We have ducts!

Just wanted to post a quick entry to let you all know that Isabelle and I went to her post-op appointment today and Dr. Munoz was pleased to tell us that Isabelle's now has perfectly working tear ducts! However I am sure the size of her gigantic "crocodile tears" will remain the same :)

The "BIG" Slide

Since Isabelle was one years old, I have not wanted Michael...wait, it was more like I have not allowed him, to let Isabelle go down the "big twisty slide" at the park (I think there was a blog entry where I mentioned that previously). She has only gone down this slide while sitting on someones lap or between their legs like a train and I was totally fine with that. Well today, while sitting here at work, the following video is emailed to me....

I called them after watching it and through his laughing, Michael told me that she cannot get enough of it! She was hesitant at first he said, but then followed another little girl up the steps and right down the slide, by herself. So much for Mom's sheltering...I guess they do have to grow up sometime :)

Summer Sauntering

As you all have read, heard about or perhaps witness it yourselves, Southern California's heat wave started about a month ago and with that comes creative, cool but energy burning activities to do with the little ones whether you are inside or out.

Riding her tricycle before dusk ...about 7:15pm
We are pretty lucky living in the community that we do. It is very family friendly and family oriented with endless activities and groups to be a part of the entire year. Summers are the best times. We have had many BBQ's and swim parties to attend along with indoor mall playground days and play dates at others homes, for a change of scenery and to keep all of us cool. In the midst of preschool and other activities, Isabelle had learned to ride her tricycle and scooter like a pro! Almost every night after picking her up from Preschool or Grandmama's (and weather permitting of course), I let her ride around in front of the garage or we take Bear for a walk and she rides her scooter. She had been eye-balling our neighbor Sophia's skateboard so who knows what is in store for us next.

Chowing down on BBQ'ed corn on the cob

One of our most favorite summer night activities to attend is Concerts in the Park. Every Saturday night the City of Santa Clarita puts on a concert, cover bands mostly, that are free to the public. Some bands are OK and others you need to arrive 3-4 hours beforehand to get a good spot! The usual suspects always get a group together and either carpool or meet somewhere and walk to Central Park; the double seat wagon Isabelle got for her 1st birthday comes in very handy for those nights.

Bravo...Encore, Encore! Isabelle and I hitched a ride with Amy and Mackenzie when we went to see the opening concert featuring The Skinny Little Twits. The girls were hilarious in their car seats next to one another. They got a HUGE kick out of it, giggling the entire way! When we arrived at the park, we were greeted by April and the Pickles (Roxy and Jazzy). The Hovhannisyan's and Price's were all set up right in the middle with a great shot of the stage. And within 20 minutes after getting there, the Magin's and Mangione's arrived to complete our group for the night.

Mackie and Izzy "dog piling" each other on the dance floor.

The Skinny Little Twits played everything! The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc. and the kids were rocking out like crazy. I took Isabelle and Mackenzie up to the dance floor and there was no stopping them. They were dancing around together, falling on top of each other, playing London Bridges under my legs, just having a great time. We slowly started our way back to our "site", holding hands the entire way. We had a picnic dinner (PB and J for the girls and Corner Bakery for Amy and I) then right back to dancing until the concert was over. We had 2 pooped out little munchkins on the ride home that needless to say, slept VERY well that night.

Mia and Izzy cuttin a rug

Going along the same outdoor evening event theme, our local mall (Westfield) also hosted "Hot Summer Nights"....a month of concerts outside the mall on Tuesday nights. When we first read the line up we know that we HAD to come out for Boogie Knights (70's cover band-all Disco)! Besides all three Owston's getting to go together, to make the evening even more complete we were invited to a private preparty at Sicily (which is a restaurant that happened to be right next to the stage) for free food and drinks! After the preparty we got a table outside on the patio and watched Boogie Knights from there, until Isabelle wanted to go dance.

Debbie taught Isabelle how to suck up spaghetti

Lady and the Tramp style (pic by Tom)
She found her friend Jenna out on the dance floor and those two tore it up! Isabelle would be back and forth from the dance floor and then back into the restaurant for a break. Later on in the evening we all made it out there and were dancing machines! Tom had his new camera and was out there clicking away (a few of these are his-thanks again, Tom).

Izzy and silly Tom

That night must have made an impression on Isabelle because the last few times we have gone over to the mall the first thing she asks is if we will see Boogie Knights? I have to tell her no but we will be seeing them again soon because they are playing the last Concerts in the Park on Saturday, August 29! WHOO HOOO! This will be "that concert" where you will have to be sure to stake out your spot at least 4 hours before the concert.

Silly Papa (pic by Tom)

Look out last concerts of summer...we will be there boogying until you send us home. Gotta love So Cal!

Isabelle dancing to Boogie Knights

The Surgery

Packing Isabelle's princess purse plus another bag of books and things, getting her bathed and to bed by 7:30, making sure she ate and drank enough to get her through the following morning, Michael and I having a glass of wine before bedtime and setting our alarm for 5:30am...that was how we spent the night before heading out to the hospital at 6:30am for her Isabelle's eye surgery.

Papa and Isabelle walking into the hospital-7:30am
Hitting the road at 6:30am, we arrived at the Out Patient Surgery waiting room at 7:45am on the nose and it was completely empty; we thought the place was closed (not very reassuring to an already nervous Mom and Dad). A few more patients came in and then finally a nurse. YAY! We got Isabelle all signed in and told her to listen for when her name is called and then it will be her turn. Looking around there were people both young and old waiting too. The youngest was a CUTE little boy who was less than a year old who had a severely crossed left eye...made my little one's watery eye seem like nothing.

