Olivia update--NEWS!

A few weeks ago Olivia was discharged from her Pediatric Urologist for one year. She recently had an ultrasound and the images did not show anything new. The scarring on her kidneys will never heal but it is not worse so we are doing well! We had planned on doing a VCUG (where they test if she has reflux again) 1 year post her urethra re-implantation operation (march 2010) but because the procedure is so painful and puts quite a bit of strain on the bladder and urethra's we are leaving it for another year. If there are no suspected UTI symptoms we might leave it for even longer. Olivia had such a difficult recovery (about 3X's longer than the normal kid) the urologist is being very cautious about messing anything up.

After this meeting my GP (who is another mum at school) asked me to come in and see her. Seeing Olivia a whole head shorter than the rest of her class made her a bit worried and she wanted to further investigate her failure to thrive. Failure to thrive means you can't grow. Olivia was first diagnosed with failure to thrive at 12 months. She had bone scans, thyroid tests (two now), and has been given high calorie diets. Discovering her kidney problems at 15 months and then her gastro problems at 6 years old seemed to be the answer; but now that her urologist has discharged her, and her Gastroentologist is about to discharge her (next apt. in 3 weeks) she has only gone from 'not on the growth charts--to the 5% on the growth charts'. Which only means she is now disqualified from growth hormones (because she is technically on the charts).

Dr. Chan ordered some blood tests and then called me in. Olivia is off the charts for Coeliac Serology which is bad. Celiac disease is an auto immune disease in your intestines. In Olivia's case she can't break down gluten which means it has never been absorbed it has just been clogging her up....how this was not detected YEARS ago is beyond me! This also explains her inability to break down food and having it backed up in her large intestines--so we are finding a cause to a cause maybe. We have to go into the hospital and do a procedure where they stick a tube down Olivia's throat and into her stomach. They will do a biopsy on 4 intestinal samples--keep you posted. I will meet with the gastroentologist in 3 weeks (and probably NOT be discharged, but at least we are making some progress). We are looking into where this might be coming from--any family members with a problem? Speak up now!--it is hereditary, although only 1 in 30 people with it will manifest symptoms :) As for me, I will be having to re-learn how to grocery shop and cook because EVERYTHING has gluten in it!

Ps. Hats off to Australia--they have been the only ones to figure Little Olivia out! I was on the brink of getting referred to a pediatric endocrinologist (dr.'s who help kids grow). We were doing a standard blood test for our referral letter when we found this!

sneak peak....

Here is a sneak peak of Olivia's photo shoot for her baptism invitations. We just had to capture the toothless grin, which might be all grown in by the time she is baptized in 4 months!

I can't believe she has gone from THIS:

To THIS in just 8 years!

Potty training, missing teeth & birthdays!

Thomas is a prodigy! Seriously, remember when he was crawling at 5 months & walking at 8months ? He is a boy, he is 2 1/2 (3 in July) and the kid toilet trained in 5 1/2 days! Which I think, compensates for the early movement/ destruction!...and everyone told me boys take longer-HA!

-2 1/2 days on

-then 2 days in a diaper b/c I had to run errands and do church.

-then one day on

-then 5 days off b/c I went to America

- and then 2 days on and he was DONE.

As you can tell I made a half hearted effort as far as the training was concerned. I didn't bribe him with a toy...I did have Easter candy that I would occasionally reward him with but lets be honest we just ate through that on our own and then one day it just clicked and he didn't have any more accidents (previous days were half n' half) In addition, every day he seems to conquer something new that I thought we would have to ease into. So proud of you Thomas!

• Peed in the toilet & flushed
• Pooed in the toilet--this one he always got in, which I was happy about, I can handle pee accidents (or wee as they call it in Australia)
• Peed standing up
• Wiping his own bum--goes through 1/3rd roll of toilet paper but it is CLEAN!
• Washing his own hands
• Potty training at NIGHT....yes, he takes off his diaper and bangs on his door in the middle of the night that "its coming out"--I still am not up to the night thing. I have to talk him into a diaper at bed time.

We have accidents (usually at soccer practice) but he is almost perfect when we are home. The standing up part has minimized accidents when we are out and about all together. Stan insists that my perception of Thomas's perfect potty training is delusional...he says Thomas only goes to the bathroom for me. I don't know what he is talking about--when we are home together he just takes care of business!

There is only one thing left...pulling the pants up without needing assistance...the underwear always gets twisted up when Thomas does it himself! So one more bridge to cross...but my youngest child is out of DIAPERS!!!!!!!!!

