Talk of a 2 1/2 year old

Sadie dips her 5 fingers into some spilled flour on the counter and proudly comes over to show it to me. I could tell she was contemplating on licking her fingers. I told her flour doesn't taste good all by itself. But she says "I like flour!" and promptly sticks her finger in her mouth and licks it off, immediately followed by her spitting it out. To which she replies "maybe I don't like flour."

One word both girls have picked up is the word privacy. I laugh every time Sadie attempts to go potty, because if you are in there with her she will always tell you that she needs her privacy and that you need to go out. Knowing Sadie, giving her her requested privacy and leaving her alone in the bathroom is a bad idea. She still asks anyway.

Sadie and I were discussing why we use worms to fish with. She began talking that worms eat scrambled eggs, and then says, "no, worms don't eat scrambled eggs!" I asked her if they eat dirt and Sadie replies with "worms crawl in the dirt!" She's one smart little girl!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we headed home for the holidays. The girls are always so excited to go to Grandma's house! At last the day had come.

So I'm totally having technical difficulties and it's too late at night to even think about trying to fix them. You are just going to have to guess which picture goes with which caption because they are not even going to be close!

Here are the girls sitting on the plane by themselves across the aisle from mom. Thankfully it was a

short flight!

Sadie has been drawing happy ghosts. Here is one of her very first ones. Brooklyn also is showing off her ghost with the purple marker.

Sadie LOVES whip cream! I think that is all she had for Thanksgiving dinner!

Grandpa introduced the girls to "pumpkin rolling." He'd saved a couple pumpkins from Halloween that had been frozen and started to become a little mushy for the girls to roll down the driveway. Sadie would set it down and give it a big kick. Half of the fun was running down to find it in the bushes and to carry it back up and start all over again! The game evolved into "hide and seek" with the pumpkins being hidden by Grandpa, and then of course grandpa had to find the girls!

Brooklyn, Toby, and I took a hike up on the mountains behind my parents house. I've always loved it up in the hills. It was fun to take my little girl on the hikes that I always took as a little girl and share that with her. We made it up to the "cave" and an old indian burial ground. Toby had a great time too.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Have I mentioned we've been sick? It seems we just can't evade all the germs this year. I think I'm going to blame it on the Hogan curse of 2009. This year has not been the best year for the extended Hogan family. Let's see there's been the Horse slipping/rolling incident, the piano falling incident, the bicycle vs. car incident, not to mention various stitches incidents, I know of one cast that was placed. I'm really hoping 2010 will be kinder to the Hogan's.

As far as our little family is doing. I think we met with the Swine flu and hopefully conquered. Now if we can just stop all of the coughing, earaches, and runny noses we might have a brief chance at being healthy. Despite all the illness we've been quite busy in between waves.

Brooklyn turned 4! I can't believe it! She is growing so fast! She got a new bicycle for her birthday with a pink basket and bell to top it off. She loves it. Her first big bike ride was a good 2.4 mile ride. Eric and I were jogging to keep up with her the whole way. She only stopped once to give her head a break from her helmet. I can't wait for warmer weather so we can get out more and ride.

Eric turned the big 30 this year! Crazy! Who would have thought we's still be in school when Eric turned 30? I know he didn't! Rummaging through the cupboards we found a #2 candle and realized it would be several more years before we could use it! That's a scary thought! Medical school is going. Half way through the third year and fast approaching the time to start applying to residency. Now the big question for Eric what kind of doctor does he really want to be? It's about time to decide.

Sadie can't wait for her birthday and to get her new bike, so she says. It's hard to be the little sister sometimes! She's a good sport. Growing fast, talking nonstop, into mischief like you can't believe and yet is still a little angel, a rough one however. No one gives the roughest most affectionate hugs like Sadie does. She is an artist. She has lately discovered her talent of drawing ghosts. It is so fun to see her draw happy little ghosts all over everything.

I have become reacquainted with the pain of earaches the last few days. That is not something I have missed since childhood. It has definitely given me more sympathy for Brooklyn the last few weeks as she's battled some herself. I just can't wait to be healthy again! But it is a good reminder of how good it feels to be healthy! I also pulled a muscle in my back, nothing like a reminder of how nice it is to have a healthy back. Not to mention the lovely pain I am still fighting in my knee. Turns out I have a plica, like my younger sister which may be the culprit of all my running woes. With a potential knee surgery on the horizon, I am definitely looking forward to good health in the new year!