For the last 4 weeks we have been talking about this day; "Who is your eye doctor?", we would ask Isabelle. "Dr. Nunoz", she would respond (its Dr. Munoz but Nunoz is close enough). Then we would ask, "What is Dr. Munoz going to do?". "Fix my eyes. Make them all better" would be Isabelle's response. She had become very aware of her "dripping eye" and would even tell us when it was dripping. So when Nurse Christina called Isabelle's name and we followed her into the back, we talked about it again. Isabelle was walking and half listening to what we were saying but we could tell that she was very preoccupied in checking out her new surroundings; all the different smells, sounds and of course, the people dressed the same with hats and masks on. Nurse Christina walked us to the very last bed where Dr. Munoz was waiting to greet us. With a big smile, Isabelle said "Hi" to her and something about getting her eyes fixed.

Izzy trying to put a glove on Papa
There were a little pair of pink, puppy dog scrubs for Isabelle lying on the bed that we had to get Isabelle changed into. We placed a blanket we brought from home and Aloha Bear on her bed as Nurse Christina was talking to Isabelle and us, letting us know what all is going to happen. Joel, the anesthesiologist, came in to introduce himself as well as his assistant. They were so on top of everything which calmed both Michael's and my nerves until it was time to get her into her "new jam-jams" (aka: the puppy dog scrubs) and a surgery hat. I don't think I have ever heard our little one cry as loud as she did just then. Not even at birth did she hit that level. She did NOT want to put them on and told us that she wanted to wear her clothes. We told her she would have her panties on but needs to put on the cute, puppy dog jammies while Dr. Munoz fixes your eyes. She clung to Michael with a death grip beyond belief, we could not peel her off of him! We were doing everything to try to get her to calm down so I could finish stripping her clothes off her and get her into her scrubs as well as putting her hospital bracelet on which she wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with. Just as I thought this is not going to happen, I saw boxes of gloves on the wall...BINGO! Remembering our visits to Dr. Diab and Carlo when he was in the hospital, Isabelle always asked for gloves. She LOVED putting on doctor gloves. I immediately asked her if she wanted one and as quick as a wink, the crying and tears stopped and a huge smile spread across her face, "Yes!" she said. From there we got her jammie situation taken care of, her earrings taken out, an oxygen test (they wrap a little thing around her big toe to measure her oxygen levels) and she started chatting away with Nurse Christina and us. No sedative cocktail was needed for this little one.

And one for her... Then 8:30am came around...surgery time. We are sitting there chatting it up with Nurse Christina, playing with Isabelle and her gloves and then Joel comes over. "OK, its time to go" he says. I look at Michael who is holding Isabelle who looks back at me with pain/sadness behind his eyes, who then turns around and in his nervous jokingly way says to Joel, "Here, take her. Fast like a band aid so it doesn't hurt". Isabelle instantly starts crying and yelling "Mommy!" and with smiles through the heartache, we tell her we will see her in a little bit after Dr. Munoz fixes her eye. (Note: I am crying as I type this) As Joel and Isabelle disappear around the corner and the sound of her cry fades away, I loose it. The floodgates opened and I just stood there bawling. Michael hugs me and says, "Welcome to my first day of preschool with her." Nurse Christina comes over and hugs too me saying its alright to cry. She continues saying that we should be poster parents for this ward and she wishes that everyone could do as good of a job as we did. Whether or not she tells all of the parents that, I don't care. It was said at the perfect time and was wonderful to hear.

And now we wait...Michael and I are both updating our Facebook statuses, through tears I am uploading these pics and texting people who are wondering what is happening now. I head outside the waiting room and call Mom and Dad. I couldn't believe how much it hurt! Both times I was telling the story of what all happened up until that moment, I cried. I came back into the waiting room and Michael hands me a vial of eye drops and tells me that its done, Isabelle is doing fine and as soon as she comes all the way alert, we can go in and see her. Music to my ears!! I started packing up all of our belongings once again and as I was putting the last few things away, Nurse Christina pops her head out through the door saying, "She is ready to see her Mom and Dad". As we went through the door, it was almost a knock down race between Michael and I to see who could get back to her bed first! We pulled back the curtain to see a very drowsy, sad and scared little munchkin laying in the bed. Michael went and picked her up, wrapped her blanket from home around her and snuggled with her, standing there smiling from ear to ear.

Nurse Christina let her take a doctor hat home
We were able to leave once the anesthetic wore off which was about 45 minutes later. Upon preparing for our departure, Nurse Christina came over and took Isabelle's IV out of her foot, gave her a doctor's hat and of course, a sticker. I carried her out to the car where we thought she would be so out of it that she would fall asleep on the ride home but didn't. We talked about what had just happened and how we will have to go back to see Dr. Munoz for a check up in a little while. When we got home, Poppy and Grandmama were waiting in the house to see her with a new addition to her stuffed animal family; Tutu Bear. She was running around like she would be every other day but really needed the 3 hour nap she took. So far so good...let's hope it worked!

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and support. We truly believe that helped us through it all.

POST SURGERY VIDEO OUT TAKES (gotta love the new iPhone)

"Want some?"-Since no liquids had been consumed since 7:30pm the night before surgery, apple juice was a very welcomed offer when Nurse Christina brought it over to Isabelle. The sharing side of Isabelle, we guess or it was the drugs that hadn't worn off yet, thinks that maybe she felt that the cup of apple juice was big enough for all three of us to enjoy.



"The Boo-Boo"-She notices all of her "boo-boo's" and after looking at the ones on her hand then showing us the IV in her foot, she was done....back to cuddling with Mommy.