My oldest child, Olivia (7) just lost her second front tooth giving her the precious toothless grin! So cute!

And last but not least I had a birthday! I opened most of my gifts in the USA when I saw my family. Stan woke up at 6 am, to make me special birthday pancakes,

He also made a cake that Thomas ate

and in the evening Stan took me out to eat for dinner. It was great. I rode the ferry into the city at night and stood on the deck. It was kind of sprinkling (because we are going into winter) but I was so in love with the city and the water and life. I get so happy every time I ride the ferry, I don't know how I could ever leave!

Spring Weddings & Easter Holidays

This Easter break my little brother Ben got MARRIED! I have a new gorgeous sister-in-law, Laura Carter (Tengelsen). ...not to be confused with my twin sister Laura (Tengelsen) Crist! I flew to the USA for 4 days to participate in wedding festivities and Stan spent the ENTIRE Easter Weekend with the kids in Australia. Way to go Stan!! I flew out Thursday morning and was back Tuesday morning. 14 hours on a plane with no kids was pretty easy. In Australia, Good Friday & Easter Monday are public holidays. In addition, Tuesday was Anzac day (another public holiday) which totaled a 5 day weekend!

Stan was pretty proud of himself because when I got off the plane he informed me that he kept the house clean the whole 5 days and had dinner on the table every night, and only went out to eat once. I (of course) patted him on the back but was smirking to myself inside once he told me what they did each day.

First--They left the house ALL DAY LONG and were out partying the whole time--(hence the clean house) in addition, I had spent the previous week potty training Thomas and Stan immediately threw a diaper on him while I was gone.....Grrrrrrrrrrr! Here is a short list of what they did:

(1) Royal Easter Show: biggest carnival in Sydney held at the Olympic park, rides, face painting, petting zoo, show bags etc... All day event!

(2) Cinnimas: Hop-only easter movie out during the holidays

(3) Church Easter Egg Hunt: owe Stan for this one as he helped put it on while I was out since I am the Primary President. Just a massive easter party (cookie decorating, easter egg hunt, church lesson, games and prizes etc....)

(4) Easter Sunday: Instead of sitting on the stand he got the pleasure of sitting alone with three kids (couldn't have planned it better!)

And that was it! Stan's 4 days alone with the kids!

Thursday Stan was at work and since I had to catch a plane I asked my Visiting Teaching companion to babysit. She is a few years younger than me, married but has no kids. She saved me by coming to babysit at 7:30 am and Stan didn't come home until 7:30 pm...but upon her leaving she informed us that she charges $20.00/ hour. Hahahahah- $200.00 later Stan took over--I felt only slightly ripped off since I used to babysit a family of 8 KIDS in Great Falls, Virginia (highest income per capita in the USA) and I would get $200 for a day AND a night. My babysitter would have walked away from the Gerards house with over $480.00 (plus whatever she charges for the extra 5 kids...Seriously, where are my negotiating skills?)

So that's water under the bridge, in the mean time I was in the USA hanging out with my family.

It was great to see everyone. And it felt odd having no kids with me--not having to take someone to the bathroom or help someone eat during dinner. In addition, since I had strep throat no one really wanted me to help their kids :-) so I was really off the hook.`

The wedding was perfect. Very classy and at the pictures were perfect with the San Diego Temple in the background (gorgeous). My new sister in law is from Del Mar. Her dad is a brain surgeon and they recently moved to California from Boston where her dad taught classes on the side at Harvard. There are 5 kids in their family (3 girls 2 boys) and I think what I liked so much about the wedding was the classy east coast Boston feel mixed with palm trees (seriously where do you get that?!) The reception was held at an a cozy little inn in Rancho Santa Fe. Ben could not have married into a better family and his in laws adored him! Our family adores her so it really is a perfect match!

Here are some pictures!

Carter side of the Family

Tengelsens Side of the family

Laura (my twin) and I waiting for the bride & groom

My little brothers and the bride

Laura's side is from England, each cracker had a See's candy, a crown and a fun fact about Laura & Ben's dating/ engagement.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend on both sides of the world. My kids were super stars (they wrote a letter to the Easter bunny to come Tuesday morning) So once I got off the plane (6:00am) I came home to the Easter Bunny's gifts and excited little voices! Olivia is 7 so I was really hoping to not miss out on the last few years of complete innocence! I really do love my family.