ok during the ride, they just made it very clear they did not want to ride it again!!  Mike and I felt so bad.  We had totally talked it up telling them they’d love it.  Guess not. 

On our last day there we did one of our favorite things and went to lunch at Ruby’s on the pier.  It’s always fun walking out there, watching the waves and surfers, and eating by the ocean. 

Does anyone else thing those bars are spread way too far apart!?  Max kept giving me a heart attack.  While I was taking a picture once he tried to put his feet through so they could hang toward the water while he sat on the railing.  WHAT?!  I about died.  I ran up and grabbed him, scared to death.  Why on earth do they not make that more safe?!  A kid could totally fall through there.  So nerve wracking!

Pretty waves! 

The last night we were there we went to Medieval Times.  I hadn’t ever been before but it was SO FUN.  The kids loved every bit of it and it was fun seeing them cheer on the yellow knight.  They got way into it, yelling and waving their flags. 

Max practicing some sword moves before the show.

Ok, this was the cutest thing ever.  The yellow knight had a flower that he kissed and then was going to throw into the audience.  Madi was cheering her little heart out and he pointed right at her and threw the flower to her!  She about died.  I wish I got a video of her face.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that excited.  Super cute!

This picture makes me laugh…the kids would get so concerned about the yellow knight during some of his fight scenes. 

An example of Madi’s cheering :).  No wonder the knight threw the flower to her.  Look at that little cheerleader!!

Ok, so another awesome thing about this night.  When we were walking out the next group was lined up waiting to go in.  A guy in that group told Max to come here and he just gave him this light up sword!!  It totally came out of nowhere.  Definitely a random act of kindness and it made Max’s night!  He was glowing the whole way home.  All in all it was a GREAT vacation and I’m so thankful my little family was able to make all these fun memories together!!