Special Times with Nana and Grandma

One of our family favorites--MONKEY BREAD!!! Kayin adores spending time with Nana in the kitchen and what better way than COOKING??!! I think she will be able to make this on her own for Christmas this year!! She loves to throw it in the brown sugar and then toss the dough in the pan!!

There is nothing better than enjoying a great book on and enclosed patio during a vacation. Grandma picked up a new "lift and find" flap book for Kayin and she if we couldn't find her anywhere, she was out reading this story!!

Vacation

Fishin's not just for the boys! Kayin had a great time with Daddy and Grandpa Brinkmeyer out on our dock during vacation. I don't know what she enjoyed more--the worms or the fish!! Grandpa even picked out a special PINK "My first fishing hat" for his lil' sweetie at Bass Pro Shop!

Lil' Cuddler

Kayin spending some cuddle time with mommy as she is recooperating from surgery! She had a hard time understanding (and still does) why mommy can't just lift her up and hold her! It feels so nice to be back home!!

UGH!!

So, I thought I would update a little bit why it has been some time since I blogged...

1. Started the vacation with Kayin having an ear infection with a perforated eardrum. Went to Urgent Care and got some medication....about five days into the vacation she was feeling better.

2. Ended the vacation with mommy heading into the Emergency Room in Grand Island (which I must say was kind of a waste of time--7 hours of time I might add). They sent me home with medical bills up the wazoo and $75.00 dollars (thank goodness for health insurance though) worth of medication that was pointless because....

3. Ended up going back to the Emergency Room here in Lincoln at St. Elizabeth's early Monday morning...

4. Being admitted into the hospital because the CT scan and ultrasound were inconclusive to determing what the abdominal pain was coming from...

5. Having a diagnostic/exploratory laparascopy done on Tuesday mid afternoon to discover a lime size amount of "necrosis on the omentum" (basically dead fat tissue that was embedded in the lining that curtains the stomach)...

6. Was dismissed on Wednesday late afternoon with the Dr's orders of "BEDREST and NO HOUSEWORK"...

There is the synopsis of what has been happening in the Brinkmeyer household the last week!! Should be posting some pictures from vacation as well as some recooperating time with Kayin!!

By the way, thanks go out to NANA who is spending some time with us--even made homemade chicken noodle soup last night for dinner!! Kind of hit the spot!!

It's our anniversary today and I am hoping I can dig up some pictures and figure out how to put together a slide show for you all!!!

Vacation--Part One

I figured on a rainy day the best thing to do would be to blog and post some pictures from the vacation. I will kind of recap some of the trip highlights so far (warning--long post ahead)!!

1. We started our journey down to Missouri on Friday morning. We all got a great night's sleep and had a nice breakfast before heading down the road. We had quite an interesting start--Kayin screamed for about the first 45 minutes and then fell sleep. Luckily, to our advantage, I caught up on a new book and Justin listened to a new CD. As we continued on, Kayin progressively got more fussy. We stopped for lunch and Nana took Kayin into the restroom -- she came out complaining that her ear hurt. We took a look, nothing was out of sorts (not running a fever, no rashes), so we headed about a mile to get gas. As I got out of the car to check on Kayin, I noticed that she had drainage out of her right ear. Needless to say, I was a little panicked. Here we were, en route to our destination in the middle of nowhere and how in the world was I going to get medication to my little girl? We had just seen the doctor about two weeks ago for her 2-year checkup and everything was fine. So, I called our doctor's office and of course, they were closed due to the holiday. Luckily there was a number for a triage nurses station at our local hospital. I called, no answer....hmmmm...what to do? Here we are, on the way to what we were hoping was going to be a great vacation but know doubts are running through my head. I called my mom and we pulled over and the only other option was to call 9-1-1. I called and they were going to send an ambulance...really??!! In the back of my mind I knew that we didn't need an ambulance, just a doctor who would prescribe a medication to Walgreens in Osage Beach--just down the street from where we were staying. After about an hour and a half of dealing with a screaming child we FINALLY had a call back from the on-call doctor and thankfully, he prescribed medication to Kayin!!! However, I am still a little concerned--she has been on medication for almost two full days and she is still having drainage. It's times like these that you wish you were in the comfort of your own home!

2. On our way down to the Ozarks, we stopped and had a picnic lunch outside of a fireworks "superstore". This was a sight we saw as we were eating out of the back of Uncle Joshy's truck...anyone care to explain??!! :)

Kayin enjoying a picnic lunch with Auntie Maggie in the back of Uncle Joshy's pickup...notice the clouds...it hasn't changed since we have gotten here!

3. Vintage Landing (the condo units that we are staying at) hosted a luau yesterday (July 4th) at noon and the boys had a great time getting ready!!! We had found this little luau outfit for Kayin at Target before vacation and couldn't resist!!

Oh Where Oh Where has Our Little Girl Gone??!!

Tonight, as I was doing my routine "check on Kayin" I realized that she had completely covered herself in her blankets!! Then, as I uncovered them to double check that she was okay, I found a couple of her stuffed animals IN BED WITH HER!!! She is such a little sweetie!!

Also, just letting everyone know that we are heading out in the morning for vacation and I am hoping that we can update the blog on vacation...if not, just know that there will be a TON of pictures to share!!