Lari's Hernia

Matt, Lariska, and I met with Dr. Arca today from Children's Hospital to discuss her Ventral Hernia (her stomach protrudes above her belly button). It is a bummer, but it looks like our little girl is going to have surgery. We are holding off until January to do the surgery because there is no rush and it will work better for our insurance, but really no time is a good time to have surgery. Still, it sounds like it's not so bad - an outpatient surgery that takes about an hour. In all, we will spend half a day at either the hospital or a surgery center. Lariska will have to go under anesthesia which is not thrilling to us, but Dr. Arca was so nice and really took a lot of time with us - she gave us a lot of confidence and I feel pretty good about it all. The thing I was dreading most (finding out the surgery was only for cosmetic purposes) did not happen - Dr. Arca told us we need to do this because with time it could become worse and as Lariska gets more active the chances of that happening increase. Ugh. No need to worry yet, but we will be asking for prayers come January.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was an exhausting weekend in the Kons Family. The girls left early Saturday morning with their Gma and Gpa Kons to go to the Lodge in Richland Center, WI. It sounds like they had a fabulous time. They went fishing, raked weeds, went down the slide, sat on the tractor, made strawberry rhubarb, went for walks, ate lots of yummy food, and even slept a little.

Meanwhile, Matt and I attended the wedding of Pete Woelfel and Ann Barranco at the Heidel House in Green Lake, Wisconsin. We also left Sat. morning, but returned home on Sunday. I really wasn't sure what to do with myself during the day on Sunday, but we had a nice dinner at the Berrall house in the evening and even went to see "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" (or at least I think that is what it's called) - I thought it was very good, but other family members report that they thought it was too far-fetched. On Monday morning, I joined Casey and Amelia to watch Cathy and Matt in the Elm Grove parade. I returned home and two minutes later my children walked in. It was so good to see them.

You know, my job in life is to take care of my kids - a twenty-four/seven job. So, when your job goes on vacation from you it is really weird! But, it was very nice to be able to finish conversations for a couple of days and sit in a house that was completely quiet (not even the sound of a monitor humming!). I appreciate that down-time, but was even more happy to have my life returned to me. Thanks Gma and Gpa for taking such good care of the girls - they obviously had a great time by the stories they have been telling.

Instruments

Okay, so....every night at bedtime we pray with Kyrie. Tonight she reminded me that we need to pray for our friends who are "sick". Well, one of my good friend's mother had surgery yesterday and so we prayed that she was recovering from her surgery and that it was successful. Kyrie interrupted the prayer to ask about what surgery was. You know, I have skirted around this question an unbelieveable amount of times. My daughter has a very active imagination - I think if you told any four-year old that they take a knife and cut things out of a person that it would be a little freaky, but you tell my daughter this and her mind starts reeling. She wants to know why, and how, and why...and how. But, I decided tonight that it was time to just give it to her straight.

So...I explained to her that after they medically induce sleep (different than the kind in her bed), highly-trained doctors use special knives that do not hurt (ha!) and other instruments and tools to actually make the person feel better. I said that if she cut someone with a knife it would hurt them, but the doctors can cut someone and make them feel better. Anyway...she got hung up on the instruments and what ones they used. I said, "vacuums, and mirrors, and lights...and....aaahhhh". Yeah. What do you think she said? "I know what intruments they use, Mommy." I was a bit surprised and said, "Oh?" "Trumpets." Oh my. I have not laughed that hard in a long time.

So...after the laughing died down I had to explain to her that these were a different kind of instrument. She got very goofy and was making raspberry noises and being just very ridiculous. I asked her, "What's going on? Cut it out." And, she said, "Mommy, I'm just trying to make your heart silly again." Ahhh...well, instead she melted my heart. Thank you, sweetie, for lighting up my day and bringing laughter into my heart.

Photos

Here are some photos from the past few weeks that I have neglected to post:


Menomonee Falls Fishing Derby - Kyrie caught a 6-inch something or other. She also baited her own hook. This child is not squeamish about the creepy crawly things...keep the flies and bees away from her, though!

Lariska in the crabapple tree. Sometimes this little girl is my crabapple...and sometimes she is the apple of my eye.

Attempting to get a four-year and two-year photo. Where is my father?!?!

Questions

Questions Kyrie asked today:
1. Grandpa, how do you make strawberry rhubarb?
2. Mommy, what's underneath your head?
3. Mommy, what's underneath your arms?
4. Mommy, what's underneath your tummy?
5. Mommy, what's underneath your butt?

Questions Lariska asked today:?
1. Why?
2. Why?
3. Why?
4. Why?
5. Why?

I have to tell you that answering any and all of these questions is not an easy endeavor.

Birthday Number Three

So...in the final installment of what is Lariska's second birthday we celebrated today with the Berrall side. It was a combination Mother's Day/Birthday party and though hectic as usual, it seemed to go well. The girls, certainly, we were extremely tired, so I take that as a sign that they had a nice time.

The birthday highlight was a toddler slide which has found a home in the sunroom. Lariska also received a tricycle and money for college - awesome! What a fortunate and blessed child.

Of course, we also celebrate Mother's everywhere today and Matt and I could not agree more that we have the best. Our moms help us out on a daily basis and we don't know how we would do it without them. Thank you Mom and Linda. You are the best. Happy Mother's Day to old moms, new moms, moms-to-be, moms-at-heart, and hopeful moms. It is a great gift to be a mom of any kind!

New Cousin

We welcomed Andrew (Drew) Joseph Kons into the family today. Mark and Carrie's son was born at 11:05am, 8 lbs. 7 oz. and 22 inches long. Carrie was induced this morning and it sounds like everything went very well. We got to meet Drew very briefly this evening - he is quite the cutie.

2nd Birthday

We had Lariska's two-year old doctor appt. today. She is now 35-3/8 inches long (90th percentile!) and 24 lbs. (25th percentile). She is doing very well, developmentally, and Dr. Laurie was impressed by how much she sleeps! Well, that and that she attempts to dress herself every morning (including picking her clothes out), she has successfully put on her shoes by herself, and can flip her coat over her head to put it on by herself. We also received the phone number of a surgeon who specializes in hernias. We will be calling her soon to schedule a consultation about Lariska's umbilical hernia. Dr. Laurie says she thinks it is mild, but that the surgeon will better be able to tell us whether surgery is recommended to correct it. Joy.

We also had the Kons side over for dinner to celebrate Lari's birthday. Lariska received a bird feeder, baby doll, and bug puzzle to name a few highlights. She sang "Happy Birthday" to herself once again and blew out her candles. She and Kyrie were quite cute as they both opened her presents.

Happy Birthday, Lari!

Lariska turned two today! We celebrated with Happy Meals for lunch at Auntie J.J.'s house (where Nana gave her her very own Happy Feet penguin...since Kyrie took over the one Nana gave her last October!) and a hectic dinner out after which Lariska sang "Happy Birthday" to herself, accompanied by Mommy, Daddy, Kyrie, Grandma, Nana, and a whole bunch of other people who joined us after dinner to attend the book discussion Kelly was going to.