What would you pack?

There isn't a day that goes by where I don't hear at least once "Mom, can we go to Grandma's house, PLEASE?" Both girls love grandma's house. This last week our car has turned into our airplane. We make sure our seatbelts are fastened securely when the fasten seat belt sign is on, and are always preparing for take-off and landing. Tonight over dinner Brooklyn shared with Eric what she is planning and preparing to pack when we go to grandma's. Here is a small list of some of the things she said:

cookies, oreo cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cookies with M&M's, fruit snacks, goldfish, suitcases, suitcase skirt, skort dresses, dresses, church dresses, Tiger Lily, Tiger's bed, couches, mama horsies, daddy horsies, toys, milk, water...

Eric then asked her if she'd pack some cookies and she says "oh yea, and some cookies." Can you guess what a staple is in my snack packs on airplane rides? What do you expect when you travel as the only adult in the group. Obviously we can't wait for our next trip to Grandma's house.

The rest of the story...

Here is a little more history that lead to Brooklyn's

colonoscopy. About 6 months ago I noticed some blood in her poop as I was changing her diaper and as I cleaned her up she had something sticking out her bottom. It was about the size of your fingertip and would protrude 1/4 to 1/2 inch. I would push it back in thinking that was better than leaving it hanging out. Her next bowel movement would be normal so I wasn't too concerned. The mystery thing, the polyp, would appear occasionally along with a little blood with her bowel movements. At first I thought she was pushing too hard and read about rectal prolapses appearing in children who were potty training, but she never seemed to be pushing or straining that hard. Then the last few months it would be there 98% of the time she went potty whether in her diaper or in the toilet. I asked a couple pediatricians, one said just give her some miralax (I disregarded his advice and don't think I'll see him anymore) and the other said it depends on what is causing it and referred us to a gastroenterologist.

I made an appointment with the gastroenterologist and in we went (a month or so later). Since I would push whatever it was back in, the GI doc was unable to see what it was and did a rectal exam. Fortunately the polyp was close enough he could feel it with the exam and was able to determine that it was a polyp (which is much better than a rectal prolapse). He said at this age you don't worry about cancer or anything but it's a juvenile polyp and said that 30-35% of the time there are more polyps throughout the colon. We then scheduled a colonoscopy to go in the next week and remove the polyp and see if there were anymore. If there were 5 or more polyps he said it would then be a genetic disorder and we would have to have a colonoscopy every 3 years to monitor them. That I was not looking forward too. I was then given the directions to get Brooklyn prepped for the lovely procedure. She was to be on a clear liquid diet starting at midnight on Tuesday and drink 3 doses of miralax at 1, 2, and 3pm. Then before bedtime I was to give her an enema. I was not looking forward to that either.

I stocked up on popsicles and apple juice and made a trip to the video store to give us some good distractions. I also made a trip to the toy store and purchase a few new books and puzzles to have as incentive to help her drink the miralax. Overall Brooklyn did really well. She didn't complain too much and really only said she was hungry just a couple of times. She drank the first 2 doses of miralax with just a little coaxing. Though I honestly felt like Harry Potter in the cave with Dumbledore making him drink all the liquid in the basin to get to the horcrux. Just a little more, you're almost there, you won't have to drink anymore once you finish this. Here take the last sip... I know her poor tummy isn't that big and to have her drink 8oz. every hour for three hours is a lot for her little system to handle.

The third dose I had to get creative and quickly threw together a treasure hunt and told her the

first clue was at the bottom of her glass and after she'd drunk it all she could get started. (Note: Don't put miralax in milk and have the child drink it fairly quickly, it will come back.) She finished it, got her puzzle prize, complained that her tummy hurt and I reached for a bucket! After a nice warm bath, some carpet cleaning, another movie, and a trip to the pet store as a distraction (while Daddy and Sadie had dinner) we came home, finished the last task of the prep and settled in to watch another movie before heading to bed.

We got up early to head to the hospital. Poor Brooklyn was tired and anxious and didn't say much. We checked in, changed her into some hospital jammies(which she wasn't thrilled about at all), then got her ready for the IV. She knew that she was going to have a poke at this appointment and she wasn't looking forward to it.

