voter frustration....

I'm glad I did this before I spent hours in line waiting to vote. I went on CanIVote.org to find out if in fact I am registered here. My name didn't show up in my county, so I called the voter registration, and apparently they didn't get my registrations when I went to the DMV to get my license in February. And it's too late to register now, as the cutoff date was Oct. 6th. Ahhh! OK, I wouldn't call myself a very political person. In fact, I'd say that I don't care about politics much at all. This would have been the first election that I'd ever have taken part in. Seriously. I've never done this before. Anyway, this is one election I wanted to take part in, because I believe this is one of the most important ones in a very long time. I don't want the wrong person to become president.

Holday season with a toddler...

I feel like I'm about to go insane. When Kayley and I are watching TV together, commercials come on for some new toy, and all Kayley can say is "I want that", or "I want to do that". I'm getting so good at saying "I know you do, sweetie..." I feel like a broken record. I've started Christmas shopping for Kayley, for her birthday AND Christmas. I'm getting there, but I still have so much left to do. I saw something that said "holiday season" and I just about had a panic attack. :-)

I can't believe Kayley is going to be 4 this year! She's been talking so well, in full sentences...and she just WON'T stop! She really tries to elaborate and talk about everything she's thinking about. And she just loves to draw. She draws all the time...flowers, cats, just about anything. She's good at it too!

Our nephew Aiden turns one in just a few days! He is such a big handsome boy, and he is very smart. I can't wait to see him when we go up to NH for Christmas!

Matt's parents are also coming home for Christmas! It was so nice to see them when they were in MA in May, and Kayley had such a great time having out with her Nana and Grampa. :-)

Matt, Kayley and I are going to Florida in Febuary. Kayley and I went last year, but Matt was unable to go. But this year, he's coming with us, and I'm so excited! I can't wait to bring Kayley back to Disneyworld. She had so much fun there last time, that she still talks about it to this day! I really like sitting on the beach and watching the pelicans dive bomb themselves into the ocean looking for tasty treats....it cracks me up!

Anyway, as far as Kayley's medical stuff goes, I'm still waiting to hear back from the pediatric urologist. As soon as there's an appointment, I'll post about it. :-)

Kayley update

Kayley's doctor FINALLY called me back yesterday, and it's pretty good news. Her reflux isn't as bad as we thought. We thought it'd be a stage 4 or 5 reflux (which would be the worst grade), but on the right it was more of a 2-3, and a stage 2 on the left. Bottom line is, she started a daily low-dose antibiotic last night, and she should grow out of it. The pediatrician told me that it was probably worse when she was younger and that she's most likely growing out of it now. I have to call the pediatric urologist today and we'll decide the best course of treatment. She probably will NOT need surgery, which is awesome! I mean, it's still a possibility, but a less likely one. :-) Good news all around. We're very happy. :-)

No word yet...

There's been no word yet from Kayley's doctor about the results of her test on Wednesday. I was very much hoping that they'd have come in by now. I hope we get a call by Monday, because I really want to know what we have to do next.

Kayley's fine and back to her old self again. And she just adores that Sleeping Beauty bear that we got for her after her procedure. She brings it with her everywhere we go. And Orbitz has been sleeping with her just about every night since. He's very protective over her, and they love each other so much. I got some pictures of him sleeping in her bed with her arm around him...it's seriously the sweetest thing. :-)

The weather's kind of strange lately. One day last week, it was in the 70s, almost to the 80s, and now we're lucky if we get to 60s. :-) I like it though, as long as it's nice and sunny. This is my favorite time of year. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but Sunday's supposed to be gorgeous. I don't know what we'll do, and I don't really care, as long as it's fall-related.

Tomorrow, it'll be 5 weeks since my aunt Kathy passed away. It's been really hard for so many people in my family, and I'm having a really hard time of it myself. I just can't imagine what things are going to be like with her gone. She was such a huge part of this family. Very much like a matriarchal-type. I miss her.

Kayley's VCUG

We went to the hospital this morning around 9:30, and the procedure started around 10. The first thing they did was take an x-ray of her bladder and kidney. Then came the hard part. They had to catheterize her (which made her scream), push liquids into her bladder, and let her urinate. They had to do it twice, and we had to hold her down the whole time. It was horrible, not only for her, who had to go through it, but for us too. It was so hard to see her in pain and uncomfortable.

Anyways, The preliminary results showed that she does have a pretty severe reflux going on there, about a stage 4 or 5 (the tech said that he'd seen much worse in his career). Now, where we go from here, we don't know. I'm going to call the pediatrician tomorrow, she should have the results, we'll go over them, and then we'll be sent to a pediatric urologist from there.

The tech did say that some kids grow out of this problem, but in severe cases, she may need surgery to correct the problem. So we'll see. We don't even know exactly all the details right now. But as soon as we know anything, I'll post.

As soon as we were finished the appointment and Kayley (and we) calmed down enough, we brought her to Toys 'R Us (because she totally deserved it), and got some lunch. Now, we're sitting in the living room (Kayley's snuggled up with her Dada with her new Sleeping Beauty Bear) watching Sleeping Beauty. I'm just glad this test is over with, although it probably won't be the last time. Next time though, they said they can sedate her. This was way too much for her to take.

I'll let you know where we go from here...

~Jess

Luray Mountains and Belvedere Plantation

Over the weekend, Matt, Kayley and I went up north to the town of Luray. There's an area called Skyline Drive that allows us to take a drive along the mountains and see fantastic views of the trees, the sky, and the valley below. It was beautiful. Next time we go, we're going to pack a picnic lunch.

Also, we went to Belvedere Plantations, which is a HUGE farmland area with pumpkin picking, pig races, face painting and lots of other things. We had a great time, and the kettle corn is unbelievable. ;-)

Kayley's VCUG is tomorrow...

Tomorrow, Kayley's having a VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram). What they're going to do, is catheterize, put in fluids, and wait for her to evacuate the fluid. In other words, the whole test will depend on how she urinates. :-) It's basically a test to make sure she doesn't have a reflux (which is very similar to heartburn and acid reflux, just...down there.) Anyway, it should take about 40 minutes, and hopefully we'll know the results soon after that. If it's negative, awesome. If there's a problem, depending on the severity of the situation, chances are good that she'll grow out of it in a few years. We'll find out tomorrow.

So, this is my blogspot. Several people I know have one, and I thought I'd give it a try for myself. :-)