The nurses said they would hold her down, but as soon as the one nurse moved into position Brooklyn started crying and really trying to get away. I assured them that I would do it and that Brooklyn would do better if it were me. Eric stood at her head speaking comforting words as best her could and I held her as they put in the IV. She did really well and didn't fight at all once it was in. She is so brave. The nurses gave her some stickers since she did such a good job. We were then ready to head down to the Endoscopy floor.

Brooklyn sat on my lap in the wheelchair for the ride down and then we were transferred to her gurney where I sat with her. I pulled out one of the new books I'd bought and started reading to her as the last preparations were being taken care of. They were ready and wheeled us both, while reading "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" into the procedure room. She was being so brave and the nurses were so great with her showing her and explaining to her what they were doing as they stuck on the stickers to monitor her heart rate and oxygen levels. The anesthesiologist then gave her the medication through her IV and within a minute or two she stated to doze off. I then climbed off the gurney and gave her reassurance that it was ok to go to sleep and told her how much I loved her and how brave she was. As she drifted off and settled, the nurses were quickly finishing putting oxygen on and waiting for Eric and I to leave the room to go to the waiting room.

It was hard to leave seeing my sweet Brooklyn lying there. Most of my worry was the emotional aspect of how Brooklyn was going to do and if we had to do this every 3 years how that was going to go. Inside I really felt at peace that all would be just fine. The nurse that took us to the waiting room said the procedure would take half an hour tops. I was shocked when in 15-20 minutes the doctor came to get us. He showed us the pictures and the polyp that he had removed was in a vial in his hand, it was a little larger than a marble. The good news was there was just the one polyp and that it had been removed. No follow up was necessary. I was so relieved that it was over and that it was so quick. We then got to go sit with Brooklyn while she was waking up from the anesthesia.

Brooklyn was sleeping quite soundly, the nurse came in a couple times to try and wake her up. The first time there was no response. The second time, it looked like there was no response but when I said her name her eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright. You could tell the poor girl was scared to death until she saw Eric and I there. The nurse was surprised because she didn't get any response and had turned her back to check the monitor.

We then had the nurse bring Brooklyn some grape juice and some water to drink. Which she guzzled both of them in no time. Her little countenance radiated one of relief. She was a whole new girl. She was playful and happy and asking questions about everything. She had been saying that she didn't want to get her bottom fixed and that she liked to bleed. I assured her that it would all be ok and that the doctor would fix her bottom so that it wouldn't bleed anymore. She asked how he'd do it and I told her the doctor would go in and clip it off. "It will hurt?" she asked all concerned and I again reassured her that it wouldn't and that the poke was probably going to be the worst part. We were all relieved that other than the IV which she didn't complain of at all other than the initial placing all went well.

Then it was time to remove the IV so we could go home. Brooklyn watched and tried to help with great interest. Asking many questions and wanting to see where the poke was. I think she may have put the bandaid on herself. As we were getting her dressed to go home she was happily singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." Eric then pushed both of us in the wheelchair out to our car and we headed to Burger King to get her favorite, chicken nuggets and chocolate milk.

I was so grateful that there was just the one polyp! Phew! No need to worry about doing all of this again every three years. We said many prayers and know that many prayers were said in our behalf. Brooklyn and I talked a lot about who was praying for her and how many people love her. I know I felt enveloped in the love of our family and friends and I know Brooklyn did too. She was so proud of herself and I know she feels better knowing that her bottom isn't going to bleed anymore. She has looked at the pictures of the colonoscopy several times and is proud to show them to visitors when they come over.

Brooklyn came home a whole new girl saying things like the doctor fixed my bottom so it won't bleed anymore! She has expressed her relief multiple times and has also commented about how much she loves everyone as I thanked them for their prayers and let them know everything is all right.

Since our return home diapers have been a thing of the past. It's almost like her bleeding was holding her back, and I'm grateful she was still wearing diapers for all the prep work! It's been amazing! It's almost like she literally transformed into a little girl overnight.

Thank you everyone for all your love and support. We have truly been blessed and your prayers have been felt in our behalf. Thank you!! Here is some video that I took just after she had woken up. I like to think that her nose was itching so much because of all of your thoughts and prayers that were with us that day.